Mom and Dad's Christmas Visit 2003

Joey loves reading.

And let her true personailty shine forth....sigh, if only!

overcome her crippling shyness....

If only someday mother would come out of her shell...

Dave and Dad exchange bottles of scotch.

Alright, I admit, I'm proud of the wrap job I did on Dad's gift.

Do you think Mom likes her bell?

Look Dad! A five dollar nativity!

With eyes all aglow....

Screw the milk and cookies - Santa wants Reindeer wine!

Obviously.

Joey loves Christmas.

Father Christmas?

Dave adds Hootie the white owl.

Grinning like a chipmunk, Mom helps trim the tree.

At pricey Rodeo Drive, the only thing we could afford to take were pictures.

Lookin' butch, fellas!

Mom and me in the Hollywood hills.

Aawwww, but isn't he cute?

Why all of my clothes have cat hair on them.

Mom and Dad drove cross country to bring us our wedding loot. Here's Mom cooking up a storm in our kitchen in Burbank, California.

New Orleans and our First Married Thanksgiving

Being married doesn't we're grown ups....that's Jodi's napkin ring holder I'm wearing as a choker.
Ah, there we go. Finally!

Our good friends Jodi and Dave, married the month before us, who absolutely refuse to smile normally for the camera.

First married Thanksgiving.

Goodbye, New Orleans!

The fountain outside Pat O' Brien's had fire and water both.

Feeling no pain.

But tasty!

OOOOO! Those hurricanes is strong!

THIS is the man I picked to father my children??

oysters...eeeeewww!

Hard to take a bad picture of Jackson Square.

Beautiful Jackson Square

Shots like this make me wish I was aprofessional photographer. This was taken in a little needlework shop just off of Jackson Square.

Dave shows off our bedroom suite, which yes, had a copy of "Interview with a Vampire" on the nightstand.

Our first meal in New Orleans, which got me hooked on red beans and rice for life. Me and Louis.

In the sitting room. The decor was so New Orleans. Sensual and dramatic. The little purple pillow reads "the Queen of Everything." Apparently they knew I was coming!

This photo, much darker on the blog than in real life, doesn't nearly come close to the beautiful, romantic bed and breaksat we stayed in.

Cozumel, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands

Our 1 week wedding anniversary. Our wonderful waitstaff had another cake ready. The champagne was a present from the couple at the table next to ours. Lesson learned: if you say you're newlyweds you get free stuff! I've been saying it ever since!

The final towel buddy was truly impressive. How do they do that?

The new high priest and priestess of the Xacotyl tribe. ( I can so pull off this hat!)

I like this boy.

Guess where we are?

One of my favorite pictures of us.

Didn't I marry a cutie?

In Hog Sty Bay, Dave falls in with a rough crowd.

I'm totally holding my stomach in in this shot. (That's our cruiseship in the backround.)

Giggle, giggle. I'm so mature!

WE LOVE SNORKELING!!

Snorkeling in the Cayman Islands was like being in an entirely new world. I've never seen such vivid tropical fish, coral, etc. And they swim right up to your mask! It was extraordinary. I never wanted it to end. We even got to snorkle right over a shipwreck! Dave found "booty" - Cayman Island coins on the ocean floor. We were as excited as little kids - pirate treasure! Wow!

We were delighted to discover the "towel buddies" that the staff left in our room every night. We had never seen anything like that and were completely surprised when all the little "critters" showed up. Stingy the stingray became our official mascot for the honeymoon. We started collecting stingray souvenirs everywhere we went...

Rum punch and meat pies in Jamaica

Dave has his Titanic moment. "I'm king of the world!"

Cruisin'

The decor of the ship was French Impressionist painters. Beautiful paintings, stained glass and sculptures. Here we are in front of a giant sunflower.

Being my mother's daughter, I had to take a picture of it. Love you, Momma!

The waitstaff presented us with a "happy honeymoon" cake and sang to us. The deal was, we had to keep kissing for as long as they sang. Well shoot, if we hafta...!






Dave and I on our first night in the formal dining room. The meals were so good that 4 years later we are still reminiscing about them. Yum yum! (I do wish to point out however, that at this meal my new husband insisted that I try the escargot. It was an experience that will NOT be repeated! Rubbery and dense, I couldn't forget what I was eating, even with all the butter and garlic. Augh! Bleah! The things we do for love! )

Mrs. Holland!

Dave took this in the honeymoon suite after our wonderful wedding reception. I'd been Mrs. Holland officially for about 6 hours. YIPPPEE!

All right, I'm in!

Ok, Finally! A month after creating this blog, I finally was able to sign in again, having misplaced my password. (Or user name. I'm not sure which.) Phew! Thanks relatives, for being so patient!

We have my sister -in-law Mcgee to blame for this blog, she's the one who got me started. We love checking hers for new pictures and updates on my niece, Miss Meredith Caroline. It's such a great way for families to stay in touch, so I thought it would be nice for our Florida (and Texas) (and Delaware) relatives to be able to check out ours! Enjoy!