2011

This has been a big year for us so far! Which is still no excuse for blog neglect.... and I am not going to try and make one :) But here is at least a brief overview:

Jason has officially returned to school full-time! The plan for now is mechanical engineering, although he can help but be tempted by something in the medical field after watching stuff on TV, seeing my pretty great work schedule, and listening to my conversations with co-workers at social gatherings. He is loving school so far and doing great! Even with incredibly poor study habits ( at least in my eyes ;) ) he managed to pull of a 3.75 GPA his first semester back! Not to brag, but I am pretty darn proud and impressed with that after a five year break from school. Now he is busy working his way through summer school with his first online school experience.

Next up is vacation!

We went on our third cruise in October with stops in Samana, Tortola, Antigua, Dominica, Barbados, and St. Kitts. We enjoyed several excursions- kayaking in Samana,a full beach day at Jost Van Dyke in Tortola, snorkel/swimming with GIANT stingrays in Antigua, a private tour with a local that another couple and us hired after all of our excursions were canceled due to rain in Dominica (which is now by far my favorite place in the world!), sadly walked around through he destruction left in Barbados after a hurricaine hit the day before we arrived, and ended off the amazing 10 day cruise with ziplining in St. Kitts. We had an amazing time, made great new friends, and can't wait for our next cruise! Here are those photos:

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We also had our first experience traveling outside of the "kids in school" time of year in March over springbreak. It actually wasn't quite as awful as we thought it was going to be! We drove to Florida- our longest road trip yet- which went great until a semi-truck decided to side swipe us and keep on driving. We arrived at our hotel soon after, checked in, and spent the next week enjoying to "tourist" side of Orlando. We spent a day at Seaworld, then another day at Seaworld's sister park Discovery Cove where we did some amazing snorkeling and swimming, then we did a two day park hopper pass to Universal Studios for which we also invested in fastpass (aka get dirty looks as cut the entire line! I must say, it was enjoyed :) ), and we ended off the week spending way to much at the outlet malls- and, yes, I did NEED two new Coach purses! Here are the pics from that trip:

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Otherwise, we have spent this year revamping our "live on a budget" aspect of life. Planning for the future and being a one income family has brought the importance of this to the top of our priority list. Just this last month Jason dedicated time to get quotes for home owners and car insurance and ended up saving us a whopping $900 per year! He has even bargained with the trash company and got our three month bill dropped by $25 bucks. Most importantly, he has found a much higher interest savings account for us to make our money go even a little further. Kudos to him for having the patience and dedication it takes to make the most of our income! Next on his list is to tackle my retirement savings/401K.

As far as the rest of this summer goes....

We will be spending the next two months with Jason in full time summer school and me working full time/overtime at work. August is really what we are excited about! Jason and I are taking an escape before fall semester starts and spending a week at an all inclusive resort in Mexico- this will be our first time together with a prolonged beach stay in one place. We can't wait! Soon after we return we get to spend time with the entire Kent/Rosen/Redd clan for David and Brittney's wedding! We are so happy for them and can't wait to have the whole family together :)

I hope you all have a wonderful summer!

Crystal and Jason