Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Koebe!  The birthday countdown that started when Kalee had her birthday in March is officially over- Koebe is now a 7 year-old!  Seriously, no joke about the countdown.  "Dad-only four more weeks till my birthday!" "Koebe, you don't have to keep reminding us how many weeks there are left until your birthday." "Dad, only 14 more days till my birthday!"  I give up.

Koebe has been the biggest joy to watch grow up.  Watching him develop from a toddler into a little man has been such a rewarding experience- and funny too.  The other day, he went to a friend's birthday party who he doesn't get to see as often as he would like and this is what he wrote in the card:

Do we spend time together?  No.  Do we see ourselves? No.  Let's get together to spend some time.  Happy Birthday!

Then, a high school senior who used to babysit for us is graduating and happened to work in Koebe's classroom during the week and the class wrote her a card thanking her.  What did he write?  "I'll see you in church sometime." (She goes to our church, by the way).

Then today, when asked, "Koebe, now that you are 7 do you know what that means?"

"I get balls!!!!", was his reply.  Ok- so it took us about 5 minutes to stop laughing and when we finally got him to explain what he meant, he related now that he will be in second grade, he will be allowed to play with balls at recess.  Phew!

Koebe- we love you!  Happy Birthday!

Weary

This is what I get to do for the next three days:

Fly Dallas to Philly
Fly Philly to State College, PA
Drive from State College to Bethlehem, PA
Fly Bethlem to Columbus
Fly Columbus to Dallas

This is what I get to do next week:

Fly Dallas to Philly
Fly Philly to Manchester, NH
Drive to Hanover, NH
Fly Hanover to Boston
Fly Boston to Newark
Fly Newark to Hartford, CT
Somehow get to Maryland
Fly Baltimore to Dallas

Bring. It. On. (I love you honey???)

Smell of Life

"Fruit Loops are the smell of life.", said Kalee after she inhaled deeply over her fresh bowl of Fruit Loops tonight.  She could eat cereal every day, for every meal- especially Fruit Loops.  'Nuff said. 

Too Much Fun

It's true. We had too much fun. More than should be legally allowed. But I'll be honest- I needed every single ounce of fun that we could squeeze out of our vacation for two (plus the 14 other friends we hit the open waters with). Ape and I took a much needed trip without the kids to celebrate the anniversary of our nuptials. Yup. In June it will be 10 whole years. We are in the double digits folks!

So, the cruise with all our friends was lots of fun. We were like the Brady Bunch on steroids and I think the staff on the cruise is still trying to figure out if we were all drunk all day everyday, or if 16 people could really be that happy without medication and liquor. However, I must confess that I downed a "less-drowsy" Dramamine "just to be safe" on the first day of our cruise to Mexico. Let me just state for the record- best sleep of my life that night! I unwillingly woke up around 11 am the next day, had some lunch, caught some rays, got tired, took a nap from 2-5, got up, ate some more, and then partied like it was 1999. It was awesome.

We hit Cozumel and Progresso and at both stops headed for the beach. In Progresso, Raul was our host with the most and took good care of us taking us to a quiet beach. Cozumel involved a speed boat and 360 turns on our way to a private island where we tried to get virgin pina coladas comped because the water trampoline "as promised" wasn't there (a storm took it away- wah!)- but to no avail- they wouldn't give them to us for free. But who can pass up slurpin' one of those suckers down while you're swinging in a hammock under palm trees and looking across the crystal blue horizon? Not me! I'll have another!

When we were not soaking up the sun on the beach, we were relaxing on the boat, dancing at night, singing karaoke with our friends and heckling the HORRIBLE emcee in the karaoke bar. Don't hate Darlene- I'm just sayin'! The last full day of the cruise was supposed to be a quiet ride back into Galveston, but alas, ol' skipper had a different idea.

Without warning, while Ape and I were working really hard at catching some rays, the boat decided it wanted to lean to the right....alot. As in, "holy crap, is the Ecstasy (our boat) aka the Titanic??!!!" We ran to the opposite side of the boat and grabbed the railings as the ship continued to pitch right. Meanwhile, all of our friends were down in the dining area where all the food, dishes and even some people went sliding and falling everywhere. You can read about it here: http://cbs4.com/local/Carnival.cruise.ship.2.1650013.html

Long story short, the ship's radar apparently missed a large buoy that had gone adrift and instead of taking his chances, he made a last minute decision to turn the ship, but didn't let us know in advance. Sweet. We were pretty shaken up for a while, but once people started drinking again, it all went back to normal (for the most part).

Well, 'nuff said. Now for some picture time!

The happy couple at dinner. Isn't she hot?!

Couples massage on the beach? Check!

A view from the hammock

On the way down in the party bus. 14 of us rode in a friend's shuttle bus!
Still alive on Day 5.

Snaps to Grandma Lambert for coming out for the week to watch the kids!