Hey, Did Juneau?.... Andy's Birthday Adventures on the High Seas

I've had this post saved as a draft for over a month now... time to finish it up, add some pictures and post it.

Our first port of call on the cruise was Juneau. It's a tiny town really.... some 31K in population, but seems like the town itself was on a small bit of land that butts up to mountains. We got there on Sunday, Andy's birthday, along with 2 other ships....so the atmosphere was more like a rip-roaring Saturday. I'm guessing the town is pretty quiet in the winter, but for cruise season, every day is Saturday. We decided our excursion would be the Mt. Roberts Tramway. We bundled up for what would be our chilliest day...but it wasn't so bad... maybe in the low 50s. We did the tram and saw a little bit of the sights then we decided to get some lunch. Well... the wait to eat was half an hour or more and the kids (Andy) were getting cranky. I had a flashback to Puerto Vallarta last summer when we got off the ship for the day only to spend 45 minutes screaming and yelling at each other after a fun filled trip to Wal-Mart for shoes before we headed back to the ship to call it a day.... I decided to nip this potential disaster in the bud and told everyone they were heading back to the ship for lunch then kids club. I would then head back into town ALONE. Heavenly! It almost worked.... Rose came back to town with me, which was actually nice as we never get to spend mom-daughter time together. It also gave us a chance to shop for Andy's birthday present. (what a good, plan ahead wife I am) We shopped a little while then headed back to the ship where we all met up for dinner. The wait staff (and our group) all sang to Andy as he blew out the candle on whatever the dessert was they brought him..... Really, I should have planned this all better. Why I don't win "Wife of the Year" is a mystery. We gave him the present Rose had picked out for him... an Alaskan Brewing Co. die dye shirt with a logo on back "Baitful Dead"... he also got an Alaskan Brewing Co. pint glass from Greg and Echo...and plenty of drinks from all. It wasn't the most exciting birthday he has ever had, but hey, he did get to celebrate the day in Alaska! Not too shabby!

Here are Juneau pics....

Guess What She Did Today?

This is Isabella. She turned 2 about a month ago. Today she became a big sister to not 1, but 2 baby brothers, Jake and Dylan. Our good friends Eric and Alyssa were expecting twin boys in a month, but those boys had other plans. Around 4 this morning, Lys drove herself to the hospital as she had been in some pain all day yesterday. She called her doc early this AM and went to the hospital to be checked out. Long story short, around 7 AM she thought she was about to be released to go home when she was informed otherwise. Andy got a call to ask if we would watch Isabella for the day while Eric met Lys to do a little thing like have twins a month early via c-section. All's well that ends well.....those boys came out weighing 5.2 and 5.13 ounces. They spent a little time in the NICU, but for now, seem to be in good health. Pretty great for a few weeks early! Isabella was awesome all day....Joey played with her literally 1o minutes after she arrived (he was still asleep) until the moment she left, some 8 hours later. She never fussed, cried or complained, except when she fell and cut her knee. That was really something, considering she doesn't really know us from Adam as we don't see her too often . Eric had to pretty much pull up, kiss her goodbye and get going. Lys was scheduled for surgery 40 minutes later and he still had to drive 20 miles to get there and get ready to head into the OR with Lys. Isabella was a ROCK Star... and will be a great Big Sis. She was stuck like glue to Rose (once she pulled herself out of bed) until Rose left to hit up Legoland one last time for the summer with the cousins. Unfortunately, we had to bow out of plans to BBQ with our friends Pete and his son Alex. We have been talking about it for weeks, and we had to nix the plans at the last second. Sorry boys! Maybe next weekend?


Congrats to Eric, Alyssa and Isabella for the long awaited, yet early arrival of Jake & Dylan. We can't wait to meet you!

Just Another Reason Why I Love These Boys....

Lots to post about, but a quick story....

Rose is very in to The Littlest Pet Shop. She has many LPS pets, and loves to play with anyone who is willing.

2 days ago David and Joey were watching T.V. after school. Rose wasn't home yet. (She gets off 3 hours later) David was intrigued by a commercial for a Littlest Pet Shop super-set. During the commercial he looked over to me and said, "Mommy... can we order this for Rose then have her close her eyes and we will surprise her with it? Can we Mommy? Can we order it?" He went on about it for about 5 minutes....how surprised she would be and how nice it would be to get it for her..... I wanted to cry at how sweet that was. I felt so bad when I re-wound the commercial to see what it was exactly and how much it was.... way too much. David got side-tracked and forgot that he wanted me to place an order and hasn't asked me about it again. I love that he saw something, thought of Rose and wanted to do something so nice for her. Joey did it yesterday too when he saw a commercial for some super girly Lelly Kelly tennis shoes.... "Mommy, can we get those for Rosie? She would love to put on the make-up" a freebie with purchase.

As much as these kids love to antagonize each other and fight till they are all in pain and in tears, in the end they really do love each other so much..... I guess I will keep them.