Family Fun: Adventures With Our Cousins
Cousins hanging out at the park together!
We had an opportunity a few months ago to spend some time with Jake’s sister and her family. The girls were in school during their stay with us but we still found plenty of time to have fun. It was great having an opportunity to hang out with them and create new memories, especially since it will be quite awhile before we can get together again.
Oh MY…..your lips look different today…..Silly girls with silly mouths!
My cute little kitchen helper!
Noah helping with the “science” experiment! Loading up the ingredients into a Ziploc bag.
It’s going to blow!!!! We did an experiment with baking soda, water, and vinegar inside Ziploc bags. When we sealed the bags they bubbled up and they popped! The kids really enjoyed doing this one.
Travel & Vacation: Orange County Kabini, India
Matt & Jake in an intense game of ping pong
The kids taking an evening swim in the kids pool before heading back to the hut to crash.
In the evening there is a tribal dance put on by people from the local village. It was fascinating to watch them. I was having a hard time getting a picture that wasn’t blurry. Between the darkness, fire, and constant movement this was the best one I could get of the men who came to demonstrate their traditional tribal dance.
Massive tree at the resort! If you look closely you can see Jake and Matt standing in front of it.
Travel & Vacation: Beautiful Orange County Kabini, India
Brilliant bright orange -red flowers found near our hut at the Orange County Kabini Resort
Orange County Kabini captivated my attention with the all the beauty around us. Even though there were a number of families staying on the resort it always seemed peaceful and relaxing. Whether you were walking along the cobblestone paths lined with beautiful flowers, going for a swim, or mesmerized by the colorful sunsets there was plenty to see.
At Kabini there was a kid pool and an adult pool! The adult pool was right next to a huge tree and it looked out over the Kabini River.
View from the other side of the pool. It was a peaceful place to swim.
Funky tree stump by the Kabini River.
Massive ant hill! Now that is one you don’t want to step into, although it was fascinating to see!
Want to relax in a hammock under a huge tree? You can relax in the hammock as you watch the kids swimming in the pool.
Pretty lavender colored flower at Kabini. Not sure what it is called but it reminds me of a small thistle.
Swimming in the pool and watching the boats cruise by on the Kabini River.
Sunset at Kabini
Calm, peaceful and beautiful sunset
Enjoying the last few minutes of the sunset at Kabini
Orange County Kabini was a beautiful place. There were plenty of fun activities as well as ways to relax. It was great having a chance to soak in all the amazing things at Kabini from a relaxing swim to a brilliant colored flower to an amazing sunset. What a wonderful place to visit on our trip to India.
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: Elephant Ride (Orange County Kabini, India)
Jake & I on our first elephant ride
Elephants are amazing creatures! If you would have told me at the beginning of 2012 that I would be traveling to India and taking a ride on an elephant I am not sure I would have believed you. Boy, how a few busy months can change and new adventures happen right before our very own eyes.
It was an awesome opportunity to travel to India earlier this year. Jake and I not only got to see elephants up close our both of our Boat Safari and Jeep Safari, we got to touch one, take a ride on an elephant, and give an elephant a bath! How COOL IS THAT?!!!
The kids and Matt going for a ride on the elephant.
Taking the elephant to the water for her bath. Bathing an elephant is a new experience for all of us.
Whose ready to help give the elephant a bath?
How often do you see a sitting elephant?
The workers are getting the elephant to sit then lay down in the water so we can help give her a bath.
Splashing water on the elephant to rinse her off. She seemed to really enjoy the bath. I bet it felt great to have the cool water splashed on her after giving everyone a ride.
This was the best part of the bath! The workers asked to see if anyone wanted to get up on the elephant one last time at the end of her bath. Of course the kids volunteered! Right after they got onto the elephant she reached her trunk down into the water and flung it up over her head spraying them with water. The first time it took all of us by surprise, but before long everyone was wanting a turn. This picture of Erica and Michael getting sprayed by the elephant
Rachel & David getting sprayed by the elephant
It was so neat being able to touch, ride, and interact with an elephant up close. The elephant was big, gentle, and well behaved. I wonder what it would be like to have a “pet” elephant (I know the girls would love it)! Thanks Matt and Jen for showing us amazing place and sharing this experience with us. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to take the girls for a ride on an elephant someday.
