Since We've Been Home: Week 1

I'm determined to get all caught up to present life before we make our way on our next adventure, so here goes...

Since We've Been Home...

I decided that instead of jumping right back into work, I would take things easy for the remainder of that first week and only work a bit. I am so, so happy I did. It gave me plenty of time to spend with the girls, and we were really able to kick things off for summer!

It was so great to get home to the girls!

Tuesday, the girls and I just hung around the house. They helped me unpack and work on laundry and we talked about all of the fun things they got to do with Nana and Graycop while we were gone. I also told them about all some of the neat things Daddy and I got to do while we were gone!

Tink and I spent some time together while Ty and Sassy went to T-Ball. We pretty much just vegged Tuesday night after T-Ball. Vacation is exhausting!

Wednesday, the girls spent time at Nana's while I finished getting the house back in order. I met up with R, C, and E at Paint the Towne. We painted Starry Night, and we had a blast! I can't wait to do it again!

{via Ragan's I-Phone}

Here's a close-up of my masterpiece!



Thursday, I did go in to work for a bit for our Kindermusik class, but the girls came with me! Later that day, the girls raided my {still not completely unpacked} suitcase and discovered a new fashion trend that I have a feeling will remain very popular int he SPH this summer:



I also finally managed to make time to snap a few pictures of Sassy's T-Ball experience. She's on the dark blue team, Go Cubs!



Tink is Sassy's number one fan... unless she convinces Lynzee or I to take her and LuLu over to the adjoining park!



It's all pretty comical to watch, but Sassy does a nice job. Here's a few pictures of her hitting and running to first...



Friday, the girls and I spent some time playing out front while I began to document for Ten on Ten. Playing with the roly-poly topped the list of activities completed out there.



Sassy wore the new dress that Nana bought her (with matching shoes) from the Calypso line at Target. Loved the colors this summer!



We picked up Nana and went to see Nikki over at Venus Flytrap for some much overdue haircuts for the girls. Tink's hair was so long, I actually momentarily considered growing it out, but I'm just not ready to say goodbye to the pixie cut. Sassy was excited to have her hair shampooed for the first time- a treat every girl should enjoy, right?



I also took advantage of Nikki's awesome style and took a picture of my Mom and the girls so she'd have one to put in her "Nana" frame that Sassy bought her a while back. The cool flytrap candy dish and plant from my Ten on Ten post were also courtesy of the shop!



We also drove up to Andover for the Leah LaRae Baby Sale and scored several pillowcase dresses and a bag full of hair pretties for next to nothing. Cute stuff!

Friday afternoon, the girls and I met Lynzee, LMB, and LuLu at Rock River Rapids, the pool we bought passes for this summer. The girls had a blast! I didn't want to take my camera to the pool, so I snapped a few for Ten on Ten before we left the house...



Is there anything cuter than little girls in cute little bathing suits, being silly in the summer? I think not.



Let me just tell you, I was not under-appreciative to get home see these smiling faces, that's for sure!



Oh, and here is one of Sassy in her adorable swimsuit cover-up made by my friend Mandy at Dulu Designs. You should definitely check her out for summer and back-to-school. Just wait until you see what she's working on for Sassy for Kindergarten! ♥



Saturday, Tyler went sailing with a guy from work (he was in HEAVEN when he got that invitation) and the girls and I went with my parents up to Great Plains Nature Center for their Walk with the Wildlife event. It was HOT, so we didn't hang long, but it was neat!



We went on an animal fact scavenger hunt, and the girls especially enjoyed seeing (and touching and holding) the snakes.



We went on a bit of a nature walk and then headed to Il Vicino for lunch.



Saturday evening, we held the second of what I hope will become a traditional event in our parts. Inspired by my friend MK, who holds weekly "fire-pit Fridays" with her neighbors, we've begun to get together with some friends and their kiddos... we kick back, relax, make some S'mores and have a beer or two on the weekends. So far, it's been pure bliss!

Sunday, Tyler, my Dada and I met up with some friends at took in a Wingnuts game. The girls had the best time running around like hooligans and stuffing their faces with peanuts and popcorn... you know, what baseball is really about.



Sassy and her good friend, Bubs.



And so we wrapped up week one of being home. Relaxing? Not so much. Busy? As ever. Awesome? You bet!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all of you wonderful dads out there!



We are eternally grateful to have the chance to spend Father's Day together, enjoying all this day brings. We wish the same for all of our family and friends. ♥

It's the End of Our Trip As We Know It...

So, Saturday, June 4th was the day we debarked the cruise ship.

So sad.

Luckily for us, we had the foresight to realize that we would clearly need some time to unwind after that big, bad stressful cruise and booked a couple of extra night in Ft. Lauderdale at the cutest little resort ever, Cocobelle.

