I got lava for my birthday, what’d you get? 10/06/2011 0 Comments   What do you give someone when you’re living in paradise and you already do  cool stuff everyday? Well, if you’re Corey, you give your wife a helicopter over a volcano. It was all a total surprise, as you can see my genuinely excited face when I found out. Knowing me as well as he does, this is one of those “check off the bucket list” things that I’ve always wanted to do. We were picked up by Safari Helicopters and driven to the Hilo airport. There, they had to weigh us for the balance of the chopper (how rude!). Our group included, Corey, myself and a family of three from Germany (the dad’s name was Wolfgang!) We hopped into the helicopter, which was a lot smaller than you’d expect and the adventure began pretty quickly. I got to sit next to the pilot and Corey had the window spot right up front. You’d think there’s be some great build up to taking off, but there isn’t. You just go from being on the ground to floating in the air. The view as we headed out to the volcano was breathtaking.  We saw lush tropical rain forest and macadamia nut farms below us. Surprisingly, it was really a pretty smooth ride. Nothing to be nervous about. The next thing we knew, we were flying over Kilauea volcano. Yeah, we actual flew over an active volcano with flowing lava! Are you kidding me? Granted, it wasn’t as dramatic as the videos and pictures they showed in the advertisements, but it was pretty impressive. The pilot circled around a few times, making sure we got plenty of pictures. The ride was still pretty smooth, but the circling around combined with being jostled from the hot air when we were directly over the hot lava started getting to us. Corey and I were both feeling a little nauseous. Luckily the cabin was pretty cool and we just took deep breaths and focused on the scenery. We also flew to the Hilo Bayfront. It’s amazing to see where the lava rocks just stop and broke off, meeting up with the ocean. This whole area used to be inhabited by people, but the last major eruption in 1984 destroyed all the houses… except for one. There’s literally one dude that lives on a decent sized patch of land, surrounded by lava rock. You can’t drive there, so when people visit his bed and breakfast, they have to be airlifted there. Between supplies the pilots bring him and his once-a-week 8 mile hike to the next closest town, he’s perfectly content out there. On our way back to the airport we also flew over the waterfalls on the upper Wailuka River. Stunning! So few people ever get a view like this! The first birthday Corey and I spent together was his and I took him in a hot air balloon ride. Years later, I think he out did me. Guess next I’ll have to take him up in a space shuttle ride.     Six Year anniversary, the fresh fish year 09/25/2011 0 Comments   Earlier this month we celebrated our anniversary. As has become the tradition over the last several years, our anniversary was another unusual one. We celebrated 6 years by rehearsing our sketch show for the ship. With our director being on board and the focus on putting up a good show, we decided to time warp the date and pretend our anniversary was the next week. And it worked out perfectly, because we had a fantastic day! We started off the day in the traditional 6 year anniversary manner...with a little Sea Bird protection environmental training… ahh, how romantic. Once ship business was over, we  rented a car and drove to Lahaina, a cute little beach town about 40 minutes from the ship. The drive is gorgeous and worth the trip alone. Once we got into town we ate lunch at a local Chipotle-esque spot, nothing too noteworthy. What is noteworthy was the shave ice we had at Ululani’s, recommended by a buddy. Now we’ve had shave ice in a few places already and maybe it’s heresy to say, but I’ve always thought it was, ehh… just ok. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but it pretty much just tasted like a snow cone with pretty good flavors. This was a very different ice. Apparently the trick is in how quick they shave it. The faster they do it, the fluffier the ice is. In fact, it didn’t even taste like ice. It had a completely different texture. Oh and this is the small size. Afterwords, we walked our full bellies to a little hidden beach the locals call “Baby Beach.” It’s called that because the water is super calm, so people bring their kids. It was perfect for us. We just rested on the beach and splashed around in the water. As is becoming the norm, we were fortunate to be surrounded by an unbelievable view. We finished our day in Lahaina, by heading to the world’s largest Banyan tree. I tried to do my best to capture it, but it’s hard to tell. At first glance, it looks like it’s a bunch of trees, even a little  forest, but then you realize that this canopy is one tree that has branched out into several root systems that have then branched out. It’s gorgeous. Once a month, the locals set up their handcrafted art and we were lucky enough to be there for it. The day was already a blast, but it only got better. After a quick change back on the ship, we headed out to Mama’s Fish House, a restaurant that our cruise director recommended to us. Without exaggeration, I can say it was one of the best meals we’ve ever had. To start, it’s beautiful. Tucked next to the beach front, the windows are open to a gorgeous scene. The fish was so fresh there that the menu actually listed the name of the fisherman and the exact area the fish was caught. It was amazing! For our appetizer we had the Papa’s 3 fish sashimi – Onaga (a kind of Hawaiian snapper) with coconut chili & Molokai pink sea salt, Salmon with pineapple pomegranate & Hawaiian island Blake sea salt and Ahi with star anise daikon and kukui nut salt. We eat sushi on a regular basis and have never had anything like this. Then as an entree Corey had the Onaga special  and I had the Mahimahi stuffed with lobster, crab and Mai onion, baked in a macadamia nut crust. Need I say more?                                                                                                         