Tag: ryan

St. Maarten’s

  • Driving back from the beach. There were five boats docked.
  • Stopping for some gelato.
  • Walking towards the taxi area.

Thursday morning we had arrived at St Maarten’s island. There were two other boats docked by us in the morning. By the afternoon there were five cruise ships docked. Our ship is nothing to sneeze at but it was the smallest one. I think I decided I like that though. In talking with people from other boats through out the day it seemed like our boat had a little more homey feel to it, not crowded, no lines for anything, excellent food. We could always find a place to hang out on the boat that no one else was around. The bigger boats do have more on board activities though which kids would probably like. I felt thouroghly entertained throughout our seven days. I think the quality of shows would be better on a bigger boat though. That is something I felt like was lacking on our boat. We went to three different shows one was ok, one was tolerable and one was awful-we would have left but we all fell asleep instead.

Anyway St Maarten continued our beautiful island cruise and did not disappoint. It had more of a modern, lots of rich people live here look the islands we had seen so far. Ryan and I had booked a SNUBA excursion with a company we found online and were supposed to meet them at 9:30 am. Kenny and Sherri went to do some exploring and shopping and we went to ‘Bobby’s Marina’. When we arrived it was just the two of us. There were about ten other people that were supposed to be booked at our time but they were on a different boat that was about an hour behind schedule. So the company decided to take Ryan and I out to the bay a let us SNUBA with two of their divers while the boat went and picked up the rest of the people and then came back. They kept apologizing because they were ‘leaving us’ but we didn’t care at all. Instead of SNUBAing with ten other people for 25 minutes, we had a private tour for 45 minutes. It was pretty awesome.

So SNUBA is basically scuba diving but instead of having to get a lot of training and carry the oxygen tank on your back, you don’t have to have any training and the oxygen tank is on a little raft and there is a long tube with the respirator attached to you so you can swim and the raft follows you around. You wear snorkel goggles and fins and a weight belt along with the belt that the hose and respirator are attached too. Ryan liked it a lot and said he would definitely do scuba diving. Your vision is pretty limited (zero peripheral) so my claustrophobic self liked knowing that I was tethered to something. It took me a little longer to get used to the breathing than Ryan. It is compressed air so if I breathed in and out like normal (which is what they said to do) I was getting way more oxygen than I was used to and even though I was breathing I felt like I was suffocating. I figured out to breath out about twice as long as I breathed in and I was able to keep my O2/CO2  levels more normal. I still had to stop and concentrate on relaxing and not freaking out a few times. Since we had 45 minutes our ears were able to adjust to the pressure and by the end we were about 20 feet deep. It was pretty amazing. One of the divers took pictures for us and we just swam around and explored the ocean. A lot of the coral was ruined in the hurricane but we still saw some cool stuff. There was a ship and a helicopter crash sunk that was cool to explore.  We saw a squid and a moray eel among all the many different fish sea anemones and urchins. About one minute after we ran out of air and surfaced the boat came back with all the other people. We got out and dried off while they got in. I was looking around the water and saw 2 dorsal fins about 30 feet away. It took my brain a few seconds for it to register what it was and then they were gone. I didn’t think it was a very good idea to start yelling shark and not that I am a shark expert but it didn’t seem like a shark to me for some reason. I kept watching and then I saw three and realized it was dolphins not a shark. I pointed them out and people started to look. Our guides didn’t believe me at first but then they saw them and they got pretty excited. It was kind of funny. They kind of forgot they were helping people dive and got really excited to see the dolphins. One of the guys staying on the boat immediately dived in and started swimming towards them. One of them told me he has lived there for 35 years and never seen a dolphin in this bay. He told me when I yelled dolphin he thought I was seeing a buoy. By the time I got my camera out to film them they had moved further out but you can see them pop up a few times on the video. It was a really fun excursion, made even more fun because it turned into a private excursion.

  • There were dozens of pelicans and baby pelicans living in these rocks right by were we were SNUBA diving.
  • First time coming down into the water.
  • Find the Eel.
  • Different view of the eel
  • Moray Eel
  • Holding a sea urchin
  • Giving the ‘everything is good’ signal
  • These rocks were covered in coral before the hurricane a year ago.
  • I’m trying to equalize my ears.

After we returned from our SNUBA we met up with Kenny and Sherri. The day was about half over so we didn’t have to much time to explore. We had heard of a really nice beach so we decided to grab a taxi to the beach and spend the afternoon there. It took us a little bit to find a taxi that would just take us to the beach but we finally did. Traffic was pretty congested on this island too so it took a good 40 minutes to get to the beach. It was a gorgeous beach though. We grabbed some lunch at a questionable restaurant but it was the only one around and we were starving. We also learned that St Maarten islanders are not good about estimating time. Everything took at least twice as long as they told us it would. Getting to the beach, making our food, and going back to the ship. It was a little slow going. After we enjoyed the beach for a while we luckily decided to head back a little earlier than we originally planned since we had to find a taxi. We were able to ride in a taxi that was picking up some other people but it took us over an hour to get back to the boat-even with our driver driving on the wrong side of the road a few times to pass everyone. Everyone seemed to have the same issue because when it was time for the boat to leave there was still a few people missing. We made it back though and had a fun evening on the boat and enjoying some delicious hot chocolate from Veneesh at dinner.

  • Crystal clear water, so gorgeous.
  • Sherri tried to bum a ride for us on that catamaran back to our boat. The captain was cool with it but he said the cruise line would fire him if he came back with more passengers than he left with.
  • We ate at this ‘restaurant’ on the beach and tested our immune systems.

