45 min before our ride to the airport...

Me in the hammock...

My toes in the hammock.....

Piggie toes!

My view from the hammock....

Our Last Night...

Late Night Visitors...

Let's get a closer look....

A Few Random Photos...

Fresh Mahi tacos (made with Jason's very impressive catch)...

Benadryl purchased by the pill.,,

Relaxing on the beach with my honey...

Water taxi to West End - the life vests were a requirement....

A couple of hrs shopping in West End...

Lunch at Celeste's.....

Tues Night...

Jason calls this......"Roatan"...

He's proud of his photography skills.

Tonight's Sunset

It was this big!!!!

It's not the size of your fish.....

It's how you reel it in.

Jason caught the Mahi and one of the tunas,  I got the two other tunas.

Let's face it, Captain Winston really did all of the hard work on these...we would just reel them in when he yelled "fish on da line!"

Jason steered the boat a lot of the time. Here's me...

And just to prove it.....

Last one!  The western tip of Roatan....

Fish tacos tomorrow!

Tonight's Sunset

The Banana Donut Man

I admittedly didn't do a ton of research on what we should do while on vacation. Mostly because, in my mind, a beach vacation is about being lazy and loving life!  But in the bit I researched, I read about The Banana Donut man.  He walks around selling, you got it...banana donuts!  Milton is his name and selling donuts on the beach is his game!

That's him (btw got the pic online - I'm cool and friendly but Milton hasn't exactly invited us to his house to see where he makes his donuts)

So yesterday I bought some banana donuts from him....

That's him walking away (I didn't want to seem like a rude tourist asking to take his picture) - he left me with my banana donuts (yes he sells them out of that big Rubbermaid container) and order forms for his wife's homemade burgers....

When we leave,I might buy one of his tshirts if he still sells them....

My brekkie this morn...

Then onto my favorite spot to drink coffee and watch the Roatan day start....

Day 1 Half Done!

5:00 Wake-up (no alarm).

Sit on the beach while the coffee brews and watch daylight come across the water.

Jason cooks brekkie.

Angie eats the brekkie that Jason cooked.  

Walk on beach.

See a couple heading out to snorkel and decide now is as good a time as any.

Spend 30 min testing fit and adjusting straps.

Head out!

Look undoubtedly like newbies trying to get the gear on.  "Hold this while I adjust the strap.  Wait, don't let the fin float away!"

Snorkel and think "Maybe we should have invested in an underwater camera."

Have a heartattack thinking that Jason is being attacked by a shark when fins start flailing and he starts to scream curse words.

Swim away quickly while Jason tries to escape the fish that tried to eat him.  

Try to give Jason pointers like "Don't swim backwards and try to kick him with your fins - turn around and motor away!!!"

Jason doesn't listen.  In his defense that sucker was really aggressive and bit his finger hard!  I wouldn't want to turn my back either.

Head back to dry land.  

Laugh myself silly.

Drop gear inside and walk back out for some swimming.

Still laughing like a mad woman.  Jason berates me for leaving him in his time of need making me laugh even harder.

Hang out on the beach drinking coffee .  Jason buys some "Cuban cigars" from a beach vendor who asks him "is that all you smoke?"

9:00 in the morn.....

Onto a 2 hr nap.

Then Jason cooked me lunch. 

Halfway through day 1!  Woohoo!

Too good not to share.....

Life is Good!

Long lines for customs

Pot holes and a bit of crazy driving (no offense to our driver Marty)

Monkey La-La's - The island's signature drink (a frozen drink with vodka, kahlua, cream of coconut and milk)

And this......

Welcome to Roatan!!!!

Houston Layover

Roatan Here We Come

My first toe shot (it's too dark to get the BWI signs with this phone)!  Or our way to the airport!  3:30 wakeup to rain.  Slight panic when Jason couldn't figure out where he put his keys, wallet and passport last night....they were in his carry-on but he swears he laid them "right there"!

