Perfect Day To Sled

After a month of crappy weather (granted, a week of it I was in sunny Florida/rainy Caribbean), we finally get some sun here in Utah.  Our red alert air warning has nearly blown out, and our temperatures are finally higher than the single digits.  All this combine makes for great snowmobiling. The boys took me up to Midway and road the back side of the mountain, up to Cascade Springs.  I think the area we were at is called Snake Creek. We were even lucky enough to spot a bald eagle overlooking Cascade Springs.

Must See Sunrise At Sea

Cruises for me are all about not missing out.  There is so much going on when you go on a cruise with a large group of people that every morning you are up very early to go out on the port of call, and every evening you are out late dancing in the club, going to comedy shows or hitting up karaoke. One thing that I am glad I didn’t miss out on was the sunrise at sea (not at a port of call). On one of your “days at sea” where you can take a nap in the afternoon you will want to plan to get up early enough to watch the sunrise from the deck of the cruise ship.  It is such a world-calming feeling watching the sunrise while you are in the middle-of-nowhere Caribbean. This is one moment where you can’t help but relax and live in the moment. It doesn’t hurt to have that moment include ice cream either.

Grand Cayman In The Wind

If you have the fortune of going to Grand Cayman, I would propose that you go to Stingray City.  It is on the opposite side of the island than the port of call for cruise lines, but it is worth the distance. Grand Cayman was too windy for our group to go this time; the coast guard closed the bay where Stingray City resides.  Instead, we went snorkeling with VERY large tarpon, road scooters out to hell, and laid out on seven mile beach eating jerk chicken. Great day in Grand Cayman.

Isle Roatan, Honduras

Rainy, rainy, rainy. Our last port of call, Costa Maya, was very rainy, and Roatan is not much better.  We went into the main town from port, and were delightfully surprised by the amount of photo op displays they had. Below are some of my favorites. And if you have the opportunity to go ziplining in Roatan, I would definitely suggest it.  Roatan is one of the best stops in the Caribbean for ziplining.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cozumel, thou art beautiful

Cozumel is my favorite port thus far, even though it is my only port thus far. We took a $3 taxi to a private resort called Chankanaab which was <says with a gay flare> fabulous! We had almost the entire beach to ourselves for the first half of the day. Here are the highlights,

• Snorkeled and saw a barracuda.
• Laid out on the beach for hours.
• Kissed a sea lion at the sea lion show.
• Watched dolphins.
• Played volleyball.

Relaxing, Caribbean Cruise Style

Reading Plato in the sun.

Dressing up for dinner.

Leaving Miami, Hello Mexico

Leaving on a cruise to the Western Caribbean.  Goodbye Miami! Hello Cozumel, Costa Maya, Roatan and Grand Cayman!

Swamp Person / Gator Girl (thank you AP!)

Chilling at the Everglades Safari Park in Florida.  Holding gators. Taking boats where no boat should be able to go.  Yeah, today I am pretty much a wild woman.

Guns And Cars

Auto Show! I love the auto show.  I like seeing all the car options that are available.  I like all the new car smells, all the sales guys not being sales guys’y.  I like day dreaming about owning every car there (except those impractical sports cars, yuck). Today is the auto show at the Sandy Expo Center and I am stopping in before jumping on my plane to Miami. Below is one of my favorites, the new XV Crosstrek from Subaru.  I have never been a Subaru owner (takes a certain breed) but I sure do like the look and specs of this one.

Now for the guns portion.  Today is my cousin’s birthday so we are going to get our laser on and kick some 15-16 year old butt in laser tag at Laser Assault (only the best place for laser tag in Utah Valley)! Don’t we look like we are ready to wail on these young’ins? … ok, so maybe I look a little more ready than Bade does.

Fun Day, Flat Tire

Here we have the boys changing a flat tire on the trailer after a long fun day of snowmobiling.

Bathroom Overhaul

I moved into a new place a few months ago, and the bathtub was GROSS! There is so much to do when moving, that deep cleaning the tub was not high on my priority list.  However, now that I am settled and I am trying to work hard as well as play hard, it’s time to tackle this project.

Thanks to Comet, a few tile scrubbing supplies, and my slowly growing biceps, my tub went from gross to tolerable, yay.

Fun Waiting

UnFreezing My Civic

So, since the second day of the year, my car has been frozen shut.  The locks won’t unlock and the key won’t turn in the lock, so I am unable to get into my car.  It was fine for a few days, but Bade has taken it upon himself today to resolve this issue.

After 15 minutes of blow drying my car, we were able to get in through the passenger side door. I turned the car on so that it could warm itself up.  Without thinking, we let the doors just rest closed (not even close, it just touched where it would close).  Normally this would have been fine, but since the car’s locks still technically didn’t work, the driver side door was locked, which ‘tells’ the car to lock all doors.  During the minute we had the passenger side door open, it had enabled its lock; touching the car door closed locked the car again.  This time, the keys were in the ignition and the car was running.  Grr!

After driving to a relative’s, grabbing my spare key (which in the 10 years of owning my car, I have never once had to use), and driving back, we were able to open my car, and move it to a sunnier location so that it didn’t freeze me out again… This turned into a busier morning that expected.

First Day – Sledding

First day of the new year, I must start this well.  It began in the morning by finishing a baby quilt, then quickly moved to driving up Parley’s Canyon in Salt Lake City, to go sledding.  Now, we wouldn’t do any ordinary sledding on this, the year of playing hard.  No. We snowmobile up a mile or so, then sled down the road so fast that injury is almost guaranteed (but luckily, avoided :) ).  The weather, freezing, around 4 degrees…never getting above 12 degrees Fahrenheit, but the sledding was fabulous! Love Utah!  We had a dog racing us who was pooped when we finished our first two runs.  He barely had energy to step onto the sled being pulled on the back of the snowmobile. Oh, and if you are wondering who the studly man I am with is, his name is Bade, and you will see many more photos with him :).

World Goes On…So Shall I, Only Harder!

Here we are in 2013, so clearly the world did not end in Dec 12′.  To celebrate NOT ending, I have resolved to work harder and play harder. Join me as I post my regular activities, triumphs, and possibly even utter failures in this resolution to work harder and play harder.

Motto: Enjoy every moment without any regrets.