Dominica

  • I took this for our family lessons on ‘be grateful and appreciative for what you have’
  • One of the schools.
  • This is the only sign on any of the islands we ever saw that said something along the lines of ‘be careful’
  • Trafalgar Falls
  • Kenny found a personal pool.
  • Hot Springs

When we woke up on Wednesday we were in port at Dominica, which is called the rain forest of the Caribbean. All the islands have a lot of trees and forest up at the higher areas. Dominica was all jungle with a house occasionally peeking through the green. They get 200-400 inches of rain a year!

Our exploring plan worked out pretty well on Grenada so we decided to do the same thing on Dominica. We found a taxi driver that took just the four of us on a tour. He drove around and showed us different views of the islands. We ended up at Trafalgar Falls. After a short hike the trail opens up to a little look out area and there are two beautiful waterfalls right by each other. You could stay there or walk down and climb around in the water and rocks. So we did. We climbed and explored for a while, we found a small pool that we all got in to refresh ourselves. It was cold, but how many times do you have the opportunity to take a swim in a river on the island of Dominica?! 

Next on the tour was some of the islands hot springs. They have one as big as a football field but we didn’t have time for that one. They get a lot of mud and minerals that are good for your skin from their hot springs. They were trying to rub it on us the whole time we were there. It goes on gray then dries to brown. Someone tried to give us a tattoo with it with a leaf. A sneaky old man rubbed some on my arm when I was walking by and I had a brown blotch on my arm for the rest of the day. Dominica was the place we felt like we were being haggled the most. You couldn’t walk two feet without someone wanting to sell you something. I tried to just avoid eye contact because I was not very good at saying no. I decided to not carry any cash on me after I spent two dollars on a paper flower made of crepe paper so some little girls could go to school so I could just say I didn’t have any money. A little bit later a guy with a guitar started following Sherri and I around singing a made up song about how our husbands looked like Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis. I told him I didn’t have any money and he said that Ryan and Kenny had told them to come find us and sing his song after he sang it to them because we had the money. 🤦‍♂️ 

After the hot springs we asked our driver to take us to a beach. Dominica isn’t as well known for its beaches as some of the other islands we visited but he said he would take us to one that was actually a black sand beach. I thought that was pretty cool because I had never been to a black sand beach before. It sticks to you more than white sand. The waves were black too which I did not expect and looked pretty cool. We rented a little palm tree shade area and some chairs to relax in. This beach was the first place we saw pelicans. They were flying and around us and diving for their food. All of us swam and took a nap on our chairs. I spent way to long trying to catch a pelican diving on camera. It was a wonderful afternoon.

After a few hours at the beach we headed back to the boat a little early. After we changed Sherri and I went to the rock climbing wall. We were the only ones there so we raced a few times and then tried the harder climbs. It took me a few tries but I was finally able to get to the top of the hardest one.

  • Black Sand Beach
  • Sherri and I didn’t get towels on our head soon enough.
  • He put a towel over his head so people would stop trying to sell him stuff.

Grenada

  • View from our balcony at Grenada port
  • Spice Shop
  • John teaching us about cocoa
  • Nutmeg
  • Learning about the Isle of Spice, spices.
  • View from the spice shop
  • Spice owners view from his back yard
  • Nutmeg tree
  • We hiked up, then down, to see the waterfall.
  • Jack the Mona monkey

Our third day on the boat started with waking up in a new port at Grenada. We all agreed this was our favorite day overall. After a delicious breakfast at the Windjammer Cafe (we started calling it the Facejammer) we left the boat.

The guys convinced Sherri and I to live on the wild side and not book an excursion/tour through the ship. So we walked past all the buses and vans crammed full of people going on the same tour and we found a very nice taxi driver named Ricky who agreed to take the four of us on a tour of the island, bonus- for less than a third of what the cruise line would have charged us.

Grenada is known as the Isle of Spice, so the first place he took us was to a nice little old man named John’s spice shop. John gave us a demonstration on how they make nutmeg and cocoa and all kinds of information that I thought I would remember but don’t about the many different spices they make on the island. It was very interesting, and of course my natural herbalistic side was intrigued and we got some spices and herbal remedies to bring home with us. They had some highly recommended cocoa balls that they recommended making ‘cocoa tea’ with. We got a few of those and thought it would be a fun drink to try and we got a few to give as gifts. Later when we boiled some water, dissolved the cocoa ball and added twice the recommended amount of sugar we tasted it. It was disgusting. I have tried an herbal tea called Matte so I was expecting something kind of like that. It was way grosser than that. Even after adding more sugar and then chocolate milk I couldn’t handle it. So that went down the drain. I feel bad for giving it to everyone I did too. Hopefully someone likes it. But I feel like I should say sorry if you are reading this and I gave you a cocoa ball. I didn’t know they would be that gross. At the back of his shop there was a little balcony that gave you an amazing view of the island. It was a great little place to stop. Our tour was off to a good start.

The next stop on our tour was up in the mountains a little bit. He dropped us off and showed us where to find a short trail that lead to a waterfall. When we got to the trail head there was a man with his pet monkey. For a small donation he would let you hold it, so of course we all did it. The water fall was very pretty, we explored a bit then headed back to Ricky. He drove us around a few more places. There was an old Fort you could tour by the prison. The prison was pretty small and actually looked like a farm with walls around it. We asked him about it and he said that if someone went to prison they had to work and grow food so they weren’t just sitting around. He also said there really wasn’t a lot of crime on the island. He said that everyone watched out for each other and kept tabs on each other. I noticed that on all the islands people were very helpful and kind. Sometimes you could tell it was more of a tolerance because tourism is their bread and butter but in Grenada especially the people were very genuine and welcoming. As we were driving around we passed one of our churches. We pointed it out and he said that there are two missionaries on the island with white shirts and ties that he has seen. Ryan told him to talk to them next time he saw them and tell them he drove a bunch of Mormons around for the day. 

