The Cruise

So, I figured I should blog about my last vacation (Caribbean cruise) before I take my next one (Thanksgiving in the OBX).

It was fabulous. It was my fifth cruise, but the first time I had a room with a balcony which was SO nice. Some highlights: sleeping in, naps, lots of reading time, specialty drinks, and towels folded to resemble animals. I read the books Botany of Desire and Peace Like a River (I recommend them both).
As always, the food was fabulous (and plentiful). One night we were even surprised with a Happy Anniversary cake by the wait staff.

We had a lot of fun (though sometimes Andrew didn't want to capture all that fun on film).

We chose the Holland America line because I insisted on fresh water pools (some cruise ships have salty swimming pools). However, we never ended up in the main pools because we bought a pass to the Thermo Pool & Hydro Suite. Loved it. Especially the Hydro Suite which consisted of heated chairs and a wall of windows.We enjoyed all our ports of call:

The first one was the cruise line's private beach: Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.We had another beach day at Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos.

At Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands we went snorkeling at Stingray City, something I have wanted to do since my parents went about 15 years ago. We were surprised by how big the rays were. Sometimes they almost knocked us over trying to get to the food and one accidentally sucked on my back. It was brief, but long enough to leave an ugly hicky. Oh, and it hurt. A lot. We each picked a shore excursion. I picked the stingrays. Drew picked the Kohunlich Mayan ruins in (near) Costa Maya, Mexico. It was sweltering but we still enjoyed the trip and thought the ruins were pretty impressive.

Random

So first of all, I can't believe how warm it has been these last few days. On Sunday I actually had to turn on our AC for a few hours. . . .

Yesterday we took Lizzie grocery shopping. Halfway down the treat aisle Lizzie excitedly exclaimed "Look! Giant Kitkats!" We turned to see what she was looking at and she was holding up a regular-sized candy bar. Apparently up until now the only Kitkats she had seen were the mini Halloween ones.

14 months

Alaina has been delightful. It's been really fun to watch her learn and grow. She has recently enjoyed sitting at her little kid table, though she needs help getting into the chair (she's still a shorty). She also loves this step stool. She carries it around with her and uses it as chair. Finally two days ago she managed to stand on it.

And unfortunately she was also able to open the cupboard (another recent development). Obviously I need to do a whole new level of baby proofing.

Also, she is now scared of the vacuum cleaner (just this last month). She doesn't cry and scream like Lizzie used to, she just quickly walks to the furthest possible corner of the apartment and quietly stands there until I finish vacuuming. It is such a change. I used to be able to vacuum around her and sometimes even nudge her out of the way with the machine. . . .

1 Year Pictures

I meant to post these a month ago, but somehow I haven't been doing things on time this last month. These are Alaina's one year pictures (and Lizzie's six year pictures). And yes, there is a shot of Lainey eating baby treats off the ground. You do what you can. . . . ................These pictures were taken by Penny Lutz. ...............

Rings

Laines likes her stacking rings. She usually wears them on her arms.

Halloween

Liz was sick on Halloween, but by the evening she seemed better enough to go trick-or-treating so we put the girls in the second costumes (matching ballerinas) and headed to a nearby townhome community (townhomes are seriously the best places to trick-or-treat because you can go to more houses in less time).

I guess Liz wasn't really that better because within 20 minutes she asked to go home and when we got there she said she was too tired to look through her candy and could we please do it for her so she could go to sleep?

On Sunday we had the jack-o-lantern light dinner I had envisioned and in the morning I made ghost shaped pancakes with chocolate chips for eyes. Liz refused to eat them ("Mom, you know I don't like chocolate chips in my pancakes." What the?!). Alaina only ate the eyes (after ingesting several regular pancakes) and then screamed for more until we finally had to remove her from the table.

Andrew and I have been enjoying/eating the girls' Halloween candy the last few days. On Sunday afternoon Liz looked in her bucket, then looked at me and said, "I know you have been eating my candy without even asking for permission." Oops. But it's not like she's eating it. I think she's had all of five pieces and that's not because we have regulated her at all. She's as picky with candy as she is with food (the silver lining).

Halloween Costumes

I loved the girls costumes so much that I decided to have some pictures of them during Lainey's one-year photo shoot (thanks again Penny).