Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica

Here are some pix from the trip.

It was crazy for all of us getting to Miami, with the weather for my plane and mechanical problems for my sister's plane. They got to Miami at 1:30AM and I got there at 3:30AM; when we got to the hotel, they had one room left with 1 king bed...there were 4 of us who wanted to sleep...it wasn't pretty. One of the women trying to get to Miami from St. Louis didn't make it -- she had to fly into Cozumel on Monday.

Carnival Liberty...

Cozumel...

My sister snorkeling...

One of the pool areas...

One little snafu: the seas were too rough to tender near Georgetown Grand Cayman, so they took us to the other side of the island. It was a bit crazy getting off onto the tender boat, but it ended fine...we just missed out on some shopping in Georgetown...

My sister at stingray city, Grand Cayman -- see the stingray on her back?

Jamaica...Dunns River Falls. Kenny and I went here before we had the kids...I conquered it then, it was slippery, cold and dangerous then...

My sister, Cindy, Sharon...

Me....(I didn't feel a need to conquer it again, since it is still slippery, cold and dangerous...) so I was the official photographer...

Dolphin Cove, Jamaica...

Back on the ship....

On Friday, our last day, they announced that we had a medical emergency on board, so they cleared the front of the ship, waiting for the coast guard helicopter to come. It hovered above the ship and they lifted the person up and flew him/her to the Bahamas. All they told us was that it was life and death.

Breakfast the morning we left. We were about 2 hours late getting into Miami due to the medical emergency.

I'm Back....and Shoes

I made it back safely from the cruise, had a great time with my sister and friends. I'll write more about that after I get myself back in order. But...for any of you who saw my husband's blog before he took it down (in an attempt to hide it from me)...I found the pictures and he left them out for me to see. I just want to say...first, those are not all my shoes. Second, I am on a mission to develop a blog post just for him. ;-)

Cruising

Tomorrow night I am leaving for Miami to meet up with my sister and several of her friends -- there will be 8 of us women, if I am counting right. And then on Saturday we board the Carnival Liberty for our cruise. So have a happy week everyone and keep Kenny, the kids and my parents in your prayers -- and us girls too!

Kelsie Lyn Garnder Collins Hand

Happy 15th birthday Kelsie. I love you!!!!

The Dinky Little Serve, Part II

Ok, well, yesterday guess what? I won my first ever mixed doubles tennis match and the score was 6-3, 7-5!!! It was very exciting. Now I have to tell you that I had a different partner this time. Kenny, my normal partner, was moved up to "line 3", I remained at "line 5". Now, if you are like me, you have no idea what that means. Our team plays 5 matches each week, they are called lines 1-5, 1 having the best players, 5 having the less experienced (not worst) players. I brought Kenny down to line 5, but they had had enough of that and split us up and moved him to line 3, where he rightfully belongs. Anyway, the woman part of the team we played yesterday, had a less dinky serve than that other woman I wrote about, but it was still a little dinky. And... I started off doing the same thing yesterday, returning it once into the net and once hitting it out. So, I tried to remember what the line 3 player told me...just treat it like a volley and punch it back. It worked out pretty well. And, guess what? We won!!! Honestly the other team was a lot worse than the 2 other teams Kenny and I have played, so if we didn't win yesterday, that would have really been bad. But, it's still a win and I can now say I have tasted the thrill of victory ;-) Line 3 did not win yesterday, but they played well and it was a close match: 5-7, 5-7.