Our dining view It may have been a little more unusual anniversary than usual, but it ended up being all in a positive way. Are you kidding me with the menu?! As we've been advising friends, if you're reading about this, drop whatever you're doing and get your ass to Mama's Fish House. It will be well worth it!   Catching the surfing fever 09/10/2011 0 Comments   Whaz up dudes! We’re surfers now… well I am… well I want to be. This week, our director Billy came back on board to install our main sketch show. Since the other shows are already up, we only had the one to focus on, which meant we had more downtime with him than we’d usually have. For him, downtime in Hawaii means surfing.  None of us had surfed before, so we were all really excited to give it a shot. We rented a car and drove to Lahaina, an adorable little town on Maui. We got three boards between the 7 of us and Billy was nice enough to do a little introductory lesson with two of us at a time. The little surf spot we hit was great for beginners, though a little crowded. Luckily I found out, the surf community is really nice. People are uber polite, happy to give you tips, overall are really friendly and make sure to look out for each other. Erica and I were the first ones to go out. Just the act of paddling (while you’re laying on your stomach on the board) away from shore is exhausting. It’s a fantastic workout. Then you do your best to paddle fast in front of the wave and catch it just right, pop up on your feet and balance while you ride the wave. I didn’t make it all the way up, but caught a pretty decent ride on my knees. Out of the whole group, Jacob was the only one that made it all the to standing… first shot – Show Off. Anyways, after my little half victory, I was hooked. Corey had a tougher time, but partially because by the time his turn to go out came up, the waves were much choppier and harder for beginners. Jacob and I loved it and when we were invited to surf again the next day in Hilo, we jumped at it. Hilo is a pretty small place without much to do, but I love it. Downtown has a quaint, small-town kind of feel with antique stores and thrift shops and good non-chain restaurants and a farmers market. A cab took us to the surf spot, but once we got there we realized they didn’t rent boards around there. This was much more of a local spot. We went back into town to find a rental shop and once that was taken care of, we realized that we didn’t have a way to get back to the surf spot which was way too far to walk. So, we got creative… How many surf boards can you cram into a cab with 3 passengers and a driver? The answer is 3. Honoli'i is gorgeous, so picturesque, its unreal. Turns out it’s actually man made. It was a total mess, but a guy named Skivs (the lady at the surf shop didn't know his real name, all the locals just called him Skivs) decided to beautify it and he built the landscaping by hand with all local materials. The result is this… Honoli'i is located right at the mouth of the river. So on one hand it’s great because part of it is fresh water.  The temperature difference when it goes from ocean to river is really drastic. The locals were shivering, they said it was so cold, but of course their idea of cold is laughable to us Chicagoans.  I found it refreshing, especially because you’re getting a lot of exercise paddling out. On the other hand, the challenge of the riverbed is that you have to navigate over sharp, slippery rocks, while carrying a nine-foot board. The guys had to help me a bit, but I made it. And yes… I also made it up on the board. I stood up and caught a fantastic (for me) wave. The guys said I probably caught the best one of the day between us. It was an amazing feeling! So at least while I’m here in Hawaii, I found my thing. There was even a Groupon deal this week for surf lessons in Honolulu.  Perfect! It’s just a matter of time before I’m doing tricks with Jacob balanced on my shoulders on a 12 foot wave. It was honestly one of the best days ever. And I've had some pretty awesome days, especially over this last year. We were offered a ride home by Sky and Anne, a really sweet local couple we met while surfing. They put us and the boards in the back of their truck, gave us a lift to downtown where we ate at a local diner, enjoyed shave ice and drank Hawaiian beer. The whole day was absolutely... Tubular dude! - Monique   Mini adventures to start 08/31/2011 0 Comments   We haven't gone on too many crazy adventures  yet. This is for a couple reasons. 