Baby Jail

Lucas is a little monkey and loves to climb and jump around.

Swinging from my parents treadmill.

So I’m almost surprised it took him this long to figure out how to get in the crib. He was playing in his room while I was putting his sheets in the laundry and came back to find him standing in his crib.  I’m glad he hasn’t  figure out how to climb out but he climbs in, gets stuck, and cries until I let him out.

Tooth Troubles

Lucas fell playing outside and busted his lip open. He has hit his lip many times so we put some ice on it, stopped the bleeding and then didn’t think much about it. Later that day I was changing him and noticed his gum above his upper left tooth was bloody and that his tooth seemed to be in a different spot. I gently touched his tooth and it wiggled slightly. Uh-oh! Good thing he loved going to the dentist last week because we were soon back for another visit. Thankfully, the dentist thinks his teeth will  be fine and will strengthen up again.  If you look very, very carefully you might be able to see that one tooth is now further back and lower down and the other tooth is shifted forward. The hope is his tongue and mouth will guide the teeth back into place.  His x-rays showed he had past trauma to the teeth from prior falls and he  broke the tips off of the roots on both of his front teeth. The great news is that enough of the center root is intact that he shouldn’t lose the teeth.  Tyler had to show off his own silly grin.

First Soccer Practice

Tyler is playing soccer through the Upward program this spring. He’s participated in  preschool soccer through Happy Feet but they mainly do ball play and music.  They don’t play the actual game, have teams or even a soccer goal so this is pretty different. 

On our way to his first practice. He seemed so grown up to me that I actually got a little teary.

Delaney, Koen & Payton are also playing in the league. 

Tyler with his friends and fellow Cheetah teammates Koen & Jake. 

It was very windy!

Getting direction from his coach.

Tyler’s New Bike

Tyler’s new wheels.

When Allan (Delaney & Harper’s dad) got this Trek bike in at The Cyclery, he knew it was perfect bike for Tyler. After all, it was green!

His other bike (now Lucas’s) has 12” rims and this is 16”. I wasn’t sure how he would do since it was so much bigger but he hopped right on and was ready to ride. He is so excited about his new bike and has already taken a mile bike ride with Brian.

Thanks Allan for finding him the perfect bike!

Boys Play Hard

My mom needed me to do some work for her this afternoon, but since it was a beautiful 82 degrees out today it was just too nice to have the boys indoors! So Papa took them on a trip to the park.

The pictures don't do it justice but you can see they obviously had lots and lots of fun:

Tyler's shirt

Lucas's pants covered in mud and now with a rip (I wouldn't normally send him to the park in khaki's but this was an impromptu trip straight after school). I even found mulch in his diaper!

Even Papa's shoe didn't survive the adventure.

The kids were so tired after and said Papa wore us out! Thanks Papa! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Dentist Appt

The boys had a dentist appointment today. Tonight when I asked them about their favorite thing they did today they told me the dentist.  I know they like the treasure box there but I’m still a little surprised it  made it all the way to the top of their list.

Tyler got x-rays, a cleaning and a fluoride treatment and was the perfect patient.

Lucas did great also.The dentist said his teeth have great spacing but if his adult teeth come in where his baby teeth are he will need early orthodontics.

Crazy Hair Day

It was Crazy Hair Day at school today. I couldn't find the blue hair spray I'd gotten and the boys hair isn't that long to do anything to wild but these are their little mohawks.

Budding Architect

Tyler and Delaney built this block tower together. Tyler has made a million before but was so proud of this one and asked me to go get the camera so he could take pictures of it. He went around and tried to take pictures of it from every side. Since he loves looking at pictures on the blog this post is for him!

Pictures Fixed

I'm not sure what is going on with blogger but the missing vacations are fixed.

You can scroll down to see them or click here and here and here.

Heading Home

When we boarded the ship the check in process was a breeze and we were on the ship in minutes. Leaving the ship was a very different scenario as everyone had to go through customs.

Tyler hitches a ride on a suitcase as we inch forward in the long lines.

 

The iPad was very handy for our flight delay.

