2017

Happy 2017!

Apparently, I forgot I had a blog last year! Life is keeping me busy!

I'm still working weekends at the hospital. Next week, the adolescent unit closes and I become an adult pscyh nurse. I'm not thrilled.

Since September, I've been working 2 days a week at the outpatient mental health clinic that is about 3 minutes from home. It's much different than inpatient and I like it a lot.

I'm ecstatic to be finishing up my BSN in May. My next career goal will be to study and become psych certified. That should happen over the summer.

A photo from our summer 2016 cruise on Anthem of the Seas

Isaac turned 10 in July. He's still on swim team and playing cello in the school orchestra.

Mark recently went from overnight oncology to evenings on pediatrics.

We've had minimal snow this winter. Today was a late start due to rain and ice.

Happy New Year.

The first month of 2016 already ends tomorrow! Time seems to fly by so quickly.

We had some snow earlier in the week, but high 30's towards the end of the week melted a lot of it off. They are predicting a big storm to hit Monday into Tuesday and then last through Wednesday. 6-12" of snow is the latest I've heard. We'll see what happens.

The caucuses are Monday and I will be glad when they are over. In fact, I'll be glad when the whole election is over. I'm tired of the mail, doorbell ringers, emails. phone calls. I'll vote in November, don't worry. Keep pestering me and I may just vote for the other party.

Term 3 in my BSN program is a bit aggravating. It's nearly identical to what we did last term, including some of the same papers. Who thought that this was a good idea? (I'm procrastinating working on it right now!)

I'm ready for Spring Break (no plans) or June when we fly to NJ and cruise for 9 days.

Closing out 2015.

Maybe 2016 will be my year to blog! Life gets busy and things, such as this blog, get neglected.

What's happened this year:

*I started my BSN program through Upper Iowa University. Projected graduation date is May 2017.
*Mark graduated with his BSN and took an oncology nursing position at the same hospital where I work.
*I went to Florida in September with my mom to visit my aunt and her family.
*Isaac was on a summer swim team, which led to trying out for the local swim team. He swims 3 nights a week now.
*My sister came home from a 6 month deployment in May.
*We went on a 7 day cruise in March for spring break. (See posts)
*We took a quick trip to Las Vegas in June for our "summer" vacation.

May 2016 find you healthy and happy!

I'm awful

Well apparently this blog has gone neglected again. Life is busy!

School ended, we went to Las Vegas for a few days. Isaac had swim team 6 weeks this summer.
I worked a lot. My sister came home.

School started. Isaac is in 3rd grade and on a new swim team. I'm currently back in school to get my BSN. Mark graduated in April and has been working on the oncology floor since June.

I just noticed my pants are inside out. *Sigh*

I need a nap.

some photos

I finally got the photos off my camera!

Jamaica and Grand Cayman

Tuesday morning, we were at port in Falmouth, Jamaica!
We had nothing planned, other than to get off the ship and walk around. We went to Jimmy Buffet's "Margarativille" almost as soon as we got off the ship.
It was a fun place and we were able to connect to wi-fi and see what was going on in the world!

I found out my friend Jessica had her baby boy the previous day! That was exciting!

We ate then just walked around a bit. We did a little bit of shopping, buying a couple souvenirs and then got back on the ship. I spent the afternoon on the 5th deck, reading a book. It was great! It was quiet, warm and there was a nice breeze. I sat on a deck chair with my shoes off, my drink next to me and watched the waves in between pages.

That night, we knew we needed to plan for the next day. In Grand Cayman, they tender you in. That basically means that the water is to shallow for the ship to dock so they bring a boat out to you and give you a ride in. We were up early and got breakfast and ready to go so we could get off the ship in a timely manner.

We were some of the first off and onto the first boat for tendering. It was a full boat! At 9 AM, it was already quite warm sitting in the sun. It took maybe 15 minute to get to shore. There were 6 or 7 other ships waiting to be tendered also.

