Day 5 Cozumel Mexico

We took a taxi out to Paradise beach. This beach was amazingly great for kids. There were live parrots...



two water trampolenes connected with a bridge, a floating rock climbing wall, kayaks...


and of course snorkeling. My kids have always loved to snorkel (even in the bath tub), so this was the day we converted all the cousins to snorkeling. You could hear the kids scream through their snorkel every time they saw a fish!




All the girls had their hair braided in a little tent right on the beach.




We left the beach around 1:00 and headed to Dolphin discoveries. My girl have always loved dolphins. This was such a dream come true to be able to swim with, hug and kiss a dolphin. I'm not sure who had more fun, the girls with the dolphins or Eric and I getting to watch them.

Day 4 Grand Caymen

Dave, Eric and I woke up early and went scuba diving. I have not gone scuba diving in 7 years so I was really nervous. Our 1st dive was 80 feet and our second was 30 feet. The water was so clear it was deceiving how deep we really were. On our 2nd dive I was stung by a jellyfish on my leg. It was really weird to feel it sting and look and see nothing, but it didn't hurt that bad. Several other people on the boat also were stung I guess it's kinda common.

Here's Dave (my Sister's husband)


Me


Eric




After diving we met up with my Mom, Sister and all the kids and took a taxi to the Royal palms beach club on the 7 mile beach.



Yes, this was totally posed, but look at all these beautiful cousins!



Grandma Bonnie enjoyed the sights, then took a nap

Day 3 At sea

Lots of swimming, eating, eating and eating.




Haley had a cooking class with one of the pastry chefs.


She wanted to eat all of the cake herself but ended up sharing with Weston...thank heavens.


We had a tour of the largest galley on the ship.


Jacob, LOVES to cook and wants to be a chef when he grows up, so he was thrilled when we met the head Chef.

Some random things on the ship that made us happy:

The girls LOVED that they had their own "credit cards" that got them on and off the ship and opened our cabin door.



Our room stuart was the best. He would tuck in Lucy's baby and leave the baby a chocolate too.

Every time we came on the room he would have made a new animal towel sculpture like this cobra...



and the Mama and baby monkeys hanging from hangers! He also made a sea turtle, elephant (wearing Ruby's sunglasses), a puppy dog and a bunny. Every time we would walk in the room our girls would scream, then run out to the hall to tell James Thank you! He loved the attention.

Day 2 Ocho Rios Jamaca

As soon as we arrived on Jamaica, we took a van to some remote location to go river tubing. It was a long (like 40min) drive up a VERY bumpy dirt road. There were times that I thought there was no way we would make it and we were going to get stuck. Our tour guide said that they get a lot of flat tires because the road is so bad. I just prayed that we would not get one and we didn't. While on this dirt road in the middle of nowhere, we passed this little food shack.

Luckily we were not hungry. Check out what he was selling-



We finally made it to the top and got into the river.


I cant believe we got my Mom to do this. She complained the whole time, but I think she really enjoyed it.



The kids all had a blast. For the most part it was a lazy river ride, but there were a few rapids. While floating down the river at one point we saw a couple of horses grazing on the side.





After we recovered from the ride down the scary dirt road, David and Eric took the kids to Duns Falls. Once they got there they quickly realized that there was no way two adults could help 7 children climb up several hundred feet of water falls

...so they hired a guide to help them.


The kids came back super animated and excited to tell us all about how fun the falls were.

While the boys had all the kids at Dunns falls My Mom, my Sister and I went shopping. There was really nothing to buy other then strange wood carvings, or really nice jewelry ...can you guess where we spent our time?

Day 1 at Sea

As soon as we got to our cabin, Ruby and Lucy climbed up into the window. This was their favorite place to be. Every time we got to the room they would go right to the window.



We signed the kids up for the Kids clubs. These were not just baby sitting. They had great activities, art projects ect. This photo what when we picked the girls up from a pirate party. Everyone was tearing up the whole club looking for treasures.


We checked out all the pools. This indoor pool turned out to be our favorite one.



Everday they serve warm cookies with milk around the pool deck. They were SOOO good!

The most amazing trip ever

Everything about this trip was too good to be true.

Even while I was typing out all the things we got to do, I still can't believe it.

Yesterday Ruby said "When I think about the cruise, it was like a vision".
I think that is her way of saying it all seemed like a dream, I agree.

