Paradise

On our cruise this year Chet's sister and her husband came along. It was so fun! We had balcony suites right next to each other so of course we had to take a picture looking at each other.

Our first day in paradise was Paradise Island, Nassau. However this was not what we originally had planned. Originally we had planned a snorkeling expedition to a private island. When we got to the place where we were supposed to leave for the island they told us the trip had been cancelled but if we wanted they would give us 10% off  a day pass to Atlantis. We went to Atlantis last year and weren't that impressed. But since they were offering us a deal and Chels and Chuck hadn't been there we decided to give it another try. This time it was much better. When we got there there was a guide that told us about the "Cove" beach. It was a pretty far walk but I think it was worth it! It was way more secluded and quiet. As my sister-in-law said "it's paradise!"

We did a lot of snorkeling while we were there as well. There was a pretty good amount of fish, crabs and urchins. Chet's brother-in law, Chuck, had a great time in the water with us. His sister Chelsie was a little more wary. We eventually got her to give it a try and while she was a little freaked out by the fish she said she was glad she tried it.

When lunch time rolled around we ate and then decided to go see "The Dig", the aquarium at Atlantis. I love aquariums and this one is no exception. It was wonderful. They didn't, however, have the giant mantas this year that they did last. They only had little ones and by little I mean 12-15 feet instead of 20-25.  Next time though I think we will do the aquarium before we are all wet. By the time we were done walking around we were all walking like we had been horseback riding all day. ;)

When we were done with lunch we went back to the beach before we had to take the ferry back to the ship. We enjoyed dinner on the boat and then headed to our cabin to get a good nights sleep before our next port-of-call, Great Stirrup Cay.

Great Stirrup Cay had the best snorkeling that we have ever done! There was this giant rock that was easy to swim out to that was teeming with fish! We swam all the was around it. I was a little scared of the back side of the rock because it was fairly close to the sand bar, which is where all the sharks hang out, and the water goes from about 15ft to 50ft but we did it. It was awesome!!!

When we were headed out to the rock, still in the shallows, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was an octopus! It was sooo cool to see one not in an aquarium!

He wasn't the only cool guy we saw though. We saw puffer fish, barracuda, rainbow runners, tangs, damsel fish, angel fish, squirrel fish, wrasse, trigger fish and some I didn't know.  (you can click on the picture to see the fish better)

Since this was our third day in the sun we were starting to get a little crispy. (Some of us more than others.) Chet's sister made herself a shanty to not become extra crispy.

After fun filled days in the Bahamian sun it was time to head back to the boat and then on to Florida, South Beach this time, to wrap up our trip and head home. Maybe...

Tranquility

Since our vacation seemed to be 3 separate trips all rolled into 1 I thought each part deserved its own post. So here goes part one.

The first leg of our vacation was in the Florida Keys. Which meant that we had to drive from Miami to the Keys which is about a 2 hour drive. The drive actually wasn't that bad. It was very scenic which made the drive go really fast. We decided to stop at a place called Mrs. Mac's Kitchen for dinner. It was a total dive but tripadvisor.com rated their food #1. They catch their fish fresh every morning from the dock in the back of the restaurant! The food all looked so good that between the 4 of us we ordered 2 appetizers and 5 entrees! It was amazing! So if you are ever in the Keys and need a place to eat I would recommend this place.

After we finished our delicious dinner we headed to the resort that we were staying at, Hawks Cay. What a beautiful resort it is! We stayed in one of the townhouses that they have there. It was so cute and fun.

When we went inside to check out our rooms we were surprised to find that we weren't alone! This poor gecko was trapped inside the house but don't worry we caught the poor little guy and let him go outside.

After the catch and release of the gecko we went out to see the rest of the resort (and to find the hot tub to relax in). There are several pools at the resort but we were looking for the adults only pool. Don't get me wrong, I love kids but if I wanted to hang out with kids on my vacation I would have brought mine. :) By the time we got to the "Tranquility Pool" it was dark. We enjoyed it anyways. On the walk back to the townhouse we saw fireflies! I have never seen one in true life. My only experience with them is on the Pirates ride at Disneyland. It was very cool!