1. We weren't really able to settle into ship life the first couple weeks due to training and rehearsing and 2. Hawaii is expensive! A gallon of milk costs over $4.00, so you can imagine what ziplining would be. We'll definitely be taking advantage of the islands throughout this contract, it just might have to be paced out a bit.  Plus, this place is so gorgeous that just walking around is an adventure in and of itself. What starts out as walking from the ship to a store often turns into exploring the amazing trees with their elaborate root system or finding exotic seeds and fruit. This is an actual seed from an actual tree. That's how magical this place is! One of our favorite beaches so far is Big Beach. That's not the official name of it, but that's what the locals call it... come on, we don't want to seem like tourists. The sand is soft, the waves are great for boogie boarding if any of us boogie boarded (we will eventually) and it's not too crowded.  On the other side of Big Beach is Little Beach. No clue why it would be named that.  Little beach is great too. It's much smaller, but a lot more popular. It's basically a hippie beach and what do hippies love? Being naked and dancing in drum circles. During the day it's pretty chill as hippies also like to relax with "natural remedies." At night millions of stars and fire dancing light up the sky. Both beaches are a great place to get some sun, get knocked around in the waves or bury a friend in the sand.  In Maui we rented a car and drove up to Haleakala National Park. I won't bore you with the details, but you can read more about it the park HERE. It is the home of Maui's highest peak and is breath taking. You're literally sitting above the clouds... you know, where the rainbows and unicorns are born. It's pretty cold and windy up there, but definitely a place we want to go back. If we  time it just right, I hear it's a gorgeous sunrise. And no Hawaiian island would be complete without waterfalls. I have a feeling we have many more coming up in our future. So far we've been to one. We spent the afternoon in Hilo last week at Rainbow Waterfall. The locals like to jump and play in the water, but we were advised not to. We did however go exploring around it. As I mentioned before, the trees in Hawaii are ridiculous. No wonder tribal people talked about their spirit. The trees definitely have personalities. After walking through the canopy of their tops we found ourselves at the banks of babbling spring water where we cooled off with our feet in the water. And then Erica fell in.  And of course we've been snorkeling. The last cast was nice enough to leave us a ton of gear, so the whole gang is able to go out together. Our first snorkel day was last week in Kona. First we stopped off at my favorite place on the island, a farmers market.  Milk might be expensive here, but the produce isn't. I got three giant and I mean giant avocados, a couple of tomatoes and some onions for super cheap. The kid selling them to us even washed and diced them up for us. Then with the salt and tobacco sauce I brought from the ship, I made fresh guacamole for the cast! After pigging out, we hung out at Turtle Beach, a beach named for you guessed it, the turtles. The beach was made of volcanic rock sand which sounds cool, but isn't very soft and kind of looks like a giant ash tray. And the sand doesn't just lead to the ocean, you have to navigate through very slippery rocks while the waves are crashing into you. It's actually kind of dangerous and a little scary. Once you get out into the water though, it's fantastic. Despite the water being a bit cloudy that day, we swam with parrot fish, rainbow fish and all sorts of other sea creatures, including yes... sea turtles! Look at this giant fruit we found at the Farmer's Market. No clue what kind it is or why Corey's foot is by it, but it's huge!                                                               Inspired, the next day I created "Ode to Turtle beach" Eventually the crazy excursions like ziplining, helicopters, Scuba diving and perhaps skydiving will come. For now, it's nice just enjoying the natural beauty of our home away from home.    - Monique   Here We Come To Save The Day 08/26/2011 2 Comments   We did it! We finished our on board safety and fire training and everyone in the cast passed with flying colors. The practical exam at the end of the week was hard, but it was actually pretty fun. The day went like this: The ship docked back in Honolulu at 7am. We promptly debarked and climbed onto a bus and drove about 30 minutes to a firefighting training center. There we were all outfitted in actual firefighter gear. I’m talking coat, pants, boots, helmets, gloves, flame-retardant hood…right down to the red suspenders. The gear is all kept in a shed outside, so you have to really shake your uniform well in order to get any centipedes or scorpions that have crawled inside to fall out. I wish this was a joke. Also, keep in mind that we are wearing all this gear in Hawaii. In August. Once in gear, we go back inside and practice putting all the gear on in 60 seconds or less. This is a requirement in passing the class. It only took us two tries. Next we learned how to assemble and put on a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). Like SCUBA, but not underwater. It’s a harness with an air tank on the back and a face mask so you can breathe oxygen during a fire fight. Because the uniform isn’t hot and heavy enough, we get