CoCo Cay!
Royal Caribbean's private island: Day #4

We arrived at CoCo Cay about 8 on our last morning. We had been told to catch an early tender if possible, the crowds really get going about 10:00. The only private island that you get to "drop the plank" on is Disney's, where you pull right up to the beach! Here, you must get on a tender (2 level boat that holds a great many of your closest friends) and take a 7-8 minute ride to the island. We were one of the first groups there, arriving about 9:30ish. The boats run ever 10-15 minutes, three of them running at a time.

The island is beautiful. (It's not Castaway Cay, Disney's paradise... sorry I'm spoiled...) It is very very nice though! There are tons and tons of chairs, enough for everyone. That's always a concern when you know that all 2,000 passengers are headed for a chair. The snorkeling area is huge, as big as Disney's. There is a water park area with slides, climbing structures in the water etc...for a small fee. There are water sports to participate in for a fee as well. (jet skis, para-sailing, that kind of thing) There is a grille there where lunch is served, a bar, a first aide station, plenty of restrooms and a straw market.

Andy took alot of snorkeling pictures and said there were more fish in these areas than he'd ever seen in all the other snorkeling experiences. (I'll take seeing the tiny ones from the safety of my nice float on top of the water!) There was a sunken boat and airplane out there too- He also saw a lady get bit by a fish, yowie! They'd been told that the fish were aggressive at feeding time and ONLY the lifeguards were to feed the fish. A lady asked for food and tried to feed them herself. The fish drew blood, YIKES!

We lost Andy at one point, only to find him napping in a shady hammock. Not to complain too much though, because I soon joined him! Lunch was great! The cooks from the ship come to the island to fix BBQ ribs, chicken, hamburgers and hotdogs along with tons of sides...and of course dessert! They also serve these, to die for, drinks on the island. They are called "Coco Loco's" and you can get them with or without "booze" as they say. I had two without, YUMMY! They are a combination of pina colada, orange juice, mango juice and something else I can't remember. More like a fruity smoothie and good stuff!! (Mom said just today, she sure wish she had one!)

We checked out the straw market too. They had super cute stuff and it was much nicer than shopping at the straw market in Nassau. There was a nice little area set up for it and it had great deals. I found a purse that I drooled over, but passed up. (a miracle in itself, only b/c I had gotten TWO the day before we left!) I got the cutest tank top with palm trees and swim suits hung out on a line.

After about 6 hours of fun and ALOT OF SUN...we were beat! It was time to return to the ship for rest, clean up and sadly...packing! You know the drill if you've cruised, have your luggage outside your room by midnight! Ick-

Nassau:
Part 2, Meanwhile Mom & Dad were----

While we were enjoying our morning trip, Mom & Dad were hanging out at the ship. As we returned, we ran into them leaving. They had an afternoon tour of the resort & casino "The Atlantis". Dad has been talking about this place for years! He was ready!!! They had a boat ride over and then a LONG walk to the casino, a little longer than the expected. They said it was gorgeous! They raved about the beauty of the entire place. They toured the huge aquarium where they said the fish were too big to describe. The biggest sting ray ever, that grow so big they have to be taken to the ocean in a crane. They said the casino was huge, of course. They were disappointed that they didn't just grab a cab over there themselves and spend the entire day. They are for sure ready to go back and tackle that place on their own!!

Meanwhile we returned to find lunch on the ship and head to the pool. There were NO PEOPLE at the pool, which was kind of wild. They were still on the island I am sure. (As people came back we heard wild tales of excursions people had enjoyed and shopping, shopping, shopping. We'd checked out the stores on our previous 3 visits and were sitting this time out!) We had the place to ourselves and got chairs next to the water. We spent the afternoon there, good stuff!!

Next thing we knew it was time for getting ready for dinner, it was formal night. Ugh- I like to get dressed up .. every tiny once in awile... it's just not my thing normally. I could do without the dress up nights on every cruise truthfully. We have talked about Norwegian's "free-style" dinning and may try one of those some time. No dressy clothes at all ever and you can eat when you want too, different times on different days. Anyhow.... we got ready and headed to dinner. We'd already asked and knew that lobster wasn't on the menu. This was another complaint of this cruise. It wasn't the end of the world, but just strange. Every other cruise offers a "lobster night" that Andy, Dad & I were soooooo looking forward too!! It didn't happen this time, sad! After dinner we rushed back to change into comfortable clothes! he he he---We were greeted back in our room by a bat, we'd never had one of those creatures before...cute!

