'Tis Halloween, and I am dressed in a fabulous costume. See, the place I work recently amended their dress code to ban the wearing of jeans on Fridays. Yet, a week or so ago, in the biweekly newsletter, they encouraged people to dress in costume for Halloween (as they always have). So, a devious plan took shape in my mind, and today, decked out in blue jeans and a light blue turtleneck sweater, I am... (drum roll, please)... Myself, on a Saturday. Or, as one of my co-workers described herself (and she even made herself a "Hi, my name is" nametag, to make it official)... "I am a person who works at a place that allows people to wear jeans on Fridays." Another co-worked described herself as "Employee, circa 2007." Oh, yes, we are rebels--hear us roar. (Incidentally, we're not the only ones this brilliant... there have been murmurings of this uprising all week long, and there are people in jeans all over the place. Safety in numbers, right?)
I also got a handwritten "citation" (it says, "Sara... jeans... $15") from the supervisor in Editorial, who's dressed up as some kind of security guard/officer--the fashion police, I suppose. A co-worker of mine got cited for 3 violations--jeans, spaghetti-strapped tank top, and flip-flops. The people I work with are so cool.
My trip to Kohl's last night was a success. I exhibited an inordinate amount of self-restraint and didn't even look at anything for myself. (Well, OK, fine, I looked, but it was really more like a cursory glance, and I didn't try anything on, so that's pretty much the same thing as not looking at all.) I grabbed a new pair of jeans for Tony (since most--or maybe all--of his jeans are getting hole-y) and 4 long-sleeved shirts for Ari (who, I've recently realized, has a severe shortage of long-sleeved shirts). I'm thinking Ari has officially moved onto size 3T--at least, when it comes to shirts. She's always been tall for her age, but most of her 2T pants still fit her fine (as far as length), so I've decided she must have a long torso. Almost all her 2T shirts are getting too short on her, and she is way too young to be waltzing around in midriff-baring tops (well, if you ask me, she will always be too young for midriff-baring shirts, but that's another topic).
And that's all I've got for today. I'm 99.9% sure I'll be posting Halloween pictures sometime tomorrow.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Halloween preview
Tony wasn't around last night, so Ari and I had some girl time. I decided, on a whim, to take her to our apartment complex's Halloween party. It was a small affair--they decorated the office and had snacks and candy, and spooky music playing, and people milled in and out as they pleased. But I also figured it was a good excuse to give Ari's costume a "test run"--see what clothing I could layer underneath it, etc. I wanted to take pictures too, but she was highly uncooperative.
She seemed to enjoy the little party--she had fun checking out all the decorations, until she reached out to touch a little skull and it started vibrating, startling her. But once she discovered there were M&Ms nearby, all was well with the world.
I know what you're thinking... "You let her have M&Ms for dinner twice in the same week?" And to that, I say, "No. She had one whole entire bite of pizza before we went to the party. I'm surprised she had room for M&Ms."
This would be a cool picture, if not for the glob of chocolate trickling down her chin. I thought M&Ms were supposed to melt IN your mouth, not OUTSIDE of it... (Chocolate or no, I love the way her eyes look in this picture.)
;
She takes M&M eating very seriously.
;
After the M&Ms were gone, she wanted to watch "Ari movies," so we spent a good 45 minutes or so at the computer, watching videos of her from when she was only a few months old, up until she was about a year and a half. I kept telling Ari that it was her in the videos, but she didn't seem to fully grasp that point. But she sure thought she was hilarious--she kept giggling at herself.
I reluctantly dragged us both away from the computer when it was bedtime. As I got her ready for bed, she asked me at least 25 times, "Leave door open?" And no matter how many times or how sincerely I said "yes," she kept asking. I braced myself for another night of crying and fussing and me hollering, "Get back in bed"... but to my surprise, she stayed in bed, silent, and went right to sleep. Here's hoping this is the beginning of the end of the nighttime battles.
She seemed to enjoy the little party--she had fun checking out all the decorations, until she reached out to touch a little skull and it started vibrating, startling her. But once she discovered there were M&Ms nearby, all was well with the world.
I know what you're thinking... "You let her have M&Ms for dinner twice in the same week?" And to that, I say, "No. She had one whole entire bite of pizza before we went to the party. I'm surprised she had room for M&Ms."
This would be a cool picture, if not for the glob of chocolate trickling down her chin. I thought M&Ms were supposed to melt IN your mouth, not OUTSIDE of it... (Chocolate or no, I love the way her eyes look in this picture.)
;She takes M&M eating very seriously.
