Beaches

The first stop on the cruise was Port Canaveral, Florida. It was overcast and a tad bit chilly for a beach day, but definitely warmer than our San Diego trip earlier in the year. 

Lounging at Jetty Beach 

Tears and cuddles happened

Per tradition, a very large hole was dug and associated wall/drizzle castle constructed as the tide came up to destroy it

Elliot being instructed in the craft of drizzle castle making

Also the ancient art of the sand ball 

It started to drizzle so we headed back. A sleepy Elliot was serenaded with Joanna Newsom songs sung by his uncles and aunts who somehow all know all the words to her crazy long weird songs. 

 The next day we woke up at Coco Cay, Bahamas. It is a small island leased by Royal Caribbean. Nobody lives on the island, but it is all set up for cruise ships to come by and dump people on it for a day. 

You have to get to the island via a tender boat

 We had to book it to make it to the volleyball tournament. We ended up taking third place. Don't be impressed- there were only three teams. It was a pitiful showing on our part. 

Us with our archrivals, the Pococks

On the first day of the Cruise, we noticed a large family (30ish people) all wearing matching shirts that said "Pocock Family" on the back. They were everywhere, and naturally we decided that they were our bitter rivals. One of them won the "Sexiest man on the boat" competition. By day 3 we saw some of them wearing BYU shirts and realized that they were LDS too. They ended up creaming us in the Volleyball tournament. While we were playing, Mom talked to some of the Pocock clan that was watching, and they realized that they are in the stake next to my parents and that we have some mutual friends. They ended up inviting us to the Sacrament meeting they held on the boat on Sunday. Basically, we were demolished in rivalry that they didn't even know they were participating in. The Grandpa of the clan hung out with us at our spot in the Solarium one day and said to Blake, "Do you know what BYU really stands for?" Then whispered into his ear "Boy, you're ugly" and walked away. We all thought it was hilarious, especially since Aaron hadn't heard the "Do you know what BYU stands for" part and thought that Grandpa Pocock had called Blake ugly completely out of the blue.  

After our volleyball defeat, we ate lunch and handed rock after rock to Elliot for him to throw into the ocean. 

Thanksgiving on a Boat

Grandeur of the Seas

Royal Carribean Cruiseline

Nov 21-28, 2016

Out of Balitimore, MD

Port of Calls: Port Canaveral, FL; Coco Cay, Bahamas; Nassau, Bahamas

This was my 4th cruise, Aaron's 2nd, and Elliot's 1st!

Mom was considerate enough to get surgery on her ankle a couple months before the cruise, so we got to take full advantage of handicap lines with our wheelchair Mom. She can also get around by knee scooter or crutches, but her ankle is still crazy swollen and painful, so we used the wheelchair most of the time. 

It was fairly chilly when we boarded in Baltimore

Elliot telling a strangely dressed Max all about the Wa Wa

The main activity was, as always, dinner. We spent 2 hours eating dinner every night. Our waiters (Kikie and his "wife" Natasha) were great, as was the food and the company. It was great to have time to sit around and talk with everyone there. And did I mention the unlimited quantities of super tasty food?

Elliot was usually good for our long dinners. We would whip out his Elmo alphabet puzzle when he started getting bored of food. On one of the fancy dress nights, he decided that enough was enough and started throwing a fit during dessert. I got him out and he stormed from the restaurant. I couldn't help but laugh as he stomped past the other guests wearing his nice shirt and vest, tears streaming down his face. He calmed down as soon as we got to his beloved elevator. 

Elliot loved the Elevator, which he called the "Up and Down." He would wake up in the morning and usually say something along the lines of "Max Mimi Up-and-down Yogurt," which was pretty much the itinerary for the morning.

Waiting for the elevator can be tough

There was a random guy on the ship that looked eerily similar to my brother Clint, only very buff and in his 40's. We ended up inventing a detailed back story for Buff Clint. I hope that the poor man's real life is not as tragic as the one we made up for him. I also loved hearing stories from Max. His best one involved him accidentally texting a sound recording of 5 seconds of smooth jazz to his ex girlfriend when he was restoring his phone. Classic!

