Misha Moving Home

Misha moved back home for a month. Unfortunately, the plea to mom and dad to "come and help" came a half an hour before we were supposed to be leaving for a weekend getaway in Buena Vista (about three hours away).

But we were good parents and went first to Mead to get a trailer for the move. Then an hour to downtown Denver to load up the trailer.

It was about 6 pm before we were able to get out of Firestone, and now my dining room looks like this:

Misha leaves for a road trip with friends on her birthday (July 9th) and gets back two weeks later. She is looking for a place for the end of the month or the beginning of August.

Amy Donating Plasma

In an effort to earn a little more money until Amy can find a second job, she and her roommate, Chelle, went to donate plasma.

Amy. The girl who doesn't like needles.

Same face before her appendix surgery.

It took forever for the girls to be processed and tested to make sure they were healthy enough to give plasma. They pricked her finger for that. 

That just gave Amy more time to worry about the needle.

She did it though. She might have had a little panic attack during the process.

Apparently the blood is cold when it is pumped back into you, so she froze a little too. For all of that effort, she got a $100 gift card.

The next day.

We wonder if she was going to do it again. Not sure that she has inspired her sisters to ever want to donate plasma.

Misha and Moving

Misha’s last lead for renting her apartment fell through. I think she finally just decided to wait her contract out until the middle of August.

Until...

Sara announced that she might have a friend who would be willing to take Misha’s contract. It was a guy that Sara had known for awhile. Misha sent the information to the Office and is waiting to hear if the guy moves forward or not. 

Misha packed up a box and brought it home and will look more in earnest for a place to rent once we all get back from the cruise. Fingers crossed!

Hiking the Storm Pass Trail at Lily Lake

I know these hikes are in the mountains, but sometimes it is wearying when they just go up and up and up without much of a break.

We had some pretty great views of Lily Lake, which is a nice 1 mile hike on fairly flat ground.

The trail wasn't too busy. We passed a few people coming down the trail and even fewer people hiking up the trail. The weather was perfect with a stunningly blue sky.

Kristen's Passport Renewal

Kristen's passport expires in August. We waited until after her 18th birthday to renew it since that meant she wouldn't have to renew again for 10 years instead of the 5 year requirement if you are under 18.

I tried to take some passport photos of her. Turns out there are very few spots in my house with a white background and good lighting.

We ended up taping a piece of white construction paper to an outside window.

And after all of our attempts, I couldn't get the printer to print on photo paper.

Kristen went to the Frederick post office and they were able to take her picture there—for a fee of course.

Hail on the Way to the Airport

We have had so much "weather" this summer. I think we have surpassed our average rain fall and the year is only half over. With the rain comes wind, thunderstorms, and hail.

On my way to pick up Kristen at the airport on her return from Salt Lake, the heavens opened up again and rain poured, then hail.

The rain was coming down so hard that I could hardly see to drive. I was fortunate enough to find space under a overpass on the toll road and pulled off the road to wait out the rain. There were already a few other cars seeking refuge there.

The sheets of rain mixed with hail continued, and suddenly cars stopped in the middle of the road to seek cover under the overpass.

As you can imagine, it brought the freeway to a halt. So dangerous though. The cars backed up behind these cars and everyone was honking, especially the semis. 

Some of the cars finally moved on, but a brand new Audi sat in the lane next to me and wouldn't budge. The tags on his car showed that he had only bought the car a few days ago. 

Fortunately, the rain and hail began to ease. But that was crazy.

University of Utah Orientation

After a week away for our cruise, then another week for her NYC trip, Kristen left again for a few days to Salt Lake City for the University of Utah orientation. It was a requirement to attend the orientation and you couldn't register for classes until you had attended.

She left Monday afternoon and met Amy at the airport.

They had fun attending the Saratoga Springs Temple open house together.

On Tuesday morning, Kristen's new roommate and her parents picked Kristen up in Provo and drove both girls to SLC. Good news! Kristen really likes her roommate Emma. Since partnering together earlier this summer, they chat and face time a lot.

Kristen met students within the Elementary Education program, registered for classes and got to know new students over the two days of orientation. It was a success.

