North Carolin-ahhhh

We had another fabulous visit to North Carolina!  Thursday night we arrived around dinner time and had a drink before heading out to dinner then back home for some pool and shuffle board.  Last year when we visited the house was barely complete but the basement was not quite finished, so it was nice to see and play in the basement!  Friday the guys headed out to find the honey holes while Sherry and I relaxed at home, watching movies by the tree and fire.  Friday evening we attended the Charity dinner then back home and to bed.  Saturday Sherry and I went out for lunch, mani & pedi's while the guys fished.  They caught a lot of fish, but none of them were very big so they skipped the weigh-in.  We had dinner that evening with Sharon & Jim (Sherry's mom & stepdad) and Jill and Fuz (Sherry's sister and brother in law).  It was a perfect, relaxing, quick weekend.  Sunday we had a bumpy flight from Charlotte to Detroit and then a 3hr layover in Detroit.  After a quick search, we went to the gate of an earlier flight to see if we could take that flight.  At the last minute she called us up and put us in the front row.  We were mid-high 5's celebrating that we were only an hour away from seeing our boys again when the captain came on the air and said that the weather had deteriorated in Traverse City and our flight was cancelled.  Luckily we were first off the plane and able to speak to the gate agent right away, but unfortunately we could no longer get BACK on our original flight (it didn't matter since it was cancelled anyway).  There was another later flight as well, but that was oversold (that flight WAS able to fly in).  Our option was to fly to Chicago and arrive in the morning.  NO THANKS.  We instead rented a car and took some dinner to Kim and Peg's where we were able to cuddle the ADORABLE, sweet, little baby Devon who was two weeks old.  From there we headed North and made it to Mt. Pleasant before the roads started to get too slick to continue safely.  We stayed overnight at the Soaring Eagle Waterpark, which was really nice and I hope to take the kids back someday.  Finally, we made it home safely on Monday.  I'm not sure who was happier that we were home, us or my mom!  In addition to taking care of 3 little boys she was in the midst of planning a large Christmas luncheon at the Church which seemed to have one setback after another.  So thanks mom!  It's so nice to go away and not have any concerns about how the kids are doing because you know they are in good hands.  Ok, on to the pictures... I didn't take too many, but here is what I have:


Fun in the Photo booth:
 

The weather was about 70* and sunny on Saturday, it made for a gorgeous sunset while having drinks and appetizers on the porch!
 

Aaron and I at the Charity Dinner:
 

Sherry brought home an autographed Kings Jersey and an autographed guitar!
 

Me posing with the Sprint Cup Chase Champagne bottle!
 

As seen here:  :)
 

These are the days...

Today was a rather busy day for me. I'm still trying to catch up from our North Carolina trip that we came home from on Monday and prepare for our Boyne Mountain trip tomorrow (I know, you feel realllllly sorry for me ;) AND get prepared for Christmas. This morning I took Jacob to school then came home and got the little boys and I ready for our day. At 10:30 we were off to Moomers to make a gingerbread house where the boys ate at least twice as much candy as they actually used on their gingerbread house AND finished it off with an ice cream cone. Because come on, who goes to Moomers and doesn't get ice cream?! After Moomers we headed to town for a quick lunch with Aaron (who was on lunch break from a supervisor's training conference) and then quickly over to the preschool where my mom was waiting to pick up Austin while I assisted in Brody's classroom. After a few hours, Brody and I headed to Sharky's for haircuts. An hour and two haircuts later, we headed to Sam's club. I was feeling a little bit down because I hated to spend money on Clorox wipes and toilet paper with Christmas right around the corner and I was getting sick of hearing my own voice say "...maybe Santa will bring it for Christmas... don't run... don't climb on that...". When I had crossed off everything on my list we proceeded to the check out line and on our way my boys became distracted with a karaoke machine playing "jingle bell rock" which instantly prompted a dance-off between the three. And there it was. The moment. The moment that those little old ladies remind me to enjoy. The moment those empty-nesters tell me to never take for granted because in an instant they'll be grown. And I was beside myself with emotion. Here I was just standing in the middle of Sam's club with tears running down my cheeks and my silly boys dancing like no one was watching. I love those boys. I love their spirit, I love their silliness and I love their drive to dance when they hear music, without inhibition. These are the days to remember, without a doubt.   

Post-Cruise Reflections:

Grandma has been trying to get a family cruise for YEARS now and it finally came to a reality.  Overall it went very well and I was relieved there was no family drama.  Here is a bit more of my thoughts about how it went:

HOLY WIND, BATMAN
It was windy (and rainy and cold and wet) when we left Port Canaveral but it was REALLY windy on Thanksgiving.  So windy that you could lean into it and have your face be 2 feet from the floor and not fall over.  It was crazy. 