We wanted to check out a beach for a while so Ricky took us to one that was not as crowded and was a calm area. We walked into a restaurant with two people eating at the counter and giant open windows overlooking the ocean. It was gorgeous. Kenny said he felt like we were in a picture. I agree. I took a lot of beautiful pictures. We ate some local food. I tried the creole fried chicken and it was delicious. Everyone else tried something called rotie. It was alright, way better than mafungo. After we ate we spent some time swimming in the crystal blue water and hanging out on the white soft sand beach. After a few hours it was time to head back to the boat. On the way we came down a hill that overlooked a little bay and there was a beautiful complete double rainbow. Ricky stopped right there on the road so we could take pictures. It was an incredible view. Ricky dropped us off just outside a strip mall so we could walk through and shop a little on our way back to the boat. It was a wonderful day. 

That night we went to a comedy show, played more cards and, stayed up late talking, and watched a dance contest between passengers and the crew. 

  • Can you see the animal in this picture?
  • This is the restaurant where Kenny said he felt like we just walked into a picture.
  • Mullet Bay
  • Ryan’s picture of the full double rainbow. 🙁
  • Better but now the camera is the wrong way.
  • This is Sherri’s pic

Day at Sea and Barbados

Our first full day on the ship was a day at sea while we sailed south to reach Barbados. We slept in and woke up to the beautiful view of the ocean and the occasional island in the distance. We shopped in the stores on board a bit. Ryan and Kenny had signed up for a Sushi making class. While they were at that Sherri and I attended the ‘giant giveaway information meeting’. That was our only regret of the whole cruise. It was a waste of an hour of our time. We tried out several different areas to eat on board, sat out on our balconies and watched or participated in several of the games they have going on throughout the day like trivia, or name that song, and a belly flop contest.

Enjoying the fresh air and the view from our balcony.

After dinner that night we ended up in the Safari Lounge which kind of became our spot. We went there often to play Spades or Hearts. They had karaoke going on the first night we went there. There was quite a range of talent but it was fun whether they were good or bad. Everyone was cheering either way. I convinced Sherri to sing ‘Any Man of Mine’ by Shania Twain with me. My friends and I had a cassette tape of her music in high school that we sang along to everyday on our drive to and from school and anywhere else we went. We wore that tape out. Anyway, we sang it and it was a blast. I would have voted to skip the last verse because it got a little long but it was fun. We came back the next night and Ryan sang ‘Sweet Caroline’ by Neil Diamond. It was a hit. I don’t think he moved a muscle the whole time he sang but he sang well. Ryan didn’t want Kenny to feel left out so he took the liberty of signing him up for a song. He kept telling Kenny he was next and three songs later about the time Kenny was starting to relax and think Ryan was just messing with him, they called Ken French up to sing ‘Oops I Did It Again’ by Brittany Spears. He was a good sport and went up and sang. It was hilarious. When the crowd saw this big burly guy walk up to sing a Brittany Spears song they loved it. He got comments about it the rest of the week from random people while we were walking around.

Monday morning when we woke up we were docked at Barbados. It was a pretty small island. Our cruise came with some on board credit so we used ours towards a sailing and snorkeling excursion on a catamaran. There was a note on our itinerary to make sure we didn’t wear anything that was camouflage colors or even just the standard ‘marine green’. Anyone wearing that color that was not a member of their military would be arrested for impersonating a military officer. Apparently there was a little bit of tension politically on the island. As we were leaving the ship one of the passengers was arguing with a crew member about having to change his shorts. Maybe I am just a chicken but I don’t know why you would any shade of green when the risk of being thrown in a foreign prison was explained.

We found a bus to take us to the docks for the catamarans and we started out adventure. There was about 25 people and 4 crew members. The first two hours we just sailed around the island and they pointed out different things as we went. I sat up front and relaxed on the net for a while in the sun. They fed us a nice lunch and then we arrived at a place to snorkel. Everyone geared up and we all jumped in the ocean. The place we went usually had turtles which we saw. There was a sunken ship with lots of fish and even a turtle swimming around it too. It was pretty fun. I have never snorkeled before but it isn’t hard. It was a little crowded in the water because they tried to keep us close together so they could keep track of everyone. Everyone accidentally was grabbed or grabbed someone several times. It was a neat experience. When I was swimming back to the boat I also got to experience an under tow. One second I was an arms length away from the ladder, the next I was 10 feet away and going further. I decided to go to the other side of the boat after swimming and getting no where for a while. After we snorkeled for about 45 minutes they took us to a nearby beach. We were able to jump off the boat and swim to the shore. I am always amazed at the blueness of the water and how clear it is. It is so pretty. We walked along the beach for a while and then Ryan buried his feet and I made myself a mermaid tail in the sand. After the beach the excursion was over. They took us back to the docks and we rode a taxi to our ship. We met up with Kenny and Sherri for dinner. We didn’t see a lot of Barbados other than the coast line but it had the typical island bright colored houses spattered along the coast and up the mountain and greenery growing in any unclaimed space. It was a very nice first day of the boat excursion.

