Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (and boats!) - Vacation Part 1

Time flies so fast! We are already back home in Melissa where we lead a quiet, but full life. Vacation was officially over when I had to make an appearance at work this morning. Despite the brevity of our ventures, we had a wonderful time cruising through the Pacific! In fact, we had such a good time that I took notes of the events while we were gone so I could share them here. There are so many funny stories and details that must be shared and formally documented. Since there is so much to write about, I've decided to break down our vacation into four parts - one blog for each day we were gone! I apologize in advance if I am a little long-winded.

Our vacation was intended to begin at 3am Friday morning. We had a 6:45am flight to catch, and I felt that I needed to be up early to shower, get ready, and finish packing. We set two alarms on Thursday night - one by the bed and one on Frank's cell phone. Around 4:17am Frank wakes me up in a hushed panic. I've always wondered what it'd be like to be Maggie (our dog) and have the energy to fly out of bed in the morning. I'm not much of a morning person, so I figured that unless there was a fire then it would have to remain a mystery. However, I did fly out of bed Friday morning. We still have no idea how both alarms failed us. There was no time to shower, so I had to put my hair in a ponytail, and throw on some clothes while feverishly packing all of our toiletries. I don't think we made it out of the house till around 5am. We missed our flight, which is pretty obvious. But the events that led up to that moment are certainly worth blogging about.

Looking back, I can laugh at the series of events that took place before 6:45, but at the time I was anything but happy. Once we made it to the car we raced down 75 to the airport. As we were discussing what would happen if we missed our flight, we drove right past our exit to DFW. Classic. Frank remains optimistic and I'm annoyed. We park in remote North parking and take off in a half run for the shuttles. Just as we get close enough to read the signs on the shuttles, we see our bus to terminal D leaving the bus station. 5:45am. We stood watching as the other buses for terminals A, B, C, and E came and went - teasing us as they came around the corner. It would be another 15 minutes before the terminal D shuttle would return. We ride to our gate and run inside to check our bags. We make it to the automated check-in and Frank loses control of his luggage and the wheel rolls over my left foot. While I angrily attempt to doctor my foot and place blame, Frank tries several times to check us in and the system cant find our reservation. 6:15am. At this point my foot is gushing blood and I leave in search of a ladies room to rinse it off and get a paper towel to stop the bleeding. Frank makes it to the front of the line while I'm gone, and is informed that it's too late to check our bags, so we were moved to the 7:45am flight. When I return, Frank and I begin the long wait in the security line. Once we reach the front of the line, it becomes clear that the clerk only gave Frank his boarding pass, but neglected to give him mine. So we have to go BACK to the check-in line to get a boarding pass for me. I limp over to the check in line again, and I'm greated by a very cranky customer service lady. She was irritated with me, but the feeling was mutual. It's beyond me why she never mentioned the necessity of my presence to Frank. It must have been a bad day for her too - although I doubt hers ended in a cruise. We eventually made it past security and had to hop on the SkyTram to terminal C which was on the complete opposite side of the airport. We got to our gate with just enough time to scarf down some McDonalds for breakfast before joining the last boarding group on the 7:45am flight. Traveling is just not my thing. Below is a very tame picture of my foot that I took on the plane - strictly for sympathy points.


When we arrived in LAX we rented a car the size of a rollerskate so we could keep ourselves occupied until it was time to board the Monarch of the Seas. I found the car to be quite comical. It was power NOTHING - perfect! The nice lady at Enterprise kept trying to upsell us to a nicer car, but I loved the idea of driving this thing. We headed out with a map and an appetite which landed us at an IHOP in the hood. We may have been the only English speaking people in the restaurant, but the eggs were still good. We left there and headed north to the pier in Venice - home of the famous Muscle Beach. We walked up and down the boardwalk for about an hour, and I ended up feeling depressed. There were so many homeless people and alot of others who obviously had no direction in their life. They sat on the side of the boardwalk with all of their posessions behind them in a shopping cart and they laid out their "art" in front of them for sale. We were approached by a crazy homeless guy asking to use my cell phone at one point. He told us that he had a very important business call to make. Someone was ready to loan him 500 million dollars to build a building. He followed quickly behind us, and I was ready to either fight or run since this is how I was mugged last time. I'm not sure we got our $7 worth out of our parking, but we had seen enough so we headed to Santa Monica to look around.