We didn't even make it off the runway before Lucas was asleep. He's not usually a kid that falls asleep on the go but he was so worn out. Vacationing is hard work!

Date Night Every Night

Brian and I had dinner with the kids the first night, but every night after that was just the two of us. We were spoiled with six date nights in a row. We had a chance to relax and eat a nice meal without entertaining them and they had so much more fun playing in the kids club than sitting still at a formal dinner.

#3 was the only kiddo with us most nights! Several nights we went to see shows such as the comedy show or the Aquashow (a cirque du soleil type water/diving show) before picking up the kids.

We still had plenty of quality family time.

They Had The Best Children’s Programs

One of the main reasons we chose this ship was because of the amazing kids program. They also had childcare for children Lucas’s age which many ships don’t offer. We were so impressed with the quality of care and attention the kids received. All of the teachers had education degrees and were wonderful. We loved their program and the kids did too.

Tyler’s class had a different theme for each 3 hour block of time and had stories, crafts, games and projects related to that theme. He was so excited about the medal he won at sport night. This was how Tyler looked when we picked him up from the pirate session. Tyler lets Lucas try on his pirate apparel. Lucas’s class didn’t have as structured of a program but he still had a great time. He had loving teachers that took great care of him and did lots of art projects with him. He never minded going to his class and even asked us if he could go there on his own. On the last day they gave us a paper with his hand and footprints painted on it. Lucas plays on the slide in Tyler’s classroom.  

This is Lucas in the playroom. They had a room filled with toys where parents and kids could come and play together.

Tyler’s class sang some songs and had a talent show on stage in the children’s theatre. They also went to the theatre for a black light puppet show. He made lots of art projects like paper swords, paintings and decorating a pillowcase. They had a science lab for activities like bubbling volcanoes and space mud. Wearing hats given to them by one of the amazing teachers there. The kids were well loved! Taking a break on Tyler’s bed after all the fun.

Lucas slept in a pack-n-play next to Tyler. They aren’t used to sleeping in the same room, much less that close to each other, so it was pretty hard to get them to sleep. Just as one would wind down the other would do something and they would end up giggling again. It didn’t help yet that they were usually way overtired by the time we put them down.

Brian Had Plenty Of Fun Too

Riding the first zip line at sea. It was 82 feet long and suspended over the open center of the ship so you were riding over 9 decks.

Tyler and Lucas very enthusiastically and loudly cheer on Daddy (wearing blue) as he climbs the rock wall.

He made all the way to the top (43 feet).

Not pictured: Brian winning and losing and winning and eventually coming out about even at craps, his nightly entertainment when I still wasn't feeling great couldn't stay awake past 9.

So Many Fun Things To Do Part 2

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We spent lots of time on the Boardwalk where the kids played  in this car and the nearby fire truck. The pirate ship was also a big hit.

Tyler peeks through the porthole. Our boys got a makeover and balloon swords at the pirate parade. Lucas worked on  his hula skills. Posing with a  bear just their size. The boys rode on the carousel countless times.

There Were So Many Fun Things To Do

 

There were two miniature golf courses; one for adults and one for kids on the ship. They have an ice rink on the ship but we never made it ice skating. We did take Lucas to see some of an ice show one night while Tyler was at the kids club.

 

Tyler drastically dropped the mean age of shuffleboard players.

One of their favorite events was driving power wheels out on the sport court.

Lucas went straight for the pink and purple Barbie car.

We Spent Plenty of Time in the Water

They had so many different pools on the ship. Brian and I liked the adults only Solarium area best. Tyler had a lot of fun shooting the water guns at the kids H2O zone. He was also a big fan of the hot tubs. Both the boys liked the tide pool and we spent one afternoon going around and around in circles a million times until we could finally coax them out.

They had a splash pool for kids still in swim diapers. Lucas spent lots of time there playing with Buzz Lightyear & Woody. On the day our ship docked in Cozumel we stayed on board and had a great day with an almost empty ship and pools.

We spent hours at the Columbus Cove beach in Labadee and the kids loved it. Tyler is getting much braver around the water. The water was beautiful and the mountain views were gorgeous.

You can see our ship in the background.

Paradise!