Pre-Cruisin in Puerto Rico

Ryan and I have been talking about going on a cruise together ever since our first one 6 years ago for our 10th anniversary. Earlier this year Ryan decided he couldn’t wait any longer and he pulled the trigger and booked us a cruise for December 1-8 to the Western Caribbean. It left from Puerto Rico so we added a few days before to  have some time to explore Puerto Rico too since neither of us has been there. Then we invited Sherri and Kenny to come with us. Ryan’s parents helped us out by coming to watch the kids while we were gone.

It was GLORIOUS! We loved every minute of it. The first time we went on a cruise I was pregnant with Emilee and it wasn’t that great. The cruise was awesome but I didn’t feel good, had no energy and couldn’t do a lot of the activities. I didn’t know how much of the yuckiness was pregnancy or sea sickness so I was a little worried about going again. Turns out that it was all pregnancy and no sea sickness. I didn’t have any trouble at all, in fact I found the motion very relaxing and soothing.

Ryan’s parents came Wednesday night and got settled. Roger took us to the airport Thursday morning. By 5pm we were arriving at out hotel in P.R. We tried a restaurant recommended by the hotel ‘next to the cock fighting arena’ and tried some local cuisine. The local authentic dish is mafungo. It is plantains smashed and fried and sometimes can have spices mixed with it. Not my favorite. We walked around outside for a little bit but it was dark so we hung out at the hotel. I never quite got used to Christmas decorations in a tropical environment. It always seemed weird and a little cheesy to me.

Friday morning we walked on the beach that was 5 minutes from our hotel then Ryan rented a car and we drove up into the mountains. There are several gorgeous water falls you can hike to. Some of the trails weren’t repaired from the hurricane but we hiked to Quebrada Juan Diego Falls, and a tower that overlooked the Yunkan forest. We found a little smoothie stand on the side of the road on our way back down the mountain. Ryan was excited to get an ‘authentic’ fruit smoothly. I was a little relieved when they made it with Kirkland brand ingredients from Costco. It was yummy though. 

  • Getting ready to climb the tower for an amazing view
  • The climb was worth it.
  • Breath taking views
  • Hiking to our first waterfall.
  • Ryan braved the cold water.

After the rain forest we headed to the beach. The water was perfect. The waves at the beaches in PR were pretty big. We spent an hour or two swimming in the water then walked through some shops and grabbed some dinner.  When we go on vacation Ryan and I switch rolls. He becomes the planner and organizer and I become forgetful and carefree. So before the shops we had to find a bank to withdraw some cash because I forgot our bag at the hotel with our cash in it. That was a different experience. When we walked in through the first door it locked behind us and the second door was locked and we had to be buzzed in. I rarely go inside banks but when I have they are not that busy. This bank, appropriately named Banco Popular was hopping. There were at least six tellers and then that many more people at desks (all wearing their Christmas bedazzled headbands) and no less than 20 people being helped or waiting. And Ryan and I were the only two white people in there and stood out like a blinking light bulb. Everyone was very friendly though and after paying ridiculous fees to get $40 in cash we were soon on our way out after being buzzed out and locked in between the two exit doors again.

After we ate we headed to Fajarda where we had booked a kayaking trip from the ocean two miles down a little inlet that opened up into a bay. We arrived about ten minutes before sunset. We watched the sunset several times on our trip. It was always pretty but I noticed that it isn’t as colorful and vibrant as sunsets with mountains or more things for the lights to bounce off of. It was still beautiful to watch. Once the sun went down the bay we were at contained bio luminescent algae that put of light when the water gets stirred. We read lots of reviews about how awesome it was (well Ryan did, I took the carefree approach) and some friends of ours actually went to one in another part of PR and said it was the highlight of their trip.  So it got dark and we started stirring the water…not a lot happened. The guides got our group together and explained how it all works and this bay was one of only four bays in the world that glow year round, but sometimes water and weather conditions allow for more glowing than other times. Then they gave us a tarp to put over our heads so we could stir the water in total darkness and see it. You could see little sparkles but it was no where near what was expected. It was a little disappointing. We paddled around the bay in the dark for about 10 minutes then they told us to start heading back down the inlet to get back to the docks. As we were paddling in the pitch black through the mangroves the hilarity of 10 kayaks  the two we were sandwiched between containing people with zero kayaking experience and zero natural ability quickly became apparent to me. The only light was the glow sticks on both ends, unless a guide shined a flash light momentarily to help you get your bearings. So instead of hearing calm slow strokes Ryan and I were surrounded by almost panicked nonstop unfocused splashing followed by the crunch of a kayak running into the mangroves and watching the little glow stick lights ping pong back and forth from one side to the next with occasional complete spins in circles. When it got particularly chaotic one of the guides turned their light on to find that one kayak had basically crashed into the other and was high centered. We were stuck in the middle of this for about 15 minutes before we were able to sneak around them. It was some of the best entertainment I have had in a while. I was crying and had a side ache from laughing so hard but trying to not be to loud about it. Amongst all the chaos some of the funniest things I heard was someone tell his wife to put her paddle down and she was no longer allowed to paddle. The other two were arguing about which direction they were facing and rowing. HI.LAR.I.OUS. It almost made up for going kayaking on a kayak trip in the dark and not seeing what you were supposed to see.

