Naussa, Bahamas

Time to finish up the cruise posts!!!

On Sunday we stopped in Nassau, Bahamas. It is on the biggest island in the Bahamas called New Providence. We were excited to go ashore and check it out. And it was nice because we figured we could come and go as we wanted since we were docked and wouldn't have to take a boat ashore.

We wanted to take a walking tour that we had read about on the ship info. We walked all around the government center area where it was supposed to start, but we couldn't find anything. So we walked back to the main building you walked through when you get off the boat and asked the info desk. Found out they don't do it in Sunday. When we walked back out to go see things ourselves, we found our new friend Renaldo. He was a taxi driver and sold us on his tour. It turned out to be one of the best things we could have done with our time. I got a sunburn the day before, so we didn't want to do the beach scene again.

One of the government buildings we saw on our walk looking for the tour.

Couple policemen. Loved the uniforms.

Renaldo was a really excellent tour guide. He did an excellent job of telling about the Bahamas. We drove all around the island-we went through the more rich areas and the slums as well; which was very interesting.

One of the beaches where we got to stop and get out and walk on the beach.

A church we drove buy. I love seeing all the children in the white dresses-it was communion day.

We saw this image a few places around the island.



This is at a famous landmark called the Queen's Staircase. It was built by slaves who worked all day for years to complete it for a visit from Queen Elizabeth-I think. Basically stairs cut out of a stone hill.

It was so stinking humid. We were seriously dripping sweat. The temperature wasn't horrible, but man was it humid!! So I was always glistening!!

This view was from the Atlantis resort.






The golden chair at the Atlantis resort.






It old Darin I wanted him to buy this for me. Hee Hee:):)
Here are some interesting facts about the Bahamas:

1. The girls there have "girl guides" which are the equivalent of Girl Scouts here. It is very popular. We drove by the building, but it was Sunday so it was closed.
2. The Bahamas charges a $25 tax for every single person who enters it's port-it's tacked on the price of your cruise ticket.
3. The tax to import a vehicle is astronomical=65=85 percent of the purchase price depending on the price of the vehicle!!!
4. The have a college of tourism so every single person who works in tourism industry-down to the people in the straw market and hair braiders-have to go to a 6 week course and get a certificate before they can work.
5. There is no plumbing in the slum areas of town-still have outhouses. That areas was pretty sad. There were water pumps scattered around and it was the little kids jobs to pull a wagon with lots of empty jugs to talk home for the family to use.

We were learned lots of stuff-I've can't think of it all right now.




We drove by the hospital where Anna Nicole Smith and her son died. Apparently tons of celebrities have homes there. It is also where John Travolta's son died as well. We didn't go to that area of the island-I imagine you can't really get there.

I saw these lying on the dock and thought they were cool. I noticed that they were being sold in the various shops, but they had drilled holes about the size of a dime in them. I was so tempted to take one.....


This outfit-yes, it was a costume someone would wear, was in the building you went through to get back to the boat.

A view of Atlantis from our ship.

Mud!!

Landon decided that it was time to play in mud. I saw him out there, and at first I was about to yell at him and bring him in, but then I was flooded with memories of my sisters and I digging in mud and making mud pies. So I took my camera out to catch him in action.

The reason I was going to make him stop was because when you park and walk toward out house, you have to go over the patch of dirt and I was worried about people coming to see the house. But at this point, I just don't care. If they like the house, they will buy it.

So I let him do what he wanted. He was getting water from the hose and making mud, then putting it in his dump truck.


I love his face in this one.
I asked why he was filling the dump truck and he said

"it's a dirty swimming pool for ants." I guess dirty water won't hurt them..... He was also putting leaves in that were '"boats" for the ants to ride on. Creative little fella!!





I can't really blame him-I like to play in dirt, too!!

wanna shake that hand?






nice farmer's tan, Lanny!

A new challenge

I am sitting here wanting to eat some chocolate so badly, but I am not. Let me explain why.

I was looking on FB the other day and my friend had a post about a challenge she was doing. You can find it here. I decided to sign up for it. The price was $17.00 for the challenge and I figured I spend that much on junk food in a couple weeks, so it would be a good investment.

Basically the idea is that you keep track with points of what you do and at the end of the challenge you can get money back for your accomplishments. There are 10 components:

1. No Sugar
2. No junk food.
3. 8 glasses of water a day.
4. Exercise 45 minutes a day.
5. 7 hours of sleep a night.
6. 2 servings of each fruits and vegetables a day.
7. Read an uplifting book or your scriptures for 15 minutes every day.
8. Write in your journal every day.
9. Do a good deed our of your ordinary schedule each day.
1o. No eating after 8:00 pm.

Whew. Now that I have written it all myself, it is A LOT.

What have I gotten myself into? Darin looked at the link and was less than enthused about it. He said that they are all good things, but together it is too much. At first I was really annoyed at him for not being supportive. I was brooding about it and he just said that it was too much to do at once.

So today is day 4, and I am beginning to believe him. Most of it I can manage pretty well, but the whole "off limits" idea is very hard to wrap my head around. The whole time I went to weight watchers, there wasn't anything I couldn't eat. It is very hard to say "don't eat that."

Enter Darin saying "I told you so."

Oh, yeah, I forgot-there is one day a week that you can cheat and it doesn't count. That is also different for me to adjust to. Although I usually was a bit less strict on the days that I weighed in.

So here I sit-it's 8:45, and for the third night in a row, I'll go to bed with a rumbly tummy. I guess I can drink some water to fill my tum tum.

The word challenge is right-this is sure going to be challenging.

When big sister is incharge of the game,

This is what happens. Too bad the brothers were less than cooperative.
Spencer is thinking "why on earth did I let her put this on me?"
I think he was trying to curtsey here.
"a little help here, please?"
Awww, so cute!

a major misunderstanding.

Who ever reads this blog is probably so sick of me putting up about selling the house. Well, it is my life right now, and I should probably be learning something from it; which I will post about if I ever find out.

Today was another chapter in the saga. I was up late last night talking to my sister on the phone, so I didn't get as much sleep. Not to mention the fact that my body was a bit stiff and sore from the fall I took yesterday. So I wasn't terribly motivated to get the house cleaned up tons. I was playing with the kids and my phone rang. It was a realtor asking to come at 2:oo. I figured I needed to should get cleaning.

Then the phone rang again. Yipee-another realtor. He wanted to come at noon. I asked if he could come at 12:30 since we would be going to church around that time. He said ok, they would come at 12:30. I had mentioned that we left for church at that time. I could tell that English was not his first languate, but I figured he know what 12:30 was.

So I'm frantically cleaning up when the door bell rings at 11:30!!!

What the heck? When I opened the door, he says "I give you more time to go to church." Before I answered the door I had to hurry and put real clothes on. Darin was in the bathroom in his towel. I asked for 10 minutes. The kids were still in pajamas, and we just got in the cars.

Oh, on a side note here, there is something about Asian people when they come to see the house-they are always in huge groups. There was the realtor and about 4-5 other people. It has happened that way a few times.

Anyhow, Darin left for his meeting and I sat in the car, only after yelling at Landon for spilling watermelon juice all over the floor. I read the kids a book, then they were finished.

Can you say annoyed? They were in the house all of about 5 minutes!! Well, it was not even 10 for sure. I was very frustrated.

We did have another realtor come and look while we were at church. So I guess we can't give up hope yet.....