Around 12:30 we met my Uncle Ken at a restaurant called Tony P's for lunch. We ate on the patio that overlooked a marina with beautiful boats. It was good to see family after a stressful morning. He gave us good directions to the cruise ship and we did finally arrive at the port to offically start our vacation. It was SUCH a long day.




After we checked in and unpacked our bags, we were forced to muster with the rest of our cruising peers. It's really a very silly drill, so I turned it into a photo opportunity. At this point we had made time for a quick shower, which is good because Frank smelled. :)


After muster we headed for the top deck for a few more pictures. It was a beatiful evening and we tried to take it all in even though we were exhausted. We needed a vacation just from traveling!


As an experienced cruiser, I know that the shows on the ship are most of the time worth viewing. So we went to the opening act and were quite pleased with the entertainment. I dont remember his name, but the comedian was really funny. He came prepared with alot of jokes about cruising and how much people eat on cruises (which is SO true!). Although, the more you eat the cheaper your cruise becomes! So, in true crusing fashion we left the show and went to dinner.


We braced ourselves for more drama when we arrived for dinner. We had requested a table for 2 since we were stuck at a horrible table of 8 for our honeymoon cruise. Last time we were sat with a whole family - complete with Mom, Dad, two teenage daughters, and their grandparents. Exciting! Well, we didnt get our private table as we had asked for so we prepared for the worst again. Fortunately, another young couple showed up - both were 21. They were very quiet at first and Frank and I kept glancing at each other to see if we could find relief from the awkward silence. We resorted to talking about the menu for 5 minutes. I got tired of that so I decided to go ahead and break the ice with some friendly "get-to-know-you" topics. Their names are Neil and Jackie, and it turns out that they were just good friends. Neil's girlfriend had bought the cruise for them as a birthday present, but when she realized that she would miss Father's Day she opted to stay home. Since there are no good options when canceling a cruise vacation so late, she suggested he bring a friend instead. The evening was pretty tame, but those two ended up being worlds of entertainment by the end of the cruise. The most obvious reason is because it was the only evening that they came to dinner sober. More to come on them later. The last 2 seats remained empty on the first night. Once dinner was over, we went to bed and crashed hard. It was only 10:30pm, but when you consider the time change, we had been up for 20 hours. Not a bad end to a crazy day.

Check in tomorrow for Day Two! More pictures to come! Gracias to those of you who even made it this far to read this! :)

I'm the Luckiest Guy in the World

Today is our three year anniversary, and Friday we head out for a much-needed vacation on a 3-day cruise to Mexico.

Three years is a long time. It's more than half the time you spend in college (even for me), and longer than most people stay at a job (especially if you're Serra and Garry).

I met Kristin swing dancing. This is a little amusing to me by itself: I hate dancing. One of my roommates guilted me into going. He and I arrived, and soon after, the rest of the group showed up. Before proper introductions could be made, the band started playing, and my roommate (his name is Richard - did I mention he's about 6'1 and over 300 lbs?) grabs me and sort of tosses me at a group of girls. So much for first impressions. Kristin took pity on me and introduced herself, and we danced. It wouldn't be the last time she would rescue me.

Being married to Kristin has truly changed me in so many good ways. God (being sovereign and loving) uses whatever means He deems necessary to make us into the people He wants us to be. Some people He lets stay in the kiddie pool, happy and content. I was headed there, too - it was safe, after all. Marriage has been God's way of - like Richard at the dance hall - tossing me unceremoniously into the deep end of the big pool.

I'm a sentimentalist and a hopeless romantic, so I think on some level, I thought if a couple worked hard enough at it, they'd never fight. I'd bought in - if only on a subconscious level - to the whole bit about "only 'troubled' couples argue." Basically, I somehow had bought into the idea that if you're really, truly in love, you don't ever fight.

Well, if you actually buy that little gem, let me - as a seasoned three-year "veteran" (I still have no clue what I'm doing) - undecieve you. This is apparently a pretty common misconception, and you probably know some newly-married people (usually girls) who will go to the mat to convince you that "oh, we never fight." I feel very bad for people who actually say this, because either a) they are lying (which is what I used to do), or b) they truly don't ever fight - which is especially tragic since it means neither of them cares enough about anything to actually fight about it, which reminds of an awesome quote:

“The conception of two people living together for years without having a cross word suggests a lack of spirit only to be admired in sheep.”

