By Car, by Plane, by Boat, by Bus... Viajamos

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain

And we're back... from a wonderful Barros family vacation: a five-day cruise to Mexico! And what an adventure it was!


Jeff and I were set to leave last Friday to fly to Houston. Lo and behold, a snowstorm tried to get in our way! To avoid the heavy snow and traffic, we decided to stay Thursday night in Denver. That was helpful, except our flight was cancelled for the morning! We booked an afternoon flight only to wake up the next morning to its cancellation as well. Southwest Airlines must not like snow. Continental flights were still going out, so we had to book a last-minute flight to get to Houston. After de-icing the plane for about 30 minutes, we were finally off and had an uneventful flight to Houston. We even had time to spend with my fam before heading to our next hotel room. I finally got to try my Dad's famous Star pizza! Not bad, Daddio.



Saturday was a shuttle back to the airport to be picked up in a bus by Carnival for transport to Galveston. That ride wasn't so bad, but our cruise ship couldn't dock on time due to fog. We found a delicious restaurant, Fisherman's Wharf, to kill time in. After hours of waiting we finally boarded the ship and the vacation could begin!

Now I'm not a huge fan of boats. Scenes from the Titanic and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner are usually what spring to mind when I think about bobbing about in the middle of the deep blue sea with no land in sight. I'm still getting over that swaying feeling of still being on the ship, but we all really had a great time on the cruise. The food was delicious, the shows entertaining, and the stops exciting. 



It was so fun to watch our niece, Amelie, experience so many firsts. Her first show actually kept the little two-year-old entranced and she squealed with laughter when a giant Chinese dragon made its way through the crowd and to the stage. Her first time on a beach was in Progreso, Mexico. Not a bad place for a first beach experience. She loved the sand and found lots of seashells she insisted on calling "mermaids." All in all it was a great trip with great family.



Superbowl Sunday was actually a blast. We got to watch the game on a huge screen in a theater. I have to say, there is nothing but pride that swells in your heart when an auditorium full of strangers all rise for the National Anthem and applaud our soldiers when they show them on the screen watching the big game overseas. You get this overwhelming sense of connection with these people that you've never met.


Monday was definitely a highlight for me when we went on an excursion to see Mayan ruins. We went to a site that was not a city, but a trading post within the Mayan civilization once upon a time. Very cool place. We also got a tour of a cathedral and a cemetery where both Mayan and Spanish are buried. 

What was Jeff's highlight, you ask? The 24/7 self-serve ice cream. He went after that stuff like a starving hyena.

Tuesday was laying on a beach in Cozumel. It was beautiful, but we didn't put on enough sunscreen. We are paying for that now... :/

Overall, great vacation. Enjoy the pictures!

Dinner and a Show

Last weekend we made a quick trip up to Denver to see Brad Paisley in concert!! He put on a FAN-tastic show, as usual. I don't think he could sing a song I would hate. Though, admittedly, I could certainly do without "Remind Me." Not sure why, but that song just annoys me.

Brad Paisley

The Band Perry

Scotty McCreary (sp?) and The Band Perry were also there. Scotty was okay. Not a bad voice on the kid. I was so excited to see The Band Perry, though! I love their Rock'n'Roll-Twang-Country style they've got going on and man, can that girl sing! That have some great new songs out there. Looks like they won't be just one-hit-wonders!

Before the concert we stopped and ate at an old western saloon built in the 1800s, called Buckeyes. What an eclectic place. Ace Ventura would not have appreciated the hundreds of stuffed animals lining the walls! From elk and deer to zebras and birds. They also served a variety of meats! We had elk, quail, and ostrich. It was all so delicious!

Aside from our night of fun, things have been pure chaos! Not only is the adoption process enough paperwork to last a lifetime, but we are also moving next month. The paperwork to apply for  a mortgage loan is next to impossible. Literally. They were asking for things that didn't even exist. After the last three days of scrambling around, thinking we weren't going to get this dang loan approved, it looks like we are finally in clear waters again. We will be moving (fingers crossed) into our new home on Valentines Day! Boy, what a present! 

Our adoption process is momentarily put on hold, just for a few weeks, until we get moved and into our new place. About a week after the move we have our final home study interview planned! Our caseworker will come and check out the place, make sure we have room for our child in a safe environment and we aren't going to make them live in a closet, and finalize our home study paperwork. Once that is compiled we will be so close to turning in our dossier to Ethiopia! So far we've completed everything from fingerprints, to blood tests, to background checks... even parenting classes. Gee, some of this seems like reasonable preparation for any new parent! Once we get all our paperwork in, we could possibly wait another year before we get our referral... basically we are hurrying up to do a lot of waiting. With over 210 million orphans in the world today, its frustrating that there are so much legal paperwork and fees to get these children into loving homes.


With everything going on, including hectic work schedules and plenty of school work for each of us, we can't wait until our cruise next week! Thank you, Poppo Barros! Rest and relaxation, here we come! And snorkeling and the Mayan ruins! A family vacation with the whole Barros clan will be a blast. What  wonderful family we have both been blessed with. When our caseworker asked us why we wanted to adopt, one of our answers was simply because we both had such wonderful childhoods; we want to be able to share that with another person.

Sunday Drive

Fröhliche Weihnachten

So my Christmas greeting is a little late, but as some of you may know, we had a German Christmas this year! No, not in Germany (too bad...), but there was roast goose, red cabbage, gingerbread, and tons of other delicious cookies and goodies!

My family and Jeff's dad came to visit and having a house full of family was lots of fun. There was tons of food, some good wine, and laughs to share. There was also a lot of Michael Jackson dancing...

Jeff and I cut down our first real Christmas tree this year! That was certainly an adventure. We ended up with a huge and beautiful tree. So huge and beautiful in fact, that our tree base wasn't enough to hold it down and it ended up toppling over and breaking some of our ornaments. Jeff had to secure it tighter in the base and even tied it to our railing with some fishing line. Good times...

Jeff and I got tons of camping gear! We can't wait until it warms up outside so that we can use it all. Jeff has already "broken in" his sleeping bag, as he puts it, by taking naps in it on the couch and our bed. I got Jeff some Toms shoes and he got me a travel book to Ethiopia! Plus, some other cool things like a new vacuum, too. :) We are praying we will be going to Ethiopia by next Christmas to pick up the best Christmas present ever!

P.S... We saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie with the fam: LOVED it!