Cruisin' To Mexico

We decided to fill one of our 6 weeks in the states on a cruise to....
the Mexican Riviera formerly known as The Love Boat Cruise.

CABIN ANTICS
We had SERIOUSLY been in our cabin for 15 minutes when I heard.......
Beep beep beep boop
"Mom do you know how to open the safe?"
Why...... I ask....
"Because Jack's inside."

I had just hung up with our cabin boy as he called to let us know not to hesitate to ask for anything. So I immediately called him back asking if anyone knows how to crack open a safe.

The first thing the supervisor asks when coming in was, "So, do you remember the combination?" I guess he misunderstood thinking we couldn't read the clearly printed instructions on the front of the safe. I said there is not combo just 20 randomly pushed numbers. I left him to it and miraculously we got Jack back. We then quickly set our own code on an empty safe just in case.

Adjoining rooms means adjoining balconies...

We enjoyed a bit of time out there. Especially as the coast was on our side most of the way down.

The boys had places to be and things to do.
Graham had to do a bit of self entertaining.

OUT AND ABOUT
As first time cruisers we really didn't know what to expect.

Would the boys enjoy it?
Would we overeat?
Would Zach & I be sick the entire time?

The answers
YES
A few times
and thankfully No!

We really really REALLY enjoyed our Saphire Princess Experience.

One downside was we did not pack for the formal nights.
I didn't want to pack formal dresses around on a 6 week vacation. Also we weren't sure if we would even be able to go with the three boys. Come to find out the kids club was AMAZING and we hardly saw the boys. They were so booked with activities that changed hourly they just had enough time to eat and have a quick dip in the pool before they were off on their next adventure....sometimes as late as 10pm. We often found Ethan passed out when we went to pick them up. He doesn't last much past 7:30pm....the staff was nice enough not to interrupt our evening.

You can't be sailing the seas without a Pirate Party Arrrghhhh!

Or a Trazadone Patch for some of us. It worked! I had a painfully dry mouth and completely blurred vision just like the warnings said.....but I didn't get seasick. Just a little icky the last day as the seas were especially rough. My vision was so bad I couldn't read anything or see what I had put on my plate at mealtime.

While Thing 1 and Thing 2 were busy
these guys and I.....

enjoyed art auctions, pina coladas, comedians, working out, the spa, and walking on deck.

In PortChris and I had a plan to trade off days doing shore excursions alone but.....his got canceled.
Porta VillartaWe hailed a cab for the Ghetto Park, I mean Water Park. It was off season so we pretty much had the park to ourselves and a bazillion bees. By the time we got back to the ship we didn't really have time to go anywhere else so we opted to check out the stalls of Mexican Junk at the port entrance. One of the vendors put a Luchador mask on Ethan and he was off. Chris was holding Graham so it was my job to sprint after him. It was like a scene from a bad movie. He was weaving in and out of people, through stalls, between leg, with Zach in hot pursuit saying, "Stop that Kid he's stealing!" Spectators of all nationalities yelled various remarks about him and the crazy women after him as he leap down the stairs and finally fell.....into an empty fountain. For a split second we had contemplated buying him a mask but when we saw the result of the "Mask Powers" we instead returned the mask and left as fast as we could.

Mazatlan
Was a better day. We set out on a highlights tour of the city which included a view of the light house not a view from the light house, a cathedral,....
a cliff diver (pretty cool), ate hot quesadillas and tortilla soup while a caballero played the guitar and serenaded us......

and then these guys...

The Papatlayn Flyers
They were by far the best thing we did. You can only see this show through private guides or ship tours. They demonstrated amazing feats their people have done for centuries. As well as regional dancers and el vaquero (Mexican Cowboy) who was amazing with a lasso.
Cabo San Lucas

There was not enough time in this port. If we ever vacation in Mexico again we would love to spend several days here. I spent the day zip lining, rappelling, river crossing, and rock climbing.....all by my lonesome and a small group of about 15 strangers in the Sierra Mountains. It is something I have ALWAYS wanted to do and Chris made it happen. I pushed myself to try new things, enjoyed my non mommy time, and had a STELLAR day but you can't take cameras on the tour:(

Chris left Zach on the boat (Z's choice) and took Ethan and Graham on a glass bottom boat tour. The bay is so shallow we had to take a tender into port unfortunately that took extra time out of our already too short of a day.