;After the M&Ms were gone, she wanted to watch "Ari movies," so we spent a good 45 minutes or so at the computer, watching videos of her from when she was only a few months old, up until she was about a year and a half. I kept telling Ari that it was her in the videos, but she didn't seem to fully grasp that point. But she sure thought she was hilarious--she kept giggling at herself.
I reluctantly dragged us both away from the computer when it was bedtime. As I got her ready for bed, she asked me at least 25 times, "Leave door open?" And no matter how many times or how sincerely I said "yes," she kept asking. I braced myself for another night of crying and fussing and me hollering, "Get back in bed"... but to my surprise, she stayed in bed, silent, and went right to sleep. Here's hoping this is the beginning of the end of the nighttime battles.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The best advice I've ever gotten
Spring 1992
I stared in awe at the backstage area. The room we were in was huge (and it was only one of several like it), and it was your classic dressing room--mirrors lined the walls, and each mirror was surrounded by those large, round lights. There were closets housing costumes, and the carpet was even red. I tried not to gawk, but it was hard not to. It all felt so professional. And here I was, a lowly 15-year-old sophomore in high school, getting ready to perform in front of the biggest audience of my life.
I was not going to perform alone, though--I was with 5 other girls from my school, and together, the 6 of us had competed in a national competition (in the category of "small ensemble") with a quaint little song about a county fair. We'd already performed for the judges, and our scores were set in place. But we were more nervous than we'd ever been.
We were quite used to this competition--every year, our school dominated the other private schools in our state when it came to music, so taking a trip to a faraway private college campus to compete in the national competition was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, just the previous year (which was my freshman year, and my first year competing nationally, since you had to be in high school for that level), our 12-girl ensemble had taken first place. Though we were more than pleased with that result, we had hoped to perform during the awards ceremony as well, but it didn't happen.
The awards cerermony, held on the final night, was the pinnacle of the Nationals experience each year. A handful of performers were selected to showcase their talents during the ceremony, and it was a huge honor to be chosen. This year, the awards ceremony had been moved to a bigger venue, due to the amount of students that now attended Nationals. The Amphitorium easily seated a few thousand people.
And this was how we found ourselves backstage in the Amphitorium, in this massive dressing room. Though being selected to perform was not a guarantee that you had won first place, it was a pretty strong indication. But whether or not we'd won first place was the last thing on our minds--we were too busy being simultaneously thrilled and terrified about performing.
The entire roundup of performers was kept in the same room, and with nothing better to do, we all chit-chatted and got to know each other, which proved to be a great diversion from our nerves. The only one who stands out in my mind was the boy who had been selected to perform in the category of "Humorous Interpretation" (the fancy title for a humorous monologue). I barely remember what he looked like, but I know his name was Aaron, and it soon became obvious to all of us why he had been selected--he was hilarious, and we had no doubt that his personality must have shone through when he performed his speech. He kept the entire group entertained and laughing as we waited. Again, I don't remember anything specific--only that we were all his captive audience, and the thought that we would soon be performing in front of several thousand people was suddenly the furthest thing from our minds.
But our entertainment soon came to an end--someone popped into the room and called for our ensemble. The 6 of us stood, took one last glance in the mirrors, and filed out into the hallway, following the person who had called us. We took our spot in the wings and waited for our moment in the spotlight. We all fell quiet--mostly because we had to, being so close to the stage now, but partly because our nerves were back, and back full-force. We exchanged some tight smiles, squeezed each other's hands, and mostly focused on breathing and not passing out.
Mere seconds before we were to make our entrance, Aaron came dashing around the corner, looking a bit wild-eyed and out of breath (though it was hard to tell if that was real, or just an act). We all just stared at him, puzzled. What could be so urgent at the last minute?
He took a breath, collected himself, and very seriously said, "I have something really important to tell you, before you go out on that stage. You need to listen carefully."
He had our full attention as we all leaned slightly toward him.
With a no-nonsense stare, he enunciated his words carefully: "Never... play leapfrog... with a unicorn." He waited a beat, then dashed away as quickly as he had come.
It took a second for his crazy words to sink in, and then we found ourselves chuckling quietly. And just as our giggles began, we got the signal to go on stage. We marched out with huge smiles on our faces. No one in the audience needed to know why--let them go ahead and think we were just that cool and confident.
And for the record... yes, we did win first place for our singing ensemble. And Aaron (who we got to see perform later, from the comfort of our seats in the audience) also took home first place.
And, 16 years later, I still have not forgotten his words of wisdom.