Hiking to Gem Lake at Lumpy Ridge

Chris had Juneteenth off, so we decided to go hiking in RMNP at Lumpy Ridge. We hiked to Gem Lake. I had only been on antibiotics for one day (see Dr on Demand post), so I wasn't feeling my best.

In fact, the hike was a lot harder for me than it should have been. But we made it to Gem Lake and then continued on to see Balanced Rock. We found a rock to spread out and enjoyed a picnic lunch before returning to our car.

Just a random rock with a hole in it.

These rocks put the "lumpy" in Lumpy Ridge.

Gem Lake

Balanced Rock

Great views

Father's Day

Misha came home for Father's Day and Amy joined via Face time. Misha gave Chris a fun pair of socks with the words "Still Got It" on them and Kristen had a surprise "crocheted gift". When your flight is delayed in NYC (see later post), and you have yarn and a crochet hook, you create stuff.

Chris' purple dinosaur.

Dr on Demand

I am a fan. I had a bladder infection on the weekend and figured I would just have to wait until Tuesday (Monday was Juneteenth) to see my doctor.

If you have ever had a bladder infection, you know how uncomfortable and painful they can be.

Chris had the brilliant idea for me to call Dr on Demand and see a doctor virtually.

It took longer for me to get my account set up than the actual doctor visit. But after five minutes, the doctor sent a prescription to King Soopers. The cost was probably less than an office visit.

King Soopers texted about 30 minutes after they opened that my Rx was ready and Chris picked it up for me on his way home from church.

I will definitely use them again!

Pride Festival

Since June was Pride month, Misha and Genevieve celebrated by attending the parade in Denver as well as the Pride Festival.

Kristen even crocheted a top for Misha to wear.

Kristen, Choir and NYC

Kristen's choir group had the worst luck with delayed flights both coming and going to New York City. Leaving on Monday morning, they had a couple hours delay and returning they waited six plus hours to return home.

It worked out that she arrived back in Denver about the same time as Chris flew in from a work trip. She had a ride home with a friend's mom who works at the airport, but coming with Chris was just a little more convenient.

Kristen had a blast. They took a tour to see the Statue of Liberty.

Kristen at the top of the Empire State Building.

They got up much earlier all week long than Kristen probably wanted.

She had a fantastic time with friends.

Kristen's Choir Trip to NYC

Kristen has been looking forward to her New York City trip for months. 

She left this morning and will return on Friday. While she is away, the choir group will have a Broadway classroom session, visit Radio City Music Hall, have dinner and a chance to perform at a jazz club, explore the 9/11 Memorial Museum, shop in Chelsea Market, have dinner at Hard Rock Cafe then attend the musical Hadestown, take a tour to the Statue of Liberty, visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art and then attend "Sweeney Todd."

Seminary Student Note

One of my graduating seniors sent me a thoughtful thank you note.

"I have always struggled with going to seminary, but having you as a seminary teacher helped challenge and push me to keep going and I ended up passing. Thanks for all your love and support."

Caribbean Cruise Day 8 - Back in Florida

We had arrived back in Ft, Lauderdale, Florida when we woke up on Saturday morning. 

The sky was beautiful and the rain was done. 

We had to be off the ship by 9:30 am. The breakfast buffet closed down at 8:30 am. They really didn't want people lingering. So much so that they turned off the functioning of the toilets in the cabins. That was crazy.

We had packed up three of our suitcases last night and carried the rest off as we left the ship around 8:45 am.

It was a pretty easy disembarkation process. We found our bags easily enough and Chris ordered a Lyft that would take us to the Miami airport this time.

Our flight wasn't until noon and we had checked our bags and were through security by 10:00 am. There wasn't much to do but sit and wait and grab a little lunch to take with us.

Amy and Kristen were feeling a little better, but we all chose to wear masks on our return flight. Those of us who were still healthy didn't want their germs or anyone else's.

We arrived in Denver around 2 pm local. Amy was continuing on to Salt Lake, though her flight wouldn't leave until around 4 pm. We hugged her goodbye, picked up our luggage from baggage claim (thankfully all of it arrived), and headed home.

Caribbean Cruise Day 7 - At Sea

We woke up to find it raining today. Fortunately our deck has a big enough overhang that only part of the balcony was getting rained on. 

We met up with the girls for breakfast. Kristen and Amy had both caught colds. We asked them to stay in their rooms today. They were happy to just lay around as they didn't feel that great.

