Dollar Days of Summer and Not-Directions

Today we headed over to Michael's to take advantage of their dollar specials this week- plus they have a 20% off your entire purchase coupon for this week. I don't know about you but over here at my pad, it's HOT. I bought lots of supplies and materials to keep us busy during the day when it's just not bearable to get out. The boys had fun picking out different kits and projects for our creativity box. This should keep us busy for a while!

So, why do people feel the need to be sooooo rude? While standing in line to pay, Hudson asked me if he could have some Sweet Tarts. (conveniently, they have the candy at eye level to him) I said no. He kept looking and asked for a Ring Pop (you know that ring with the huge candy diamond on top?) I said no and began to remind him about all the sugar involved, how it could cause cavities, how we save those things for special occasions, etc...... There was a lady and her daughter standing right behind me and they heard our conversation, even though I was quiet with my words to Hudson. We've really been teaching Hudson about good foods and showing him that our family is a 90/10 family. 90% of the time we will eat healthy and 10% of the time we will allow sweets, fast food, and treats into our diets. He didn't whine about it and then simply asked if he could get a package of gum. I said yes since we were out of gum and I let him choose. Right after he tossed the gum into our cart the girl behind us asked her mom if she could have gum. Her mom said, "no, gum is sooooooo bad for your teeth." It's almost like she said it directed at me. Was she trying to one-up me? I had to reflect back on my conversation with H and wonder if my response to him seemed judgemental or degrading towards this other mom. No. I was using this situation to teach my son about making good choices. This lady just wanted to jab at me and I continued to look ahead and wait my turn. Seriously, not sure why people act like that!

For the past few nights Cooper and I have been reading this book that has bumblebees in the background picture. I will use my hand and make a bzzzzz sound and tickle him behind his ears. He laughs uncontrollably at this and doesn't want me to stop. I knew when we saw this bumblebee kit that we had to get it for him. Although it took lots of help from mom, he still enjoyed it!

Although Cooper has been pretty cranky since he's been trying to fight off a little cold, the boys have played pretty well together.

Cooper is really into copying his brother these days. He saw Hudson do this so he decided to give it a try.

I really wish I could add the sound effects to this one. It was hilarious!

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Not- Directions

When Hudson was younger and starting to notice different signs he would always ask me what they meant. I'd say things like, "this one says not to smoke or that one says not to throw trash on the ground." Last week on vacation, Hudson pointed to a sign in our room and said "what does the not-direction say?" I got a kick out of that and he's said it several times since. Any time we see a sign (especially the one with the red circle) he'll say it. Too cute!

Fridays Favorites

1. Hot Sauce- This is by far my favorite food of all times. I could eat chips and hot sauce for a meal and I simply can’t get enough of it. My poor husband knows that he better eat some as soon as I bring it home because in a short amount of time, it’s gone! The last few weeks I’ve been playing around with some different recipes to make my own. Here is one I made today:

1- 28 oz can of peeled, whole tomatoes

1- 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

3/4 onion

3 jalapenos (I only kept some of the seeds from one) Vary this depending on how hot you like it

1 lime- cut and squeeze juice into mixture

3/4 bushel of cilantro

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until you get the desired thickness.

Anyone else have a good hot sauce recipe they want to share?

2. Gymboree- I’m a dork. I know it. My friend Gim makes fun of me because I dress my boys in “outfits.” Not so much for Hudson anymore but I jump on any opportunity to find a shirt and coordinating shorts or pants/socks for Cooper. They have some of the cutest clothes and they are such good quality. Cooper has been able to wear everything that Hudson had at his age. It just holds up so well. Not to mention that over the last 5 years I have learned the how-to on buying Gymboree so that it doesn’t break the bank. I find things on sale, I buy for the next year, and utilize Gymbucks when they are offered. For instance, I redeemed Gymbucks this week for all size 6 clothes for Hudson’s next spring/summer wardrobe. Then if you can buy things on sale while using Gymbucks you really save big! Most of what I just bought ended up costing what I’d pay at Target for their clothes. You can’t beat that. Now, can you imagine if I had a girl to dress……….

3. Coffemate Creamer- There is nothing better ( okay, maybe some hot sauce) than a nice warm cup of coffee, flavored with some coffemate creamer. Yum! I don’t eat many sweets so I don’t skimp in this area. I get the regular instead of sugar free since it’s such a small amount. The best is when they come out with special flavors during the holidays. I tend to find my favorite ones and stock up on them. I pour them into ice cube trays, let them freeze, and pop them out into a large ziplock baggie. I label each bag so that I know what’s inside. When I’m ready, I just pop a cube into my cup and pour the hot coffee on top. It melts quickly and my coffee is perfectly sweetened. This allows me to have my special flavors year-round without having to worry about expiration dates. Just make sure you use freezer safe bags and they will last for a long time. I think I’m off to make me a warm cup of coffee…………

Out of Sorts

We've all been kind of out of sorts the last few days, trying to adjust to being back home. My mind is still somewhere on a tropical island while my body is here trying to play catch-up. I've been somewhat of a slacker the last few days (although I did about 8 loads of laundry on Mon and Tues) and I've seriously had the case of the "I don't wannas." I don't wanna do anything! I'm chalking it up to post-vacation funk and pray it passes pretty quick.