We changed clothes and headed down for show time! This evenings show was called "Flash Back" and it was singing, dancing & video clips of the decades. It was fantastic!!
After the show Mom & Dad were off to the casino (again) and we retired after some walking around the ship (again). Man, we're getting OLD!! Though... it was about midnight...our first cruises we were all about staying up until the wee hours...now we just can't take it. I'm telling ya: old, old, old!!

Nassau:
Day #3 was spent in Nassau. Here is the first part of our day!

Andy & I left @ 9:00AM that morning for a visit to a small beach island called Black Beard's Cay. We had taken hours choosing an excursion that would be fun, but not cost alot. This trip was just $27 a person. It started with a 20 minute boat ride over to the little island. We arrived and were very pleased with how adorable the little place was!

We realized right off the bat that we were missing something awesome though. You could have added a "snorkel with the sting rays" to bring the price up to about $58 a person. I'm not a big snorkel person, so figured it wasn't worth it. As soon as we stepped off the boat though, I realized I was wrong. The sting ray side was roped off to one edge and from the dock you could see 100's of the swimming creatures. They were all sizes from tiny to HUGE! They were goregous. You didn't have to actually "snorkel" with them either, you could stand or sit right there in the edge of the shallow water and they were all around you. I watched them interact with the people for a long time, wishing I would have been brave enough to try it. We'll FOR SURE go back and do that one again!!! I also found out that the "Thriller" speed boat that we'd thought of riding, was another deal you could add. We'd thought of just taking the speed boat ride around the island. Who knew that for $68 a person we could have done the sting ray thing and rode the speed boat, arriving at the island in just 6 minutes! Man..... there's just one more reason to go back!

There were oodles of chairs along the beach, no worries of not getting one of those! There was a little bar where you got a free rum punch or free fruit punch just for coming, they had bar drinks as well as soft drinks to buy. There was a grille if you wanted to buy lunch there, a gift shop, fresh water showers, plenty of rest rooms, hammocks in the shade, a playground for the kiddies and water sports that you could do for an added cost. It was a great deal and we really enjoyed it. We spent about 3 hours there before it was time for our experience there to end.

At Sea~

Day #2 Was spent out on the deep blue sea. There was a storm coming into Florida and the surrounding areas, so we wanted to get as far away as possible. The captain said that he was going to switch our days around and keep us in sunshine! We were all for that! (Have I mentioned this all already? I forget-) After breakfast, we looked for a place to bake ourselves in the sun. It was swamped around the pool decks. My Dad decided to go off exploring on his own, not to be seen againf or half a day! Andy, Mom & I found some nice comfy chairs, in the shade with huge cushions in them. So.... we relaxed for a few hours.

Mom went to take a nap and look for Dad, so Andy & I found some chairs on the very very very tip top sun deck. It was soooooooo windy up there, I can't even describe it. But.... we baked ourselves and read. We detected a fabulous smell coming from around the pool and went to check it out. We found a big ole BBQ buffet, right beside the pool. So after stuffing ourselves and finding the lunch dessert buffet..... we were back in our chairs for a nap. Of course we took a dip in the pools a few times. They were huge pools and they had this entire shallow area (a little over ankle deep) all the way around that you could sit in and lay there. Very nice!!! Late that afternoon Andy & I went to the theater to watch "8 Below", good movie. Before we knew it, time for dinner was close by!

We got ready and went up to the top decks to watch as we pulled into Nassau. We would be there for the next 32 hours!! When you can see the "Atlantis" resort & Casino, you know you're in Nassau. It's actually on Paradise Island, a short boat ride or taxi drive (across the bridge) away. Time for dinner!! Hey, it's pirate night @ dinner, aye- no one told us that!!