The Keys are beautiful, just not what we were expecting. They are much more lake-like than tropical. Meaning there aren't really "beaches" to hang out on. We weren't too disappointed though because we knew that we were headed to some amazing beaches on the cruise. So we opted for the next best thing... the "Tranquility Pool".

We spent the whole day here. The whole day! It was wonderful. It was so hot though we would be in and out of the pool to stay cool. One of the times we were out of the pool, I was laying face down on my lounge chair and heard a strange noise. I looked up to see a giant iguana right under my face! I wasn't scared I know that they are harmless but it did interrupt my tranquility. All that he was really interested in was the last piece of fruit from lunch.

After a very strenuous day of lounging by the pool we needed some nourishment. We went to another highly recommended place called the Sunset Grille. It was an outdoors restaurant right on the water with an amazing view! After we had filled up on more delicious food we headed back to the resort where we called it a night.

The next morning as the girls were getting ready to head to the cruise ship Chet decided to head out back to try some fishing. He didn't catch anything but he sure looked cute trying.

All in all the Keys were very beautiful and relaxing but now I was ready for the tropical part of the trip. The Bahamas!!!

Gel toes vs. Keens

So, since school had just got out, Liv decided to run a little experiment. She decided to see if Keen brand sandals or her "gel toes" were tougher. The experiment ran like this; Liv and Harris would both attempt to kick a soccer ball at the same time, Harris wearing the aforementioned sandals and Liv barefoot, once contact was made the sandals were to hook onto the big toe nail covered in the "gel" substance and significant force would be applied in the form of a kicking motion. At this point in the experiment we collect the ensuing data...

Ah, science...

Switching now to a narrative of what happened; Liv came into the house screaming and bleeding everywhere. I had one of those weird moments as a father where I just had absolutely no idea what to do, none. Jaime looked at me to ask what we should do about all the bleeding and the screaming and I drew a blank. My brain went through all it's learning and stored info and could not come up with a way to fix the situation. I think part of this was the new surroundings and not having a primary care physician. Anyway, after my brain reboot, I decided to take Liv to the nearest urgent care. I called them on the way over to make sure they were still open (this was about 7 at night) and headed over. What followed will haunt me the rest of my days.

When I got her there, I'm pretty sure she had gone into shock because she was loopy. She had stopped with the screaming and sobbing and had settled into a weird delirium, laughing at funny things and making odd observations. When we got in to see the doctor, the poor Dr. wasn't able to evaluate the injury because just getting near Liv's toe sent her into hysterics. The Dr. determined that shots in the toes were the only way she would get to perform an evaluation. Speaking of hysterics...Liv pretty much freaked out at this point. Now, I can absolutely understand. I had shots in the toes when I had some ingrown toes taken out and it was awful!

Anyway, after the shots in the toes (and much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth) the Dr. showed me that the nail had ripped off and was still half attached at the cuticle and would need to be removed the rest of the way. I then did my best to distract my still hysterical daughter as the Dr. took a scalpel and proceeded to cut the rest of the toenail off at the cuticle. Halfway through the procedure, Liv could still feel the pain so the Dr. decided to give her another shot. Liv overheard and started thrashing around trying to bargain with Dr. for some sort of alternative option. Again, it fell upon me to distract her and the Dr. was able to give the shot without Liv even noticing. After that the Dr. finished up and Liv was thoroughly bandaged, given a special boot to a wear and a pair of crutches.

All in all, a harrowing experience for both father and daughter. Luckily, Liv is on the mend and is only 6 months or so away from a shiny new big toe nail.

Here is some picture evidence:

This is at the hospital.  This was the site I saw that drove me to take her there instead of just trying to deal with it at home.

