Intentional Living
Travel & Vacation: Last Day at Sea
The entrance of Windjammer always had cool food carvings. Usually there were too many people or we were trying to meet up with people so I didn’t stop to take many pictures. The girls insisted that I take one of the motorcycle!
It was nice to have the last full day on the cruise at sea. Since we had to have all our suitcases packed and out in the hall after dinner we just squeezed in some packing time around all the fun activities that we wanted to do for the day. We got to do some of the activities we hadn’t been able to do earlier in the cruise like rock climbing and ice skating.
Nicko wanted to go to the Fisher Price Little People movie so Lee, Nicko, Grandpa Russell, Grandma Penny, Jake, Brina, Karlie and I went to the movie. You can’t see the girls because they sat near the front and I was in the back row behind Nicko. It was cute and the kids really liked it.
Looking out over the Royal Promenade through the glass elevator during the day
Curtain at the evening show on Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas
The musicians on stage
Comedian riding a unicycle with a 6 year old kid (from the crowd) on his shoulders
Singers and dancers at the Farewell Show. How do they dance so well in 3 plus inch heels?!
Farewell Song from a group of staff members. They had servers, room attendents, musicians, and more!
Brina and Karlie swinging for the last time. At the end of the Farewell Show Karlie burst into tears, she was so sad the fun week had ended. She said it went by too fast and she had such a great time she wanted to keep on cruising. She decided she wasn’t ready to go back to school or chores. Poor kiddos, it’s always hard when a fun vacation comes to a close. Thankful for the opportunity and all the fun memories we created throughout the week.
Looking down on the Royal Promenade at night through the glass elevator one last time. The girls love all the lights on Main Street at night!
Karlie holding back tears while Brina is ready to get moving again as they walk over the glass bridge and down the Royal Promenade one last time!
The “Travel and Vacation” series is an insight into our trips together as a family and ways we relax. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Explore with a good attitude, look for fun, and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
Travel & Vacation: Rock Climbing on Independence of the Seas
Lee made it to the top and rang the bell! WooHoo! He made it look so easy and went up several times that morning!
The final full day on the boat we spent at sea. We had a lot of fun climbing the rock wall, going to a movie with Nicko, ice skating, swimming, going to the show, and so much more. The only thing that we did that wasn’t exciting was pack our luggage because we were heading home the next day. I didn’t get any ice skating pictures because we were not allowed to take the cameras on the ice.
Nathan made it to the top! Yay Nathan!
The girls were proud of Grandpa Russell for ringing the bell too. Way to Go Grandpa!
Karlie ready to go rock climbing wall
Brina was content watching all the family members climb the rock wall.
Brandon, Amber, and Nathan ready to go rock climbing
Brandon heading up the rock wall
Amber heading up the rock climbing wall
Lee and Amber both climbing up the rock wall
Grandpa Russell watching the rock climbers. Brina giggling at Mommy, I had just spilled one of the drinks because the cap wasn’t screwed on all the way (Brina thought it was pretty funny)!
Karlie listening to the instructions from the worker before doing the climbing wall
Karlie heading up the rock climbing wall
Brina all smiles peeking out at me from the basketball court. Is it windy B?
Karlie going up the rock climbing wall. She didn’t make it to the very top but she did get a good ways up and tried it twice.
The “Travel and Vacation” series is an insight into our trips together as a family and ways we relax. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Explore with a good attitude, look for fun, and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
Travel & Vacation: Cruising with the Family
Snapping a picture of Jake from across the table
After a fun full day at Labadee, Haiti swimming in the Aqua Park, zipping down the giant water slide, and time at the beach while some people went parasailing. We enjoyed some evening activities on the boat after our great day at Haiti. That night the girls ate lobster, tiger shrimp and steak for dinner. They had a grand time hanging out with the entire family.
Karlie was so happy! She got her own lobster tail (and she eat it all)! 🙂
One kiddo down during dinner….it’s been a busy day!
Singing “Happy Birthday” to Amber! Happy Birthday Amber!
Singing “Happy Birthday” to Josh! Happy Birthday Josh! Amber and Josh got an awesome piece of cheesecake in celebration of their birthday.
Family at evening dinner
Zach and Nicko hanging out at the table
Leo all smiles
Karlie Kool Kat
Hanging out with my sweet nephew!
Do you see the girls in this picture? They are on up a floor higher than us.
Intentional Living: Weekly Goals
Last week was busy with Jake being out of town part of the week in Charleston and special events I think we were only home together one night the whole week. Hoping this week is more productive for me.