After dinner we decided to skip the show & explore down-town. Now, we have been to Nassau 3 times before...we knew that the town SHUTS DOWN in the evening, unless you're there to PARTY and we weren't. Mom & Dad still wanted to look around, so off we went. After being followed by local scammers asking us if we wanted our hair braided, them to sing a song for $1 or trying to sell us shells & wooden flutes.... we decided we'd had enough and went back to the ship! After all, it was late night adult only comedy night and......the chocolate buffet. Here's the sad part....by the time the comedy show was over about 12:45 and we made it to the buffet....there was nothing left. In 45 minutes the other 2000 friends aboard had almost wiped it out!! We got one thing each and I cried! (Ok, not really..... but I thought about it!!) Time for lights out- Here's our towel friends for the night. Joe, our cabin steward, said we were special because of our anniversary....he didn't just make these swans for anyone! True enough, we'd never gotten them before~

~Bon Voyage~
Cruise Day #1!! We arrived in Port Canaveral early, they were just starting to board as we got up to the building. The entire boarding process went by very smoothly and we were stepping on the ship in no time! Being early down there is a good thing, we figured that out last trip!!

Of course Andy was waiting for that all familiar "lunch is being served on the lido deck".... It wasn't the lido deck on that ship, but a lunch buffet was waiting on us!! Let the fun begin!


We found our rooms and Andy was surprised to find our cabin all decked out in anniversary junk! There were blue & white bell streamers hanging from the ceiling along with big ole white wedding bells and congratuation hearts. There was a glittery sign on the door and yep, even a cake! Yay for 7 years of wedding bliss~




Of course after a few hours of wondering around and checking things out, we had that all familiar safety drill. What fun.....ugh! The weather was drizzly and yuck out there, so we were sent back to our rooms after checking in with our boat drill team captain. We were to watch the rest of the information on our TV....um....sure- We were told right off the bat that the Captain was working on changing our itinerary to keep out of rain and find sunshine! He did a great job with that! We ended up going super south and staying out of the mess on our first day, we spent it at sea. We could see clouds and rain in the distance, but he kept us in the sun!!! We flip flopped our days and still had the same cruise!


Our first night at dinner we met our waiter, Oliver. The food was fantastic the entire trip, BUT there was NO lobster night. Dad, Andy (who'd been talking about it for months) and I were all very disappointed about that! What's up with that?? We were also sadly surprised to find out that the wait staff didn't entertain us with a song and dance each night. We were cheated! The lunch buffets were good food too, but they were the same thing every day. There was enough to choose different things each day, but we still thought that was very odd. There is a pizza place on board for free, good stuff too!! There is also a Johnny Rocket's, you have to pay to eat there. It was $3.95 for anything and everything you wanted. Pay one time and stuff yourself: burgers, rings, fries, milkshakes, ice cream, whatever. We didn't get to eat there though, we just ran out of time.


The first night we went to the "Welcome Aboard" show where we saw singing & dancing by the show staff and laughed our hineys off with the comedian. (Who was to later return for an adult only comedy show later in the week) Mom & Dad went off to throw some money to the slot machines while Andy & I retired early!

EPCOT

We left on Saturday, the 10th. We arrived at Shades of Green to find our room was thanfully, once again, on the golf course with beautiful views. Just a few rooms down from last time! We could sit on the balcony and watch people tee off to one side, or watch their entire play on one par 3 hole. (With the green right below) Pretty awesome! We had dinner at the buffet there at the resort and went to bed rather early, preparing for a new day!

Sunday, the 11th was spent @ EPCOT. We arrived about 9:45 that morning, ready for fun. EPCOT is my Dad's favorite park, so he chose this time. It was THE VERY last day of the Flower & Garden Festival and we were happy about that. I thought Bambi & Thumper were pretty cute. We headed towards our left in future world and rode Test Track first thing. The stand by line was about 15 minutes, can't beat that! As we wondered on the rest of the day, we found that 15 minutes was our longest line. We rode everything, saw every show & every movie there. We had everything done by about 6ish that evening. The crowds were super low. The only thing we didn't do was Soarin' and I was ok with that. The stand by line was super long and they were out of fast passes. No biggie though, I'm still half way afraid it'll make me sick. I'll do it~ eventually. The weather was great. We'd expected high 90s and it was nice to find that the clouds kept it in the low 80's. We didn't melt and can't complain a bit. There were a few sprinkles, but we didn't get wet. I found some $68 perfume in "France" that I wish I would have bought. I spent the entire next week of the vacation (and even today) sniffin' the little paper that I put it on. Of course I have no idea what the name of it was and will have to go back to find it someday. Man, I shoulda just bought it while I was there. The smell is fabulous!!

