Cruising the Caribbean

Tell me this doesn't look like the face of a kid who is truly enjoying the new cruising lifestyle! Fresh off the boat from Riley's first cruise on Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas, we have a whole slew of awesome memories and pictures that will be shared when Riley is old enough to actually remember.

We had an awesome week of warm weather, fantastic destinations and fabulous family time that was made possible because we are part of the best family ever!  With stops in St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan and Labadee, we had plenty of fun in the sun, warm sand between our toes and delicious meals. 

Don't get me wrong - there are definitely some challenges when cruising with a 2-year old, but with so many hands on deck, we were all able to enjoy ourselves to the fullest extent.  Thank goodness for a play room, movies on the big screen, all you can eat ice cream and pizza and a family who is willing to step in.

And with a few extra days to relax in Ft. Lauderdale after the cruise, we soaked in the last warmth of the season and prepared to come back home and brave the winter months.

This is a family vacation that I know we were all looking forward to and one that we will remember for the rest of our lives.  It was a long time coming but I am so glad that we were all able to carve time out of our schedules to spend Thanksgiving together.

And now that we are all back home, it's time to unpack, relax and look forward to the next family vacation (which will hopefully come sooner rather than later)!

We're back!

After nearly a month of back and forth single parenting, lots of plane rides and plenty of help from the family, Chris and I are finally back in the same city at the same time.  It took a lot of coordinating and we couldn't have done all we needed to for work without the amazing help of the ground crew - so for that, we have a huge shout out to BiBi, Zee, Aunt Stacey and Uncle Brad!  Thank you for being us while we were away!

To celebrate the fact that we are all back together, we decided to take Riley swimming.  He is still taking his once-a-week swim classes at the JCC and was happy to show off his "popcorn" skills (bobbing up and down and bouncing off the pool wall) but wanted mostly to swim in our arms and be thrown in the air.

Now we get to look forward to our family cruise, where I'm positive that we will be spending plenty of time in the pool and playing in the ocean!

When Daddy's away

October and November are crazy months, between the move, Chris in and out of town for work and my upcoming group.  But the one thing that remains constant and keeps us moving along is Riley.  And when one of us is out of town, we have to make sure to keep his distracted and busy enough so that he doesn't miss the missing parent.

I'd like to say that we do a pretty good job at this!  Today, it was beautiful outside so we took one of the last opportunities of the season to play outside on the swing set after school.  Then after dinner and bath time, we stuck to indoor activities.

There are still about a dozen boxes here and there, so Riley and I attacked his books tonight.  After they were all on the shelf, we had a few great boxes to play with.  So what do we do?  We make trains!

A new buddy, Bones!

As we all know, Safta LOVES Halloween!  We weren't sure if she would get into it this much with the recent move to California, but when a package arrived for Riley, we knew she was counting down the days till her favorite holiday. 

It was a special treat to open the package and he had a great time exploring the contents.  But all of the other elements went unnoticed as soon as the skeleton came around!  This was certainly the winner by a long shot and I think Riley has a new best friend.  Apparently Halloween is the skeleton's birthday and Riley was excited to teach him all the songs he knows.

We tried to hang the skeleton on the front door to get in the spirit of the holiday, but Riley had other thoughts.  After unsuccessfully inviting the skeleton into the bathtub, Riley was pretty adamant about where his new friend should go for the night.

I think we'll name him Bones and let him stick around for a while!  Thanks Safta!

Home sweet home

As of last week, we are officially home owners!  It feels good to have the hunting and the paperwork behind us and are now able to focus our energy on unpacking and making this house our home.  I will admit that there are things that I may not love about the house, but that is probably true with any house, even if you build it from the ground up.

I will tell you, however, who is loving the new house... Riley!  He has a man cave/toy den in the basement, a swing set and slide in the backyard and a new room that he is already very comfortable in.  We were worried that he would wake up the first morning and be scared that he didn't know where he was, but this kid is an adaptable nomad who didn't complain once through the whole process.

Now that we are unpacking, we are finding all of the old favorite toys that had been packed up for a while - and making new toys - like humidifier filters that can be used as hats!

Moving mayhem

With the closing complete, all there is left to do is pack, paint and move!  I will easily admit that this is not my favorite part of getting a new house, but with Chris being the professional packer and Riley adding a helping hand, we're sure to be in the new house in no time. 

Now if only he could put that book down, put on some pants and tape up some boxes...

Fun time friends

Since the weather has cooled off, we are looking for some fun activities to do inside to stay warm.  Add on top of that the fact that we are potty training and staying inside is really the best thing for everyone!  

This afternoon, Chris had to work, so I thought I was in charge of afternoon entertainment.  Turns out, Riley thought he was in charge of entertaining me!  He took his job very seriously and had a great time putting on a show in his room.  I'm not exactly sure what he was chanting but he seems to know exactly what's happening.

Next activity was brushing Mommy's hair!  I guess I couldn't quite convey the fact that you don't brush curly hair so he took his turn and did the best that he could.  I will not be adding this hairdo to my rotation but I will allow him another chance or two to redeem himself in the future.