We made it home safely and had a great time! The only crappy thing was that my camera broke on our second day, so we don't have many pictures :o( We did take some with dad's camera, but he's back in California, so it'll be a few weeks until he comes home and I can get them from him. I can't even get the pictures we did take off of the memory card right now, so no pictures at all for a few weeks. Sorry!

Other than the camera situation, we did a have a wonderful trip. The wedding in Key West was beautiful. We had a great time at the beach in Cozumel and we ended up doing a wildlife adventure thing in Belize. I would love to spend more time in Belize without the kiddo someday - lots of fun grownup things to do there!

I loved the actual cruise part of the vacation. Lauren was very well-behaved, even at dinner. All of the crew loved her. Dad entered the belly flop contest and got third place. That was a sight to see, and it was probably the highlight of the trip! We weren't sure if we were going to like cruising, but it really is a worry-free vacation with lots to do for anyone. We will definately do it again!

Well, now were home and the house is a mess already. I've been trying to work on laundry today, and am almost finished. Not much else going on this week, except for my big test on Wednesday. Dad will be home again in two weeks so I have to get the house and spare room ready for that in the next few weeks.

Hope everyone had a good week!

Bye!

Well, we're off! Here's our itinerary if you want to keep track.

Friday: We left our house around 5:30 PM and driving to Pompano Beach, Florida. It is a 14.5 hour drive (yikes!). You can see our route here. We are hoping, praying even, that Lauren sleeps most of the way. We should arrive in Pompano Beach around noon Saturday.

Saturday: We are going to see about checking into the hotel early and hopefully taking a nap. Then we'll just hang out at the beach the rest of the day and then find somewhere to eat.
Our hotel - Beachcomber Resort and Villas

Sunday: We have to pick my dad up at the airport at 5:00 AM. I'm still not sure why he was compelled to book the red-eye flight, but whatever. Another beach day and hopefully we'll get to squeeze in a nap.
New hotel for Sunday - Comfort Inns and Suites, Fort Lauderdale.

Monday: We leave on our cruise! The boat sails at 5:00 PM; I'm hoping on being on-board by noon.
Our cruise: Royal Carribean's Enchantment of the Seas

Tuesday: Key West! My cousin, Trisha, is getting married at a botanical garden in the afternoon, so we won't have much time to explore the area. This is also formal night on the cruise, so we'll be getting all dressed up!
The Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden

Wednesay: Today we're in Cozumel!!! I'm so excited for this day. We are spending the day at Paradise Beach. We are going to rent kayacks and snorkel gear and drink foo-foo drinks on the beach all day! Sounds like a good time to me!
Paradise Beach

Thursday: Belize! We don't have anything planned yet for Belize. We may still book an excursion, depending on how tired we are and how Lauren is acting. All of the "good" excursions are too wild for Lauren, so we may just stay on board and soak up the sun.

Friday: We are at sea all day. We will be spending the day relaxing in the sun with more foo-foo drinks and lots of food!

Saturday: We get back to Fort Lauderdale around 7:00 AM and disembark. Boo hoo. We're staying in Fort Lauderdale at some Best Western (better find the print out for that, LOL).

Sunday: Driving back home. Not looking forward to this AT ALL!!! We may end up leaving late Saturday night, depending on how tired we are.

Monday: Back to reality. Belch.

Hope you all have a good week! I hope we do, too!

Wow. For the first time in months, I have nothing to do. Everything is packed except for a few things that are in the dryer right now.

I even managed to finish my class. Don't ask how because I have no idea. I'm just glad to have it over with so I don't have to worry about it when I get home.

Lauren is sleeping and now I'm bored. It's great to feel bored once in a while!!!

The good, the bad, and the, well, ugly....

Lauren is getting so big! She's looking more like a little girl every day and less like my baby...

Playing on the floor with mama.

Daddy penned her in the living room with her dinosaur thing so I could get some work done. Needless to say, she did NOT like that idea.

Um, yeah...here's Donald trying on the scuba gear. Attractive, no?

We finally got our taxes finished today. Why is it that we get a huge return from Federal but have to pay in to State? I don't get it. Eh, oh well.

We went swimming last night and met a really nice lady who lives in our complex that has offered babysitting! Yippie! She just moved here from North Carolina to take care of her dad who has dementia, and her kids are in college, so I guess she's bored. She seems very nice and she played with Lauren in the pool and Lauren even seemed to like her. So hopefully we can get to know her a little and then she can babysit! It will be a welcome relief.

