Fun with the McCombers

My parents have been visiting us. They came in last weekend and left yesterday. We had the best time!

We started off with a trip to the beach:

Walking back to the car with wet feet, resulted in very dirty feet. Mom won the dirtiest feet contest. :)

After the beach, we went shopping. So much fun!

On Sunday we went to church, and then we met Steven for lunch at Bennigan's. Afterward, we went home and spent the evening relaxing and watching season 2 of LOST. (If you're currently watching the show, you see so many more clues and hints of things to come when you go back and watch the previous seasons. My parents are new LOST-watchers, so it was fun to watch it with them.)

On Monday Daddy had to fly out to go to work, so Mom and I took him to the airport and then went to the outlet mall. We both bought some nice things.

Tuesday, we visited the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. It was fascinating. (Steve's grandparents turned us on to Presidential Libraries a few years ago. We went to LBJ's a couple of years ago. It was very good too; but it's very different from the Bush Library.) We had a great time. All three of us (Steve, Mom and me) are history buffs, so we spent quite a bit of time there and thoroughly enjoyed it.

They don't let you take flash pictures inside, so I don't have very many pictures. Here are a couple.

Mom talking to Dad on the phone while sitting next to President Bush:Steve and I cheering on the Astros with President and Mrs. Bush:Wednesday we shopped some more. And then we went to church Wednesday night.

Thursday we went out for a big, fancy lunch, courtesy of my wonderful husband. Thanks, Babe! Then we spent the rest of the day just hanging out and spending time together. Daddy flew back in Thursday night.

Friday we went to Sea World! What fun! We went to a 4D movie. Here are pictures of us in our 3D glasses:

Steven, Daddy and I rode the Great White - a hanging roller coaster. And then Steven and Daddy rode the Steel Eel.

Before the ride:

During the ride:

A quote from Daddy: "Whoa!!!"

We also got to pet a kangaroo and a dolphin while we were there. We had so much fun!

Mom and Dad - We are so glad that you came to visit. We loved getting to spend so much time with you. Hope you get to come back soon! We love you!!!

Thats our favorite

I know that everyone has been on pins and needles wondering how the carpet fiasco worked out.

WE CALLED IN THE PROS

They did a wonderful job, I knew I was in good hands as soon as they told me they would move the furniture for me. Then when they tied up the drapes I was confident I made the right decision.

Enough about that, as Amy has so diligently posted we had a wonderful time on our vacation, her parents are in town now and we are spending time with them, showing them the sights etc.

Yesterday we went to G. H. W. Bush's Library and Museum, it was a wonderful time full of enlightening facts.

On Friday we are going to Sea World, so that should surely offer some fantastic opportunities for pictures which we will no doubt share with you, our valued readers.

So this is for the guys, the Queen Mary was SO COOL, they let commoners like me and my willing bride crawl all over that thing, we could even get down in the engine room, it was amazing, here are some of my favorite pictures.

Of course the Bridge, AKA Wheel house -- its interesting to note that as old as the technology looks, the ship was in operation until the 60's

These things I cannot remember what they are called, but they are used to send the signal to an identical unit in the lower control rooms of the ship, they are everywhere. You see them used in the movies for engine control, but this one was in the radio room, they are at the anchor stations, and the docking stations, very fascinating.

I love how this one at the anchor station says "HEAVE IN"

This ship was built in the 30's using old technology (interestingly by the same company that built the Titanic, in fact they are of the same class). Anyway this is the longest corridor in the ship and it is not possible to see the other end from where we are standing because it is curved downward toward the middle of the ship.

Here I am in the bottom of the ship at the boiler control panels

The Teak wood decking is original, and has held up pretty well, the anchor chain is what we are looking at.

Now this is when ships were ships, whats a leisurely cruise without a 50 Caliber machine gun on the promenade deck.

This was the boat Amy and I were on for our trip, I went jogging everyday on their jogging track, talk about tricky in the choppy seas.

And finally the adventures in Mexico
Amy found some new glasses

And I found a wonderful doll for a very deserving niece.

Travelin'

We are quite behind on our posting. Since the last post we have been to Oregon, LA, Catalina Island, Mexico and Oklahoma. We are finally home again.

Since we've been back home, Steve has had some additional carpet cleaning adventures. (I'm just thrilled that it's finally clean!) He'll have to post about that. And we've been working on our house. In the last week, we painted our master bedroom and bought two new dressers and a new plasma TV for our room. We finally have "grown up" furniture, and it looks great!

Pictures of the house and the improvements thereof will have to follow in another post. This post is about travelin'. Without further ado - here it is:

Steven's sister tied the knot! Captain Reverend Steven L. Norton performed the ceremony. He did a wonderful job! I am so proud to be his wife!

The wedding location (WOW!):

The ceremony (from left to right - Nicole (Steve's sister and maid-of-honor), Rev. Steven, Kalei (Steve's sister and the bride) and Jason (the groom):
My favorite part of the wedding was getting to spend time with some of my favorite people. Me and the girls - Sarah and Katie.
Me and Keegan
Me and Luqus (who is always on the move - resulting in wonderfully blurry pictures)
Wedding VIP's:
Steve's parents Steve's grandparents The happy coupleThe morning after the wedding, Steven and I left our hotel room at 2:30 a.m. to catch a plane to LA. While in LA, we toured the Queen Mary which is permanently docked in Long Beach and is now a hotel.
Our cruise set sail around 4:30 p.m. on Monday. It should be noted that you can feel the waves much more on the West Coast than on the East Coast. We didn't get sea sick, but apparently several people did. (And yes, this is a picture of our boat that we took. The boat could not dock in Catalina, so this picture is taken from the island of our boat anchored in the middle of the ocean. Very clever, no?)
Our first port was Catalina Island. It's quaint and quiet and beautiful. We enjoyed it.
We rented a golf cart to tour the island. Here we are in our "Catalina Limo." :) The beach on Catalina: And yes, that would be my darling husband wearing tennis shoes to the beach. :)

Our next stop was Ensenada, Mexico. Not much to see or do, but we enjoyed some Starbucks and walked around for a while.

Our last day on the ship was a day at sea. It was nice and relaxing. The weather was perfect, so we spent quite a bit of time just laying around on the deck. I took no pictures of that; so for your entertainment, I will show you pictures of our towel animals left by our room steward each evening.

And my personal favorite - the dog:We got home around 6:00 p.m., dropped off our bags and headed back to the airport to catch a 9:00 p.m. flight to see my parents and pick up Maggie.

We are now back at home and are planning our next cruise. :) I think we may take a Mediterranean cruise next year!!

Steve has much to post about riding the scooter, dealing with shady carpet cleaners, etc. Stay tuned.