In honor of cruises: Past, Present & Future!

Here is just one of our past trips!



(We went on a cruise last May, September & this February so far) The September trip was the Disney Cruise! WOW...by FAR the MOST beautiful ship I've ever layed eyes on: inside & out. I love the classic look, it's like the ocean liners of the past and takes your breath away. The others beauty does not compare! The characters were so much fun to have around all the time, the pools and adult areas were fantastic and their island...there aren't words. I hear that the other ship lines private islands wont begin to compare, I can imagine. I took this picture and to me...it looks like any postcard I could have bought. Amazing that I can get my own perfect shot. What a place!!! It's worth the entire trip, just to experience Castaway Cay!! Someday we'll go into debt and do the Disney 7 nighter! The food wasn't our favorite part of this ship, the dinning room rotation was pretty neat though. We loved our first ship on the Carnival Fantasy to the Bahamas for 4 nights too, it was soooo much fun! The food was great and the activities were fabulous! Then there was the trip on Carnival's Glory to the Virgin Islands, 7 nights! Wow!! That trip was perfect, all the way around!! The ship was HUGE and had so much to do, the Islands were the MOST GORGEOUS place I've ever been (and can't wait to return), 7 nights was so relaxing, the food was ...wowie zowie!! The chocolate buffet, man...what more can a girl ask for?? All 3 trips so far have been awesome, each with their own favorite points!


Here is the present ship.


We leave Monday actually (though we'll be @ Disney from Saturday night-Monday) for our 4 night cruise to the Bahamas. We'll have a day @ CoCo Cay, their private island; Nassau and a day at sea. The ship is called Sovereign (sp?) of the Sea and it's a Royal Caribbean ship. This will be our first RC, it just worked out to fit our needs this time. We leave on the 12th, which is our 7th anniversary. Neat huh? We've only spent one other one together in those 7 years, Andy's usually out of town. (Without me!) We're taking my parents as most of you know; on their first cruise. They are so excited, but nervous. It's so fun to watch them get excited!! The next blog you see from me, will be the update!!



And looking to the future~


Of course, we're planning our next already. We've been looking all week at where we want to go next. Our first plan is the week of & after Thanksgiving. We want to go to Mexico: Cancun &/or Cozumel. I've been to each place once, Andy's never been. We also want to see the Grand Cayman Islands while we're there. We're working out the details. I think we may actually skip Disney (*Gasp*) and leave from Tampa. We could go to Busch Gardens for a day down there, Andy's never been. I don't remember my trip from when I was little. We'll go with Carnival I'm guessing, we get a military discount with them. We've had fantastic experiences on their ships as well. (Not the "party ship line" that people have heard about, nothing like that!) If November doesn't pan out, February will. We're going somewhere in February no matter what, if we get to go in November or not. We LOVED having a trip that month. It's nice to leave the cold behind and go somewhere warm & beautiful. It breaks up the boring, dreary winter months and was perfect!!



And there you have it- our past, present and future cruising! If you haven't gone on one, you must!! You'll become addicted too! Best wishes & God bless until we return! Talk to yall next weekend!!

Top 5 Products of the Day:

Yes, I'm down to 5 for today.
It's late, I'm tired and I need a life!

5. This book, I finished the other one. Now I'm onto this one, it's the last one in this series until the next one comes out later this month.

4.Watermelon. I always pick terrible ones, I hate that. Today though, I hit the mother load...so to speak. I picked a great one! The "wee one" I keep & I ate it for lunch. (Ok, not all of it...but we ate alot!) YUMMY!!

3. My new mouse. Ok, I've had it a few weeks now. This isn't it actually either. I was sick of the little one on the lap top and I bought a new wireless one. It's awesome! It changes colors all the time. It has lights inside and it changes from red, blue, purple, green, orange, pink and yellow all the time...lit up! It's pretty darn neat!! And it makes life easier~

2. Our treadmill. I am back to walking 2 miles every day, I had quit there at the end of school when things got nutty. I feel pretty good about it too, it's not super far..but it's moving! Andy runs 7 almost every day, grrrr... BUT... I'm moving. Let me continue to confess... I've gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks, since school ended. I'm so upset about it....before the cruise too, GEESH! (Remember I lost 30 last summer & fall) I still have 30 more to loose and that gained really makes me sad. So... I must start moving more during the day, sitting in front of this thing on my rump isn't working out to well. Ok...vent over- It's my blog .... I can whine if I wanta!