Well, I definitely did NOT marry a sheep, and our marriage has so much more depth because of it! Most of the time, I'm not who I need to be - but I'm working on that, and Kristin is patient enough to give me points for trying. God gave me a truly rare wife who can walk that fine line - she loves me as I am without affirming me in my mediocrity. This is huge - she expects me to be all that God intended for me to be - not because she is concerned that I'll be a social liability (which I often am, I think), but because on my worst days, she believes in me more than I believe in myself.

Kristin is incredible. She loves God and she cares so much about His people. Since we've started working with the high school group at our church, she's become such good friends with some of the girls (a couple of them keep her up at night worrying about them!). She's so smart and beautiful. She figures out games and gadgets faster than anyone I've ever met. But the part I don't completely understand is how such a clearly intelligent woman treats me like I'm Superman, even when I look very different from the Man of Steel. I do the smallest thing (often by accident), and she acts like I've hung the moon for her. She is learning to be patient with me while I grow up (she even trusts me most days to dress myself now).

I'm the luckiest man alive, I think.

Scary Things

Things can be scary in different ways. On one hand you have situations where you are literally afraid, and then you have moments of realization that can be described as mildly frightening. I've had both in the last 24 hours, and neither were pleasant.

The first of the above mentioned happened after church last night. I was standing in the "big" building where the Sunday services are held socializing with some of the HS girls and another adult. Alot of the kids are running around, playing instruments and eating pizza. I'm only half aware of the details surrounding me, but one thing does catch my eye. A girl in the youth group acquires everyone's attention (within earshot) when she walks in announcing "Hey come look what I found outside!" I'm as curious as the next guy so I turn to look. Right as I focus in on the clear jar she is holding, I hear another kid say "Wow! A Tarantula!" At that same moment I had caught a glimpse of a large black hairy leg residing in the jar. Panic. Pure panic. I've already shared in a recent blog that I DONT DO SPIDERS. For those of you who know me well, you know I can not emphasize that enough. So two things go though my mind - both of equal importance. First - GET OUT! So in an incredibly rude moment, I left the group I was talking to in mid-conversation, grabbed my stuff and walk out of the church through a side exit. No time for goodbyes or any other pleasantries. Second thought - "You found that thing WHERE?!?!". I dont think I will ever feel safe walking the grounds around the church again. So I find myself standing at a safe distance from the spider inside, but then realize that Im now standing in it's old stomping grounds. I'm sure the large ugly useless creature had a family and friends. Panic sets in again. Where is it safe to stand? Exactly how close can I stand to the flower beds? Is it ok to stand next the ramp leading up the portable buildings? What if one is under the ramp. It could be inches away and I'd not know it. With that, there goes my safe haven. I never assumed that the church would be spider free. However, as most people (I'd hope) I really would prefer that it be tarantula free. Is that so much to ask??? I find myself reliving the experience just by typing it. UGH!

My frightful realization came this evening as I was driving to McAlisters to meet Tiffani for dinner. I was sitting at the light waiting for the arrow so I can turn onto the street that runs next to the restaurant. I'm first in line to turn left, but this is one of those lights where you have to have an arrow, or else the light is red. I hate those - I trust my judgement. Anyway, I see another Celica at another corner of the intersection who is also waiting to turn left, and head west. I think nothing of it. Celica's are everywhere. However, the guy driving the other Toyota gets his arrow first and drives past me. He's a scrawny, squirelly , dorky, greasy looking guy who obviously thinks he's cool. He's got all the window's down and the music up. We make brief eye contact as he passes and he throws up a peace sign through the sun roof in my direction! What??? Then it hit me. I'm in THAT crowd, just because of my car. See, I used to really think I was cool with my silver sports car, but that was in high school. At that age its cool to have any car, as it represents a chance for freedom. But I'm 25 now and I've been driving my "cool" car for over 7 years. I stopped thinking it was a fashion statement somewhere in mid-college. I realize now that even if I view my car as a means of transportation, I am apparently some member of a club I didnt know existed. I want to cancel my membership. More than ever, I'm desperate for a new car. I have my sights set on a Maxima. I'm pretty sure that the other Maxima drivers wont be communicating to me via peace signs - and hopefully no other gestures will be necessary either.

