Hatchet

When the wind blows your tree down....you teach your kids how to use a hatchet.

5th Grade Band Concert

Last night we had the 5th Grade Band Concert in which Cody plays the trumpet.  He has been playing for a whopping 3 months and I was quite impressed with this short and to the point band concert...which is exactly how a 5th grade band concert should be.  

We were super disappointed  that Matt wouldn't be able to make it as he had a work party that he HAD to be to...seeing he is the boss and all.  However, during the day he was able to pull a few strings and get the whole dinner moved up and surprised us by showing up.  Cody's face was priceless when he saw him there.


We didn't have the best shot of Cody, but there was this tiny little opening that I could see he little face, so I was thrilled.

Of course..."That deserves ice cream" was in order and we hit up the Ice Burg!!!  So fun to see our kids grow and develop their talents and wonderful traits.  We have AMAZING KIDS!!!!

Elena Dances in the Nutcracker

Elena got to be in her first Nutcracker performance. She was a Mini Waltz of the Flower, which is in the second act of the Nutcracker Ballet.


We had a car pool of 5 girls from the neighborhood who were also minis.  These girls had the best time practicing and hanging out together.  One Saturday Practice I was at Time Out for Women and Matt had to do the Ballet Bun.  I must admit, I was expecting this...

but instead he totally pulled off a great ballet bun.

When I asked Elena how it went she said...Ok..., he kept saying....Oh Crap!!!

She was so excited for this special day to preform and to be "famous"!  She did an amazing job just as I knew she would. They wouldn't allow photography or video, but when those curtains opened up and there stood Elena, it was a magical moment!!!  

Elena's teacher and owner of the dance studio was the Sugar Plum Fairy and used to dance with Ballet West in Utah.  It is amazing to watch perform and we are so lucky to have her!!

Of course all that dancing deserved ice cream and despite our prodding, she insisted on Golden Spoon.  (I think she just wanted the golden spoon)  But it was delicious and we were happy to celebrate our favorite ballerina. 
Elena was so excited to get her own nutcracker, but made sure to tell me that next time, she wants a bigger nutcracker.  I told her maybe someday when she is Clara, she will get a bigger nutcracker.That night I found Elena asleep with her nutcracker, hoping to have a most magical dream.

Cruise Repeat

Well, here we are again, doing the same cruise we did two years ago.  We figured people do Disneyland over and over and over again and have a great time.... I am sure we will have an amazing time doing this cruise again.  And boy were we right.  

The timing was perfect!!  It was right during the kids spring break, so they didn't miss any school.  The ship leaves from Long Beach, so just a short 6 hour drive... meaning we didn't have the expense of having to book flights.

And you just can't beat the value of the price and everything you get that comes with it.  We also love that it is the perfect mix of family time and (thanks to the kids camp) alone Me and Matt time!!! And the best part.....NO CELL PHONE!!!!!   (screen shot of Matt's phone....happy dance!!!)

Oh and also Matt and I would be celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary while we were on the cruise.  Anyways, we left on the 8th of March and enjoyed getting acquainted with our cruise ship (different boat then we had been on before).  So much to see and do!!!!
Here is a video of the kids "Rockin' OUT"

In one of the main atriums they had this glass stair case leading up to one of the dinning rooms.  It is lifted above 8 floors!!! Crazy COOL!!!!
 
 Here is the video of the glass stair case, it is pretty wild!!!

Here we are on the Lido Deck (level 9) where all of the buffets are.  It is so fun to sit and eat and eat and eat all whilst enjoying the amazing view like this.



And of course every night we made our way to the Dinning Room for dinner.  The kids LOVED this part, especially Cody.  He would always try the Didja Menu (as in, did you ever want to try....)  And loved things like Escargot, Shark, Alligator, Frog Legs, Sushi Platter, Shrimp, etc.  Coming from a boy that comes in from playing outside and says....What is that horrid smell???  As I reply....that is your dinner!!  Eating strange food or pretty much any food besides mac and cheese and cheese nips is pretty unheard of for him.   Elena found a love for the cold soups, like the strawberry bisque and stayed true to her red jello with whip cream.  Oh how I love not having to cook or clean or do anything really, just enjoy the loves of my life!!!

Cruise Day 2 and 3 (Day at Sea)

So I guess we are cruise snobs, we splurged last time and went for a balcony and now we could never go back to not having a balcony.  At any moment of any day you can have a view like this.  

