Long Boat Key

After the cruise, Mike had a conference so I met my friend Heather and her 3 month old son at her wonderful mother-in-law's condo. In case there is any confusion, both the mother-in-law and the condo are wonderful.
Here is E hanging out with his friend. We plan for them to be good friends their whole lives through!

The wonderful mother-in-law spent a lot of time bouncing on the ball and reading to E. She is one of the first people without blood-relation E has taken a liking to! Heather's mother was there for part of the time as well, and it was wonderful having two grandmas around. Here is Rita doing double-duty.

And here is Heather with her little one. We took advantage of the only warm, sunny day to get some good window shopping in.

Cruise #2

The same cruise, of course :-) #2 probably won't be for a few years!
We went on the "wildlife adventure" cruise in Belize, where we took a boat up the river and then went to a wildlife sanctuary. We saw wild crocodiles, howler monkeys, iguanas, manatees, and all types of birds. Here we are on our lunch break.

This was in the river. Mom thought it was plastic, until it shut it's mouth. They are so incredibly still.

E is in training to wrestle the next one to the ground.

Day 2 we went snorkeling in Costa Maya. E got to experience his first taste of sand, and in spite of the incredibly choppy weather I took him for a little dip in the water.

We also lost our camera/left it in a hammock on the beach. How do we have pictures you ask? Turns out that one of the advantages to having a ridiculously cute baby is that the random couple who finds your camera might be on the same boat and recognize you from the other 5000 people on the boat when they see the kiddo. A minor miracle, I would say.

The final shore excursion was in Cozumel, where we went to the Tulum ruins. In spite of the slight hitch of being stood up by our guide, we were able to make it to the ruins. The ruins were lovely. Cozumel is an overbuild tourist dive. Here are some pics.

Cruise #1

For the first week in February we took a cruise with my parents and my sister and her husband to the western Carribean. Once E settled down after a day or two, it was a lovely trip!

Boarding. E had a complete meltdown just in time to get us swooped into the priority boarding line with the frequent cruisers. This wouldn't have been a big deal, except that our ship was hung up in customs so we ended up waiting in the boarding area for far too long. Thanks to the meltdown, though, we were almost the first ones on the boat!

My sister pretty much dominated the flowrider. Seriously. It must have been all the years of gymnastics training!

E liked hanging out with Grandpa by the flowrider. The water, the wind, and the action - what more could a little guy want.

Formal night #1. I'm really glad I don't look as bad as I felt that night. an 8:30 meal time +a formal dress + a nursing and messy baby are not a good combination!

Stay tuned for shore excursions!

Rite of passage

E has started to eat solids, and because it feels like you must, we started with rice cereal. Here I am giving him his first bite.

That was short lived. E is apparently very independent, and only wants to feed himself. Now he feeds himself food in large chunks (think broccoli). The only way to get a spoon in his mouth is if he is in control.

It's kind of adorable if you can handle the mess!

Two at a time!

My first time with two babes! This is my friend's little boy and E.

I must admit, I was scared, but it wasn't so bad, and when at one point I had one strapped on the front and the other strapped on the back and they both fell asleep. It was short-lived, though, as I made the mistake of rookie mistake of setting the back carrier with sleeping J on the ground. When J woke up I was stuck. I couldn't comfort him without bumping E, and soon I had two crying babies on my hands!

Other Indiana activities

The rest of our Indiana trip was great. It included:
Visits to Grandma Coffman

And Grandma Bevelhimer at Pokagon

where we went swimming and sledding. I am certain Mike and I were far more excited than Everest.

We also hit a couple of museums, including the Auburn Cord Duesenburg museum

And the South Bend Chocolate Company factory tour. Yes, the hats look funny but were well worth it for the chocolate surprise we got at the end of the tour :)