The Cruise - Part II

The first day at sea was awesome! There was so much to do on the ship we could never capture every moment... swimming in the pools, relaxing in the hot tub... oh yeah and the fun stuff too... shopping, walking around the massive ship, playing basketball, and wall climbing!

We had a special gathering that evening to celebrate the reason we were there ... Pop and Mom's 50th Anniversary ...

In the beginning there was Joe, Mom, Mary, Pop and Don
The ladies ... Stacey, Chryssa with Olivia, [Mary and Tom's daughter's and grandaughter] Corinne, Courtney [Cousin Erin's daughter,] Pop, Christiana and Mackenzie [Joe and Mary's daughter,] Kendall, Madison [Joe and Mary's,] Kimberly and GrandmaEileen [Mom's sister] and Maura [ Mom's cousin] with Mom
Courtney and Erin [Eileen's daughter and grandaughter]

The guys - first shot ... Tom, Don, Wilson [Chryssa's hubby,] Pop, Michael [Tom and Mary's son - first born grandchild!] John [Pop's brother] Joe

The guys - 2nd shot .... everyone's the same, but Pop's twin brother Ron joined in
Opening very special books of photo's that Tom put together. These books were remarkable! Family photos and history dating way back... three hardback books full of wonderful memories...
That night Pop and Mom were honored at dinner ... And it was our first formal night on the ship... we had a lot of fun taking photo's of the girls on the spiral staircases ...

And of course the "Charlie's Angels" shot ...

Moving right along .... the next morning was our first stop ...
Off to "Surf Barbados" ... we met Barry outside the 'round about' with the big tree... drove across the island which was gorgeous and got busy surfing ...Refresher course ...

on the way out ...

Corinne ... first one up ... Kendall ...

Corinne and Barry ... Kimberly and Don did catch waves ... uhmm... Christiana and I were too busy playing in the water though and we didn't catch a picture of them ... so sorry!
The coral reef and surf kept Canna with me at the beach, but she posed with Daddy for a few fun shots ...

And our next port the very next day ... St. Lucia ....

We all had a very fun time at the beach ... riding banana boats, para-sailing and watching the locals sell their wares ...

The brothers ...

While some were para-sailing and making the rest of us a bit nervous whether or not they would make it back in time ... the local hat maker entertained us ... We made it back to the ship in plenty of time ...
Antigua ... Don and Kim's favorite Island ... We traveled here 21 years ago for our honeymoon ... it was just as beautiful as we remembered
Jet skiing and a beautiful day at the beach ...
That's it for update II ... stay tuned for St. Maartin and St. Thomas...

The Cruise!!! Part I

Oh where to start??? Once again we've taken tons of photo's of our adventure ... I guess we should begin at the beginning!

Saturday morning we started out very early in a terrible thunderstorm ... We made it to the airport and boarded the plane ... We were on our way to Miami, in the vicinity of Mickey Mouse when we felt a bit of a jerk and the lights and power went out in the cabin. Hmmm ... this didn't seem good. In a few short minutes the pilot was telling us he had good news and not so good news. When we left Dulles, our jet had two out of three working generators. He assured us that two was fine to travel with, however, number two just blew and we had to make an emergency landing in Orlando because we had just one generator left. So, to make a very long day, I mean story, short ... we landed safely in Orlando, had a four hour delay, flew to Miami, and then really, miraculous made it on a flight to San Juan and arrived in Puerto Rico just six hours late.

Here's the departure sign we watched in Orlando. Do you notice the Miami - should be leaving at 9:30am - now leaving at 12:40pm? There were two more updates ... we left around 2:00pm! Here are a few shots from the airport ... what do you do when your flight is delayed, and delayed, and delayed ... Find a Starbucks!!!

And start your homework!!!

We made it to San Juan just in time to have dinner with the family! The next morning, this is the view we had out our window ....Our day at the Marriott was beautiful and relaxing! And then we ventured to the pier and found our "home away from home" for the next week ... Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Sea! We toured the ship and had a yummy first dinner on board before cruising out of Puerto Rico.

Here are most of the twenty-six! And that's post number one! We'll post part two tomorrow ... next up - the first day at Sea and Barbados!

Greetings from the Caribbean!

We are having an awesome time! Thanks to everyone for praying for a safe trip and wonderful weather ... so far so good! We had a special Anniversary Celebration yesterday and Pop and Mom Glab were surprised! We've had fun days at sea and wonderful stop in Barbados today - s.u.r.f.i.n.g!!!! So much fun! Here's a picture from our day surfing! They all did a great job and were able to catch many waves! And ... a beautiful sunset from our balcony. Greetings to all from the blue waters!!!

Embarking on a new Adventure!

We're off to celebrate Pop and Mom Glab's remarkable
50th Anniversary! We can't believe it ... the deep blue ocean's of the Caribbean are awaiting ... and we're ready to sail! Twenty-six Glab family members will be sailing through the Caribbean in honor of Pop and Mom's 50th wedding anniversary. We are so blessed to be able to take time to spend with our family! Please pray for good weather, a safe trip, and for Don's parents to be honored and blessed as we celebrated this remarkable milestone. Bon Voyage!

"How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand." Psalm 139:17-18a

^ ^ School's In! ^ ^

School has started! I "interviewed" the girls on their upcoming school year ...
I'm looking forward to the Medieval Feast in December! I'll be writing a huge subject report and making a project as well. I think I'm going to pick "castles!" I can't wait! (5th Grade)I'm excited to be in 8th grade - my last year in middle school. I'm really glad I made the soccer team this year - and we even won our first game! I'm looking forward to studying the Colonial time period in American History.

Okay, we'll I'm realling looking forward to AP Art Class! You can check out my assignments on my flicker ---> http://www.flickr.com/people/marykayg (10th Grade)

The joys of school and graduating!!!!! I think this year is totally going to be an awesome year - I can't believe I'm a Senior! I'm so excited I'm working on the year book and I'm on student council. I love my class and my crazy schedule! Covenant Life School is celebrating their 30th anniversary ~ amazing! We are so grateful for the teachers and administrators and staff that have so faithfully served us the last 13 years. On the first day of school, they invited the parents to attend a school-wide prayer meeting to start off the year. It was a wonderful time of thanking God and praying for the school year. Wow! Excited to see what is in store for all of us!

"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through ... The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it"
1 Thessalonians 5: 23a, 24

~ ~ We Remember September 11th ~ ~

Over the last few days, we've been talking about September 11, 2001. We remember a lot from that day. Don was working in Frederick at the time and Christiana (3) and I were at home. Corinne (5th grade), Kendall (3rd grade), and Kimberly (1st grade) were all at school. I remember talking to my mom, who was just getting ready to leave N.Y. to come to our home for a visit. I remember taking Christiana over to Sue and Alan's while I ran to Safeway for all of us - for water... and then running over to pick up their kiddos and my girls from school. On our way home, a fighter jet was passing our neighborhood. He had been circling the 18 mile radius around the White House - right over our house. We could see him in the cockpit. By God's amazing grace, September 12th came ... we were all safe in our homes. Touched by the loss of life and the tragic events in New York, at the Pentagon and the crash sight of flight #93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, just 11 miles from where my dad's family still calls home.

So as we observe the seventh anniversary of September 11th, we're praying for comfort for all of those that lost a loved one that day. We are so grateful for and we are praying for those that have been protecting us from further attacks these last seven years, and for those that are serving our country today.

We are grateful."Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance." Psalm 33:12

"God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, and to him only in this case they are answerable."
George Washington, September 14, 1775

You can read about the known foiled terror plots since September 11, 2001 on Fox News.
---> http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,335500,00.html