1. Yep, red luggage! (Did I spell that right? It looks odd!) Anyhow... We got it last May, for our first cruise (the 2 week adventure to Disney & cruising) We have the whole set and boy has it come in handy! I am thankful that it's sitting...packed...waiting to be zipped and ready to go. It reminds me that we're headed OUTTA here and I'm so excited!! I bought black ribbon with white polka dots to tie around it. WHY? B/C a very fiesty woman tried to steal our luggage at the claim area last trip. I had to show her TWICE that our names were on the tags. Then I had to argue with the porter who thought I was being a bully. Geesh! So.... I bought this ribbon (so it'll all be UGA colors mind you!) to tie around it. I'm gonna wrap it around twice; horizontal and vertical and tie a big ole bow. Yep, silly...but it'll be ours obviously. Now that, you'll have wait to see!!

Top 10 Favorite Items of the Day:
(Keep in mind this is just a list of today's favorite)

10. A new book to start this evening.

9. Glade air freshner new scent: Hawaiian Breeze!!Wowie!

8. 2 new Chairs on the front porch that my Daddy bought me, the perfect height (tall) to sit in and see over the front shrubs and into the yard & cul de sac!

7. The treadmill, that really does make me feel like I've done something worthwhile today when I use it!

6. Long round squishy pillow that makes my back feel so much better when I sit in this office chair in my office/scrappy room way too long ~

5. The tanning bed, because without going to the lake (not one single time so far this summer/spring) I'd be pasty white- ick!

4. TV which is keeping me totally entertained with useless junk...for example the Discovery channel show on "Graceland" that I watched with way too much excitement earlier today.

3. The $5 clearance HUGE pillow I bought at KMART about 4 or 5 months ago. Had it laying behind the chair in the living room..to use if we had too many people over and someone needed to sit on it in the floor. I finally got it out and layed it at the door to my scrappy room/office and Gizmo is eternally thankful! He LOVES it!!!

2. The brand spankin' new DVD recorder we got at Target for just $88 earlier this evening. We didn't have one that records and I'm sooooo excited!!!

1. My laptop which lets me waste hours daily, keep informed on current events, find all sorts of answers to life's questions (or my wierd ones anyway), keep in touch with friends and share all of this exciting stuff with yall'...

Reading:
It's my favorite thing to do! If you know me, you know I spend way too much time with my nose stuck in a book. My Mother always had a book in her hand growing up, so I blame it on her. Now, we share the obsession together. Thankfully I have a few friends with the same obsession who don't think I'm totally off my rocker. It takes me to places both imaginary and real, it introduces me to characters who amaze me. It's a break from the every day and even sometimes is educational. I love children's books (I own hundreds, possibly thousands), romance novels, mystery novels, Christian novels, Christian living books, funny books, sad books, true story books, biographies and sometimes things in between.

I thought about trying to make a list of my top 10 or top 20 favorite books, can't do it! I thought I'd make a list of my top 10 or top 20 favorite authors, that would be hard too~ There are so many. So.. instead I just share a list of favorite authors and some of their favorite books, in no particular order!!

-James Patterson: (See picture) He's amazing. He writes mystery novels. (a few thrillers and even a few romance books) His style is awesome! I read his books so quickly, the chapters are always just a few pages long and I can't put them down. His "Alex Cross" series (a few are also made into movies "Kiss the Girls" and "Along Came a Spider") are fantastic, but then again everything he writes is!

-Barbara Parks: She writes for children, 8-12ish I'd say. Her "Junie B. Jones" books are hilarious. I buy them all, the day they come out! I read them in 25 minutes and usually laugh out loud, more than once! My Mother also reads them- If you want something to make you laugh, pick up one!!

-Eugenia Price: Oh she was a classic! Her historic romance novels are fantastic. It was amazing to read them back in high school and then actually took a few trips to visit the places from the novels. (a few being Savannah & St. Simons) We saw the churches, farms, cemetaries that were written about and it was awesome! The "Savannah" series is my favorite!

-Debbie Macomber: Ah romance, who can't get enough?! The "A Good Yarn" books are one of my favorite sets! Along with "16 Light House Road", start with one of those!!

