Its not the destination, its the journey

To cruise or not to cruise.

We have debated along time about doing the Disney Cruise. A few years ago I was all for it. Then I thought maybe being out over open waters is not the best place for rambuctious boys.  Then  a while back a friend told me about the "kids sale free" promotion and we decided to try it. And Im glad we did. It was fantastic and the boys absolutely loved it and beg to go back.  These pics are not in order but here is the lowdown in random sequence.

 Briefly rained in Cozumel as we were about to get back on the ship. Does it really matter if it is raining if it is still 80 degrees?

 Just chilling in a porthole in one of the lounges

 Ambushed by pirates as Im coming out of the bathroom

 Since it was a Caribbean cruise the theme was "Pirates in the Caribean" which was awesome for our handful of little boys. Also a great marketing ploy by disney since they have dress up night and a whole gift shop full of pirate gear.

Sunsets over the ocean every night. Very relaxing.

My little Cordon worked so hard at the Disney trivia contests and finally won a trophy on the second to last day.  He kept asking me how proud I am of him.  

Our luxury suite for a day. So on the second to last day not only did we wake up to some pretty strong swells but also to a leak(as in water running down the wall and streaming from the light fixtures) in our room. They would never tell me what happened but Im guessing it had something to do with the pool since our room was right under it and when I went up on deck it was closed and halfway empty (or half  full if you prefer). Anyway, so they moved us next door which just happened to be a huge suite. We were pretty happy about this until we just got unpacked and we noticed a small leak in the master closet.  Thoughout the day it progressively got worse until it was no longer livable either. They moved us again and gave us some compensation.  It was kind of a pain but it was obviously a rare situation and they were very apologetic and embarrassed.

Boarding the ship in Cozumel

Heading in to Grand Cayman.  So this port is one of the only ports that you have board a smaller boat and get taxied in.  This was a pain because the lines were long and took up valuable time that you could be on land. Nonetheless, it was beautiful and we past a way cool pirate ship on the way in.

Behind every picture like this is a mom freaking out and a husband telling her to relax.

We took this picture. How cool is that.

Darren feeding the stingray.

He fed them these little squids. He loved this and was on cloud nine the whole time.

The beach on Grand Cayman where the boys found a real live starfish but were bummed they could not keep it.

Good day at the beach. Not bad for the middle of January and 2 feet of snow back home.

Iguana everywhere

Watching Disney movies on the big screen from on of the hot tubs

Cam hiding because he doesn't want to leave the hot tub.

All the ice cream cones a kid could want (with a view).

A little afternoon ping pong up on deck

Dinners were awesome. Some really amazing food and delicious desserts. The process was long and dinner usually took about an hour and a half. With kids that is about an hour and ten minutes to long. On the last night Lance and I took the kids to the kids club and decided on a nice dinner without them. After dinner we picked up the kids and headed back to the room where I found a message waiting on our phone.  It was from a super nice lady that informed me that while Lance and I were at dinner our son Darren went to another restaraunt on the ship and sat down with another family and ordered his meal.  She said after he had eaten he looks up at them and asks if anyone knew where his family was. They asked him the same thing.  He said he didn't know and that he was going back to the kids club. And she called to make sure I had found him there.  Good thing this cruise was all inclusive or my son would have either stuck them with his bill or been initiated in the dine and dashers club. When we asked him about it he said he didn't want what they were serving in the kids club so he decided to go find something better.

We kept the cruise a surprise until we were in line to get on the ship. This is them in the car on the way there.  Lance and I wonder if we should be worried since as were are walking up to the huge ship with Mickey Mouse on it, Cordon says, "I wish we could go on a Disney Cruise"

HIGHLIGHT of the trip. Riding on a dolphin was the boys favorite part. Pure joy on Darren's face.

Cordon was nervous at first but he loved it and was so proud of himself for being brave and riding the dolphin.

So this was a super long post but trust me you just got the short version of this trip. It was truly magical and so many fun memories. Sure there were a few hiccups but what vacation doesn't have some of those.  I definitely see us doing this again but maybe I will wait until the room stops spinning. If you are thinking about a Disney Cruise you will not be disappointed.

8 is GR8

Happy Birthday to our sweet Darren.  Everything is more fun when you are around.

Let's try this again

So let's try this again

So last years resolution to "document our lives" better didn't really work out. If you look at my previous post you will see I got as far as February.  As my boys say, "Can I have another chance?" So here are to second third fourth..... chances.  And the glorious phrases "starting over"  "do over" "another chance" and so forth.  Aahhhh where would I be with out those words. They define me.