Last week’s goals
Family Goals
Read By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls– finished and they are ready to start the next one!Read Imagination Station: Voyage with the Vikings by Marianne Hering– read most of this book while in the doctors office with the girls and finished the rest later that evening
Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night beforeDaily School Activities & Homework CompletedAttend After School ActivitiesPlan one special Activity with the FamilyPrepare for the Girls Birthday
Personal Goals
- Exercise at least 5 days this week – didn’t do 5 days
Drink 8 glasses of water each dayStart with my new YouVersion plan(s)- Finish reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp – paused reading this book because another took priority, hoping to read more this week
Finish reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan- going through this book with a group of friends
Home Management Goals
All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day- Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week – Jake was in Charleston or had other events in most of the evenings, we had a special event with the girls one night too so the menu just didn’t get done
Pay all upcoming bills
Business Goals
Work on ideas for upcoming blog postsKeep up with the day to day items that need my attentionWork completed for clients
Ministry Goals
Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or LunchWrite and Send Out Community Group EmailEmail a meeting notes for Alms & Legs Ministry Team meeting
Financial Goals
For my February Grocery Budget I am replacing my typical Groceries $40 for 4 with my Life Simplified: No Grocery Shopping in order to use up some extra items in my fridge, freezer, and pantry.– I finished up over 7 weeks of No Grocery shopping, we are starting to low on a few items so I will need to make a grocery run soon- Payoff the Van – made a payment this week
- Pay medical bills in full – paying on them
- Complete 2012 Taxes – working on it
My goals for the upcoming week
Family Goals
- Read The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls (Book 6)
- Read Imagination Station: Attack at the Arena by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker (Book 2)
- Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
- Daily School Activities & Homework Completed
- Attend After School Activities
- Plan one special Activity with the Family
- Celebrate at Girls Birthday Party
- Volunteer One Day at Girls School
Personal Goals
- Exercise at least 5 days this week
- Drink 8 glasses of water each day
- Continue my YouVersion plan(s)
- Finish reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
- Finish reading Overcoming Dyslexia by M.D. Sally Shaywitz (someone gave me this to read)
Home Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
- Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week
- Pay all upcoming bills
Business Goals
- Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
- Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention
- Work completed for clients
Ministry Goals
- Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
- Write and Send Out Community Group Email
Financial Goals
- Groceries $40 for 4
- Payoff the Van
- Pay medical bills in full
- Complete 2012 Taxes
I think it is important to share and encourage each other as we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. I want to live intentionally not just hope all my dreams and goals come true. When I focus on small steps of improvement I am able to see results as I get closer to my goals. Some weeks I get closer to the goals I have in my life and other weeks a take a few steps back (life happens, emergencies occur, people get sick). Once the goals are written down and shared it provides a guideline for what I aim to accomplish this week.
Why Share My Goals?
- To keep me accountable
- To share a piece of my life with you as I strive to be a better Child of God, Wife, Mom, Friend, Homemaker, Entrepreneur and the many other roles I have each week
- To have my goals consistently written down so I can gauge progress more accurately
- Create healthy habits in my life
- To encourage you to share your goals with me as you continue to grown and learn
How did you do this week on your goals? Feel free to share or link to your list of weekly goals.
The picture above is one that I created for my own purposes, however, The “SMART” acronym was originally coined 30 years ago by Peter Drucker in his classic work, Management by Results.
Laugh When You…
Travel & Vacation: Spending Time with Our Family
Someone’s looking pretty chipper first thing in the morning. Karlie loved that her bunk bed was above ours so she would lean over when she woke up to see if we were awake yet. Most days she was up at 6 am and ready to go!
We most of the day in Jamaica but later that afternoon and evening we had fun on the boat. It was a more relaxing day, we played cards by the pool while the kids swam, talked, walked around, did activities, and went to the Love & Marriage show after the kids were in bed for the night.
Relaxing and playing cards with Josh, Dad, Mom, Lee, and Jake on the pool deck while the kids were swimming. The girls realized we were by the “Sprinkles” ice cream machine playing cards and stopped swimming long enough to have an ice cream cone.
Karlie on a mission!
Brina pushing Nicko in the stroller down the hallway
A guy from the table next to us brought over glow sticks for the kids. Nicko loved his!
Sweet Karlie girl
Brina enjoying her dessert
Eeek! There’s a bat in our room! The girls reassured me that it was okay because the bat was really just a folded towel. They thought it was pretty cool!
The Royal Promenade was all lit up at night. It looked beautiful. This is one end of it. It had stores and restaurants on the main level and room balconies overlooking too. They head a couple different dances, parades, and various activities at night in this area too.