I stared in awe at the backstage area. The room we were in was huge (and it was only one of several like it), and it was your classic dressing room--mirrors lined the walls, and each mirror was surrounded by those large, round lights. There were closets housing costumes, and the carpet was even red. I tried not to gawk, but it was hard not to. It all felt so professional. And here I was, a lowly 15-year-old sophomore in high school, getting ready to perform in front of the biggest audience of my life.
I was not going to perform alone, though--I was with 5 other girls from my school, and together, the 6 of us had competed in a national competition (in the category of "small ensemble") with a quaint little song about a county fair. We'd already performed for the judges, and our scores were set in place. But we were more nervous than we'd ever been.
We were quite used to this competition--every year, our school dominated the other private schools in our state when it came to music, so taking a trip to a faraway private college campus to compete in the national competition was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, just the previous year (which was my freshman year, and my first year competing nationally, since you had to be in high school for that level), our 12-girl ensemble had taken first place. Though we were more than pleased with that result, we had hoped to perform during the awards ceremony as well, but it didn't happen.
The awards cerermony, held on the final night, was the pinnacle of the Nationals experience each year. A handful of performers were selected to showcase their talents during the ceremony, and it was a huge honor to be chosen. This year, the awards ceremony had been moved to a bigger venue, due to the amount of students that now attended Nationals. The Amphitorium easily seated a few thousand people.
And this was how we found ourselves backstage in the Amphitorium, in this massive dressing room. Though being selected to perform was not a guarantee that you had won first place, it was a pretty strong indication. But whether or not we'd won first place was the last thing on our minds--we were too busy being simultaneously thrilled and terrified about performing.
The entire roundup of performers was kept in the same room, and with nothing better to do, we all chit-chatted and got to know each other, which proved to be a great diversion from our nerves. The only one who stands out in my mind was the boy who had been selected to perform in the category of "Humorous Interpretation" (the fancy title for a humorous monologue). I barely remember what he looked like, but I know his name was Aaron, and it soon became obvious to all of us why he had been selected--he was hilarious, and we had no doubt that his personality must have shone through when he performed his speech. He kept the entire group entertained and laughing as we waited. Again, I don't remember anything specific--only that we were all his captive audience, and the thought that we would soon be performing in front of several thousand people was suddenly the furthest thing from our minds.
But our entertainment soon came to an end--someone popped into the room and called for our ensemble. The 6 of us stood, took one last glance in the mirrors, and filed out into the hallway, following the person who had called us. We took our spot in the wings and waited for our moment in the spotlight. We all fell quiet--mostly because we had to, being so close to the stage now, but partly because our nerves were back, and back full-force. We exchanged some tight smiles, squeezed each other's hands, and mostly focused on breathing and not passing out.
Mere seconds before we were to make our entrance, Aaron came dashing around the corner, looking a bit wild-eyed and out of breath (though it was hard to tell if that was real, or just an act). We all just stared at him, puzzled. What could be so urgent at the last minute?
He took a breath, collected himself, and very seriously said, "I have something really important to tell you, before you go out on that stage. You need to listen carefully."
He had our full attention as we all leaned slightly toward him.
With a no-nonsense stare, he enunciated his words carefully: "Never... play leapfrog... with a unicorn." He waited a beat, then dashed away as quickly as he had come.
It took a second for his crazy words to sink in, and then we found ourselves chuckling quietly. And just as our giggles began, we got the signal to go on stage. We marched out with huge smiles on our faces. No one in the audience needed to know why--let them go ahead and think we were just that cool and confident.
And for the record... yes, we did win first place for our singing ensemble. And Aaron (who we got to see perform later, from the comfort of our seats in the audience) also took home first place.
And, 16 years later, I still have not forgotten his words of wisdom.
Monday, October 27, 2008
2 parts angel, 1 part devil
Just 3 little Ari stories...
Ari woke up from her nap yesterday sobbing... and inconsolable for a good 15 minutes or so. Every so often, this happens, and I'm not sure why. Our best guess is that she wakes up "by mistake" and isn't fully rested.
Once her hiccupy sobs had subsided, I took her downstairs. She asked for a cereal bar, so I gave her one, filled her sippy cup with juice, and sat at the computer with her on my lap. I went to YouTube and looked up one of her favorite videos: a clip from Sesame Street where India.Arie sings the ABCs with Elmo. She sat quietly all through the video, and when it was done, she said, "Birdhouse?"
"You want to watch the birdhouse video?" I asked, surprised. It's been a long time since we've watched that one.
"Yes," she replied, and I typed "Birdhouse in Your Soul" in the search box. I half-expected her to declare "All done" a few seconds into the video, as Little Miss Short Attention Span tends to do, but she enjoyed the whole thing, even happily pointing out the bikes to me.