Liv was excited when the Dr. told her that she would get crutches.  After a whole day of walking around on them, she seemed slightly less excited...

They put this gross but cool surgical foam on her big toe to cover where the nail usually goes.  This is the site we get to deal with every 12 hours when we wash and re-bandage her up.  I'm sure it's much worse for Liv...

My Best Helper

I find that I spend a lot of my time in the mornings cleaning. Since Harris and I are the only ones that are home during the day, he ends up being my best helper. :) Don't get me wrong, Chet and Liv help a lot too, they just aren't here as much.

Fortunately, Harris loves to help! I usually don't even need to ask, he just says, "Mommy I want to mop". (or vacuum or clean the sink) Those are the three things he likes to do the most. Here are some pics that I took of him helping.

He loves to help clean his room, as long as I do everything but vacuum. That's his job.

He will usually rinse all the dishes for me while I load the dishwasher. When we are done with that he will scrub the sink for like 20 minutes. It always looks way better when he does it.

He loves to mop with my Shark Steam Mop. I like that I can let him use it because it is chemical free.

This one I forgot about. He loves to dust the table as well. It works out well since he can fit under the table without bumping his head.

I know that he probably won't always be like this so I felt it was important to document it for proof. He already doesn't like to put his clothes away. He just shoves them all in the same drawer! Oh well, at least they are put away. I'm just grateful for the help that I am getting right now. :)

ABQ Zoo

Because Chet had to work late on Tuesday, he took a half day on Wednesday and we decided to head to the zoo. We love the zoo here, it is so fun! Once again, we were not disappointed by the animals. The first animals we went to see were the polar bears. They have an amazing enclosure that they live in. There are waterfalls and a water slide and giant balls that they get to play with. When we got there they were playing with the balls. It was so cute to watch them carry the ball around. (There were two balls but they both only wanted the yellow one.) After they played with the balls they started climbing to the top of the rocks and diving into the water! It was amazing! (Unfortunately we didn't get video of the diving just them playing with the ball.) The kids were in heaven and didn't want to leave. The bear in the video had just taken the ball from the other bear. After he took it he went and hid in the back of the enclosure with it. The other bear would hear the ball and then stand up looking for it. So fun. :)

There were also a ton of baby animals! There was a baby elephant, giraffe, zebra, a takin (its in the yak family), and several monkeys.

For some reason we only took a picture of the baby zebra. Isn't he cute though?!

Another thing I love about this zoo is how close you get to be to all the animals. That cougar was only an arms length away. Not that we would dare to stick our arm out to prove that. It's just a "guesstimate". :)

Yep only that little tiny rope to keep us from getting into the pond with the flamingos.

It was a fabulous day!

Paramore Concert 5/10

So, I've blogged before (See 5/26/09 post) about my affinity for darker teen girl music (Garbage in the 90's, Evanescence in the 2000's and Paramore in the 2010's...). Anyway, I am lucky in the fact that I get to share my love of music with my children. Harris loves to ride in my car and listen to "loud music" (usually Pearl Jam) and Olivia shares my love of the band Paramore. I have no problem admitting that I absolutely love Paramore. I think they write fantastic songs with great music and meaningful lyrics.


Anyway, I take a lot of heat for some of my musical tastes but I don't care. :)


When I really like a band I try to support them by purchasing their CD's (actually I dowload it on iTunes...) etc. and also by joining their fan club. I have found that I greatly benefit from most fan clubs, I usually get great access to all sorts of cool stuff including the early chance to purchase great seats to concerts and the chance to win prizes. For some reason (it could be that I don't fit the usual demographics of some of these bands) I seem to win the contests I enter. I had the chance to meet Evanescence a couple years ago and won an autographed headband from Paramore a couple tours ago.