-Sarah Graves: Mystery (funny mystery!) She's a hoot and I have our niece to thank for introducing her books to me this past Christmas!

-Fern Michaels: Ahhh romance, she is the best! The "Texas" books are my top choice for her! I love her series books, she is a dog lover and often has great doggie characters woven into her stories. I appreciate those! "Pretty Woman", "Plain Jane", "Family Blessings" are just a FEW of my other favorites-

-Robin Jones Gunn: Christian Fiction- I've just discovered her and she is making me smile and warming my heart. Making me want to look at things in a whole new light. Her "sisterchick" books are what I'm reading. "Sisterchicks do the Hula" may be my favorite, but right now I'm reading about them on a cruise "Sisterchicks in Sombreros" and it may be my favorite when I'm done!

-Richard Paul Evans: Fiction, fantastic! Great stories!! "The Christmas Box" books are awesome!! "A Perfect Day", wow!! "The Last Promise" double wow!! Great great books!!

-Nicholas Sparks: Oh man, Fiction. Some romance thrown in!! "The Notebook" very well could be my favorite all time novel. I've read it oodles of times. The movie, bring the tissues! Holy Moly!! I watch it over and over....Ryan Gosling is the best Noah!! Wowie! "Message in a Bottle", "A Walk to Remember"...man all of them are serious tear jerkers (and those are the ones made into movies)

-Janet Evanovich: If you read at all, enjoy a good laugh and a mystery. READ ONE! She is so darn hilarious. The "Stephanie Plum" books, starting with "One for the Money" is the best!! Now, WARNING: Her language is TERRIBLE!!! I mean TERRIBLE!!! But, get past that...and you'll laugh every time! All of her other books are equally as good, the characters are fantastic-

-Jan Karon: Christian Fiction. The Mitford Series is a must read for any "reader". They are great and will make you laugh with their small town stories and heartwarming humor!

-JK Rowling: Who hasn't read "Harry Potter" yet? I couldn't figure out what the fuss was about until I started reading them, good stuff! They are a little harder for me to read and take me longer than my typical reading. The world being "fantasty" and the vocabulary is not your every day! They are awesome though and I can't believe there is only one more coming! And I think when I hear parents who wont let their children read those...do your children play pretend, dress up, make believe? That's what it is, a fictional world...let your imagination roam!

-Ann B. Ross: "Miss Julia" oh...Miss Julia is a hoot! Her series is great!! Christian Fiction and super funny stories about another small town lady who finds herself in all sorts of insane situations!

-Ann Brashers: "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"...I thought that the movie and book was going to be "cute" and maybe I'd enjoy it a little. I saw the movie first and WAS HOOKED!! (Matter of fact saw it 3 times in the theater!) Awesome!! Now the book differs are little, but it's equally as awesome! There are 3 books now and I'm on pins and needles waiting for the 4th! They are written for teens mind you, but I love them!

-Emily Grayson: romance..."The Gazebo" and several others, super sweet!

-Fanny Flagg: southern fiction..."Fried Green Tomatoes" ring any bells? That's her! There are other books too, try them!

-Robert Fulghum: "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten", that's his first. It's awesome, funny short stories to make ya laugh! He has other books too and they are all equally as entertaining!!

-Mary Kay Andrews: Southern Fiction and could be on my top 5 list now! I just found her and am obsessed with her books. "Hissy Fit" is PRICELESS!! If you live in the south, READ IT! She's a little, um spicy too in her words (READ: SUPER BAD LANGUAGE)...but hilarious!

-Dan Brown: Only this past week did I actually read "The DaVinci Code". Wether you agree or disagree is pointless I think. It's fiction mystery. He says that "this book is fiction". If you enjoy a good treasure hunt mystery, this is a page turner. I read the almost 450 page book in a day! I can't wait to re-read it. I saw the movie and it's awesome and can't wait to see it again too. I am ready to start the actual "pre-quel" to it.."Angels & Demons".

-Suzanne Brockmann: romance fiction ..start with "Heart Throb" it's the first in a series about Navy Seals, macho men, what can't be great about that??

-Haywood Smith: "The Red Hat Society"...Southern Fiction and so darn funny...I hope that my friends and I have half as much fun at their age as they do!!!

