Murphy

Erin did a little photo shoot with her puppy tonight.  Isn't he handsome?

He is 8 months old now. He weighed 98 pounds when we picked him up at the vet after we got home from our cruise.  I think he's put on a few pounds since we've been home to feed him.  He is 30 inches tall at the shoulder. We've had him since September.  He has been the worst dog I've ever seen, but he's starting to calm down and straighten up.  He can even be a nice puppy sometimes!!

My Last Cruise Post

Of course, the main theme of the cruise was singing.  We caught as many concerts as we could each day.  There were concerts going on in 2 or 3 different places at the same time.  You could choose a place, find yourself a seat, and just sit there for hours as a new group sang every 30 minutes.  If there wasn't singing going on in those places, there was preaching.  It was a wonderful week!!

The Mark Trammell Quartet and TheWhisnants

 All of the artists came together the last night at 11:15 p.m. for just 15 minutes of impromptu singing.  It was spectacular!!!  Such a great ending to a great week!!!

The Gala Buffet

I know there are no people pictures in this post, but the Gala Buffet was so stunning I had to post these.  There was a huge ice sculpture of a dragon...made me think of the Lockness Monster.  All of these pictures are food.  The beautiful flowers are made from food.  It was just all so breathtaking!  One of the busboys told us that they used to do this on every cruise, but after a couple of years it became "old hat" to the passengers, so the number of people that attended dwindled to just a few.  He said they haven't done the Gala Buffet for a long time.  He said all the workers were so excited and happy that they were doing it for our cruise.  Evidently the passengers were too because the place was jam-packed.    It was almost standing-room-only.  You had to wait in line for 10 minutes or more just to take pictures of everything, but thanks to Meagan, we got some fabulous pictures.  The buffet didn't open until 11 p.m., but I'm so glad some of us stayed up late enough to attend.  It was one of the highlights of our cruise.  Can you imagine the man-hours they put into creating this art show?

Nassau, capital of the Bahamas

 We chose the Ardasta Gardens & Zoo and City Tour during our stay at Nassau.

 Here we are waiting for our tour to begin.

 Here is the bus we rode on to the zoo and for our tour of the city.

 We were able to feed the lorakeets slices of apple at the zoo.  Laura is enjoying herself.

 Kara

 Leah

 This peacock was strutting all over.  He was shaking his feathers so they kind of made a rattling, rustling sound.  They had several peacocks, including an albino.

 We watched a flamingo show.  Leah was chosen as one of the ones allowed to go out in the ring with them.  She is standing on one leg here doing her flamingo pose.

As the girls were walking past this military macaw, he called out, "Hello!"  They stopped to talk to him for a few minutes.  

We enjoyed our time at the zoo and the tour of the island.  The Bahamas is a beautiful place, and we hope to return there again someday.

Half Moon Cay

 Grandpa & Grandma Cooper

I'm sure it was the first time his legs had seen the sun in 82 years!

 Grandpa & Grandma Sanders

 Heather's artwork & everyone's sentiments!

 Meagan, Leah, & Kara started digging a hole to bury their sister in.  Nanna had been pestering everyone.  Mark Trammell's family was trying to get some family pictures in the water, and Nanna kept hanging around and getting in the way.  Meagan's sure she must have been in every one of their family pictures.  So they decided they'd slow her down a little and keep her out of everyone's way.

 They had her come put her feet in the hole, and they started filling it in.

 She sat there and let them fill the sand in around her legs, thinking what fun it was!

 Until Meagan told her to try to pull her feet out....then it wasn't so fun.  She couldn't move!!!

 We tried to be creative and take a picture of our shadows.

 We posed for a group shot, and Jonathon Taylor had to get in on the fun.

 We rode a tender boat to and from the island.  The water was very rough that day, so it was an exciting ride, to say the least!

 Erin found a star fish.  She managed to smuggle it home in one piece.

 The entrance was quite impressive.  Once inside the gate, there were little shops, a post office, and a place to get a drink.  Down at the other end of the island was a large mess hall where we had lunch...hamburgers, hotdogs, all kinds of fresh fruit, and dessert.  So nice!!

 Grandpa & Grandma Sanders on the beach

 This was some of the little shops inside the gate.

Grandpa & Grandma Cooper with our ship in the background

Dinner Time or Party Time?

We had second seating for dinner every night, so we didn't eat until 7:45.  There were 2 dining rooms, the Sensation and the Imagination.  We were seated in the Imagination at Table 300.  They told us this was the captain's table.  It was the largest table, able to seat 13 of us.

 This was Meagan's fruit plate she ordered as a "starter" one night.  So fancy!

 We had a different menu each night, but the items on the left-hand page were the same every day.  They were a little more like "every day" food.  The items that changed each day on the right side of the menu were a little more "exotic", like lobster or alligator.

 Nanna ordered cheese pizza all 5 nights!!  Our waiter had her figured out after the second night.  He'd just ask her, "Cheese pizza?"

 Each night the waiters did a little show for us and sang for us.  It was always a lot of fun.  It made us feel like we were going to a party every night.

 Erin was a brave girl.  She tried something new every night.  She tried escargot, frog legs, alligator, lobster...  I believe this picture is of Erin & Heather trying frog legs.  Looks like they're not too crazy about them!

 The girls posed for a picture with our waiters on the last night.  The tall one in the back is Fernando.  He is from the Philippines.  He was very quiet and business-like the first couple of nights, but then he seemed to come out of his shell.  He was so much fun!  The shorter man is Jhoni (Yes, that's spelled right.)  He was from Indonesia.  He knew all of our names by the end of the first evening.

 This was a vegetable pot pie my mom had one evening.  Isn't it beautiful?  She said it was delicious too.

 I think this was the evening Erin ordered alligator.  I don't think Heather was the least bit impressed!

Erin displaying her lobster and shrimp.

We usually ate our breakfast and lunch in the Coconut Grove at the buffet or the grill or the Pizza Pirate.  Those girls ate pizza for breakfast, lunch, and snacks.  We all think Laura ate her weight in ice cream during the week too!  They couldn't keep the machines full with all the ice cream all the girls consumed!