More cruise pics_timeline

The Carnival Inspiration

(Below) Here we are (me, Joe, Roger, Al, and Rachel) finally on the ship. We had not yet left shore, but it felt nice to be on board!

Here is Tate living the life of unlimited ice cream! On this trip we realized just how messy our little piggie is!

On the first day of our vacation, the ship left some time after 4. Roger and S.Jessen hit the deck, Tater napped, and I tried to unpack. Our first sit-down dinner was at 5:45 so not much time to get a lot done. The nap for Tate was huge though. All that travelling, he was pooped!

The second day, it was rainy and we were pretty disappointed.... The storm made the boat much more rocky than we were used to. S.Jessen, Roger, Barb, and I got a little boat sick, but recovered quickly with assistance of drugs for the adults. S. Jessen slept it off. This was a nice day to get S.Jessen and Tater introduced to Camp Carnival. They really liked it and only cried the first time and that happens at daycare at home sometimes, too :)

The third day was our first excursion. We went to Grand Cayman. This was where we got to snorkel (Jim and Barb kept the boys on the boat). I got to teach Roger how to snorkle and that was fun! He took this awesome pic of this gynormous sting-ray below us! After this trip, we got to go to Stingray City, which is more like a stop in the middle of a sandbar to see lots of sting rays. Our guide showed us how to handle them and we fed them. S.Jessen and Tate did get in the water with us, but held on for dear life. Tate was more laid back and S.Jessen was really uneasy about the whole thing. He thought it was very cool when his daddy made-out with (ok kissed) a sting-ray though and told everyone in sight! On the way home from this day, the kids were pooped! We all were. It is really draining being in charge of these little lives. I wouldn't change it for anything, but my goodness we slept well every night!

Jim and Barb

The water was gorgeous!

Above is the whole bunch on our way to snorkeling and below is on the way back!

The boys and I all passed out from exhaustion!

This is the stingray we saw while snorkeling and below is Nicki with the stingray at Stingray City. The water was so clear and the singrays were so huge!

The fourth day we went to Cazumel, Mexico. Our little family played for a couple of hours at Paradise Beach with everyone, and then we headed back for lunch and camp. The boys were not too interested in the ocean, but did like the sand and collecting seashells. Tate liked the water better and of course wanted to go in the water unassisted. S.Jessen was perfectly content building sand castles! We decided that S.Jessen is old enough too be fearful and Tate is just young enough to not understand limits and is fearless. Fun! We got to jet-ski and that was fun! Joe took S.Jessen out for a few minutes and he was so proud. Jim and Barb went, Rog and I went, Al and Rachel went, Joe took Ally first, Nicki took Mason, and the twins hung at the beach. After we headed out, Grandpa and Mason went para-sailing. That night we celebrated Mason's 11th birthday. Crazy that he was 6 in our wedding! It was a fun Valentine's Day.

Group in Mexico

S.Jessen's shells

The Brecht's! They boys were so good at the beach. I kept reapplying sunscreen to the boys every moment I got. I was so worried they would burn and be miserable. They didn't though!

On the fifth day, we just lounged in the sun. It was very relaxing, but too windy for the boys to enjoy the water area. We tried so hard to take them to play, and got a few pics, but they really wanted to go to camp. We had to be all packed up that night and then we went to see a comedian. We gambled a little and won $90! We thought that was pretty fun :)

I've already told of or flying fun, but other than those challenges it was a dream trip! I really enjoyed being with our own little family and figuring out how to eat meals three times a day in restaurants. I enjoyed being with the bigger family and celebrating Jim's retirement. We really had nothing major to complain about. That doesn't happen very often...

Been Cruisin!

Well we made it home from the Brecht Family Vacation. We went on a cruise to the Grand Cayman Islands and to Cazumel (?), Mexico. We set sail at 4 something on Monday and got back to land on Saturday early AM. We were a little worried about taking care of the boys on the cruise, but they had a super duper time and took quite nicely to being serviced by all the kind staff of the Carnival cruise line. Roger and I couldn't think of a thing to complain about. Other than the fun follies we had travelling home that you'll see below. There will be more pics to come later when I get the pics from snorkeling and the sting ray city in Grand Cayman. We also had some good shots on Paradise Beach in Cazumel. I hope I'm spellin that right. I know I could look it up, but I'm too tired...

Here is only part of the ship. It was huge!

This is the whole bunch right after we got on the boat.

The purpose of the trip was to celebrate Roger's dad Jim's retirement. They brought the whole family along. All 14 of us! It was quite relaxing and we had good bonding time.

Finally on the boat and time to celebrate!

This is our first dinner night. Tate had a sore eye,
but I don't think it shows up too much here.

Here is everyone on the second night which was formal night! Roger and I each had two lobster tails a piece. We were so gluttonous, but they were so yummy!

The boys were able to go to Camp Carnival every day and play with friends and get their faces painted. This allowed Mommy and Daddy some rest time in the sun! I read a whole book! I cried because it was good AND because it's been so long since I've had a free moment to read a book. Bonus: we learned how to easily eat out with our kids. We ate in restaurants three times a day. And did we ever eat well?! I'm glad I could still fit in my jeans on Saturday. I only had cheesecake every day, but one~and four course suppers every night! Plus full breakfasts and lunches. It was soooo good and too hard to turn down!

