Sunday, January 03, 2010

More Pillow Talk

We are getting ready to head to our last destination prior to departing for South Africa...one last pillow before laying my head on my own.

We began our USA trip in Florida which now seems so long ago. We did so much I didn't have a chance to capture it in the franzenfam cyber diary then. So now I'll hit a very special highlight...pillow #3, the watery one.

My parents, Vern and Millie, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year.

Aren't they cute?!

I'm sure there would be no argument that such a milestone deserves to be celebrated in a big way. Due to the wonderful planning by my brother, this crew....


celebrated together on this....



There was lots of water fun on and off the boat....









We had 2 stops along the way, the first was in Grand Cayman. There the kids would snorkel with the stingray at Sting Ray City.


The big black shadows under the water are the stingrays..yeah, pretty big and a bit scary at times.

Our second stop was in Cozumel. There we spent the day at a beautiful national park, swimming and snorkeling.


Here is "Kelly's snorkel school", as my sister in-law, Kelly, was the first to take 6 of the 7 kids snorkeling.


Tori, kid #7, was content to play in the pool instead of snorkel.


Even non-aqua Grandma had fun watching the kids play and being smothered by their affection...


This was also the start of our over-eating marathon. We ate some great food and some firsts for a few of the crew...



Many of our evenings ended in a game or two.


And when finally retiring, exhausted to our cubicle referred to as a "room" our turn down included one of these fun guys

We even learned to make our own towel creations. Hey, you never know when making a monkey from bath towels might come in handy.

Like everything else, all good things come to an end. We disembarked full of memories of fun with family and Freddy.


9 comments:

Just Mom said...

Oh my gosh, what a fun way to celebrate an anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to your parents.



(Love that towel "sculpture." You must post step-by-step instructions some day.)

Susan said...

How wonderful for your parents and all of you. I agree with Just Mom abou step-by-step instructions.
Susan

Sohailah said...

Very fun! Good for them AND you and kudos to your brother for being the planner.

Jen said...

Sounds like you guys are having a wonderful time! So glad you get to spend time with friends and family! Cherish each and every moment. Happy New Years to you and safe travels on your way back home!

Anonymous said...

Memories to last forever! What a blast!!!

Love seeing the photos of your mom as I see her comments on here and it was sweet to put a face to her now. How blessed to have parents married so long! Mine celebrate 60 years in a couple of months. We all went to Aruba on their 50th, but no plans for this celebration (maybe Chitown :)

Edwards Family said...

sounds like we are in the same 'traveling' boat. We head back to Asia beginning of Feb. Making FL our last of many stops in the USA. Christmas was great, but we sure did miss our own traditions in Asia.

Many Blessings to you and your family as you travel back.

Jamie

michelle said...

It was great and my parents are pretty great too. :)

They taught us how to make the towel art and then of course there was a book with over 300 animals and their 'how to' for the low price of $15. Yeah, no walkin' out of there without that and the new found excitement for towels with my 10 yr. old. :)

Shanygne said...

wow... sounds like you guys have packed more into a few weeks than most ppl do in a lifetime! what a great trip to the States!
have you already gone back to SA? wish we could have made the list of stops, but so glad you got so much family time and so many precious memories!

Momma Roar said...

Pictures are amazing!!! So glad you all had this time together!!