We're in Texas!

We made it safely to Texas, Weeha! 

Packin' up the U-Haul. Just about ready to hit the road. Until next year beautiful home.

A little shot of our girl during this drive. She did amazing! 

Goodbye Florida, Hello Alabama!  

...and Hello Mississippi!

Then Louisiana! This is when we started having good laughs. I had the hubs pronounce the French names on the signs such as "Maringuoin" which means mosquitos and "Grosse Tete" which means big head lol!

Above, you see a lonnnnng bridge..

We were driving over the bayou. The swampland of Louisiana. Eek!

Finally, Allen Texas. Amen! We've reached our destination :)

When we pulled into the rink's parking, I spotted the team bus. Adam will spend many hours on these wheels this season. Adam went to get our apartment key and the coach wanted him to jump on the ice, so he did! Then, it was off to get his physical done. After that, we unpacked the U-Haul and were happy to return that thing. 

I believe that tonight is Adam's first game this pre-season. It's home so I'll be there!! I'm so excited for him. It's been quite the year so now all good & positive things our wayyyy!

**Sending out good vibes to all my hockey buddies who have been affected by the hockey lock-out. 

Hockey Contract

 

One of the biggest, most exciting events around here lately... My husband's official hockey contract!! After a year of staying by my side day and night while I beat leukemia and went through a bone marrow transplant, Adam's been signed as one of the Allen Americans players. It was an exciting day, to see the culmination of such a challenging year and the start of a brand new one. We hooped and hollered as we soaked up the good news!!! God is good...bringing us to this point after such a twisty road of unknowns. I'm so proud of my husband for helping me through every turn. Such an amazing guy and talented hockey player!

 



Now, we prepare to make the transition. It will be very different settling into life in Texas but we're pumped (YAY!). We got our hands on the schedule and are gearing up for the season opener which is on October 20th. Feeling super thankful for this upcoming season...

This is where I will be watching my honey play. We are grateful to be back into the swing of things with hockey and be TOGETHER. We've gotten a few great little nuggets of hangout time with some of our friends over the summer, who we've been missing so much during our time in Canada. So great to laugh and catch up!! As we leave our home and Florida, they will need to come visit us "in-Texas-baby"!

Well, that about covers it!

Disney Fantasy Cruise ~ July 17 in St Maarten

You have no idea how happy I was to see land when I woke up Tuesday July 17th lol! Our first stop was St Maarten. All ashore 8am. Adam, Jim and I toured the island while Melissa and the kids stayed at the pool. Adam read that the Sunset Beach Bar in St Maarten was an entertaining spot. So we jumped into a cab and drove off... Maria, our driver, was really nice. She acted like a tour guide, talking to us about St Maarten. 

Getting out of the cab at the Sunset Bar and Grill.

What's most exciting about this bar is that you get to watch jets and big airplanes land all day long. The arrival schedule for all planes is listed on this surf board. I thought that was cool. 

 My gorgeous husband and the 1st plane about to land.

Jim, also waiting patiently.

This was our first plane.

We noticed a lot of people gathering on the beach.

It's definitely gonna be a BIG plane. Everyone is rushing.

We think, from a distance, that it is a KLM.

Here it comes...

Hold on to your hat and yourself... It's huge! Yes!! It's a KLM. Zoomed right by us. Unreal!

The view

Beautiful Caribbean water

Love it!

Another plane right above my head. 

There it goes. We saw plenty that afternoon.

With my love ♥

A few hours later, we drove back with Maria towards the cruise boat. These are the streets of St Maarten.

I see our boat in the distance. 

We took a water taxi to return to the ship instead of walking. 

That evening, it was "Mickey's Pirates of the Caribbean" night. It's a Pirate celebration during dinner and fireworks at night. Our little group decided to pull a few pranks on our servers. Here is Marvette with two glasses full of water on both her hands lol! 

Then we got Carlos with some whipped cream!

Later, Adam and I enjoyed drinks at Currents Nightclub and Lounge the deck 13 of the ship while our friends watched Disney Pixar Brave.

Finally, we all enjoyed the Disney fireworks from the top floor!! Amazing!!

Disney Fantasy Cruise ~ Monday July 16 at Sea

Monday July 16, we were still at sea on the Disney Cruise. Adam and I had noticed the previous day that our a/c wasn't working well so maintenance guys came to our room and fixed the defective part. Our room got hot and sleeping conditions weren't the best therefore the customer service desk offered me a manicure. I was happy! I walked over to the spa and had the manicure done. During the time at the spa, I started feeling weird. I wasn't listening to the lady doing my nails anymore because it hit me. I was seasick. I felt nauseous and couldn't wait to get out of there. I returned to the room and slept pretty much all afternoon. The motion of anything in sight (water in a glass, swinging curtains, etc..) made me sick. I couldn't wait for the next day when we got to St Maarten, land! We'd been sailing for 3 full days and being in that closed in spa area was enough.

That evening, we had reservations at Palo restaurant. A restaurant we were all looking forward to try on this cruise. So, I put on my big girl pants, didn't think about my nauseous tummy, got ready and went!

Our lovely table.

The entrance to Palo when getting off the elevator.

The Palo restaurant is best known for it's chocolate soufflé. This signature dessert is served with a warm vanilla bean and chocolate sauce. Incredible!! 

A little couple shot ♥

Once we finished this amazing meal at Palo, I returned to the room which meant I was gonna miss the evening show "Disney Wishes". I couldn't pull myself to the theater and just wanted my pjs and my bed. 

Meliss, Riley and Jim taking pics with the characters. Cute!

Disney Fantasy Cruise ~ Sunday July 15th

Sunday July 15th was the Captain Tom's reception day and a day at sea. It was also the "Aladdin" musical!! Here's a pretty cool fact that was in our Navigator; The Disney Fantasy is longer than the height of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (1063 feet). Almost 4 football fields in length.

The soda, juice and water station.

We made coasters!

Jim and Melissa.

Found some Minnie ears ;)

Trey and I did a cooking class at Anyone Can Cook. We learnt how to make the apple strudel from the dessert chef.

Animator's Palate Restaurant Entrance.

Walls full of drawings in black and white sketch.

This restaurant had like over 100 monitors that played during dinner. The star of the show was the sea turtle from Finding Nemo. He swam from on screen to another engaging kids in conversations with him. Pretty amazing!

We always sat at table 19.

Riley's drawing of Mickie Mouse. 

I love the butter knife.

Our table. Jim and Adam are holding plates with chocolate messages written on them. They were too full for dessert. So that's what they brought out. 

Riley and Adam.

Disney's Aladdin musical was spectacular. My best show onboard the Fantasy cruise.

Look what was on our TV in our room!!