Vacation (Day 3): Nassau, Bahamas

By the time we woke up Friday morning, we were already at dock in Nassau, Bahamas.  We had already decided we weren't going to do any excursions at either port since Justin was so little and there was plenty to do on the boat anyway.  Jonathan and I had been to Nassau for our honeymoon and didn't remember it being anything that special to provoke us to get off.  But, plans always change.  Katelynn wanted to go to "land" so we loaded up after breakfast and headed off the boat.  We barely hit the city street and decided to turn right back around.  There were way too many locals approaching us in every direction wanting to sell us something or bring us somewhere, and we just weren't that comfortable with the surroundings with two little kids.  At least we got to get some pictures of the ship from shore though!

Look closely and you'll see the kids and Jonathan...

.. and then the kids and mommy.

When we got back onboard, we headed to the pool area.  Donald and Daisy were there to get pictures so we took a quick picture before getting on our swimsuits!

Justin wasn't allowed in the pools since he isn't potty trained, but he didn't mind just playing in the splash area.  In fact, after a while he decided the water wasn't even that exciting compared to climbing up and down the step to get into the splash area.

Someone had an "accident" in the kid's pool and it got closed down (this was a daily occurance actually) so Katelynn joined us in the splash area.

She met a friend named Isabella (who was 3) and the two of them really hit it off.  Isabella even had a baby brother who was 17 months and was born in Charlotte!  Talk about a small world!  They live in Miami now, but it was fun to meet someone who lived right where we did!!

I can't get over Katelynn's face in this picture.  She was deep in conversation with her new best friend!

The girls wanted to do everything together!!  They were watching a show on the big screen TV by the pool together. 

And then they went and met Mickey and Pluto.  Katelynn had to go potty right before it was their turn so Isabella waited and let other kids go in front of her so that she could go up with Katelynn.

Here's my cool dude sporting Mommy's sunglasses.  We had two pairs for Justin and managed to leave both of them in the car before getting on the ship!

It was hard to get Justin to wind down and nap during the day.  I had to walk him around the hallways where the rooms were to get him to crash!

Friday night was "Pirates Night" on the ship.  Everyone was supposed to dress as pirates for dinner.  I had no idea before we got aboard so I bought the kids Mickey pirate hats.  Of course neither of them wore them for more than 30 seconds though.

There was a "Pirates of the Carribean" deck party that night.  It didn't start until 9:30 p.m. so I put Justin to bed in our room and Jonathan stayed with him while Katelynn and I hit the dance floor.  Have I mentioned my little girl is quite the dancer?  She didn't stop until the music quit around 11 p.m.

This was one of the pirate girls that came off stage and picked Katelynn to dance with.

Disney really knows how to put on some shows!  Not only were there awesome musicals each night before dinner, but they had this deck party that included fireworks off the boat!  Mickey flew threw the air on a zip line to get them started.  It was an awesome show!

Vacation (Day 2): Boarding the Ship

We got up early Thursday, loaded up, and headed for Port Canaveral.  The terminal opened at 10:30 that morning and we got there right when it opened.  We were able to upgrade our room to a balcony room and sat back and waited for them to board the ship (which started around 11:30-ish).  Mickey Mouse came out before boarding and Katelynn was able to go meet him.  She was so cute with the characters.  She would belly laugh and bend over giggling when they talked to her.  Mickey took her Minnie doll that she was holding and was giving it kissees, which made her laugh quite hard. 

When we boarded the ship, we went right to the buffet lunch and ate before heading to our room.  If you have ever sailed before, you have had to do the mandatory safety drill.  Justin lucked out as they didn't have the infant life jacket in our room for the drill.  It came after, but he didn't end up having to wear one for the drill.

We spent our afternoon enjoying the kiddie pools and splash park.  At departure, they had a pool party and gave all the kids little shakers.  Katelynn is quite the dancer.  She danced her little heart away, and she was pretty excited when they called all the kids to the stage. 

Video of my dancing kids:

I didn't get any good shots of Katelynn in the "Mickey" pools.  She was all over them swimming and dancing around them.  Here was Justin testing out the splash zone.

We had a late night dinner seating.  Normally at 8:15, the kids are in bed and instead they were just eating dinner.  We could have ate the buffet earlier instead, but we decided to give the main dining a try.  Our server made the kids paper mache toys.

After dinner, we met Snow White before heading off to bed!

Katelynn was pretty excited about the towel animal that was waiting for us when we got back to our room.  I still think she was a little more excited about the chocolate sitting in front of it though.

The maid had set up the bunk beds for the kids.  We didn't let Katelynn sleep up there because she's quite a mover, and we were a little too worried she would roll off (yes, there was a bar but not covering much of it and she is really all over the bed), but she enjoyed checking it out.

