Karl and I just celebrated our 10th anniversary. That's right, folks, a whole decade!! We can't hardly believe it ourselves!
Since it's the big one-oh and we've got a baby on the way that will complicate any big trips like this in the near future (and despite the fact we've been saving to buy a house), we decided to take advantage of living near a port town and go on our very first cruise!
Heather and Karl are cruisers!
Although we originally planned our 5-day sojourn in the Gulf of Mexico during the week of our actual anniversary (18 May), my pregnancy demanded that we actually go in early April (see my prego post from 12 March). We left Galveston on the Carnival Ecstasy on 4 April, spent a day in Progresso, Mexico on 6 April, then Cozumel, Mexico on 7 April, and returned to Galveston on 9 April.
We really weren't all that interested in the Mexican ports, and to save money (saving for a house, remember?) we opted out of any shore excursions, but we did get off the boat and wandered the shopping and beach for a couple of hours at each port. On the ship we ate great food, relaxed with books on the deck, ate more great food, relaxed with more books in our room, played miniature golf, ate more yummy food, swam one morning while the ship was in port and everyone was on shore and no where near the pool, ate delicious food, and took night-time strolls on the deck after filling, yummy dinners!
One of the funnest parts of the cruise was bringing Flat Stanley with us everywhere! My niece, Amanda, in Detroit was doing the Flat Stanley project in her class where the kids make and mail off and paper man to someone they know in the world. That person sends back photos and letters of what Flat Stanley has done in that part of the world. Karl and I actually did a similar project for a friend and another niece while we were living in Germany so it was great fun to do it again for Amanda! We realized during our cruise that 90% of our photos had Flat Stanley in them! We really did have fun picking locations for Stanley to get his portrait taken. So...here's some photos of our fun, relaxing cruise with our new friend, Flat Stanley!
Flat Stanley and our ship!
Flat Stanley and our fun ship!
Flat Stanley and our fancy ship! (Yes, that's Karl at the bar in one of the Hawaiian shirts he wore every day or our cruise.)
Flat Stanley and the blue blue water of Mexico!
Flat Stanley at the on-ship art auction (we actually won a free lithograph at the auction)!
Flat Stanley on the Mexican shore!
Flat Stanley being beaten by Karl at minature golf on the ship!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
cruisin'
Friday, June 5, 2009
favorite shop friday: sarah clemens clothing
Sarah Clemens makes clothing. Girly, frilly, whimsical, a little traditional and a little raw, and oh so comfortable looking clothing!
And I just can't decide which one is my favorite...
Don't they just make you want to twirl?
Check out more of Sarah's pretty designs at her shop:
http://sarahclemensclothing.etsy.com/
Thursday, June 4, 2009
today is my dad's birthday!
I wish I didn't have your nose but thank you sooooo much for those eyelashes!!
Happy Birthday, Dad!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
prego update
Today I am 20 weeks pregnant....half way there!!*
So I thought I'd give you a little update on how things are going in the the whole baby-making department: cravings, aversions, annoyances, pleasant surprises, things I'm learning and the like.
Aversion: Toothpaste makes me gag. This is very annoying. I think it's the strong mint flavor (because I'm not very partial to any other minty things these days either.) I've tried kid-flavored toothpaste and that makes me gag, too. But if anyone knows of a toothpaste that doesn't have a strong flavor...let me know...please?
Annoyance: Heartburn, heartburn, heartburn. I have never in my life had heartburn. In fact, my husband had to tell me what this was. It started back in January and I would get it a few times a week. Then that turned into every day. Then multiple times a day. Then I would have to sit up in bed reading for an hour or so at night because I couldn't lay down due to the heartburn. Then I had to start sleeping propped up on two pillows because I was waking up with heartburn. And it didn't matter what I ate...I got heartburn. Heartburn sucks.
Pleasant surprise: My doctor got me a prescription medicine for the heartburn this week...oh. My. GOODNESS!!! My life is good again!! Pregnancy is fun again! I love my doctor!!
Another pleasant surprise: I have full, soft, pretty hair! I had heard that pregnancy makes your nails and hair grow faster. I couldn't care less about my nails but I was surprised to find that my hair isn't just growing a little faster, it's getting fuller and softer, too! My sister and I were cursed with thin, straight, thin, thin hair. And now...for a little while at least...mine's looking pretty good! Good baby!
Craving: Thousand Island salad dressing was my most favorite salad dressing as a kid. And then I grew up and discovered there were more salad dressings in the world besides Thousand Island and I've rarely touched it since. In fact I became much more partial to vinaigrettes. One of the nice things about this pregnancy is that I've been craving healthy foods, especially salads. But the dressing? Thousand Island, please!! In fact, I'm really not digging the vinaigrettes anymore and the thought of Thousand Island makes me salivate! (Really! I'm salivating right now!) I'm reverting to my childhood!
Something I've learned: You can't go on a cruise if you're 24 weeks pregnant. Karl and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary this May (I know, right?! 10 years!!). And since it's kind of a landmark anniversary and since it's our last chance for a big getaway before the baby comes we decided to go on a cruise! So we booked it for the week of our anniversary...and THEN saw the fine print! If you're 24 weeks pregnant or later they won't let you on the boat! And how pregnant was I going to be? Well, a lot later than 24 weeks. So...a long customer service phone call later...we got the cruise changed to April when I'm in my 23rd week of pregnancy.
And how's the baby itself doing? Well...see for yourself:
Everything's healthy and strong and in its place! We just got this ultrasound on Tuesday and we opted NOT to find out if it's a girl or a boy. Even though everyone seems to hate us for it, we like the idea of drawing out the excitement and anticipation and adding a fun surprise at the end of all this!
*A note to those not in the know...the normal gestation period for a human baby is 40 weeks. I've always hated it when my pregnant friends talk about their pregnancies or their babies like I should know exactly what they're talking about when I've never been pregnant, never had babies and have no clue. Heck, I'm 20 weeks pregnant and still have no clue. So...for all you clue-less like me: 20 weeks is exactly half way...even though an on-time birth is considered anywhere between 38 and 42 weeks, 40 is average.
Friday, March 20, 2009
favorite shop friday: mayberry sparrow
I love rubber stamps. I never know what to do with them...but I love them. Today's shop is Mayberry Sparrow and has not only some wonderful handmade rubber stamps, but I just might be able to find real use for these...
custom bookplate stamp
But if you're like me and still can't find reasons to use rubber stamps, Corra of Mayberry Sparrow has other great handmade stuff in her shop like...
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
kikeriki
When I was a missionary in Germany many years ago, I learned that German roosters do not say "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" They say "Kikeriki!" It never occured to me that different cultures would reproduce the sounds animals make in such a completely different way!
Last year I somehow stumbled on the coolest website called BzzzzPeek. Their mission is to record children all over the world making animal and vehicle sounds so you can hear and compare them. And it is the cutest site!
For instance, in Croatia a dog says "vowvow" and in Japan a cat says "miamia".