-Rob Scotton: a new found favorite children's author, "Russell the Sheep" if you have a child under age 7, buy this book!! Super cute and the illustrations are AWESOME!!

-Eric Carle: "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and all his friends....every Eric Carle book rocks for kids!!

-Don & Audrey Wood: "The Napping House", you have small kids? You have this book? Right?! If not GET IT!!

-Giles Andreae- "Giraffe's Can't Dance", "Rumble in the Jungle", "Cock-a-doodle-doo" and all the rest...great stuff!!

-Laura Numeroff- "If you give a moose a muffin" and all the rest, great great great books!

-Shel Silverstein- Poetry for elementary age kids, fantastic! "A Light in the Attic", "Where the Sidewalk Ends", every kids library should have these books...and "The Giving Tree"..a children's short story - oh man!!

-Jon Scieszka- "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs", your kids MUST have this story!! It's a hoot and always a super favorite of my kids at school!!

-Iza Trapani-"Mary Had a Little Lamb" is my favorite, but all her books are awesome. The story extends from the one you know, they are super cute! Classics, get them all!


********Ok, I will draw the line there. If you made it this far, you're a saint for sticking in there. Or..did you skip down to the colored section and cheat?? I didn't include all of my favorite adult authors and didn't scratch the surface good of my favorite children's authors! But, who is going to read this entire rambling anyways? No one! (Ok, Misty if you find this you will...only b/c you share in my obsession!) Still...there it is....all laid out for ya...Just in case you get the itch to pick up a new book!************

100 Days without 4 year olds:

How strange is that? I have to say that I am so ready for an entire summer laid out before me. The only plans we have are for our 2 night Disney stay (Shades of Green & going to EPCOT I think) and our 4 night Bahamas cruise (CoCo Cay & Nassau) which all starts on June 10th with my parents. This will be only the 2nd (we think we were together the first) anniversary that Andy & I have spent actually together. He's usually traveling on June 12. So, we're looking forward to that!! It's the parents first cruise and they are so excited. Typically, my Mother is totally and completely packed!! (It's still almost 3 weeks away)

We hope to make it to the mountains for a long weekend this summer, not sure if that will work out or not. My Mom and I don't have our girl trip to the beach on the books yet. If we miss it (again) I will be very upset. Last year we didn't go b/c my Granddad was still so sick. We had been going every year for the past 12 or so up until then. We'll see I guess.

I will keep the wee one this summer some. I imagine it'll be like last summer and only work out to a couple of days a week, which is great. I'm sure there will be lots of lunch get togethers, swimming, pottery painting, movies, putt putt and board games involved in our days togehter~ I plan to fill the other days with way too many books, movies,over extended periods in front of the laptop and meaningless TV! I'm also going to work on scrapbooks and cross stitching too!!

Wooo Whooo Let the laziness begin~

Funerals: I hate them! What brought this on you ask? Last weekend my great aunt died. She was 91 and had a fantastic life! She wasn't sick until just a month ago when she started having mini strokes. It was making her not herself, she fell and broke a hip, in the hospital had another mini stroke and passed away. I HAD to go to the funeral home last Saturday evening and then the funeral on Sunday. I am afterall, the only grandchild. This was my Grandmother's sister, I was expected to be there.

Here's the deal... My Grand daddy is a southern baptist preacher, I grew up going to weddings & funerals. Each of my Grandparents on both sides had HUGE families and were super duper tight, I went to funerals through them too, all my life. I would have nightmares about it and my parents couldn't figure out why. Well, think about it.... all these people....gawking at a dead body.....a funeral with some people having howling breakdowns... What do you expect? I have had an intense fear of funeral homes my entire life!

Some people (namely my immediate family members) think I am a bit cold hearted and rude. It's not that, I feel a deep loss for people who have gone to heaven! The closest losses to me being my 2 Grandparents and Andy's Mom (He'd lost his Dad before I knew him). I feel great loss. The thing is, I believe in heaven. I know that these family members were saved by a loving God who promised them that once they'd accepted him, they would spent eternity in Heaven with him. What could be better?

I have meltdowns, I'm not "in human". Seeing old blue & white trucks like my PawPaws send me into a tizzy, smelling green beans cooking makes me miss MawMaw and I almost can't take it, thinking of all the things that I can't share with my Mother in law make me so very sad. The thing is, I don't mind having my meltdowns in my own time.