We've stayed home most of the week so that we could unpack and do laundry. The good thing about being gone, and the boys being gone from each other, is that everything seemed new to them. They enjoyed rediscovering their toys and have played nicely together the past few days.

Today has been weird. It must be a full moon because my boys are on a roll. Let's see, I found a half eaten banana in my silverware tray this morning while loading the dishwasher.

Wonder which little monkey boy left this here?

Then I found some Legos in the refrigerator. Same monkey boy responsible.

For most of the day, Cooper walked around the house with his daddy's watch on and one sandal off. He would say "noooooo" when I asked if I could put his sandal back on or take off the one he was wearing.

Finally, Hudson was tinkering around with an old stereo my dad gave him. He got it to work and placed one of the speakers up in my niche. He blared a Hispanic station and danced around the house saying "isn't this music beautiful?" It was pretty funny for a few minutes and then it got old real quick. I encouraged him to change it to something more.....familiar, but he wanted no part of it. Finally before turning it off he said "our house sounds like a restaurant." So true! Bet you can guess what kind of food we like to eat!

Family Cruise 2008

We just got back from a wonderful cruise with our family. There were 17 of us in all and it was so great to get together with everyone. My step dad retired from his job of 43 years so we all went together as a way of celebrating his retirement! Thank you guys for a great trip!

(warning- this will be a long post but I want to document it before I forget and since I plan to turn this into a book, it will basically be my scrapbook of our trip. Also, if you plan to take this trip you may want to read because I'm including some comments- good and bad- so this may help you with future cruises.)

Sunday, July 13th: We left around 7am to head to Galveston so that we could board the ship. We got there in a little under 5 hours and boarded the ship without a problem. We left our car in a paid parking lot and took a bus over to the terminal. I was a little disappointed because we were not able to see the ship from a far away distance. The way we boarded the ship did not allow us to see the entire thing and Hudson didn't really get the "wow" factor at this point. He was able to look from side to side and see how huge it was but not the same as seeing the entire ship at once. Once inside, we dropped our bags off at our rooms and began to tour the ship. Our only cruise experience was our cruise to Alaska 7 years ago. We went on Royal and the ship was brand new- had only sailed once or twice. Everything about that trip was amazing. We were a little disappointed in the Carnival Conquest ship. The pools were tiny and they didn't have a ton of stuff to do outside. This day was spent just getting familiar with the ship.

Monday, July 14th and Tuesday, July 15th: Our first two full days at sea. We played some miniature golf They had this kiddie pool that was only about a foot or two deep and very few people even knew about it. We had it almost the whole time by ourselves which was really nice. It had this shower that Hudson liked to play with too We played so hard that one day we came back and all took a big nap. We had a hard time waking him up for dinner. Hudson enjoyed seeing the different towel animals in our room each night and he especially loved when they left cookies for him.
One night we all wore white so that we could get a big group picture of everyone. We bought a large 16X20 canvas for my mom and step dad. I think it turned out great. I just wish we could photoshop Cooper into the picture so that he would be included!

Wednesday, July 16th- Jamaica. I will say that I was a bit disappointed in Jamaica. I guess I thought it would be something like the show Fantasy Island and was surprised to see how third world it really is. I have a couple of friends who have gone there and had wonderful things to say about it. I assume they went to some inclusive resort because most of the parts we saw were poor and in shambles. Yes, we saw some beautiful parts and some nice homes too but overall it was not what I expected. For our excursion, we did the trip to Negril and Margaritaville stop. I felt this was very overpriced at $69 a person. We basically took a 90 minute trip to Negril (we did see some pretty areas and learned some cool info about Jamaica) and they took us to a beach. The water was pretty and Hudson loved playing in the sand. It was his first beach experience so he enjoyed the waves and sand so much. We had lunch and were able to hang out for a couple of hours. We got to do a little shopping before heading back (not too impressed with this either- every store looked the same!)

