Hocking Hills Weekend

The dogs, Chris, and myself spent the weekend in Hocking Hills. We had a great time exploring the parks and doing some pretty major hiking. The dogs love hiking and did a great job with all the people and other dogs who were also out enjoying nature. We stayed in a cabin (not a rustic cabin--one with air conditioning, a jacuzzi tub, and a hot tub) outside of the parks. Okay, so we're not the "camping type" but we are really enjoying getting out and seeing nature. We won't be purchasing sleeping bags any time soon, but who knows...maybe another cabin rental is in our future!

The whole family at Old Man's Cave

Rock House

Conkle's Hollow, Rim Trail

My parents were camping at the state park that weekend so we spent some time with them after we checked out of the cabin

The Young Family Sisters in The Big Easy

My sisters and I decided to take a trip to The Big Easy for three days this past July. We met up in New Orleans, checked into our hotel, and then set out to explore the city and it's rich culture. We did so much in three days, including: multiple city tours, a mule-driven cart tour of the French Quarter, a glimpse of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, a quick visit to Algiers, Mardi Gras World (awesome!), a streetcar ride with views of beautiful New Orleans style homes, lots of eating, and some shopping. Oh yes...I can't forget the thing we did the most: sweat!! It was very warm and humid but I love the heat so it was great! (I'm not sure Chris and Jen felt the same, though.) We all had a good time and would like to continue the tradition of a sister trip yearly or every other year.

Here we are outside of Mardi Gras World.

We were able to see past (and future!) floats from the
many Mardi Gras parades. (We even were able to climb

on the floats (illegally) after our tour guide left us.)

On our way to dinner, just down the street from our hotel.

Cruising!

Chris and I have officially entered the world of cruising! On July 4th we boarded the Emerald Princess and began our journey to the Western Caribbean.

Here are all the ports we visited:

Here we are with our ship in the background at Princess Cay, Bahamas. The weather was a bit overcast but it was still quite warm, which we love!
We found the formal nights to be fun and a great excuse to dress up!

This is the furthest point we could access on the ship, watching an amazingly beautiful sunset on the open seas:
One of the best parts of our trip was getting to climb this Mayan ruin. It was a huge workout but well worth the sweat!
Another amazing sunset on our last night on the boat. It was as if the ocean was saying "goodbye."

Overall, we had an amazing time and thoroughly enjoyed just relaxing and spending some time together. It was great to see some new islands and try out the local beaches. Believe it or not, we both even got a tan (or as much of a tan as we, the fair-skinned, are capable of getting)!

Many people have asked us, "Will you cruise again?" The answer: "ABSOLUTELY!"