Chris and I went to play Trivial Pursuit with Misha in the Palm Dining Room. 

The rain stopped around noon and the hot tubs were quite empty so Chris and I made a stop there before heading back to our room to enjoy the view and afternoon from the balcony. Misha hung out in our room watching movies.

Our room. The staff left the card in our room and later brought us chocolate-dipped strawberries in honor of our anniversary later this year.

This was our only folded animal towel of the week.

We enjoyed dinner in Ferhat's section again. When he found out that Kristen and Amy were both sick, he offered to take dinner to them. We were so impressed. With everything he had to do, he got their meals and delivered them five flights up.

Amy and Kristen were so grateful.

Chris and I enjoyed the last musical production. I might have dozed through it a bit.

Misha went to the movie up by the pool. She didn't want to spend any more time in her room than she had to! (She even wore a mask to sleep.)

Caribbean Cruise Day 6 - At Sea

The girls are a little sad that our week is quickly coming to a close. 

Chris and I got up to exercise this morning. As predicted, the gym was noticeably empty. Like maybe there were 75% less people working out.

We were ready for breakfast around 9:30. The girls wanted us to wake them up so they could join us in the dining room. They may have been a little sleepy, but perked up with food and lively conversation.

Chris chatted with our waiter who was from the Philippines. The guy has worked on cruise ships for 20 years. He has one son who is a junior in college; he thinks he may stop working on the cruise ships once his son graduates and he is no longer paying the son’s tuition. 

Chris and I hung out on our balcony for the morning. We had morning sun now that we were headed back toward Florida, but by noon, there was enough shade to choose to sit in the shade or the sun. It was a pretty relaxing day.

 A Royal Caribbean ship was following our itinerary from port to port. Our ship, with about 3500 passengers, is on the left. The RC ship with a 6000+ capacity is on the right. A huge difference. The girls would have loved playing on the huge waterslide on the back of the ship. 

Amy and Kristen hung out by the pool while Misha switched from the sun to the shade. 

Chris and I went to the early show of the comedian, Rich Purpura. He was pretty funny. The girls were texting us to come join them for dinner. They had a table and were seated in Ferhat’s section again. 

Chris and I were about 15 minutes late arriving. Ferhat showed us some good news about transferring to a smaller ship. We always enjoy getting to know the crew who serve us. Ferhat was kind enough to check out my blog and sent a friend request to me on Instagram. The girls passed on the comedian, but we joined them down in Club Fusion for an ABBA sing along. 

Chris recorded them (mostly Kristen) singing together. That is, after the microphone was extricated from the really off tune singers! After that, we all headed off to bed around 11 pm.

Caribbean Cruise Day 5 - St. Maarten

I had a picture in my mind of what St. Maarten would look like. It was not at all what I imagined. Much of the area directly outside the cruise port looked a lot like the Philippines. Fortunately, we walked some ways away and found a little better looking shopping area. 

Recommendation for St. Maarten: get the bus (a minivan) or taxi right from the cruise port to take you where you want to go. We walked more than anyone of us would have liked. We had thought to go to a beach called Mullet Beach. Since we couldn’t find any of the minivan buses going there, we gave up and made our way to Maho Beach. 

Maho Beach is a famous beach because the airport is right next to it, and the flight path for planes landing goes directly over the beach. We didn’t see any big planes take off while we were there, but apparently if you are standing in the right spot, the force of the take-off can blow you into the ocean. When a smaller plan took off, I saw a few people tumble into the water and lots of sand being kicked up. 

We got to enjoy a lot of planes, large and small, landing. Chris got a few videos. Since we didn’t have much shade at this beach and most of the public umbrellas were already rented, we left around 2 pm and went in search of some dinner. 

Happily we all agreed on Rialto Pizza and Pasta. Chris and girls shared a 16” pepperoni pizza. I had a Burrata salad with greens and sun dried tomatoes. Burrata is a yummy soft cheese much like mozzarella.

Misha was “peopled” out at this point. We sent her back to the cruise port in a bus/van while the rest of us took a bus to Orient Beach. If you go, note that a section of this beach is “clothing optional”. We weren’t close to that section, but we did see a woman enjoying a little topless sunbathing action. 

