Family Trip 2010

We are back, laundry is done and getting back into our normal routine. One word for our vacation - amazing. Royal Caribbean's new ship, Oasis of the Seas is amazing. Most places in the ship you don't even realize you are on a ship because it is just that big.

Overlooking the back of the boat and the Aqua Theater.

We flew out Friday morning to Ft Lauderdale and stayed at the Renaissance which was in between the airport and the port. The flight down was pretty uneventful except as usual Emersen had a big nasty stinky diaper that we had to change in the bathroom. Thankfully this plane had a very tiny changing table on it. Emersen didn't fit on it, but I was just glad we didn't have to change her on top of the toilet again.

Saturday we met up with my parents and Nikki and vacation officially began. We all had a great time, though Emersen will not be going on any more family vacations until she is potty trained and more self sufficient. She is in this really clingy phase right now and even after 7 days would not go to my parents or Nikki. Not even to hold her, she would scream and cry. The boat had a nursery that near the end of the week we finally started to take advantage of. She cried when we took her there, but they said after a few minutes she let up and started playing. This boat did have a really great set up for babies and kids. Every morning we took Emersen to this romper room where they had these play sessions with different toys every day. We became friends with a few of the other parents there that we saw each day.

The boat had 3 stops, the first was Labadee, Haiti. It is Royal Caribbean's private island. We got off and layed out for a few hours and enjoyed the BBQ that they had. The next stop was Costa Maya, Mexico. Unfortunately this day was all rainy and Nikki and Nate were the only ones who braved the weather to get off the boat. The last stop was Cozumel, Mexico where Nate, Nikki and I did an ATV adventure. Nikki and I have to admit, we probably would have never chosen to go ATVing, but it ended up being so much fun. Since it had rained the day before there was tons of mud and puddles and by the end of it we were all filthy. That day we also had Emersen at the nursery, so after the tour we came back to the boat and were able to lay out at the adults pool for once.

The last night we once again put Emersen in the nursery and went to a nice steak dinner at Chops Grille on the boat. We all love some good steak! The next day we were lucky enough that we were able to get on an earlier flight and were home and unpacked by 1pm. But we had a great time and a huge thanks to my parents for inviting us and footing the bill :-) Here are some pictures of Emersen on her first (and last for while) Lee family vacation.

Her new friend from Orlando, Aiden, pushing her on the train.

Nate and Emersen on the boats carousal.

Did I mention she is now walking?

Emersen and Mrs Petra. She was in charge of the daily play sessions and usually Emersen liked her, but this picture was taken when we were dropping her off at the nursery the last night.

Family dinner - adults only

A Howling Good Time

We are back and attempting to get all the laundry washed. While we were gone and Spencer was at the kennel he picked up a new howl, which we heard for the first time yesterday. As per norm he only howls when Emersen cries, which happens a lot recently. We crack up the whole time it is happening.

Mother's Day

Today was my first official Mother's Day. While I can't say the three of us had a relaxing weekend as we had a bunch of last minute things to get before we go on vacation, Nate was great in doing almost all the diaper changings, feedings and baths this weekend to give me a break. We went to breakfast yesterday morning at J. Christopher's and I had chocolate pancakes (definitely not diet friendly, but sooo good) to celebrate. Then later that night we had our friend Kelly's surprise birthday party and Nate offered to stay home and let me go. Matt did the same for April and the boys were even nice enough to not only stay home with the girls, but the dropped us off and picked us up so we could get our "swerve" on, which we did :)

But as a present, which I do have to say I was really surprised that Nate thought of even doing something like this, he and Emersen went to one of those pottery places where you can paint your own pottery and together they made me a coffee cup with Emersen's footprint on it. It was so thoughtful and I absolutely love it. It is something that I will have for a long time and always remember I got it for my first Mother's Day.

This past week Nate and I went in to Emersen's school and spoke to one of the administrators about her moving up into the next classroom. She is going to grow up so much in this room. No more bottles, eating real food and they teach her to use utensils, and only 1 nap a day. Right now they have started the process of transitioning her, where she goes over there and spends time with the teachers and the other kids. I really think that she is going to love the room with all the older kids.

Not much else going on, we leave for our cruise on Friday and we can't wait. Grand Mimi sent Emersen this awesome hat that is 50+ spf and the colors match perfectly with both her bathing suits. We will take lots of pictures of Emersen's first vacation.

Sleepy baby. So peaceful when she is sleeping.

Trying to crawl onto the coffee table. Look at those chunky thighs!

In my mind I had the cutest pictures with this little flower hairband, but someone would not work with me and keep it on.

Sweet Tooth

Before I had Emersen I had a list of things I said that I was not going to let my baby do, one of them was eat ice cream before her first birthday. As with many things on that list, this one I broke. Every time I give her a little bite she just makes me laugh the way she smacks and licks her lips. She definitely likes the sweet stuff!