Family Pictures

While we were on board we thought it would be a good opportunity to take our family picture. We tried on several occasions and got a couple of 1/2 way decent ones. Most of the time someone was missing or late or not willing to smile!

One funny story I need to share before I snap back into reality of not being on vacation any more. The room arrangements for the week were Calvin and Dave together in one room and Clare and I in another room. The first night, Calvin woke up (as usual) around 4am to use the bathroom and beg for food. Dave put him back in bed and then DAve fell asleep listening to Calvin sing to himself in bed. A short while later (who knows exactly how much later), Dave was awakened by a loud knock on the door. He was very confused as he got up to answer the door wondering who the heck would be pounding on his door at such an early hour. Then he was even more surprised when he saw 3 security guards handing Calvin back to him. Apparently Calvin had been out wandering the halls by himself and was found and returned to his room. Calvin was pretty scared and went right back to bed! We figure Calvin stepped out in the hall and then got "lost" because he didn't know which was his room. Later in the week he knew his room number and could have probably found his way back but anyway....that was the most interesting story and poor dave got harassed all week for being such an on-top-of-things Dad!

Puerto Vallarta

By far, our favorite day of our trip was the day we went to Puerto Vallarta. It was thanksgiving day, but didn't feel much like Thanksgiving. Puerto Vallarta is tropical jungle. It is beautiful. We had signed up for an on shore excursion through the cruise but it ended up being full so we couldn't get on. Dave and I went on shore and found someone offering the same small trip for quite a bit cheaper so we signed up through them. It was great. We took a 1 hour catamaran ride to a place called Las Caletas -- a private beach in the middle of the jungle, accessible only by boat. At the beach we had free beer (not a big deal for us, but a big advertising point), food, sea kayaks, and other beach toys. We had a great day.


Dave held a monkey.


We wanted clare to put the bird on her head but she didn't go for it, so this was as close as we could get.







This is Clare and Dave on the boat ride home .. .it cracks me up how crazy Clare looks. She is such a mess and is super tired after a full day at the beach!

Cabo San Lucas

In Cabo we took a water taxi ride around the bay and rode around the famous cabo arches and went through to the pacific ocean on the other side. It was fun. The rocks were beautiful and the pelicans were huge! There is also a herd of sea lions that hang out on some of the rocks. It was a cheap and quick little activity and we really enjoyed it. Next time we go to cabo we will take a water taxi to lovers beach (out by the arches) and spend the day there.





Calvin did not let us take his picture most of the week so he usually has his head in someones lap.




This is a picture of our water taxi driver. He did a good job pointing out all of the rock formations. We saw Scooby Do, a baby, elephant and many more. He didn't speak a lick of English so we did our best to understand and speak in spanish. Dave is actually getting pretty decent at spanish becuase the patient population at his hospital is mostly spanish speaking. We are on the pacific ocean side of the rocks and the little window looks back into the bay.

We're back!

Well, most of you probably didn't notice that we were out of town for a week, but we wer!. We went on a 7 day cruise to the Mexican riviera during thanksgiving week on the Vision of the Seas. We had a nice trip. We spent 4 days at sea and also went to Cabo, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta for 1 day each. I will do a few different posts to show what we did.

First, the on board post. Here's what we did on board.

Dave tried out the rock wall several times.



Went dancing


Calvin is dancing like crazy ... it's hard to tell in a still shot but it was pretty fun!




here's Clare just chillin' out on deck.


We brought lots of crayons and other activites to keep the kids occupied at dinner becuase it takes a long time. Usually the kids were so tired by the time we got to dinner that they had a short attention span anyway. Usually they did great for about 1 hour and then started to go crazy. we thought that was pretty good for them but it usually wasn't quite long enough to get through the dinner.


Well, time to go! Tomorrow we'll do Cabo.

It's a Girl!

We had our ultrasound this morning and got to see our baby. It was fun! We had a clear view of between the legs and are sure it is a girl. All looks well with her. We're excited, but Dave is feeling a little out numbered!! So far, the only name that has been suggested is bannana-applehead (by Calvin).

Chapter

While Dave's mom was in town she gave Calvin an electronic learning toy. When we opened it up and put the batteries into it, it didn't work at all. So, we decided to take it back to the store to get a new one. We loaded up the car and headed to target. When we got there, the game was nowhere to be found. We figured Dave had set it down on a table in the garage as he was loading Clare into the car so we did our other shopping and then headed home. Upon arriving home, the game was nowhere to be found. We looked in the garage and in the house -- it had disappeared!! I went into the kitchen to start lunch for the kids and saw Dave walking up the driveway (probably to look and see if maybe he had left it on the roof of the car and it had fallen off as we went up the driveway). I then saw him sprint down the street. I was so curious that I went outside myself and saw him pick up the mangled package off the side of the road. Lucky for him, and his mom who was probably having a heart attack by now having invested a decent amount of money in this present, all the parts were there and it was not beat up. Only the box was completely destroyed. Dave said "well, you can't break something that's already broken" so they went back to target and got another one. They apologized for the state of the box, but did not offer an explanation as to what had happened to it.


As I am writing just now Dave is ironing his dress shirt for tomorrow. He is spraying lysol air disinfecting spray onto his shirt because it was "where the starch should be". I had already told him we didn't have any starch spray but at least he will smell fresh.

Happy Birthday to Clare!

We celebrated Clare's birthday a little early so that we could do it while Grandma Linda was in town and also becuase we'll be traveling on her real birthday and won't be able to make cupcakes. We had a fun day! It was dark out and my camera didn't do a great job with pictures but I've posted a few. (Can you believe how early it gets dark now -- we had to turn on lights in the house around 4:30)!

Clare loved helping decorate the cupcakes (tasting fosting and sprinkles).


We set the table for dinner at around 5 and waited for everyone to show up at 5:30pm. Clare sat at the table almost that entire time saying "happy birthday to clare" and waiting for us to get going. It was pretty cute. She has been singing "happy birthday" a lot lately, whenever she sees a cake, candles of any kind and even when she saw someone smoking a cigarette the other day.


She was so happy when we sang happy birthday to her -- just delighted.



Calvin helped blow out her candles.





Here's clare opening up a present. You can see the wrapping job dave used for wrapping the dora backpack -- he hid it under his shirt!


She got some fun things -- a dora backpack (like Calvin's batman one), a doll stroller (her favoite thing), a doll, a puzzle, a cute outfit, and a dress. It was a fun night -- we sure love Clare and think she is darling!

Some things about Clare:
-she has a sweet tooth -- loves juice, candy, chocolate, and milkshakes
-she loves her dad
-she has a favorite blankie and loves two binkies as well. She has named them "binkie" and "orange"
-she is a great sleeper and loves to sleep in
-she talks a ton
-she is a great eater as well. She usually finishes her meal and sometimes eats Calvins as well since he doesn't eat much.
-she likes to keep track of where everyone is. She is always asking "where's calvin?" "where's daddy?"
-she loves grandpas
-she likes to take a shower
-she likes butterflies
-she loves to play with Calvin
-when she wants to be picked up she says "I hug you" (who can resist that?)