We were finally worn out and ready to go. Everyone wants tourist’s business, so we had a few buses stop to ask if we needed a ride. We settled on a guy who probably wasn’t a “legal” taxi but was willing to drive us back to the port for $30. I bartered him down from $35. We completed our circuit of the island. 

Kristen and Amy stopped to shop for some souvenirs at the port dock. Chris and I made our way back to the ship and headed up to Deck 15 for some soft-serve ice cream and snacks from the buffet. 

We enjoyed dinner in the Coral Room again with Natish and Ferhat. Natish knew all of our drink orders at this point and brought them all without even asking! Kristen liked orange Fanta, Amy Diet Coke, Misha ginger beer, and Chris and I both get a Diet Coke as well as a Club Soda. Chris also ordered a Pina Colada. Amy tried it and decided to get one too. Kristen then ordered a Strawberry Daiquiri. Our drink package came in handy. 

We tried the musical performance, but just walked out after a bit. The songs were definitely geared toward an older audience.

Caribbean Cruise Day 4 - St. Thomas

We arrived in St. Thomas early this morning. 

Chris and I got up to exercise in the morning. The gym was packed. By the end of the week it won’t be so much. We enjoyed breakfast at the buffet this morning. Misha joined us and then Amy and Kristen slowly trickled in.

We packed up our bags for a day on Water Island. It was a short ferry ride from St. Thomas. We caught a taxi to the ferry, took the ferry for less than 15 minutes and than rented a 6-person golf cart to use on the island. 

Before heading to the beach, we stopped to get shaved ice, drove to the old fort at the highest point of the island which offered 360 degree views. We realized we probably could have skipped the golf cart and just taken the shuttle from the ferry drop off to Honeymoon Beach. We hung out there for most of the day, though Chris and I and then the girls took off on the golf cart to explore a little more. 

Honeymoon Beach was ideal. We brought our two snorkel masks and took turns using them. There weren’t a lot of fish, but we did spot some turtles and sucker fish that “looked” like baby sharks. If you ever go to Honeymoon Beach, plan to order lunch from Dinghy’s restaurant. In fact, many of the ship excursions make a stop at the beach for an hour or so for their guests to enjoy the beach and get some lunch. 

We had some yummy fish tacos, pulled pork sandwich, and chicken fingers with fries. The beach closed up around 4:30 pm. We could have stayed longer, but the lounge chairs were all put away and we had been there for hours anyway. After dropping the golf cart off, we walked back to the ferry pick up to get in line for the 5:15 ferry. 

Turns out we were lucky. We just squeaked onto the 5:15 ferry. Once back in St. Thomas, Chris needed to find an ATM. The girls weren’t too thrilled that we headed off walking. After getting some cash, we found a taxi that would take us right back to the port. Chris and the girls headed up to get some soft-serve ice cream. I was ready for a shower. 

We had dinner scheduled for 6:40 pm in the Palm Dining Room. Turned out to be very slow service. We were there for almost 2 ½ hours! We switched all of our remaining dinners to the Coral Room for the rest of the week! 

The production show, Bravo, was pretty awesome with popular songs from Broadway and mainstream music.

Caribbean Cruise Day 3 - At Sea

We had another day at sea. It was mostly a repeat of our day yesterday, though this one had been planned. 

Chris and I got up to exercise in the morning. The gym was packed. By the end of the week it won’t be so much. 

We enjoyed breakfast at the buffet this morning. Misha joined us and then Amy and Kristen slowly trickled in. 

We tried to keep on our Colorado eating schedule as much as possible with breakfast at 8 am, lunch at 2 pm, and dinner at 8 pm. Of course, there were snacks in between!

Our day was spent lounging by the pool, lounging on our balcony, hooking up with the girls, taking naps, and just enjoying our relaxation time.

Caribbean Cruise Day 2 - Princess Cays (Cancelled) At Sea Day

We woke to find that the weather and waves meant a cancellation of our day at Princess Cays. 

The wave swells were too dangerous to tender into the island. So, we set off for a day at sea. Not so much fun as a change of scenery, but hey, we are on a cruise so we can’t complain too much. 

Chris and I had breakfast with Misha in the Island Dining Room. Amy and Kristen arrived too late and went up to the buffet instead.