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!
Book: “Never Sniff A Gift Fish” by Patrick McManus
I was thinking about the books I have read over the past few years and decided to chose one that is a little more “unique” from some of my other recommendations but nevertheless I have really enjoyed reading Patrick McManus books. Never Sniff A Gift Fish by Patrick McManus is one that we have at our house. The author has a way of making you laugh sometimes until your sides hurt. He is funny and his short stories are great to read. We have had his books in our magazine racks for years and I cannot count the number of times people have borrowed or taken the books for a short period of time to read them. I am looking forward to reading them to the girls soon too. A lot of his stories have to do with outdoor adventures, kid mischief, and fun. Each chapter is another short story. Some are more hilarious then others but there have been times I have had tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard. Life is short so why not have fun. If you haven’t read one of his books you really should, you’ll enjoy some extra chuckles reading the adventures in his books. As the warmer season comes upon us it makes me think of camping and reading his books around a camp fire, great memories! Patrick McManus actually has several books if you prefer one of the other ones instead:
Vacation: “Cruise Adventure” on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas (Part 2, Pictures)
We talked a little earlier this week about our cruise vacation on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas!
Now we would like to share a few pictures of our adventures on board the ship that week!
Our Stateroom on the cruise! Our stateroom was great! They had plenty of shelves and spots to put items away. It had the most comfortable bed I have slept on in long time. Jake and I are still trying to figure out how we can get that bed with the rocking motion of the ship so we can sleep soundly again!
Sitting on the window sill in our stateroom! This picture was requested by our girls. I did one last time and they wanted another window seat picture. The beautiful scenery behind me is Puerto Rico.
Playing Put-Put in the dark on the top of the ship. Go Amber! We played Put-Put or Miniature Golf in the dark and wind. They had plenty of lights and music going. Thankfully no one lost their ball but we had a few close calls!
Glass Coffee Table looking down the centrium of the ship (13 floors) It was pretty amazing looking down through the coffee table to the centrium. A couple brave people laid across the table but their pictures were too dark with all the lighting beneath them. It wasn’t an ideal place to linger if you don’t like heights.
Race cars on the wall by the "Pit Stop"! Karlie loves Matchbox cars so she liked this picture! Karlie LOVES Match box cars so we took this picture for her!
Jake checking out the night sights with the binoculars! Jake checking out the sights with his binoculars. It came in handy several times during the trip. The walkie talkies were another great investment especially since we were traveling with a group.
Formal Night with my "sparkly" dress B & K helped me pick out! Our first formal night on the cruise. It was fun to dress up, go to dinner and a show with my man!
Every night after dinner our room would be cleaned, bed turned down, and we had a towel friend to welcome us back (tonight was a Swan) The towel animals were a special treat in our room every night. Sometimes they were on the bed and other times they were hanging up in the room. Little gifts from our stateroom attendant!
Indoor Pool in the Solarium with Jake on the bridge over it. The indoor pool and Solarium was really neat. Full of plants, a pool, cafe and more. The pool was really neat especially at night when the ship was moving because you could see the waves rolling back and forth in the pool as the ship rocked.
Outdoor Pool deck at night! The outdoor pool was always surrounded by numerous people laying out to work on their tans.
Dad, Josh, and Jeremy playing pool on the Self Leveling Pool Tables in the Safari Club, pretty neat! The self leveling pool tables were pretty cool. It was a hit with our group after dinner. I even played a couple rounds!
Amazing food - Ice Sculpture & Fruit. Love the fruit monkey climbing the palm tree. The food was simply delicious! The best part is I didn’t have to cook or clean all week. Love the fruit monkey in the tree.
