Jase's Track Meet

I brought Janelle, Jaiden, Josh, and Jenna to go watch Jase's Track Meet at Pineview High School today.  He ran the mile and the two mile and beat his personal record for both!

Josh's Second Grade Program

 

He passed!! Jase's Driver's License!!

Flowers

Rick brought home this beautiful bouquet of roses for "his girls."  I love having a bright beautiful bouquet to brighten up our kitchen!  Then Jase brought home this beautiful vase that he made in ceramics along with some cups that he made.  He has also made a few bowls which we use all of the time.

Tabby's Party

Our kids were SO excited that they were invited to Tabby Phillip's (our next door neighbor) 18th Birthday Party!  They have the perfect backyard for parties and really went ALL OUT!!  It was carnival themed and there was swimming, hot-tubbing, face-painting, balloon creations, bounce houses, DJ (with line dancing!), Karaoke, popcorn, cotton-candy, pop, cake, and pizza!!  My kids were in heaven!  I told Rick, "Who needs a cruise, when you have the Phillips!"  It was too bad that Jase had to miss the whole thing because of his track meet. Here are some pictures of our kids and their friends enjoying the festivities. (First picture is Layla Purdy and Janelle).

  

Scouts at Jacob Hamblin Home

Today we took the scouts on a tour of the Jacob Hamblin Home and then have them make model Indian homes from sticks and other materials.

Baby Chicks!

Jenna was excited to go to playgroup at the Olsons and find out that they had just purchased cute little baby chicks!  She was so fascinated with them and kept wanting to hold them and play with them! 

Jaiden's Fourth Grade Science Fair Project

I thought this was a really fascinating project.  It didn't win anything, but we learned a lot about vitamins! 

 

My Pretty Girls!

Janika is Tuacahn's Sterling Scholar for FACS (Family and Consumer Science).  For her project she made a cookbook of all of her favorite recipes and needed some pictures for the cover and so that is why we snapped these pictures of our cute little chefs!! 

 

 

Coming Home

Coming home...

Fun Day At Sea

Thurs. March 13:  Today we were at sea all day.  Rick and I went walking around the track on the top of the ship before the kids got up.  They offered a really nice brunch today in the dining room and so we decided to try it out.  It was excellent (but really slow like all of the dining room meals were). 

We had been planning on taking advantage of the sun and pool today, but it ended up being a little windy and quite cold.  The kids were happy to go to the camp carnival activities though and so we took them in the morning and then picked them up for lunch and then they went back for the afternoon and again after dinner.  We took some family photos before dinner (after we finally found Jase) and caught a few of Jaiden having a melt-down (see below). 

For dinner all of the staff came out and sang with Choreography.  One of their songs was "Leaving on a Jet Plane," only they changed many of the words, including "leaving on our fun ship" instead of a jet plane.  It was really cute.  Tonight Jase, Janika, and Jaiden tried escargot and breaded squid rings!  None of them really liked the escargot. 

 

After dinner Rick and I went to the song and dance show of music popular music through the decades.  The musicians/dancers were very talented and we enjoyed the show.  I wish there had been more shows like that throughout the week instead of just two.  We picked up the kids from their camp carnival activities and they were excited to show us the T-shirts that they had made. 

Ensenada, Mexico

Wed. 12:  We woke up in Mexico!  Rick knocked on my door and he and I went walking around the jogging track on the top of the ship this morning while the kids slept.  It was beautiful out.  We then went and got the kids for breakfast.  As soon as he got off the ship people were taking pictures of our family with a huge parrot (hoping we would buy the pictures later).  I tried to take a picture with my camera but they said, “No personal photos.”  Then some people were trying to get us to pay $3.00 a person to ride the shuttle two miles into town. 

They said that kids on laps were free.  That would still be $21.00. Rick said, “No thank you, we will walk.”  I was voting for the shuttle thinking that Rick was just being really cheap and didn’t want to end up carrying tired, whiney kids.   But the walk really wasn’t bad at all – and it definitely was not two miles.  It was probably less than a mile.   I think they were purposely over-estimating how far away it was in order to get more customers.  

Immediately there were vendors trying to sell us things as we walked.  The younger kids had their money burning a hole in their pocket and wanted to stop at the first person we passed but Rick kept urging everyone forward.   We taught the kids about bartering – which wasn’t hard to do because as soon as you say you are not interested or start walking away they start lowering the prices. 

One Spanish gal held up a picture of girls in lots of little braids.  She must have been able to tell that I was interested because she practically followed us clear down the street.  I would come out of another store with my girls and there she was again holding up the pictures and offering a price.   We kept walking and several stores later I was asking my girls if they wanted their hair braided and there she was, appearing out of nowhere!  So I finally gave in and told her she could braid Jenna’s hair for $5.00.  After she started I panicked a little and thought, “I hope that comb is sanitized!!”  The braids looked cute but didn’t stay in very well.  I had to redo some several of the rubber-bands later on. 

There was a baby lion in a cage in one of the shops and the girls really got a kick out of that.  Several of the kids purchased little bracelets with their names on it.  Jaiden bought one for her friend Emily too along with another little gift for her.  Jaiden, Josh, and Jenna got little toy animals whose heads bob up and down.  Jared bought a huge sombrero and then Jase bought one that was even bigger.  Janika saw a little sun dress on a manikin and ended up buying it.  She couldn’t try it on but luckily it fit perfectly.  

After walking up and down the street and checking out all of the shops we decided to head back.  We took a horse-drawn carriage ride around the area while the driver gave us a little tour.  He stopped at the beach so that we could take a couple of pictures.  We thought about going back to the beach later but it was a little windy and kind of cold and it would have been a hassle to go back to the ship, change, and walk several blocks to the beach.  We decided to stay to do activities on the ship instead.   

 

After we got back to the ship we had lunch and then everyone changed into their swimming suits for some water fun.  The pool was much warmer today but it didn't work well for Jenna and Josh because the depth was all one level (about five feet).  There were no steps or shallow part.  I was kicking myself because I didn't even think to bring Jenna's little life jacket and there was absolutely no place to get one.  So she couldn't swim unless Rick or I were in the pool right next to her the whole time and that was frustrating because she would have loved to swim around.  Rick and Janika and I lay out in the beach chairs by the pool and soaked in the sun.  The five youngest swam for a bit and played on the splash pad and water slide.  Then we had all of the kids change clothes and go to their camp carnival activities for a couple of hours before dinner.

Jase decided to be adventurous and try the "frog-legs" for an appetizer.  Janika and Jaiden tried them too. They all said that they were pretty good.  I praised Jase for being so "brave" by trying something new and different and Jenna said, "Well, I am being brave by trying french fries without ketchup!"  I guess that is pretty brave since Jenna loves ketchup with everything and soon had it delivered to the table.

After dinner Rick and I dropped the four youngest off to their various camp carnival activities.  Janika hung out with Tommy and Jase went with his teen group.  Jared didn't want to go with his teen group and so he came with Rick and I to the Hasbro Show Game Night.  It was fun and quite entertaining.  Jared got chosen to come up and be on one of the teams for connect 4.  He made all of his baskets but their team still lost. Rick and I went and picked up all of the kids' from their carnival activities at 9:45 p.m. and then we all headed to bed.