As a Christmas present for the family, Jeri and Tim purchased a three-day cruise to Mexico for everyone. This gift included Christmas money from Grandma Pau.
We embarked the Carnival Imagination on Thursday, February 28, 2019, around 2 PM. First stop once on-board was the lunch buffet.
We chose to dine at 6:00 PM each night in the Spirit dining room. They assigned a large table for all eleven of us. Of course, the food was excellent!
Josiah, Joanna, Sarah, Nicole, Jeffrey, Victoria, and Lizzie looking at the menu. Click for full size.
Lizzie, Justin (with lasagna), and Jeri (with the Indian entree) at supper.
On Thursday evening around sunset, the tide was scheduled to be fairly low (which makes for good pictures). So Justin, Josiah, and Tim drove down to the beach to take some pictures. The temperature was around 50 F and the breeze was quite chilly.
Here’s Justin taking some pictures. You can see that the tide is out.
Justin setting up for sunset pictures.
The combination of rain clouds and the sun setting created an orange glow. Ruby’s Diner is a restaurant at the end of the Huntington Beach Pier.
Sun behind Ruby’s Diner
In this picture, Catalina Island is visible in the distance on the left.
Saturday evening, a group of young people (mostly home schoolers or home school graduates) met at the Duck Club in Irvine for an evening of old country line dancing. Since this was Josiah’s first time, he was skeptical as to whether he’d enjoy himself. Of course, he had a GREAT time and said that he’d definitely come back.
Since there were (as always) more females than males, Jeri didn’t dance. Some of the girls/ladies danced as males to even things out.
Jeri, Josiah, and Tim at the Duck Club. Click photo for full size.
Line Dance at the Duck Club. Click photo for full size.
No prior dance knowledge or experience was required to participate. The Hendricks led the dances and always gave us thorough instruction before each one. They would walk us through it and then call out the moves during the dances (similar to a square dance).
Listening to instructions. Click photo for full size.
Run the River was a fun dance. Each group of four would eventually run down the river (the line of other dancers).
Run the River. Click photo for full size.
The Hand Jive required way too much coordination. It was a series of (seemingly simple) hand movements that were nearly impossible to repeat correctly.
Lizzie doing the Hand Jive. Click photo for full size.
Tim doing the Hand Jive. Click photo for full size.
We started with a Christmas Day service at 11:00 AM. We sang some Christmas carols, shared some stories of God’s blessings, and Pastor shared a Christmas message.
Back home, the women worked hard in the kitchen.
Jeri, Joanna, Nicole, and Grandma Stogdill working in the kitchen. Click photo for full size.
Sarah having a snack since Christmas dinner isn’t for a while. Click photo for full size.
Jeffrey got Jeri’s saxophone out of the attic and worked at playing it.
Jeffrey picking up Jeri’s saxophone for the first time. Click photo for full size.
Just before dinner, we took our family photo.
Joanna was helping Nicole get ready.
Joanna touching up Nicole’s lips. Click photo for full size.
Getting ready for our family photo. Click photo for full size.
Family photo 2018. Front: Nicole, Sarah, Joanna, Lizzie, Victoria, and Jeri. Back: Tim, Justin, Josiah, Grandma Stogdill, Jason, and Jeffrey.
Family photo 2018. Front Nicole, Sarah, Joanna, Lizzie, Victoria, and Jeri. Back Tim, Justin, Josiah, Grandma Stogdill, Jason, and Jeffrey. Click photo for full size.
A crazy version.
Crazy family photo 2018. Click photo for full size.
Finally around mid-afternoon, the food is ready!
Sarah and Jeri with plates of food. Click photo for full size.
Joanna, Sarah (by stove), Nicole, Lizzie, and Victoria. Click photo for full size.
Around the table starting in the lower left with Lizzie, Nicole, Jeffrey, Victoria, Justin, Grandma Stogdill, Jeri, Joanna, Jason, Josiah, Sarah, and Tim.
Around the table starting in the lower left with Lizzie, Nicole, Jeffrey, Victoria, Justin, Grandma Stogdill, Jeri, Joanna, Jason, Josiah, Sarah, and Tim. Click photo for full size.
Jeri, Nicole, Sarah, Victoria, and Lizzie went to Eileen Bouma’s to wish her a Merry Christmas. Sarah and Victoria finally returned around 5:30 PM after which we could open presents.
Opening presents. Click photo for full size.
Justin got a Cole Porter songbook for Christmas. Here he’s playing from it. Jeffrey sings along.
Justin playing and Jeffrey singing out of Justin’s new Cole Porter songbook. Click photo for full size.
