Cruise to the Bahamas!

David and I were fortunate to take a last minute cruise to the Bahamas with Vince and my parents... we literally booked 6 days before departure... it made for a fast, exciting 6 days leading up to the trip!! Vince had so much fun spending time with mommy and daddy..

and grandma and grandpa...

A lot of the activities of on the ship were geared towards adults, but Vince managed to have all sorts of fun in all sorts of ways...

like playing trains next on a windowsill at happy hour...

dancing the night away by the pool...

admiring towel animals and playing with the phone, "hello, is anyone home??" ...

checking out the sights on the boat deck...

visiting the boats comedy show... he laughed at every joke David laughed at... it was hilarious..

and lastly posing for pictures at one of our stops...

My favorite favorite stop on the cruise was at Grand Stirrup Cay, the cruise lines own island, where we spend the day at the beautiful beach. I love hanging out on beautiful beaches and don't get the chance often so I cherish every chance I get!! We had to take little tender boats out from the cruise ship because of the shallow waters, so we got some great pictures of the boat! David and I had a chance to snorkel and we all spent some time relaxing, playing in the sand, and playing in the water. Vince even fell asleep IN the water on my shoulder... awww...

And here's some extra pictures I couldn't fit in the stories above but were too cute to not post..

Atlantis

We visited the world renown Atlantis hotel in Nassau, Bahamas on the 3rd day of our cruise... here are some pics of the resort from our ship, the Norwegian Sky..

I really wanted to buy the "Aqua venture Pass" which gave access to all the pools/slides and the beach but unfortunately they were all sold out of those passes. So we did a tour of the "digs", which is the aquariums and the Lost City of Atlantis exhibit as well as the Casino and other aspects of the hotel... everything was awesome... especially the aquariums/digs... check it out

Of course we travel with at least 2 trains at all times... here Vince is playing with Edward while checking out the shark tank...

The fish were amazing, much different than I had ever seen... look at this big one next to Dave.

Didn't look big?? Look at this fish next to Vince!!!

Our shoulders were Vince's mode of transportation... it was quite a workout... David did the most lifting, but I shared in the misery.. I mean joy of carrying our baby around!

The Lost City of Atlantis... pieces shown here..

Our big boy has nothing on the size of this stingray... who spans 8 feet wide!! These grow to 30 feet wide... wow..

And some more pictures of the grounds... you can see the man made beach that goes into the Lagoon in these pics..

All in all it was a great trip and we saw some great sites. One day we'll stay here and get to enjoy the all the grounds, with water slides, lazy river, pools, and beaches included! Until then we'll treasure the memories we made here with just the three of us :)

Sea World

We visited San Antonio a couple weeks ago for my 10 year high school reunion and had a great time visiting Sea World!! I think David might have been more excited about going than Vince since he knew what was instore for us.



First stop, feeding the dolphins!! Vince fed the dolphins a bunch of little fish. They would just come up to you and open their mouths. If you didn't feed them right away, they left and found someone else who would give them fish. It's a pretty good deal for Sea World, make the visitors pay for the food and then feed the dolphins for them... no need to hire extra workers!! It was so much fun for Vince though. He got close and personal with them, it was also David's first time feeding the dolphins as well :).

Next stop, Shark and Coral Reef exhibit. I'll spare most pictures of the actual tanks because they pale in comparison to my next post of the aqariums at the Atlantis in the Bahamas, but these two pictures are some of my favorite. I like to think that by going to Sea World, we were gearing Vince up for the cruise to the Bahamas that we were going on a couple days later...

Stops 3 and 4 were the 4D movie and the Azul show (Balooga whales / Seals / diver performers). For some reason, Vince always puts on his glasses upsidedown... sunglasses and shown here, 3D glasses!! He didn't like the 4D aspect of the show much... I mean, who really likes water shooting in your face? I don't have good pics of the Azul show, but you can see in the picture of Vince watching how much he enjoyed it!!!

We saved the best for last... SHAMU!!! Did you know Shamu / Killer Whales were part of the dolphin family?? Fun fact we learned. This show is always good. Needless to say Vince loved it. The shows funnel all guests into the gift shop afterward so kids can beg for parents to buy things.....

