Stetson Family

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Cruise

Half Moon Bay, Roaton, Honduras

Another cruise! We are grateful for all of the wonderful opportunities to travel we have been afforded. This time my grandma took the whole family on a cruise out of New Orleans to Mexico, Belize, and Honduras (and then back to Mexico). It was wonderful! We spent 2 days, including New Years Eve in New Orleans before we left.

Day 1- board ship and leave port
Day 2- Day at sea
Day 3- Costa Maya, Mexico
Day 4- Roaton, Honduras
Day 5- Belize City, Belize
Day 6- Cozumel, Mexico
Day 7- Day at sea
Day 8- Back at New Orleans

On the trolley to Bourbon street (Luke, Alan, and Craig in the background)

Justin, Naomi, and Tracy. Justin and Naomi left the kids at home and had the honeymoon they never had. (I was a little jealous... ah kid free... some day ;) And for those of you who don't know, Tracy, my little sister is expecting her second baby in may (a boy!).

Bourbon Street

Voodoo store

Lots of Daiquiri bars. I used "bar" loosely since the whole town seems to be a bar... open containers of booze are legal.

Man dancing in the street.... awesome!

Luke and Aliya had a blast together

View from the back of the ship

Looking back on the city as the ship pulled out onto the Mississippi River

Formal Night! Isn't Luke Handsome?

Cousins

Family shot

Sean, Aunt Tristen ,and Uncle Richard

Don't mess with them

These two were so cute together

They did this on their own

At the dinner table

Costa Mayan view from my mom's room

Justin, Naomi, and Aliya

Ahhh... sunshine!

Mayan Ruins- our tour guide was very knowledgable but I wasn't really able to listen since I was chasing Luke. All I can tell you is they look cool and they were used for religious ceremonies.

Nana and Dave

He wasn't allowed to past the rope, but I'm sure he's thinking about it.

The sun and clouds were gorgeous that day

The clan sitting on the steps

Justin and Naomi on top of the steps

This is where the ship "docked" in Belize. We then took little boats ashore.

We went cave tubing (riding an inner tube on a river going through a cave) in Belize. A-MAZ-ING. We don't have pictures since the water was not a place we wanted to bring the camera but it was beautiful. My brother in law brought a water proof camera, so if he ever gets them scanned, I'll post them.

Boat ride back

Doggie towel

Dock at Half Moon Bay- Roaton, Honduras

Roaton was my favorite stop. It was very laid back. There were still people hounding us to buy crap but, that was everywhere. We snorkeled, swam, layed in the sun, ate local food, and had drinks delivered to us. I'm pretty sure this what heaven is like.

Alan is flying!

He found a "shark tooth"

Naomi and Justin Jumping off the pier. All the cool kids were doing it.

The local kids were taunting us... calling us wimps for not jumping off the top floor. One kid even pushed Justin in!

We stopped at a view point with some craft booths and a guy with a monkey. We paid him $2 to take a picture with it. They gave the monkey gum. Luke got kick out of it but was also a little unsure of the "wild" animal.

Justin and Naomi renewed their vows. They've been married now for 9 years! I lead the ceremony.

The Kiss

Hug!

By Cozumel we were a little worn out and I had a reaction from a jelly fish sting. We just walked around the port and ate at Jimmy Buffets "Margarita ville". This is the view from the restaurant.

My strawberry margarita (the small size!).

Yummy!

Tanker ship at the same port. The water was so turquoise-clear that we could see fish swimming everywhere.

The next day we just relaxed and hung out with family. Our flight home was awful! First we were delayed 5 hours which caused us to miss our connecting flight in Chicago. But the connecting flight didn't have our reservation (after they accused us for missing our connecting flight because we were "late") so we had to stay the night in a motel and catch an early flight to LAX then to Seattle. The next day was uneventful, but still long. 4 flights in 2 days with 6 cranky adults and 2 really cranky toddlers. New Orleans to Chicago to LAX to Seattle. ugh. I'm done flying for a while. But the vacation was wonderful... I'm still thinking about the sunshine, ahhh.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas Morning

Me (8), Justin (6), and Tracy (4)

It's 4am Christmas morning and I'm wide awake. Everyone here is still sleeping. I'm an adult and I still get soooo excited. My favorite Christmas's were the ones where me and my siblings would try and see who could get up earlier to see what Santa brought us. I normally won. My secret was to drink a big glass of water before bed. Then I would get the honor of waking the rest of them up. It was like I got a little bit more of Christmas day then they did. This lasted until I became a bratty teenager. For a few years I was too cool to care about that childish stuff. But, I'm happy to report, I'm definitely not too cool anymore.

I'm also a little sad. Tracy and Jordan will be here later today and Justin is in California. So we won't be all together. It does feel like a little part of me is missing. And we have to WAIT to open gifts! Don't they get it? We NEED to open gifts before the sun rises ;)

Luke is excited but doesn't really have a concept of time. The anticipation of Christmas as a count down probably won't happen until next year. When he wakes up this morning, he won't know it's Christmas until someone tells him. We let him open one gift last night, a Mr.Potato head. He has the unwrapping thing down. I can't to see his face light up.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Day dreaming

We are a long way from selling our (underwater) home and getting into another. But I love to look and drool over some of the goregous older and updated homes near us. This one was built in 1905 and has been beautifully updated. It's going for $350k, which with the condition of the house and neighborhood is a bargain. Check out the rest of the pictures on this site:

http://www.johnlscott.com/propertydetail.aspx?IS=1&ListingID=300811200

Monday, December 13, 2010

Snow

The week of Thanksgiving we got our first snow (we haven't had any since then). I was pretty cold that week, I think it was under 30 degrees the whole time. Brrrr. Luke was pretty excited (as he always is). He liked to dig and make snow tracks. I couldn't get him to make a snow angel with me, though. At one point he took off his gloves and was playing with the snow, which didn't last long. Soon, he came over to me saying that his hands hurt (they were so cold!). We put them under warm water to "make it better."

Snow balls were a big hit as well. He couldn't quite figure out how to make them so instead he grabbed a hand full of snow and put it on me saying "snowball!". I made a snowman which Luke promtly destroyed. At least I got a picture before hand. We didn't get a chance to go sleding, maybe next snow.

Scooping up snow

Little red nose

Sun shining through the tree in our backyard

Lucy LOVES the snow. She mostly rolls around in it and chases snowballs when we throw them.

Making snow tracks

My snow man before Luke knocked it over.

Potty Training Round 2

As you may remember, this did not go well the last time around. But this time I am thrilled to report that.... LUKE WENT PEEPEE IN THE POTTY!!! WOOHOO!!!

We started last Sunday when he went once. Our trick... we made him sit for over an hour and entertained him with books and coloring and finally he did it! I guess that's not really a trick. We danced and clapped and called grandmas. He was very excited. And then today we went two more times. Yeah! Hopefully we continue down this path. No poop yet (except in his underwear). Potty training is messy business.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Vegas

These are a little late, but here are our pictures from Vegas last month. We went for my mom's 50th birthday! We had a great time. Except for me during the first few days. I was locked up in our hotel room finishing a research paper but I got it done.

Bellagio water show