HURRY UP AND WAIT
Not sure if it is very typical to wait in HUGE lines for boarding or if it was just because the boat was delayed 3hrs getting into port but we had to wait for-ev-er in cold, wind and rain just to get on the boat.  It was rough and I was thinking over and over again how we made the right call in NOT bringing the boys with us.  Once we finally boarded there was more waiting in line for guest relations, at the muster stations, for the elevators, for the tenders, for the tenders to be full, to get back on the boat, etc., etc., etc. 

STAIRS, STAIRS AND MORE STAIRS
Because the lines for the elevators were so long (and once you got on one you had to stop at every.single.floor), we rarely used them and took the stairs.  Our favorite bar was on the 15th floor, our room was on the 6th, dinner was on the 4th, the dock was on the 1st.  The worst part about the stairs was the rough seas.  Depending on the sway, some of your steps were very light and other times your legs felt very, very heavy. 

MAN OVERBOARD
Aaron and I have dealt with fire alarms going off in the night at a hotel, but it doesn't quite compare to the "man overboard" alarm on a cruise ship.  At 3:03am the alarm sounded and a message came over that sounded something along the lines of "Ladies and Gentlemen this is the Captain speaking from the bridge.  We have a man overboard alarm in effect and we need all passengers to return to their stateroom promptly.  If there is someone from your party missing dial 0 immediately.  This is a life and death situation and we ask for your full cooperation."  The next message we heard was that the stateroom attendants would be verifying all passengers and finally the last overhead message was for all crew to check in on the first floor.  When we looked out the stateroom window you could see the spotlights on the water (which was rough - lots of white water and swells) and you could tell the ship was in a stationary position.  Eventually we fell back asleep and the following morning we learned that an intoxicated female passenger on the 7th floor believed she saw someone in the water.  She was so convinced that she was throwing life jackets out to them.  A crew member noticed her and immediately notified the bridge of a possible man overboard.  They said that in these situations they activate an EPIRB beacon which sends out a signal with the gps position into the atmosphere.  They are monitored worldwide and ANY ship or aircraft in the vicinity is notified and expected to assist in search efforts by international law.  The incident caused a 3 hour delay for our ship, but since we were just having a "sea day" the following day, there was no change.  It can be a costly thing, however.  Since even cargo ships expected to assist in search efforts if they are in the area, the delay for them to deliver cargo to a port could cause some headaches.  We are very thankful that this was just a false alarm and nothing was lost for our ship, except sleep.  But again, so glad we did not bring the boys because I'm sure this would have been a little terrifying for them.

IF THIS BOATS A ROCKIN'...
Our boat pulled out of Port Canaveral about 5pm and right about the time we sat down at dinner (5:45pm) the waves really picked up.  Everything was vibrating and it felt like the captain was speeding up, slowing down, speeding up, slowing down but it was really just the wave action.  I was pretty concerned that if the waves stayed like this, there was no way I was going to last 4 days.  Lucky for me, the first and last days were the only real concerns. It was pretty intense though and we were even woken up a few times during the night by things getting knocked over in our room.  One of the waiters told us the seas were 40-60ft swells on those days.  I'm not sure how accurate that is, but I do know they had the barf bags placed every few feet and the water looked angry!  We exited the boat two days ago and I'm STILL rocking. 

THANK YOU FOR NOT SMOKING
I had no idea that many people still smoked in the world.  And, I can't believe smokers would take a vacation on a boat.  But they do and the smoking sections reminded me of what they used to be in Michigan 5 years ago:  smoking section here, 5 feet away is the non-smoking section.  It didn't help that the places we liked to spend the most of our time in were the smoking areas (casino, bar for the football games, the bar at the top with the 360 views).  You got used to it, but what a shock!  How quickly you forget there are smokers in the world after they prohibited smoking in most public areas in Michigan.

THE NIGHTMAN COMETH
Not only did Jenin, our stateroom attendant, peak in on us while lying in bed during the man overboard alarm in the middle of the night but he also visited our room in stealth-like fashion every time we left it and tidied up.  Most of the time it was cute when he would leave us little towel animals and such but sometimes it got a little creepy when he would fold up my unmentionables after we left the room a mess trying to quickly dress for dinner. 

SECOND DINNER
We were well aware of the concept of 1st dinner and 2nd dinner from my pregnancy days, but cruising takes it to another level.  Aaron's cousins (the well traveled cruisers that they are) sat with us the first night and explained that ordering just one starter and entree was for novices.  If you would like soup AND salad to start with, by all means do so.  I was usually content with just one entree but I did enjoy sampling a variety of the starters!  Breakfast was average, lunch was usually a small bite so we could save room for our dinners, which was always delicious. 

Thanksgiving Cruise

We flew out of Grand Rapids into Orlando then made our way to our ocean front hotel where we picked up a pizza and some beers before calling it a night.  The next morning Aaron said he could see our boat coming in to port.  I told him there was no way that was our boat at 10:00am since our boat was supposed to be docked at 7:30am.  Sure enough, he was right and our boat had been privately chartered by Bud Light and pulled into port 3hrs late, looking a little hungover.
 

