Grandma's on Facebook!

Mom jumped into the high tech world of computers on Monday as we hooked up her brand new, shiny laptop and had internet service installed at her home. She was determined to see what was going on in cyberspace and keep up with her 2 kids, 9 grand kids, and 10 great grand kids. It was a whole new world, as she pressed the "On" button for the first time. I had already set up Facebook as her homepage, so we concentrated on maneuvering around the site. She hadn't typed in about 60 years, so the going was slow as she turned to the hunt and peck method of typing.....but she managed to send out a few short post. The second lesson concentrated on Hotmail, which I had bookmarked to make it easy for her to find. We sent out "Friend Request" on Facebook and I added the family to her contacts on Hotmail.....some replied in shock that Grandma was online! Our final lesson this week tackled opening attachments and videos....which opened a whole new world to Mom.

Shop Til You Drop!

Have you ever heard the saying "Shop til you Drop"? Yesterday we did! My daughter, Lanell called and wanted me to go to Houston with her on a shopping trip. She needed to find a couple of dresses for her upcoming "Dances With The Stars Victoria" debut.
We didn't get away until almost Noon, so we canceled our lunch stop and proceeded on our mission. First two stops were at Baubles and Beads, a high end resale shop, but no luck really. Next stop Memorial Mall.....Macy's and Dillard's, plus a couple smaller stores. I gathered dresses and keep bringing them to her in the dressing room....what a zoo! We found some candidates and narrowed down the selections, some very funny, some to darn expensive and some were plain ugly!!!
After making her final selections and narrowing the field down, we headed to Charming Charlie's for some bling. Half starved by 7 pm we stopped at
PF Chang's for dinner, only to be informed it was 1 1/2 hour wait...No Way! Down Hwy 59 we went and found a Salt Grass with a table available....steaks and drinks were ordered for the ravenous shoppers. Home then, pulling into my driveway about 10:30 pm....what a day!
Lanell should look like a million dollars when she hits the stage with her partner to do the Salsa and Bolero in a couple of weeks.....I hope!

Ladies Gone Wild in Roatan

After checking in at Bush International Airport for my flight, I met up with the Lady Go Divers gang for our flight to Roatan, Honduras. A short flight, and we were soon checking into our rooms at Anthony's Key Resort.....Barbara and I had cabin #12 over the water on the Key. Unpacking, then our first meal together at the resort before turning in for the night. I was up early the next morning and took the water taxi over to the mainland for breakfast with the group....then it was time to check in at the dive shop, do a check out dive and get ready for our first boat dive. Our boat, Haydee and crew, JoJo, Boat Captain and Hector, Dive Master were waiting for us at the dock. The check out dive consisted of demonstrating a few skills, then it was off to see the marine life and reefs of Roatan. Patty had booked 3 dives a day......so we had a dive at 8:30 am, then back to the dock; a dive at 10:30 am, then back to the dock and lunch; then a dive at 2:30 pm, then back to the dock with time to relax at the pool before dinner. Since the sand fleas were so bad we spent a lot of time showering off and applying layers of bug spray in hopes of avoiding the nasty creatures.....no such luck!

The resort had lots of entertainment planned for the week and we always took advantage of Happy Hour......2 for 1 Monkey La Las! One day we did two boat dives, then we had a picnic lunch at Maya Key with time to swim in the pool and relax.......with one more dive on the way back to the resort. On Island Fiesta Night we were entertained with music, a fire dancer, great food, and a local dance troupe. A yummy picnic for lunch was awaiting us on the Key after one of our morning dives....then it was time to hold down a hammock rocking in the breeze on the porch.
Beth and Bonnie traded cabins and I joined them for a sleepover.....the cabin was not air conditioned....HOT! We did have lots of laughs at our little slumber party!!!!
As per the tradition established last year we enjoyed a late night skinny dip in the Caribbean.....OMG was that funny.....especially the synchronized swimming. It was all pretty innocent....a dark night, a secluded beach, and a bunch of mature women!!!
The diving was good....we saw lots of turtles, a spotted eagle ray, crabs, lobsters, and some big Groupers. Hector even managed to find us a beautiful sea horse and a "Happy Face" sponge. I did manage to get in 16 dives, despite one day I didn't feel the best....to many Monkey La Las, I think! My favorite photo of the week was one of a Peacock Flouder. I inched up to him laying on the bottom and settled my camera on the bottom close to him for a close up shot. Peacock flounders are master of diguise. The peacock flounder changes its color and the pattern on its skin to exactly match the sea floor...as you can see in the photo! I love those two eyes checking me out!

We had another first on this trip......we all did the night dive on Thursday, only thing was no one got in the water. JoJo took us out on the water to a dive site, we tied up and enjoyed the sunset and later sat under the stars while listening to music....it was great! A real estrogen therapy session.....poor JoJo and Hector!!!
The resort had a dolphin show several times a week and we sat on our porch to watch the dolphins perform. I also booked a dolphin dive...but the male dolphins were in "love" and would not join us.....so a Dolphin Dive with No Dolphins!
The week was over to quickly with our group departing in two different flights. Patty, Barbara, and Ann were on my flight and we said our final goodbyes in Houston. A great week, with a great group of ladies....looking forward to next year with Lady Go Divers!!!!