Ready for bed!

And they were out again!

Vacation (Day 1): The Drive

We headed out Wednesday morning for Florida with high hopes of getting to the beach before sunset to enjoy it.  The joke was on us though when it took 11 hours with the kids.  I'm not sure how we thought we could actually get there without a few million stops!  The kids really did pretty well though.  Justin struggled some, but Katelynn was almost as excited about the opportunity to watch the DVD player as she was about the vacation.

We made it to the hotel around 9:00 that night and although it was past bedtime, we let the kids head out to the beach for a few minutes to play.  They LOVE the beach.  I guess they get it naturally because I love the ocean and the sand! 

The kids fought over pulling the sand toys our ENTIRE vacation. This was a big hit!  Justin was pretty excited when he got it in his hands heading out to the beach!

To get to the beach, we had to walk passed the pool and the kids had a blast laying out on the lounge chairs.

When we got back to the hotel from the beach, Katelynn was starting to get excited about going to see Mickey and Minnie the next morning!

The excitement wore off quickly as the exhaustion hit and the kids crashed pretty quickly.

Florida has welcomed us!!

I know it's been a while since I have posted on the blog.  I only have a few posts with pictures to post prior to today's date, however, I've once again been having trouble with my computer that has all the pictures on it.  Hopefully I get it fixed when we return home!

For now though I am just jumping on the hotel lobby computer to let everyone know we have made it to Florida and will board the Disney Wonder Cruise Ship tomorrow and set sail!  The kids (well, Katelynn mainly) are so excited they can't stand it.  The excitement just getting to the hotel tonight was hilarious.  They both thought the hotel room was so much fun, but then again I suppose after riding in the car for a long 11 hours would make it pretty exciting :)  (No, our drive should have been about 8 hours, not 11 hours but with kids we stopped A LOT!).  We hope everyone enjoys their weekend.  Check back here late Monday or Tuesday night for an overwhelming amount of pictures!!  I wish I could post some while we are at sail, but we decided to leave the laptop at home and just enjoy being a family sans computers for the weekend so no pictures until our return to Charlotte!

So for now, Bon Voyage!!

A Dance Trophy!

Today was officially Katelynn's last dance class.  She will miss next week since we are on vacation and then the following week is her recital!!  They gave the kids their trophies today, and it was too cute to see how excited a bunch of three and four year olds are about trophies!  Katelynn LOVED hers!!

Not your everyday boo-boo

With kids you just never know what the day is going to bring you.  Today was not really what I had planned at all, but thankfully I was able to tuck both my kids into bed tonight knowing they are safe, and really that's all that matters at the end of each day.

So, our day began as normal.  We headed out mid-morning to visit a friend of Katelynn's who just had a new baby brother.  We weren't at their house more than 10 minutes and Katelynn ran into a closed door and smacked her head.  At first glance of her, I thought she was crying hysterically for no visible injury.  She had pointed towards her nose when I asked where she got hurt, and there was no mark there.  As I was rocking her and trying to get her to calm down, my friend looked a little horrified and mentioned she had did a number to her head.  Even this picture below does not do justice for how awful and hideous her injury was.  This picture was taken minutes after it happened with my cell phone so I could send it to Jonathan:

Katelynn was acting normal, jumped up a few minutes after hurting herself and went about playing.  We stayed for an hour, and I really wasn't going to take her in to the doctor.  I have always heard swelling is a good thing.  But, as I was putting her in her carseat, I couldn't help but get sick over the look of her injury.  She had this huge egg and it was sticking out inches from her forehead.  We were passing the ped's office on the way home anyway so I called them up and asked them to come in.

I really thought that they were all going to kind of laugh at the fact that I had brought her in.  Kids hit their heads and get hematomas all the time, and they're fine.  Leave it to my children to be the odd ball in the group when it comes to injury.  Dr. Ficnec pressed around the swelling and hesitated.  He said that he has seen lots of kids that bump their head and have these kinds of eggs, but he had never felt an indentation in the swelling like he was feeling with Katelynn's.  He got two more opinions from two other peds in the office and another female ped who is older and been practicing longer said the same thing- she's never felt an indentation like Katelynn had.  Seriously, the pit in my stomach was so big at that point, I thought I was going to die.  And of course Jonathan was four hours away (driving home but still not close by).

