Home Sweet Home

Ahhhhhh. Home again.
I am home in Colorado. After being home in Iowa for two weeks in mid-late July, I truly came to appreciate the dry weather of Colorado. Every day I was in Iowa, the temps were 100+ degrees with a heat index that hit 115+ degrees. I didn't know that it was possible for it to be too hot to go swimming, but it was. Driving through the rolling hills from Osceola to Des Moines, I forgot how lovely the fields of corn are. I do miss the family-ness of a small town. Catching up with a bank teller, laughing with cashiers at the local (Casey's) gas station. Waving to folks you know as you pass them on the road. Bumping into folks you know at the local (Fareway) grocery store. Getting you meat cut and packaged exactly how you want it from the meat counter at the grocery store. Nobody is in a rush to get where they're going---heck it takes 10 minutes or less to get to one side of town to the other, so why be in a rush?

Te best part of my stay was when Kari came home from the hospital! She is recovering from the virus and the Gall Bladder surgery. She came to mom and dad's Wednesday evening, so I was able to see her before I left come back here.

The other best parts of my stay were just being with my family. I just do not get to see them often enough or spend enough time with them.

I love you Mom.
I love you Pop.
I love you Kim.
I love you Kari.
I love you Johnny.
I love you Bubba.
I love you Nick.
I love you Jellybean.
I love you Karina.
I love you Sammy-Wammy-Bam-Bam


Say prayers for Kelli (a.k.a. Jellybean or Bean). She is in New Orleans competing in the Junior Olympics for Gymnastics.

Cozumel, Mexico

Cozumel, Mexico was our third destination. It was also one of the most exciting.
It was a windy a windy day in Cozumel, and it was also the day we chose to do a sting ray and snorkel experience. Snorkeling isn't as easy or relaxing when you have huge waves rolling over you, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the experience. The sting ray encounter was an entirely different story. They assured us that they remove the barbs, so there is no danger of being stung, injured or killed by the sting rays. I am typically not hesitent to try new things, however, when the sting rays swam towards me, I FREAKED OUT!!! The farther int the water the grop went, the farther OUT of the water I went. Michael takes great joy in my fear and LOVES to make fun of me and tease me about how hilarious my being TERRIFIED of the sting rays was. I will share more of the story later, when I find the sting ray and snorkel photos. For now, enjoy these pics.






The wavy waters we snorkeled in.

Me after the sting ray and snorkel experience.



After walking down the main strip and eating at Hard Rock Cafe, we took a little horse and buggy ride back to the port.

Vendors on the strip.

Roatan, Honduras

Roatan was our second stop. There wasn't much to experience here, unless you had reserved an excursion (which we didn't) or wanted to pay taxi fare of $20 per person one way, consequently, we did not shell out $80 to check out the island of Roatan. Instead, we walked around, checked out the port and all the shops and sweltered in the heat. We tppl the chair (a.k.a. ski lift) lift from the port to Mahogany Bay Beach.

A view from the ski lift. All green and no snow.

I really was intrigued by the trees in Roatan.



A postcard view of the island beach.

A view of the water from the ski lift. The lighter part is white sand. The darker portion are some kind of plant with leaves in the shape of bananas.

The view of the beach.



We decided to go on a little walk to check out the area around Mahognay Beach. It was soooooooooooooooooooooooo hot. I pitched a fit. I was not interesed in walking up a hill just to see trees. Michael was walking a ways a head of me, I was dragging my feet a ways behind, grumbling the whole time. "This is not fun." "This isn't my idea of a vacation." "This isn't how I want to spend my time in port." "It is hot." "I want to go to the beach." "I am just going to sit here and wait for you to come back." Michael handled my fit throwing in stride. He patientlyu coerced me to conintue. We came to the bottom of the hill, to a small dirt road and lots of trees. It really was a nice walk, even though it was hotter than the blazes.