Last summer Liv and I went to her first rock concert and saw Paramore open up for No Doubt. It was great but way too short, at the conclusion of the show I promised Liv that when Paramore came to Utah again that we would go and we would have amazing seats. I didn't know at the time that we would no longer live in Utah the next time they came but a promise was a promise :)


When Paramore announced the availability of fan club seats for their Utah show we had already committed to moving to New Mexico. The show just happened to be the day after Mother's Day so I was able to successfully pitch a Mother's Day trip back to Utah. Jaime graciously accepted my offer and we booked our flights.


Back to my winning ways with goth girl bands, I entered and won Meet and Greet passes for the show as well as Early Entry passes. Along with the great seats I was able to purchase through the fan club, I knew I was in for a cool experience.


The Meet and Greet passes came with a hitch, however. The email I received took great care to specify that the M&G pass was for me only, meaning that I couldn't bring anyone with me. Needless to say, Liv was none too pleased about that and asked me to get a hold of the band and ask if she could come too. I obliged but never heard back. When the day of the show arrived I decided to try to sneak her in with me. I went to the M&G section and thought I would try my hand at being sneaky. When the security guard pointed out to me that I couldn't bring anyone into the M&G, I explained that I had flown in for the concert from New Mexico and that the girl was with me. I told the security guard that since she didn't win the chance to participate in the M&G, that she could just wait in the hallway while I met the band. (now, I had no intention of of actually doing this but wanted to tug at the guards heart strings a little) Liv gave the guard her puppy dog eyes on cue and the guard said he would let her in rather then make her wait in the hallway...


Meeting the band was awesome, it was great to be there with Liv and see her face as she got to meet Hayley and the guys. The band was way cool and seemed genuinely excited to meet such a young fan. Pictures below.


The show itself was amazing. The band was in great form and Hayley was captivating. (this is the point in the blog where Jaime rolls her eyes at me, but it is already known that I find something compelling about lead singer rock chicks). Again, pics are below.


To sum up, the total experience was one of the best music fan times I have ever had and I am so glad I got to share it with Liv.

Liv waiting patiently for the band to arrive at the Meet and Greet...

Liv and Hayley chatting.  Hayley told her how beautiful she was and how cutely she was dressed.

Liv and I with Paramore.  All the band members are super tiny so I had to crouch down so I didn't look so gigantic.  This picture turned out only slightly less geeky on my part than the picture I took with Evanescence a couple years ago.  I'll have to dig that one out.

We had great seats!

Liv rocking out...

 

So, we got our seats from the fan club and were excited because they were on the 5th row and were close to the stage.  When Liv and  I sat down we were very disappointed because the seats were too far over and the speakers were in our way.  A few minutes before the show started we noticed that there was some room on the 2nd row...we headed on down and got ourselves an upgrade. 

Mother's Day

I seriously have the best husband and kids. Saturday morning I woke up to breakfast in bed, cards and presents! Yes, Mother's Day came to our house on Saturday this year because we would be in Utah on the actual day and the kids would be with their grandparents so Chet decided we should celebrate Saturday before we left. I felt so loved and so special it brought tears to my eyes.

These are my cards that Chet and the kids gave me. I love that Liv's has Mickey's on it. Harris wrote his all by himself and told me that it was written in Spanish. :) If you take a close look at Chet's card you can see that some of it is underlined. My mom used to underline the parts that she thought were really important whenever she gave anyone a card. Chet always thought it was funny but being the good "son" that he is he does it too. ;)

My sweet Olivia made these for me at school. I absolutely love the painting! I am going to find a frame so that I can hang it in my bedroom. The bowl on the side is a paper plate that they cut up and drew on and then weaved it into a bowl. My daughter must really know me because she decorated it with "hidden Mickey's".  Can you see them? (she's so cute)

And last but not least is my new pride and joy! ;) My limited edition Dooney and Bourke Disneyland purse! Isn't it the cutest thing you have ever seen?! I am so spoiled. :)

It really was a great Mother's Day. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a mom to two amazing kids and for my wonderful husband who works so hard so that I can stay home with them.