On the up side - we leave for Ensenada in 3 days! Viva la Mexico!!!

Splashes of Summer

I enjoyed a much better Friday this week - and still managed to squeeze in a nap! Frank and I were invited to a pool party hosted by another couple that works with us in the youth group at church. We already had plans to have dinner with "Ermie" (nickname for Eric + Amy), but we were still able to make a brief appearance. I'm pretty sure that all of the youth were invited, but only the HS girls showed up, which is fabulous since those are my favorites anyway. I was asked a few time why I wasnt swimming and I was relieved to be able to tell them that I had dinner plans, and therefore can not go to the restaurant soaking wet. I also shared that I will only wear a swimsuit around people I dont know, and even then I must be out of the country. Neither of those qualifications were met last night. I had a hilarious conversation earlier this week with a co-worker about swim wear. She said her motto is: "If it moves, lock it down!" So there you go. I'm on lock down. I only got a couple of pictures with the girls since the ones who were in the pool wouldnt get out, and then when we tried to pose beside the pool we got wet - thanks to Trisha and Ashley! I should have seen that coming. Here are the two trouble-makers that were throwing the water. They dont look guilty at all do they??
Water is still being splashed in our direction at this point. However, the A&M t-shirt demanded a photo! I'm so proud of the girls that choose to take the RIGHT path to Aggie Land. WHOOP!
Here is Oreo - Marcus and Tricia's puppy. I'm a sucker for puppies. Notice how I have to hold her face. That tounge was working over time and kept ending up on my face! Too cute, though.

Amy and I waiting on outside of Jalapeno Tree for a table. They have the best beef fajitas there. Everyone also got a margarita to celebrate the weekend. We discussed getting a late night movie, but none of us would have lasted.

Three Years Hitched

We are pros now. It's official. Our three year anniversary is June 12th! Yay - we actually made it out with all of our limbs (so far)! It's hard to believe how fast time flies. Marriage has taught me alot about myself, and reinforced some things I already knew. I'm lucky to have found someone who is willing to hang around even though I'm pretty feisty and stubborn. Frank is a great man, who is probably one of the most genuine people I have met. He loves me without reserve and treats me like a princess. Who could ask for more? So Are we perfect? Certainly not. There will always be fights and hard times, but I guess that just means we're growing.

We are celebrating our anniversary by taking a short cruise to Ensenada Mexico that ports in LA. One more week to go! We fly out of DFW EARLY next Friday morning. We cant wait to just get out of town for a little while and simply relax! We plan on going on an ATV excursion in Mexico, so I'm sure I will have some fun pictures to post when we get back! I decided to post this a few days early since we have a full weekend planned. Enjoy some of our favorite pictures from the last three years below!



Our Wedding Day!

We also went on a cruise on our honeymoon. I had to put the picture in grayscale because we were so sunburned. Not the best look for us!


Ski Trip to New Mexico with Serra and Garry. We made a stop at Putt Putt Golf when we were too sore (old) to ski two days in a row. lol.


Looking pretty fabulous at Kelly's Wedding. I married a stud.


Nothing like a good action shot. This is also obviously from the wedding.

Frank graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) on May 12th with a Masters of Biblical Studies. Graduations always make for a good photo op.

Here's a fun picture we took ourselves in our home studio.

This weekend...

In my attempt to be a better "blogger" I figure I need to share with everyone even the mundane aspects of my life. Friday night was a pretty lame night compared to my life 5 years ago. I used to be able to stay up till all hours of the night and then remain productive at school the next morning. I'm old now, I guess, since I skipped a happy hour event and went home and straight to bed. I think I slept till around 7:30 that night and only woke up because I heard Frank outside mowing. Pathetic!

