Pretty

Today was our busiest day of the week. I woke up at 6:15. Usually I get up at 6:30-45, but I wanted to allow a few extra minutes this morning to braid Julia's hair for picture day. We walked to school, walked back, drove to church for Coffeebreak. My study was good--it's a nice group in my class. Austin and Lauren are always tired and hungry after Coffeebreak. Lauren cried the whole way home because her shoe had come off and she couldn't put it back on! Oh boy. I put it back on at home, just to calm her down, even though the shoes would be coming off again in a few minutes for naptime! Made us lunch, got them down for naps, and then I could take a break for awhile too. Woke them up at 3:20 to go pick up Julia from school. Everyone back home for snacks. Julia finished her weekly homework packet yesterday, so no homework, just mini books she has to read daily. She wanted to read her library book, but that had to wait! 4:15 off to church again to drop Julia off at choir. The other two and I ran to WalMart quick quick and made quick quick returns at two more stores. Back to church at 5:30 (actually it was 5:35--crammed too much in--oops) to pick up Julia. She was helping her choir teacher move their books to her office. Julia told me, "I thought you weren't coming........." There were a few other parents getting there, so I am not sure why she was concerned. She has never been left there! Drive back home. Stop at the gas station first, only to discover that all the tanks are out of the cheapest gas. The low fuel light was on, and the needle down to the E, but I decided to just go home! Brian is taking the van in tomorrow for an oil change, and he will fill it up. :) The kids and I just had leftovers for supper, so that was easy. Brian was at a BBQ for work and got home about 8:00. After supper and some of Austin's birthday cake, I told the kids they better hop and jump around a little to get some exercise! Ha ha--but they thought that was a great idea and went running around the living room and then wanted me to put on some music for them to dance to! They didn't like the first CD, but I put in Clay Walker's Greatest Hits, and they were happy with that one!! Funny kids--they danced around the living room for quite awhile. Austin finally got bored of it and went to read books in the family room. Julia laid out two quilts on the floor and she and Lauren kept on dancing on those. Julia said they were their dance floors! I cleaned up the kitchen and then we got them ready for bed. At 8 Brian came home. The kids (especially Julia!) have really gotten into the show, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, and we let them watch a 1/2 hour or so of it before bed when it's on. They went to bed a little before 9.

Anyway. "Pretty" is the post title. Monday Lauren walked into the kitchen looking like this, and told me, "Preeeeetty.........preeeeetty.......", showing off her jewelry. :) See the bracelet on her leg? Above her sock?! Ha ha I didn't notice that bracelet until I was going through the pictures on the computer. Tonight I was getting dinner ready and the kids were in the family room. I overheard Julia saying, "Lauren! Don't eat that! Don't put beads in your mouth!" And Austin joins in, "Yeah, there's holes in them!" And Julia replies, "Well the holes don't matter, Austin, but she could choke on those!" The beads are smaller than peas. The bracelet Lauren has on her leg here had broken and the beads were on the floor. Wonder if she stretched it out too much......?! Or maybe it is just old.

A Full Hand

Austin told me, as we were leaving the drugstore where we bought candy to decorate his cake, "I'm a full hand now!", and held up his hand, with all five fingers up--five years old! Yesterday was his 5th birthday. I took these in the morning. I always take a few of the birthday kid on his/her actual birthday.




We made a chocolate cake and lemon cupcakes in the morning, with Austin and Lauren helping add ingredients and turning on the mixer. Then we went grocery shopping. Most of the afternoon was spent working on his cake. I am not thrilled with how it turned out. I think it is the saddest cake I have ever made! Seriously. The back window part kept sliiiiiiiding. I kept putting frosting between that and the hood part, and the frosting slowly slid out. It didn't help any that it was a very warm day! There are tons of crumbs in the frosting (looks like dirt in the paint!) and the black frosting didn't want to flow consistently for me. But Austin was very happy with it, and I guess that is what matters!


The rear view


With his presents


He got Bill and Ben, twin Thomas engines, and the Collapsing Sodor Suspension Bridge. When Brian got home from work tonight, he asked if that bridge had collapsed a lot today...which it had. Ha ha


Austin also received his first bike. It was in the garage, where we all went after he opened this gift: a bike helmet. Julia was helping him with the tape on the box. He was very excited about his new bike. The funny thing is, it is bigger than Julia's! Guess she needs a new one too! She got hers when she turned 4, and I think it is a 16" while his is 18". Julia and I went shopping Saturday afternoon, and she picked out a set of remote control cars for Austin at the dollar store. They only go forwards and backwards, and I wonder how long they are going to last, but for now he loves them! She had made a bunch of clues, hidden to lead to the next clue, to lead him to the gift.


Happy Birthday dear Austin..... He was so excited for his birthday, and I think he had a fun day. Tonight we brought the lemon cupcakes for snack to share with the Cubbies at church. Austin chose green frosting with sprinkles to decorate those.

Day at Sea

Thursday, Sept. 20 was our day at sea. We lounged around on the deck reading. Brian went in a pool and down the curvy water slide (the kids were excited to hear he did!) and in the hot tub. We went in a hot tub another day, too. I never went in the pool because Brian told me the water was cold. If he is saying it is cold I probably would have froze. ;) We went to the Normandie Lounge to watch a rendition of the Newlywed Game with other cruise guests participating.

Here is our cabin. The bathroom was on the right, the door is open here. The closet is on the left. There was a chair, empty space, and a table behind the bathroom, by the foot of the bed, with the TV hanging above the table.