to add an air tank on our backs. Thankfully we didn’t have to wear the SCBA, or even the coats for the next adventure. The zero-visibility maze. Grouped into teams of three, we were led into a maze where you literally cannot see your hand in front of your face. You have to feel your way around and communicate with your two teammates in order to make it through. There are two levels, so first you have to find the ladder, climb up it, and then find the exit. All the while there are turns, dead ends, and low overhead areas, so sometimes you’re even crawling through the maze. After we make it through the maze, the next part is the fire fighting practical exam. We go outside and learn how to use the fire hose, which is incredibly heavy and powerful. Learning to use the hoses is important, because we’re about to put out a fire. The staff controls a fire of a simulated broken fuel pipe. We have to work in teams to cool the fire enough to have one member of the team turn off a valve controlling the fuel supply. The fire is huge, too.  Flames are shooting up in the air a good 15-20 feet high. Of course it’s hot, but the most surprising part is probably how loud the fire is. Then, after putting out the big fire with the fire hose, we each individually put out a smaller electrical fire with a portable CO2 extinguisher.  Here are some shots of us practicing with the fire hose. We obviously couldn't take pictures during the actual fire fight, when we were wearing the entire uniform, including air tank and face masks. After the firefighting portion of the day, we got to cool off in the pool. It wasn’t fun times free swim, but rather learning how to properly enter a life raft as if jumping from a sinking ship. We practiced jumping into the raft, climbing into the raft from the water, and righting an overturned life raft. Lastly, we put on survival immersion suits and jumped in as if entering freezing cold waters. The suits are made of a buoyant neoprene material and made everyone look like a big Day-Glo Gumby. We couldn’t take pictures during this part, but here’s what the suits look like: We then headed back to the ship physically exhausted and overheated, but with a pretty cool sense of satisfaction.  Next up: the fun begins! - Corey   OUR FIRST WEEK IN PARADISE (sort of) 08/08/2011 0 Comments   We’re back at sea performing with The Second City. Having spent almost all of last year on cruise ships (Alaska and The Caribbean), we truly enjoyed our summer home in Chicago. We made sure to take advantage of all the things we often take for granted: cooking for ourselves, concerts, biking and of course lots of time with the friends and family we missed. When we were offered another ship contract in Hawaii… yeah, that Hawaii, we couldn’t turn it down. It’s an amazing itinerary … We dock out of Honolulu, simply cruise from island to island and we have two different overnights where we literally don’t have to get back on the ship until the next day. And unlike other ships we’ll have cell phone and Internet access every single day. Here's a view of Honolulu from the ship: Week One: Our first week in paradise (sort of). In order to work on this American vessel, we have to go through pretty intensive training to become Merchant Marines. (I expect everyone to salute next time they see us.) Basically what it means is that we actually have to know what to do in case of an emergency, unlike previous ship experiences. So during this first week, there’s another cast here performing as normal and we spend most of our time in a small, cold, poorly lit room learning CPR, ship rescue and fire safety. We flew non-stop out of Chicago at 10am on Saturday and after a 9-hour non stop flight, landed in Honolulu at 1:00pm local time. So though I’m typing this at 9pm in Maui, it’s really 2am Midwest time. Needless to say, we’re all jet-lagged. Our training starts every morning between 6:30am and 8am and pretty much goes all day. At the end of the week, we’ll be required to do something that involves getting in a fire suit quickly and swimming in the water, putting out a controlled fire and going through a maze-like fire simulation with zero visibility that supposedly includes walls that enclose in on us. Or maybe it just feels that way. Not sure.  However, many casts before us have done it, so I know we’ll be fine, but yikes. The claustrophobic side in me is not looking forward to it. The badass side of me is excited to get to don fire fighter gear! Corey is just freaked out because our trainer said centipedes like the uniforms and he’s worried one will get in his pants. While we have some downtime in the evening this week, between the jet-lag and long classroom days, we’re too tired to do anything yet. That’s ok, we’ve still got 4 months to explore. Honolulu: So far in class today, we wrapped gauzed around each other, learned not to take the pen out of someone’s eye if it’s impaled and revived a dummy with our new CPR skills. Other than that, we’re just walking around like exhausted zombies. We briefly stepped off the ship in Maui this afternoon, but were too tired to go past the Walgreens for some essentials. Everything is better in Hawaii. The Mangoes are in 7D.   7D!  