We arrived fairly early after a surprisingly hassle-free debarking process, and just a quick taxi ride to Cocobelle.

Of course we had all of our luggage, and it wasn't time to check in the room yet, but the guy told us we could leave out luggage int he outdoor corridor for a few hours. Things must be pretty laid back there {or in Germany, where this family is from} because he acted like we were crazy for having some concerns about leaving all of our luggage out in the open. He said we'd be the first in six years to lose anything, and why would anyone want our luggage when they have their own? HA!

Anyway, we loosened up a bit and just took a backpack of essentials valuables with us and hit the beach! It was beautiful- just a short walk, very clean, great weather. Ahh...



We spent a good amount of time at the beach before hopping over to The Deck Restaurant for some lunch- alligator bites and impressive burgers! Then, we returned to Cocobelle and spent the afternoon at the very nicely kept pool. Ahh...

After a great nap and a shower, we ventured out to check out Ft. Lauderdale's night scene, specifically Saturday Nite Alive event. There were great street vendors and live entertainment at every turn, all along A1A, and all FREE! We saw the legendary Elbo Room. Lynzee and I found a booth that had hair feathers, and we each got a couple. We wound up at Da Big Kahuna Restaurant & Tiki Bar. The food was OK, but we really wished we had decided to stop and eat here. Next time!



We had a really nice evening.



Sunday morning {also our actual anniversary} was great. We got up fairly early to get a start on our day on the water taxi. We met an interesting fella who deserves his own post {maybe someday, maybe someday...} named Marc with a "C". He kept us amused the entire 45 minutes we had to wait for the taxi!



We headed to Las Olas Boulevard for some shopping and sight-seeing. And, when we saw one of these, we couldn't resist stopping for lunch. I know, I know. Try something different, right? Well, it was delicious!



Although we skipped cheesecake, we quickly found ourselves at Kilwin's, and all good intentions went down the drain for the most expensive ice cream of our lives! HA! I also couldn't resist picking the girls up some gummy alligators. We did some shopping, saw some amazing homes on the water taxi. A-MA-ZING. Headed back to the resort to swim and chill.

Later in the evening, we took the water taxi our for an evening spin, stopped at Briny's Irish Pub for dinner, and returned home to pack and catch some sleep before our long trip home on Monday.



It was an awesome, amazing trip. We had a blast. But it was equally as awesome to return home to those sweet peas, share about our trip, and get some great big bear hugs!!

Thanks for hanging in there with me on all these vacation posts! Back to regularly scheduled programming posting very soon!

The Digital Scavenger Hunt...

So, I mentioned the digital scavenger hunt in my last post. It was our last full day on the cruise, and we were all getting pretty desperate for a hunk of 24-carat-gold-plastic-piece-of-ship-on-a-stick {i.e. Carnival trophy} or 24-carat-gold-medal-ship-on-a-rope {i.e. Carnival medallion}. We'd played practically every trivia game possible and had not come up winners yet.

I take that back. Tom won one or two medallions for sports trivia that he played solo.

Anyway, the digital scavenger hunt was fun. You had to stay together as a group and only use one camera. You basically had to find the things on the list, take a picture of each with someone in your group in each picture, and get back in time to qualify. I think there was a list of twenty things with four bonuses.

Tom was our photographer, and Tyler was our go-to do something stupid guy {like jump in the pool clothed}...

Pictures via Tom's camera... not always the best quality. We were in a hurry, people.



1. A copy of today's carnival cruise itinerary
2. Someone with tattoos
3. In the glass elevator
4. At the spa



5. With a towel animal {see, I kept those babies for a reason...}
6. With hate and sunglasses
7. With a Carnival trophy or medallion {yeah, Tom...}
8. Shaving with shaving cream on



9. A man with lipstick
10. In the pool.
11. With someone from the Philippines {yeah, bartender}
12. With someone from Russia {we stumbled upon one of our dinner attendants, Liliya}



13. With the cruise "tail"
14. Under the big screen
15. With random people kissing {this was our second try. In our first attempt, we forgot to be in the picture... one of the rules. Thankfully, we ran into some of our piano bar friends...}
16. On the mini golf course



17. With someone in a red bikini
18. In sight of another vessel {it's there, promise. Top left}
19. With a "group hug" taking place
20. With someone with a beer belly {in this case, not beer...}

So, we missed 4, including the bonuses. We could not, for the life of us, find someone in a speedo. Maybe not such a bad thing. Also could not find life boat #13. I am still convinced that there was no life boat 13. It seriously went 11, 15, 17, etc. According to the guy running trivia, there is a life boat 13 somewhere. More on that later...

I can't remember the other two we missed.

Anyway, we WON! Our team found the most things in the 25 minutes we had to play. It was so fun, and we all got our medals. YEAH!

