Dressing Up and Playing Big Brother

Cousin Ava is over 4 weeks old now!!!! I'm sorry its taken so long for me to post pics, but I just got a camera that I could use and as you can tell, I'm using it to my advantage right now! So, here she is, chubby cheeks and all! Sweet as ever and we love her so much! LH is obsessed, but when you ask him if he wants one, he replies "yes, but not this kind - I want a brother!" Sheesh - I thought once she got here, he'd get over that, but oh well, we'll see if we can deliver but it's a tall order!

Sweet Ava
All better now? We just changed her diaper!

LH took this picture...he's quite the camera man!

So in love!

Little Hauss is getting excited about Halloween and wanted to dress up. Actually, in all honesty, I wanted him to dress up too because he will be wearing a football uniform that his Gigi got him last Christmas. Any guesses as to what team its for? I don't really care because I'm cheap and this will be FREE! What better way to get some use out of it? And, he loves wearing it and tackling his Daddy!

Nawlins'

We left from New Orleans, so we decided to stay an extra night when we got back to explore the city. Next time, we will go a day early and spend the night so we can get home quicker. If I had felt better, it might have been more enjoyable, but we couldn't walk straight for a few days after we got off the boat, so sight seeing was just a little burdonsome!

Bourbon Street
Oceana's Creole Restaurant - very yummy!

Something's missing??? No towel friend this time! And, we both were kind of hoping they would have come back in and straightened up after we went to dinner but no such luck! Cruise spoiled us with twice a day room cleaning services!

Looks so innocent doesn't it? Amazing what all that water can really do.

Cemetary. I think this one was the one that part of the movie "Double Jepardy" was filmed in.

This place was sweet!

Beautiful hotel

We had our coffee and beniets!

Horse? no, mules!

This is one of the houses in the 9th Ward that has been built by Brad Pitt's efforts and foundation. It is amazing to see the growth that is happening down there, but sad and humbling because this is right next door to a lot with no house. Even worse, the stairs to the old house are still standing....devastating.

Just Us

Can you tell I'm REALLY happy in this picture? I finally got a patch and was feeling much better! It's nice to have some pictures of just us....they come far and few between these days!
I'm smiling....but feeling like crapola! Nothing a pretty dress, bling, and a cute boy can't fix!

New Friends

We had the best table mates at dinner! They were 2 younger couples that were a blast! We have already talked about planning another cruise with them in the future! They live in Arkansas and the boys played lots of late night poker with Hubby! He was in heaven. I was happy he found some friends since I was kind of sickly and turned in early most nights!!!! Larry and Julie
Cathy and Mark

Elephant Towel Friend

Bunny Towel Friend

Jason the sound guy and Dave the social Host!

I think that was one of my favorite parts about the cruise - meeting all kinds of new people!

Cozumel

Our other port of call was Cozumel! Very nice place and the beaches are wonderful. I love that you can see down to the bottom of the ocean through clear blue water! Beautiful!

Drink at Fat Tuesdays
Our finished product! We took at cooking class and created a wonderful authentic mexican meal.

Mom and Dad

I let him do most of the cooking since I cook every night! Also, I was still sick so while they all sipped on margaritas, I stuck with sprite!

I mustered up a smile for the picture....but wasn't too pleasant to be around - just ask, he'll tell ya the truth!

Our First "Excursion"

Our first port of call was Progreso, Mexcio. It was really nothing to write home about, but again, we didn't really see much of it. We had heard rumors that there were some cool Myan ruins in the heart of the Yucatan, but it would be a long bus ride (at least 2 hours each way) and it would be hot, muggy and buggy! I don't love hot and muggy, but definitely not bugs!

So we opted for our own 'excursion' if you will - we took a nice mexican air conditioned (windows down) ride into the city by the sea and decided to stop in a quaint Mexcian Restauratnt for ONE margarita. Well, Fernando, our server, brought us our margarita and complimentary shots of Petrone! I LOVE Tequila. I really do and normally would jump all over the opportunity for free shots, but I just couldn't stomach it quite yet. I was still very nauseous from the day at sea. Don't worry, it didn't go to waste! Mom took her first shot ever! AND, followed it up with 2 more!!!! Go Gigi!

Well, we thought we were done...on our way to walk the beaches and just have a nice quiet day! We were wrong! 3 cruise employees ended up stopping in the restaurant and of course we had to have more shots and a few beers. We chatted and got all kinds of inside scoop on the boat and the life of cruisin'.

After a few more drinks and the thought of heading back to the boat, more cruisers came in and we shared some fellowship and food with them - oh and along with a couple more shots and beers! One couple actually said they didn't drink!!!!! Then she took her first shot of Tequila!!!! I guess they drink now!!!

Progreso, Mexico
Oh, we were so happy to explore the wonderful world of Tequila shots!

So enticing. Such beautiful presentation of the lime wedges and salt!

Our 'excursion group'

Fernando!

Dave the Social Host and Dad!

Mom's first shot!

We did have a great time getting to know fellow cruisers and some of the staff! And yes, I've already befriended everyone on FB. Don't you know I'll be contacting them next time we cruise!!!

Proof of Vacation

Finally, proof that I really took a vacation.

Riverwalk, New Orleans prior to boarding
Gigi and Pop at dinner

My first towel friend - they gipped me the first night! Ask anyone, they heard about it because I wouldn't shut up about it! I talked about those stinkin' towels the whole week before we left! I love that stuff - but why wouldn't I? A Hospitality & Tourism Degree does that to a person!

Ok, so yes, we really had to put these on and "muster" at our designated stations. I wasn't too sure though if I would know where to go in a real emergency. I think we'd already had 2 buckets of beer at this point!

Our Boat! The Carnival Fantasy