It was foggy, drizzly and COLD in Cocoa Beach Monday morning:
 

Our room:
 

Our view of the pier:
 

We watched the surfers:
 

Our very small stateroom:
 

Our first stop was Cococay.  The boys played football and volleyball most of our time there:
 

I told them we were just short a few pair of aviator sunglasses and dog tags short for it to be a full Top Gun reenactment:
 

The weather was sunny, then light rain and clouds, then sunny again.
 

Aaron and Pete:
 

The hubs and I:
 

Heading back to the Monarch of the Seas:
 

Next stop was Nassau.  We took the jitney bus to the Sheraton and bought some day passes to spend our day at their pool and beach:
 

 

 

 

Aaron's 4 cousins were hilarious and always kept us laughing.  Especially when Alec entered the "Sexiest Man Competition".  He came in 2nd. 
 

Thanksgiving wasn't quite the same on the ship, but it was fun watching the Lions with a big group of people in the bar! 
 

Finally back to Cocoa Beach!  Aaron rented a surfboard while we waited until the time for our flight!  He said it was much harder than it looks and he has many bruises to prove it!
 

Fall/Halloween Part 2!

Circle time at Brody's preschool:
 

Brody's class:
 

Jacob and his big catch of the day:
 

Wait!  I thought Jacob was supposed to have the fishing pole?  Aaron and I cracked up at this... Jacob is not a fan of donuts so you could tell he was torn between wanting to win the game and not wanting to taste the donut!
 

We met up with Jack and Cori to Treak or Treat this year.  We missed the nice weather by a week and they trick or treated in drizzle and temps in the 30's.  Oh well, at least it was nice for downtown trick or treating and we just bundled them up for this evening! 
 

After about the third house I realized Brody was saying "Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!  If you don't, I don't care... I'll show you my underwear!"

After I corrected him and said that is ok to say at home with your brothers and NOT to strangers he declared "I'm all done with Halloween, Mom".  For the remainder of the evening, Cori pulled him around in a wagon!
 

Brody at Buchan's for Enrichment!
 

Spraying the fire house at Enrichment!
 

I was the assist parent at Brody's school for their Halloween party and when the teacher called the kids over for circle time she said "Everyone with a superhero costume, please stand in the middle".  So all the superheroes stood up and showed off their costumes and then sat down.  Next she said "If you have a pretty costume on, please stand in the middle" to which Brody proudly stood up and showed off his costume, while standing next to the 3 girls in his class dressed like princesses!  It was so darn cute I nearly peed my pants laughing! 

Aaron did not find it as funny when he took him to the ice arena and Brody requested the "pink skates".    Oh how I love that kid!

Fall/Halloween Part 1

Fall colors on the hill coming home from Jacob's school:
 

Pumpkin Carving!
 

 

Jacob drew on the face and carved the top (with a little assistance from dad) and the eyes and nose all on his own.  Good fine motor skills practice!  He got a little bored by the time the mouth came though, so dad took over.
 

Austin enjoyed the "guts" the most:
 

Yum!
 

Silly boy:
 

It was a gorgeous day for Trick or Treating downtown!

They were so excited!

 

Even though the weather was great, it wasn't too crowded this year! 
 

This was the first year we didn't have to carry a child!
 

Aaron got a lot of great eagle shots lately:
 

 

Hoxsie's Farm!  Best Honeycrisps in all of Northern Michigan!  They also generously donated all of the pumpkins to the Family Fun Night at the preschool.  3 of them are sitting on our porch.
 

Austin (in orange, next to Brody in white) thinks he is a fully-fledged member of the class. 
 

Sometimes I even think Austin enjoys it more than Brody...
 

Group photo:
 

Not to be left out, Austin demanded I take a picture of him during the group photo. 
 

Austin, barely keeping his distance from the group photo:
 

Enrichment is going great so far!  Brody (and sometimes Austin) have gone to the bowling alley, Blueberry farm, Fire Station, Hoxsie's Apple Orchard, and ice skating. 

We had crazy, unseasonably warm temperatures when we visitied Hoxsie's farm on October 25th.  I had us all in long sleeve shirts and we were all sweating like crazy when the temps reached almost 80!  At Hoxsie's the farmer let everyone pick out one apple and one pumpkin and put it in their bag.  Austin had a hard time picking out just one apple so at one point while the farmer was talking to the group, Brody realized Austin had BROKE THE RULES and had two apples in his bag.  He interrupted and said "FARMER!  Somebody has TWO apples!"  That somebody being his own brother, standing right next to him.  Silly kid. 

Downtown trick or treating went great!  The kids had a blast and we somehow lucked out with a good trick or treating pattern that avoided the congested spots!  We picked up a pizza on the way home and called it a success.