Hmm...oh yeah, if you have a CVS nearby you can get a free stroller there this week. If you spend $20 on Huggies products, you get the stroller free. I had some coupons, so I got 2 Jumbo packs of diapers, a thing of wipes, plus the stroller for $12 (paid for with Extra bucks, so free really). Not a bad deal if you can use an umbrella stroller. All we had was our big Peg Perego and we've been wanting a smaller one just for quick trips to the park, etc., so that worked out great for us. We're a Pampers family (when we use disposables) and I've never used Huggies before, so hopefully they work out okay...trying to stock up for vacation.

Let's see....what else? Lauren's back to healthy. She had a pretty crazy rash Friday and Saturday that I'm pretty sure was roseola, but she's much better now. Back to her happy self, thank goodness, because I was ready to give her away!

Okay, I guess that's as much as I can think of right now. Better get back to work on this damn paper. Belch.

Ack. Just found out Friday that Donald has to go to Birmingham in May for a week for work. His boss got promoted, so him and Jen are taking over the other lady's work, so they both have to go to Cisco to some training seminar to do the new work. While it's good for Donald....his employer investing $2000+ in training courses for him means they must like him....it sucks for us because he'll be gone all week! I guess I shouldn't complain too much. I know some of you have hubbys that are gone for weeks at a time! I could never do it, not without family around. I'd go nuts!

Before I got pregnant, everyone I ever knew vaccinated their kids. Not getting vaccinated just wasn't an option. I never questioned whether or not I'd get my kids shots - of course I would! Why wouldn't you?

Somewhere along the line I encountered parents who did not vaccinate their kids. These parents claimed that there were all sorts of nasty things in vaccines that shouldn't be put in kids. The government requires these shots, and how could the government require something that could actually harm your kids?

I ended up doing a little bit of research, and ended up deciding to get Lauren most of her vaccinations. We decided to skip the chicken pox vaccine until she's older, but went ahead with the rest. I'd heard some bad things about the ProQuad vaccine (MMR + chickenpox), and asked the doctor to just give her the MMR without the chickenpox. He kind of looked at me like I was crazy, told me that it was required to enter school, blah blah. I told him that I knew all that so he went ahead and just gave the MMR.

I think the pox vaccine is kind of silly to begin with, since it's not a life-threatening disease or anything. Yes, people die from it, but mostly adults or people with immune diseases. For me growing up, pox was like a right of passage. I got it in kindergarten from my cousin who was a few years older. I remember my grandma taking me to her house to play just so I could get it.

Anyway, today I stumbled across this article today while googling for info on roseola (yeah, I think Lauren has/had it), and now I'm so glad that we decided to wait on the chicken pox vaccine. Basically, it talks about kids who have autism and how the parents think that autism can be linked to the ProQuad shot. Basically the ProQuad shot has about 10x the amount of chicken pox vaccine that the regualar chicken pox vaccine has, and combined with the MMR vaccine, the combined vaccine stresses out the immune system and triggers autism. I know there's probably research out there for/against this argument, and if I wasn't so busy I'd try to find it. Either way....it can't hurt to hold off on the chicken pox vaccine until the kid is older. Autism scares me, especially this regressive autism that may/may not be triggered by the ProQuad vaccine.

Something to think about. Holding off on the chicken pox vaccine can't hurt, could help. Never know!

Lauren is finally feeling better, after 5 straight days of running a 103 fever. Today was the first day that she didn't wake up and feel like she was on fire. I was starting to get worried! I'm feeling okay. I haven't really gotten sick, but I don't feel 100%, either. I had a sore throat the past two days, but today it seems to have gone away. If I'm going to get sick, it had better happen soon!

Since Lauren was feeling better, we went to storytime this morning at the library and then picked out a few more books. We also went to Hudsons and I made the mistake of showing Lauren a singing teddy bear while we were there. The teddy bear ended up coming home with us :o( Oh well. I guess $9 is a small price to pay for a quiet baby in the store.

I'm not exactly sure what we are doing this weekend yet. Donald said something about the Natural Science museum again, so we'll see. I need to stay home and get ready for this trip, but it's supposed to be nice out, so that probably won't happen. Oh well!

Instead of doing school work like I should be, I've been planning our excursions for the cruise. We are getting soooo excited! We won't get to do much in Key West, because that is the day of Trish's wedding, but that's okay. We are going to Paradise Beach in Cozumel, which looks absolutely yummy. Belize we're not sure of yet...we are thinking of taking a water taxi to an island off shore and spending the day on the beach. Our options are really limited because of Lauren's age, but we're really okay with that. Neither one of us are big "party animals" anyway, so we won't be missing much. Eeeek! I want to leave NOW!!!

Well, I thought we had escaped unscathed, but the flu season has attacked. Lauren woke up screaming about midnight Friday night, and we could not get her calmed down or back to sleep until four. She woke up again screaming at seven, so we hauled her to the doctor. The flu it is. So, she's on Tamiflu and tylenol for five days. She's doing better now, but she's been sleeping a lot, and her fever won't go away completely.