Swimming with Colton and McKenzie They had these big water trampolines in the ocean and everyone had a good time jumping around on them. Building sandcastles On the ride back to the ship everyone was exhausted. Jamaica is a place that I enjoyed but would probably never go back to. If we did the cruise again, we would for sure pick a different excursion to do. (keep in mind that all our excursion choices we based on the fact that Hudson was with us. Our trip would have been very different if we had been kidless)

Thursday, July 17th: Grand Cayman

We loved Grand Cayman. The water, the beach and everything about it was beautiful. In fact, my sister is already trying to figure out how we could all move there and what jobs we would get.We did the Boatswain Beach excursion and we had a great day. I'd recommend it and we would do it again.Hudson got to hold a baby turtle. They also had 2 lagoons where you could swim. One was a large freshwater pool that had a waterfall and the other was a saltwater lagoon that was stocked with colorful fish. They had a predator tank full of sharksIn the saltwater lagoon we were able to snorkel. My mom has never snorkeled so we took our time and she got the hang of it. She said it was awesome and I'm so glad she finally got to experience it.They also had local artisans there and Hudson got a handmade bookmark from a lady that makes baskets.They had several other areas that we didn't even make it to (butterfly room, nature trails, etc....) but overall we had a wonderful time. Our bus took us back into town and we grabbed a bite at Hard Rock. After that we walked around town and did some shopping. We had some time but were too tired to go to the beach. I wish we had because most of our day was at Boatswain but the heat began to wear us out after a while. Cayman is beautiful and I'd love to go back some day!


Friday, July 18th: Cozumel

We got off the ship without a plan for the day. The great thing about cruising is that everyone can do their own thing and you can just meet back up for dinner at night. Throughout the week we have done things alone and then things with various family members. There were 11 of us that decided to hang out on Friday in Cozumel. We got off the ship and met a sweet man that was advertising a van for 12 people. We began to talk to him and basically worked out a deal where we had him for 4 hours at only $20 a person and he would take us anywhere we wanted to go. Best part is that he stayed with us the entire time (not really with us but close by) and whenever we were ready to go he was right there. He gave us some great info about Cozumel and we got a quick tour of the main area. He then took us about 6 miles north of the dock to a private beach. A couple of years ago a hurricane hit the island and much of it was destroyed. Most hotels and attractions were rebuilt within 6 months but this particular area was not. It used to be a super fancy/secluded hotel that was owned by a local man. Unfortunately he did not have insurance so when the hurricane hit he was not able to immediately rebuild and repair. You could see that improvements were being made but it was not ready to reopen. They did fix the outside grounds, most of the beach, the pool and the restaurant. The kids loved swimming in the pool and the beach too. You could tell that at one time this area was really nice. Some of us snorkeled and some just laid out for a bit. We stayed for a couple of hours and then decided to leave.
He then took us about 20 minutes south to another more secluded beach. It had a nice beach, beautiful water and neat little huts to shade you from the sun. We had a wonderful day and the best part is that it was the least expensive day of the whole trip! We felt very safe in Cozumel and we had no problem renting a van and just seeing the sights. I would have felt just as comfortable in the Caymans too. Jamaica is the only stop we made where I would not have trusted just anyone.

Saturday, July 19th- Last Day at Sea

Acting silly in the cabin

They had a fun slide that everyone enjoyed........except Hudson. Too afraid to try it. If you look above the yellow deck area and see that small square pool you will see how tiny the pool is. They have 2 of these and I swear they are about the size of a 12X12 room. How do they expect 3000 people to swim and sit out by the pool? Crazy!!

While in the room Hudson spent much of his time near the window- just playing and looking outside. Our last day was spent swimming, playing more miniature golf and hanging out.

Things we liked: Overall we had a great trip. From our experience the ship was clean and the staff was friendly. We got a really sweet girl that cleaned our room daily and our wait staff at dinner were really nice as well. We managed to fill our days with activities and we created lots of neat memories together. They took tons of pictures so you always had a chance to purchase them in the event you didn't bring a camera. Our room was a good size and the beds were pretty comfortable. It was nice having a window to look out of.

Things we didn't like: We felt the pools were too small for a ship that sails in the Caribbean. The food was pretty good but the buffet restaurant near the pool was not so good. The choices were pretty weird. I loved that they were constantly taking pictures (at meals and at various activities on board) but they were way too expensive. They were $22 for each 8X10 so it really limited me on what I would buy. If they made them more affordable I would have bought much more than I did. On our cruise to Alaska you had your choice of early or late dinner. For example, you could choose dinner at 6pm and the show at 8pm or dinner at 8pm and have the early show. On Carnival, we chose the early dinner at 6 but then the show didn't start until 8:45 which left us about an hour after dinner to try to fill. I did not like the later start of the show. The entertainment was decent- the juggling act and comedian were my favorites. The outfits on the dancers were similar to Vegas show girls so it was not the most appropriate attire for kids. My main beef was getting off the ship. I won't go into all the details but basically it took us about 4 hours to get off and almost 3 of that was carrying/pushing all 7 of our suitcases while standing in a long line to go through customs. It was so ridiculous and everyone kept blaming each other- Carnival blamed customs, customs blamed Carnival, some blamed the helpers. If you plan to go on this trip I can give you more info on this but let's just say we had a LONG day trying to get off the boat.

Overall we had so much fun and look forward to another vacation again soon!