Then we were Los Angeles bound again ready to start the Slocombe Family Christmas Festivities.

Puppy Love or One Sick Puppy

This child STRUTTED in at lunch with his chest out, head high, goofy smile, and declare
"I have such a BRIGHT feeling"

As Chris and I stare in puzzlement as he turns to go wash his hands and says.....
"Laura KISSED me today....on the cheek." (Huge Sigh)
Pause
"She fell in love with me but I didn't fall in love with her."
Continues walking toward the bathroom
"I feel really weird."

We really tried to keep a straight face but this was too cute.
Is it wrong to say we are so glad he likes girls?

Then after lunch I found .........

Zach in the bathroom with Ethan's camera/video camera. I asked him if he was taping what he had just flushed. Unfortunately, he said yes.

Later Chris and I inspected the VIDEOS (yes more than one). They definitely started off innocently but did get a little graphic.
Delete, Delete, Delete

Now hours later as I'm writing this I can over hear them heading to the bathroom....with the camera because it's Ethan turn.

Gotta go nip this one in the bud;)

One of The Big Boys

I've noticed, just this week, some changes in Graham.
1. A few tantrums
Likely due to binky reduction during waking hours.

2. He thinks he's one of the big boys.
He wants to eat, play, and do whatever his big brothers are doing. Here the boys were watching weekend cartoons. Graham fussed and fussed until I put him on the couch with them and then he just SMILED. Of course the boys were oblivious to his presence the entire time.

3. He puts up with a LOT!
These are just A FEW of the things I've found recently in his diaper.....
generously placed by a loving Ethan. The funniest part is Graham never complains and will sit and play like it's normal.
That's not the only unusual thing happening with toys lately.....

...yes that is my sports bra skillfully tied to G's push toy.
One guess who's responsible?

We've Been Blogged!

While in California we spent the day in Riverside with my old college roommate Kamee. She quit teaching to be home with her kids but in the last few years has started a photography business that has really taken off. She and another extremely talented photographer and former high school friend/college roommate, Jen Fields, are both featured on my blog side bar.

My one Christmas Wish this year was to have Kam photograph my family......and she did just that (Find us under "A Family of Super Heroes").
They were photographed as is, in all their glory, with each personality shining through in their own way. That means we did not get one shot out of 1000, no kidding 1000, with everyone looking at the camera and SMILING.

I asked her to work her photo shop magic but in the end I was still disappointed (not with her talent).....it was still my nose, chubby arms, thin smile etc...and when did I start looking well...old. I swear I wore makeup to the shoot but between the drizzle and constant yapping or kissing it looks like I forgot lipstick, oh well I guess you all have to settle seeing what Heavenly Father gave me.

But the boys they look....

BRILLIANT!

....every time I look at those pictures I just want to kiss 'em and love 'em and eat'em up.

And Chris was such a GOOD SPORT. Some of the poses, not shown, were hotter than anything we did in our engagement pictures.

We definitely have some great shots to choose from unfortunately she could only blog a small sample.

What you don't see (well may be you can in some) in the pictures was Graham crying every time I tried to pass him off.
Ethan asking for snacks every 5 minutes. In fact in one shot you can see some Nips residue on his tongue.
Zach being absolutely Mr. Anti- picture.
During Mom shots the boys constantly jumping in or trying to use Kamee's camera.
Chris and I standing in a doorway on a broken whiskey bottle where someone had obviously unrinated the night before.
Ethan blaring the car horn as Chris and I were supposed to be acting romantic.
An unhappy Graham in the stroller next to us just outside the frame.
Drizzling Rain.

All in All it was a totally fun, memorable morning and this is just so my life perfectly captured on film!

Thanks Kam!

So if your travels take you to So. Cal or Eastern Kansas book these ladies and you won't be disappointed....they got skills.

