Valentine's Day and Beyond

We seem to have developed a Valentine's Day tradition around here...flowers, chocolates, presents, pizza, and ice cream sundaes. Here are Ethan and Olivia with their gifts...Pixos for Olivia and Star Wars figures for Ethan (yes, we are beginning young on that obsession).


Ethan attempting to get out his gifts.

If Olivia receives flowers, then Ethan had better receive the same. He adores "La La" and is quite the copycat. If Olivia does something, he will try his best to do the exact same thing. It is good that Olivia is an excellent role model (for the most part!).

Ethan making his first pizza, with a little help from Daddy of course. Let's just say that I am surprised the oven was able to melt all of the cheese that was piled on top of the pizza.

Olivia perfecting her pizza making skills.

And the build your own ice cream sundaes. Ethan needed no prompting to be creative with his toppings for this!

Olivia and her ice cream creation.

On cold winter days one needs to be creative to find something that both a 4 1/2 year old and a 21 month old is interested in. This particular day it was pudding painting (this was not on Valentine's Day even though Olivia is wearing the same dress).

Ethan was able to keep some of the pudding on the paper as opposed to in his mouth!

Olivia has become a big fan of the new Olivia cartoon on Nickelodeon. She has always been a fan of the books, but now it has been taken to a higher level. Olivia the pig loves her cat Edwin and treats him like a baby. Olivia has begun to do the same to our cat Enid. Enid is an excellent cat with kids, very good tempered and easy going, and has taken the increased attention (wanted or not) in stride.

One routine of Ethan's while I cook supper!

Olivia receives the Highlights magazine for young kids (I highly recommend subscribing to this for your preschoolers!), and this magazine always has a cooking section. This particular month's was to make bear bread from frozen dough. Olivia added their bellybuttons as an extra special feature. These were formed completely by Olivia as she followed the recipe's directions.

And the final random picture....Ethan with his paci. I include this because it was the last time he was able to use his beloved paci. I took it away from him on Monday, and after 2 days of fussing he seems to have completely forgotten about it. Thank goodness that era is over in our house. The paci can be a lifesaver for the first year, and then after that I found it to be an annoyance (always getting lost under the crib at 2 am, needing to check and double check that one is packed in the diaper bag, etc.).

Cruisin' With the Ladies, Take Two

Joe and I went on a BareNaked Ladies (BNL) cruise this past week; it was the second BNL cruise that we have been on - see our January 26, 2007 blog to compare the two trips. It was a 5 day cruise that went to Cozumel (see the previous blog entry for info on this stop) and was supposed to go to Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas, but was instead rerouted to Key West, FL, due to bad weather in the Bahamas.

This cruise was an absolute blast...even better this time around due to me not being seasick the entire time (I am now a firm believer in ginger pills for nausea). There was always something happening on this ship, from BNL to Great Big Sea, from Gaelic Storm to The Odds/Acid Wish, from Sean Cullen to Kids in the Hall (Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald), from Sloan to Boothby Graffoe, and from Sarah McLachlan to our new favorite Mike Evin. There were so many concerts that once again we were unable to attend every performance that had wanted to (plus some started at 1:30am...way past our bedtime!).

As by tradition, BNL opened the cruise with a sail away concert. Basically it is a mad dash to the pool deck after your safety instructions are given to you. We were lucky and had a great position - center and about 5 rows of people from the stage. We actually saw BNL perform in 5 concerts (not bad for a 5 day cruise). Joe caught one of Tyler's (BNL's drummer) drumsticks at this concert which was a big deal for him as I had caught one on the previous cruise and there was always a big debate as to who could actually claim the stick.

Here is BNL at their "Snacktime" concert. Basically this was a concert of their songs written for kids. Olivia would have truly loved this show and was the one moment on the cruise that we wished we would have brought the kids. However, they would have been a logistical nightmare the rest of the time (concerts started late and ended late and some were definitely not kid appropriate). So, a big big big thank you to my mom and dad for watching the kids for 8 days! Not to mention that Ethan learned how to crawl out of his crib during this time which made things interesting for grandma!

