Girls Weekend 2009

I can hardly believe it, but our sixth annual Girls Weekend has already come and gone.

My girls weekend group is made up of 13 friends (all Tri Delts from Baylor) who have faithfully met once a year since we graduated from college. We rotate locations every year, and this year Ann and Meredith hosted in Arizona! They did an incredible job planning a weekend that included all things Phoenix.

Our weekend always kicks off with goodie bags, filled with yummy treats and our itineraries for the weekend (the theme and all outings are kept secret until we arrive). Since we call ourselves Troop Cupcake - long story - each of our bags held a Sprinkles cupcake, among other fun suprises! Yummmm....

The first morning we woke up early to beat the heat and hike the beautiful Camelback Mountain. I have tried to explain to Brian what one of these weekends is like, as far as the constant, never-ending chatter and laughter. We heard the perfect description of ourselves as we passed a couple of guys on the trail: "That's like listening to 12 different radio stations all at once!" Ha! He was right on. We start talking as soon as we wake up, and don't stop until we fall asleep.

Anyway, besides seeing the gorgeous mountain scenery and views, we also got up close and personal (at least with the camera lens) with a rattlesnake. Yikes! Thankfully, the guy in front of us saw it first and shouted down a warning before one of us accidentally stepped on it. 

After our hike, we went to In-N-Out for lunch. Soooo yummy. I can't figure out why these restaurants don't expand beyond the west coast. They really are the greatest burgers. And the best part is, there are only 3 choices on the menu, so you don't have to be an expert-decision maker to eat there.

We spent the rest of the day at Mere's friends' home - they were incredibly gracious to allow us to use their pool and backyard. We laid out, played bocce ball, ate more than we should have and continued to do a lot of talking and laughing.

The next morning, we had the opportunity to visit the Desert Botanical Garden, where a Dale Chihuly glass exhibit was on display throughout the landscape. (Chihuly is the artist behind the world-famous ceiling at the Bellagio in Vegas.) Besides seeing the glass, it was so fun getting to know all the different types of cacti and flowers that grow in the desert!

That afternoon, we got to take a golf lesson on an amazing course, taught by Ann's professional golfing friend and his two assistants. The guys spent 30 minutes each teaching us how to drive, chip and putt. Most of us had never even picked up a club before and we had such a blast learning the basics. On the first and only hole we played, I got a double bogie (meaning it took me 5 shots on a par 3). I was pretty proud of myself! :)

Kate chipped a hole in one!

Of course, one of the best parts was driving the golf carts!

After golf, we cleaned ourselves up and spent our last evening dining on the patio of North, a local restaurant with great food and atmosphere.

Traditionally, our last picture is our sashes 'n patches picture. Every year we earn 2 to 3 patches for the activities we complete during our weekend. SUPER cheezy, I know. But oh so fun. I'm already looking forward to next year in Houston! Love you Cupcakes!

Caribbean Cruising Part 2

Here's some more cruising highlights!

Canopy Tour in Belize City

In the beautiful country of Belize, we decided to take a 2-hour bus ride (at 70 mph on dirt roads) into the jungle and do a ropes course/zip line park. (Watch video below if you want to experience the extreme bumpiness on the road.)

Out in the jungle, we did zip lines as high as 250 feet above the ground! Pretty fun. I also got to do my first belay, which was a little scary, but I survived (see video below).

All the food!

24 hours a day, whether we were in our room or out around the boat, there was always food EVERYWHERE! We tried our best not to overdo ourselves, but its a little challenging when anything you want is at your fingertips all the time. Because room service was included, we ordered breakfast delivery to our room a couple of times, which was super fun! One of the last nights on the ship, they had a huge Mexican fiesta and midnight buffet. And the last day on the ship, they had a huge chocolate buffet at lunch. Needless to say, we're paying for it now - both on diets until these extra cruising pounds come off. :)

Scuba in Cozumel

My last two certification dives were in Cozumel. And I still don't know how to say it. Coezeemel? Cawzeemel? Cawzyumel? Who knows. The water was crystal clear, warm and full of beautiful sea creatures. We saw lobsters, an evil eel, sea horses, squid, and I even got to hold a baby sting ray! No sharks for me yet, thank goodness. Brian got plenty of underwater footage if you're interested to see us under the sea. (ha ha!) And the best thing about these dives was that I passed all of my tests, so I'm now a certified diver! 

