Volume 21

SUNDAY NEWS
August 2, 2009

We are going to issue a second edition today to cover more of our trip. We have been pretty tired and lazy here in Arizona since we got back from trip. Karl has been working on catching up with the hundreds of messages and e-mails that occurred during his absence. It is hard to feel like working again after so much time off. Lori has had to go back to work also. Her back is still bothering her. She has several doctor appointments coming up. Vayden seems happy to be back home and in a routine. She has done a lot of sleeping. Christian says he is bored. Several weeks of entertainment in Indiana and an exciting cruise have left him dissatisfied with everyday life. Christian starts football on Monday however and the first week is hell week so it will not be long before Christian will soon cherish down time. Also school starts the week after that for Christian.

The Victory

Sooooo Shelby
When you look at our family pictures, Shelby looks very beautiful and you could never tell that those pictures almost didn’t happen. On one of the formal nights Shelby had a meltdown about her hair and make-up. Lori, Brittney, Alyssa, and Karl all tried to help her together and separately. It was a close call, but she finally agreed to leave the room and her pictures look great.

All Alyssa
Alyssa started our trip by being diverted to Tucson because of a dust storm in Phoenix. It is a little concerning when you are getting ready to board a plane and to connect with the rest of
the children and your daughter calls you telling you she has just landed, but not in the correct airport. It all worked out though and we all made it to Atlanta, found each other and made it on time to our plane bound for Puerto Rico.

Alyssa and her bag, which was quickly nick-named ‘The Beast’, made quite an impression on several taxi drivers and anyone else that came in contact with it and had the misfortune of trying to lift the 73 pound monster. Prior to the trip we send out a packing list to the kids. The list contained warnings and admonitions repeated several times on every page about packing light and only packing things that were absolutely necessary and would be used for sure. For Alyssa apparently 15 pairs of shoes and a computer were absolute necessities. Human beings were not the only ones to complain. On one of our flights it seemed like it was taking a long time to get airborne. We thought we were going to run out of runway. We couldn’t help thinking it must be Alyssa’s bag. ‘The beast’ itself rebelled against its onerous burden with zippers splitting and the tote handle refusing to emerge towards the end of the trip.

Alyssa wrote this about the trip:
Well, I thought the trip was a lot of fun and I had a great time with Brittney and Shelby. I really liked the all girl's horseback riding trip, especially when we got to ride bareback the ocean. The the bioluminocent kayaking trip was fun with all three of us girls in one kayak. It was pretty funny especially when we ran into the mangrove trees about ten times. Our tour guide from Tennessee had to try to calm us down. He told us all sing a song to sync our rowing rhythm. Also we all thought he was pretty cute. I thought it was funny how the pizza guy on the ship was in love with Shelby and me. The formal nights were fun walking around the ship all dressed and made up. Going to the late night comedies with my Dad and Brittney, was fun but a little bit awkward. It was fun to see Vayden learning to clap and going crazy for the shows and dances. I liked learning the cupid shuffle and the booty call dance at the bon voyage party with the girls. Shelby and I had a late night routine that we enjoyed which involved going to our 15-17 club "Club O2" and then getting pizza and ice-cream and then hanging out at the back of the boat.

Being Brittney
Brittney got her hair braided in one of the ports. Sometimes what happened and where it happened is all a blur. We think it was St. Kitts. We stopped at a different port on a different island everyday and it is hard to remember sometimes exactly what happened where. Brittney got busted aboard the ship for violating the law. No it wasn’t for hanging out in the casino. She was legal there. No it wasn’t for underage drinking. Again she is legal for that too. It wasn’t for peeing in the pool. She claims she doesn’t do that anymore. Brittney got busted and kicked out of the 15-17 year old Club known as Club 02. Apparently the ship is very serious about 19 year old cougars who might try to converse with those innocent 17 year old boys. Actually she was just trying to hang out with Alyssa and Shelby pretending to be 17. Her sail and sign card and the ship’s computer data base gave her away though.
Brittney was the only one in the family to actually get up before it was absolutely necessary in the morning to go to the gym and work out with Karl. Neither Karl nor Brittney made it everyday though. Alyssa did bring shoes for the gym however.

