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.