Vacation part 2

So our cruise was amazing!  I loved every minute on the ship, I had really been worried about motion sickness but I never felt even the slightest bit ill the whole time.  Now let me tell you something you might not know about cruising, the staff of the ship act like you are someone famous!  Really you are treated like Royalty for a whole week.  Every time we left our cabin our stateroom attendant Michael would come in and straiten up, like 5 times a day.

We left the ship early on Saturday morning and off we hurried to the shuttle bus and back to the airport to catch our flight to the Bahamas.  Our plane was not much bigger than a tin can, it even had propellers on the sides, I like big planes this was very far from big.  So we all crammed in to the "little plane" and we were off!

We landed in the Bahamas with in 45 minutes.  As we entered customs things get interesting the man helping us with our bags being that we are such a big group, 2 wheel chairs, 2 strollers, 3 small kids with over loaded back packs and 4 other adults all pulling carry on luggage he took us to a special window were an over sized woman sat filing her nails.  As we approached she made a funny face at me and then went on to say "I can not believe you have brought these people to my line you have ruined my whole day"  at this point I look around because I know  she is not talking to me like that, HD kind of got a chuckle out of that....  Now let me say she was not saying this jokingly she was saying this with the chicken head bob'n back and forth she was mad we had interrupted her nail filing session, I could not believe it!  Could not!  I still can't.  We finished our documents while she huffed and puffed at us and then we ran off to collect our bags.

We had prepaid for transportation from the airport to the resort Atlantis.  We got on our bus, all eleven of us and 2 other couples.  Again I am shocked the woman driving the bus starts telling us about the local fair and she starts using crude humor, we did not laugh, my 3 kids are on this bus and she is talking about sex and saying things that are totally inappropriate, now I am huffing and puffing and sighing loudly but she just talked louder.  Did you know they drive on the wrong side of the road in the Bahamas?  They do.  As we pulled up to the resort she says check under your seat and make sure you have your purses and wallets because big mama does not return things left on her bus I will be having a party tonight....  Then get this she wanted a tip she hoovered around like she would get a tip for driving us now mind you we paid over 100$ for our 15 minuted drive.  I looked at her and told her strait up the only tip you are gonna get is "not to tell jokes about stealing from me if I leave something on your bus!" I then walked away!  

The resort was huge and it was beautiful!  We hurried inside to check in, that went smoothly.  I will tell you more about Atlantis and the people of the island in a few days.... 

Our vacation part 1

Hi do you remember me, Happy Mommy the sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes overwhelmed woman who used to write here?   It's me and yes we are alive!  I know its been forever and I have been thinking alot about just shutting this whole thing down, but then that means I can't come back, and what if I want to write something.  So I figure if I write every now and then and not just for the comments which you all know I love but I write because I want to this might just be fun again.  I will not shut the site down I am going to keep writing but as I said before, when I can.   I am happy to say HD still has a job and we do not have to move.  God has stepped in again and made a way for us to remain right where we are and I am so grateful and thankful!

Now on with part one of our family vacation~

We left our house on March 27 for our two week vacation, we drove to DC which is about a four hour drive.  We left that evening after HD got off work so we were getting a late start.  I had the car packed, I don't know how I did it I really don't we had 5 large suitcases, 3 back packs, 2 carry on suitcases and my purse.  By the time we arrived at Dana and Joe's house it was after 9 pm and HD immediately started helping Joe pack his minivan too.  Did I mention we had 11 people going on this two week vacation?  ELEVEN!  That's 5 small children 2 of them are not potty trained, two couples and my mom who is handicapped and can't walk long distances and my grandma who is 78 and also can't walk long distances....

Very shortly after we got to Dana's and I mean very shortly only about 15 minutes my mom called me down stairs and said something was wrong with my son Bo.  I started to come down the stairs as he was coming up to show me.  He held out his had and it was evidently broken!  I took him by the shoulders and told him to sit down right where he was I told him he had broken his hand and that it was going to be ok, we were just going to go to the hospital and he would be just fine, all the while he was white as a ghost and was starting to shake.

I told HD to get directions from Joe and off we went.  I could totally tell this hand was broken at the bone where the pinky finger attaches to the hand, fingers are not supposed to stick out sideways like that!!!  On the drive over to the hospital HD said yeah it's broken, when he showed it to me I kissed it and said it's ok buddy,  At this point I am not sure my ears are working correctly, I ask him did Bo come to you BEFORE he came to me?  HD answers yes, I know it looked funny but we are going on a Cruise in less than 12 hours so I didn't want it to be broken.  Again I say WHAT!  He said I sent him to you, I needed a minute to think about what I just saw and I know fingers are not supposed to do that.

After a very short time at the hospital, and a few Xrays later yes he has a broken bone, the one between his pinky finger and his hand, they made a removable cast and we would be able to splint it while we were in the pools and on the beaches during our Cruise and then while we were at Atlantis as well.

We got home at around mid night and he was still doing really well for breaking his hand.  He never cried, he is really a trooper!  We hurried off to bed, we had to get up at 4am to be at the airport at 5.

The airport with that many people is crazy.  We had a child with a broken arm who now was not feeling so well.  We had two babies who where crying because well its 5 am, and two women in wheelchairs, if we wanted to draw attention to ourselves we accomplished it that's for sure.

The flight to FL was short only about 2 hours, the kids all did really well, until we landed and Reese was very sick!  She started throwing up.  By 2 we were finally on the ship.  We went on Royal Caribbeans Liberty of the Sea.  It was amazing.  I really had no idea of how big these ships are it really is like a city on the water!  