Michael proudly showing off his #1 dad, dorky, tourist aura. Cheesy smile, camera and all.

Margaritaville, Grand Cayman

After our Pirate encounter, we took a taxi ride into the city of Grand Cayman. It is a quaint little city, and it is very appearnt, that they cater to the tourists. There were soooooooo many jewelry shops. The best thing about all the goods you could purchase was that everything was duty and tax free. However, even with duty and tax free prices and discounts, most everything was far outside our meager budget. We still had a good time looking.

We grabbed something to eat at Margaritaville. I enjoyed the country muic and atmosphere. Probably the closest I will get Michale to a counrty bar!







Lopsided self portrait

Gotta love the dorky "tourist" look

Grand Cayman Pirtate Experience

Our first stop was Grand Cayman Island. We did a "Pirate Encounter" excursion. The excursion as a whole, was a rather cheesey production, but it was a good time. We tendered from the Crown Princess and the "Pirates" picked us up and took us to the Pirate ship. They told about the history of the ship and offered water and Rum Punch. The pirates did a cheesey little skit, that ended a mother of a little girl getting "tied" up and cold water dumped on her because she told her daughter "no". After that, we circled the Crown Princess and fired blank cannons at the ship. Then came the highlight of the excursion. We traveled farther out in the waters, anchored and were given the opportunity to jump off the ship and swim in the Caribbean! It took me about five seconds to climb out onto the plank and jump. It took Michael about 15 minutes before he gathered enough courage to jump into the water. One of the neatest things was that you could clearly see the bottom...and it was between 30-40 feet deep!!!

The Crown Princess

The Pirate Ship

Michael atop during the cheesey skit

It looks like the bottom is right there, only a few feet deep...It was 30-40 ft deep!

Michael and I after our first swim in the caribbean

Cruise...

I WILL post more cruise photos and stories...Just gotta sort through all the pictures and organzie them so I don't miss out on any of the fabulous and funny moments.

Be watching for pics and stories from:
Ft. Lauderdale, FL (J. Mack's burgers)
The Crown Princess (sea sickness, cha-cha-cha, bingo)
Grand Cayman (our first Port) (pirate experience)
Roatan, Honduras (our second Port) (crabs, coral and spiny sea urchins)
Cozumel, Mexico (our third Port) (sting rays, snorkeling, horse and buggy ride)
Princess Cays, Bahamas (our last Port) (white sandy beach, crashing waves make for a great tender ride)

Grand Cayman Islands

Front view of the Crown Princess

Grand Cayman Library

Margaritaville-Grand Cayman, Rum Slide...no we didn't go down the slide.

Me by the most phtographed fountain in Grand Cayman

we're back

We are back from the Caribbean, but I wanna go back.

I will post pictures and tell all the stories, so be watching the blog for warm breezes!

Vail

Linnette and Katie

Michael was grumpy at me because I woke

him up from a nap to wander around in the

cold, crisp out doors

The last week of October, Michael was finished with his homework and had a break from school, so we drove up to Vail, Colorado to visit our dear friend, Linnette. We played a fun new Wii game Rayman Rabbid Rabbids or something like that. The game is absolutely hysterical. Linnette brought it with her when she came down for Thanksgiving. Mikey and Catherine spent hours playing the game....Did you know that Rabbids can't shut doors or throw cows or hide?


We walked around the ski resorts. It was still "mud season" so it was not a bustling place. We also went to Black Hawk--a mountain town gambling "resort". Michael really liked Blackhawk because they had his table game and Cripple Creek doesen't.

