Flash Floods and Hurricanes (Saturday, September 9th, 2017)

I think it's funny that I chose to write about fall yesterday, because today it is here.  It has been overcast and rainy all day, and we are just loving it! The temperature today is only in the low 80's and there is a light breeze, making it absolutely perfect!  

The funny thing about Arizona, though, is that there are no gutters or down spouts on the houses.  The rain just runs off the tile roofs and makes a splashy mess everywhere.  



This particular waterfall is right in front of our front door.  There is about a 5' x 5' covered porch that shelters our front door, but the rain falls off the roof so hard that it splashes right inside the house if the front door is open.  

The ground is so hard here that it doesn't absorb the rainfall. We just have to let it run off, or soak in very slowly. Our back yard is filling up quickly, but it will run off before it reaches the house.

While we were eating lunch, we both got an emergency alert on our phones for flash floods in the area.  Luckily, we are all snugged in at home, and we don't have to worry about it.  

Even in this big rainstorm we are still enjoying the ease of our outdoor kitchen.  

This little storm we are having here in Havasu brings our thoughts to everyone in Houston, where hurricane Harvey just went through last week, and the small Caribbean islands that have just felt the wrath of hurricane Irma. Florida is still bracing itself for Irma.  Our prayers go out to everyone in the paths of these horribly destructive storms.  

Second Day at Sea Northern Caribbean (Monday, January 11th, 2016)

When I first woke up this morning, I looked out the window and there was dense fog. That certainly didn’t give me a reason to want to get up, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. At about 8:00, I tried it again. This time when I looked out, the fog had lifted, but now I can see water running down our window. 

I guess this means that it’s time to blog since I don’t need to rush to the poolside chairs to get a tan. My sweet husband ran up to the lido deck and grabbed us both some coffee to drink as I sat her and typed. He’s just that kind of guy! Whether we’re on a cruise ship or in a hotel, he always makes a coffee run for us while I’m getting ready. He’s so sweet!

It was a nice leisurely day, since the rain decided to stick with us. The back pool deck has a retractable roof, so during the night last night they closed the roof. 

The 18 and over pool,with the retractable roof closed

It makes the area a bit humid, but very comfortable in a rain storm. It is an 18 and over area, so we could just spend the day by the pool, in and out of the hot tub, relaxing. Our daughter is still not feeling great today. She feels good for a while and then goes back to feeling bad. We feel sorry for her, but it makes us happy that our days are relaxing and not crazy busy.  Hopefully she will feel better when we get to our first port.

For lunch today, Steve and I both went to the Guy Fiery Burger Bar. This is a relatively new option being offered on the Carnival Freedom ship.  They hand make your burger for you, and then have a topping bar with lots of yummy toppings.  It's way more food than I can eat, but a great treat!

And our daughter enjoyed another gluten free pizza, hand made just for her!

Although it's rainy, its really quite comfortable outside, so we spent some time on the outer decks just enjoying the day.

A view of the retractable roof from the outside.  We love this!

Plenty of people in the main pool area, even though it's raining

As we walked to the front of the ship, we could see the next big rain storm approaching, so we decided to once again head inside for awhile.

We opted for an afternoon game of blackjack

and a little afternoon snack of ceviche and bar-b-qued octopus

Again tonight, Steve and I got ready first, then left the room to go sit at the back bar while our daughter got ready. We have really enjoyed talking to Suriya the bar tender at the back lido bar. When our daughter was ready tonight, she met us at our usual spot, and we all headed up to the promenade deck to watch an acoustic guitar player. He was really good and brought in a pretty good crowd.

The great thing about rain during the day is beautiful skies at night!

We headed to another nice dinner in the dining room. After dinner instead of heading to comedy, we went with our dinner table mates to the theater to watch the nightly show. It was called 88 Keys, and started out as a piano bar, but then turned into a complete singing and dancing show, based on the piano. It was a really good show. 

When the show was over, we headed to the headliner for a little more Sheila Kay comedy before turning in for the night.  When we got to the room tonight, we were greeted by another towel friend to keep us company through the night.

How does the housekeeping staff have time for this???