When we finished our kayak experience is was late and Kenny and Sherri had arrived so we went back to the hotel and hung  out with them for a bit. Later that night we were talking about how we had spent the entire day together. We couldn’t remember the last time just the two of us spent all day together. We actually got to talk about things beyond the basics of surviving the next 24 hours. We both enjoyed it, luckily we still like each other. 😉

The next morning the four of us checked out and loaded up in the car and went to Old San Juan. There is two forts that have been there for over 400 years that we toured. They were pretty impressive. I felt like I was walking around a castle. Another observation that we all made while on our trip is that rarely do you see any posted rules or guidelines like you do in the US. At the fort there were dozens of windows and lookouts that you could walk right out on and they dropped off to a 50-100 foot sheer cliff, no railings or anything. They would have had gates blocking any access to them if it was in the US. It was the same with driving. No stop signs, rarely a stop light. Everyone just took turns and used common sense and politeness. Anyway, we walked around the forts for a few hours then wandered through town and found a restaurant recommended to us by a friend. We passed on their mafungo recommendation and had some yummy seafood instead. Then it was time to return the car and head to the boat!

  • This is the road cars drove on around Old San Juan
  • They kept the land clear of anything to hide behind around the Fort. There is also a giant dry moat around the Fort at the top of the walk way.
  • We are on the walkway leading into the Fort.
  • We are both standing in a look out area that drops off a shear cliff anywhere from 50-100 feet.
  • You can see more of the look outs behind him. He is standing on one too. We were shocked they would let people just walk right out on them.
  • Looking out from the fort. There is a huge dry moat around it, along with the flat open fields.
  • The rocks filter out any sand so the water is a crazy bright blue.
  • Coming down to the kitchen area of the fort, and lower canons.
  • This is the appropriately named triangle stair case. They used it to get up and down the different levels in a hurry of they needed to.

We checked our luggage in and got out sea passes and boarded the boat. We were on Royal Carribeans Jewel of the Seas. It is one of their smaller boats which I think is perfect because there are not lines everywhere and it feels less crowded. After we explored the boat we had to go to our muster stations and learn how to evacuate. Then we ate our first dinner on board. This particular boat is known for its better than usual food. It was very good all week long. We bounced around to different waiters the first few night but then we settled into a spot with Domingos and Veneesh for the last three nights. They were both from India, and were very kind and sweet. Domingos always remembered our names and what our favorites were. Veneesh remembered that we preferred hot chocolate instead of coffee with dessert and made some of the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had. It was always the perfect temperature too. Mmmm, its the little things that matter.

After dinner our staterooms were ready so we checked them out and unpacked a little. We got a balcony which was really nice to eat breakfast on, or just sit out and relax and enjoy the view. I loved waking up each morning and looking out to see the ocean or the new port we were in. The boat departed at about 8:30 pm. It was a little windy the first two day but otherwise the weather was perfect and the seas were pretty smooth. Before we called it a night we went up to the front of the boat and took our ‘Jack and Rose Titanic Pictures’. It was awesome to be three days into a vacation that was just getting started.

  • On our way to the ship through Old San Juan.
  • That’s the Bridge. There was always one or two people standing in those windows.
  • Enjoying the fresh air and the view from our balcony.
  • Leaving Puerto Rico on our first night on the ship.
  • On our way to the Safari Lounge I took this picture for Allison. She loved it.
  • Towel Penguin greeting us when we came in one night.
  • Main pool, and location of the very funny belly flop contest.
  • Janae: ‘I’m flying Ryan, I’m flying!’ Ryan: Your hair is hitting me in the face. Kenny: You are ruining the best part of the movie.
  • Top of the 12th floor looking all the way down to the 4th. This was called the Centrum of the boat.
  • Standing on the glass that looks down through 8 floors of the ship.
  • On board entertainers
  • They had fancy sitting areas all around the ship. Sherri liked these flower chairs.
  • Swan…or cobra in a basket waiting for us after dinner.
  • Sunset
  • Trying out the pano function on our cameras. This is Grenada.
  • Ryan’s photo taking skills need some work, so he didn’t take to many pictures. He couldn’t get enough of this view though.

Thanksgiving

Our November flew by in a flash! Everyone had lots of activities going on, I worked quite a bit, and Ryan was extra busy with work. I also like to get as much Christmas prep done as I can in November so when December comes we can have less to do and enjoy the season. So we got our decorations up mid December and most of the present shopping done too. The girls had a daddy daughter dance with their dad for Girl Scouts. It happened to be on the same night as Ross and Lauren’s annual Pie Night, so the girls decided to leave the dance a little early to make it to both activities. Ryan was very happy with their decision because he looks forward to Pie Night. Emilee found a cat while we were waiting at piano lessons. She coaxed it from the neighbors driveway to the one we were at and played with it. I had a spell of momentary weakness come over me that almost ended up with me bringing the cat home. I was able to talk myself down though. The kindergartners celebrated Thanks giving by having a little singing program for their parents. They all dressed up as an Indian or a Pilgrim. Then they had a feast together when they were all done. The Saturday before Thanksgiving we had a Friendsgiving with some families from Matthew’s baseball team. It was a fun night. We are very lucky to have a nice group of families on the team.

  • Girl Scout Fall Ball
  • Emilee found  friend.
  • The kindergarten classes sang some songs and had a Thanksgiving feast.
  • Emilee loves holding Linnea whenever she can.
  • Ready for breakfast but not ready to wake up yet.
  • On the way to Grandma and Grandpa Jones house.
  • Enjoying the nice drive through a blizzard.
  • After driving almost 11 hours in the snow, we got stuck in our driveway. Thank goodness for neighbors with snow blowers.

My mom had a surgery on her neck the week before Thanksgiving so we went up to South Dakota to see her and my dad for Thanksgiving. It has been a while since we have been up there. I was very happy to find my mom in very good condition considering she had a major surgery one week before. She was doing so good I had to keep reminding the kids that they had to be careful with her.

