Monday, January 31, 2011

Under the Weather

 

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How do you know when you don’t feel your best? Mom let’s you eat ‘supper’ AKA-pizza, apple, chips and a grape slush- with your blanket in your PJs.

Carsyn has been battling some sinus drainage and a cough. It’s annoying and uncomfortable. She’s irritated too. ;-) Just kidding. Sort of.

Then she was cranky at daycare all day. Some Tylenol finally provided relief around 4:30. Then I found out a little boy that goes to her daycare was diagnosed with the flu this morning. Then another little boy was diagnosed with RSV and an ear infection this afternoon. WHAT?!?!? Are you kidding me? Why? Why do people want to infect my child. Called the doctors office. Basically there is nothing we can do but hydrate and wait. Contain the fever, but that might get higher too. It’s just a bad cold. Frustrating!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Blog Editor

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Carsyn is two. She is independent. Defiant. Fiery. Feisty. Bossy. Sassy. Busy. Persistent. Vocal.

Sunday afternoon she needed to be between me and the computer. She was missing out and had to get closer. I finally caved and let her have at it.

She offered some insights and critics of the most recent blog posts. You can now add Blog Editor to her list of accomplishments.

She wanted her dress off after church, but wasn’t concerned about her bloomers or tights. Then she saw her cruise flip flops and wanted to add those to the mix.

We’re still trying to determine our office dress code. If you subscribe to the theory that the boss sets the example, you could make some assumptions about my wardrobe choices, but i assure you I was dressed more professionally.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Saturday

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Some thing about Saturday morning at home feels so good. No plans. Stay in your PJ’s kind of good. We’ve been gone SO MUCH lately. I’m pretty sure it started the first of November and ended with the cruise. Home is what the doctor ordered. Carsyn is such a good momma to her babies. She wanted them to be covered up during their nap on the floor.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Grand Cayman

I’m going to let you in on a little secret right here. Or maybe I’m ruing the surprise. Either way…I’m in love with the Caymans. Best day of the cruise. The Caymans were so nice. Clean, pretty, friendly. Such a contrast to Jamaica. Is it poor form to bad mouth another country on a different blog post? Jamaica was dirty, rude, sketchy and stinky. Pretty much the opposite of Grand Cayman.

 P1050979Teresa and I waiting on our shuttle for the excursion. Can you see the big boat in the back ground? Noah took this pic. He’s 11. Thanks!

 

P1050981 Me documenting the pre-excursion time. I took this picture. I’m 29. You’re welcome.

 

P1050982Do you see it? The sandbar. The sandbar where the stingray’s come. This is the only place in the world (according to some website I read.) where you can feed stingrays in their natural habitat instead of a tank.

 

P1050984 We road a jet ski out to the sandbar. Here is Tony’s boss, Sam, and his daughter Amanda.

 

P1050986 Tone Bones chilling in the water. Before the stingrays came.

 

P1050989 Me about to jump in.

 

P1050993 See the darker parts of the water? Close to Sam and Amanda? Stingrays. Big stingrays.

 

Teresa was brave enough to go first. She held and kissed that huge stingray.

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Tony’s turn. He was ready. I needed a few minutes to think about it.

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The thing even gave us a back massage. They were every where. See the two in the background.

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I held and kissed one too. Fed one squid. Do you catch that? I held a raw squid and fed a stingray with my bare hand. Be impressed.

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The water was beautiful. Crystal clear. Amazing white sand. We were with a small tour group. Only 10 of us and 2 guide. See the boats. They were like a mob. So thankful that we didn’t cram on one of those.

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Here I am. We went snorkeling along a small reef. The guide brought of some more food and the fish came a runnin’

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The Three Amigos.

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This was the best excursion. Everyone had a blast.

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Grand Cayman II

After the amazing jet ski adventure, we lunched at the Hard Rock Cafe. There was a constant battle between ship time, CST and island time, EST. Short story is we ate fast and hightailed it back to the boat. I can’t confirm 100% if we were the last tender back to the ship, but we were one of the last 100 or so back on board.P1060011Because of our short time, I didn’t get to see much of the town. I took most of these pictures while walking really fast back to the ship.

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Even with the few pictures you can see how the Caymans are so much nicer than Jamaica.

What is a tender? It’s a shuttle ship that moves the people from the big boat to the dock. This is the option when the ships can’t pull right up to the dock.

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Us on the tender back to the ship.P1060033

Home Sweet Home. Our arrival back was so late that we got to see them raise the anchor up.

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Look at that beautiful water! LOVED IT! This picture was taken from my balcony.

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Tony and I giving the Grand Cayman’s one last look.

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Thursday, January 20, 2011

Jamaica

The wedding wasn’t over but a minute and Carsyn was into the sand. She dug in. P1050925 P1050926 P1050927 P1050928

That sand is some exciting stuff and baby girl needed a break. Vacation. A hammock in the tropical breeze with a nice cool drink. Doesn’t get much better than this.

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Wait. The beach. This could be better than the hammock.

P1050958I’m still amazed that Carsyn just turned two and is playing in the clear waters of Jamaica. I was 22 before I got to go.

 

Wait. Jet Ski. This beats the hammock and the beach. For Tony at least.

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Bye Bye Jamaica.

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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Wedding

Why’d you go on a cruise?

1. Sean, Tony’s best buddy was getting married. Couldn’t miss it. Tony was the best man.

2. It’s January and we need a vacation!

 

Wednesday was Wedding Day.

Here is our little family of 3 in the lobby of the boat waiting for instructions on debarking the ship to get to transferred to the resort for the wedding.

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Wedding Day was a struggle for Carsyn. She was all out of sorts. Probably sleepy. Probably cranky. Probably just 2. I could expand on this. I won’t. I want to remember this sweet face on that day.

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Tony signing that he witnessed the wedding.

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Best man giving his toast.

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Daddy dancing with his girl.

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Can you see how red her face is? She was hot and tired.P1050953   

Completely not purposeful, but Mom and Teresa were at the wedding too and I didn’t get any pictures. Sean and Lisa had a beautiful wedding. Congratulations! Thanks for sharing your day with us.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Cruisin’

You’re trapped on a big boat. Haven’t seen land in 24 hours. A couple of oil platforms. Another cruise ship. Basically nothing.

Carnival calls it ‘Fun Day at Sea’.

What do you do?

 

Go swimming!

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Eat mint chocolate early in the morning with Daddy on the balcony.P1050875

Hang out by the pool with Momma and Granny.

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Dance by the pool with Momma and Daddy.P1050878

Big Boat

We’ve been talking to Carsyn for over a week about the big boat. Trying to prep her for the experience. We walked through airport like security and waited over an hour to board. We get on looking for some food and learning about ‘aft’, ‘lido' deck’ and ‘upper deck’. It felt like a foreign language at first.

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Tony sang two songs at Karaoke on Monday night. He’s really great at ‘his song’. Every Rose Has a Thorn. Yes it does. And then a special little number. I love college. Lots of fun with our friends.

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Got the socks beat off us by our friends at a game of bean bag toss. There were over 20 teams and Emily and Dawn won! Woo Hoo. Check out those trophies. Carnival brings the goods.

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Didn’t take long to get use to beautiful sunsets on the balcony

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Of course there is the obligatory towel animal. They really are impressive. They offer a special class at the end of the week to learn this skill. You can even buy a book if you want to be the hostess with the mostess and make towel animals at home.P1050860

The reason for the cruise. The happy couple. Sean and Lisa dancing at dinner.

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Us after the formal dinner.

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I really enjoy getting together with our friends at the end of the day and share our stories over a good meal.