Home for the Holidays and New Year's in Mexico!

Happy 2015, Everyone!! We hope everyone enjoyed the holiday season and ushered in a very happy new year.  We were very blessed to be able to go home and see our families.  It was a wonderful holiday!  And super busy! It has been quite a long time since our last post!  We will do our best to fill you in on all of our latest happenings.

Happy New Year from us to you!!

The Pope was here in the Philippines last week.  Pope Francis arrived on Thursday and stayed until Monday morning.  The streets were crowded with so many people trying to catch a glimpse and be blessed.  He held two masses while he was here.  One was in Tacloban where the typhoon hit last year killing so many thousands, and the other was in Manila.  They estimate as many as six million people gathered on the Pope’s motorcade route and/or for the mass in Manila.  We stayed far away from Manila.  It would have been wonderful to see him, but we knew we would not be able to get close enough to see him, so we stayed in Makati.  A national holiday was declared while the Pope was here.  Government buildings and schools were closed Thursday, Friday, and Monday (mostly because of traffic concerns).  Even our favorite Starbuck’s was closed! That meant Eric’s building was closed, too, so he and his colleagues found a conference room in a hotel to use for those days.  It was like a ghost town around here while the Pope was in town!  We kind of enjoyed the slower pace.  You can read more about his visit here if you are interested.

Well, we arrived in Texas on Sunday, December 20^th.  We were able to change our flight plans and head home three days earlier than planned.  We are so glad we did!  We spent a little extra time sleeping and catching up to TX time those first couple of days.  We took a different route when we flew home this time, and the flight was a little longer than the flight from Tokyo.  We flew eight hours from Manila to Dubai and then sixteen hours from Dubai to Dallas.  The flights were smooth and we watched lots of movies while in the air.

We spent most of the first couple of days in Fort Worth with the kids!  We ate Mexican food (2X) and went to a Chinese buffet – both are foods we had been craving.  It’s surprising, but we haven’t found a good Chinese restaurant since we have been over here!  And Mexican…well…they try.  :). We did a little bowling, hit a couple of bookstores, and basically just caught up with everyone those first few days.  We spent most of our evenings in Flower Mound at my parents’ house.  Thanks again, Mom and Dad!  Their house looked beautiful with their new Christmas tree!  On Christmas Eve, we went to my brother and sister-in-law’s house in Argyle, TX.  Lynn made an absolutely phenomenal prime rib for dinner (as usual), and we enjoyed drinking some wine, catching up with each other, opening a few gifts, and playing a few games.  Tristan is a senior this year!  I can’t believe it!  She is as beautiful as ever, inside and out!  And Garett…I don’t know if he is done growing or not yet, but he must be well over six feet tall!  He is handsome and smart and funny….he must take after his Aunt Kim. :)  Unfortunately, we were so excited to be home these first few days that we neglected to take many pictures.  Boo!!  We didn’t realize it until we were uploading pics from our trip.  We are sorely lacking during this time!  We will have to make up for it when we get back home.  As we left, we stole some cookies from Lynn - she only made about 25 different kinds of cookies for Christmas this year!!  We are so lucky to have someone who loves to cook so much in the family!  Thanks Lynn and Ed for feeding us an amazing meal!!

Tristan.  I can't believe she turned 18 today!!!  Where did the time go?!?

Garett.  Hard to believe he is in high school already!!

We woke up bright and early on December 26^th, packed the car, and headed to Fort Worth to pick up Hannah and Andrew and meet up with Tricia, Patrick, and Emily.  Road Trip!  We drove to New Orleans where we met up with Judy and Roy (Eric’s parents) and stayed the night.  We wandered around the French Quarter, had dinner at one of the Cajun restaurants, moseyed through a few shops, and had beignets from Café du Monde while sitting in Jackson Square.  It was a perfect evening for checking out a few sights!  A few who shall remain nameless even engaged in a powdered sugar war.  It’s amazing how much powdered sugar is in those beignet bags!  We all headed to bed pretty early so we could be ready to board our cruise ship the next day!

Andrew ready for the drive...headphones and ipad engaged!

Hannah ready with her new laptop.

Patrick, Tricia, Roy, and Emily at dinner in New Orleans.  The beignet fries with bananas foster was the hit of the meal!

Eric with his gumbo!

YUM!!   Beignets at Jackson Square.  Action shot...(sorry, girls) :)

It appears to be snowing...in New Orleans. 

