Christmas in the Caribbean

Well, two cruises in six months... I doubt we will be able to maintain this pace, but we'll enjoy it while it lasts. The week before Christmas we went on a cruise that left from Galveston and headed to Cozumel and Costa Maya with my parents, my sister and one of her friends. Our ship for the five day cruise was called The Splendour of the Seas. We laid by the pool, went to the beach, and snorkeled while all our friends were doing their last minute Christmas shopping. It was definitely a trip to remember. One funny thing that happened was that we had the same cruise director from our last cruise in June on the Adventure of the Seas as well as one of the entertainers. Here are a few pictures from the Cooley Christmas Trip to the Caribbean.

Muster drill
Cozumel, Mexico

Service project in Cozumel. While we were waiting for our excursion to depart Gloria practiced her Spanish and helped these guys paint the wall.

As we walked the streets of Cozumel we came across a group performing traditional folk dances.
Beth and her friend Casey had their picture taken with these guys later in the day.
Beautiful Costa Maya
The Cooleys
Wayne, Beth, Marty, Gloria and Daniel

Sunday Night At The Gaylord

Daniel and Trey hanging out with the Longhorn. Shhhh...don't tell Trey's family...he is a Texas Aggie!

The ladies......from left to right, back row: Kathy and Jenn, front row: Me, Shelly and Kelly.

Rick and Jenn

Woody and Kathy

Trey and Shelly

Me and my sweetie!

This past Sunday, Daniel and I, along with our LifeGroup headed to the Gaylord Texan Resort to visit the ICE! Exhibit. The exhibit is a 14,000 square foot structure, kept at 9 degrees, filled with two million pounds of hand-carved ICE! It was so neat! We walked across an ice bridge, slid down an ice slide and walked through a beautiful Winter Wonderland. Afterwards, we spent some time exploring the hotel and taking pictures!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Last Wednesday night Daniel and I purchased our first Christmas tree. We decided to get a real tree this year to avoid the hassle of trying to store or move an artificial tree. So, after work on Wed. we headed to the garden center at Walmart to look for our tree. A cold front was moving in and in the amount of time it took us to purchase our tree, tree stand and tree skirt the temperature had dropped a good twenty degrees. We had to head to Daniel's parents to use a saw to cut the bottom of the tree before placing it in the stand. On our way home the temperature continued to drop. By the time we reached home the wind had increased, the temperature had dropped another ten degrees and while we were trying to put the tree in the stand it began to rain. What an adventure! We eventually got the tree in the stand and in the apartment. And now...it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Thankful for Turkey Day

Picture #1- Uncle Daniel sharing a sweet moment with Kylee and Hunter.


Daniel and I traveled to Florida to spend Thanksgiving with my family. We had such a great time. The house was overflowing with people and food...which makes for a great holiday. My oldest brother Bill came with my niece and nephew (Kylee and Hunter), my Aunt Pat and Uncle Marty were there as well as their daughter Diane and her boyfriend Richie, my Aunt Gloria stayed a few days with us and my stepfather's cousin from Chicago, Roberta, spent a few days with us as well. Of course mom and Jim were there and it was good to spend time with them. Daniel and I are thankful for our families.
Picture #2- all worn out from a day on the playground.
Picture #3- Me and My Aunt Gloria.















Pictures 4 & 5- Just some cute kids!