Dolphin carved on a Watermelon Talented watermelon carvers on board. These looked awesome and they were the displays!
Swan carved into a watermelon The swan was beautiful. The detailed carving on these and other watermelons was really neat!
A rooster made out of veggies! The rooster made me laugh. I have never seen someone turn vegetables into a rooster before, very creative!
Our awesome waiter Noel balancing a glass of water on his head while dancing. Noel was an awesome waiter. He was positive, pleasant and entertaining. Also, he offered a lot of great recommendations on what to do during our days on the islands, several times that proved very valuable!
Elephant towel by our pillow that night. The elephant was so cute standing next to Jake’s pillows. Our stateroom attendant did a great job keeping the room clean and was always helpful with any questions we had. We only watched the ship and activity information channel on TV but since ours wasn’t working we ended up getting a Flat Panel TV in our room by the second day. The maintenance guy said you would be amazed how many people actually spend the entire cruise in their rooms watching TV. So thankful Jake isn’t that way because we had a blast exploring islands, learning, on adventures and meeting new people.
Plant full of lobster tails for our table! Delicious! Noel brought our table plates of lobster tails since everyone ordered lobster one night. It was wonderful. The girls were ready to go with us just for the lobster and seafood we ate during our cruise!
Jake and I after dinner and the show! Our second “formal” dinner night. Jake and I had wonderful time having fun and relaxing together. It was great traveling with family yet having some time alone as well. Lots of fun memories!
Beautiful fresh flowers!Two things I love about this picture - their window sill seats all over the boat and Amber's pirate shirt! Fresh flowers were distributed throughout the ship. The islands had the most beautiful plants. Loved it!
Pool Volleyball - Crew versus Guests Outdoor pool in the daytime. They are having a Pool Volleyball competition between the Crew and Guests. Not sure who won the competition but we watched a couple rounds.
Going down the ship's water slide! They had a water slide on the ship. Yes, I had to go down it! Actually I think we went down it 3 or 4 times. If you look behind the people standing at the railing you will see the ocean in the background.
Jake and I with our server for the week, Noel! Awesome! Noel was an excellent waiter. He even came by our breakfast table the morning we were leaving to say goodbye to our group. If you go on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas request Noel as your waiter, you won’t be disappointed!
Long hallway of staterooms! This picture makes me laugh because it really is a long hallway with rooms on both sides. With that being said we never seen or heard anyone in the rooms next to us (well except for Jeremy and Amber, but that was because they were part of our party).
"3526" our Stateroom! It was a wonderful week packed full of fun activities and great memories. Jake and I had a blast and look forward to our next vacation traveling. Next week I will share with you a little about our adventures in Puerto Rico!
A Vacation To Remember series is a reflection on our recent trip and ways we relaxed. 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. Go with a good attitude and looking 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!
Vacation: Swimming with the Turtles in Barbados
Swimming with the turtles was an incredible experience! This guy was so close several times I could have reached out and touched him! On our sixth day of the cruise we had the opportunity to visit Bridgetown, Barbados. Today was one of my favorites because we were able to relax together as a family and we were able to experience some amazing new adventures for the first time. Like many of the other Caribbean Islands we had visited on our trip Barbados was a plantation culture, cultivating primarily tobacco, cotton, and sugar cane. The English settled Barbados after the Arawaks were gone with the primary agriculture crop being sugar cane. They built an amazing defense system of 26 forts along the coast of Barbados. Barbados gained their independence from Britian in 1966, however, the British influence remains evident. There are a lot of great activities to enjoy while on the island of Barbados from touring the wildlife reserve to seeing the home of the Green Monkey to snorkeling with turtles, sting rays and more in one of the great locations around the island to shopping or relaxing at the beach. Barbados had beautiful turquoise blue Caribbean Island water that you could look down and see to the bottom of the ocean floor. It was a great place to swim, snorkel, and see all kinds of neat sea life.
