Birthday Cruise: First stop- Key West, FL

On the third day of our cruise, we docked at Key West in Florida. We were excited to explore as we had never been here before (my parents had and were our helpful tour guides!). It was a fairly warm day and we first walked around to see the sites, stop in a few shops, and we took pictures with statues. :)

Then we headed down the main street, which is Duval Street. Mike wanted to visit Sloppy Joe's and Captain Tony's (which were hang outs of Ernest Hemmingway back in the day).  So we ate lunch at Sloppy Joe's and peeked into Captain Tony's.

Then we walked back to the main center and decided to take the Conch train on their tour around the city. It was an interesting tour with lots of good information and many things to see. The bad part was that I had to pee really bad and I think the first break was after about 40 minutes of the tour! I had tried looking for a bathroom with my Dad before the train set off but we couldn't find one and didn't want to miss the train leaving. So I think I felt just about every bump we went on during that first part of the tour. (The kids were also a bit bored by the tour and ended up writing on paper rather than looking around.) I think the things that stood out on the tour for me was the southernmost point, the Hemingway House (had thought we might do a tour but the logistics of it were just not in our favor), and the beautiful houses we saw all along the way (such lovely architecture!).

After the tour, we walked on to the docks to see if we could see any fish in the water. And sure enough, very large Tarpon were swimming all over in the shallow water off the docks. I guess they come in to eat all the fish guts that are cast off when the fishing boats come in to dock.

Next we went to eat a small snack. Bella had more raw oysters (she couldn't get enough!). I had some yummy steamed clams.

One interesting thing about Key West is that they have chickens running around here & there. The kids tried to sneak up on one but didn't catch it. ;o) We did feed them some bread. And we saw them roosting in the trees too!

We then headed off to where our ship was docked to see the street performers before boarding.

This is a Key West Christmas tree made out of fishing bobbers.

Street performer doing something with fire.

Bella and I split a fresh coconut from this guy (we drank it first and then brought it back to him & he hacked it open for us to eat the meat). 

And we left Key West with these little cuties holding hands. Awwwww!

Birthday Cruise- the ship

The Carnival Magic is a pretty nice ship... lots of fun things for families to do together that everyone can enjoy. By the last day, I think we'd managed to do everything there was to do (that we were interested in, anyway).

The ship has a game area with miniature golf, giant connect four, pool, air hockey, etc with a large challenge course above the gaming area.

We were a bit worried we wouldn't get to go on the challenge course... we didn't go on the first day at sea and then had the 3 days at various ports. Then it was closed due to high winds on the 2nd to last day. But finally, on the last day, the weather warmed up and the winds died down. And Bella and I got to get up on the course.

At first, Bella was quite nervous (even though this wasn't her first course to go through) and the British guy working the course helped her quite a bit through some of the first few. (While I just enjoyed the accents!) But once she got the hang of it, she was good to go. I was actually hoping she would be worn out by the end (it goes in a circle & there are probably 8 individual challenges as you go round) but she wanted to go again! So we went again. :)

Then on the far end of the upper deck, there is the water slides. There are a couple little kid slides and a couple bigger kid/adult slides. I couldn't talk Bella into the bigger kid slides, even though she was tall enough. I went myself and they were pretty fun but one time was plenty. :) We tried to get into the pools but it was just too chilly! I couldn't handle it. Near the end of the trip we did find a nice hot tub that we could enjoy by ourselves and the kids really loved that. They didn't want to get out and were sad we didn't get to return to one. (The orange slide at the bottom was suppose to be of Mike going around but I wasn't fast enough to catch him!)

When you cruise, you cannot forget about what is waiting for you in your room when you return from your evening meal or evening entertainment... towel animals!!

We actually took a class to learn to make our own towel animals... Bella and I had fun (Jackson just goofed around!). The pictures just below on the top are our 2 things we made in the class. My parents kept all theirs intact and the bottom picture is the kids posing with them before they destroyed them all (with permission). Every day I had to tell Jackson not to mess with their towel animals ... he was really wanting to destroy theirs every day!

Birthday Cruise Vacation: Let the Fun Begin!

This year, I got to spend my birthday week on a cruise! My hubby was super nice to me and guaranteed a wonderful birthday by taking me on a vacation (what better way to spend your birthday??). We booked on the Carnival Magic for a 7 day cruise with stops in Key West, FL, Nassau, Bahamas, and Freeport, Bahamas. We invited some family along and my parents were the only ones who could make it.