Ryan and I both worked on Wednesday so we headed up on Thanksgiving Day. We decided to celebrate on Friday instead. 
My mom likes to cook but couldn’t, I could cook but don’t like to so we decided to pick the favorites we wanted from a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and nix the rest of it. 

My mom, always prepared (even when having a surgery), had made rolls ahead of time, and had the options of a turkey, chicken, roast or ham to choose as the main dish. My mom and I were out voted on the turkey for  a ham. We added the rolls, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, a Sam’s Club pumpkin pie (the very best pumpkin pie you can get) and we had a great Thanksgiving feast on Friday. For the rest of our time in South Dakota everyone’s goal was to relax. I think we were very successful at it. We all went to the theater together and watch the new ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas’ movie. The kids discovered the 1992 Mighty Ducks movie. I remember loving it when I was younger and watching it many times. We watched the original, second and third movies of that. The boys went and saw the new Harry Potter movie too. My mom and I were able to squeeze in several Christmas Hallmark movies and the adults all watched ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ which I don’t recommend. Among all the couch potatoes watching movies there were many card games of Golf, and Baloney (BS), and various board games going on as well. It was a great long weekend.

We checked the weather several times and were debating on leaving Saturday or Sunday because KC up to Omaha was supposed to get hit with a big blizzard. We decided on leaving later on Sunday when the storm was done. When we woke up Sunday the storm was much bigger and slower so it was supposed to hit in the afternoon, so we left as early as we could to get home instead of waiting. The roads were crystal clear until we got just past Omaha. Then the freeways were closed and everything else. We tried the side roads for a bit but I got tired of that quick so we went back to the freeway and we were able to get on but we drove 30-40 miles the rest of the way home. This made the last usually 2 1/2 hour long trip take more than twice as long so by the time we got home it took us almost 11 hours instead of 6. It was a long day… the kids did great and were able to hold going to the bathroom for new record times. Ryan was pretty grumpy, and I was the driver the last 8 hours so I was tired. We were both a little irritable and we learned our lesson to be better at checking the weather. We told the kids it was a good example for them as to why we don’t drive in bad weather, and it wasn’t mom and dad’s best decision.

Wrapping Up Baseball with the Monster Bash Tournament

The Monster Bash was our last tournament of the Fall season. This team has played in this tournament three years. This is our second year playing with this team in this tournament. Part of the tournament is a twitter contest. The team that has the most tweets over the weekend gets cash for future tournaments. Our moms have won the contest by miles for the last two years and we made it three this year. There are over 400 teams that play in this tournament so we were playing in Platte City which is a little over an hour away. It was a really nice ball field though. We played two games the first day. We squeaked into the top division in 10th place which meant we had to play at 8am the next day. When the boys won that game our next game wasn’t until 4pm. One of the coaches had family that lived near by and offered to let the team hang out at their house for a while. So we ordered some pizza’s, and watched the football game, the boys played dodge ball and baseball in the front yard, the girls played in the leaves. It was a fun few hours.

We won the 4pm game. The 6pm semi championship game went extra innings and the boys clawed their way to finally win it in the 9th inning (usually a game is 6 innings). The Championship Game started a little before 9pm and the boys did really well just came up a little short. It is a long day at the ball park when you see the sunrise and sunset on the same day. It was a great end to the season.

Genetics are strong.

Many years ago my two sisters came upon some stink bombs that they were very excited to put to good use. I was not living at home anymore but they filled me in later. I can’t remember what they did with all of them but I know one ended up in the 18 hole at a mini putt putt golf course and could be smelled from the parking lot, where they observed from afar and laughed their heads off. Another one ended up in my brothers room and I have been told many times since that was probably the maddest they had ever seen him. They still laughed their heads off, just at a safe distance.

Fast forward a decade or so and…

Allison wanted to do a little shopping with some of her money that she had recently acquired. It usually starts burning a hole in her pocket the second she gets it so she wanted to go to 5 Below and see what treasures she could find (5 Below is a step or two above a dollar store, but everything is $5 or less) She meandered around and eventually found the prank aisle and thought she had enough money to get a whoopee cushion, fake little pieces of poop, and a small aerosol can of ‘fart smell’. (Insert emoji slapping its forehead) Luckily, she did not have enough to get all of those things, but despite my efforts to find something not in the poop category to spend her money on she put back the whoopee cushion and took the other two up to the front to pay.

When she checked out she actually only had enough money for one. I again told her we could go find something else but she agonized for what I am sure the people behind us in line felt like was forever over her decision until finally deciding to just buy the stinky spray (insert emoji with fallen disappointed face) After making her purchase she then skipped out to the car pleased as punch with herself.

On the way home she decided to test it. I should have seen this coming but didn’t think through needing possible rules for the stinky spray before we even got home. She sprayed it in the car and immediately started complaining that it didn’t even stink and she was going to email the company and tell them ‘their fart spray stinks because it doesn’t stink.’ Mean while, I am driving the van and was unfortunately sitting in a location in front of the direction she sprayed the stuff. It did stink! It was foul and disgusting and unlike a ‘real fart’ it didn’t dissipate after a few seconds (actually got stronger), or by rolling the windows down. It was disgusting and of course Allison thought it was hilarious. I immediately laid down some ‘stinky spray rules’ (never saw that coming before I became a mom) and told her no more spraying it in the car or other enclosed spaces.

Allison is the worlds best negotiator though and she baked up some story to spray a little in Matthew’s room as a joke on him because he pulls little pranks on her all the time. I could tell this was the entire grand plan behind getting the stuff in the first place so I told her she could do it one time. Matthew does pull lots of pranks on her.