Sarah McLachlan opened for BNL in their main concerts. It was a lot of fun to see her even though her voice was not great - she had been suffering from laryngitis for the past 8 weeks.

Great Big Sea (GBS) was basically the 2nd highest profile band on the ship. We had never heard a single song of theirs prior to this cruise and we attended 2 of their concerts. We enjoyed their shows but not to the point that we will become super fans (because believe me, there were plenty of GBS super fans there).

One band that we really did enjoy was Gaelic Storm. And I can guarantee that everyone reading this blog has heard them play. They were the Irish band in the movie Titanic when Leo took Kate to "a real party" and she stood on the table and danced. This band was hilarious...basically a good old Irish band with a lot of drinking (in their songs and in person) and they always ended their concert with a bang...either body surfing into the pool or buying shots for random people, or a 2 level conga line that ended in the pool (in 50* weather). This band tours most of the year and if you have an opportunity to see them in concert we highly recommend that you do so!

Here is a shot of Boothby Graffoe (comedic singer from the UK), Mike Evin, Brian MacMillan (part of Thinbuckle), Ed (BNL), Alan (GBS), and Chris Murphy (from Sloan). This was part of a "Songwriters Workshop" that Joe was able to attend due to being a "double dipper" (meaning we have been on 2 of the 3 BNL cruises). I included this picture to show Mike Evin (on accordian here, but he typically is a pianist). We accidentally discovered him on this ship - we happened to walk by one of his concerts and stopped to listen. We then attended the remaining 3 concerts he gave and Joe bought all 3 of his CDs on the spot. Again, he is planning a tour later this year and we highly recommend seeing him if he comes to a town near you!

Just a shot of our ship...The Norwegian Jewel. These accomodations were a huge improvement over the previous cruise. We opted for a balcony room, the food was much better, and we have no complaints about our experience.

Joe relaxing on the balcony with room service before "the photo". Yes, once again we participated in the naked photo (see info in our 1/26/07 blog). Because of the band's name...BareNaked Ladies, they had thought that it would be funny to have a barenaked photo on the pool deck, and have done this on each cruise. BNL fully participates in it as well. This year was known as "the year of the floater" - people who floated naked in the pool with the band. Let's just say that Joe is a floater. And no, you may not see the photo! We are now considered "Double Dippers, Double Strippers".

One of our good friends is a huge fan of Great Big Sea (yes, Nicola, that's you!). It was our mission to attempt to track down members of this band and get a picture with them. It was not easy and we ultimately failed as we only found their lead singer Alan wandering the ship. Sorry we missed out on Sean for you!

Joe hanging out with The Kids in the Hall (Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald). And by hanging out, I mean just that...we watched the GBS sail away show standing right next to them.

On the first cruise Joe was able to track down all of the BNL band members and get his picture with them. I did not have that luck. I was only able to get one with the bass player, Jim Creegan, before a Brothers Creegan show. Everytime that I saw another member of the band they were too busy for me to approach them.

I'll just end with a scenic shot from Key West. Even though the weather was lousy (we did not put on a swimsuit the entire trip due to the cold and high winds) we still had this view to look at every day and not one of Springfield in the winter! If you think that you might be interested in attending one of these cruises, well, you will have to wait awhile. It sounds like BNL is going to take a cruise hiatus to tour and rest. But Joe and I will be ready to attend "Ships and Dips VII" when it is announced!

Tulum Mayan Ruins

We had 2 excursion days on our BareNaked Ladies (BNL) cruise - one to Cozumel and the other was supposed to be in Great Stirrup Cay (Bahamas) but we were re-routed to Key West, FL, due to bad weather in the Bahamas. For our time in Cozumel, we opted to do an excursion to Tulum. This is a beautiful site of Mayan ruins overlooking the Caribbean Sea and we had a great time exploring. To get here, we had to leave the island of Cozumel via ferryboat (we both became very nauseous on this short trip - the waters were merciless) and travel one hour inland via bus. Our tour guide was excellent - he was half Mayan, half Spaniard, and really seemed passionate about Tulum and the history behind it.

