where has the time gone?

It seems as if it has been forever since I last posted about our cruise and here it is... TIME TO GO!!! I am so excited! Our schedules here lately have been anything but easy. Payton performed in her "Seussical, the Musical" last night and today. I thought that day would NEVER get here. She, however, did AMAZINGLY! I am one proud mama!!! As for me, I visited my sister last weekend for Mardi Gras... now THAT was AMAZING! Then I traveled from Mobile to Auburn for a two day conference.

Needless to say, I am not packed. We have boxes of spring and summer clothes laying all around mine and Rusty's bedroom. CRAZY! But, tonight, I am going to pack us all up for a week.

The funny thing is is that I cannot even tell you what port we are going to first! WOW! I really don't care either. Just getting away from it all with my family is the BEST vacation ever! Throw in Grand Cayman, Belize, Honduras and Cozumel and man..... LIFE IS GOOD!

CRUISE 2011

Wow! I can't believe that our family is going on another cruise! We are so excited. This time we are taking the cruise on board the Carnival Legend that disembarks from Tampa, FL. We will be visiting Isla Roatan, Honduras, Cayman Island, Belize, and Cozumel. This is a 7 day cruise and it can't get here soon enough! We are now exactly one month from leaving for Tampa! I can't believe it!

I am looking forward to this cruise because Payton is 13. She will be turning 14 in April and I know that we don't have much longer before vacationing with us will be a drag! So, for now, I will enjoy the time we have with her and take in every moment I can..

I think we all need the much needed rest and relaxation. I am planning on taking it a bit easier on this trip than we did the last trip. The last time I felt like we had to be at the shows, etc so we rushed to get ready, rushed to eat, etc etc. This time I want to take my time and enjoy every moment I can with my family!

Spring Break 2011 Countdown

Wow, I can't believe another year has come and gone. It just doesn't seem possible. After a year of busy-ness, we have decided that another cruise is in our future. We are taking a 7 day cruise out of Tampa aboard a Carnival Cruise ship to Honduras, Cayman Islands, Belize and Cozumel, Mexico. We cannot wait. I found the cruise and booked a balcony room for us. We are so excited. I think Rusty is more excited about sitting out on the balcony than anything.

Cruises really are the way to go. While we enjoyed our trip last year with my mom and dad, we are thoroughly looking forward to a week without cooking, without driving, without wondering what to do next. Our countdown has begun! We leave on March 13 and it cannot get here fast enough!

What to do.. what to do

Day two in Gatlinburg, TN began with a big breakfast cooked by... get this... ME! I was actually up pretty early on a Sunday morning! I think gaining an hour by crossing over time zones and then gaining another hour by springing forward just messed me up. But, I was up by 9am and in the kitchen cooking eggs wraps for everyone. They were good and everyone enjoyed them.



The next saying was the way we started everyday... What are we going to do? I didn't know how much I'd come to hate that phrase over the next 6 days but I allowed it to start and couldn't get it back once it left lips of those asking it!



We chose to spend the day in Sevierville. Dad had seen a knife shop on the way up here and I had seen the Beehive shop! So, off we went. We had so much fun. While the men when to the knife shop, I drove mom, Payton and I around to some of the nearby shops. We bought so much stuff that it was embarrassing. BUT, when you find a deal, how can you NOT buy it... right?

Our Last in the Burg

These pictures are of our last day in Gatlinburg. You can still see the snow on the ground on the high places. We went to OBERGATLINBURG. The kids got to ice skate and we took a gondola ride up to the top of the moutain. These pictures are from Payton's camera. I'll upload mine a little later.

Have a Hoot N Holler good time!

And that is exactly what we did tonight! We went to the Hoot N Holler show in Pigeon Forge. It was a good meal (not as good as the last show we went to but good nonetheless). It was a comedy show and there were four main characters who sang and danced and one who was the comedian. He even took a liking to mom and called her out in the crowd! The biggest question was "What's in the box???"

AQUARIUM OF THE SMOKIES DAY

Today we went to the Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg. We had so much fun with the kids. Rusty, Payton, Jackson and I went together while Mom and Dad shopped around Pigeon Forge. We got to the Aquarium and immediately went to the Stingray Pool. It was amazing. We toured all around the place and took so many amazing pictures of all the neat animals and fish. Our favorite place was the tunnel where you could walk underneath all the fishes swimming above. It was AWESOME!

Afterward, we walked around Gatlinburg. We also went to Ripley's Believe it or Not, and Ripley's Haunted House. The kids enjoyed both. We were able to get the kids hands dipped in wax and a mold was made of their hands at this age. I cannot wait to put it above the fireplace and remember them at this age forever! While out shopping, we stopped by Claire's and Payton got the hat you see in the picture below! It was a good day. Now we are off to "Hoot N Holler" dinner show! Can't wait!