I made the decision a few years ago to stop going into the room with "the dearly departed". I can't get the image out of my head once it's there. The last time I saw my MawMaw I had been there to visit on a Friday night with a great friend of mine. (Jeff Collins, God love ya!) We said goodbye on the side porch like always and I hugged her. There she stands, in her little mumu style house coat. That's the vision I have and I treasure it so closely!!! The last time I saw PawPaw was in the funeral home laying in a casket looking pasty. It's terrible and I have to concentrate to think back to before that time. It's not like the person lying there is going to say their goodbye, they're gone. I believe your last breath on this earth is your very first in Heaven. (If you've taken care of all that with God before hand!)

So here's my deal.... when I'm gone..... throw a BBQ. (Ribs if you will!) Invite all my friends and family there. Have a great time. Play upbeat music really loud! (a mix of contemporary christian, 80's, southern rock, country and a few oldies thrown in) Talk about that dork Monica and stupid things she did every now and then. Enjoy yourselves, that's what I'll be doing~

Kitty Witty:

Might as well wrap up the furry critter talk with Kitty Witty. Kitty Witty came to live with us in.... oh gosh....we've had him for.... um......4 or 5 years, I forget. Andy had just rescued another dog (that we had for 3 years before he died of old age) recently and knew that my policy was "No room in the Inn"... So he comes home from a class in Atlanta one day with a lump under his jacket. I knew then we were in trouble. Kitty had lost his Mom and had been squished in an automatic door of the building Andy was in. (Or this is the story I hear) He was only a few weeks old and TINY!! He had to be fed milk with an eye dropper. It was a long road and we weren't sure he'd ever make it. He did though, boy he did!!! He was the most frisky, wild, playful and MEAN thing you've ever seen. For years.... he would pounce on your head in a heart beat!! (I know this from experience!! Seriously, pounced on my head several times) He would love on you and purr...then....when you least expected it....he'd slap ya silly. Thank the Lord he grew outta this naughty stage and is now a loving loving loving cat!!! He spends all day asleep in various places, eats and cuddles all evening... then goes out for the night. We're pretty convinced he has another family that he stays with all night where he also sleeps, eats and cuddles. (He was gone for 11 days once and returned looking none the worse for wear!) He's demanding and knows where food & treats are. He will put his paw in the cabinet and bang the door if he wants something from you...he WILL NOT...stop until you comply!! He & Gizmo have a love / hate relationship. They can be peaceful or fight, it goes both ways. We love Kitty Witty, he runs our house sometimes... and we're often known to cuss at him... but he's a big ole part of our big happy family!!!!

Gizmo!

Don't want to leave Gizmo out. Where do I start. He is a shih tzu, very big for his breed though at about 14 pounds. He was a gift from my best friend Amy, another fantastic friend Scott and Amy's parents as my graduation present from the University of Georgia. I got him a few months before graduation and he lived with us in the apartment in Athens. He is now 9 years old, hard to believe. He's my baby without a doubt! He' s very very very rotten and it's not just because of me! My Mom calls herself "Granny" to this dog!! Often when we travel she comes to stay at our house with him so that he wont have to be boarded. He has more toys than some kids I know! He acts like he's wild and full of energy when you first meet him. He loves to be petted, play fetch and have "running fits". WHEN HE'S IN THE MOOD! Otherwise, he's a furry lump who sleeps!! Currently as I am sitting here online and have been watching TV in the living room.... he's already in our bed snoring! Yep, he snores!! And yep, he sleeps in our bed. (Right in the middle of Andy's pillows when he's gone! Shhhh... don't tell him that!) He has health issues too, wouldn't be ours if he didn't. He has major allergies and has to have allergy shots every 6-8 weeks. Without them he scratches non stop, makes his hair come out and makes himself bleed...not pretty!! He's also a grouch with me & Andy when he wants to be. The old saying that the dog wont bite the hand that feeds him, HA! He's bit us both!! (Never guests, don't worry...just us!) He's stubborn as all get out and pretends that he's deaf when he's doing what he wants!! He's also the most loving thing to me, a loyal companion, hates to see me cry and loves to snuggle! God love him though and his quirks.... we do!!!!!