Here was our first view of Tulum. It is also known as "the city of Dawn" and was believed to be a peaceful civilization that disbanded for unknown reasons. They did not die away since there are still Mayan people living in Mexico, direct descendants of this site. Our tour guide was adamant in explaining that the Mayans were advanced with their calendars, politics, education, etc. It was the only pre-Columbian culture with a written language.


The large building in the center is "The Castle". This was not the term used by the Mayans as they did not have royalty, and instead was dubbed that by the people who discovered this site. We were not able to climb close to that building, though, due to its crumbling state.

The view of the Caribbean Sea. There is thought that when this site was active that the outside walls were stuccoed a turquoise blue and the interior walls were a brick red color. This was to camoflauge the buildings from people traveling via the Sea.

The "Temple of the Wind".

Joe with a new friend. At first we were so excited to see these lizards in the ruins and took many pictures of them. Then we began to realize that you literally could not go for one minute without spotting one - they were everywhere! They would violently nod their heads at you to mark their territory, but other than that would leave you alone.

Joe and I with the Temple of the Wind.

I cannot remember the name of this building, but it was used as a holy place for childbirth. The building appears to be slanted but it was intentionally created this way. Again, the slant acted as camoflauge from travelers on the Sea.

A close up of the previous site. If you look closely above the entryway, you will see a baby in an upside down / child birth position.

Many of the ruins were roped off. A few years ago we would have been able to walk freely around the site, but then some idiots spray painted the interiors of many buildings, thus causing Tulum to become a "look from a distance" site.

Joe and I both love this picture. It was taken by a couple that only spoke French, but luckily camera usage seems to be universal. Again, that is the Temple of the Wind in the background.

Here is a shot of the wall that surrounded Tulum. You can see that some of the stone is still tinged red from its original coloring.

The "Temple of Frescoes."

I cannot remember the name of this ruin, but it is where the highest educated person lived. On the right side you can see the city well.

Tulum was also the site of a beautiful beach. We did not have time to visit this beach (opting to explore the ruins instead), but imagine how wonderful it would be to lie on this white sand beach with the ruins as your background!

Florida

Joe and I escaped to South Beach, Florida, on January 30 for a nice long adults only vacation. We spent 3 days in South Beach before moving on to our BareNaked Ladies cruise (there will be another posting on this later). While Florida was not at all warm, it was still a much needed break from the routine. Florida is in the middle of a cold snap right now, so for our entire 8 day vacation we never once were able to put on a swimsuit.

Here I am on a sand bar in the Atlantic. You cannot really tell from this shot, but I am pretty far away from the shore on this bar.


Joe looking for seashells for Olivia's collection. That large hotel in the background is the Loews.

We stayed in a beautiful hotel called the National, which was nestled between the Delano and Sagamore (I guess that they are all well known hotels).

Our hotel was known to have the best pool in South Beach. At the time that we booked the reservation we were very excited about this, but being so cold we were not able to enjoy it. The pool was so beautiful, complete with a small waterfall between the two levels.

Joe and I in front of the pool, the beach is in the far background.

While we were not able to enjoy the pool, we did enjoy the private cabanas and hammocks scattered around the grounds. We took a very nice nap in here to prepare for the Miami nightlife.

Me in front of Versace's house on Ocean Drive. It is not open to the public although remains a big tourist attraction.

And for those of you who know I love penguins, I couldn't pass up this photo. This was in Lincoln mall which was a great shopping/restaurant/entertainment district. If anyone is going to South Beach soon, we highly recommend eating at OLA. It was one of the best meals we have had.