The girls would have probably enjoyed a balcony too. Chris and I did. We sat on it and just enjoyed the view and the shaded morning. We listened to our church.

Around lunch time at 2 pm, we went in search of the girls and food. They were hanging out by the pool. Chris stopped to pick up a hamburger and I went with Amy to the buffet to get lunch. Kristen and Misha had already eaten.

The girls joined in on some of the Cards & Board Games Get-Togethers in the Palm Dining Room. They have made a few friends here and there, but any hopes of finding cute boys for Amy and Kristen to hang out with have not materialized. Kids, teens, and twenty-somethings are definitely in the minority on this cruise. But, as Amy said, “I’m on a cruise in the sun. I can’t complain.” 

Chris and I stopped for a little bit of Trivia in the Explorers Lounge on Deck 7 and then climbed the stairs to Deck 15 to find the girls later in the afternoon. We found some empty deck chairs in the shade and started to watch the movie, “David Copperfield” by the pool. It was kind of a strange movie.

I could tell that the girls were all getting a little pink. We hung around a little longer and even dipped into the pool a bit ourselves. There were a bunch of young boys playing and splashing and having the time of their lives.

The rest of the afternoon was just spent relaxing, watching shows on the big screen by the pool, and hanging out with the girls. We were seated in the Coral Dining Room at a table with a server from Turkey. He was pretty cool and the service was so much better than the past couple of nights. We enjoyed talking with Ferhat and his helper, Natish from St. Croix. 

We watch a musical performance and then caught the end of "Maverick" playing by the pool.

Kristen was convinced to sign up for a little karaoke at Club Fusion. There were some awesome singers and some not so great but brave singers. Kristen was awesome. 

After that, Kristen and Amy went in search of some more fun and Misha, Chris and I headed to bed.

Caribbean Cruise Day 1 - Embarkation Day

Amy was traveling to Florida from Utah and took a redeye flight on JetBlue. As you can imagine, she didn’t get the best sleep. When she arrived at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel room on Saturday morning around 7:30 am, she was happy to fall into our bed. 

Chris and I took off on a walk along the beach so that the girls could all keep sleeping. 

Breakfast wasn’t included with out hotel, so we called for Lyft to McDonalds and then stopped at a TJ Maxx to pick up a few items. During this time, the airport called to say my toiletry bag had arrived! 

YAY. I was definitely praying for a positive outcome.

We finished our shopping, caught another Lyft to the airport and picked up my bag. SWA gave us a $100 voucher for a future flight. It will come in handy probably for girls coming home at Christmas. We drove back to the hotel and got the girls going. 

Chris and I walked across the street to the beach and enjoyed a little dip in the ocean. The girls went to find breakfast. After about 45 minutes, they came back to join us in the water. By 1:30 pm, we had changed out of wet swim suits to dry ones, packed up, and waiting for our final Lyft of the day to take us to the cruise terminal. While we could have been to the cruise terminal much earlier in the day, Chris set up a 2 pm embarkation time and a 2 pm check out time from the hotel. It was a good choice. 

We still got to enjoy the water in the morning, and the line at the cruise terminal was non-existent. Perfect. 

We walked onto the ship after dropping our luggage off within 10 minutes of arriving! 

And by that time, our rooms were ready. It would still take a couple of hours for our luggage to arrive. We dropped off a few things in our balcony cabin C239 on the 10 floor (the girls were a couple doors down from us in an interior cabin C253) and climbed a bunch of stairs up to the buffet for lunch.

We stopped first at Guest Services where we got our phones connected to our “WiFi” package and learned how to use the Princess Medallion app for ordering drinks, chatting with each other, and learning how to see each other’s locations on the app. Slick. 

Chris and I explored the ship after lunch.

Happy faces!

We had dinner at a shared table in the evening. It was with two older couples who weren’t a lot of fun. It made it a little awkward. We weren’t too sad when they skipped dessert and left the table. 

We enjoyed the comedian Sam Demaris at 9:30. The girls went to the nightclub, but after an older lady dropped her glass drink on the dance floor and the lights were turned up to clean up the mess, they decided to leave. 

Misha went to bed. Kristen and Amy ordered room service. It took forever to get to them and just when they were about to give up on it ever arriving, there was a knock on their door around 1 am!