Where has January 2013 Gone?

The Winter season at Fun N Sun really started on January 6 with the ice cream social and the free Sunday night entertainment.  Wade Landry, a Cajun entertainer from Louisiana who performs in Branson, Missouri was an excellent start to the season. Subsequent entertainers included Michael Catalano, a singer; Tucker with his little bit of Branson show that includes comedy and country music; and finally Amber Waves Band, a family bluegrass group with the children 7, 12 and 16 performing. The 12 year old fiddler was quite amazing.  We also enjoyed the Alaska String Band (another family group) who were part of the paid entertainment on Saturday night.

Two park residents, Connie who sings and plays the keyboard and EJ who plays a variety of saxophones and clarinets, gave an excellent concert one Wednesday evening and are promising an even better one in February. It is amazing the amount of talent that we find in parks such as ours.

We also went to a neighbouring park to see Bernie and Red – the comedians from Liverpool who have lived in British Columbia for the last number of years.  Their new song, Waltz Across Walmart (set to the tune of Waltz Across Texas) was a hit with the audience. Dave and Myrna had never seen them so the show was a treat for them.

We are regulars at the Friday night country dances so that we can practice the steps we learned at Betty and Jerry’s dance classes.  We also enjoyed another rock and roll dance with DJ Noe who has been to the park several times before.

The third Friday of the month is our regular “Canadian Dinner” – which used to be a potluck event, but this month we were treated to a spare rib dinner cooked by the park’s new chef.  January is usually the best attended dinner, so we got to touch base with all the new arrivals.

We have been attending seminars / talks at the local hospitals.  This month we found out more from the orthopedic surgeon about knee replacements, and a session on balance for life.   Of course the hospitals do bribe us with free snacks and door prizes!

We are back in our usual weekly routines, Jane volunteering with her Toys for Tots, her work at Fred Bowie school, the odd yoga class and when weather permits – her daily aqua fit, and aqua Zumba classes.  Paul is back at the weekly computer club meetings with emphasis on Windows 8, and the iPad groups.  Wednesday mornings is still golf with the park league – although it’s been cancelled due to rain and cold on two golf days.  We seniors are really fair weather golfers!!

January has also featured two “Welcome Back Winter Texans” events.  The first one was sponsored here at our park by the local merchants who set up booths to display their services and products – and then raffled off door prizes, a sure way to keep everyone in the hall.  The City of Harlingen hosted its Winter Texan Fiesta last week. We always attend and are really building up a collection of annual winter Texan t-shirts.  Harlingen’s event is massive with over 1500 shirts given away – it is almost becoming too crowded to really enjoy.

The valley-wide RV show and the open house at Ron Hoover’s RV dealership are regular January events and we attended both. It is a good chance to ‘kick the tires’ on the new models. This year Paul even went to the RV twice so Dave could return to purchase a waterless carwash and brush set.

There have also been the regular craft sales and a park-wide patio sale. Jane was restrained at the patio sale and only spent $0.50. The Kralik-mobile is packed to the max right now so we will have to do some purging when we get home to Ottawa and Perth.

Although Jane is not a member of the Fun N Sun book club, she and Myrna attended a talk by a local author. Susan Lemiles Holmes grew up in San Benito, moved to Dallas and is back living on South Padre Island.  Her first romance novel, Touch the Mayan Moon, set in the RGV in the 1960’s sounds like an interesting exploration of Mexican American culture.  It was also fun listening to her discuss local places and people – in fact she went to the same high school as Freddy Fender.

Now that the weather has improved and we can gather outside, we are also getting into the Happy Hour season.  Myrna and Dave hosted 24 of us on January 25^th (too bad we all forgot our cameras.

Last Saturday we attended a Brunch and Auction to benefit La Posada Provindencia – which is a ministry that provides shelter for immigrants and asylum seekers petitioning for legal refuge in the USA.  We were very impressed by this mainly volunteer organization and we are planning a visit to the shelter next month.  It might be another place to donate some time next season.

Yesterday we made the trip up to San Juan to attend mass at the Basilica.  We really enjoy the Mariachi band that plays at the 9 a.m. service.  Our friend Myrna came along as she had never been to the Basilica, and we after church we headed over to a local Mexican restaurant for breakfast.  We all had the infamous ‘divorced eggs’ – you’ll have to ask! This was followed by a stop at Costco and the Donna flea market.  It was a nice day for a field trip.

Coming up this week is a Mexican Fiesta – with food and dancing troupes from the local schools.  It promises to be an enjoyable evening.

The end of this week will center around packing!  Saturday we are off on a one week Caribbean cruise with our park friends.  A bus has been chartered so no one has to drive from here to Galveston where we will board the ship on Sunday.  It will be a fun week.

Ah, retired life is so boring! 

Carnival Christmas 2012 Cruise

We boarded the Carnival Legend in Tampa, Florida on Sunday December 23 - embarkation went smoothly and we spent the day getting accustomed to the ship and everything it offered.  Our dinner seating was 8:15 p.m., so after dinner we caught a welcome aboard show and packed it in early.