We spent the next several minutes looking at different videos. I stayed with the They Might Be Giants theme, playing several of their podcasts that featured kids' songs. Ari sat nearly motionless on my lap, leaning back against me instead of leaning forward eagerly like she usually does.
I know moments like that are rare. So maybe that's why I turned into a big old softy and gave in when she asked for M&Ms for dinner.
The bedtime battle with Ari continues, and has now stretched itself into mornings. This morning, when I got out of the shower, she was up. We went a couple rounds of me asking her nicely to get back into bed, and her shutting the door and (supposedly) complying, and worked our way up to me being very stern and her turning on the fake drama-queen tears. Finally, I had to leave for work. I said goodbye to her, with one last order for her to get into bed, then headed downstairs.
Of course, it took me a couple minutes to gather up my things, and I could hear her shuffling around upstairs, obviously out of bed once again. I just sighed and decided to let it go--I was leaving anyway.
Then a loud, earnest little voice from upstairs called out, "I love you!"
I smiled as my heart melted a little--there's nothing like a completely unprompted declaration of love. "I love you too," I called back. Then, I couldn't resist adding, "Now get back in bed."
Yesterday at church, Kerry and I were chatting before the service started--we were talking about church-related stuff and then transitioned into comparing stories about our girls (her daughter, Molly, is about 6 months younger than Ari). Our conversation was interrupted by a man from our church coming up to us and telling us, "I just wanted you to know--they're fine now, and someone's cleaning them up--but the girls were in the men's room, playing with the soap dispensers and playing in the urinals."
"Wait--our girls?" I replied, a bit dumbfounded.
"Yes," he replied, smiling as he walked away.
Kerry and I just looked at each other, both thinking the same thing--how did they even get the door open?
Brandon (Kerry's husband), who was sitting nearby, pointed his finger dramatically at me and teased, "I blame your kid!"
"Hey, Molly is pretty strong," Kerry countered.
"Yeh, but she couldn't possibly be strong enough to open the door alone, could she? I bet they worked together," I said. We laughed as we pictured them working as a little pint-sized team to push open the bathroom door.
After church was over, we inadvertently solved that mystery. Ari disappeared on us right before we left, and after a few minutes of slightly-frantic searching, we found her... (can you guess?) ...in the men's bathroom, sitting on the floor with the soap dispenser, happily squirting soap on herself and the floor.
I keep saying that Ari and Molly are "partners in crime"... so now we know that Ari is the brute strength of the team. I guess that makes Molly the brains?
Ari woke up from her nap yesterday sobbing... and inconsolable for a good 15 minutes or so. Every so often, this happens, and I'm not sure why. Our best guess is that she wakes up "by mistake" and isn't fully rested.
Once her hiccupy sobs had subsided, I took her downstairs. She asked for a cereal bar, so I gave her one, filled her sippy cup with juice, and sat at the computer with her on my lap. I went to YouTube and looked up one of her favorite videos: a clip from Sesame Street where India.Arie sings the ABCs with Elmo. She sat quietly all through the video, and when it was done, she said, "Birdhouse?"
"You want to watch the birdhouse video?" I asked, surprised. It's been a long time since we've watched that one.
"Yes," she replied, and I typed "Birdhouse in Your Soul" in the search box. I half-expected her to declare "All done" a few seconds into the video, as Little Miss Short Attention Span tends to do, but she enjoyed the whole thing, even happily pointing out the bikes to me.
We spent the next several minutes looking at different videos. I stayed with the They Might Be Giants theme, playing several of their podcasts that featured kids' songs. Ari sat nearly motionless on my lap, leaning back against me instead of leaning forward eagerly like she usually does.
I know moments like that are rare. So maybe that's why I turned into a big old softy and gave in when she asked for M&Ms for dinner.
The bedtime battle with Ari continues, and has now stretched itself into mornings. This morning, when I got out of the shower, she was up. We went a couple rounds of me asking her nicely to get back into bed, and her shutting the door and (supposedly) complying, and worked our way up to me being very stern and her turning on the fake drama-queen tears. Finally, I had to leave for work. I said goodbye to her, with one last order for her to get into bed, then headed downstairs.
Of course, it took me a couple minutes to gather up my things, and I could hear her shuffling around upstairs, obviously out of bed once again. I just sighed and decided to let it go--I was leaving anyway.
Then a loud, earnest little voice from upstairs called out, "I love you!"