They sent her over for a STAT CT Scan.  I was so proud of my little girl.  They had asked if I thought she could handle it without sedation, and I said I thought she could.  I coached her over and over again about how it would work and how she didn't have to be scared; it was just a camera and she could pretend to nap so that she stood very still.  She did a GREAT job!  Even the techs mentioned that she was exceptional for only be 3-years old.  I may have a wild child, but at least she knows when to behave!  :)

I was so impressed with everyone that helped us.  It took literally all of 8 minutes and I had the results.   Internal examination was 100% normal.  She didn't even have a skull fracture like they were thinking she must have with that indentation.  What's the indentation?  We're not really sure.  Our pediatrician said it could be some scar tissue building up (which yes, means she may have a scar), but no one is 100% sure what it is right now with all the swelling.  We are just keeping an eye on her (and she's acting completely normal) and so greatful that it wasn't as bad as we had orginally thought.

By the time we got home for all the events of the afternoon, it was about five hours after the injury and she already looked so much better.  We'll see how she looks tomorrow though.  They said it would be pretty normal for her left eye to be black by morning.

Here are better pictures five hours after the incident:

This is a weird shot but look closely at her eyes- you can tell how deformed her forehead is right now from the hematoma.  This was the best way I could capture it in a picture.  It doesn't show up as large on picture as it looks in person.

I

Talk about an eventful day! 

A Green Craft Day!

Justin took a great nap today, which gave Katelynn and I the opportunity to have some time to make crafts!  We made a "green" craft in light of Earth Day this week!  She loved this craft and is really wanting to make more like this! 

I'm too lazy to repost pictures of this, but I posted pictures on the coupon blog and you can view the pictures by clicking here.

Where have I been?

So, as anyone knows that is a parent themselves, being a mommy is a tough job! I love it. I love every single minute of it. Actually, I wish I could just be a mommy and leave the housewife tasks of cleaning, laundry, and cooking to someone else. Wouldn't that just be so ideal? But, it's not a perfect world so I am stuck with all those not-so-fun tasks too. I try really hard to balance my time appropriately and stay caught up on everything that needs to be done. But, that's pretty much impossible. The running list of 300 things to accomplish in a day is just not very doable. I probably get three of the 300 done each day.


Now, I have to admit that if I dropped a few things off my list, it would probably make my life less crazy. If you know me well enough though, you know that I probably couldn't function without crazy. I have way too many hobbies for a mommy of two kids under age 4, and I refuse to give up any of them. Yes, I scrapbook like three times a year versus every few days like I would prefer, but I still get some time in there every so often. And then there's my coupon hobby. It's really a hobby. Now, it also makes our family function on one-income with a lot less struggle, but once you become as die hard as me, it is also a hobby. I could be a millionaire, and I'm pretty sure I would not give up couponing. It's too much fun to see how much you can save. A month or so ago a close friend of mine (who happens to live in GA where my parents do) invited me to join her on her coupon blog. I had thought about starting my own from time-to-time, but I wasn't sure I could keep up with it so I never did. When I got the opportunity to join Leandrea, I jumped on it. I mean think about it- I love to blab, love to blog, and love to coupon shop. I am always trying to convince my friends and family how much they could save by couponing and what better way to do it then blog about my deals?

So, if I am sometimes slacking on posting over here, don't worry. I will be back and get my pictures updated eventually. It may just take me longer sometimes, but I'm still around and still blogging! You can read all about the deals Leandrea and I are doing each day that are keeping us busy by checking out the blog: Coupons are Great!

I am finally caught up on pictures now and hopefully I'll stay caught up for a little bit here!

Perfect Day for a Ride

Today really was a gorgeous day.  The weather was breezy (but still warm) and slightly overcast (but not enough that I wasn't able to get some tan shoulders while riding).  We took advantage of it and spent the entire day outside.  We really are an outdoor family so today was a great day!  We ate lunch outdoors, played board games on the deck, took a bike ride for several miles and looped around to the ice cream store for a treat while riding, played at the park (during our bike ride), and then ended the day playing outside and eating a late dinner on the deck.  Jonathan's parents joined us starting at lunchtime and joined in on the fun!  We really had a super, great day today!  I wish our summer would stay this temperature instead of get so hot!

We literally spent all day outside.  So much so that Justin had to nap in the bike trailer to get in a quick snooze!

Katelynn loves going to the park on our rides!

When we stopped for ice cream, we got Justin his own frozen yogurt.  Somehow he still managed to steal everyone else's treats after finishing his own!

Dinner on the Deck

Katelynn has been asking to eat dinner on the deck for weeks now.  The pollen has just been so bad that our table has been a mess.  Jonathan finally powerwashed it for us tonight, and we spent the evening grilling, playing, and eating outside. 

Playing Outside

Since it has gotten warm out, all my kids want to do is play outside.  Here are a few cute shots I got of Justin this afternoon.  Katelynn was too busy "growing her garden" to let me take any shots of her!