Jason, Lizzie, Joanna, and Nicole playing Forbidden Island while Justin and Jeffrey are at the piano. Click photo for full size.
Here’s a video montage that runs about 1 minute 18 seconds.
Grandma Stogdill is visiting us this Christmas for a week. She’ll get to celebrate two birthdays (Lizzie’s and Josiah’s) plus Christmas plus hear some of her grandchildren perform in the Christmas recital at church.
Josiah was initially a little discouraged because he was still full from a big lunch at Carlitta’s Diner. But later he got going and had five or six empty bowls on his tray.
Grandma, Jason, and Josiah. Click photo for full size.
Nicole, Joanna, Victoria, Jeffrey, and Sarah. Click photo for full size.
Nicole, Joanna, Lizzie, and Justin. Click photo for full size.
Jeri and Tim at Souplantation. Click photo for full size.
So we chose self debarkation. That meant that we had to carry off our own luggage but it also meant that we didn’t have to pack up the night before. That was so much nicer. So finally on our last day, we used the elevator to get our luggage up to deck 3.
Since we had enough time to enjoy breakfast, we got a made-to-order omelette with mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, spinach, arugula, bell peppers, and some cheddar cheese. Yum!
Made-to-order omelette with fruit and toast. Click photo for full size.
For our last evening with Aunt Vivian, she treated us to burgers at BurgerFi.
Jeri, Aunt Vivian, and Tim outside BurgerFi. Click photo for full size.
They had some vegan options. Jeri got the BEYOND BURGER: 100% Plant-Based Beyond Burger® From Beyond Meat®, American Cheese, Ketchup, Mustard, Mayonnaise, Lettuce, Tomato, Pickles, Onions. Tim got the VEGEFI BURGER: Crispy Quinoa + Fresh-Cut Veggie Burger, White Cheddar, Lettuce, Tomato, BurgerFi Sauce on a Multigrain Bun.
Vegan burgers and fries at BurgerFi. Click photo for full size.
Aunt Vivian got a “real” burger plus she shared one of their chocolate shakes.
Saturday morning, we head to the gym. After our 20-minute aerobic workout, we switch to weights. John, who we met and talked with the day before, helped us and his wife workout on four weight machines.
We enjoyed getting some instruction and encouragement on using the machines. As the four of us took turns on each machine, we got to know each other. John’s a retired military veteran; Linda graduated with her law degree at age 60 and is now a lawyer. Amazing! Plus they’ve been married 46 years!
Here’s a picture of the four of us.
Jeri, John, Linda, and Tim in the gym. Click photo for full size.
Then it was our normal fruit, shower for Tim, and lunch. Today they had the Chocolate Extravaganza which featured maybe eight or more different chocolate cake plus a chocolate fountain and more. We chose the chocolate cheesecake and the chocolate pecan cake.
Dessert at the Chocolate Extravaganza. Click photo for full size.
Jeri took her shower after lunch. Then we relaxed. Later in the afternoon, we walked around to check our photos. Also we were hoping to see Donato and Maria. And we did run into them!
We went up on the upper deck to see the sunset.
Final sunset on the cruise. Click photo for full size.
Next was our final dinner on the ship. Jeri’s appetizer was a Caprese Salad – Tomato and fresh mozzarella, balsamico, virgin olive oil and basil.
Caprese salad. Click photo for full size.
Cinnamon pumpkin cheese pie with glazed cherry tomatoes and cheese puffs.
Cinnamon pumpkin cheese pie. Click photo for full size.
For dessert, they brought out flaming baked Alaska. Jeri had a slice. Tim had the melting chocolate cake.
Baked Alaska. Click photo for full size.
We said good bye to our servers: Nikola from Macedonia, Dmitriy from Belarus, Pujiasih from Indonesia.
Nikola, Jeri, Tim, and Dmitriy. Click photo for full size.
Jeri, Dmitriy, Pujiasih, and Tim. Click photo for full size.
That evening, we caught two performances of the band along with the horn trio. We also finalized our photo purchases. We really liked how the photos were digitally retrieved and browsed.
Smooth Operators and WorldTown Sound. Click photo for full size.
Fauzan was our Stateroom Steward. He was exceptionally friendly. Starting the very first day, he would greet us by name. Sometimes in the morning, we’d hear him call “Good morning, Tim and Jeri” from down the hallway.
With Fauzan, our Stateroom Steward. Click photo for full size.
Here’s a picture with a display of our favorite photos. Because they took a lot of good ones, it was hard to decide.