Who can say no to this??

Bonus video 1: Vince loved this little Shamu so much... he also kept throwing it in the air because he wanted to see it flip like he saw!

Bonus video 2: watching the rollarcoasters... which he said are trains.. aren't they though? A bunch of cars connected together on a rail?? I can't wait until he's old / tall enough to ride rides like this. Visiting Sea World will be a whole new experience!!

Summertime = Fun with Daddy!

Vince has had a lot of fun hanging out with David this summer... and David needs to get in shape for the Disney marathon early next year... so David and Vince spent time doing some workouts a couple weeks ago... well, actually David was just trying to workout on his own and Vince kept wanting to get in the action. He is a good 3o lb weight!

He also tried to do situps and pushups.. it's so funny how he mimics everything we do..

That same day, David was playing golf on the Wii... Vince ran to the hall closet, grabbed one of his golf clubs, and started playing along side next to him... he just wants to be like daddy!!!

Moving on from sports to trains... We've been wanting to ride the TRE to Fort Worth for sometime now. The 5th of July we tried. Unfortunately it wasn't running due to the holiday weekend. So we did the next best thing, went to a kiddie place called the Indoor Safari park that had a train ride inside. Vince wasn't digging it as much as we thought he would... he cried and clung to David!!

Vince loves summertime with Daddy, although you can't tell in the above pic! Next posts... from vacation 2010.. stay tuned...

Staycation

Every summer we do a family vacation. Last year was Maui. We had beautiful beaches there, a ton of family with us, great views, sunrises, sunsets, waterfalls, snorkeling, a WEDDING...... How do we plan a vacation better than that?? How?? well...... we don't.

Since we couldn't top that, we decided to try something new. Do something not many people do. Save a ton of money and keep our level of fun at the same high. We had a "staycation". A real one. We packed our bags and headed to my sister's house, who lives 20 miles away for an extended weekend. We were joined by my parents and other sister's family. All in all, we are a big pack of 11, all staying in one house.

DAY1

Friday started out at Babes restaurant. Where great food comes on big plates and you can dance the hokey pokey. No really, the food was great and Jess and V did the hokey pokey.

Making the place even better was a real train outside. Vince loved the train (but of course). While we were looking at a stationary train, a real one with tons of freight cars came rushing by. He was in awe. He kept talking about how the train went "honk" (pic below).

"Honk"

"Look over there, it's a bird, a plane... no, it's a train!"

"We're so handsomeeee" (Vince sings that all the time)

Family photo, and by family, I'm including the train.

"BIG Train"

After the train show, we went bowling. I don't have many pictures from here, but I do have this one, showing the winner (don't know how that happened) and one of Vince playing the jump rope game he loves... we were supposed to do laser tag but the night got away from us.

DAY 2

The next morning we woke up and headed to Lake Texoma where luckily, they had a boat that fit us all!

The Three Amigos

"Mommy makes him wear this silly lifejacket, UV ray shirt, hat, and lots of sunscreen "- Vince

Our little family

Parents of the Three Amigos..

It's no Maui, but this sand will do..

We took turns getting pulled in this raft. Warren and I had the most fun. But Vince really didn't like people in the raft. He was crying the whole time and just wanted everyone in the boat. Look at his scared little face :(.

Luckily he loosened up and joined us in the water later.

It was a great day and tired most of us out.

I said most, but not all!! The three amigos had enough energy to have round 2 of fun in the pool back at the house. Vince can jump in with no help if he has the life jacket on. He ended up pulling grandma into the pool and she had a blast with her three grandkids.

The rest of us dry folk made smores. "Smore what?" (Get it?? Sandlot reference).

DAY 3

The next day (Father's day) we hung out all day at Hawaiian Falls. We had a private cabana as our little headquarters so we could take turns relaxing. Here's a pic of daddy and Vincey on Father's Day 2010 and also one of my dad and V from Corpus (because it's grandpa's day too!).

We did say our farewells that night. But not before we celebrated Jess's birthday which was the next day. Vince helped her blow out the candles. Everyone's in this pic but the photographer (me!). I think I need to photoshop myself in. Can anyone teach me photoshop??? Anyone? Anyone?