Family

The Lloyd family consist of David, Donna, Caleb and Madilyn. We are just like any other family and are trying to make the most of our lives. The post found within this section are about our everyday life from my point of view and maybe an occasional musing from David.

Tuesday- December 23 (recap)

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008


Today we docked in Cozumel Mexico. Thankfully my seasickness had passed and I felt back at 100%. I did wake in the night to some rough waters, but was glad to be feeling well enough to take our planned trip into Cozumel.

Once we came on deck we noticed that we could not see the shore (lol). The Disney Magic was docked next to us, that ship made ours look like a tug boat. The Disney Ship was massive and beautiful. Maybe in a few years we will take Maddie on a Disney cruise.

We had planned a 4.5 hour trip but it actually lasted about 6 hours. We went with a group of about 40 people and 10 dune buggies. David drove the dune buggy through the city and then out to ECO park. At the park we saw some Mayan Ruins, a croc preserve, a 200 year old light house and we went snorkeling.

The dune buggy ride was fun. We got to see a lot of the city and beach front. Eco Park only had 1 major ruin but it was interesting to hear how the structure would warn the Mayans of a coming hurricane.
Snorkeling was fun, but not nearly as pretty as when David and I went to the Bahamas. It was Caleb’s first time and he had a blast. We had to swim pretty far out to get to the reef. To say we were all beat once returning to the ship would be an understatement.
We had hoped to have some time to do some shopping in Cozumel, but our trip lasted too long and we barely made it back to the ship in time.
The waters were once again a little choppy but no one got sea sick.

Monday- December 22 (recap)

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008


Today we docked in Progresso Mexico. We had a planned trip to see the Mayan Ruins and relax at the beach.

We took a bus to Dzibilchaltun (the ruins we visited). The bus ride took about 45 minutes. Along the way we received a history lesson on Progresso and the Mayans. The ruins were more that we expected. We expected to only see two or three structure however, we saw 20 or more ruins. We took a ton of pictures. Caleb seemed to really enjoy himself. Our guide Manuel was very informative and made the trip interesting. We spent about 2 hours visiting the ruins.
Upon leaving the ruins we headed to the beach for our “beach break” which included free drinks. I must say we were disappointed with the beach. It was not as clean as the beaches in Pensacola and the sand was dirty. The kids enjoyed playing in the sand, but no one really ventured into the water, because it had a lot of jelly fish in it.
We got back to the ship around 4:00 and got cleaned up and showered before dinner. Our dinners were long usually ending around 8:30.
The weather was perfect, around 78 degrees and a nice breeze. The day was perfect….
But the night is another story….
We hit some rough waters about an hour prior to dinner. At first we were all feeling fine. On our way to the dinning room we thought it was funny to see vomit bags hanging up everywhere, we also thought it was strange that no one was out and about. The dinning room was not even half full when we arrived. We ordered our dinner and one by one our table for 8 became smaller, another couple left and then I barely made it out of the dinning room before I was throwing up. Thankfully I had picked up a vomit bag earlier (just in case). I made it back to the cabin and went to bed. David and Caleb were able to eat and did not suffer with seasickness. Caleb did feel a little ill so he spent the night in his room resting and watching a movie.

December 21 (recap)

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008


FUN DAY AT SEA

Missed the sunrise, it was great to actually sleep through the night. Missed Madilyn but enjoyed the sleep.
Caleb spent some time swimming, playing video games and hanging with the circle C kids. David and I were just plain lazy and spent a lot of time lounging on deck. I took a book to read, but was even too lazy to read. Our view for the entire day was blue water, it was so peaceful.
We went to the top deck and played a game of mini golf. David won, but I think the wind was on his side. The game was fun but difficult because of the high winds.
We went to the Captains reception prior to dinner. It was interesting to meet the crew. They had a band playing dance music, it was very entertaining to watch the older couples dance, they were really good.
Dinner was wonderful, we got spoiled on good food and good service.

Saturday- December 20 (recap)

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008


We left my moms house around 10 am and headed toward Mobile. Madilyn went with Aunt Mary to spend the night at her house.

Upon arriving in Mobile we learned that the previous cruise arrived late, so we would be a little delayed in our departure. We were to board around noon, but did not board until about 2:00. It was all good, we just hung around and talked with other passengers.
Upon boarding we were treated to a large lunch buffet. After eating lunch we hung out on deck waiting for the ship to depart. However, our departure was delayed due to the late arrival. We went to the dining room for our 6:00 pm dinner. About half way through dinner they announced that we were finally departing and that our delay would not affect our trip or our arrivals to other destinations. After dinner we explored the ship and spent sometime on deck looking at the sky.
We had no problems with our luggage, and found our rooms to be about what we expected. Small but not too small. The beds were comfortable and we all slept well the first night on board.

Christmas Vacation 2008

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008


We had an awesome trip! Caleb, David and I took a Carnival Cruise to Progresso and Cozumel Mexico. We had a great time and got to see a a lot of neat things. I will post updates on our trip in separate post so that the post do not become too long.

Madilyn stayed with my family in FL. They really enjoyed getting to know her. We missed her but really needed to spend some time reconnecting with Caleb.
I will post a link to our Flickr account once we have uploaded all of the pictures from our trip.

Christmas Photo Shoot

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

For the past several years it has become our tradition to create our family Christmas card with a picture of Caleb and Piglet. This year tradition changes, since we could not get Madilyn, Caleb and Piglet to all cooperate at the same time. David took around 75 photos and only got 4 that turned out decent. We had fun taking the pictures.

Thanksgiving Vacation

Saturday, November 29th, 2008


This year David and I decided to stay close to home and spend the holiday with just the four of us. We rented a cabin from Mountian View Cabins, which is located on Fort Mountian. It only took about an hour and ten minutes to get there. It has been a long time since we had not traveled for hours to go and spend time with immediate family.

The cabin had a pool table, hot tub and steam room and a great view of the mountians from the back deck. We enjoyed just spending time doing nothing. Prior to the trip I pre-cooked all of our meals and froze them so that I would not have to spend so much time in the kitchen. All of the pre-cooked meals were good. Thanksgiving was the only meal I actually cooked while we were gone. It turned out pretty good.

The day after Thanksgiving we went to the top of Fort Mountian and went to the overlook, the ancient wall and a rock tower. It was a beatiful day for a hike, we got some good pictures of the view.

It was nice to relax and be disconnected. By disconnected I mean no phone and no internet. We just spent time playing games, watching movies, reading and spending time with each other.

Now we are home and back to reality.

Ready for Thanksgiving

Friday, November 14th, 2008


I am so ready for Thanksgiving. I am tired of getting up and going to work everyday. I just want to spend some time with David, Caleb and Madilyn without the worries of work and graduate school.

I am looking forward to going to the mountians and getting away from it all. This will be the first holiday in a very long time that we are not traveling to see family. It will be quiet and I will miss seeing other family members, but we need time to connect and have fun with just the four of us.

I keep wondering when our life will slow down. It just seems that we always have something going on.

Rolling Over

Thursday, November 6th, 2008


Madilyn has started rolling over. However, she is very sneaky about doing so. She waits until we leave the room to roll over. We have finally caught her at it, but it took us a few days catch her.

She also appears to be teething. She has been a big drool bucket the past few days, and has been a bit grouchy. Hopefull this ends soon.

4 Month Check Up

Monday, October 27th, 2008


It is hard to believe that Madilyn is already four months old. Today she had her 4 month check up. She is 12 pounds and about 24 inches long. She is only in the 17% percentile on weight and height. She is a small girl. However, she is very healthy and doing very well, so the doctor is not concerned with her weight or length at this time.