I didn't even know there were that many D's! We’ll definitely be posting pictures and updates on Facebook and will keep blogging, but probably not for a while. Too beat and too much studying to do on Chief Mate duties, Alpha – Bravo codes of some kind and finding out where all the ice cream stations are located on this ship. - Monique   Sea Creature exploration! 01/23/2011 0 Comments   This was an amazing week full of all sorts of sea creature explorations. It’s not often you get to check an item off your bucket list, let alone a couple in one week. Our friends Clay and Anissa were cruising with us to celebrate their anniversary, so we did as much as we could to show them a great time.  On the ship, the four of us enjoyed good food (sushi dinner twice!), lots of drinks, game shows and fun shows, their favorite, of course, being The Second City. Our first day in port was in Roatan, Honduras, where we got to Snuba. If you haven’t heard of Snuba, it’s basically a combo of scuba diving and snorkeling. You don’t have to be certified, but you use a regulator, like a scuba diver would, only instead of carrying your own tank you’re attached by a 20 foot air cord to the tanks that are sitting on a floating raft at the surface. Basically it meant we could spend a good 45 minutes completely underwater swimming around the coral. As Corey put it, it’s as close to flying as you can experience. Plus you didn’t have to worry about salt water getting into your snorkel gear. We’ve decided that if do another ship contract in the future, we’ll definitely get Scuba certified.  We spent the rest of the day at our favorite beach, Tabyana, drinking delicious alcoholic milkshakes in the sun! Snuba! Stingrays! The four of us had to split up in Belize. Clay and Anissa went cave tubing – one of our favorite excursions and we went to Shark Ray Alley.  After a 45 minute speed boat ride, we snorkeled through the barrier reefs. It was gorgeous and luckily the water was warm. Then we got back in the boat and moved to another area… Sting Ray Alley. At first we were looking over the side of the boat and I saw what appeared to be rocks or coral, but then those rocks were moving toward us and I realized there were about 25 stingrays coming our way! The water was only waist deep at this point, so we jumped right in with our snorkel masks. The stingrays were like sea puppies, playing and bumping up against us. They were EVERYWHERE. In fact, at one point I put my face in the water to get a better look and one swam right over my back. It was surreal… but not as surreal as the fact that there were also sharks in the water. At one point, Corey literally tripped over one. They were nurse sharks, so they technically couldn’t hurt us, but that didn’t stop me from being a little freaked out. That's a shark!  After we ate lunch at a lovely restaurant on the beach and had about an hour or so to check out San Pedro an area of Belize we normally don’t go to. It was a charming little town with really nice people. Plus we had delicious ice cream at Mannelly’s Homemade ice cream. Apparently it’s world famous for their coconut ice cream and handmade waffle cones.  He's carrying a mattress on his head! I think the dolphin likes Corey. In Costa Maya the four of us swam with dolphins. It was absolutely amazing. In fact, Clay was so excited that at one point he couldn’t even form a complete sentence. Our dolphins were named DaVinci and Leia. We were all like giggling children, excited as we got to pet their backs and bellies, kissed their noses and gave them signals to wave, splash us and dance around. Plus we each got to hold on to their flippers as we they pulled across the pool. They were so sweet and as the guide said, sort of felt like a hot dog – don’t think I’ll be petting a hot dog anytime soon.  Check out the dolphin video below! I made that happen! We've had a fantastic contract so far, but this may have been one of our favorite weeks. The shows are still going strong, we love the people on our ship and are appreciating all the fun things we get to do. Though we're not looking forward to the cold, we miss Chicago and are ready to be home for a bit. Just one more month to go and we'll finally get to hang with friends, cook, walk around land at night and get all the satellite TV and internet we want!  While you're on our blog, check out the short video page. I put up a new one that I wrote called, "Astro-illogical."  I missed the deadline for Second City's 7 Day shorts, so I decided to post it on my own. If you like it, feel free to link the YouTube video to your own Facebook pages and other social networking sites you visit.  Thanks!Sn - Monique   Samana and Tortola 01/16/2011 0 Comments   Waterfall hike in Samana This has been an incredible week full of beautiful scenery and fun adventures. We usually go to one specific beach in Samana. It's a private island and is very beautiful, but it's not mainland Dominican Republic at all. It's for the tourist. This week we went went on a hike to a waterfall. To get to the jungle path, we had to drive through Samana. I LOVED it! Like most of our ports, it's a poor country. But there was so much culture and the people were so friendly.  Once we got to the jungle portion of our tour, we had to put on knee high rubber boots because the trail was so muddy. Young kids ran beside us walked beside us and helped us keep our balance. Granted, we didn't always need or ask for their help, but they wanted a tip, so they did whatever they could to "help" us. My little guy kept handing me various plants, "Coffee bean," "Lemon leaf!" It was about a 30 minute hike, sometimes really slippery and all very rocky.  