Maurus the Taurus RIP

MAURUS THE TAURUS 2000-2007

Maurus the Taurus, quite the trooper of a car, was laid to rest on Friday March 30th with 107,500 miles under his belt. His injuries were finally more expensive than he was worth. We have had our ups and downs with Maurus over the last few years... the A/C, the breaks, the shakes, and then goodbye. On Matt's way to school on Thursday he noticed a noise coming from Maurus, similar to that of a spacecraft taking off (never a good thing) but just ignored it. By Friday, this noise had turned into smoke ( I guess the little shuttle wanted to get out). I met him at the repair shop only to find out that had he driven another mile, we would have been dealing with a fire. Estimates to fix Maurus were apx 1500$ and he is worth about 2500$. Soooo, we left him for naught and bought a new car (we can sometimes be rash).

we welcome a member of the family: Lester The Civic

(that's right Dan and Rands, you're not the only one raking in family points)

parker

so on March 16th, I headed to NC to see my brother and sister for the first time in a looooong time. I get a phone call on the 17th that I have a new dog... thanks to the generosity of my husband. he saw this little guy running around in a parking lot and decided to save his life. However, after being kept up all night with barking and incessant pooping, Matt found him a home. He was adopted by our good friends Ben and Jen Greiving. This is Parker:

0400

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb3KC4arWvc

this is how i feel every morning at 0412 when my alarm goes off...

MEXICO

For Matt's spring break, we went on a cruise to Grand Cayman and Calica, Mexico. We traveled with Matt's friend Jonathan Journey and his wife Brook.
Saturday: board ship in Tampa, eat lots of food

Sunday: at sea, eating lots along the way

Monday: arrive at Grand Cayman Island, did some site seeing and walking around

Tuesday: arrive at Calica, Mexico, get on a sketchy bus with talks-a-lot tour guide and go to Tulum (an ancient Mayan city still intact--incredible). This place was awesome, we got to meet the current inhabitants of the city (large iguanas) and take lots of pictures. All in addition to an incredibly long tour by our guide: Alex. Next stop: Xel-Ha. This was a natural brackish lagoon where you could snorkle, jump off cliffs, climb ropes and walls, and swim with the dolphins (for a small fee of 150$).
Wednesday: at sea, still eating a lot on the ride back to Tampa

the worst part was matt's sunburn.... 5 days on a cruise ship and he was free of blisters. on thursday we had lunch with aaron at the beach for 45 minutes and matt had 2nd degree burns, ouch!