We sailed on the Carnival Elation for five nights and went to Cozumel and Progresso.  We were all anxious to get this part of vacation started!  The entire cruise was wonderful!  We played trivia (we even won a trophy), listened to music, watched shows, went to art auctions, ate incredible food (especially the melting chocolate cake), explored two ports, sat out on the deck, laughed, and just enjoyed time together.  Tricia and Emily even went to a yoga class!  Hannah sang karaoke!  Andrew….we are not entirely sure what Andrew did a lot of the time….he met some friends early on and just had a good time hanging out with them on the boat.  Patrick and Andrew played in a ping-pong tournament, too!  It was nice to all get together for dinner each night.  There were two ‘elegant’ nights when we all got to dress up a little bit.  Although, if you looked at Tricia and Patrick, you would have thought EVERY NIGHT was ‘elegant’ night!  Those two could model for the cruise industry!  One of the ‘elegant’ nights was the last night which was New Year’s Eve.  It was so fun to celebrate on the boat!  There were two parties – one at 11:00 for the New York ball drop and one at midnight.  The one at 11:00 was in the atrium and balloons were dropped from the ceiling.  The place was packed!  The midnight party was outside on the Lido deck around the pool…I think.  Eric and I called it a night after the 11:00 balloon drop.  Are we getting old?  :)

Our boat.  The Elation.

New Year's Eve Tricia and Patrick.

11:00 Balloon drop in the atrium.

Beautiful Girls!

First day on the boat.

Our first towel animal.

First elegant night for dinner.

Roy in the dining room.

Andrew waiting for appetizers. 

New Year's Eve.  Not exactly sure what is happening here...   :)

Happy New Year from Roy!!

Our first port was in Cozumel where Eric, Emily, Hannah, Patrick, and Andrew rode jet skis while Tricia, Judy, Roy, and I relaxed on the beach beneath some palm trees.  It was lovely!  The weather was perfect and Roy bought us margaritas!  After jet skis Eric, Emily, and I went snorkeling.  So. Much. Fun.  While we were snorkeling, there was also a tequila tasting going on.  That’s where we found the other part of our group. :)  When we got back to the port, there was just enough time for a little souvenir shopping and then it was back on the boat!

Beautiful day in Cozumel!

Jet Skis!

Beautiful Tricia!  That's Eric, Patrick, Emily, Hannah, and Andrew on Jet Skis in the background.

Beach Club.

That's Judy and Roy back there under a tree.

Hannah, Emily, Tricia, Andrew

Andrew, Hannah, Emily, Tricia

The next port was Progresso/Yucatan.  We decided on the tour to the Mayan ruins in Chichen Itza.  We loaded up with water and sunscreen and headed to the pier.  It was a long 2 ½ hour bus ride to the ruins, but once we got there, we could see why so many people visit the site each year.  This is a must-do if you are ever in Progresso!  It was another long ride back to the port, and we were the very last bus to return.  There was no time for souvenir shopping.  We were supposed to be back on the boat at 4:30, and it was already approaching 5:00!  In fact ROY was the VERY LAST person back on the boat!!  I think he stepped on as we departed the dock!  Phew!  

Emily and Tricia ready for the tour.

 

 

 

 

Eric, Andrew, and Patrick

Emily and Eric

The Mayans were very impressive!

Judy and Roy

Judy and Roy close up!  :)

Eric and Hannah

Andrew

Kim, Judy, and the back of Emily....

Our obligatory selfie.

Eric, Emily, Andrew, and Hannah

It was a long, hot day, and we were all pooped by the end!

Hannah

We had a fabulous vacation and can’t wait to do it again!!  We would definitely recommend cruising to anyone looking for a fun family…or extended family vacation.  There truly is something to do for everyone!  We can’t say enough about Carnival.  Every member of the crew we encountered was absolutely wonderful!  I think my favorite part, aside from spending time with each other, was the last night at dinner when our servers and all of the dining room staff danced to Flo Rida’s Apple Bottom Jeans!  It was a sight to remember!!

We had a few days left in Texas before we departed for the Philippines again on January 6^th.  We just spent time with family and enjoyed being together.  I had an interview for a long-term sub job at a Frisco High School the day before we left, and I will be back in Texas mid-March so that I can start that assignment and job hunt for the new school year.  It feels like things are winding down here a little bit, and time is going by quickly.  My mom will be here visiting next week and then it’s practically spring!  We are both looking forward to being back home permanently.  Eric will be home in May…just in time (hopefully) to welcome his very first GrandBaby!!  We are looking forward to a less-traveled second half of 2015.  

My favorite picture of Hannah!

Happy New Year, Y’all!!  We love you!!

Until Next Time,

Eric and Kim  :)