No Kids Allowed!!

Blake and I love going on vacation without the kids. If you haven't tried it lately, you should. Even just a quick weekend away. Oh to relax, not worry about if the kids are happy/cranky/tired, have been fed, are entertained, behaving themselves, battling with eating, worrying about naptimes/bedtimes....oh it is pure heaven, I tell you! Reconnecting with your spouse, remembering why we got together in the first place...laughing, staying up late, doing what WE want to do. We are looking forward to fun filled family vacations to Yellowstone and Disneyland with the kids...but later...much later. When they will actually be old enough to remember it/appreciate it. 

Anyway, Blake and I were hooked on cruising after our first cruise almost 2 years ago. It really is the best way to travel if you want great food, great accommodations, built in entertainment, and a chance to do and see some new things. That being said, although this cruise did offer those things, I would NOT recommend this particular cruise if you are hoping for something exotic or exciting destinations. Overall, our first cruise to the Caribbean was way better. What made this cruise so fun was that we went with 3 other couples and just enjoyed the "cruise--being on the boat and what it has to offer" part, not so much our destinations. Plus we got an amazing price--that doesn't hurt either.

Cruise Day 1

We got to Long Beach, CA and shed our winter clothes for some warm sun. What a glorious feeling. Also, our friend Colby lost a game during our travels and he had to wear the snorkel gear all through the check in process.

Our stateroom

Blake, Colby, and Blake

Melanie, Courtney, Sylvia

 Our boat was docked next the Queen Mary, an old retired cruise ship. Now it's a hotel and restaurant. Looks very Titanic-y. I loved it.

We all got head, neck, shoulder massages from the Spa on board

 One thing Blake especially loves about cruises is the food. All you can eat all of the time. This is probably Blake's 3rd or 4th lunch on Day 1. A midday prime rib, who can beat that?

 Like Blake's expression? He's trying to cop a feel in this picture.

 Our gang: Morgan & Liz, Colby & Melanie, Blake and I, Sylvia & Blake

relaxing on the deck chairs, enjoying the ocean view

getting ready to set sail

 Off we go!

We ate dinner in the main dining room where you get a 5 star meal each night. Also each night, our waitress (far left) and the other staff would do a dance during dinner and we would get up and do it with her. We made total fools of ourselves, but we were never going to see any of these people ever again

I love the towel creations the staff leaves for you each night

I am trying to remember what else we did that first night. We went to a live show they had in the theater, explored the ship, got in the hot tub later that night and stayed up late! I love the first day of vacation, you are just exciting to be there and soaking everything up..looking forward to the week ahead.

Party Time!

More of Porter's 1st Birthday. It's a huge picture dump, and they pretty much speak for themselves:

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...

 

I am pretty dang proud of this cake! I have always bought Brooke's cakes, but I felt up to the task of making a very hungry caterpillar cake.

 Pinch is always trying to give the grandkids chocolate and I always scold him when he tries to give some to Porter. Now that he's one, it's chocolate time! Thanks, Pinch!

 Cake Smash time!

 Shopping for Porter's birthday included me going down in the storage room and finding some of Brooke's old toys. As you can see, Brooke was right in the action wanting to play with them again.

Mom and the birthday boy

Thanks, Aunt Nicole for the new quilt! We love it!

 Singing Happy Birthday

Cake Smash

It's Fun to be One!

Our little groundhog turned one on February 2! Wow, how this year has flown by. 

Milestones:

• Weight: 19.9
• Height: 30.8(90th percentile)
• 
  Dr commented on Porter's big hands
  Is getting good at climbing the stairs, now we are just working on how to come down. Usually he just sits at the top and cries.. 
• no more formula! I stopped nursing at 9 months and have been looking forward to not buying formula for the last three months. Next step: get rid of bottles and to sippy cups only. 
• eating and sleeping habits are pretty much the same as 11 months
  Is getting his top two incisors. He'll be a little vampire for a while
  
• still not walking or crawling on all 4s--the army crawl suits him just fine.
• Will pull himself up to kneeling or standing position, but won't cruise on furniture yet.
• claps and sometimes waves
• says "uh-oh" (his first word), "ma" and "da" Brooke is "Ba"
• I finally got smart and decided to give Porter and Brooke a bath together. They love it. Not sure how long I can keep bathing them together, though. I guess maybe when Brooke starts pointing and asking questions.

I used my camera to take some one year old pictures and am disappointed with how they turned out. This is one of the down sides of using a film SLR camera: you can't see how your shots are turning out. I don't know if the lighting was bad, or if it was a bad roll of film, but I have never had my pictures turn out so bad. I even took them pics over a 3 day period. Luckily with some Photoshop help, I got them to look somewhat decent, but still not what I was hoping for. Oh well.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar fits our little guy perfectly! He loves to eat! 

Oh how we love Porter and are so glad he is part of our family.  Can't wait to see him grow and develop more this coming year.