Denver Days

We filled the Denver Days of our trip with as many indoor activities as possible.
Our drive there was, thankfully, uneventful and just began to snow as we pulled into our lodgings. Because we were staying here at least a week we chose larger accommodations. We stayed in a two room residence with a small living area and even smaller kitchen....just to get a bit of our own space.

Chris REALLY needed this as I left town for 3 GLORIOUS days to surprise my sister Lauren in Anchorage. She will be having her first child in around 9 days from now and I didn't want to miss her baby shower. I secretly arranged with the host a surprise. What I didn't know was that when I blogged about being there I didn't expect her to read it at work and find out. She called me in happy tear as soon as she read the news.......but was mad I didn't tell her sooner and she would have taken the day off. In the end it all worked out as I spent the morning with my Dad and partner in crime Marjory hiking in the mountains.

Back to Denver.......
Our first stop was a Denver Icon a sort of Tijuana meets Disney

Casa Bonita

The food was well.......pretty bad and overpriced but you just consider it as
park admission.

We had front row seats for the diving shows.

The boys love, love, LOVED the pirate cave.

At first they were REALLY SCARED but soon they were facing Black Bart without Mom and Dad. (Mostly because after 3 times Chris and I were done.)

We pretty much had the place to ourselves and it was great to let the boys run after traveling in the car for 3 days.

After lunch we went to the most amazing Children Museum in Downtown Denver.

Even though I'm a bit of a germ aphobe I love hands on museums for kids. They helped me out by putting tissues, hand sanitizer, and sanitizer wipes on every corner. I also saw workers cleaning things the entire time we were there.

Next A Middle Child's Dream come true.....he could commandeer his very own Fire Truck!
Could it get any better than a REAL fire truck with all the lights, bells, and whistles functioning?

Just when we thought it couldn't get any better it did. Upstairs there were rooms and rooms of things kids love to do and even some rooms such as this one kids never get to do at home.

Build with wood scraps using REAL tools, not kiddie hardware. There were about 20 individual work stations with aprons, safety goggles, hammers, saws, drills, nails, screws, etc.....I thought the boys would never want to leave this place.

To Market To Market.....

After gathering necessary goods at the market there was a huge kitchen to prepare the "pretend" food.

Next we traveled to the Woodland Forest where you could climb in and out of fox holes.....

or in GIANT bird nests in full animal costume if you so desired.

Painting for our ARTISTS.......

and a magnet board that was just begging to be rearranged. See what I mean ....something for everyone and every age. They even have and infant area downstairs that was amazing but I didn't photograph in there.

The puppet show Z and E did totally cracked me up.

It started off very nice and friendly....

then Zach got bored and moved on so E continued by himself. I don't really remember the story line but all of the sudden he......

had the puppets just start wailing on each other in a true Ethan style.

On to the mini sports court.

Not bad for a shorty!

Zach held his own too in the game of horse.

And Sweet Graham just crawled and explored to his hearts content.

We all LOVED this place and we're so glad to have experienced it together as a family, not just mom and the boys telling Dad what a great day we had.

The next day we toured the Denver Mint (sorry pictures were not allowed).....and ate at our favorite family restaurant THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY! With a menu like theirs it's easy to please everyone....most of the time....some kids are just moody.

Road Warriors

Spending 6 weeks vacationing around the south, west and southwest meant a bit of time on the road.

This little guy was such a trooper. Due to luggage overload and seat configuration Graham was placed in the very back of the minivan all by his lonesome. We never heard a peep from him unless, he was hungry or very mad that we all had DQ ice cream and no one could reach back to share. He would sleep intermittently and wake up looking a bit frazzled. Occasionally we would throw back a straw or plastic spoon to play with. This illicited very joyous squeals and then he would immediately throw it down on the floor and zone out again. After Christmas we set aside some of his toys to keep him busy....again after 5 minutes they too were wedged in a small slot between the car seat and side.

This child, we discovered, has a bladder the size of a walnut. He became very proficient at peeing in empty water bottles, from the ledge of the car, and in all types of terrain from the steep slopes of Colorado to the hypodermic needle like thorny bushed Texas roadside.

