Spring Break in the Bahamas!

Spring break this year was planned with a trip that I found as a "good deal" but as always we spent more than we wanted to. We got a real cheap 5 day cruise in the Bahamas. We went to the ports of Freeport on Grand Bahaman Island, then on to Nassau, then on to Norwegian Cruise line's private island called Great Stirrup Cay. We got a reasonable flight but that meant we had to go to Ft. Lauderdale Florida early and stay an extra day on the back end. We planned a scuba diving trip in Key Largo and an Everglades tour while we were in Miami. We had a great dive and I felt the most calm that I have ever felt. Unfortunately, when I surfaced the 2nd time I made the mistake of blowing my ears to get them to clear and ended up bursting my left ear drum and breaking blood vessels in my right. That meant the rest of the cruise, no more scuba diving, no swimming pools, no ocean, no wave running....shucks!! But Taylor and Karl had fun in the water. We had a great time, eating and playing and eating, and exploring and eating and more eating. (Here comes the diet!)

More Alligators

On the Ship Norwegian Sky

The Norwegian Sky was an older ship but nice. We rated it under Princess and Holland America. But we had fun.

Grand Bahama Island

Here are some pictures from Grand Bahama Island. It was not as beautiful and a long way from a beautiful beach, but we made it over to Lucaya Beach and had a little fun.

Here's our favorite port: Nassau

The town was beautiful and the beaches were heavenly. Dad and Tay went on Wave runners for an hour while I enjoyed the beach. Boo Hoo! We visited Atlantis: a HUGE resort with a water park like none other. We were not allowed to see that but we saw their aquarium and private beach and lake. We want to go back to that some day and do some scuba diving and play.

Atlantis Aquarium Nassau

This was incredible!!

Great Stirrup Cay

This was basically play on the beach all day. Since I could not snorkle, no one else wanted to either. Dad was not feeling good this day, so he just read on the beach. I decided to get in the water here because the waves would not crash into my ear. The water was warm and the view beautiful. Taylor played with new found "ship" friends and bought a pass to go on their giant blow up waterslide. This was a relaxing day with food brought right to the beach. So we ate some more. YUM!!

What a road trip!

We have been looking for a new boat for a few years and decided this was the year. Karl and Taylor really liked wake surfing last year (on other people's boats). We can't do it on ours so that was the driving force, plus it would be nice to have a little bigger boat to fit everyone as our family grows. After shopping we found the best deal on the boat that we wanted in TEXAS. We figured saving $15,000 was worth the drive, so for end of term break, we headed to Fort Worth Texas to pick up "TEX". This is our "Happy" boat. It is a 2008 Nautique Super Air 23 footer. It is 2 years old but it was hardly used. So we are happy. Now just to sell our old 20 year old boat. XXX

Taylor becomes a Life Scout

Taylor is just about an Eagle Scout. He received his Life Scout Award this February at a court of honor. He has all of his merit badges except camping finished. HOORAY!

He also finished his Hunter Safety course so he can go hunting this fall. Here he is practicing.

Caden learns to ski!

Our first grandchild learns how to ski. Caden came up to Wolf Mountain with Mom and Dad of course and tried out skiing. He was a good sport and kept trying until he got it. He was going off the lift all by himself. Dad (Branson) was a good teacher.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Taylor had a GREAT Valentine's Day. He broke his arm snowboarding at Powder Mountain. It was the only week he had lost his gloves that have braces in to protect his wrists so he didn't have wrist guards. He came in saying his arm hurt. By the look on his face, Karl and I both said he had broken his wrist. The other patrollers asked how we knew because it was not deformed. We just said we have seen that green, pale look before (LIKE 18 TIMES!) and we were right. He had a buckle fracture but luckily only has to wear it for 3 weeks.

Christmas 2010

It's been awhile since we have posted. It is a good time to share a few of the Christmas Photos. Everyone did their own Christmas at home, so it was just Taylor and us for a few days and then everyone came to stay for the week and we pretended we were at a condo and just played all week. It was so nice to have everyone home. Taylor got a new winter snowboarding outfit since he has grown over 8 inches in the last few months. He is way taller than Mom now. We also got a 4 wheeler to play on much to Taylor's happiness.