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.