We drove down to Dallas the first day and stayed the night so that I could do some pre-trip shopping at H&M (Happy Birthday to me!!). We then made it down to Galveston, TX on Saturday evening where we met up with my parents and had a yummy seaside dinner (where Isabella had raw oysters for the very first time and LOVED them) and our first walk on the beach for this trip. We then headed to our hotel to get some sleep before our busy day getting onto the ship. (And Jackson was VERY tired, threw a huge fit in the car about not wanting to leave the beach & ended up having to miss out on the beach the next day.)

Sunday morning (my birthday!) we ate breakfast in the hotel (yuck... no real healthy options except fruit) and then Bella, my parents, & I headed over across the street to walk a bit on the beach before we had to check out of the hotel.

Here is Bella loving every minute of being on the beach! (She is definitely my daughter!)

And my self-portrait on the beach.

After a bit of time on the beach, Isabella has to go to the bathroom so we must head back to the hotel. We pack up, check out & take a taxi down to the cruise terminal where we grab a starbuck's lunch and head in to go through security and check in. Surprisingly, this all goes much faster than it has ever before for us (our last cruise was in 2007) and we didn't even have enough time to eat all of our lunch before our number was called to board the ship. 

And here is the first of many to come photo ops that Carnival loves to take advantage of. ;o)

 When we got to our room, I had some lovely flowers from my parents and a yummy plate of chocolate goodies from our travel agent, Laura. (Didn't get a picture for some reason!) This cruise we got a balcony and really enjoyed getting to go out there to see where we were or to check the weather. Here is Mike and the kids before we departed.

Isabella had a few spins on the dance floor while walking around on the ship (above) and then there is Mike and I eating dinner the first night. 

Our vacation started out very nicely and we were looking forward to all the fun to come!

It's Christmas season once again!

Oh how I love this time of year! We kick started our Christmas season with a date for Isabella & I to go see the Nutcracker. We would have preferred to go see the OKC Ballet production but it was going to be when we'd be out of town on our cruise. So the only one I could find was one put on in Norman by the Norman Ballet Company. Little did we know, it wasn't actually the traditional Nutcracker story- it was one set in territorial Oklahoma called the Oklahoma Nutcracker (didn't clue into that!). It was different. The highlight was the 2 guest ballet dancers from the Tulsa Ballet (who are originally from Romania) who did an amazing job. Before the ballet, we went to eat brunch at La Baguette and enjoyed some tea (none of the tea restaurants are open on Sundays! Had to make do.) Mike and Jackson had a date too... can't remember what they did though!!

Then soon after, our Elf on the Shelf made his return and we all enjoyed a fun little welcome back breakfast that he set up for us. We also set up our tree and other decorations and I wrapped all our Christmas books. The books are stored with our Christmas decorations and every year we wrap them, letting the kids open 1-2 books a night to read together. This is our countdown to Christmas and the kids REALLY love it. We try to buy 2 books every year to add to our stash, a secular story and a book about Jesus' birth. Somehow though, we have ended up with several Night Before Christmas stories!!

We also had a fun time decorating our Christmas cookies! I'm also including some of the funny things our elf, Tommy, did this year. (For those who do not know, he is sent by Santa to keep an eye on the kids. Every night he goes to the north pole to report to Santa & then comes back to perch on a different spot. There were a few times this year that he didn't move. And we had to find remedies for him... fairy dust (or something sparkly anyway) was sent and thankfully that helped him! ;o) Below is also a picture of the kids w/ the Polliard kids downtown after our family photo shoot. Devon had some really large Christmas bulbs out in front of their building.

 And here are our cute Christmas card pictures that my sister Jennifer took...

And here is what was on the other side of our Christmas card this year... I got some awesome inspiration from pinterest & melded a few ideas together from there to create. I'm really liking this style of Christmas letter & might do some version of it every year!

Isabella had her winter ballet recital and did a really great job. We all enjoyed watching her on stage. (Thanks to my mom for the pics... my camera does not zoom well at all come to find out!)

We celebrated my birthday with family before our cruise (we left on our cruise on my actual birthday)....

And here is Isabella with her best friend at our homeschool co-op. They were twins for a day. :)

November 2012

In the sake of saving time, here is one blanket post for November. :)

Isabella & I went to see her best friend Raegan in the Wizard of Oz. It was fun and Bella was excited to go and see her friend.

Her friend was one of the munchkins. 

