Cruisin' with my Babe

We have returned from what I consider one of our top vacations ever as a couple. We cruised for 5 days down to Mexico, and it was just as good as I had imagined (which isn't easy because I am quite the dreamer). Some of my top memories are...

#1-Eating tons of good food, in the company of some great friends. My favorite dishes were the lobster, prime rib, and enchiladas. Favorite dessert, chocolate melting cake which I ordered 4 of the 5 nights. Maybe that explains the major break out problem I am having and not to mention the few extra pounds (totally worth it)!!!

#2-ATV riding on the beach in CABO San Lucus

(This reminds me of a wedding announcement, minus the cute hair and nice clothes)

Tiffany and I were placed in the front of the line, so this is our view looking back at Steve having a malfunctioning ATV for the 2nd time. We did join the boys in the back of the pack after this picture, which was much more fun!

#3-Making my husband enter the 2 on 2 volleyball tournament with me. We received a wonderful water bottle and waterproof carrier when we won the tournament. I have to admit the the competition was pretty bad, but we still had a good time and made a memory.

#4-Kirk, Steve, and Andrew entering the speed slide competition. Steve won the competition by 1 second. The guys debated afterward for quite a while whether or not the time was accurate, which was quite a serious matter.

#5- Having a little fun with the girls in the jewelry section. We put on almost every ring in that shop- we were wondering where the workers were.

#6-Playing lots of card games, and gambling with jellybellys. Here we are playing blackjack, but we of course had quite a few serious hands of uno and phase ten as well. Kirk and I taught a few of the group how to play Nertz, and I think we have a rematch with Steve and Tiffany coming up in the near future.






#7-Shopping in Ensenada. I loved watching Phil bartering with the people. He did help us get a great deal on a cute Mexican dress for Capri.


#8-Steve and Phil cheering on the dancers and getting beads thrown at them. We love your dance moves guys!


#9-Having a clean room and made bed! Our bed in rarely made in our home because of Kirk's work schedule, so it was extra nice having it made and not having to make it was just a bonus!



#10- Returning home to these guys (and Hudson) too. I was surprised at how much they had missed us while we were gone. Bruin was so giddy when Kirk and I picked him up for school, Capri had been crying for mommy all morning, and Hudson did what any 10 month old would do: he clapped his hands, smiled, then crawled away to find the next thing he could get into his hands and mouth before someone caught him.

Thanks to all our friends who made this trip so fun and memorable. I am looking forward to our next adventure. Also, a giant thanks to all my family who helped with the kids and took such great care of them!

Field Trip

So, you may be thinking: "Wow, Bruin already went on his first field trip?" But actually it was my college field trip that I am referring to. For my college Biology class we had a not so "optional" field trip to the Dana Point Harbor. As a class, and along with my professor's fifth grade class we took a boat out off the coast to take some samples from the ocean floor. I took Kirk along with me to join in the "fun." Which I didn't realize would actually be such a memorable experience.

We started out by going off the coast a couple miles. As we were going out to sea Kirk and I went up to the top of the ship (where the captain is). There were some nice benches up there, and it was nice to be away from the children (since we had left our 3 with my mom for the day). As we were sitting up there we noticed that the captain was talking to some other captains about the unusually large swells. We asked him about it, and he just said it was just a little rockier than had been predicted. I was just hoping at that point that I didn't get sick!

Kirk on the top deck

Meanwhile we see him looking into his binoculars over and over in the same direction. He would drive a little and then stop and look again. He then announced that we were going to see if we could catch up to a pod of dolphins that he had spotted. I was instantly excited! I was thinking, "neat, we are going to see a few dolphins out here." Little did I know that this pod was giant! As we approached the pod there were tons jumping out of the air and swimming swiftly opposite our direction. When I say tons, I mean hundreds! The captain turned the boat around so that we would be traveling in their direction. He explained to us that some of them may "bow ride" if we were lucky. By that point I had gone down to the bottom deck and grabbed my camera hoping to get a good shot of some dolphins. They were just too fast for my slow camera- sorry to disappoint. This is the closest I got to getting a good picture of them. You probably can't tell that there are two of them swimming under the water there next to our ship.

Several dolphins decided to "bow ride" as the captain had explained, which was really neat to see them swimming along with our vessel. My professor yelled, "any college students who are interested, there is some mating going along on the right side." I briefly saw the interesting sight of dolphin mating, which I had never thought much about. I'll spare you the details, but there are some videos on you tube if you are interested. Toward the end of the dolphin adventure the captain told us that he thought there were about 600 or so dolphins! It was a neat experience that I will never forget, and all thanks to my college biology class. Who knew a bio class could be so much fun?

The trip ended well with us pulling up some samples and sea life from the bottom of the ocean. These are a couple of the interesting fish they pulled up. The one bent in half is not dead, its a defence mechanism they use when they are being "attacked." The flatfish on the bottom left is an interesting creature. It is all white on the side facing down, and has eyes only on the one side of its body. When it is hatched an eye is on either side, and then one eye "migrates" to the preferred side where it remains. They are referred to as either left eyed or right eyed depending on which side they chose. Kirk and I were lucky to feel well throughout the entire ride (while some of my classmates were not so lucky). One poor girl in my class could not wait to get off the ship, and as soon as she did she was losing her breakfast into the ocean. I felt bad but didn't want to watch (since I had already seen enough puke this week with my sick kids). Below I wanted a picture of this pirate looking ship to show Bruin.
I love being on the water, so this trip on the ocean made me even more excited for my cruise next week. Kirk and I will be off for a few days with some friends on a Mexico Cruise relaxing and celebrating our 7th anniversary.

Thanks mom for watching the kids while we were off watching the dolphins, regardless of Hudson being a little sick still. We really had a wonderful time, and could never do things like this without such a supportive family to leave the children with.

L.A. Fair and Husband bragging

Yes, I am aware that the L.A. Fair was a while ago... better late than never I guess. I have to boast that my husband has been so wonderful lately. He has been extra helpful with the kids, and also around the house. I have been coming home to a clean house, clean (sleeping) children, and dinner on Weds. nights when I return home from school, which is amazing! A few weeks ago he ventured over to the L.A. Fair with all three of them while I was at school, and he even took some cute pictures, BONUS!!!
The kids love sledding in the snow! Bruin told me that they went 100 times! I don't know if it was that many, but Kirk did say they spent a long time in the Winter Wonderland. I have always avoided the whole snow thing because I'm worried that the kids will just be cold, uncomfortable, and that Bruin will get sick up the mountain. Maybe we will take our chances this year and try out real snow on a real hill.