Tigers, grrh!

Here they have dolphins over their eyes!

Pirate S.Jessen holding a Valentine's flower. He also got a "Jelly Roger" tattoo :)

Pirate Tate with our drink waitress, Magdalena from Poland. She loved Tate's cheeks!

Us with our little pirates during Valentine's dinner!

We also celebrated Mason's 11th birthday on Valentine's Day.

The most stressful part of the trip was the airports, but a lifesaver was the GoGoKidz Universal Carseat Travelmate http://www.theportablebaby.com/gogokidz.html that a friend told us about.
Here is a picture of Roger and S.Jessen pulling Tater along nicely in the airport. We did find that it was easier to remove it on the plane though so the seat could rest all the way to the back. Otherwise Tate was kicking the crap out of random strangers' backs. It is easy to take off and on though so that was no biggie! It was also a nice handle for S.Jessen to hold onto.

Here are some of the follies we had on the way home! ENJOY: I can now that we are home :)

We were off the boat around 10 or so and in the air before 2. We had three flights home and only once did I consider throwing our 3-year-old in a trash can (he had every reason to be out of sorts, but I was tired, too). Before our first flight we were fined $50 for an overweight suitcase. The boys did eat so that was a bonus. Tate pooped right away and I changed him and both boys got to play in a little playland while we waited for our boarding call. Tate literally screamed for the longest 90 seconds of my life when I was trying to put him back in his carseat to board the plane. In the mean time, Roger was running to the bathroom with S.Jessen so he didn't poop on the floor. While trying to board, an older lady told me Tate was a great future opera singer for the 90 second scream she witnessed! Thank you! Tate then slept for almost the entire flight, but every time I would try to sleep, S.Jessen would spill his ice in his lap or have to go pee!

In the D.C. airport they did really good and it was a super short layover. On this next flight, Tate pooped through his pants. I had him in the bathroom, on the changing board, above the toilet, with poop up to our ears. There's so much roomin those anyway. I had to put him in the carseat with only his shirt and diaper until his pants were sort of dry. I cleaned them, but they still stunk! They were dry by the time we landed though.

We had a larger layover in Chicago... This is when I wanted to put S.Jessen in the trashcan... but as soon as I said it out lout to Roger's mom, he got better (no, he didn't hear me)! Did I mention we ran out of diapers after Tate pooped AGAIN? I had him in a size 3 diaper (he wears 6's) for the rest of the way home and then he poured a bottle of water in his lap right when we got on the plane! AND we had to wait on the plane for over an hour which it takes only 54 minutes to fly from Chicago to Des Moines! Tate fell asleep before it started and S.Jessen cried for 20 minutes because he was so tired, but he fell asleep eventually. Once we landed we only had 90 more minutes to drive home..Needless to say the boys were ready to get in their own beds at this point, and so were we! I'm just glad we had today to recuperate a little!

WE really did have a super time, but if I didn't record all that down no one would actually believe why the travel day home was so hectic! More pics soon from snorkeling, sting rays, and the beach!

Relaxing Weekend

We are having yet another snow day today. I am so sick of winter, but if I can stay home with my boys it is so worth it :)

We were able to stay home and do absolutely nothing this past weekend and it was great. It was so nice to play and snuggle with no where to be.

We did get more things
packed up for our cruise next week though and I was able to get my lesson plans ready for the sub. I had to plan for this week, the week we are gone, and the week we will get back, yuck!

It's totally worth it to be lying in the sun a week from today, ahhh. I can't wait!

Here are some pics of us all.

Pile up on Daddy. I don't know if you can see Dixon Dog licking his face, but that is the reason for all the giggling, Daddy included!

S.Jessen was able to have some free time to work on a project with his tools and safety goggles...

Tate was able to get some Spidey towel time in after his bath...

Winding down before bed by reading books with Mommy

This video is a stitch! It's very dark so I hope it can be viewed.

It's of the boys shaking their humpies...

Their what's you ask? We call their cute little butts, humpies. They have humpies and I have a bumpy humpy :) It's just cute to say, although there is no way to say humpy crack... you just have to go with butt-crack for that one.

Anyway, this is the first time Tate has learned how to shake his. His is gynormous and he's always head banging. I'm so glad he's finally learned to shake it! S.Jessen has always been good at shaking his and he barely has one. Go figure...

Today, playing under the table in the Hawkeye Room while Mommy was working on the blog. They had to wear their "Batman" shirts today. We are very into super heroes. If you could see closer their eyes match in this picture. Happy snow day everyone!

I'm sure we will have more updates after our Brecht family cruise!

I will be 29 then, too...weird! Roger will be 31 when we get back... This is not very old at all, but when I was in elementary school, those ages were ancient!

Evan Lowell is one!

We were able to go celebrate Baby Evan's first birthday last week! My that year went by fast! Poor darlin was not feeling well (major cold) and the house was packed. He did really well though and was very cooperative with all the picture taking.

Bridget and Lowell had a great first birthday party for Evan.
Here my big baby Tate is teaching Evan the art of messing with the blinds :)

I'm sensing a troublesome twosome!
Believe it or not, this is the best pose of all 5 great grandsons in their new Spidey shirts!