12-25-16 a very Merry Christmas!!!

Even our Grand dogs Micky and Molly seemed to enjoy their short Christmas vacation to our house. 

 I hadn't planned on putting up a tree, but on Christmas eve, Josh helped me carry the tree up from the basement and helped me assemble it.  I didn't spend long decorating it, but it was nice having it up---finally!  And it stayed up until the day before we left to head back South (mid Jan.).  Angie and Josh even managed to pretty well full up the space under the tree with lots of beautifully wrapped presents.

12-24-16  Christmas Eve in St. Louis---

Christmas Eve has been the LaBeaume Christmas party night for as long as I can remember.  It use to happen at our house.  But in recent years, the LaBeaume's in Washington, Mo. have taken over the festivities.  Can't say I'm sorry about that!  It's a lot of work getting ready for and hosting a large party.   So now we get to just go and enjoy the parties!

This year we were even invited to the Hick's open house brunch on Christmas Eve with their family and close friends.  So glad to be included in that circle.  They really are great people and I'm happy to call them our friends!

 Carol is another one like Angie and Faith who really does it up for the holidays.  Some people sure have a great knack for that!  I, unfortunately, am not one of them!  She is also a great cook and always has a great spread. 

12-23-16  On to St. Louis---

Back to passing the time on our long ride by looking for photo ops.  At least this time we were on a different highway then we usually are.  Since we were leaving from Knoxville, we took I-40 to Nashville where we connected up with I-24 again.
The mountains along this route don't seem to be as high, but they still make for an interesting ride.

 It was another beautiful day to be stuck in a car all day.

12-22-16  Back in Knoxville---Happy 38th birthday Tim!

Since Angie and Josh were heading back to St. Louis for Christmas this year and we had yet more Dr. appointments the next week, we left a few days before Christmas and went to spend Tim's birthday with him and Faith in Knoxville on our way to St. Louis.  It was a short visit, only 2 nights, but we planned to spend a few more nights with them on our way back to Georgia.

We got there on the 21st.  The next day Tim took his birthday off work and we ran around to a few stores with him.  First to a huge very well organized used book store---McKay's.  I'm not an avid reader, but I did thoroughly enjoy looking around this store.  Loved the book Christmas tree they had by the entrance:

Then he was on the hunt for some new work shoes.  Who am I to complain about going to a shoe store!?
When Faith got home from work, we headed off to dinner at a really good steak house, Connors Steak and Seafood Restuarant.  It was so popular, that we had to wait about 40 minutes for a table, but it was worth the wait.

12-12 through 12-14, 2016 --- Sea days and back to ATL:

Dec. 12---Today was the day of the Mariner luncheon.  Our time slot was noon.  Apparently we've moved up in days sailed so that we now get seated with the higher ranking Mariners!  I think we have about 125 days sailed on HAL. Can't say the menu was too impressive this time---either a fish or pork entree.  One of the couples seated with us even got up and left before ordering.

  I ended up with the fish.  It and the rice was pretty good. The fritters were chewy.

12-11-16 Aruba (7am - 4:30):

I was excited and apprehensive about Aruba.  I've heard alot about it being a great vacation spot, but we've never been there.  It doesn't have the reputation for snorkeling that the other ABC islands have, but I had printed off a map with a couple spots listed as snorkel areas, so we decided to check at the information center in the port shops and see what they say about snorkeling from shore.  Especially since the destination guide on the ship said there was no shore snorkeling on Aruba.
The view from our verandah from where we were docked in Aruba.  I was amazed that there was a tree growing in the ocean. 

12-10-16 Curacao (7am - 10:30pm) :

They were calling for the same weather here today as we had on Bonaire yesterday, so I was a little down.  But we were seeing some blue skies, so decided to head out and hopefully get some snorkeling in.  We had tentatively made plans to go to Porto Mari with someone from Cruisecritic.com.  I had gotten her room number at the meet and greet which was held before docking at Grand Turk.  I think I woke her.  She wasn't wanting to leave before 11.  So we headed down with no real plans.  I figured we would see if anyone else was wanting to go to Porto Mari at the taxi waiting area, or just go to Blue Bay again (where we went last time we were here). 

 After waiting about 30 minutes, someone wanting to go to Blue Bay finally showed up, so we joined them.  Made our fare $7.50@ one way.