Marrakech

Amazing race in Africa (Morocco)

As a group we decided to bag touring Casablanca and get a cab to Marrakech. It’s a 3-hour trip inland. Marrakech is well known as the “Red City” This is because all of the buildings have a reddish coral façade that sparkles in the sunlight. We went to the center of the city called the Medina. This is the busiest square in Africa. (Yes I said Africa….I can’t believe my feet set foot on the African continent). In this square we found snake charmers, acrobats, musicians and dancers AKA she boys. Yes these are men dressed like women and perform. Weird!! Needless to say I was taken back by my surroundings. I was very surprised to see the women still so suppressed. I guess I didn’t think too much about this being an Arab city. So we heard the call to prayer for the first time I was totally freaked out, only because it made me think of the movie Bourne supremacy. You can hear the call of prayer in the chase scene. The people there are very forward. We of course stuck out like a sore thumb. At times I felt like people were swarming us. Anyhow, Sterling and Amanda that we were with found us a quaint hotel to spend the night in. The hotel was three stories tall and it had no roof. It had a tent like top to it and it was amazing to look through at night. You could see the stars and feel the cold air. We had a lot of time to spend in the Medina this is like a huge swap meet. Vendors were out selling goods. Jim and a fun time bartering with the shopkeepers. I pick up some frankincense and myrrh. We were welcomed back to the hotel with some native dressed dancers and musicians. They entertained us for about an hour. The music to me didn’t really have a tune. It was kind of like the song that never ends. It went on and on. I had a huge headache when they left. But it was fun to see their culture. I didn’t sleep very well that night. Not sure why but I was really nervous. The hotel fed us breakfast. We had something like a crepe, tangerines and Mint tea. They serve Mint tea with everything. We then started out to find the bus station to met the boat in Agadir. We went outside the Medina to hail a cab and apparently the cabs have territories and we upset a cab driver. Four ladies of our group got into this cab and the upset cab driver came over and sat on top of the cab while in motion. It was surreal. The guy fell off the hood and put his back against the grill of the car. The car slowed down and it was amazing he didn’t get run over. Both of the cab drivers were yelling at each other. We left to find other driver that weren’t so crazy. We got to the bus station and headed to Agadir. It was interesting to see the countryside of Morocco. There are a lot of shepherds out in the fields with their livestock. On the bus we were pulled over by the police and the bus driver got out and talked to the police. We were all looking out the bus like deer caught in the headlights. We were there roughly 15 minutes. We finally made it to Agadir and were relieved to see the ship. I was excited to take a hot shower and to get a quick nap. Well little did we know that our message back to the ship did not get related correctly. The didn’t get the part that we would meet them in Agadir. So the ship called the US embassy to search for us in Casablanca. So when we boarded the ship we were asked to go to speak with the US embassy in Agadir. They had cancelled our Visa’s in fear that someone would take them and use them for illegal purposes. YIKES!! He basically told us how lucky we were not to get and that if the police wanted to they could have put us in jail for being illegally in their country. Remember how we got pulled over….
I was so relived that we made it safely back to the ship. The embassy reinstated our Visa’s and we finished the rest of our trip.

Barcelona

Barcelona

We just got back from our trip to Spain, Morocco and Portugal. Wow! What an amazing trip. I want to document some of the things we experienced. After a 13-hour flight to Barcelona we toured a little bit of this amazing city. Our first stop was to the famous Sagrada Familia. Translation Temple of the Holy Family. This is a massive Roman Catholic church. This church has been under construction since 1882. It was very interesting to see the different styles of architecture on the church. There is a very realistic side and a very modern side. Supposedly this church is going to be completed in 2026. The eastside represents the Nativity; the west side is called the passion or the crucifixion. The north and south sides are under construction still.

We walked around the city for a while and then headed to the ship. We were exhausted. Our first day on the boat was a sea day. Jim and I took advantage and slept in a long time!! It was a little difficult for me to adjust to the time change. Spain is 8 hours ahead of us. Our first stop was in Casablanca.

Happy B-Day Grandpa!

We celebrated my Dad's birthday with a movie and yummy dinner. We appreciate him so much. He has really help us through some really rough times (especially last year when Jim was out of work). I hope that we have many more birthday's to come. Happy Birthday!

Marley and Savannah

We decided as a family to see this movie. Savannah has such a love for all dogs. She has asked for a couple of weeks now to go to this movie. For Grandpa's birthday we decided to go as a family. I sat between Savannah and my Mom. They movie was darling. It was funny and sad. It hit really close to home since the family had two boys and one girl. Just like us. Hmmm that gets me to thinking....I could totally handle look like Jennifer Aniston. I digress. Anyway, the dog ends up dying at the end. (Sorry to spoil the ending). But Savannah was so upset over this that she cried all the way home from the moive theatre. She keeps asking if Gunner was going to die. I re-assured her not for a long time. She then declared if Gunner dies I hope that we can get another puppy. I told her that she could. She seems happy about that. The boys told Savannah that she acts just like the little girl in the movie. Miss bossy. hehe. She totally is. We love her despite her bossiness.

YIPEE!

I finally got a new camera. Just in the nick of time too. Jim and I are going on a trip to Barcelona, Spain, Casablanca, Morocco, Agadir, Morocco, Las Palmas, Spain (Canary Island's), Funchal, Portugal and Malaga, Spain. I hope to take some amazing picture while I am there. I will update the blog with the pictures.

Holiday Re-cap

December was an extremely busy month for all of us. I wanted to write something down before I forgot. I was totally awful with getting any pictures. I guess I was way to busy will planning the party, hosting it and making sure enough food was out. SIGH...
The Sunday before Christmas we have my Mom's side of the family get together for a party. I was my Mom's year this year. Meaning she was in charge of the festivities. We had talked about it for months and we were going to try and do it in September, but my mom and I got really sick. So before we knew it December was here. I could see the stress in my mom multiplying so I offered to have the party at my house. (Mom's house is under some construction) What a big job. It took the kids and me two full days of deep cleaning to get the house ready. But, it was nice to have an excuse to clean out some of my cupboards. The day of we prepared the food and the games. The party turned out really well. Just about everyone... Grandma, Aunts, Uncles, brothers, sisters and cousins and their kids came. We did miss those who didn't come. The game turned out really cute as well. My mom asked everyone to bring a baby or childhood picture. We drew a huge Christmas tree on a big piece of butcher paper. We then took everyone’s picture and make ornament out of them along with a number. Everyone got a piece of paper and had to write in their guess on the picture. It was really funny because everyone got Rylan and Dylan's pictures mixed up. Anyhow, we had some great food, great company and a great slideshow.

Christmas found us with out any power. It was only about 21 degrees outside so it was a really cold with out a heater. The kids still enjoyed opening their gifts from Santa Claus. Biggest hit was the electric guitar for the boys and Savannah loved her scarf. She tells everyone that Mrs. Claus knitted the scarf just for her.

We had a nice dinner at both Grandmas’ on Christmas day. We stuffed ourselves. Plus we enjoyed seeing everyone.

New Year's eve we celebrated with friends. We had yummy food and enjoyed being with friends. The kids played truth or dare. It was funny to hear and see some of the dares they came up with. There were a few snow angels made with out coats or hats. Adults played "Pit". Thanks to April and Greg for introducing us to a fun game. New Year rang in with a "New Year's Kiss from my honey. We have really made any resolutions. So we will see what 2009 brings us. Cross your fingers for good luck!