I smiled as my heart melted a little--there's nothing like a completely unprompted declaration of love. "I love you too," I called back. Then, I couldn't resist adding, "Now get back in bed."
Yesterday at church, Kerry and I were chatting before the service started--we were talking about church-related stuff and then transitioned into comparing stories about our girls (her daughter, Molly, is about 6 months younger than Ari). Our conversation was interrupted by a man from our church coming up to us and telling us, "I just wanted you to know--they're fine now, and someone's cleaning them up--but the girls were in the men's room, playing with the soap dispensers and playing in the urinals."
"Wait--our girls?" I replied, a bit dumbfounded.
"Yes," he replied, smiling as he walked away.
Kerry and I just looked at each other, both thinking the same thing--how did they even get the door open?
Brandon (Kerry's husband), who was sitting nearby, pointed his finger dramatically at me and teased, "I blame your kid!"
"Hey, Molly is pretty strong," Kerry countered.
"Yeh, but she couldn't possibly be strong enough to open the door alone, could she? I bet they worked together," I said. We laughed as we pictured them working as a little pint-sized team to push open the bathroom door.
After church was over, we inadvertently solved that mystery. Ari disappeared on us right before we left, and after a few minutes of slightly-frantic searching, we found her... (can you guess?) ...in the men's bathroom, sitting on the floor with the soap dispenser, happily squirting soap on herself and the floor.
I keep saying that Ari and Molly are "partners in crime"... so now we know that Ari is the brute strength of the team. I guess that makes Molly the brains?
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Duh
(The following story is not just based on a true event--it IS a true event. No part of this story has been embellished or exaggerated for comedic effect.)
Just a small, yet typical, example of how disoriented I am when I first wake up in the morning...
As I walked to the bathroom last Monday morning, I noticed Ari's bedroom door was open. Even stranger, the gate was open too. I assumed we must have forgotten to latch the gate shut last night. I peeked into her room, and she wasn't there.
Curious, I trotted downstairs, softly calling her name. I knew if she was awake, she would answer me, or I would hear her shuffling around. There was no reply... and no sign of her little body asleep anywhere.
My last resort was to look in our bedroom--maybe she was asleep on the floor on Tony's side of the bed. But she wasn't there, and now I was really starting to panic.
"Tony," I hissed, grabbing his foot to wake him up. My voice was urgent. "Where is our child?"
He stirred, then replied, in a sleepy, what-the-heck-is-wrong-with-you? voice, "She's at your mom's."
Oh. Right. I knew that.
Just a small, yet typical, example of how disoriented I am when I first wake up in the morning...
As I walked to the bathroom last Monday morning, I noticed Ari's bedroom door was open. Even stranger, the gate was open too. I assumed we must have forgotten to latch the gate shut last night. I peeked into her room, and she wasn't there.
Curious, I trotted downstairs, softly calling her name. I knew if she was awake, she would answer me, or I would hear her shuffling around. There was no reply... and no sign of her little body asleep anywhere.
My last resort was to look in our bedroom--maybe she was asleep on the floor on Tony's side of the bed. But she wasn't there, and now I was really starting to panic.
"Tony," I hissed, grabbing his foot to wake him up. My voice was urgent. "Where is our child?"
He stirred, then replied, in a sleepy, what-the-heck-is-wrong-with-you? voice, "She's at your mom's."
Oh. Right. I knew that.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Random snippets of conversation
(Cruise photo book and 2 Ari videos in previous entry...)
The fine art of compromise/negotiation...
Tony: Hey, we should go see a movie on Friday night, since Ari is going to be spending the night at your parents' house.
Me: Oh, we should! But I don't know what's playing.
Tony: Well, "Saw 5" opens on Friday.
Me: Oh really? Well, so does "High School Musical 3."
Tony: (silence)
Me: (silence)
It appears we are at an impasse.
Nothing like having your kid spout your own rules back at you...
Conversation 1: At the dinner table
Background info: When Ari doesn't want to eat her dinner, we tell her fine, but she's not getting any more food for the rest of the night.
Ari: All done.
Me: Ari, you haven't even started eating yet.
Ari: All done!
Me: OK, fine, you can be all done, but--
Ari: No more food!
Me: Right.
Ari: No fruit snacks. No cookies. No crackers.
Me: Yes, you're right.
Ari: No milk, no juice, no mac and cheese, no sauce-sauce.
Me: OK, you've got it.
Conversation 2: At bedtime
Background info: You all know she's been getting out of bed at night... Plus, last night I swiped her binky because I figured, hey, if she's having issues with sleeping already, might as well ditch the binky and deal with all these issues at once.
