Sunday, July 31, 2016

She Said Yes!

A little more than a week ago my daughter's boyfriend, Brandon emailed Tony and told him he needed to talk to him about something. Of course, Tony was sure he knew what the something was and as soon as he told me, I knew too.

It was a late Thursday (7/21/2016) afternoon when he showed up and we were at the pool with the kids. He looked just a little nervous (I know you'd say you weren't Brandon, but your body language betrayed you) and there was no way to just come out with it so before he even had the ring out of his pocket I blurted out "we know why you're here" and he said "I knoooow". Haha! I didn't feel like it was necessary for him to ask for our permission but I thought it was kind of him to include us in their big moment...but then I realized I'd have to keep my lips zipped and that was going to be tough!

Of course we told him we were thrilled for them and that the ring he chose was beautiful. He mentioned that he was going to take her hiking (something they love to do) along the Appalachian Trail and propose out on their hike. (He didn't know that Tony had taken little baby Zoe and I out hiking to propose to me many years ago. Zoe must have only been 3 1/2 or so and we didn't make it to the top of the mountain but I remember her watching him get down on one knee out there on the path and propose...I was shocked, just like she was today!)


This is the beginning of a very long, exciting journey and I'm very much looking forward to all that awaits! Congrats to my gorgeous daughter and future son-in-law! Much love to you both! 

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Nassau, Bahamas




We got in to our next port, Nassau, around 1 o'clock on July 12th. This is the port that Landon was most looking forward to because we'd bought tickets to Atlantis. I'd read mixed reviews of the excursion online and I was a little nervous about what was going to happen, but it all turned out just fine.

The process of getting to Atlantis wasn't simple and everyone ended up waiting in long lines to board buses for the different excursions, but our ride wasn't long and we were there in no time. As we got off the buses a tour guide met our group and led us through a shopping mall with stores like Gucci, Versace, Rolex and Michael Kors to name a few. We didn't even bother looking and after seeing what the available stores were I knew we wouldn't be back! We walked from there through a GIGANTIC casino and then outside towards the water park. Our tour guide stopped every once in awhile to tell us about the resort but we grew tired of it and ended up just quietly slipping away from the group.



Zoe and Landon got the chance to ride everything they wanted as the water park wasn't terribly busy. There were lines but they were short and moved quickly. One ride they rode a couple of times was the Serpent Slide which was a dark tunnel that ended in a clear acrylic tunnel that sharks swam around. 


We were able to see the sharks from the outside of the tank and also see the tubers riding through the middle...it was pretty cool!




There was a little kids splash area and a few swimming areas, one of which was HUGE. There was an area where little kids could play in waterfalls and slide down short slides into shallow water. Dakota and I played there for a long time while Harper and Tony went on The Current, a fast moving river. It was Harper's favorite thing of the day and he would have done it again and again if he'd had the opportunity. (Dakota was afraid of it and cried when I tried to get her to ride it with me.) 


He rode it even after his spill and he loved every single minute of it! 

Once we realized we could walk to the beach from the water park, Zoe, Mema and I went to see how the water/sand was. It was absolutely glorious. Soft, soft sand and cool water. It was awesome. 






While we were waiting on Landon and Zoe to get back from their last water slide of the day, Harper and Dakota found a slide they really liked. I lost count how many times they came down that slide, but it was only the two of them using it so they did over and over and over again.




The water park closes at 6 pm (ridiculous considering the money we paid to go there) but we caught one of the very last shuttles out to maximize our time. We stopped along the way to get some pictures because the resort itself is very well kept and quite beautiful.









Thursday, July 28, 2016

Robinson Nature Center

Somehow, when I sat down at my desk last night, it never crossed my mind to blog. Usually, I sit here and make a decision to write or not, but last night, it never even occurred to me. I ended up sitting here working on a scrapbook page while watching episodes of The Good Wife on Amazon Prime. I guess I needed to zone out for a bit...

Yesterday morning we were out of the house and on the road by 8:30 am. My friend Lisa told me she and her boys were going to Robinson Nature Center for one of their Wednesday morning full dome movies. The movie was held in the planetarium and it was called The Little Star That Could. This was a cool new experience for the kids, watching a movie in a planetarium, and Harper loved it! Dakota didn't love it, but she did very well, only squiggling around in her seat a bit. I was thrilled when we were telling Landon about it later and both kids remembered so much of what they'd watched!

Going to the planetarium was the reason we went to the museum, but it was only one small part of our morning. There are lots of things to do out there and we had lots of fun.

We walked down the wildflower path:






Played in the "bee hive":




Had a wonderful time running around Nature Place:







Played in the Discovery Room:







And walked ran through the nature exhibit a few times:






We left around 11:30 and Harper told me he hadn't had enough time and didn't want to go. I loved that he'd enjoyed it so much and promised him a return trip. Dakota enjoyed herself too but she was hungry and could only think about lunch! 



Monday, July 25, 2016

Cruise 2016 Scrapbook Pages

I made two pages about the cruise this weekend. I figure I better share them because they could very well be the only two pages I ever make about the trip! I'm so behind on everything I don't think I'll ever catch up...


Sailing the Day Away (Day 5)

We had two terrific days in Bermuda but the next day was one spent sailing the ocean towards Nassau, Bahamas. We wouldn't be there until around 1 pm the next day so we had LOTS of time to fill.

Every time we'd see a line dancing class Mema would remark on how she wished she could learn line dancing. So, when I noticed a large group of people learning how to do a country line dance, I drug her out on the dance floor. She was very reluctant but I guaranteed her no one would be watching and that no one knew what they were doing, including me! Tony took a few pictures and I'm pretty much laughing my ass off in every one of them! It was really fun but we got in on the dancing right at the end so we hadn't a single clue what was going on!



Once we'd had our "dance lesson" we put on our swim suits and hit the pool deck for awhile. 





We had lunch in the Windjammer and whiled away the day running all over the ship. 





That evening, while the kids were sleeping, Mema offered to sit with them while we went out for a bit. We stumbled upon a silly game everyone was playing in the Centrum called "If You Know It, Dance It". Basically they would play a song and the team who did the corresponding dance first would win points. It was a pretty fun game even though our team lost. 


April Fools Pranks

The two little kids made me laugh yesterday morning.  I was upstairs getting things ready for school when I heard them talking about how ...