My sister Laura headed back to work part time & we started watching my cute little then 3 month old nephew, Mavy (aka Miguel IV, aka Baby Mimi). The kids were super excited to get to entertain this little guy all day... but were disappointed to discover that he sleeps a lot. :) 

 And here is Jackson's portrait of baby Mimi that he drew... maybe it was after the baby was fussing? ;o)

And Jackson takes a turn at entertaining... this time, music.

Isabella also lost her first top tooth this month. Her 3rd tooth total to have lost.

And here is a cute little video of Jackson leading his homeschool co-op class in singing the ABCs. He has such a cute singing voice... love it. :)

We didn't go to Arkansas this year for Thanksgiving b/c Mike was working. So we had dinner at my mom's and enjoyed some time around the house. And here is my Thanksgiving wall!

Fall & Halloween Fun!

After returning from our reunion trip, we really felt the time crunch to get all our traditional fall things done! First up, our annual visit to the Parkhurst Pumpkin Patch. The downfall to this years visit is that this particular day was FREEZING! I had to sit down several times next to their fires to warm my hands up (& I wore gloves!). We enjoyed the petting zoo (the baby cow was my favorite), the hay ride, the corn maze, & the kids enjoyed running around on top of the bailed hay. The only disappointment was the pumpkins they gave with admission this year! Normally we trade up to a bigger size for carving but all they had this year was super small decorative gourd type pumpkins. Not at all suited for carving. Maybe it was the draught?

After buying proper carving pumpkins, we got to work. This year, just 2 pumpkins... I figured Mike & I didn't need to carve 2 pumpkins each again this year. That is just too much work! one day they will be old enough to carve their own & then we'll have a more representative pumpkin family. :)

Lastly, Halloween. Again we were able to get by with passing out candy on the porch with the kids dressed in their costume. But this year we didn't have time to make a run to my parents house (or anyone else we know) to show off costumes & trick or treat so Isabella was quite disappointed. I think next year we will have to have a line up of houses to visit planned out or she is going to really start questioning why she only gets to pass out candy. (Of course she does have Halloween sweets to devour... but she didn't get to go to anyone's house & say "trick or treat" to get them.)

Isabella is a spooky spider girl. (sorry, no original name... that is what it said online & we copied what she looked like b/c Isabella liked it!)

Jackson is the Hulk. Without the mask.

With the mask.

A little blurry, but this is Bella's scary face. :)

Family Reunion '12- San Antonio, day 3

This was to be our last full day in San Antonio before packing up. Some of our family actually left this day as they opted for a shorter stay (due to work or whatever). There were still plenty of kids left so we all met up at a local kids museum- The Witte Museum.

It was a museum that had a wide range of exhibits from the natural ecology of Texas to log cabins/historic home (seen in the picture below of Mike, the kids, & myself talking with my baby sister Lyndsey & her girlfriend Maria).

They had a science "tree house" where there were 4 levels of fun activities for the kids to do... although I think nearly everyone had a turn at playing this game- 

Look at that action shot of Cameron! He gets serious about things! (all the other kids were already out & that is why they are all standing around watching... and I'm holding Jackson back from rejoining the game before he is welcome!)

 And I think all the adults got in on these strength tasks (using a pulley to lift yourself up on a chair).

Isabella tried out this bike on a cable... not so easy in flip flops! And then in the western section, here is Mike in a nice Cowboy hat. ;o) I think he is pretending to be a Cowboy.

This was, by far, the weirdest thing we saw. A statue/mannequin with a holographic face. And he talked. And winked. And weirded us out! (He looks so very real!)

After the museum, we all had worked up quite an appetite and we headed over to the Blue Star Brewing Company for some lunch. (My parents mapped out all the great breweries in SA before the trip. I can't remember the last time I had so much beer over a span of a few days.)

I was quite happy with this selection... notice behind Mike on the sign- Organic Beers! Yay!

Here we all are... cheers! (I think i was a bit late in on the cheers action.)

I was also quite happy to see this in their restroom. Their menu had local pastured eggs & pastured/grass fed beef! I had a super yummy egg sandwich. 

We headed back for naps/rest at the condos & then we had one more meal out with the group. We at a pretty famous restaurant called Mi Tierra which was a very large restaurant (with this very large mural on the wall in the room we ate in). They had a huge pastry counter which we made sure to visit after our meal. 

The next day we would head out, make a stop by IKEA with my parents (who had yet to ever step foot in one!), & then on to Dallas where we'd spend a night before heading back home. We had a nice time getting to see some family that we don't see very often at all and also spending time with the family that we do get to see regularly.