Me: (laying her in her crib) Good night, sweet pea.
Ari: Leave door shut.
Me: Yes, you need to leave your door shut.
Ari: And stay in bed!
Me: Yes, stay in bed like a big girl.
Ari: And no crying.
Me: Yes, no crying.
Ari: Leave blankets on.
Me: Yup. They keep you warm.
Ari: And no binky.
Me: Right. Because big girls don't use binkies.
The fine art of compromise/negotiation...
Tony: Hey, we should go see a movie on Friday night, since Ari is going to be spending the night at your parents' house.
Me: Oh, we should! But I don't know what's playing.
Tony: Well, "Saw 5" opens on Friday.
Me: Oh really? Well, so does "High School Musical 3."
Tony: (silence)
Me: (silence)
It appears we are at an impasse.
Nothing like having your kid spout your own rules back at you...
Conversation 1: At the dinner table
Background info: When Ari doesn't want to eat her dinner, we tell her fine, but she's not getting any more food for the rest of the night.
Ari: All done.
Me: Ari, you haven't even started eating yet.
Ari: All done!
Me: OK, fine, you can be all done, but--
Ari: No more food!
Me: Right.
Ari: No fruit snacks. No cookies. No crackers.
Me: Yes, you're right.
Ari: No milk, no juice, no mac and cheese, no sauce-sauce.
Me: OK, you've got it.
Conversation 2: At bedtime
Background info: You all know she's been getting out of bed at night... Plus, last night I swiped her binky because I figured, hey, if she's having issues with sleeping already, might as well ditch the binky and deal with all these issues at once.
Me: (laying her in her crib) Good night, sweet pea.
Ari: Leave door shut.
Me: Yes, you need to leave your door shut.
Ari: And stay in bed!
Me: Yes, stay in bed like a big girl.
Ari: And no crying.
Me: Yes, no crying.
Ari: Leave blankets on.
Me: Yup. They keep you warm.
Ari: And no binky.
Me: Right. Because big girls don't use binkies.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
1 photo book and 2 videos
I promised videos, and videos you shall get. But first! I hereby proudly present my latest Picaboo photo book, of our cruise. Yeh, yeh--I know you all have already seen the pictures, so no obligation. I had a lot of fun putting this together, and I just ordered it today, so I should have the real thing in my hands in less than 2 weeks. I don't know how many hours I spent working on this thing, but it was a lot. But I had to cut myself off somewhere, and I am quite pleased with the final result (if I do say so myself).
Our Caribbean Cruise
OK, now on to the videos. I wasn't planning to take any videos last night, but she started doing all this cute stuff, and I had to grab the camera. Of course, as you'll see, I had to coax her into continuing the cuteness. Anyway...
In this first video, you'll see/hear her praying. Her prayers are pretty much just "Pray Jesus, pray Jesus... Amen!" And you'll also hear her tell me the name of her doll. I don't know where she got the name from--as far as I know, she doesn't know anyone with that name.
Ariana 10-22-08-1 from Sariana on Vimeo.
And in this one, she grabbed her purse and the plastic container that holds her Mr. Potato Head stuff, and declared she was going to church. Again, the whole conversation was much cuter before I took out the camera, but you get the general idea.
Ariana 10-22-08-2 from Sariana on Vimeo.
Our Caribbean Cruise
OK, now on to the videos. I wasn't planning to take any videos last night, but she started doing all this cute stuff, and I had to grab the camera. Of course, as you'll see, I had to coax her into continuing the cuteness. Anyway...
In this first video, you'll see/hear her praying. Her prayers are pretty much just "Pray Jesus, pray Jesus... Amen!" And you'll also hear her tell me the name of her doll. I don't know where she got the name from--as far as I know, she doesn't know anyone with that name.
Ariana 10-22-08-1 from Sariana on Vimeo.
And in this one, she grabbed her purse and the plastic container that holds her Mr. Potato Head stuff, and declared she was going to church. Again, the whole conversation was much cuter before I took out the camera, but you get the general idea.
Ariana 10-22-08-2 from Sariana on Vimeo.
Who can turn the stove on with her smile?
Conversation with Ari (or, The One Where I Fail to Realize that Ari Is Too Young to Get Jokes from the Show Friends)
Me: Hey, Ari, can I have a hug?
Ari: No.
Me: No?
Ari: No!
Me: That's not very nice.
Ari: Mommy's sad!
Me: No, Mommy's not sad--that's just not nice, that's all.
Ari: Mommy's sad!
Me: Nope. Mommy is over it.
Ari: Oh-er it?
