Cuteness

Yum brownie wisk!

Luke called it chalk-it (aka chocolate)

The kitty walked by

A few cute Luke-isms:

• Luke has started calling Alan "Dabby", I'm not sure when this happened but daddy now has "b's" in it.
• He is very entertained by farts. When he hears anything that resembles a fart noise he shouts "FART!"
• Says "Excited!" and jumps when he getting juice, going outside, putting shoes on.... he says it a lot.
• He is currently outside the restroom door shouting for Al to let him in. "Dabby!" Then he pushed his toes under the door and saying "piggies".
• Has spent some time in time-out because he likes to pull Lucy's tail.
• He is pretty much constantly making noise at this point.
• Everything is a gun.
• When he falls down or bumps into something he says "sorry".
• Loves to jump, especially on our bed. This is normally followed by "fall down".
• If it's not a gun it's a phone.

Colombia

Clock Tower in the "Walled City"

Colombia was my favorite stop. It was old world, not so Americanized (at least were I was at), and a exciting culture. I know it's easy for someone to think of Colombia as a dangerous, drug-filled place (and I'm sure it has it's moments) but I refuse to let that fear stop me from exploring. For the most part the all of the Latin cultures that I have explored have been very aggressive in there attempts to sell tourists souvenirs, tours, or cab rides. This can be a little scary for us Americans especially since we don't like anyone in our personal bubble.

How to cope with these "expert" sales people:

• Don't make eye contact
• say "no thank you" and keep walking
• If you are interested: haggle, they expect it, get prices up front for tours and cab rides
• Most places took American dollars which is convenient but you could get a much better deal if you use the local currency. At the very least do some research on the exchange rate. In Colombia, my lunch bill came out to $35,000, which was shocking to see. It ended up being about $20 American.
  

View of the ship from the front.

Luke smelling the flowers

Colombian beer, definitely a step up from most Mexican-type beers... yumm

Fruit lady (mostly a tourist attraction)

Venus-esq. type statue

BTW, I had to *try* and buy diapers while here. I didn't pack 2 weeks worth because I figured I could get them on the ship... WRONG! They only had tiny baby diapers available to purchase. I didn't see any walmarts or albertsons while I was there either. This was a little tricky. Here's what I learned....

How to buy Diapers in a foreign country were you don't speak the language:

• Find a woman (in my case our waitress)


• Smile and look pathetic


• Baby is a very universal world , like "no"


• In my poor Spanish I said "Donde esta pantelones de bebe?" and pointed to Luke's butt.
  

We succeeded but it didn't occur to me until later that most people in this country(and most of the countries we visited) used cloth diapers. For the most part people were more then happy to help me and Luke out.

The area that we went to is called the "Walled City" in Cartagena because it is surrounded by an old wall (duh!). We walked along the top of the wall which was equipped with old cannons, look out posts, and an occasional bar (of coarse). It was the safest place for Luke to run around since there weren't may people near by.

It was very very hot here. Colombia crosses the Equator. My pasty skin does not do well in extreme heat. I had layers and layers of sunscreen on. No burns, and also no tans :(

Look out tower?

Cannons, with the newer part of the city in the background

Beautiful Cathedral

All Luke wanted to do was chase the pigeons

He didn't like being strapped in.

On the Ship and Aruba

View from our balcony

Our room was normal size for a cruise ship but small for 4 people. Luckily was had a pretty large balcony with lounge chairs that made for a wonderful, quiet haven. It was just breath taking to take in the sea scape right outside my bedroom.

Ahhh... Sunshine!

They had a play time set-up everyday for toddlers on the ship (thank-goodness!).

A big party of "cruising" is eating. Between free room service, buffets running 24 hours, and fancy sit-down dinners, I think I gained 5 pounds on this trip. Luke is dressed up for formal night and carrying grandma's purse. I think that will be the last time he'll fit into his little plaid jacket :(

Our room steward made towel animals for us most nights. Luke always wanted to pick them up but then they would fall apart.

Aruba!

We took a short tour around the island. Interesting place. It's a Dutch colony that runs primarily on tourism. They were experiencing a drought and even the cacti were dried up. However the beaches were beautiful and the water was teal. The water was so clear that I could see little fish swimming around my feet.

A church on top of a hill. Luke mostly squished bugs.

A flower on the dibi-dibi tree.

Fishy!

The sand was so much more powdery than our rocky Washington beaches.

Luke and Nana

Butt-crack

Our vacation, first stop: Miami

The Itinerary:

MIAMI, FLORIDA

CRUISING
CRUISING
ORANJESTAD, ARUBA
CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA
CRUISING
COLON, PANAMA
PUERTO LIMON, COSTA RICA
CRUISING
GEORGE TOWN, GRAND CAYMAN
CRUISING
MIAMI, FLORIDA

View from our hotel room

My mom and Grandma took me and Luke on an amazing vacation cruise. For about 2 weeks we didn't have to cook, clean, or go to work :) And I got to spend some quality time with two of my favorite ladies. I would have probably left Luke at home except that we would have had to pay for childcare while Alan was at work and I was already taking 2 weeks un-paid time off from work so... I brought him along (plus,I don't think I could be away from him for that long yet. He's too little and still needs his mommy). He did really well, I can't complain.

We stayed in Miami for a day before boarding our ship. We were able to meet up with some of Alan's family for lunch. They took us down to the Seaside Neighborhood. The next day we took a cab to South Beach. Unfortunately it was pretty cold and windy. If you've ever been there, then you know that it can be quite the experience with very tiny bathing suits, Art Deco buildings, pushy restaurant promoters, and of coarse, a beautiful beach. The area attracts lots of international people so it almost feels like your in another country.

Luke on the cold and windy South Beach (I think we bought the bad weather with us)

Grandma about to blow away.

Florida Family (Natalie, Mark, Katley, Kelsy, Casey), took us to Planet Hollywood for lunch. Poor Mark had just got off from a double grave yard shift!

Nana and Luke

I love the architecture

The manikins in this store were ridiculous!

We're Back!

Luke's Hero

I will post pictures from our trip asap but for now I wanted to talk about how wonderful my husband is. Not only did I come home to a clean house but a SPOTLESS house! I was pleasantly surprised... he swept, vacuumed, dusted, organized, and even cleaned my car! I know all you ladies out there know how impressive this is. What a guy:)

We had a great time but it was too long to be away. I feel that I can truly relax now that I have my little family back together. Luke missed his daddy too. On the last few days of the cruise he took a little action figure from the play center and was calling it daddy.