Easter Eggs

This afternoon we decorated Easter Eggs with Logan. He was so excited to "paint" them. Afterwards we went out to the front yard for an Easter egg hunt. He loved it and now wants to do nothing else.

Robyn & Brian Mol

My sister and Brian got hitched on December 31st, 2009. Here are some of my favorite photos from the day. I didn't take ANY of these photos. I stole some from Robyn's friend Jordyn and the rest are from the photographer - Steph Jager Corbel.

"I don't need help mom, I'm a professional!"

The Vanderveen clan (-Kelsey)

You can see how cold it is here! It was like -25!

10 Months

(I've been trying to post a video of Logan singing Jesus loves me all week, but it won't load for some reason - which is really too bad. But, I have put it on facebook so at least some of you can check it out there.)

9 Months

My baby Katie is growing so fast!! Growing and growing and growing! She is now 9 months old and is growing like a weed. She's such a little chubster. Her 9 month check up is on the 10th, and I'm curious to see how much she weighs and what percentile she is in. I'm sure she's off the chart! Her hair is finally starting to grow in a bit, although it is still very fuzzy. Katie's two bottom teeth have also come in this past month, but they are very small and hard to see.

Katie is just so full of personality now too. She's full of squeals and smiles. She loves to babble, blow raspberries (we still haven't outgrown this stage) and her new favorite, give kisses. This past week Katie also learnt how to wave "bye-bye". We still have yet to master the roll however. She has rolled from her back to her front several times, and today for the first time she rolled from her front to her back. But, for the most part, Katie still remains immobile... which is fine with her mommy and daddy!

(Katie & Logan with their blankies)

Our trip to the Caribbean...

Mark and I were lucky enough to go on a 10 day holiday kid free! It was our first trip away from Logan & Katie (actually, it was even our first NIGHT away from Katie!!) Mom & Dad Wiens were kind enough to watch them for us (with help from T & Kelly and the deGraaf family). I'll do a quick recap and post just a few pictures. (I took 171 pictures on this trip, so there are WAY too many to post here.. I have however put them all on facebook if you want to see them all).

We spent the first three days in Orlando. Robyn and Brian joined us there for their reading week. The boys did four rounds of golf and us girls went to Seaworld and to the outlet mall. Seaworld was a lot of fun - much more fun than I remember it being 10 years ago! We watched a lot of the shows, fed the stingrays, sharks and sea lions and went on two of the roller coasters (which were probably the best roller coasters I've ever been on!) Shopping at the outlet was fun too, although I didn't buy anything for myself. Katie sure did get spoiled though! The guys had a good time golfing too, and Mark's back managed to hold up (and it feels 100% now). The weather in Orlando wasn't the greatest, it was only about 14 degrees.

On Saturday morning Robyn and Brian left for home and we packed up our rental car and drove down to Fort Lauderdale. There we boarded our 7 day Caribbean cruise. We were on the Crown Princess. Our first day was a sea day. It was quite cloudy and windy, but we toughed it out and sat around the pool for the entire day. Despite the clouds, Mark and I got badly sun burnt - on the first day! We were pretty sore for the rest of the trip and from then on were sure to wear a ton of sunscreen... even if the sun wasn't shining! The first night was a formal night, so we got all dressed up for dinner. The food on the boat was delicious! We ate in the dining room every night - which always turned out to be a 2 hour production.. course after course, and then dessert! After dinner we went and saw the comedian.

Our first port was Grand Cayman. They dont have a dock, so we had to tender in our lifeboats to shore. In Grand Cayman we hired a driver to take us on a tour of the island - he showed us some of the biggest houses on the island, as well as his own house. After the tour we met up with the excursion we booked through Princess. We went and swam with the string rays. We went on a little boat out to the middle of the harbor where there was a small sandbar. There we found a ton of wild stingrays. Years ago, the mosquitos were so bad on Grand Cayman, that after the fishermen caught their fish they would stay in the harbor and clean them there to keep away from the mosquitos. They'd then throw all the fish guts over the side of the boat. The rays discovered this and since then have stayed in the harbor. So, yes, they are wild stingrays in the fact that they dont live in captivity, but they were so used to people that they were so tame and would swim right up to you. They ranged from 1 foot wide to 5 feet wide. At first it was pretty trippy, but by the end we were holding them, feeding them squid and some of us went as far as giving them kisses. I think for me this was a highlight of the trip!

The next day we were in Roatan, Honduras. And I think that was the hottest day of my entire life! It was 94 dgrees and 99% humidity. We had booked an excursion through the boat to go to a private beach, however, when we got off the boat that morning we were then told the excursion had to be cancelled because there were jellyfish at that beach. By then all the other excursions had already left or been booked up. So instead we walked down to the public beach by the boat. The beach was crowded and the only shade we could find was from a small palm tree. Mark and I's sunburnt skin killed from the sun shining on it. The ocean was super clear and really warm. However, it was so hot we only lasted until lunch time. We then went back to the boat, ate and sat around the pool for the rest of the afternoon.

Wednesday we were in Cozumel. The temperature was so different from the day before! It was cool and raining ALL day. Mark and I booked an excursion with my cousin Chris and his girlfriend Robbi. It was called a 4x4 adventure. So we were expecting to go off roading or maybe even drive on the beach. But instead, all we did was drive jeeps around the island on the major roads. It was still nice to see the island and not get soaked from the rain.. it just wasn't what we expected. Our first stop on the tour was to go snorkeling... in the rain... in choppy water. Needless to say it wasn't the best snorkeling.. but we still saw a few fish and I was even stung by a tiny jellyfish on my arm (and no, Mark didn't pee on it.) We also stopped at a little town where we saw a mayan ruin, the PeePee station (tourist trap) and had an authentic Mexican lunch. One really cool thing about our time in Cozumel was that we saw my Uncle Ray & Auntie Donna (who live in Vermont). They were on a 7 day Carnival cruise and just so happened to be in Cozumel the same day as us. We had no clue they were going to be there, and they didn't know we were going to be there! It was just a huge coincidence that we found each other!

Thursday was another sea day. Except the sea was so rough! The swells were between 12-14 feet. We pretty much rocked back and forth all day. It was so rough they had to drain the pools because the water was sloshing out all over the deck. So we spent the day napping, seeing some of the shows, watching a movie in the movie theatre and, of corse, eating. That night was another formal night and it was Mark's favorite night - Lobster night! Mark ate 4 lobsters that night! Delicious!
Our last day was spent in the Princess Cays in the Bahammas. We again had to tender in. The Princess Cays in a private island owned by Princess Cruise lines. We spent the day relaxing on the beach, enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. Mark and I rented a clamshell cabana to avoid another sunburn.

We had an excellent vacation and LOVED cruising! We missed our kids, but don't regret leaving them behind.