  

Fro Me to You~ Family Picture

I am posting what looks like a nice family photo, see looks are deceiving!  See our camera ran out of batteries and my kids we cracked up on candy canes and coffee punch.  Dinner was 3 hours late, and we still had a 3 hour drive ahead of us.  I had PMS and was so over it, this was the best of the 10 pictures Twice blessed Daddy took.  Some of them had gritted teeth.  Nothing says Merry Christmas like screaming at your kids to sit down and take the Christmas picture so we can remember how happy we were!!!!!   So here is our Family picture, I can laugh today.

Check out We Are THAT Family for some laughs.

Fro Me to You~ Christmas 2008

I have been so busy lately that I just down loaded our Christmas pictures yesterday.  I haven't even looked at them once until then.  Here are a few of our Christmas pictures....

HD and I right before breakfast

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Daisy and her Bitty Baby Twins, she has named them Jackson and Grace.

Look at my happy front toothless boy!

Bo is smiling so hard his little eyes are shut!

This is the best smelling perfume in the world!  Viva La Juicy!

HD on Christmas Day, boy my man is handsome!

This was taken on Christmas Eve.

This was taken on Christmas morning.

Go to We Are That Family for more Fro Me To You.

Sincerely Fro Me To You ~ The Christmas Secret part 2

Last week I shared with you a picture I hold dear to my heart, a picture of me at Christmas 2000, just days before I found out I was pregnant with our first son, Luke.  This week I want to share two other very special photo's.  I have had all of our child so far in the summer...

I found out I was pregnant again with our second miracle baby on Nov 22, 2002 you can read about how amazing it was to be pregnant without fertility drugs and to be cured from an incurable fertility problem here.  I can remember very well how exciting it was to celebrate Christmas knowing we were going to have another child.  Here is our family photo from that year.

Notice Twice Blessed mommy in the left corner.  She was not dating Twice Blessed Daddy yet, but by the time Bo was born they were talking more seriously, he even sent us a beautiful gift for his birth.  What I think was really funny is at 6 weeks pregnant I was wearing maternity overalls....

The next photo is of our family on Christmas 2004, I found out I pregnant with Daisy on Nov. 6, 2004.  I was again so excited about having another baby, I prayed this would be our girl, and God blessed us with a daughter.  By this Christmas Twice Blessed Mommy and Daddy were married, they are standing in the back with my mom and HD.  My poor little Bo was so sick this Christmas, and we had 24 inches of snow in Ohio, everyone had a great time sledding but me because I was pregnant!  I would give up sledding any day to be pregnant again!

Go to We Are THAT Family for more funny and charming pictures.

My Country Tis Of Thee

I really love being an American!  I love our mighty Country's traditions, I love our strength.  I love America!  One of my most favorite places in the world to go is to Washington D.C.!  I have to tell you in the spring when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom it is so breath taking!  At Christmas when the cold is in the air and the lamp posts are decorated and the trees sparkle and less fortunate people play instruments on the street corner, playing Christmas carols, it makes you smile you do want to reach into your pocket and give....

We spent this weekend in Northern Virginia, we went on Saturday to see the National tree it was beautiful.  All around the tree they have placed a Christmas tree for each state with ornaments from made to represent the state.  Texas had ornaments with little yellow roses.  Ohio had ornaments with Cardinals and Ohio State memorabilia.  There is a fire pit on the grounds where the tree is set, it is a huge fire pit they use a fork lift to drop logs from large tree's in, like huge stumps.  A band plays while are walking around and a shop sells cocoa.

It was very very cold on Saturday like a high of 37, so to say the least we were freezing!  Twice Blessed Mommy's little ones about froze to death!  They could have had a much better time if the temperature was higher!  I really feel for Twice Blessed, I can remember wanting to take my children even as infants to see sights and visit new places and when they are miserable it makes you miserable.  Even though they were cold I am very thankful we got to be together to see the National Tree!

Here is Reese and Tate, this is when we started our day, they were cold but still happy.

Here is Daisy, we were at a really cool out door Christmas fair.

Here is Twice Blessed Mommy.

HD, look at that cool building in the back ground.

Me and my sweet boys all bundled up.

This is the National Tree.

The Tree sits directly across the street from the White House.

This was a Happy Mommy moment!

As we walked back, this is what we saw, look how amazing, the Capital building.

Look how the street was decorated.

HD snapped this picture of the National Tree as we drove out of  the city.

Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree How Lovely Are Your Branches

Today Kristen is having a Tree party, go to We Are THAT Family for more spectacular Christmas Tree Fun!  You can also link up at The Southern Family, for even more.

We have several trees.  I love putting up and decorating the house it is such a joyful time of year!  This is a picture of the Family Christmas tree it is in our Great room where we hang out and spend most of our time.

I just love how the tree looks first thing in the morning with all the lights out!

This is our great big window that looks out over the woods, I love hanging lighted garland.

This is my favorite ornament!  It was on my Grandparents tree when I was little.

This is our family ornament from last year, I edited our names to protect the innocent!

This porcelain nativity is one of my most treasured ornaments.

This is the tree you can see from  my bed (and HD's pj's thrown on our dresser to the left)

Here is my bed, like the Holiday pillow?

This fiber optic tree is in Luke and Bo's room.

This pink fiber optic tree is in Daisy's room, see how she has placed a my little pony with her tree, she likes it like that.

To all my Blog friends~

Fro Me to You~ Open your eyes

This is my fruitless attempt at teaching my Grandma how to keep her eyes open for a picture.  

"see Grandma open them really wide like this!"

"No No that's not it"  Open your eyes...

"Maybe if I look up here they will stay open"

"Oh Forget it!"  We will just blog it!

For lots of fun with photo's go to We Are THAT Family.