Oh, and Kendra, to address your comment from yesterday... I am SO SAD that I didn't have my camera or phone with me at the time, but my very first drink on the boat was a frozen strawberry daiquiri (with a pina colada swirl on top)... just for you, girl! It was delicious!

Fun Day At Sea #2

Friday was our second {and last full} day at sea.

Sad face.

Lynzee and I spent a good portion of the morning enduring the unbearable heat up on deck 14 and catching some rays. It was too hot and too bright to even read. So we just drank. HA!

We played lots of trivia and competed in the digital scavenger hunt, which we had been looking forward to since Tuesday. More on that later...

Honestly, we just chilled. I barely took any pictures. Here are a couple from our last dinner. I don't know about you, but it looks to me like you can tell Tyler and I had been eating and drinking well all week!




Meet our towel animal of the day. I'm going to leave this with a big no comment. It's a family blog. Un-phallic? HA! Lynzee and I most definitely did not configure our towel animals in obscene poses for fun. Nope.



There was really no better way to spend our last evening than in... you guessed it... the piano bar with Dave, or piano BFF.



Oh, and there's really no good way to take a good picture of a spinning piano man, either.

There's no doubt about it, Dave loved us, too. He's totally going to miss us and wish we were there on every.single.subsequent.cruise he performs on. Clearly.



Stay tuned for pictures from the digital scavenger hunt...

Wanti, wanti, cyan getti, getti, getti nuh want it...

Or something like that.

We had the pleasure of living it up in Ocho Rios, Jamaica on Thursday, 6/2.

Jamaica was pretty awesome. The stingrays remained my favorite excursion, but Jamaica as a whole was so much fun. Everyone was so nice. And jovial. I like happy people.



Let me start of by saying that we braved uncharted territory and booked our Jamaica excursion outside of Carnival. They recommend not doing so, but Peat Taylor Tours had such awesome reviews, and we are so glad we went with them. Our guide was Peat Taylor Jr. aka RePeat. HA! He was a lot of fun, and gave just enough background without being annoying. They made our trip comfortable and fun. No problem mon.

First, we stopped at Dunn's River Falls. After some debate, I decided not to climb. I'm not a huge fan of heights, and I hate the feeling of slipping, so really, it was a no-brainer. Tyler, Tom, and Lynzee took it on as I viewed their trek and took pictures, of course. I think all parties involved will appreciate the un-close-ups on this venture, but feel free to click for a slightly closer gander!



Lynzee exited before the guys finished the final climb. She said I would have hated it. It was pretty tough the first third, and she was the only one in their climbing group to not take a fall. No thanks! I'll just step in and appreciate the beauty where it's safe!



After the falls, we headed out to a place PT Tours call Irie Blue Hole. I think it's one of their exclusive spots or something. Repeat told us it's a place he's played at since he was a boy. We loved it, though. It gave us the real feel of being secluded in the middle of a neat, tropical lair. Oh, and irie is a form of the word "good", in case you were curious... ♥



All the factors came together- the sounds, the smells, the humidity in the air. Oh, and the Red Stripe provided as we exited the bus certainly didn't hurt.

Nary a Red stripe tasted so good. Maybe it's all in my head. Or maybe they're really better in Jamaica, mon.

So, the highlight of the Blue Hole was the swinging Tarzan vine. Lynzee and Tyler both gave it a whirl. Tyler was pretty skilled. The guy even commented that he must have done this before. HA!



It was so gorgeous there!



They also had little rock ledges and cliffs to jump from. Tyler was the only one of the four of us crazy enough for that adventure. Here he is jumping of the lowest one. Yep, he kept on going...



Clearly, there's only one way to cap off adventures like these...



After some swimming, swinging, and sipping, interlaced with intermittent drizzle, we went on a little nature hike.



It was pretty awesome.



And, neat to learn about some of our surroundings.



We witnessed our guide attempt feats that we would never dream of. Then, we had some more time to chill and enjoy the features of the blue hole. It was criss.



Our last stop was for some authentic Jamaican jerk. Yum!



As we enjoyed our late lunch on a covered outdoor patio, the rain started coming down a bit harder. By the time we were in line to reboard the ship, it was pouring. I mean pouring. Bless that crew, scurrying to hand out warm towels as we stood in line. Our wait wasn't too bad, yet we still dripped, sopping wet, all the way to our stateroom. Just as soon as we finished our hot showers and slipped into dry clothing, we viewed the line of people waiting to reboard that wrapped around the ship, all the way across the bridge, and past the dock. CRAZY!

Thursday was also our second formal dinner evening. We naturally landed back at the piano bar, where Lynzee and I treated the crowd to both Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire and Meatloaf's Paradise by the Dashboard Light with Dave the piano guy and strange man #1.

Yeah.

Alcoholic beverages were involved.



All in all, Jamaica was pretty rockin'. Yeah mon.