Our Vacation--Part 1

Disclaimer:  Although it may appear that I am complaining....I am so blessed to be able to take a vacation with our family.  My intentions are not to sound unappreciative or ungrateful.  I am so thankful for an amazing sister in law who planned all of this and did a fabulous job. 

Eric's entire family plus Carley (ie: babysitter extraordinaire) went on a Cruise this year.  There were 19 of us total.....that would be 8 adults, 3 teenagers, 6 kids and 2 babies!  I don't know if I would call it "relaxing" to go on a cruise with that many kids but it was still fun. 
I have two pieces of advice for anyone going on a cruise with lots of children. 
1.  DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT book any shore excursions ahead of time.  We made this mistake....not once but 3 times.  We were not aware that you can actually book your excursion while you are at port instead of booking it through your cruise line.  It can actually save you money. 
There were a few excursions that had we known what we would be doing.....we would not have done it. (More on this later)
2.  If you have a family of 4 or more.....being in a VERY small space for a week is ROUGH!  Pay the extra money and upgrade your room.  Maybe some ships have larger rooms.......but being in a closet with 5 people where you cannot move because of suitcases, pack and plays and people......not fun.  Did I mention there was no window?  Sorry, the painting on the wall that looks like a scene that you would see out of a window doesn't cut it. 
Now I know that you are thinking....."you are on a cruise......you aren't supposed to be hanging out in the room?!"  I know that.....but when you have a baby and a husband who LOVES to nap.....it would be nice to escape the 105 degree weather to relax for a bit. 

That is all the advice I have for now.  On to the good stuff.  Our first full day was an "at sea" day.....and I have no pictures of it. 

The first port we visited was Costa Maya. 

This was definitely our favorite island and favorite excursion. 

Our excursion at this island was "Dolphin Encounters".  Eric and Gavin got to swim with Dolphins. Nolen, Cohen and I got to get in the water and pet the dolphins.  Gavin LOVED it.  I think he has a future in marine biology....because he is obsessed with marine animals.  We don't have any pictures because we were all in the water at the same time and they wanted $500 for the pictures they took....ummm no thank you.

 This little girl......makes us want a girl soooo bad.  She is overflowing with personality.

Nolen and Elliott had so much fun playing in these little waterfalls.

This picture makes me laugh.  You would never know that these two are brothers.

 This was the first island and I am proud to say that Cohen had a good little tan by the end of the trip.

 Cohen and Cade playing in the water.  I think this is the ONLY picture where Cohen isn't pulling Cade's ear or attacking him in some way.  He is such a bullie....not really.

As I was looking through my pictures I realized that I don't have very many of Gavin.  Why?  Because he was so busy having fun with his cousins that I could not get him to be still for a photo shoot.

 My boys!

We had a great time on Costa Maya and while it wasn't the most beautiful island we visited, it was definitely the best day we had.  The excursion was great and so fun for the kids and the pool was the perfect place to hang out and cool off.

Three Quarters......

Cohen is 9 months old!

This is what Cohen's hair looks like just after a bath....when it isn't "fixed"!  I think it is hilarious!

Now that he has been sleeping in his bed for over a month.....he isn't very happy to be put in his crib for picture time. 

As you can see, Cohen is pulling up and standing.  He is starting to "cruise" and as you can see he can now hold on with only one hand.  He is quite proud of himself.  The second you put him down, he immediately finds something to stand up and hold on to. 

He still has 6 teeth, wears size 4 diapers and 12-18 month clothes.  He continues to be a dream baby when it comes to sleeping.....he sleeps from about 10:30 at night until 9:30 the next morning IN his crib without waking up!  I know.....I know....I am sooo blessed. 

This is his new face......he does it all the time.  I love it. 

He loves pretty much all food.  He had a hard time with meat at first but now he will eat anything.  He LOVES ice cream.....Daddy has it every.single.night and he gets really excited when he sees him getting it out!

He babbles all the time but isn't really saying anything.  He has a little temper and throws a fit and grabs his head when he gets mad.  It is so funny. 

We all love him so much!

This is the face of a POOP eater!

This morning Cohen and I got a shower.  When we got out I dried him off and sat his clean naked butt on the floor in my bedroom so that I could get dressed.  A few minutes later I hear him making a gagging noise.  I turn around and there is poop on the floor next to him.  He looks up at me and smiles and then I notice that he has a little piece of poop on his bottom lip!  O.M.G.  My almost 9 month old totally ate his own poop.  I looked in his mouth and couldn't see any "leftovers" so I don't know if he actually got any in his mouth or not.  He is still not the greatest with his hand to mouth coordination so I'm hoping he didn't actually swallow any--GAG!

I immediately flushed out his mouth with water and then brushed his teeth (I would want my teeth brushed if I had eaten poop).

That sweet, little, innocent, precious face.......is the face of a poop eater!

Family Pictures!

We had family pictures a few weeks ago.  We had not had pictures done with all of us since Cohen was born.  With Gavin and Nolen I did so good and got their pictures taken every 3 months for the first year....with Cohen I had not had any done since he was born.   If you have ever been to my house or know me very well, you know I LOVE pictures {especially of my kids}.

Our friend Joscelyn took these. She had this great spot downtown and since it was near the railroad tracks we decided to go with a "vintage style" photo shoot. Eric had the idea of suspenders the night before pictures and so I went on a mission. It was a bit chaotic considering I was sewing Cohen's faux suspenders on his onesie about an hour before we had to leave.

I mean, I know I am biased but seriously......could these 3 boys be any more adorable???

I am so proud of my little family.  Now, if I can just add a little girl in this mix we will be good to go!

Daddy and his boys!

Nolen was really hammin' it up...he did such a great job!

My big boy!

LOVE these!

Crying over basketball.....

Not Gavin.....me.  I have no idea why.  Actually, I do.  It was amazing to see my son, my baby big boy so excited to show us what he had learned. 
Gavin went to Basketball Camp last week.  It was kind of a last minute decision to send him.  To be honest, I was really worried about how he would do.  Let me just say, the Coaches were amazing.  To be able to entertain kids this age for 6 hours a day and them have so much fun that they don't want to leave....they are definitely doing something right.  They have a great program and Gavin learned so much.

On Friday they had a little "parents hour" to show us what they had been doing all week.

This was Gavin with his favorite Coach.  Coach Wolfe played both basketball and football and Gavin just thought he was so cool.  They even had a special handshake. 

We were soooo proud of Gavin.  He had a great attitude.  6 hours is a long time for a 6 year old to play basketball, every day for 5 days.  Gavin loved every second of it.

I think that this was the first time that I saw passion from Gavin about a sport (other than surfing) and it literally brought tears to my eyes.  Every time he would do something he would look at his Daddy to make sure that he approved.  You could tell that he was proud of himself and what he could do.

And these little guys cheered for their big brother.