It doesn't get much better than this

D and I never got to take the quintessential honeymoon that so many of our friends got to take. We had so much going on at the time that it wasn't doable much more than a few days at a local bed and breakfast. Still? Our marriage has been blessed beyond measure and we lead a very happy and good life.

The past few years we have both worked very hard to have the things we have and do the things we do. Just the same, we rarely stop working to have what most people call a "real vacation." Last Spring, we got to thinking about how important it was for us to continue to be invested in the quality of our life and our relationship and decided to take the plunge with booking a week long cruise to the southern Caribbean and WITHOUT Miss A. It was all a really big step up for us and we anxiously awaited the big trip.

When the time finally came for us to ship off (literally!), Miss A went down to spend the week with my brother and sister-in-law and their three daughters (all five years and under!) for a "Cousins Camp." Can't say we didn't miss her very much over the course of the trip (I cried probably 4-5 of the seven days we were away because I missed her so much), but I will say that we quickly learned how nice it was to be able to have a sampling of kid-free time where we could go wherever we wanted, keep whatever agenda we pleased, and (BEST OF ALL) finish books and take naps in the middle of the day that were hours on end without any interruption. It was AMAZING.

For this trip we cruised with Royal Caribbean out of San Juan, PR and sailed to Curacao, Aruba, Dominica, and St. Thomas. We did snorkeling excursions in Aruba and St. Thomas and a guided rainforest trek to a waterfall in Dominica. Shopping was awesome in Aruba for both locally made items as well as duty-free jewelry (we got a beautiful cross on a chain for Miss A for her to wear for church and other special occasions) and the food and produce was delicious fresh in Dominica. Every day we had was proclaimed as the BEST and our very favorite day was the last one in St. Thomas when we got to snorkel with sea turtles, sting rays, and some locally known (and kept secret!) coral reefs with the excursion company Bones USVI. We HIGHLY recommend the excursion to anybody who goes to St. Thomas and we will totally go back there and do more excursions with them again someday.

"Caribbean cruise"

It was our first cruise but it certainly won't be our last. On the list (so far - ha!) of cruises we'd like to take in the rest of our life are the Mediterranean (with at least one stop in Greece), Alaska, down the coast of Asia, and cruising with Holland America, Princess, and Disney even though Royal Caribbean (and the food, accommodations, entertainment, and service) was TOPS!

Monday D and I are back to work/school but we will definitely be dreaming of the Caribbean until our next cruise!

There's no place like home

Hard to believe but D and I just got from a solid week of living like this...



We got home after midnight last night and today is our last official day off before the school year starts for us tomorrow. After working all summer long, we planned a vacation of a lifetime with Royal Caribbean cruises to go island hopping around the southern Caribbean. We were able to go to Curacao, Aruba, Dominca, and St. Thomas. The above photo is all I have (for now) to share and it was taken on our excursion (that was our all-time favorite!) while we were snorkeling in St. Thomas. I will hopefully have more to share soon if I can get the pictures of my memory card safely as our home computer was hit by a trojan and it's the only one with the right sized card reader that I have access to right now. I should probably be able to pull the other pictures off once I go back to work tomorrow.

Until then we are going to hang out and soak up lots of time with Miss A!!! We went a week without her and we feel like we need to make up for lost times!

Do you see what I see?

Yes. I know. Where have we been?

Because here's the thing... it's supposed to be summer and we (as teachers) are supposed to be NOT working. But as God has called it to happen, we have done everything but that this summer!

D and I have both been very hard at work at the summer program for school-age kids that my school runs. And I'll tell you what! For as much fun as it definitely has been, it's definitely been an unbelievable amount of hard work as well!!

The good news is that respite (for us) is coming soon enough but for now? We're still plugging away. This week, for example, we are hosting two of our nieces for the week and they have joined us at camp! It's the first annual "cousins" vacation that my brother and sis-in-law have worked with us to make happen as all of us have many fond memories of summer memories chock full of fun with cousins.

Miss A has been L-O-V-I-N-G-LOVING all of this time with her cousins (less one who is still too young to partake in the tradition and the excitement is so much for her that she's been up to some pretty silly antics that we have never seen before.

Take this, for example...


Miss A put herself in there and though it might appear like she is a deprived child without a proper playroom, she's got plenty of room to "roam" and play but she absolutely insisted that this was the way it should be!

I guess she just had some "business" that she needed to conduct *ahem* PRIVATELY!!!




Don't you love it? I just love it!! She's a hoot and a holler that one!

My favorite kind of experiment

I work predominantly in acrylic paints because of the quick drying and ease of clean-up. Still, it doesn't seem to satisfy my appetite for painting.

Enter water-soluble oil paints.

I've been wanting to try out water-soluble oils for way too long but just haven't gotten around to it. It's kind of like being a Canon user (which I am) and considering the jump to Nikon - it's almost too expensive to do or justify doing once you're invested in one way so much. Well, I finally stopped making excuses for why not to just go for it all and I got myself some Van Gogh H2Oils and I cannot tell you how much I love them!!!

This painting is just an abstract of a flower field that was really just meant to quickly cover up an old and outdated piece I did for master bedroom and try out the water-soluble oils. It started out as a relief sculpture/painting using good old fashioned tape and I just couldn't get it all to work out so I just ripped the sculpturing off and want at it as just a painted piece. I'm completely happy with it and can't wait to dig into another (more serious piece) now that I have a better hang of the water-soluble oils. Not sure what I'll do next just yet but I'm excited about getting some more colors and paints already.

She's the next American Idol

I have no idea what song she's singing but - trust me - it will be climbing the pop charts soon enough...

BTW - Sorry new material has been so scarce around here. We've been having some technical difficulties as some pictures and videos have not been able to upload at all. I'm thinking it's a problem with blogger more than the pictures so I'm going to keep trying to get everything up within the week - we're backed up a good 3-4 posts!