Note about the videos: I kept trying to do the "sic em bears" and I wasn't sure if Brian was getting it or not so that's why I keep waving over and over.

Margaritaville!

We first visited Jimmy Buffet's brainchild in Orlando a couple of years ago and it was such a blast! When we heard there was one in Cozumel, we were so excited and headed straight there after diving. Once again, we were not disappointed - such a fun atmosphere and amazing food!

Well, think that's a wrap! Thanks for bearing with me and sharing our pictures and adventures with us!

Caribbean Cruising Part 1

We've been home a week now, but I'm just now getting around to posting pictures of our cruise. We took quite a few, so I'm splitting them up into a couple of posts. Here are a few highlights from our trip:

Flying out of KC during the biggest blizzard of the year.

The day before we left, it snowed more than a foot in Wichita. After an extremely mild winter, it came out of nowhere! For some reason, it was so much more exciting to leave for the tropics when we knew that snow was covering the ground at home.

Getting to see sleep apnea up close and personal.

Brian had the opportunity to sit next to a man with the most severe case of sleep apnea we have ever seen. He seemed perfectly normal when he sat down, but he soon fell asleep and stayed asleep for the remainder of the 3.5 hour flight. You cannot imagine the noise and the drool that accompanied (watch the video below). You simply will not believe it.

(He was a very nice man, I'm sure - I'm really not trying to make fun - just want to document this unique experience. I know I'm certainly not attractive when I'm asleep!)

Sitting in the sun, with absolutely nothing to do.

Our first and last days of the trip were super relaxing days at sea. We had nothing to do but sleep in, order breakfast in bed room service, find a chair on the deck and lay out in the sunshine with our books (and lots of sunscreen)! Once in a while, those sorts of days can be good for the soul.

Completing my first two open water scuba dives in Grand Cayman.

I finished my bookwork, tests and pool dives in Wichita before we left, but to complete my certification, I had to make four open water dives. We scheduled two in Grand Cayman, which was our ship's first port of call. We randomly chose a dive shop called The Lobster Pot - one of many on the island. When we arrived we checked in and learned that the girl behind the desk was originally from Wichita! She was a few years older than us and grew up only a couple miles from my parents' house. Then we discovered that my dive master was also from Wichita (he and the check-in girl had not previously known each other)! He went to a rival high school and graduated a few years after us. So crazy. Unfortunately, we forgot the memory card in our underwater camera, so we couldn't take pictures that day, but I'll post some later of our dive in Cozumel.

The towel creatures.

Every evening after dinner, we'd come back to our room to find a turned-down bed, a cute little towel animal and chocolates on our pillows. So fun!

Meeting new friends.

We were a little skeptical when we realized that every night at dinner, we were expected to sit at a table with three other couples that we didn't know. We're all about making new friends, but let's face it, this setting could quickly become painfully awkward. However, the first night we were relieved to find that all of our table mates were our age - we ended up having a blast every night at dinner and hanging out with our new friends during the days.

Tatyana Beach and snorkeling at Isla Roatan.

We didn't know much about this island off the coast of Honduras, but were pleasantly surprised to come ashore to beautiful land with hills, cliffs and gorgeous white beaches. We spent the day at a private beach that was impeccably maintained, with lots of chairs, umbrellas and palm trees, and live reggae music. The reef off the coast was incredible - full of colorful fish and coral. We spent hours in the water with our snorkels, marveling at the world under the water. Most of it exists for God's pleasure alone - men haven't even been able to scratch the surface of discovering what exists on the ocean floor.

more to come soon!