Me: Yup, I am over it. And I am over you.
Ari: Oh-er you?
Me: I. Am over. You. And that, my friend, is what they call closure.
(I guess if you've never seen that episode of Friends, that's not really that funny.)
*ahem* Moving on, then...
Hey hey hey, look who figured out a way to swipe the proofs off the JC Penney site. I suppose I should feel guilty about this, but it's not like I'm going to print them out or sell them or anything. I just want to share them with all you lovely people. So without further ado, here are some more poses from the portrait session my mom took Ari to a few weeks ago...
Another collage, which I love...
I love shots like this, when the kid is looking up into the light. Makes me think that she is looking up into the face of God or something. (Yeh, I know that's cheesy.)
I love her eyelashes in this one...
I adore her happy little smile in this one...
Now, this next series of shots... the photographer put them together as a collage on the site, but I swiped the individual shots because they were bigger.
See? So when you put them all together, it writes out "I love you." The thing I love about this series of poses is the way they show off Ari's personality. In the first one, she's posing nicely, giving her fake-ish yeh-I'm-posing-for-a-picture smile. In the 2nd one, she's showing a bit of attitude, refusing to hold the heart and even pushing it away from her. And in the last one, she's holding the "you" and giving off her best cheesy smile. The more I think about it, the more I think I need to order that collage, for those reasons, as well as the fact that it spells out "I love you" and ohmygoshthatissoprecious.
I also have Ari videos, but I'll have to post those later.
Me: Hey, Ari, can I have a hug?
Ari: No.
Me: No?
Ari: No!
Me: That's not very nice.
Ari: Mommy's sad!
Me: No, Mommy's not sad--that's just not nice, that's all.
Ari: Mommy's sad!
Me: Nope. Mommy is over it.
Ari: Oh-er it?
Me: Yup, I am over it. And I am over you.
Ari: Oh-er you?
Me: I. Am over. You. And that, my friend, is what they call closure.
(I guess if you've never seen that episode of Friends, that's not really that funny.)
*ahem* Moving on, then...
Hey hey hey, look who figured out a way to swipe the proofs off the JC Penney site. I suppose I should feel guilty about this, but it's not like I'm going to print them out or sell them or anything. I just want to share them with all you lovely people. So without further ado, here are some more poses from the portrait session my mom took Ari to a few weeks ago...
Another collage, which I love...
I love shots like this, when the kid is looking up into the light. Makes me think that she is looking up into the face of God or something. (Yeh, I know that's cheesy.)
I love her eyelashes in this one...
I adore her happy little smile in this one...
Now, this next series of shots... the photographer put them together as a collage on the site, but I swiped the individual shots because they were bigger.
See? So when you put them all together, it writes out "I love you." The thing I love about this series of poses is the way they show off Ari's personality. In the first one, she's posing nicely, giving her fake-ish yeh-I'm-posing-for-a-picture smile. In the 2nd one, she's showing a bit of attitude, refusing to hold the heart and even pushing it away from her. And in the last one, she's holding the "you" and giving off her best cheesy smile. The more I think about it, the more I think I need to order that collage, for those reasons, as well as the fact that it spells out "I love you" and ohmygoshthatissoprecious.
I also have Ari videos, but I'll have to post those later.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
You, doin' that thing you do
Last night, Ari specifically asked me to take a picture of her hand.
"Wonder Twin powers, activate!"
"Hmm, my superpowers appear to be broken. Maybe it's because I don't actually have a twin..."
Then she wanted me to take a picture of her mouth, and put on this lovely face-only-a-mother-could-love.
(Don't mind her non-matching outfit... sometimes we get lazy at bedtime and instead of changing her into a full set of pajamas, we just put pajama pants on her and leave on whatever shirt she had on during the day. Slacker Parents R Us.)
OK, now for the "real" entry...
Ari has started being "weird" about bedtime. She's been able to climb out of her crib for a while--when it first started happening, I braced myself for a battle, but she continued her good sleeping habits, staying contently in her crib and falling right to sleep.
But in the past couple weeks, she's been getting out of her crib nearly every night. It first started as we'd tuck her in--she'd ask, "Leave door open?" and we'd gently reply that we needed to shut her door (hey, it's a small apartment). This seemed to bother her, and we wondered if her getting out of bed was simply her way of "defying" us--of opening the door anyway. (For the record, she has a decent nightlight, so I don't think it's a "scared of the dark" issue.) But when we commanded her to get back into bed, she would start the whining/crying/moaning bit, especially if we were near enough to shut the door, too. We tried leaving the door open, to see if that would appease her, but she would still get out of bed and cry. So we went for just ignoring her. And then we'd usually end up finding her later like this:
So we started to compromise, by leaving her door partially open and then shutting it later when she was asleep. Then, gradually, she seemed to be OK with having her door shut, and would start asking, "Leave door shut?"