Anyway, update on us.  2012, crazy. C-R-A-Z-Y.  You name it we did it (or tried not to do it) and it was all just a blur. A good blur and a good crazy so Im not complaining. Im just tired. Tired as in my body just shut down on Christmas eve to the point I stayed in bed for days and I still feel like Im still recovering. But anyway it has all been good but very very busy.

Lance - Has anyone seen Lance? Not sure how many jobs he has now and I don't even try to keep track of his schedule anymore but he seems to be able to do it all.  Work, church, husband, dad, vacations, volunteer community service. Can you believe he doesn't even drink coffee. Its all just pure Lance energy.

Me - I went from being at home all day every day to living in my car, at the school, at the grocery store and places far and near.

I can't even begin to tell you how many things I insanely got myself involved in last year. Learned my lesson on that one.  

 My boys

Individually, I love LOVE time with each of my boys. I try to have a date with each one as often as I can and love the time to really get to know each one at a deeper level. As a group though, hold on to your hat. What is that ride at the fair where you step inside and they spin you around really fast so you are stuck against the wall while they blare loud music so your ears are ringing then when you get off your nauseous and you have to sit down for a while until your head stops spinning. That is the best way I can describe my boys together as a unit. That ride.

 Joshy

Dont call him Josh or Joshua. He insists you call him Joshy. His choice.  Not sure where his toddler years went. He went straight from newborn to potty-talk little boy thanks to his brothers. He is very smart. By two he knew colors, numbers, letters and their sounds, and how to toot and burp on command. He has the mad evil scientist laugh and he loves to tease, play tricks and jump out and scare people. He is classic class clown material. He is super sweet too. He is always asking if people are happy and in any picture he sees he points out all the people that look happy. At night I have to sing good night to everything in his room including the door, his night light, and his pillow. And he is obsessed with Thomas the Train and can sing the theme song word for word.

Cordon

 Cordon my sweet little Cordon. The best way to describe him is a big bad Harley rider that cries at chick flicks.  He is a teddy bear until you make him mad. He loves to tell me all the things that he loves me more than. He still loves movies and he is my little snacker. He is always sneaking into the snack cupboard and stealing treats. I find wrappers hidden every where.  It is hard to tell what he is "into" because he just usually follows on the coat tails of Darren. Whatever Darren likes Cordon likes. They are like Harry Potter and Ron Weasley (sometimes more like Voldemort and Wormtail) and it is hard to think about one without thinking of the other. He still hates underwear and changes into his PJs the moment he gets home from school. He actually likes doing his homework and often has it done before we pull into the garage after I pick him up from school. He started piano lessons and loves to play the piano but is a bit of a perfectionist and gets mad if he "doesn't play it perfectly." He dreams of going to Paris someday and wants to meet up with his Aunt Mary at the Eiffel Tower while she is sill over in Europe. He loves to draw and his most valuable possession is his Artsy Fartsy set he got from Grammy and Grandpa for Christmas.

 Cameron

Cameron has had a big year. He has been in Speech therapy for almost a year now and has made tremendous improvements.  He is talking much more and is actually very animated in his speech. Right now his favorite toys are the pictures of Trains and super heroes that we draw and cut out.  He has a great imagination and can play with those for hours.  He still has a problem with sharing and insists that he always "had something first." He has a love hate relationship with Joshy mostly because he doesn't want to share. It could also be because (I hate to say it) Joshy is quickly surpassing Cam in speaking  and learning and Cam is starting to notice. But Cam is still a good big brother most of the time and Joshy does call Cam his best friend. Cam is starting to get into art and loves drawing people now. I love to look at his People heads with arms coming out where the ears should be and legs coming straight from the chin. 

Darren

Aka Smarty Smartington.  He is smart. Smart as in super absorbant sponge smart. But not smart. Not smart as in "What the .... were you thinking", not smart.  He struggles socially. He is friendly and outgoing but there is no filter between his brain and his mouth and he is very matter of fact so in short, he has a problem with tact. He has more energy than I think is normal so I think his body just sometimes just freaks out on him (usually around bedtime). He loves anything scientific and factual and fictional stories annoy him and is quick to point out that "Clearly, that is not possible." He loves it when I come to lunch with him and will still hug me in public.  He likes to help me cook and is actually good at it. He take piano and hates it even though he is very good at it and picks it up quickly. He is polar opposite when we have one on one time as opposed to being with his brothers. He is so super sweet and great to talk with alone. He is very much the boss of Cordon and sends him on errand to do what he wants.  However, Darren without Cordon is very melancholy and when we took just Darren to Chicago with us for a few days he hardly spoke the whole time and admitted he missed his brother.

So there it is. And update on everyone. Im gonna try to keep up on it this year so stay tuned. We have big plans for this year too and we want to remember it all!