For example here are the kids fresh out of bed, mismatched PJ's I am sure and no one has to know.  You could be naked and none would know....not that I have tried that, well maybe.... But seriously how cool right!!!  Cruises are awesome....private balcony just makes it 80 times better!!!

 This boat had an amazing miniature golf course.  We played several times throughout our cruise. The kids LOVED IT!!!!

 These next two shots are really cool, the picture just doesn't capture it.  The ship allowed you to walk right up to the very front of the ship....I don't remember our last boat letting us do that.  Kind of a Titanic feel when she is sort of standing up at the front of the boat.  Any ways that is where we are in these pictures.

 Makes me want to sing....I'm on top of the world... Hey!  I'm on top of the world.. Hey!!!  :)



 It was either Day 2 or Day 3 that was our first formal night.... The days kind of run together for me. So they have tons of Photo backdrops set up with photographers there to take your picture.  You can take as many as you want with any backdrop.  We took several and had some amazing ones turn out, especially of the kids. (We have dang cute kids if you haven't already noticed)  But the problem was is that each 8X10 was $25.00 and seriously....what am I going to do with all of those 8X10s.  So finally we narrowed it down to 4 and then ultimately decided to just get this one.  Kind of a cheesy traditional cruise picture, but hey we figured we were on a cruise.  And then we can put that extra $100 into some real family photos in the future.

We loved going to the shows, sometimes we would bring the kids and other times we left them at Kids Camp.  

Cody doesn't love kids camp.  It is too noisy and too many kids for him.  But he tolerates it so that Matt and I can have some time alone.  Cody is technically old enough to check himself in and out of Kid Camp, but I am not quite ok with that idea yet.  I think by the time we go on our next cruise I will feel ok about it and I think he will love that freedom of not being trapped in there.  Elena on the other hand LOVED Kids Camp!!  So sometimes, we would let Cody pal around with us to some of the shows.  While we were out and about we found the game room, so we gave it a try. 

The kids loved to play the big Chess Game. 

And of course each night when we would come back to our room, there was a towel animal.  The kids always looked forward to that!!!  

Tuesday Day 4 Puerto Vallarta

We arrived on Tuesday early afternoon to Puerto Vallarta.  We had an excursion all set up for that evening.  Last year someone had mentioned how cool the Rhythms of the Night Excursion was, so we decided to give it a try this year.  I must say it was Awesome!!!  However, I did fall back into my same anxiety trap as I did last year...my fear of throw up!!! ( you can click here to read what happened last year.)  I tried hard to hold myself together and keep my anxiety at bay....but I still went a little crazy.

We traveled on a Catamaran for about an hour to the Island of Las Caletas.

The waters were quite rough and I tried to keep my smile on.  Then a lady threw up and my smile turned into fright!!!  But soon we were there and we were welcomed by the whole staff, who were all wearing white and waving to us as our boat pulled up the the dock.

The sun was just starting to set and the island was lit up by hundreds of candles.  There were people dressed up like animals and an amazing little bad playing.  You can see and hear the video here.

The buffet dinner was wonderful, but of course I had worked myself all up, I did not have even an ounce of an appetite.....hardly ever happens.  But Matt and the kids enjoyed it.  So amazingly beautiful, you are literally eating on the beach, with sand at your feet and the crashing waves just inches away from you.  The lush foliage all around had a very jungle like feel.  Not the best picture, but I wanted to show the dinner ambiance.

After dinner we played around in the hammocks and watch the tide rise a bit.

I love this picture of our family and the beautiful island that surrounds us.

We were then led to this huge amphitheater where we watch the most amazing show... with fire dancers and circus ole type dancers.  Really cool!!!  

On the way home it was dark. We sat on the back of the boat and up at the top as we watch the glimmer of the candles fade way as we sailed back to the cruise ship.  

They played music and we all just sang out and danced.   I really enjoyed myself, and I think the kids did too as they could see I was not so stressed like I was when we were coming.  I think this group selfie really shows our enjoyment on the boat ride back.  Definitely a great memory. 

Cody was in his element as far as dancing goes and we all know what you get when that happens.....AWESOMNESS!!!  It was too dark to see the video, but I got a few pictures.  LOL!!

All in all it was a really fun night, but I was hungry, and happy to get back onto our cruise ship.