Day 4

Today we were docked in St.Maarten. We got off the boat and took a water taxi to the beach. I bought a pink anklet from a local who was selling jewellery on the beach.  Carter wasn’t too sure about the ocean at first but once he saw everyone else having fun, he started laughing and splashing.  Cooper loved it! He didn’t like the feel of the sand on his feet but was soon runnign all over the place. 

          

 

Dinner was the Chef’s show. The waitor’s came out with our napkins doing “ballet” and with our salads doing a swing dance.  It was good and a lot of fun. The music was very entertaining.

I’m writing this on a lounge chair on the balcony while the boys are sleeping inside the room.  The sound of the waves is soooo incredibly relaxing and to be in the middle of the ocean where there are no city lights to light up the sky- I can truly appreciate the darkness that night brings.

 

Day 2 & 3

We woke up with Cooper in our bed and breakfast being delivered.  It was during eating that Cooper’s stomach to turn. Within 30 minutes he was vomitting.  Within a few hours I wasn’t fat behind. Hubby thought he was going to go too but took some meds right away and led down and managed to escape it.  By the afternoon we were amazed that Carter wasn’t affected but by late afternoon (naptime of course) he was vomitting too.  The captain’s log read 7.5-10 foot waves and we were in the Atlantic so we were rocking.

We all got drugged and had good naps and felt ourselves again by dinner time which was good because it was the first formal night. The Captains dinner.  We all got dressed up and off we went. The food was incredible and we had a great time.  The boys went to bed easily after some good running around on the deck and I was in bed, reading early again. Bliss!

 

Day 3:

We were ate sea all day again but everyone had either gotten their sea legs or were drugged first thing upon waking. Either way, we were all good.  We hung out and went touring around the boat.  There was a lot to see! The kids napped great again (which actually they did the whole trip which was nice).  It was so nice to sit on our balcony, enjoying the sound of the waves while we relaxed reading in our lounge chairs.  I took video of just the water so I can always get that sound back whenever I need a mental break.  My mom and aunt came after I put the kids to bed and stayed in our room so we could enjoy a night out. It was nice to enjoy an evening to ourselves all fancied up.

 

 

Day 1

The 2.5hr plane ride to Ft.Lauderdale, Florida went extremely well.  Carter was so much better than we thought he was going to be. We boarded the boat hassle free and got to go to our room right away.  The room was AMAZING.  Cooper was instantly at home. Sat in a chair and put his feet up on the table and his hands behind his ears.  It was soooo funny.  We went to the dining room for dinner. It’s fixed seating every night in the dining room which is great because you have the same server so they get to know you and by day 2 had the kids milk waiting for them when they got to the table.  Cooper was so tired he fell asleep at the table. He’s never ever done that so it was kind of cute to see him fight until he couldn’t fight anymore.  After we ate, we carried him to the room and put him on the bed. He didn’t move until the morning despite Carter running around and yelling before he went to bed.

I was in bed by 8:30 watching tv.  The bed was soooo comfortable and the pillows were heaven.  It was so nice being in bed not thinking about what else I should be doing because there was nothing else to be doing. It was a great feeling. 

Day 2 to come.

And I’m back

What a great vacation!  We went on a 10 day Carribean cruise. The west side. We stopped in  Castries- St.Lucia, Bridgetown- Barbados, Road Town- Tortola, St.Maarten and Fort-de-France- Martinique.  I swam with dolphins (amazing experience), went on a 4×4 safari, shopped, had a facial at the spa, actually read a whole book, ate great food, drank great wine, enjoyed breath taking scenery, had ripe fruit fresh from the tree, swam in a lagoon, went into a waterfall, got all spiffy and dressed up 3 times in one week, enjoyed breakfast in my room every morning and so much more.  I will fill you all in with more details and pictures tomorrow. For now, Carter has unexpectedly woken up early from his nap so I have to go.

So, fill me in…… how was your week/end?

Signing off

Folks, I leave for vacation in a few short days and have approximately 1,000,011 things left to do before we leave so I’m saying adios for 2 weeks.  I will return with pictures, stories and maybe a great tan.  Probably not because I have the world’s whitest skin that only turns different shades of red but I’ll try.

Wishing you all a fabulous 2 weeks and I’ll be sure to have a drink for every one of you- so leave me a bon voyage comment just to let me know exactly how many drinks I should consume (not that I won’t be consuming enough on my own ;)). 

Listening

How many of us go through our day just doing what needs to be done without even really being part of things? 

I don’t do plastic bags. Ever!  This is a growing trend in my community as more and more stores are offering re-usable alternatives for those evil plastic things.  My point though,is that I could count on one hand how many times I have said at the check out, “I don’t need a bag”  and have not had to repeat myself.  Even when the person acknowledges my statement with a nod or “um hum”- they still put my stuff in a bag.  Some even get aggitated when I tell them (for the 2nd time) that I don’t need a bag and they have to take the stuff back out. Why are you aggitated at me? I told you I didn’t need a bag!! Is it my fault, you weren’t listening?

This morning when I got to the check out, the lady smiled and said hello. I said Hello back and as I was putting the stuff on the counter, I said “oh, and I don’t need any bags”. She looked me in the eye and said “okay dear” and the first item she scans, she puts in a bag.  I made eye contact with her and everything and she STILL put the first item in the bag.  When I repeated to her that “Oh, no, I don’t need a bag” she laughed and said “oh, you did say that. I don’t know where my mind is” and we just laughed it off.  But it made me think during the walk home, do I do that? Do I falsely acknowledge what people are saying to me only to have it go in one ear and out the other?  Do I just hear people or do I actually listen to them?

How many people do you think actively listen?