I'm starting to feel crappy, but I'm hoping that if I keep rested I'll be able to escape the worst of it. Of course, this all comes at a great time when I'm supposed to be finishing up my school term and packing. Oh well.

I'm having flashbacks from 7th grade....

Lauren got a hold of my glasses today while I was in the shower and bent them all to hell. When I tried to bend them back into shape tonight, one of the arms fell off. I made Donald tape it back on. So, now I'm walking around with taped glasses. I wear my contacts anytime I leave the house, so it's not so bad. My glasses were probably five years old anyway, and I needed a new pair, but it's goona be awhile before we can afford them. Oh well!

California Part II

We made it home from California in one piece. We had a great time and I really want to go back! Mabye this fall :o) Here's a quick wrap-up of the rest of our week:

Friday morning dad got home from work and wasn't tired, so we got up and went to Los Angelos for the day. Traffic was horrible and it ended up taking us almost three hours to get there from Carp. Our first stop was Griffith Park where we saw the observatory and the Hollywood sign. We took some pictures and then we went to Hollywood Blvd. to see the Walk of Fame, Kodak Theatre, and Grauman's Theatre. After we left Hollywood we went to dad's travel nursing office just outside of L.A. to meet the people he works for. L.A. was okay to visit, but I really have no need to go back, except maybe to see Rodeo Drive. Lots of people, more traffic, even more smog. I wouldn't live there if you paid me to.

Me and Lauren in Griffith Park, Hollywood sign in the background.

Lauren and grandpa in Hollywood.

We left L.A. around 4:30 and traffic was horrendous. Lauren decided she was sick and tired of riding in the car and decided to have a major meltdown, so we stopped in Malibu to let her out and to have dinner. We ate at a place called Gladstone's, which was right on the beach in Malibu. It was VERY good, but very expensive. Dad had a half dozen oysters and swordfish. I had shrimp cocktail and halibut. Lauren pigged out on shrimp (she at five whole shrimp!) and mashed potatoes. At the end, they made our doggie bag into sea creatures! Very charming.

Lauren on the beach in Malibu. I wasn't that impressed with this beach - the beach in Carp was MUCH nicer.
Our take-out from Gladstone's. I got a whale and dad got a crab.

Saturday we went up to San Simeon to visit Hearst Castle. I didn't get to take any pictures because I was hauling Lauren. We forgot to make advance reservations, so we didn't get to take the tour we wanted to, so that was a bit dissapointing. We ended up taking the North Wing tour which was just basically bedrooms. Still, it is a beautiful place and the drive up was spectacular. On the way home we stopped in Pismo beach where we got the world's best fudge. Yum!

View of the beach from the bluffs at San Simeon.

Sunday we had a cookout with one of Dad's friends and his daughter. I did the grilling because I'm cool like that :o) Actually, dad always burns the food because he's too impatient. We also spent the afternoon on the beach and it was generally just a nice, relaxing day.

Grandpa and Lauren on the beach. That water was COLD but we couldn't keep Lauren out of it!
Grandpa buring Lauren in the sand. She ended up getting her clothes soaked, so we just let her run naked. Dad has some great pictures that will make awesome blackmail someday :o)
I spent my time perfecting the art of building sandcastles. I finally got one three stories high!

Monday we just lounged around and recuperated. We went to the beach (again) and got to see some dolphins feeding just off shore. It was so neat! I'd never seen dolphins in the wild before. I let Lauren play in the water one last time. Monday night we went to the seal rookery which is just down the beach in Carp. There had to have been hundreds of seals lounging on the beach! We stayed there for the sunset and it was just about the most perfect end to our vacation.
View of the seals from the bluffs in Carpinteria.
Carpinteria sunset. Awesome.
Walking back from the rookery.

We flew home Tuesday. We got up early and went uptown to have breakfast, then got on the road. Dad's friend went with us and ended up driving most of the way down to L.A. We stopped at a gas station just outside of L.A. and Lauren decided to barf up breakfast all over me and the backseat. I think she just got a bit carsick from all the stop and going. I don't blame her. So, we both took a bath in the restroom sink and ended up smelling mildly like barf for the flight home. We ended up getting delayed in Dallas because of weather, so we didn't get home till almost midnight Tuesday. It made for a very long travel day, but it was so worth it.

So, now we're home and back to the routine. I have SOOOO much to do in the next two weeks before we leave for our cruise, so you may not hear much from me. Or, I may procrastinate and do nothing but blog. Hahah. We leave two weeks from today! I'm very excited, but it will be tough to top California!