When we flew into Florida the Pilot invited our girls to hang out in the cockpit and "Play with all the buttons". I could not believe this, especially after 911. He said that they couldn't hurt anything and kept showing them puttons to push that talk and make noise. I always wanted to do that as a kid. Very cool.

Thanksgiving

We are off for our family reunion at sea!

Guns, killing and cutting up animals

Before I forget what happened I need to write this down. I took the girls to the Bro Bass Shop Outdoor World to buy Eric a multi-tool knife thing for his birthday. I had heard what a huge cool shop it was and I thought the girls would enjoy it. The girls loved the huge fish tank and real animals (stuffed) all over the store. The sales person told me that the pocket knives are in the hunting section, so we headed over there.



They did not have the tool that I was looking for so the salesman took us up to check the computer at the counter...the gun counter, where several men were looking at and purchasing guns.

Having never seen a real gun, my girls were full of questions.

"Are these REAL guns" Haley

"Yes they are real" Me

"Why do people buy guns?" Ruby

"They use them to hunt animals" Me

"You mean they KILL animals?" Ruby

"Don't you want to eat?" Haley

"Mom, why do these men KILL animals" Ruby

"They do it as a sport and then the eat the meat" Me

"Can we get a gun?" Lucy

"Why can't they just get the meat at the store without killing the animals" Ruby

"The store kills the animals!" Haley

"Girls, did you see how cool those duck decoys are. They float in the water and look like a real ducks" Me

"Mom, that man just bought a gun to kill animals" Ruby about to cry

At this point, all the men shopping and sales people were glaring at us!

"OK, who wants to go see the big fish tank before we leave?" Me

As we were leaving Ruby asked if all the stuffed animals and deer heads were real. I told her they were.
"So they kill them, and then cut them up? "Why do they hang them on the wall after they cut them up?" Ruby

This conversation continued all the way to the car.

I tried my best to explain hunting in a positive light (this was hard for me), and how we need to kill animals for food, but the whole concept was horrifying to Ruby. I will be very surprised if Ruby doesn't become a vegetarian.

We will not be retuning to the Bro Bass shop.

Happy Birthday Eric!

Do you recognize this shirt?


Any one that has known Eric at all over the past 9 years will recognize this shirt. I have purchased new ones over the years and tried to spice it up with a new color or design change, but he insists on the classic navy blue. They are only offering cobalt this year..big problem.


Another constant, his breakfast. Every morning he eats 2 packages of Quaker instant oatmeal, a Yoplait yogurt, a bowl of cottage cheese and a big glass of orange juice. When he is feeling wild and crazy he will sometimes eat a bowl of Frosted Flakes on Saturday! FYI- I eat something different almost every morning.

His evenings are like clockwork, he spends time with the family until 8pm. From 8-10 he studies then at 10:00 he exercises.
Eric is very organized and well balanced....the opposite of me! You would think that the busy madness from my constant "projects" would make him crazy (and it may) but he is always supportive and encouraging to me. He has never complained about the entire wall of our bedroom that has been taken over with sewing. Although one time when he found a small stack of fabric on his night-stand (temporarily), he told me that I had "crossed the line".


I am so thankful for the balance he is to me and our marriage.

One of my favorite things about Eric is watching him be a Dad, he is really the greatest. He absolutely adores our girls and they feel the same about him.


Our girls are convinced that he can fix or make ANYTHING. He has gone to great lengths to never let them down. He has often spent a ton of time fixing stuff for them that should have been thrown away, just because he knows it will make them happy.


One night when he got home from work, Haley said that she thought it would be fun to hike up Mt. Rubidoux and watch the sunset. I started explaining why that was not practical and Eric said "I think it sounds like fun, lets hurry so we don't miss the sunset" so Eric and the girls went and hiked up just in time to see the sunset.


After looking through photos of Eric, I realized that I have taken a lot of photos of his back side. Since I obviously like that a lot, I figured it would be appropriate to end this post!


Happy Birthday Love!

I've become a crazy mad woman!

I just got an email from Jackie (who's beautiful photo is below) begging me to update my blog. The truth is I don't feel like updating my blog because I have turned into a crazy woman trying to organize and make stuff for our craft boutique that is just a few weeks away. I have also been busy packing and shipping all the Gingerwood houses that Eric has sold.



As soon as I can breath I will post photos of the creative chaos that has consumed our home.