The hike was worth it though. At the end of the trail we were met with a gorgeous waterfall and a refreshing mountain water lake. We splashed around for a while and watched our little guides show off by jumping off the cliffs.  For me at least, it was one of those moments in life you never forget. Who does this sort of thing!?  Snorkeling in Tortola Later that week, Carisa and I took the Rising Sun snorkeling tour. Tortola is our show night, so we don't usually do a lot that day. But since we only have a handful of times left on this contract, we decided to do stuff while we can. We got up early in Tortola and got on a sail boat. It was cloudy and a little chilly on the 30 minute ride to some small islands. By the time we got there, the clouds were lifting.  The water was crystal clear, fairly warm and filled with beautiful coral and fish. We actually got to snorkel through the caves! It was incredible. Big smooth rocks lined the bottom of the caves, so we didn't have to worry too much about hitting the coral in the small space. What we did have to worry about was the tide pushing us out the other side of the cave. I'm sure from an outside eye, it was pretty hilarious to watch us two girls screaming and scrambling to not get hurt as the tide pushed us closer and closer to where the cave ended and a rocky beach began.  By the time we came out of the water, the sun was shining and we enjoyed a lovely sail back to the ship with yummy rum drinks. The tour ended with plenty of time to go back to the ship for a pre show nap. We were sore, exhausted and happy. With only five weeks left on The Pearl, we're hoping to go on a lot more excursions!  - Monique   The exploring adventure! 01/08/2011 0 Comments   We were explorers this week! We spent the day in Belize ziplining through caves, rappelling down off the cliffs and trekking across suspension bridges. It was like The Goonies, except the only treasures we found were fond  memories, not gold. The caves were beautiful and there was no lack of "Monique is short so she doesn't have to duck under the stalactites" jokes.  We're over halfway through our contract now and things are still going well. Christmas was a blast and New Years Eve was epic! Now that the holidays are over, it's nice to have some down time. We've taken things a little easier, especially because I got sick AGAIN. Luckily I'm feeling better and motivated to keep doing good shows and write more to prep for being back in Chicago starting in March.  Miss everyone!   Major Updates needed 12/26/2010 0 Comments   We've been terrible about updating the blog lately, but it's not our fault. Internet connection and even chances to bring our laptops off the ship has been really limited these days. Unfortunately it makes us feel really isolated this time of year. The nice thing is that everyone around the ship is super festive. The ship is decorated for Christmas and passengers are super friendly (and generous). We've gone on a few more fun excursions, including horse back riding through the jungle in Belize. Corey's horse was named Guiness and mine was Salsa. Weird!  How did they know?    Not related to horses, after having a pretty bad cold over Thanksgiving (and a cough that still won't fully go away), I got an upper respiratory infection on top of it. I was in bed all last week and sick with a fever for 5 days. I even had to miss our improv shows. I finally got on some antibiotics and am doing much better. It was just in time too, because I finished my antibiotics just in time for the crew Christmas party. They held it in the big restaurant, Summer Palace. Apparently i's decorated like the actual Summer Palace in Russia. And it is creepy. Plus, this week we had extra show. We added a set as part of the ships Christmas show. We even got to do a few original blackouts that we wrote.  The show was a hit. The theater, which normally fits 1100 people, was jam packed. There were even people sitting in the aisles. I can't even describe what it feels like to hear the roar of laughter from that many people. Since most of you couldn't be at the show, look below for the "Family Christmas" video. In fact, there are two videos below. Even with being sick and busy, I've been able to get some work done and write! If you like them, share it with others! On top of it all, my sister Brie and her boyfriend Joe cruised with us this week for Christmas. It started out perfectly. We danced, went out a nice dinner with the whole cast ant they played Bingo. Then we played with monkey's in Roatan, enjoyed alcoholic milkshakes in the ocean, they went cave tubbing and zip lining in Belize. That's where trouble began. Brie had a blister that got infected and unfortunately from there she battled with a super swollen foot. She even had to get an IV with antibiotic and be on bed rest all day Friday. We all made the best of it though and spent the day playing games and watching movies and went out for a nice Christmas dinner on Saturday. I'm definitely bummed for her that the rest of her trip didn't go as planned, but I'm happy her foot is getting better and we got to spend the holiday together.   We're officially at the 1/2 way mark now in this contract!      << Previous

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