Unusual Winter & Cookies

This has been such a strange winter, especially for Cleveland! We have only gotten about 3 snows, and none have lasted more than a few days because it just hasn't stayed cold enough! No complaints here, but I was kinda hoping for a last big snow before we move back south. Oh well... It's been easier to keep the house clean! :)
Yesterday was a long day. I worked at 2 facilities, and I didn't get home until about 7:30 last night. I had promised my patients some cookies, so I went to work in the kitchen and made Puffy Vanilla and Peanut Butter Chip Cookies. OH. MY. WORD. They were gone within about 10 minutes of me walking in the door this morning!

I try to take in goodies about 2-3 times a month. My patients love little happies, and I love being the one to make their day! Hope everyone had a good week... I'm so ready for a restful weekend!

Back to Reality

After being home for over a week now, things have finally started to settle down. But don't get too excited, it won't last long. This weekend we slept in and watched basketball. Matt went with a friend to shoot his guns, and he was gone most of the day Saturday. So, I had some relaxing time getting a mani-pedi! Sunday was our day to get things back in order. We went to Target, Giant Eagle, got gas in the vehicles, and most importantly, saw The Hunger Games! I cannot wait until the next movie. It was awesome!

Matt is traveling right now. He has worked so hard in school and with his new internet retail site. I am so proud of him! 

Check his site out here!

Me... I've been working. And working. And working. We are getting ready to head back south for good! WHOO HOO! May can't get here fast enough!

Some of my Faves

I just wanted to share a few more pictures from our cruise... These are some of my faves!

 Having some quiet time laying out!

 Look how fake those smiles are... hahaha

Matt wrapped me up in the hammock in Mexico...

HAHAHA! This is what Matt thinks about another picture.

 Zak and his mermaids...

 We had tapas and wine before dinner at Vintages.

In Central Park headed to dinner.

Ahh... the wide open ocean...

Days at Sea

If you were to ask any of us what our favorite part of the trip was, you would get the same answer. The boat. It was big  huge. It had a park, a promenade, a boardwalk,  2 rock climbing walls, and 25 dining choices, which include cafes, buffets, pizza, Johnny Rockets, and nicer restaurants, like Giovanni's Table, Chop's Grille, and 150 Central Park.
Get ready for a picture overload!

 Central Park was a garden on the 8th deck of the boat. It had shops, such as Coach and Britto, and restaurants, like 150 Central Park, Park Cafe, Chop's Grille, and Giovanni's Table. Each restaurant was amazing, and the wine selection... ahh!

 The Royal Promenade was on Deck 5. Shopping, Pizza, Shopping, Cupcake Cupboard, Shopping! It was the "go-to" place for just about everything!

 The boys frequented the casino a few times, and then they were cut off. By me.

 The Boardwalk was awesome! Ice cream, Hotdogs, Carousel, face painting, Johnny Rockets, Aqua Theatre, Rita's Cantina, Rock Wall... fun, fun, fun!

I LOVED that Chicago was on the ship! How cool is that?? I had to d-r-a-g the boys to see it, but there was booze, so they weren't too upset about it! 

My favorite thing at night was getting back to the room and finding a cute little creature waiting on us! Our stateroom attendant was from the Philippines, and he was so cool! After I told him I loved the animals, he made an extra one for me the last night... Macho Man!

Thursday and Saturday, Zak and I caught the Syracuse games in the On-Air bar in the Promenade. Go CUSE!!!

 My puppy with his St. Patty's Day hat on!

 I took a cupcake decorating class, and I had SO. MUCH. FUN. My little puppy turned out to be the best in the class! I was so proud... and it was so good! :)

I think we found every bar on the boat... there are probably 12-15 of them! We really enjoyed the piano bar and sports bar. Matt actually danced with me one night... so fun!

We went to something every night on board. This was an adult scavenger hunt... but kids were allowed! Our cruise director, Ken Rush, hosted and it was fabulous and hilarious!

 Matt and Zak enjoyed several games of ping-pong while I was at the pool or in the shade reading my book! They also tried out the Flow-Rider and Wave-Rider. I got some good laughs!

 Dreamworks characters made several appearances throughout the week. My favorite was Shrek, of course!! We also saw Madagascar, Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda, and other characters!
I will probably do one more cruise post for our memories, but I promise this is the longest one!

Excursions

We took advantage of everything we possibly could on our trip. The first stop was in Haiti on Tuesday...

We didn't have anything planned for this stop, but we got off the boat and explored the island a little. It was a beautiful day! We found a little roller coaster thru the trees and the sights were amazing. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to have cameras, so I don't have any pictures to share. After the coaster, we headed back to the boat for lunch and exploration!
See the Dragon Tail Coaster Here

Wednesday, we were up and ready early! Jamaica was just as beautiful as we remember from our trip to Montego Bay in 2006.

We took a bus ride about 45 miles from Falmouth to ride the Bobsled Coaster and climb the Dunn's River Waterfall. To get to the Bobsled, we rode a chair lift and, again, had amazing views of the country. The Bobsled was a little disappointing because it was the exact same ride as the Dragon Tail in Labadee! It was still lots of fun! After the ride, we had a buffet lunch with jerk chicken! Then we headed off to the waterfall! It is absolutely beautiful! I didn't take my camera, and we didn't buy any of the $50 pictures they took... LOL! 

See the Waterfall Here!

Friday, we woke up in Cozumel, Mexico! We had a busy day ahead of us... We went spelunking. We took a boat ride over to Playa Del Carmen and headed to the Amazing Secret River. No cameras were allowed in the cave, and they wouldn't have turned out even if we could have. It was dark. There were bats. There were spiders. I was not excited. Until we started making our way thru the cave. We walked and swam... and laughed at the Japanese people who kept hitting their heads. 

See the Amazing Secret River Here

 After the cave experience, we were free to shop around and have lunch. They provided us a snack at the cave, so we opted for drinks at Señor Frogs. We were sad this was the last excursion, but excited for a day at sea to relax before heading back to the real world!

More on the trip later...