Allison decided to sneak in his room when he went down for breakfast on Sunday morning before church. She sprayed some stench in his room them came down to eat. Matthew went upstairs to shower. Alli was bouncing with excitement waiting to hear his yell, or gagging sound or something. Nothing. He showered and got dressed then came out. I figured he tried the ‘just ignore it’ tactic to make Allison mad. I forgot about it and finished getting ready in my room. Allison was not ready to just move on though. She went in his room and sprayed some more. She made up some excuse to have Matthew come upstairs to his room, which he did…nothing. Didn’t react in anyway. He went back downstairs. Allison was not to be deterred though. She sprayed more, a lot more. So much more that it came out of Matthew’s room and down the hall and Ryan started to smell it from his closet. (Side note, Ryan was not happy I ‘let’ her buy the stink spray. He said it was a ‘bad choice’ and he ‘wished I wouldn’t have let her do that’ (insert emoji rolling eyes)) He came out to see what was going on and was ‘assaulted’ by the horrible smell now filling the hall and floating down the stairs. I don’t know what reaction she wanted from Matthew but she got one from Ryan. All previous stinky spray rules were erased and a new one was put in place.

NO stinky smell sprays are allowed to be used, stored, or even brought into the house or they will be thrown away and destroyed immediately with no compensation to the owner.

Apparently bad smells make Ryan pretty grumpy. That isn’t a big surprise, he is always telling the kids, ‘Don’t be the stinky kid.’ By this time everyone was getting annoyed and gagging at the smell, except for Matthew who was down stairs with his nose in a book oblivious to everything. While I was opening windows and getting some Febreeze I asked Matthew if his book was so good he couldn’t smell the stench overtaking the house. He said, “No, but my allergies are so bad that I can’t smell anything.”  I told Allison why her prank didn’t work and she was pretty annoyed. HAHAHA!

So we finished getting ready for church and headed out the door. When we got to church Matthew came and sat between Ryan and I.  I kept catching whiffs of the smell. I guess there was some that settled on his clothes when he was in his room and hadn’t had enough time to go away yet. Alli sprayed A LOT of it.  I was making a game plan to get some smelly lotion or oils from someone to help cover the smell but by the time sacrament was over the luckily the smell was gone. By the time we got home the smell was gone from the house too. I did one more round of Febreeze in Matthew’s room so that he was safe from being the stinky kid after sleeping in his room all night. Allison’s remaining spray may or may not have been misplaced. All in all though I think she felt like it was a great purchase.

Then vs now-Kindergarten

I think for a post every now and then I am going to pick an event that everyone (or most) of our family has done and compare them or write what we remember about those times. The first one I am going to do it kindergarten.

I’ll go first. I think these memories I have are from kindergarten…but they could be mixed with other memories and I don’t realize it. That’s the product of age plus memories I guess. Like the time when I was telling my mom about our trip to Nauvoo when I was younger and she told me I had never been to Nauvoo. I told her all about the trip and she showed me a picture book with pictures of the events that I had described. Apparently at some point I looked through the pictures and it became a memory of something I did instead of pictures I had seen. Anyway, I digress. Back to kindergarten.

I lived in Loa Utah, in a white house that I believe was on the corner of the street that was a straight shot down to the school. It would have been 1987. I want to say my teachers name was Mrs. Taft but I would have to look that up in a picture book to be sure and I am to lazy to do that right now. I remember learning our letters and she had a little blow up alphabet character for each letter and we could take turns bringing them home sometimes. I remember swinging on the swings and being ‘married’ to someone if we were swinging exactly together. I think we had a nap time. We did have snack time and it was chocolate or regular milk with something to eat. You were not allowed to blow bubbles in your milk or they would take your milk away. I remember blowing bubbles one day without really being aware of it and they took my milk away. I wondered how they even knew I was doing it. I remember wondering how adults knew a lot of things growing up. It makes me chuckle now when I can tell my kids are thinking the same thing. It is usually pretty obvious but in a kids mind you think you are being so sly. I remember our neighbor Clayton that was my age. He had a rabbit and I remember him explaining how to tell if it was a boy or girl and I had no idea what he was talking about because all I could see was fur. I remember telling my mom that I was sick one day when I wasn’t and I thought I was pretty slick because she let me stay home and lay on the couch. I was highly disappointed when everyone got home from school and I felt better and felt good enough to go play with everyone. my mom said I should probably stay on the couch for the rest of the day to make sure I didn’t get sick again. The only other thing I remember about kindergarten in that my dog followed me to school one day and was barking at people. I was worried they were going to take him to the pound but my mom came and got him and took him home.

Ryan lived in Manhattan Kansas. He would have started kindergarten in 1984.  He remembers racing out to the jungle gym for recess because everyone tried to race and get the spot on top. His teachers name was Ms Crane. His mom took him to school and he doesn’t really remember anything about in the class and learning. He remembers recesses and looking forward to them. He met his friend Jake Sumners in kindergarten and they are still friends to this day. The only other thing he remembers is how to get to his class room when he got to school.