 

Monday (Christmas Eve) was a beautiful sunny day spent lounging by the pool, attending information sessions and just enjoying our day at sea. Jenn and Amy even found time to go to an exercise class while Jane and I went to the Christmas concert put on by the entertainment staff and the children in “Camp Carnival”.  It was also our first formal night, so it was fun to get all spruced up!  We caught the pre-dinner entertainment show and then the 10 p.m. comedy show.  Entertainment was top notch with professional singers / dancers, live band and stage sets that dazzle.

 

Christmas Day was spent in sunny Cozumel.  We had booked a ship's tour called "Salsa and Salsa" with the Dancing Chefs.  What a blast! We spent the morning learning how to make 7 different types of salsa (what we made, we ate!), and two types of Margaritas.  After lots of drinks and food, we all got on the dance floor to learn how to Salsa!  Definitely a new way to spend Christmas morning!  Back on the ship, we rested by the pool and prepared for an evening sing a long (where it did start to snow!).  Our pre dinner show was high energy - and dinner was lobster tail & filet mignon.  Food so far has been super - if it keeps up nothing will fit!

 

Wednesday found us in Belize.  We took a tender to shore then boarded a bus for an excursion with the Chukka tour company which started with an hour ride on a school bus through Belize City and then through the country side over some rough roads.

  Our first stop was the Altun Ha Mayan ceremonial center where the jade head of the Sun God was found during an expedition lead by David Pendergast of the Royal Ontario Museum.  Little did we know that there was a Canadian connection when we booked the tour.  After purchasing a local lunch at a small “resort”, we boarded a speed boat for a trip down the Wallace or Belize River where we saw large iguanas, crocodiles of various sizes and heard howler monkeys.  The boat took us back to the harbor where we jumped back onto the tender for the ride back to our ship.  We started the tour the tour late due to the 5 cruise ships in port that day so we had no time for shopping in the port. It was good to get out of Belize City and see some of the country side.  It was not as depressing as some countries, and we did see some gorgeous homes along the river as we approached the harbor.

Thursday morning we arrived in Mahogany Bay, Roatan. Carnival docks in this harbour and has built a “private island” complete with a small shopping area of jewelry stores and souvenir shops and a beautiful beach with lounge chairs, bars, restaurants and rental equipment.  We accessed the beach by riding the Magical Flying Beach Chair lift which was a pleasant ride and especially welcome on the way home.  We all got to swim in the sea and all got nicely tanned. 

 

 

Our stay in Roatan was short, so this was also the second formal evening. Our pre dinner show was a New Orleans themed Broadway type show.  What super performers!  Dinner was great and we are all getting better at sampling multiple appetizers.  After dinner we went to the comedy club for the show which sure beat the magician we saw the night before.

 

Friday!  Yikes, can you believe it's already Friday. I am sitting on our balcony watching the sun slowly rise while composing this diary.  The seas are calm and the breeze is warm.  Today we will dock in Grand Cayman Island.  Our plan is to rent a cab and head to seven mile beach.  The ships tours are heading for Tiki Beach - apparently one of the newest beach clubs, so we might head there as well. 

 

In the end, we took a van to seven mile public beach for $5.00 a person and spent the day there. Our lounge chairs were at the water's edge. Amy rented a floating mat and we all did spend a lot of time cooling off in the ocean. This was the hottest day yet and we all managed to not get sun burned - although even I had had it by the time we returned to the ship.  What a way to end our port days.

 

Saturday was a sea day as the ship headed back towards Tampa.  The sun was out, so we mixed relaxing with last minute ship exploration - and of course the dreaded suitcase packing.  Our final dinner was prime rib and seafood with molten chocolate cake for dessert.  Did I mention the food was really good?

 

On a final note, the 10 year old Carnival Legend is one of the ugliest ships on which we have cruised. From the silver urns, to the Venetian glass in the dining room ceiling, to the ugly statues and the gaudy elevator decorations, it was a unique experience. Fortunately the staterooms were plain and serviceable, the balconies were great to escape the crowds on the pool deck, the staff were friendly and the food and entertainment very good.

 

Sunday morning's debarkation went well, and our shuttle driver picked us up. It was quite a shock to find that Tampa was cold but at least sunny. Soon we were back in our vehicle and checked into the Residence Inn near the airport.  The girls were leaving on Tuesday, so with no plans for the day - what else, we headed to a giant outlet mall in Ellenton! Guess we really had not done any shopping on the cruise and it was definitely too cold to use the outdoor pool! 

 

New Year’s Eve was a slow day since both Jane and I had started to get colds. We enjoyed the hotel’s free dinner time reception so we didn’t have to look for a restaurant and compete with party-goers. Little did we know when we checked in that we were in the closest hotel to the Outback Bowl.  The hotel was filled to capacity with football fans all sporting their team’s logos. We were about the only guests who were not going to the game!!

 

On New Year’s Day, Jenn arrived home before Amy even left Tampa. Since there were no delays with their flights, once Amy checked in we started our drive back to Texas. 

 

This was definitely a great Christmas vacation!