Saturday proved to be a better day. Frank did some more yard work in the morning while I woke up slowly,

read a magazine, and got ready for the day. I was supposed to meet Tiffani for lunch, but that was moved to later this week, which I was pretty bummed about. Frank and I headed out for lunch at McAlisters in McKinney and ran into my sister and her husband. This weekend is their one year anniversary, so we totally crashed their lunch date. It was a beautiful day outside, so we dined on the patio. Our conversation moved to the cruise that we are leaving for in less than 2 weeks so we tried to persuade them to take a last minute vacation with us. We actually had them convinced, and we were on the phone with Royal Carribean who informed us that the ship is booked! So much for that. However, they are going on their own tropical vacation at the end of June so it's not too tragic.

While finishing our meal, Amy and I decided that we needed some hats for our vacations. So, after lunch we headed for the outlet mall to look for HUGE floppy hats, because what tropical vacation would be complete with out a hat the size of a tent? The boys were even nice enough to tag along, although they refused to wear a hat themselves. Amy and I were successful in our hunt and landed some wonderfully large hats to don on vacation. We even wore them around the outlet mall for a while, and surpisingly didnt get many funny looks.

We parted ways and Frank and I went to Willowbend mall where I got a new bikini (scary, yes) and some more beach-wear. After buying all that stuff I'm really starting to get excited about the trip. It feels real now, which has scared me into working out every day - but I guess that's not such a bad thing. Hopefully this trip we will be able to meet some other young couples who we can hang out with. Someone has to be there to take our pictures! We really suck at holding the camera in front of us and hoping it's aimed correctly.

Sunday was pretty nice. Kelly and Jimmy met us for church and even came over to the youth quarters after the service to meet some of our peeps. After church Frank and I went to lunch at Outback with his mom to celebrate her birthday. We ate too much as usual, so our bodies demanded the Sunday-mid-afternoon-nap. We gave in and slept for an hour or so when we got home. When we woke up, Frank was content to sit at his laptop and read the news/sports, but I got antsy and wanted to do something active. I decided that it was time, right then, to go and work on the flower beds.

Now, Frank was not very pleased with my immediate switch in attention, but he obliged me anyway. I now know that that was only because he didnt expect that I would want to transplant flowers, pull weeds, and trim shrubs. The flowers we planted have exploded with all the rain, and I am beyond shocked. I never expected them to live, let alone GROW! No one told me this would happen. They need to be cut back or ripped out all together to keep our beds from looking over-crowded. So, we got to work. Now, I have to clarify that by "we" I mean that I was more of the director, or "oversee-er" if you will. Frank brought it to my attention a couple of days ago that we have spiders in our yard again. I dont do spiders. We actually have a contract with the pest control people who come once every three months, and any time we see a bug in between. They will be here Monday, but the future hope of their coming is not enough to get me to touch anything that can not be seen from all angles to ensure that a nasty spider isnt on the other side waiting to latch onto my hand. I'm almost positive I would die if that happened.

"We" got alot of work done. Frank was a trooper. I'll even call him Superman today because he tackled the stupid thorny weed that we cant seem to kill. I didnt get any pictures of it, but if it comes back I'll have to share some.

And yes, I did help SOME!

-kris

Kelly's Wedding

I never got a chance to share some photos and a brief summary of Kelly's wedding that was almost 4 weeks ago now! I can hardly believe it - time flies so fast. Kelly got married on April 28th - which ended up being the best Saturday weather that I recall in a long time! She got very lucky!!


We started the festivities around 11am on Saturday to prepare for the 6pm wedding. Kelly's mom Tina had thought of everything! She had laid out fruit, veggies, cheeses, and all the makings for a great sandwich, along with some ice cold beverages. Around 11:30 the hair and make-up ladies showed up and a lady who does chair massages followed shortly after. We were pampered all morning!




I personally LOVE having my hair and make-up done, and they did a great job so I was looking fabulous for the wedding - even if the dress brought out my natural pastiness!


After we were all dolled up we headed to the chuch to don our dresses and take some pictures. Kelly looked gorgeous in her dress! Everything past that seemed to go by so quickly! Before I knew it, the ceremony was over and we were dancing the night away under a beautiful clear sky. The evening ended with everyone lining up down the side walk with very large sparklers to see them off. Once they ran through and we all waved goodbye, all of the remaining guests were standing around remembering the evening while my husband decides to light the entire can of sparklers on fire! *sigh* Boys. Enjoy the fun pictures!