2024 Travels On One Map

We got around a bit in 2024, here's the map with all our trips! Twice to Utah, twice to New Orleans.

Visit Baby Carter - Middle of the week

Carter is an absolute dream! Everyone was working early in the morning to mid afternoon, then we'd go over and spend time with him and the other two. LoL! He was such a good, sweet boy!

Visit Baby Carter - 1st half of the week

Flew into Salt Lake City Friday evening, spent the night at the Marriott Courtyard near the airport. Anton came and got us Saturday morning and took us home. Aaaand it's snowing. ❅

Baby Carter is soooooo cute!! Got some Grandma snuggy time, and Bill as well. He is such a good baby, pretty much sleeping, eating, and pooping.

Checked into the Springhill Suites for the rest of the week. Snowed off and on over the next few days, but baby Carter warmed our hearts. We went to Olive Garden for dinner on Sunday evening, he slept through the whole thing. And Monday he slept on me most of the evening. He was a wake for a little bit on Tuesday though. Someone brought dinner on Monday and Tuesday evenings, Monday was a coconut curry chicken and Tuesday was a white bean chili. Both were delicious! Played Dead Man's Draw on Tuesday evening while baby Carter slept on Mariah's lap pillow.

Cooking Class

A World of Spices cooking class with Greg, Tina, and Jamie, Kat

Hummus and Pita Bread
Spicy Chicken Couscous
Ethiopian Zighini, short rib stew
Melktert South African dessert

Baby Carter

Our sweet grandson Carter!

Elvis Trivia

Our Trivia host dressed as Elvis! Some of the questions were also Elvis themed. It was a very fun evening with Frank, Diane, and Justin, Rob.

Karen and Isa visit NYC

Karen and Isa about New York City on a trip with their production studio.

Take Home Day

Taking baby Carter home.

Baby Carter is Born

Baby Carter was born on 2/25/24 at 12:45am. Weighing 8 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches long. He is perfect. 💖

Various Stuff

Aunt Rose looking very well in Pennsylvania, a Mushroom Quiche that I made for dinner, and Mariah getting ready.

Various Stuff

Me at work, news of Carter, Wine Lady charcuterie, and Carrabba's Wine Dinner with Greg and Tina.

Paters at the Parks

The Paters came for a visit to the Orlando theme parks, and JL and Chris joined them.

Partial Panama Canal Transit - Day 8 - Sea Day

Heading back to Tampa, it was a beautiful sunrise! Some final pictures. First is rounding Cuba (it was a ways away), then of Fary, our fantastic flamboyantly gay waiter at the steakhouse and our fun bartenders at the Alchemy Bar Amel and Nattida. The next day we got into port and drove home. Had a great time!

Partial Panama Canal Transit - Day 7 - Grand Cayman

FINALLY! WE CAN GET OFF THE SHIP! Actually, last night wasn’t too bad, the seas finally calmed down a bit, and I was able to get some good sleep. We were able to get off in Grand Cayman. First things first, we did our PokemonGo-ing. Were able to catch a new Oricorio, the red one, and walk a good bit around the town. Met Cissy and Vernon at the Hard Rock for lunch - lovely time. Also, looked for a flowy orange dress for the Club Orange party on the Holland America cruise in a few months.

Back on the ship, we rested for a little bit, then the Alchemy Bar stop before dinner, then back after dinner. Suraj the magician did a trick with me. I wrote my name on a (fake) million dollar bill, and he did some pretty cool sleight of hand to put it in a little box! Had a little chat with Al and Tamsy as they were passing through to the Red Frog Pub. And retired early for bed. Sorry - no pictures again.

Partial Panama Transit Cruise - Day 6 - Sea Day

Spent most of the day in the room, lolling around sleeping. At lunch, we sat next to Cissy and her husband Vernon. Taught her how to play Five Crowns. Did the Diamond and Platinum party - it was very nice. The captain apologized for having to miss Limon, Costa Rica.

It was Elegant Night in the dining room. Lee and Stacey joined us for dinner. The magician came by our table again - he was fantastic! He did the Stacey’s name on the paper trick, couldn't figure it out. Then, Alchemy Bar to wrap up the night.

Partial Panama Canal Transit - Day 5 - Panama Canal Partial Transit

Very foggy this morning. Not really getting a break on the weather. But we are excited to go through the Panama Canal!! Got to the viewing deck early, but it was already full of people. There’s a very high bridge over the canal as we come in - the Atlantic Bridge. As we came up to the actual locks, there was a Holland America ship ahead of us.

It was very cool to see it lifting up in front of us! Then it moved into the next lock, and the water drained out. We very slowly moved in, the gates swung shut behind us, and we were lifted up! Mind you, this took about an hour.

It took a little over 3 hours to go through all three locks.  Once we were through all three locks, we sailed into the lake and turned around and waited for our return time to go back out. Bill and I had lunch and played cards for a while. Talked with Dick and Deanna at lunch, they’ve been to Vidanta! Then over to the Alchemy Bar for the afternoon where we chatted with Richyle Payne about her grandkids. Met up with Al and Tamsey for dinner in the dining room. Then a few more drinks and bed.

Almost There!

Mariah is ready for baby Carter!

Partial Panama Canal Transit - Day 4 - Limon, Costa Rica

Waiting to reach land and get off the ship for a walk around.

Well, that didn’t go well. We pulled up to the dock, there was already two ships there from earlier in the day. But when we tried to dock, the captain said (afterwards): “It was raining pretty hard, and the swells were so big that it was very dangerous to dock.” So, no docking, another sea day. Which is fine, we saw Costa Rica two months ago.

Went over for trivia, but didn’t have much luck. Then over to the Alchemy Bar to play cards. Then Mataja came to set the bar up. He was not happy because they canceled their day off. :( So we went to get lunch, then back to the bar were Amel and Nattida were also not happy. One was going to have dinner with her husband, and the other was going to lay on the beach with his girlfriend and send selfies to his friends on the “cold” ships.

Met a guy who was saying they knew two days ago that they weren’t going to be able to dock. He seemed extremely bitter about not stopping in Costa Rica because he was going to look for a place to live. I said he should buy a plane ticket and go for a week. But he did not seem like a very nice guy after hearing about his life story.

Anyways, we had fun watching Amel pour out two martini tastings!