Today was the day we were snorkeling!!! Excited to say the least! We had our snorkel gear and were ready! We found our group and then we were walked maybe 3 blocks to the bay where we got onboard the boat. The captain and his wife were from Honduras and their assistant was from Grand Cayman.

They took us out to a sunken ship in the bay. Apparently, many years ago, it was coming from Honduras or somewhere and sprung a leak. It was hauling.........
a whole lot of rice! there were some well fed fish that day, I bet!

We were able to swim right over the ship and see the fish swimming through the ship and the rocks and everything. The water was so blue! It was very salty though. It was amazing! After a while, we all got back onboard and then they took us to a reef. They were throwing bread out for the fish so as we were jumping in the water, all these amazing fish were swimming through. It felt like you could reach out and touch them! I tried!

All in all, I fell in love with snorkeling! And Grand Cayman! I joke with Mark that I want to move there in 10 years!

After we were finished, we walked back and got on the boat to be taken back to our ship. We showered and went to dinner.

Isaac swam some in the pool that day, we went to a show that evening. FUN!!

Spring Break 2015

How can it be that Spring Break has come and went?
Mark and I started talking about a cruise back in late October or early November. He had found a great deal on a week long cruise out of New Orleans during spring break. (Luckily, he and Isaac shared a spring break!). So, without telling Isaac about it, we got our passports and planned and counted down.

We bought snorkeling gear and took Isaac swimming at the high school so we all knew what we were doing if we ended up snorkeling on the trip. All the while, Isaac was still in the dark. In fact, he had no clue until about 10 days before we left!

We left Ames about 10 AM on Thursday to head to New Orleans. It was about a 16 hour drive and we wanted to take our time and make sure we could be in a hotel to watch the ISU men in the Big 12 tournament. We stopped for the night in Cape Gireadeau (?) MO. Nice place and we had Steak and Shake for dinner! Watched the Cyclones that night in our hotel room!

The next morning we headed out and continued south. Rain. Rain. Rain. Seems to be the theme when I drive on our road trips! LOL It was a long, boring drive. We drove all day and stayed the night in Hammond, LA which was about an hour from NOLA.

Saturday morning, we took our time leaving as we figured we didn't want to wait forever at the port to get on board. Well, it took us about 2 hours to get from where we stayed to the port! The traffic going into NOLA was HORRIBLE. Slow. It took over 30 minutes to go .8 of a mile. Yes, .8 of a mile!
The parking for cruises in New Orleans was/is awful. I can see how that would contribute to Royal Caribbean pulling out of there! We drove around for 30 minutes trying to find a parking space, as the GPS kept trying to take us to a closed road. FINALLY found the parking garage and got parked. Rather than wait for the shuttle, we decided to walk the 2 blocks to the port office. Walked over there with a fellow Iowan/ISU fan!

By the time we went through the port and getting checked in, I think we were on board the Serenade of the Seas around 2 pm. We went to our room, dropped off our carry ons and headed out to find some lunch. We landed in the Windjammer, which was the buffet restaurant.

We met our stateroom host, who was super nice and sweet. She showed Isaac how his bed folded down out of the ceiling. He became very attached to her over the course of the week!

Around 4:30, we finally pulled out of New Orleans. It was a slow ride down the river! Apparently, "pilots" come on board to get the ship down the river to the Gulf.

We were able to watch the Big 12 Championship game in our room before dinner! What a finish! I'm sure our neighbors heard us hollering! We went to the main dining room for dinner the first night. It's the "fancy" meal, where you aren't supposed to wear shorts, tank tops, etc.

Sunday was a cruising day. Isaac spent time in the pools, the kids club for a bit. Mark and I wandered around the ship, getting the lay of the land so to speak. Monday was more of the same as it was another day of cruising.We went to a show that evening that was music from the 70's through the 90's.

Tuesday morning, we woke up and were in Falmouth, Jamaica! Our first port day! We didn't book any excursions so we just got off the ship and went to the shopping area.

More to come about our next few days.....
And pictures since I haven't uploaded off my camera yet!