Testing

Just testing the mobile blogging feature for our upcoming trip to Roatan!!!

The HGTV Dream Home

The kids and I took the online tour this morning. The Boy and Girl 2 are very excited about the possibility of winning, even though I explained that it's pretty much nonexistent.

When she learned that we would have to move, middle child said she "didn't want to take the chance". Go figure.

Videos for you!

We’ll start with Thing One’s Piano Recital

Don’t worry, it’s not the entire recital.  That type of joy is reserved for parents only!  This is the clip of his part.

Also…we know is hair is long.  He won’t let us cut it.  It’s a phase.  I think he’s cute.  Kind of like a surfer boy.

Next we’ll have Dr. Seuss meets the Village People…

where Thing Three gets her groove on with the Denver Bronco cheerleaders.  She’s in the striped hat.

Then there’s I wear my sunglasses at night….

our girl’s right behind that bronco, in the shorts.  The one with the moves!

One last video of the talented middle Cavanagh,  entitled I like to sing…

at the beginning of this video, you see Julie Roberts, the performer, standing back up.  She saw her singing the song and tried to get it on the microphone.  Unfortunately, the feedback was so great that she couldn’t hold the mic down there.  But that didn’t stop my girl.  Sorry about the quality –  I think we were just too close to the speakers.

That concludes this production of Cavanagh Entertainment.  Gotta go, I’ve got Disney on hold!

A

Brady Boogaloo !

Brady loves the spotlight.  Anytime there are requests for volunteers or answers from a group of people, Brady throws her hands up.  Even though, 90% of the time she has no idea what she’s volunteering for.

She can be a bit spacey that one.

Take for instance when, about a year ago during children’s mass at school, Father Nick asked some of the children what they had received for Christmas.  Brady, in her haste, never even heard the question but raised her hand.  Somehow, she ended up telling the whole school that she had gotten nothing.

How that happened I’m not sure.  But, let me tell you, nothing quite upsets a Mom as being portrayed as a non-Christmas gift-giving parent.  Believe me when I say that I cleared that up with the teachers and front office staff right away.  Some of those kids still eyeball me though.

So anyway, it was no surprise to me that when volunteers were called on during a recent trip to the Kuranda Rainforestation demonstration of Aboriginal dance, Brady raised her hand.

Resulting in this.

She gets her rhythm from me.

All she needs is a little body paint and loin cloth.

A

Testes, testes, testes

This is a test of the emergency broadcast system….

 

End of test.

Think National Lampoon...

Since we just had one of the most extraordinary experiences of our lives, I thought I would take the time out here in Cairns to let you know about our trip today. And to post this...


And this...



And these two...


And finally this one...


Aren't we cool? We swam the Great Barrier Reef! The Great Barrier Reef! Holy crap what a day!!! We saw all types of beautiful fish. They were everywhere. And a shark! And then Grace holds out her hand and has a jelly fish. It just "swam right in" she says. Of course I scream, since a lot of those suckers are deadly here (hence the all over body condoms) and she dropped him right back in the water.

Grace, by the way, was the absolute best snorkeler in the family (aside from Jason). She motor boated all around with no fear. I had a hard time keeping up with her. We had a bit of difficulty figuring the whole thing out with three kids but eventually worked out a system where everyone was safe and we got to see a lot. Notice the noodles in each picture - made life a whole lot easier out there.

By the way, does anyone really remember a life without noodles? I guess it was kind of like a life without internet. We lived a long time without it but it's sure hard to imagine now.

But despite the successes of the day, the Australians probably hope we don't come back. We're the Griswolds. Yep, modern day Griswolds is what we are.

When we finally set sail to dry land again, we had certainly left our mark. Because of us, the bottom of that Great Barrier Reef now sports the following...

1) A swim fin.
2) A hair tie.
3) A fork.
4) A wad of Extra Wintergreen Fresh gum.

No need to thank us world. Just looking to make things a bit more interesting for all those who come after.



Leaving our mark on the world, one utensil at a time,
The Cavs