Family Stories
Paddling Wars
One night, while in Puerto Rico, Karl, Christian, Brittney, Alyssa and Shelby took an hour and a half shuttle van to the other side of the island to experience the bioluminescent bay of Fajardo. Our driver was a nice guy who stopped and bought us these little fruits for us to snack on. We have already forgotten the name of them, but they were the size of grapes.
Hidden along the Caribbean coast of Puerto Rico is the most spectacular bioluminescent bay in the world. A mysterious blue-green light is created by micro-organisms that live in the bay. This unique bay contains up to 720,000 single-celled bioluminescent dinoflagellates (pyrodimium bahamense) per gallon of water. These organisms emit a flash of bluish light when agitated at night. There are currently only 4 places in the world where you can see this, and 3 of them are in Puerto Rico. There is also one place in Japan. In Fajardo however the concentration of these organisms is the highest and it is the best place in the world to see this natural wonder.

We boarded our kayaks which were illuminated only by two glow sticks. One green glow stick placed in the front of the kayak, and one red glow stick placed in the back of the kayak. Alyssa, Brittney and Shelby decided to ride in one kayak and Karl and Christian were in another. We started from the shore of this little seaside port and paddled out into the ocean and through various local fishing ships that were anchored just off shore. We quickly reached the mouth of a small river in the Las Cabezas reserve. We paddled up the river towards the bay. The river is lined with thick mangrove trees which completely cover the sky. It is dark and difficult to see much with only the slight illumination of two small glow sticks. As you get closer to the bay the water begins to glow and light up where ever it disturbed by our paddles or boat. It is really cool. The organisms glow similar to lighting bugs or fireflies. It is hard to describe. When fish move through the water they leave a glowing trial of light. Eventually the river leads to a large bay where we paddled out under the night sky and watched fish jumping. It is an amazing experience for anyone who has the slightest appreciation of nature.

The river is dark, narrow and winds with many turns. This proved extremely challenging for the three girls. They could not seem to manage to go straight. There we were, in the black of night in the deep dark quiet of the Puerto Rican wilds. Only the sound of an occasional frog or the splash of a giant iguana could be heard as we crept up the dark river towards one of nature’s wonders. Well . . . that and the girls voices. They started off with Alyssa paddling in the front and Shelby paddling in the back. They repeatedly crashed over and over again into the mangroves. Karl and Christian snickered as the girls kayak continually crashed into the bank. Brittney did not have a paddle since she was seated in the middle. What Brittney did have was plenty of advice and criticism for her two paddlers. Frustration, irritation, contravention, blame, accusations, name calling, finger pointing, agitation, yelling, swearing, criticism, fault finding, castigation, reprimanding, disparagement, anger, and bad mouthing are just of few of the words to describe what happened on that river.

This is what the river looks like in the day time.

At one point Brittney was soundly struck in the head with a paddle wielded by Shelby, which Shelby claims was and accident. Anyone who listened to the dialogue between these girls might question the claim that it was an accident however.

On the return trip, Brittney took over Shelby’s spot. The results remained the same however, and they continued to crash into the shore.

Magen’s Bay St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands
In each port we had an excursion planned. Our fist excursion was to Magen’s Bay in St. Thomas. The whole family went. This beach is rated as one of the top 10 beaches in the world. We boarded and open air bus and saw our first iguanas of the trip crawling around the city. After a short drive and few stops we arrived at Magen’s Bay. It was beautiful sunny day for us, but due to some recent rain, the water wasn’t as clear as it usually is. It was still very beautiful though. The girls seemed to be fascinated by a man who was traveling alone on our cruise and also came to enjoy Magen’s Bay. This old man was unique in that fact that he had long white hair and dressed like a woman. He sported a thong bikini on the beach that day. I think the girls have pictures of him. We will spare you those however. We also got to do some snorkeling here. The beach is not really a snorkeling area but there were some things to see over by the rocks. Brittney got a good scare when one of the anchored boats drifted over Brittney and Karl as there were snorkeling around this rock. The boat somehow gave Karl a 4 inch cut on his shoulder. Shelby cut her toe snorkeling also. Despite all the blood in the water no sharks appeared to Christian’s disappointment

This is the spot where we snorkeled in Magen's Bay.

A Top Magen's Bay

El Morro - The Fort at Old San Juan
San Juan has one of the biggest and best harbors in the Caribbean. It is also the second oldest city in the Americas. El Morro is a fort that was built to protect the harbor. We toured it one morning in Puerto Rico. Construction was begun in the 1500’s by the Spanish and it continued for about 400 more years. The outer walls are 20 feet thick. Behind the fort there are large expansive grass fields where people today have picnics and fly kites. For what was originally a military fort the place is incredibly beautiful. We actually sailed right past this fort on our cruise ship as we started our cruise and entered the harbor on our trip back.


Towel Animals
Each night our cabin steward Noel would make an animal out of towels. The girls collected their animals. We had to ask Noel to repair them from time to time. Noel was a really great guy. He learned all out names and would remember each of us every time he saw us.

The Girls Towel Animal Collection