We took him at every rest stop, gas stop, and in between and guess what.... he hardly ever drinks anything. It just didn't make sense. He also needed a snack about every 10-15 minutes. It was crazy! Driving for 8-10 hour stretches he was burning seriously no calories. It must take a lot out of a 4 year old to blink while watching movie after movie.

This particular stop was for Zach who rarely wanted to stop even after CHUGGING bottles of Crystal Light. So Ethan decided to chase Zach down the hill (as semi trucks zoomed past) then as Z was mid stream E decided to try and pee on him. This caused Z to try and run backwards with his pants around his ankles causing him to fall bare bummed into the grass. This is E very disappointed that Dad intervened allowing Z to escape.

He was so ticked he did not want to continue the journey and Chris had to carry him back to the car.

Thanks to modern technology we were only plagued with hitting, fighting and arguing during movie intermission........intermissions were very short. It was not a time for deep conversation with our small children. At times they did ask insightful questions but it would quickly be followed up by E asking the never ending why.......after very in depth responses to the original question.

I don't know how my parents endured yearly cross country road trips with 6 children. I guess what got us through was: no seat belts so we could stretch out and my dad is a maniac and needs no sleep and drives day and night with hardly any breaks.

We were blessed with excellent weather 90% of the time. There was only one night of super icy roads and it was touch and go for several hours. We did have one tragedy on the drive back from CA to TX. We lost a dear friend. Somewhere along the way at one of the numerous potty stops Ethan's dear friend Jack (his stuffed dog he's had since birth) hopped out of the car unnoticed and was left behind. At first we thought he was just buried beneath all the filth, crumbs, and snack wrappers in the Ethan zone of the car. Ethan fell asleep in the car the night he disappeared but asked as he was carried up to his bed in the hotel that Dad please search for him and put him in his arms when found. Chris and I both searched the car, then we checked all our receipts from the day and called all the places to see if he'd been found. Neither of us wanted to break the news to E in the morning as we knew with his personality it would be devastating.

Sure enough first thing in the morning our usual early risers first question was, "Where's Jack?" As I explained to him how hard we'd looked and that he was gone, Ethan totally surprised us and handled the news......EXTREMELY WELL! He said we could replace him with an identical Jack, he would sleep with Graham's new monkey the rest of the trip, and when home would just use one of his other friends until a new Jack was found.

Although at times 6 weeks seemed to be a long time on the road we so enjoyed the time with family and friends and loved being back in THE USA were dinning options are plentiful and drivers are law abiding and courteous......yes courteous (for the most part.)

Sick & Tired

Flying home was a piece of cake this time.
Flying from Houston instead of Anchorage made a huge difference. Both flights seems to go by so quickly it was hard to believe we had arrived.
An added bonus this time was that all our luggage arrived too. No more wondering if that pair of shoes would ever come or the cord that goes to the phone in a different box would ever give power again.

On the flip side because the flight was so smooth I guess the difficulty is in the jet lag. Usually Z and E flip immediately. Z has had a real hard time of it this go (falling asleep at four in the afternoon and waking up with the munchies at midnight) and E has done pretty well. And poor Graham he is actually doing really well considering.....

I knew that I had put a feverish sweet boy with a runny nose to bed last night but what I found in the morning was totally freakish. Have you ever had your child wake up with their face so disfigured in green crusty snot and the puffiest red conjunctivitis eyes that your not sure if it's really your baby. This darn fever has been strong for 3 days and won't let up. I keep finding him trying to cool off on the tile in random place. Almost as if he is crawling after something and just looses hope and strength mid crawl and lays down right there. The only good side to all this is it makes him super cuddly.



Underneath all the green crusted goo and sliminess is the sweetest baby with a bi-lateral ear infection. Who is overcoming jet lag by fever induced sleeps.

As for Chris he was just getting his body back on schedule and then has had to go to the field for the last several nights. At least he enjoys the work out there.

When we all finally wake up and emerge from the cruds I've got some great pictures to share from our Holiday Adventures.