I never fought with the desire to do my very best on this, I only embraced it. The result was a video–shown in front of a few hundred people–that elicited sobs, laughter and, from a lot of people, praise and thanks. It was a moment of pure pride to honor the life of a friend.

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We made it back tanned and tired from our Mexican cruise aboard the Carnival Spirit. I just wanted to share the photos on the blog.

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Today we took a tender off the ship into a much more relaxed port, Zihuatanejo. We took a water-taxi to a beach on the other side of the bay where we spent the entire day in the sun drinking “the world’s best” piña colatas and eating mouth-watering shrimp tacos.

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Acapulco is beautiful! Pulling into the bay with the high cliffs on both sides of the ship was breathtaking. If you have the means, I highly recommend it (Buehler.) Our stay here was brief, but fun-filled. We disembarked (I’m learning nautical terms) at about 1:30 p.m. After making the mistake of walking to the Royal Plaza Hotel (We were told it was about a mile and a half, but it turned out to be about 3 and a half,) we spent the afternoon relaxing on a padded beach “couch” (for lack of a better word) on a crowded but beautiful beach.

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Our second full day at sea today, and you’d think we’d be bored. That’s not the case. The kids are enthralled with the pools and the waves in it that the ship makes when it rolls from side to side.

But Emily and Patrick’s favorite parts of this vacation so far were before we even got on the cruise ship. Patrick most enjoyed the airplane flight to San Diego. Emily’s favorite? Going to

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Quit asking me about our Mexican Riviera Cruise! All the information’s here. I don’t have all the ports memorized yet. I don’t even care. I’m going to do my very best to relax, soak up the sun and spend some time with my kids. (And of course some time without them.) All I know is that it’s 8 days in the sunny Southern Mexican Riveria, and that’s all that matters.

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The cold weather’s got me nostalgic with thoughts of winters past. Just as a certain smell can bring up old memories and transport you right back to a cherished time, so too can a stinging wind across your face or a fierce rainstorm that has sent you sprinting across a puddle filled parking lot. Back that up with the smell of a smoky chimney and it becomes easy to delve into special old memories.

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We spent the Thanksgiving holiday at Dad and Gretchen’s place in Roseville, and I had much for which to be thankful. I was thankful that I got to play 9 holes of golf with the boys for about 3 hours even though Lisa threatens that next year she and the girls will

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I’ve been having a gargantuan desire to see the snow. Lisa and the kids and I haven’t been up to the cabin when there was any significant amount of white on the ground since May of last year. And that was more of a grayish brown by that late in the season. I get this same feeling every year during the fall and start of winter. But why?

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I do my best not to watch too much television, but I do have my favorites that I try not to miss. Included among them are this season’s My Name Is Earl and The Office in the comedy department, and of course

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