We got one picture of us on our anniversary. :) Brian held the camera and took it. This was in the Queen Mary lounge where we watched karaoke. I thought that was a lot of fun. Some people were really good. And some.....were not. ;)


This was taken on Friday the 21st. Brian woke up early and went walking around the ship. He took this picture of the sunrise. I asked him why he didn't take it without that screen in the way. He just didn't. ;) I think it turned out kind of cool like this too.


On our way to get off the ship. I took this from the ground floor, looking up to the very top of the atrium.

Ensenada

Wednesday, the 19th we went to Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, for that day's excursion. First we went on a city/shopping tour. We rode a bus to this building and learned about its history. There were some vendors in the courtyard, but we didn't buy anything there. Our tour guide told us to tell the vendors, "Mas barato!" I said that to one vendor, and he told me, "Mas barato, carne del gato!" Guess he didn't think much of bargaining! Haha Our second stop was an old, old winery. They still produce wine there, but soon it will be turned into a museum. Then the bus dropped us off in the main tourist shopping district. That was all we saw of the city! We were hoping to see a little more on that tour! Oh well. Some of what we did see on our busride from the fancy building to the winery looked like what you would see in poorer areas of big cities in the US. My friend had told me it was ugly in Ensenada, and like a third world country down there. I didn't think it was that bad!


These Mexican blankets were all over the shopping area. We didn't buy any, but saw some for $5.99. I thought that was a good deal, for a blanket. We bought Julia and Lauren each a Mexican doll (this is Lauren's in the picture), and a wooden snake with notches cut out every 1/8-1/4 inch so that it curves. I bought this totebag and a brightly painted ceramic bowl for myself, and Brian bought a leather belt and an Ensenada T shirt for himself.


Brian in front of a Memorial. I *think* it was for young heroes who fought in wars....????? I'm not familiar with most of the words on the plaque.


Returning to the ship from Ensenada

Catalina Island

Tuesday the 18th we did the excursion planned for the day: Catalina Island. We did walk around the ship a little before boarding the tender boat that took us to the island.




I took this while we were riding in the tender boat. Which window was ours? We wondered ourselves! ;) We said later we should have put a piece of paper or something in the window so we would be able to tell. Actually, our cabin was on the other side of the ship.


We walked around the town, Avalon, and bought tickets for two activities. The first was a bus tour of the city and surrounding area. It was very interesting, and we really enjoyed it!


A view from our tour bus


The Casino on Catalina Island. It sounded like it was not used for gambling, but was named Casino meaning "meeting place". Many years ago they had ballroom dancing there and other things going on. We had planned to tour this building, but a conference was being held the day we were there, so we weren't able to.


View from the Catalina Island pier while we waited in line for our second activity. We went on a semi-submersible boat, where we could see sealife under water.


Fish we saw while on the semi-submersible tour. There were many, many fish, as the tour guides fed them a few times during the trip. We were a little disappointed we didn't see a greater variety of fish, but it was interesting. The orange fish is a Garibaldi. The ones on top are Calico Bass, and the dark ones in the bottom left corner are Opaleyes. I think they are the ones that other fish (and people) don't want to eat because they taste terrible. They eat *anything* and end up tasting like what they eat.


Back on the ship, just before dinner. We had the late seating in our dining room, at 8:00, which we requested so we would have more time to spend off the ship on our excursion days. This was our formal night. All the dining room food was excellent!! Except for a Caesar salad that we thought the dressing tasted fishy (and we heard other people say the same thing!). The food in the buffet restaurant was good enough, but we enjoyed the dining room food more.


This towel animal was on our bed that night. Every night our room steward created one for us.

Ten Years

Brian and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary Sept. 20. He really wanted to go on a cruise for the occasion, and I was not sure about it. Not sure about leaving the kids, not sure I would not be bored on the ship (day at sea), and not sure I would enjoy the activities the ship had. Well, we ended up going on a 4-day cruise. My parents came to watch the kids, and they all did well. I didn't get bored on the day at sea, and did enjoy the activities. I have finished going through all the pictures from our little vacation, and here they are!

We boarded the Paradise on Sept. 17 in Long Beach. We had eaten lunch at Quizno's in Redondo Beach because we weren't sure how long it would take us to check in once we were at the terminal. As it was, we could have just waited to eat on the ship, because everything went smoothly, and we were checked in quickly.

Bye bye, Long Beach! The round building with the whales painted on it is the Aquarium of the Pacific. We went there once, 3 1/2 years ago with friends.

The sunset our first night at sea.





Tuesday morning. This is the lounge where we had our muster (safety) drill the day before, before our group headed out to see our lifeboat, in case it would be needed.




Two glass elevators, looking toward the atrium.

Sparkles

I'm not talking about her shoes this time. "Sparkles" is the name Lauren gave this Sparkie doll. The second-grade Sparks each get a turn taking him home for a week, as long as they have earned their Climber book patch. Julia's name was drawn last week. We took this picture of her with Sparkie, and she wrote a few sentences about her week with Sparkie in his diary (the notebook that accompanies him to each kid's house). Julia is moving right along in her Climber book. Tonight she earned 2 of her 4 red jewels, and 1 of 4 green jewels (she earned one last week too.). She earned 1700 points for her team, half of the team total (with 9 kids earning the other half)! We are very proud of her, of course, but most happy about her memorizing so many Bible verses!

I have cruise pictures to share from last week, but I have not even gone through them all. Hopefully I'll have some of them up in the next few days.