Matthew went to Scarborough Elementary in Olathe Kansas and had afternoon kindergarten with Mrs Herl in 2012. He says some of his memories are also PE and recess related. He learned how to play color tag and found out that he was a pretty fast runner. His favorite things to do were PE with Mr Simpson. Toilet tag was another favorite that he taught them to play. It is basically freeze tag but when you get tagged you have to put one knee on the ground and hold your hand out. If someone runs by you and ‘flushes’ your hand you can unfreeze and start running again. The first fire drill scared him because he didn’t understand what a drill was. He remembers cutting his knee open when he slid on the rocks at recess and thought he was so tough because he didn’t even know it and it didn’t hurt. There were only 11 kids in his class and of those 11 only 3 were boys. They had two recesses. They had a Halloween costume parade and he was Optimus Prime. When they had career day and were supposed to dress up as what they wanted to be when they grew up he dressed up as a zoo keeper. One of his favorite things when he was in kindergarten was animals. He loved to watch the Nat Geo Wild Channel and his favorite TV show was Wild Kratz. All the parents sent in a couple boxes of something for snacks and if anyone was allergic to any foods they had to bring their own snack.

Allison went to half day morning kindergarten with Ms Ryder in 2015 at Prairie Creek Elementary. For her first Halloween at school she was a Spanish dancer, mostly because she liked the dress, not because she liked dancing. They had one 15 minute recess. I have asked several times what other things she liked about kindergarten and she has repeatedly told me nothing…so this is a short paragraph.

Emilee started full day kindergarten in 2018 with Mrs Pahl also at Prairie Creek. Half day kindergarten is no longer an option. I had to sign a waiver saying any snacks I send to school for Emilee will only be eaten by her and not contain any nuts or be made in a place that has nuts. She has a morning and afternoon recess for 15 minutes each. She is making friends and enjoys it once she gets there but is still a little nervous about going in the morning.

 

Summer happenings.

I have some ‘random’ pictures on my phone from this summer that I thought I would put in my blog.

These first ones are a double rainbow. We have had lots of rainbows this summer! Big beautiful full ones and at least two double ones that I can remember. Pictures don’t do it justice of course but it helps you remember.

 

 

double rainbow

Then we have Joaquin, Matthew, and Jake in that order. These buddies play on the same baseball team and they clicked immediately when they met. They have a lot of fun together and work hard at baseball together. Joaquin and Matthew play short stop and second and they are fun to watch. They are both little speed demons and are athletic and make some great plays. Joaquin’s family is going to be living in the Philippines for the next three years. They will come home for a 6-8 weeks in the summer and Joaquin will play with us when he is here but it is sad to see him go. They had one last sleep over together before he left. They stayed up late, played way to much video games, had pillow fights, talked baseball, and stayed fueled with pop tarts. An incredible night in Matthew’s words. 🙂

Three Amigos

Baseball buddies sleep over.

Emilee and dad were taking silly pictures on his phone together the other night and he ended up with this one of her and him among the silly ones. He told me he loves this picture and I need to do something with it. I think that means he wants a physical copy of it. He has a picture of Matthew about a week old that he keeps in his wallet, and a favorite of Alli and him making silly faces at work. Isn’t that so sweet!?! Ryan says he isn’t the sentimental type but he is. Pictures and t-shirts, he can’t get rid of either of them. 🙂

Dad and Emi, looking way to grown up for being our little peanut.

 

Emilee usually sleeps with the clothes she is wearing the next day under her pajamas-for time saving purposes obviously. When she wakes up in the morning she takes her pajamas off then usually comes and crawls in bed with me. I woke up the other morning and she wasn’t laying next to me so I went to see who was awake and who was still sleeping. Sometimes Alli likes to sleep in her bean bag instead of her bed and when Emilee woke up she decided to snuggle Alli in her bean bag and dozed off. I sat there and watched them like a creepy person and enjoyed their positive sister interaction. We are past the mid point of summer, happy sister moments are fewer and farther between the constant fighting and picking at each other. I will take it when I can get it, even if they are not conscious.

They do like each other!

We finally made it to the Penguin Park. We invited several people to go with us but it never worked out with schedules so we decided to just go ourselves one morning. It was a 40 minute drive. The kids thought it was cool but it just isn’t as fun to not have a bunch of people to play with at the park (heaven forbid you make friends with someone already there) so after 30 minutes the last kiddo (Emilee) came and said she was done playing. I think I have decided to not do park destinations for a while.

I tried to start some creative summer fun the other day to get the kids doing something different and stop begging me to play or watch electronics. I was hoping they would take off with it and do it on their own but instead they humored me and I kind of made them do it. Allison got mad before we started filming and wouldn’t participate anymore, but she was invited. Thanks for being good sports boys!

We tried to do some service related activities this summer. One of our favorites is the Harvesters Food Service facility. Most of the time the youngest you can be in 8 to help so Emilee wasn’t able to go with us yet but Matthew and Allison love it. We were able to go three times. The first time it was just the three of us. Then after that we tried to take friends with us. This last time we went we had a full car. Five boys, two girls and one me. I felt a little out numbered with that many kids. It was a little hard to keep some of them on task the whole time but it was still fun. It is good service, way better than video games and boredom. We grabbed some lunch afterwards and took everyone home. We also found a fun project that we can do at our house whenever we have time and that everyone can do together. We decorate book marks, place mats, and lunch sacks for the Meals on Wheels program. When we have a bunch decorated we drop them off at the office and they use them for the meals. Emilee can help us do that one too so it is perfect for Sundays, FHE, or times when they are bored.

This last picture is Allison and her friend Michael Dunn. These two are two peas in a pod. They get each other that is for sure. They have known each other since they were born and they tell their parents all the time that they are going to get married someday. Our families went swimming together for one of our last days of summer. We were there all afternoon, the first little bit was a little rough for these two. They had to work their grumpiness out and get along with people. Not each other, they were both having issues with other people. This is both of them in time out taking a break until they can be nice. About two minutes after this picture was taken they went back and played just fine for three more hours.

Allison and Michael working through their emotions together.