DGMC

We caught a matinee showing of the Denver Gay Men's Chorus: All You Need Is Love - The Music of the Beatles.

One of Chris's co-workers was singing.  It was a good show!  

Faves

These are my favorites right now!

Monument Valley

I first heard about this puzzle game from a co-worker.  (If you are a House of Cards fan, Monument Valley makes a cameo in Season 3).  Chris and I both downloaded it this weekend.  It does cost $3.99, but with Family Sharing, we only paid for 1 download.  

The puzzles remind us of M.C. Escher paintings.  They are beautiful, and I found myself feeling really relaxed while trying to solve them.  One downside - it is a relatively short game.  We both finished the first set of puzzles in an afternoon.  You have the option of purchasing 8 more puzzles in the app for $1.99.  We were hooked, so we both made the extra purchase.

If you are looking for a good game, this is it.  

theSkimm

My sister-in-law Cori introduced me to theSkimm almost 2 months ago (thanks, Cori!).  It's a synopsis of the top news stories emailed to you every weekday.  It is one of the very few things I make sure to read every day.  My alarm goes off in the morning and Zoey and I snuggle in bed and read theSkimm.  It takes just a few minutes and it is informative and funny.  I don't watch the news, and this is my source.

If you want to try it out, sign up here:http://www.theskimm.com/?r=ed4fd410

Crocs Kadee Slip-On Shoes

These shoes!  Since I started standing at work (I'm still standing, by the way!), I needed to get some flats.  I never thought in a million years I would own a pair of Crocs (sorry, just not a fan until now) but I stumbled upon these at Kohls.  On sale.  Plus, I had a 30% off coupon code.  

They are so cute and I get tons of compliments on them.  They are super comfortable, it's like walking on one of those kitchen gel mats all day.

I ordered the salmon colored pair after the great experience with the cheetah, but they weren't made of the same material - the shoes were much more rigid and not as comfy-  and they looked more "Croc-like".  I returned them.  Get the Cheetah.

Cleanin' out the Beds

We've had beautiful weather the past few days.  It felt really good to get out into the warm sunshine and get some yard work done yesterday.  After clearing out the dead garden growth, there is quite a bit of new green growth already.

We do need to investigate how to prune our nectarine tree.  This website seems to be more in-depth on the topic compared to others: How to Grow Nectarines.  It is pretty apparent from what little we've read that our tree needs some help.  A good trim will bring more fruit if we do it right.

Switcheroo

We've talked about our Karlstad sectional before.  One of the great things about it is its slipcover.  And, after 4 years, we were ready for a change.  We replaced the Sivik dark gray cover for Isunda gray last weekend.  The Isunda was not an available option when we made our original purchase.

The couch had to come apart completely in order to remove and replace the frame covers.  It was an overall easy  task and took 2 hours or so total, with both of us working away.  

Now, The living room is brighter and there is much more contrast between the walls and the sectional.  A really nice change.

What do you think?

Then:

Now:

Here is the detail in the Isunda fabric.  It is not as tightly woven as the dark gray, but it still seems really tough.

Bloopers

We attempted to take a family selfie on Valentine's Day.  Zoey is being her usual self.

This is as good as it got:

Last Look

We have a lot more pictures...but we are signing off on Roatan with one last memory.  Now it's really back to reality.

Dolphin Snorkel

We had the opportunity to snorkel with the dolphins on our trip.  First, we learned about dolphins and got to meet Mika.  Then, we snorkeled with 14 dolphins.  They would swim right past you and you could reach out and touch them.  We were allowed to use our camera for a very short time, but it did not include the snorkel.  

Mika and her trainer.

More Mika.  She was 7 months pregnant and wasn't allowed to do jumps like the other Dolphins.  Mika also had a 1 year old baby in the enclosure, Maximilian.  Mika kept looking over at him, checking on him, during our meet and greet, and Maximilian kept disobeying his own trainer to swim to Mika.

Chris in the dolphin habitat.

Night Snorkel

We went on one night snorkel and used underwater lights that were rented from the gift shop.  It was a bit eerie being in the water at night.  

A shrimp (far left - red & white) and a Toadfish (center).  The Toadfish make loud grunting-croaking noises.  You know one is very near when you can feel the croaking in your chest!

Octopus.  This one really freaked Erica out.  It was trying to get away from us and Erica was also trying to get away from it.

A crab with big false eyes on its back.

Under the Sea

We made a last minute decision to purchase an underwater digital camera, and we are so glad we did.  Chris was in charge of this purchase and he chose the Canon PowerShot D30.  The variety of reviewed and rated underwater cameras is small.  This camera was pretty well rated, and it was available 2-day delivery from Amazon, so that essentially made our decision.  It doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, but it took some great pictures for us:

The Reef.  The striped fish are called Sargeant Majors.

This exotic creature is a Lionfish.  They are some bad mamajamas.  They are native to the Indo-Pacific, and are an invasive species in the Caribbean.  The fins on its back are venomous and they can decimate a reef by eating all of the fish.  Lionfish are actively hunted and fed to the Sharks in hopes the Sharks will start hunting them on their own.

We saw a number of Sea Turtles.

This lobster put on quite the show for us.  He was massive in size and strutting around.  We figure his body was a foot and a half long.  

Blue Regals.

The Snorkelers

The Key

Water taxi to the Key.

Our Cabin, #13.

Taxi stand.

Home

We got home at 3am this morning.  We think Zoey is pretty happy we're back.

Been doing laundry, looking through all our pictures, and catching up on our tv shows - making an easy day of things.

Be on the look out for lots more vacation pictures coming up.