We had a more relaxing day planned in Barbados. It was our day to spend at the beach swimming, jet skiing, snorkeling, relaxing, and more. I didn’t learn as much history about Barbados since we basically took at taxi ride from the boat to Blue Monkey beach (which is not on the tourist map if you go to Barbados but I highly recommend the beach). Jake, Amber and I swam out a little further from the swimming area and had the opportunity to swim with turtles, sting rays and a variety of other fish. It was such a neat experience looking down or beside you and seeing a turtle or sting ray swimming right next to you. There were several times I could have reached out and touched the turtle. I am thankful for the water camera we had (thanks honey) with us so we could share these pictures with Brina and Karlie. We have had fresh water turtles at home before but to swim with one in the ocean was a memory that I will never forget. I do have to admit the swim out to see the turtles, sting rays and fish was easier then the swim back to the beach. If you decide to go to Blue Monkey Beach and swim out a little further to snorkel on your own I recommend you take at least one or two other people for additional fun and to have someone to swim with you.
It was nice spending time swimming and relaxing at the beach for several hours. Another activity we did while were were at the beach was ride on jet ski’s. We had three jet ski’s with Lee and Becky, Josh and Amber, and Dad and I riding on a jet ski. After being out for only a few minutes we looked over to see Amber hanging off the jet ski quickly followed by her and Josh crashing, it was an interesting to watch. We found out that flipping a jet ski in the ocean was not a simple task, but we managed to get it back upright. It took us a little bit to figure out how to steer with the waves and not crash but by the end I think everyone had a better handle on it. I think Lee and Becky were the only ones that didn’t crash their jet ski. Dad and I felt the jet ski tipping over one time and bailed off so we didn’t have to flip it back over in the water. We had fun racing each other. You can get the jet ski’s going pretty quick. Bouncing off the waves, feeling the wind in your hair, and the spray of the water hitting your face was a lot of fun. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed speeding across the ocean on a jet ski. Having an opportunity to experience the adventure with family made it even more memorable.
If you ever have a chance to go to Barbados check out Blue Monkey Beach and what it has to offer. The jet ski’s were a little more expensive but we only had to paid $5 to rent a snorkel mask to swim out to the turtles and sting rays. Here are a few facts about the beautiful island of Barbados:
- Capital: Bridgetown
- Population: 254,000
- Climate: Temperature 75F to 90F year round, typically 8+ hours of sunshine a day
- Geography: Caribbean Island – 21 miles x 14 miles. Barbados on the West & South have the calm Caribbean sea and beaches. On the East is rugged cliffs and the Atlantic Ocean
- Language: English (with a broad dialect)
- Currency: Barbados Dollar (US $1 = BDS $2)
- Time: GMT (no daylight savings time in Barbados)
A Vacation To Remember series is a reflection on our recent trip and ways we relaxed. 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. Go with a good attitude and looking 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!
Fact information received from Barbados.org
Book: Better Homes and Gardens
Grandma Willa gave me this cook book – Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book as a wedding gift and we use it all the time. Grandma Willa is one of the most amazing cooks I know. I am thankful for the times we had cooking together. Grandma is still cooking a lot of meals for family and friends but due to distance I am not able to participate in her cooking adventures as often as I like. Below is the note she put in my cook book, which I treasure even more then the cook book itself:
What’s Cooking?
Bridgette,
My Aunt Zell Body, gave me a BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS cook book as a Wedding gift. It was my first and faithful cook book, and I found it to have many helpful hints as well as great recipes.
I and the girls wore one out, and almost the second one over the many years. If I couldn’t find something, needed to substitute, know cuts of meat etc….. I’d go to old faithful BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS. I hope this new version is as good or better than my old one was.
Happy Cooking!!!
Love,
Grandma Willa
“And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” – John 6:35
Free eBook: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
You can download a free eBook The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for your Kindle. The price to download is currently $0.00 (although the price may change at any time, please confirm amount prior to downloading). The ebook is specifically for Kindles, however, you can click here and download the free application that allows you to read Kindle ebooks on your PC.