Playing with the huge connect 4

Going for a post breakfast walk on deck with Grumpa

Our main hangout place was the Solarium because they had the biggest table there. They also had a small cafe to provide us with a steady flow of french fries and deserts.  We spent most of our days on the boats camped out here playing board games. We would bring out Elliot's blocks and the Elmo puzzle, which was usually enough to keep him happy while we played. 

Breezy and Elliot swimming in the Solarium

 Elliot slept fairly well on the boat. We were able to borrow a baby monitor that worked pretty well. The first night, Aaron and I woke him up when we were coming in to go to sleep. He screamed for a few hours because he knew we were in there and he wanted to play with us. After several unsuccessful attempts to put him back to bed in his crib or to get him to sleep with us in our bed, we cracked the bathroom door with the light on and let him play with his Elmo Alphabet puzzle in his crib while we slept. He did that quietly for about an hour before telling it go bye-bye, at which point he let me put him to sleep for real. After that fun night, we were super stealthy and got ready in the tiny bathroom without waking him up. 

A few days in McLean

This was my first time being in McLean in the fall in 8 years. Crazy! We were able to catch a leaf raking day, which I found quite enjoyable after almost a decade without a yard to rake. 

Dad bought the "Billy Goat" on craigslist. It dies every 15 minutes or so, but he doggedly brings it back to life to munch the leaves. 

Elliot was quite pleased with his first leaf pile encounter

Also with his first Uncle Max encounter. They hit it off right away. 

This kid had no shortage of attention

The sad head cracks me up

He was pleased to see that Mimi also has some blocks. Where there are blocks to sort, there is contentment. 

I'm clearly not very good at the "Look Natural" face, but I love how similar Blake and I look. We are the oldest and the youngest, but we look the most alike out of all the siblings.

we

Airplanes!

For Thanksgiving, we went on a cruise with my family! It was awesome. 

First step: Flying to McLean. Elliot was appropriately attired in his airplane shirt, and was quite excited about looking out the airport windows at all the airplanes. He has been a long time fan of air transportation.  

Our flight landed at 10 PM arizona time. We tried to get him to sleep on the second leg, but it didn't take. He was clearly trying to get comfy with his blanket, and even laid down on the floor with it for a while. Despite the lack of sleep, he was still pretty happy. 

The return flight was more eventful.  On the first leg of the return flight, there was a mysterious medical emergency on the plane. They didn't say what it was, but they did the whole "is anyone on board a doctor" thing. Nobody was, so the flight attendants got on headsets and were doing something that I couldn't see. They didn't have to land the flight- just cancel the drinks & snack service. We had to wait for some stretcher thing to get whoever it was off the plane when we landed, which caused us to have to run to catch our connecting flight. Elliot cried a bit on the second leg because we weren't able to refill his water on the first leg or the non-existent layover. Snacks make a man thirsty! We landed after midnight, but again he didn't sleep a wink. We finally let him watch a show on Aaron's phone to prevent him from playfully flopping on us so we could sleep. 

Not a Doctor! Shh!

Lately we have been watching a show called Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Elliot is generally uninterested, but at the end of each episode there is a short animation from the show's producer. The audio goes "Not a Doctor" and then the animated doctor guy goes "Shh."

For some reason, Elliot gets very excited about this 2 second clip. Every time without fail, he notices it, perks up, and immediately copies the "shh" with the finger to the lips and everything. He then insists that mama and dada also "shh" in the correct way. 

It is a small thing, but it is very Elliot and I want to remember it!

Videos

No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!

Elliot being kissy and generally adorable. He's wearing my old shirt because he refuses to keep bibs on. 

Rolling sleeping bags down the stairs? MOST. FUN. EVER. After every roll, he would have to either sprint across the upstairs or leap onto my lap to vent some of the excitement. 

