Little Sahara


Little Sahara
Originally uploaded by Chavaneth
Chad is out in Waynoka Oklahoma. Heard of it? I sure hadn’t! Mom and Gene took their new pop-up out for a test drive and Chad was more than willing to volunteer. We have sand dunes in OK! So as I type this – Chad is riding a 4x4 buggy out in the sand. He took this picture of the sign, which I really love! Mom isn’t fairing so well – she is puking her guts out. It’s a sad sad tale but it made me laugh as she texted the details to me. She said I can laugh since she laughed so hard that day on the beach in Jamaica.
So I wanted to share my ‘Day on the beach in Jamaica’ story.
It was a beautiful rum filled day. Of course I was enjoying the rum, but I found out very quickly that my mother was REALLY enjoying the rum. Vanessa wanted to snorkel. So Papa Gene took us up to the rental booth and we rented 3 snorkels and masks. With much anticipation we walked down to the beach. The water was chilly since it was winter time – but our bodies adapted quickly when we jumped in the water. The waves were hitting hard and we had that extreme sinking feeling as the water cleared the beach area and rushed back out into the ocean. Vanessa was nervous because the waves were so big. I was trying to hold her and put on the mask and help her with her mask and tell her how to breathe thru the tube and clear the mask of water and BAM! A wave hit us. Vanessa somehow with her little 50 pound body, was able to stay standing. I, on the other hand, tumbled head over heels. I quickly lost orientation and I wasn’t sure where I was going to land. Those powerful waves set me very nice and neatly on the beach – and then the ocean sucked all of that water back in, leaving me lying on the beach with absolutely no water. And no swimsuit bottoms. Lying on my back, I began wriggling my suit up as fast I could. But in wet sand and a mild state of panic, it is nearly impossible. Next thing I know – I am tumbling in the water again. Surprisingly, all I can hear is my mother’s laughter. She said all she could see were my feet sticking up out of the water! Luckily for me, the second wave brought me a good 10 feet closer to the line of vacationers lying in their beach chairs – and yet I am still wearing no swimsuit bottoms.
This time I am less subtle – planting my feet in the sand so that I can lift my butt up to pull my suit on. Seriously! I didn’t think I could take another crash of the wave or my mother’s cries of “it’s the alcohol laughing!” Vanessa was traumatized so we did not go back out to snorkel.
Now we’ll see who really reads this stuff!

Ire Mon Rum Party


Hit by a wave
Originally uploaded by Chavaneth
This was in Montego Bay, Jamaica. When you are on a ship - they have an "Excursion Desk" with a huge book of activities you can do when the boat docks at each port. In Jamaica we chose a Beach Party! It included lunch, a nice beach, a chair, and tons of alcohol :-) The kids had a great time - can you tell? But there were a lot of drunk people (no one in our party uhem)
They also had a professional photographer who took some fabulous photos. I chose the 6 best. Well - maybe there were about 4 more fantastic shots of that silly Vanessa girl but who needs ANOTHER gorgeous picture of her? Not me. And she is OVER it. If we aren't talking about what a great soccer player she is - or how smart she is - she doesn't wanna hear it. So we pretend she isn't cute and move on.
And speaking of cute. That baby boy of mine. Oh my. I think I'm in trouble. My heart turns to jelly when I see those dimples. So anyway -there are more photos - go ahead - click thru - I know you want to :-)

The Cruise was a smashing success!

I have posted all of the pictures from my camera - we still have all of the pictures from my mom's camera, as well as the professional photos to share - but I thought you might want to see at least some of them now! So here they are! I hope you enjoy them almost as much as we enjoyed posing for them! :-)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chavaneth/sets/72157623586501378/