Michael wasn't grumpy at Linnette

The nap---after a late night at Blackhawk.

because i am on vacation

well, today is the last weekday of my summer vacation. this saturday is another mcvey reunion that i iwll not attend. monday begins the new school year...nights of sleeplessness...toiling over schedules and assessing and welcoming new teachers and students. meeting with parents and getting to know new students. i so lookforwaqrd to being immersed in the joy and excitment that the children have...their smiles and stories. as much as i want another week of vacation, i look forward to being around the kiddos again!!! I would love to share some photos of my students, but I am unsure of the rules of posting photos of students, so I will research it and hopefully be able to share their adorable smiles, exuberance and stories with you.

so because it is my last friday of my summer vacation, i am sitting on the couch, watching reruns of great tlevision shows like: house, mash, ncis, numbers...did i mention that all i have eaten today is a partial bag of chips and a katie size can of sprite...good habits. things will change come monday. until next time, get a good chuckle outta these pics.

being aunt katie in the summer

i don't think michael or his kids realized just how much we (nick, kelli and myself) love the water...ponds, creeks or pools. we are water bugs. we spent a few evenings in the pool. michael is not so much a water bug. he is much bigger and stronger than i am, so often times, he has the upper hand. however, that is NOT the case when it comes to being in the water. see, michael is not much of a swimmer, and well, i am. the first night we went down to the pool, all the kids had already jumped in and he was standing by the ledge talking to them. and me, in my innocent and sneaky ways, gave him a not so small shove and landed him in the middle of the pool---clothese, shoes, keys, glasses, towel... I relished in my triumphant victory!!! i am in trouble if he learns to swim too well!!!!

this is nick.

relaxing.

floating.

an innocent water bug

alone in his waterworld.

nick and kelli took a liking to michael...we went to church the first sunday. they were both cuddled with me in the pew.......until michael came in. they both wiggled over to sit on his lap, share the hymnal and cuddle with him. i have no pictures of that, but i thought this was a cute one to share.

Nick and Kelli missed everyone at home...grandma, grandpa, austin, karina, their dad...but they missed nobody as much as they missed their mom!!! we were at michel's after one of our trips to cheynne canyon. kelli found the dominos and was quietly playing with them. i looked over her shoulder and saw this...she looked up at me with the sweetest smile and said she missed her mommy.

Last summer Austin stayed with me for about three weeks. We also visited Garden of the Gods. Austin found this hole...When I told him I'd taken Nick and Kelli to GOG, the first thing he asked was if they had found his hole...Austin, here is your hole filled with Nick!!

Me with the beans at the Royal Gorge and the beans and the Royal Gorge Bridge.

Nick was always so serious in the photos, so I told him to holler "yeah Colorado" and here you have it.

Nick and Kelli squishing their faces togehter, and one of Kelli's many "I am so pretty" posese (at Garden of the Gods).

Everytime we went to Garden of the Gods, they got so excited to climb the rocks. Often times Nick would run and climb ahead of us, then I would watch him just standing there taking in the wonders. Kelli jabbered on and on about how beautiful it was and what a beautiful creation God had made for us. Precious. I will try to upload a few videos of them climbing the rocks.

Other stories from their trip...Michael drove out to Nebraska with m to meet mom and the kids. We pulled into Valentino's and Nick jumped out of the van and ran to introduce himself to Michael. He held out his hand to shake Michael's and said something along the lines of: "I am Nicholas Omer McVey. You are are going to marry my aunt Katie." Kelli got out of the van in her darling little green and white sundress and "glided" over to us with one of her charming princess smiles ad then jumped into my arms.

Driving back from Colorado, Nick would fall asleep for a while then suddenly wake up and tell m that I needed to fuel up---he slept through several fueling stops. Really, he just wanted to stop so he could get a snack at a gas station....Oh, and we stayed at Michael's one night and Nick woke up early in the morning asking if we could go to a gas station to get doughnuts. Saturday morning tradition at our house is Casey's doughnuts...So, of course there must be a Casey's gas station or general store here. I knew Michael would be amused and confused by this request, so I told Nick to as him...Michael looked at me with a rather confused expression and I translated Nick's request. Michael took Nick to Dunkin' Donuts.

Please stay tuned for fabulous pictures and videos from our trip wading down the creek at Cheyenne Canyon....