Elliot discovered the picture of my sister Breezy that I have in my wallet. He was quite smitten with it and continues to ask for it whenever he sees me get something out of my wallet.

Adventures of a Pumpkin

Elliot is very enthusiastic about pumpkins. We got a Halloween book from the library about a month ago to prep him for the madness that is Halloween, and he really embraced the pumpkin. 

Our first Halloween activity was a party for toddlers thrown at the Clubhouse. Elliot had lots of buddies there and had a great time. 

He was too busy running around for me to get a good picture.

There was a long line for the "Halloween" train, so I stuck him in a car with some friends.
He pulled his usual "suck thumb and pretend to be bored" trick. 

The Hays were kind enough to loan us a Pumpkin costume to wear.

Trying to convince him the hat was fun.
We failed. 

Rocking the pumpkin at the Stake Halloween Party

Oh Daddy

He didn't 100% grasp the concept of bowling, but still had a great time. 

The party consisted of carnival style booths outside and a dinner buffet in the gym. There were outdoor tables for eating. Unfortunately, a surprise thunderstorm hit, and everyone rushed inside all at once. We ended up eating in a crammed classroom with an assortment of superheros and part of the Greek Pantheon. I looked at a clock and realized that it was time for my shift on the snow cone machine. I went outside in the rain, and sure enough there was still a long line for the snow cones. There was a pop up tent covering it, but the kids were all getting soaked and fairly cold while waiting in line for their sugared ice. 

It eventually stopped raining and was actually quite nice. The booths opened back up (the ones that closed- some brave souls stuck it out the whole time) and we hung out for a while. 

Aaron and I were Apple Pi, and Elliot was Pumpkin Pi. His Pi was mostly disintegrated by the end of the night. 

Then it was Halloween night! We set up camp chairs in our driveway and taught Elliot how to give out candy. He was really slow at first because he had to stare at the costumes for a while before he could move. By the end of the night, he would toss a handful of candy into any bag presented to him, and would give a second handful if they didn't move out of the way fast enough. He also sampled a couple of lollipops (his first) and had a nice sticky drool thing going on.

The Candy Distributor

The Saturday after Halloween, we went to a "Pumpkin Smash" in Tucson. It was a fun way to get rid of pumpkins sponsored by a food bank and community garden. The main events were a group of trebuchets that were launching pumpkins 200+ feet into a big compost pile, and an area where you can smash your own pumpkins with a giant mallet. There was also an adorable kids mariachi band to provide some ambiance. It was held on the grounds of a community garden

Flying pumpkins? Awesome! Elliot kept asking for more. 

Community Garden

For the past several months, we have been involved with a project sponsored by the local food bank to start a community garden. I agreed to be the project coordinator and have been able to meet lots of great people in the community. 

The town has a fenced off land dedicated to community gardening that has been abandoned for years. Ground squirrels, bunnies, and insufficient irrigation led to it's downfall. We took a lot of advice from the community garden in Green Valley and decided to invest in metal cattle troughs to plant in. Critters can't climb up the metal edges!

The before picture- abandoned garden plots

 I convinced Aaron to make the irrigation a service project for his 11 year old scouts. 5 of them showed up with their parents, and I was surprised by how hard working they were. 

Trenches dug mostly by child labor

 We had a compost soil mix delivered from a supplier up in town.

Elliot loved watching the tractor. Or at least he did for the first 20 minutes, after which he played with my phone. 

Parks & Rec guys have been really accommodating. It would have taken forever if we didn't have their tractor there. 

 We had some last minute setbacks with only 6 of our 10 tanks being delivered in time for our kick off. That ended up being ok, since a handful of the groups didn't show up. The ones that did had a great time, and hopefully we get into the swing of things with a full capacity of gardeners. 

Going for the coal miner look with his filthy face and rock collection

The after picture! Hopefully this will be brimming with greenery soon!