The “Travel and Vacation” series is an insight into our trips together as a family and ways we relax. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Explore with a good attitude, look for fun, and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
Travel & Vacation: Dinner and A Show
Brina listening intently to the conversation…completely forgetting that it is not ladylike to put her knees up on the table!
We spent the day heading over to Grand Cayman, exploring the island, taking a boat ride out to swim with the stingrays and snorkeling. After we were back on the ship for the night we went to the Family Arcade Night, ate dinner, and went to the evening show before officially crashing for the day. It was a fun day packed full of wonderful memories for the entire family!
It was a super fun filled day. Karlie crashed for a power nap in her seat at dinner. Although she did perk up again when they brought the dessert menus around. 🙂
Happy Birthday to my little brother Josh! It was great getting a chance to celebrate with him this year. Earlier that day we went swimming with the stingrays so that’s not something we get to do everyday!
Nicko enjoying his dessert, a chocolate chip cookie. Watch out for Cookie Monster!
Karlie all smiles and now awake!
Nicko decided to try and pick all the chocolate chips out of the chocolate chip cookies. Too funny!
Daddy and his girls heading to the show!
They got front row balcony seats with the birthday boy – Uncle Josh
Travel & Vacation: Adventure Ocean’s Family Arcade Night
Found a fun one to play together!
Earlier today we were able to take a ferry off the boat to visit Grand Cayman Island, explored the island, took a chartered boat ride, swam with the stingrays, and snorkeled. When we got back to the boat later that day we had fun with all the activities on the ship. The older four kids really enjoyed the time they spent at the Adventure Ocean’s club specifically for kids their age. Normally, when we took the kids to the club activities you had to walk through a room full of arcade games (which you had to pay to play).
Tonight they had Family Arcade Night and all the games were free. Yippee! Since the girls had been wanting to play a few of the games we figured it would be a fun activity for them. They had a blast playing the games both by themselves and even a few together. It was a lot of fun having the girls with us on the cruise this year. We were able to do some different activities that we had never participated in while on other cruises. Little activities like this were a lot of fun for the kids and parents both!
Brina concentrating on her game
Look OUT Karlie!
Brina Bee playing a racing game now!
Karlie is concentrating hard and Brina looks concerned (maybe Karlie is about to crash!)
Daddy and Brina playing a game together!
Teamwork!
This one just makes me laugh! Brina and Karlie playing an arcade game together.
Travel & Vacation: Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas
Our ship was the biggest one that stopped at Grand Cayman today
We have been on three Royal Caribbean ships in the past few years. The Independence of the Seas is the biggest one that we have been on. I didn’t realize how big it was until we stopped at Grand Cayman next to several other boats and ours was the biggest one. The girls enjoyed looking at the other boats too, they spotted a Disney one as well as one that had a face. Since we couldn’t dock directly at the Grand Cayman Island we took a ferry over which gave us a chance to look at all the other neat boats that day.
Look Mickey Mouse is in the Grand Cayman Islands! The Disney ship was right next to us when we stopped for the day. It was smaller than our boat, but they did have a pretty neat horn (instead of a horn it played Disney music).
That circular piece in the top left of the picture is actually a hot tub hanging out over the ocean. Yes, when we were in it I was thinking about how far it would be if we dropped!
We were in a water taxi looking up at the boat. You can see how little the people look on the balconies. The yellow items are the life boats. Thankfully we never had to use one!
Our big boat – Independence of the Seas
A view as we are leaving the boat and heading to Grand Cayman. The little ferry boat beside ours holds 200 people and it looks so tiny.
Passing in front of the boat, I wouldn’t want to get in its way if it was moving!
The girls thought this boat was pretty funny next to us at port because it has a face. The eyes and lips are awesome!
A view of our boat next to the Disney one from Grand Cayman’s shoreline.
The “Travel and Vacation” series is an insight into our trips together as a family and ways we relax. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Explore with a good attitude, look for fun, and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
Bouquet of Fresh Flowers
Bouquet of flowers from my girls
My girls know how to warm my heart. Last week we spent some time with extended family in Vermont. Jake’s grandpa has a green thumb and when we first moved into our house he brought down some of his iris bulbs from his garden. Every year the girls pick some of PopPop’s flowers and bring them inside to make a fresh bouquet for a counter top. Here is a picture of one of the bouquets they brought to me a few months ago. Thankful for my girls and their little tokens of their appreciation that brightened my day. Grateful for Grandpa for sharing his beautiful flowers so we can enjoy them every year.
