Our Happy Holidays

Well, we all know I am always 2 months behind. So here is a few pictures from Nov to Jan.

I was sooooo happy to have Thanksgiving off this year (I can't honestly remember the last time that happened). We went the night before to watch the giant balloon inflating in preparation for the Parade. I think there were more people crowded on those 4 blocks to see the balloons than watched the parade!

Our friend works at Macy's, and she was so kind to give us tickets to sit and see the parade. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we had great seats to watch the floats, balloons, and the crazy clowns.

I guess this is to encourage recycling?

We went one chilly night in the end of Nov. to the Rockefeller Tree Lighting Ceremony. We stood for a long time with famous people singing to us, somewhere too far to see. And finally, the tree was lit. Here is a before and after picture...

We decorated our own tree we bought from two men on the street. They were both from Mexico and said they had never seen pine trees, so I guess we can't blame them for selling us such a crooked tree. It was also very dead and dry, so it shed more than a cat. But it smelled so good and if you tilted your head, it was pretty.

Citigroup puts on this amazing train show during the holidays. You walk around a neat display and look at models of NY scenes from the past 50 years. There were over 30 moving model trains, and it was very impressive. My Dad would have loved this. There were so many kids there, including our friends and their little boy.

We couldn't leave for Christmas because I had to work, but we were able to go to Canada right after for the great Salmon get together of 07-08. All of Jay's siblings and their families were able to go home for a few days. We hadn't seen everyone together since our wedding, and we met a new niece and nephew. It was so fun....what you would call "happy chaos".

We followed some family traditions (Peter's), watched home movies, and sorted through boxes of "memories".

The four brothers rekindled their secret combinations, which seemed to be made up competitions and laughing about things that were unintelligible to everyone else.

We were happy to get to see Eva's baptism (Jay's niece).

The big Family dinner, including Paul's famous wings.

And for our last night before returning home, the Salmon's had a party. We got to bring in the New Year with some of Jay's buddies.

We had so much fun! Thanks everyone!

Nassau, Bahamas

We actually were not scheduled to come here, but because of high winds, this is where we ended up.  So not having anything planned, we just gave ourselves a self-guided tour.  Here are a few highlights...

I guess there was a time when Pirateering flourished here.

There was also an old fort, called Fort Fincastle built in 1793.  It was probably used to combat the pirates.  Se all the cruise ships?

 

There is also a large stone walkway called Queens Staircase, complete with waterfall, gardens, and a guy selling T-shirts.   

Ever heard of Paradise Island?  This is it from a distance.  We were trying to find the beach that was on the other side of this luxory resort, but we got lost and then kicked out for not being guests.  Jay's parents stayed here last August, and I believe Michael Jackson has his own wing.

We finally found the beach!  Too bad the winds were too high to be able to swim in the ocean.  We tried to anyway, but after getting slammed into the beach a few times with sand in every available socket, we gave up and just enjoyed the waves from a distance.

And that was our day, complete with beautiful sunset...

Cozumel--finally a sunny day!

Yeah!  The sun decided to come out when we got to lovely Cozumel, Mexico.  We took another tender boat, since there were 5 other cruise ships in town.  

We really didn't have much of a plan, except we wanted to parasail and snorkel.  So we got sucked into this resort presentation in exchange for parasailing.  The resort was beautiful, but not on the agenda right now.  After the tour, we were finally able to move on to the parasailing part. 

So we were given instructions to meet someone at the dock named Carlos in a red topped boat for our parasailing experience.  Instead we met these two guys in a little white boat, neither named Carlos, who repeatedly told us we were looking for them....for some reason they finally convinced us, although impending doom flashed before our eyes.  We asked if there was an instructional video or something that was supposed to tell us what to do, but they said, "No, I show you.  I show you."  I took this picture of them in case the police could use it to identify them...  I guess they would have to have all the men in the line-up bend over so they could identify the second guy.

Jay looking nervous...

Actually, looking back, we laugh at how nervous we were.  It really was very simple, and the guys were really parasail dudes and not tourist abductors.  Go Jay!    

And here's me with a sideways takeoff, sorry!

So after that experience, we decided to relax.  This is the little beach we went to snorkel and sunbathe.

What a hot babe! (and whiter than white!)

Time to return to the ship so soon....We tendered back with the beautiful sun. 

Back on the ship again...finally we look like we get a little sun!