 

Barely made it

I barely made it through this afternoon without bursting into tears of frustration. I am amazed sometimes at how a bad day for my kids can be so infuriatingly (word?) frustrating for me. My skin literally felt like it was boiling with each scream and crying fit that was had. The baby (who CAN NOT) go without nap, went without nap and by 4pm was a complete disaster. The older one was trying to get more attention because the youngest was getting a lot with each fit he worked himself into.  By 4:30, I ordered dinner and put the younger one in the car in the hopes of a power nap to at least get us throough dinner. Thankfully, it worked because I was at my breaking point.  After dinner, my mom and I took the boys up to the store for a treat.  That helped my mood immensly.  They were strapped in and could not fight and we were getting our blood pumping in a good way- exercise. Now I am sitting here with a glass of wine and spoonful of chocolate, thankful for early bed times.  It is ironic because this morning I was oohhing and aaahhing over baby clothes and newborns at the mall, pining for a third baby but by this afternoon questioning my abilities to keep cool in the thickness of a bad day.  Another week and  a half and we will be out of dodge on vacation and I can almost smell the ocean air in excitment.  Sun, Sand, big boat, swimming with dolphins. Exactly what the doctor prescribed!

This week will be full of packing and getting things ready for our 10 day departure. Fun stuff for me being the planner that I am.  Ièm making books for Carter for the plane. heès really into picture books that have real pictures but all the ones we have are quite big and heavy. Too heavy to carry a few of them in a carry on, so I thought Ièd make him a few books.  Taking pictures from magazines and just gluing to construction paper. Much lighter.  I am also thinking markers that only mark on the paper they are designed for and maybe some cars and trains.  I am a little worried about Carter as he hates having to sit long enough to eat a meal never mind a 2.5hr flight but we will manage somehow. Maybe I should bring a couple down pairs of ear plugs to hand out to surrounding passengers though :).

Well, I am off to put my feet up and take a few deep breathes.  I hesitated about posting such mundaneness but this is me at the moment.  Sometimes the days do not allow me to dig below the surface.

Memory

I’m pretty sure that reading this post, by a blogger who does magical things with words, and having a conversation with mylozmom today about our kids becoming teeenagers is what sparked this train of thought while making dinner tonight:

I’m cooking dinner-  an egg, some bacon and cheese on an english muffin with ketchup. Mmmm. Oh and enjoying a big glass of white wine.  When a thought occured to me. If my dad were standing right beside me at that moment, what would I do? And the answer was, ask him how on God’s green earth did he make such a mean over easy egg?  I have tried and tried and tried but I can not for the life of me get it the way his was.  I didn’t really like eggs when I was a teenager so whenever he cooked them I didn’t really have an interest in it. What I wouldn’t do now for that answer.

Then my memory brought me back to an incident that was pretty big for me at the time but would love the chance to tell my dad how I really feel about it now.

I’m about 11 or 12 (going on 30 of course) and we’re sitting at the dinner table eating dinner. My sister who was a pretty sassy youngster was acting up at the table.  My mom, who was pretty high strung back then with stress from her job, couldn’t take anymore and told my sister that if she didn’t stop, she was going to her room and she’d get a spank.  My sister kept up what she was doing and my mother followed through with her threat and proceeded to take her up to her room and spank her.  I, the over protective big sister,  that I am, hated hearing my sister cry, then the sound of the slap on her bottom, the door closing and her crying some more.  She was MY little sister and I was the only one who could be mean her. (It’s the right of the older one right?) I couln’t stand to hear her cry and I got up from the table and said “I hate this family” while putting my dinner in the garbage and went up to my room. 

Well, my dad, who was a laid back guy was totally over whelmed by the whole stressful situation and I guess my actions were the straw that broke the camels back.  He came into my room, grabbed me by the arms and tried to force me back down the stairs. I can’t remember now what he was saying to me. I just started screaming and my mom came to the stairs and yelled at him to let me go.  I guess his voice of reason kicked in and he let go of me and went back downstairs. I stayed on the stairs crying. Then I went to my room.  My dad had never done anything like that EVER. I was daddy’s little girl until puberty made me space from him a bit.  I was shocked.  About an hour later he knocked on my door and asked if he could talk to me. I told him no and that I didn’t want to hear what he had to say. I didn’t talk to him for 3 weeks after that.  I was happy at the time to see him sad when he would try to ask me about my day and I wouldn’t respond. Like I had the royal flush in this game we were playing. All though it wasn’t a game for him.  How much we take for granted when we’re young. I feel sorry now. Now that I’m a parent and understand. Understand how sometimes we get over whelmed and stress gets the better of us in certain situations.

I’ve thought about that situation over the years but never brought it up again with him.  Now I wish I had. I know it’s not something he ever forgot and I’d like him to know that I never meant what I said about hating being a part of the family and I never meant to hurt him as deeply as I did. I’d love to know what he wanted to say to me that night. Even if it just “sorry”. I never knew or understood at the time how deeply it had hurt him. 

This is one life lesson that I will be sure to carry with me and remember when I come into a similar situation with my kids as I know I will. No one is perfect. But when I do, I absolutely won’t hold back saying sorry in the after math.

Spring

Spring has sprung-   YEAH!

 

Motivation

I got this link in an e-mail and it’s too good not to share.  With doing our wills up, naturally we’ve been talking about the details of our wishes upon our death.  This is not weird for me as it’s something that was talked about a lot in my family.  Weirdly (or not weird to me) it used to be at the dinner table.  In talking about it now, I have often thought about what I would want to say to my kids if I knew I was going to die before they were older.  This pretty much sums it up:

http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=ithct48cqw

Have a good weekend all.