Now, in the past few days, things have changed again. Oh, she's still getting out of bed. But when we catch her, she doesn't whine or complain--she simply crawls back into her crib. And then usually she'll get right back out again. But she's stealthy about it. For example, last night... I put her to bed, and no less than 5 minutes later, I heard her door creak open. "Ari, get back in bed," I told her. She closed the door, and (I assumed) got back in bed. I went into the bedroom to work out, and when I came out about an hour later, her door was open, and she was asleep on the floor. I moved her to her crib--she stirred a little, but seemed mostly out of it, so I was sure she was asleep.
However, a few hours later, when I went upstairs to go to bed for the night, I found her like this:
Notice her Belle doll beside her? Every time she gets out of bed, she brings Belle and that Taggies blanket with her--and carefully covers up Belle. And apparently, now she's decided she needs a blanket of her own--and I have to say, she did a pretty good job covering herself up.
Tony's initial thought was that she's just experimenting with the fact that she can get out of bed (and the baby gate across her door keeps her from going any farther). We both wondered if maybe it was a game--but we were both pretty stern with her, and she was never giggly or mischevious about it. Then I pointed out that she's only started doing this since we got back from the cruise. I wondered out loud to him, "Maybe she's feeling insecure about us leaving her. So she gets out of bed, opens her door so she can hear us, and lays in the doorway so she can be as close to us as possible."
That last possibility is the one that makes me do things like this... After finding her asleep on the floor for the last time last night, we both went against our better judgment and went into her room to tuck her in. "Daddy sing," she said softly, and Tony obliged, while I crouched beside him, stroking her cheek and crying silently. (Oh, hush, it's PMS.) When we were done, we both tiptoed out of her room and into ours.
"I am beat," Tony said, and I assumed he meant he was tired, until he added, "That little girl has got me totally wrapped around her finger."
I smiled. "You're just now realizing that? I could have told you that a long time ago."
"Wonder Twin powers, activate!"
"Hmm, my superpowers appear to be broken. Maybe it's because I don't actually have a twin..."
Then she wanted me to take a picture of her mouth, and put on this lovely face-only-a-mother-could-love.
(Don't mind her non-matching outfit... sometimes we get lazy at bedtime and instead of changing her into a full set of pajamas, we just put pajama pants on her and leave on whatever shirt she had on during the day. Slacker Parents R Us.)
OK, now for the "real" entry...
Ari has started being "weird" about bedtime. She's been able to climb out of her crib for a while--when it first started happening, I braced myself for a battle, but she continued her good sleeping habits, staying contently in her crib and falling right to sleep.
But in the past couple weeks, she's been getting out of her crib nearly every night. It first started as we'd tuck her in--she'd ask, "Leave door open?" and we'd gently reply that we needed to shut her door (hey, it's a small apartment). This seemed to bother her, and we wondered if her getting out of bed was simply her way of "defying" us--of opening the door anyway. (For the record, she has a decent nightlight, so I don't think it's a "scared of the dark" issue.) But when we commanded her to get back into bed, she would start the whining/crying/moaning bit, especially if we were near enough to shut the door, too. We tried leaving the door open, to see if that would appease her, but she would still get out of bed and cry. So we went for just ignoring her. And then we'd usually end up finding her later like this:
So we started to compromise, by leaving her door partially open and then shutting it later when she was asleep. Then, gradually, she seemed to be OK with having her door shut, and would start asking, "Leave door shut?"
Now, in the past few days, things have changed again. Oh, she's still getting out of bed. But when we catch her, she doesn't whine or complain--she simply crawls back into her crib. And then usually she'll get right back out again. But she's stealthy about it. For example, last night... I put her to bed, and no less than 5 minutes later, I heard her door creak open. "Ari, get back in bed," I told her. She closed the door, and (I assumed) got back in bed. I went into the bedroom to work out, and when I came out about an hour later, her door was open, and she was asleep on the floor. I moved her to her crib--she stirred a little, but seemed mostly out of it, so I was sure she was asleep.
However, a few hours later, when I went upstairs to go to bed for the night, I found her like this:
Notice her Belle doll beside her? Every time she gets out of bed, she brings Belle and that Taggies blanket with her--and carefully covers up Belle. And apparently, now she's decided she needs a blanket of her own--and I have to say, she did a pretty good job covering herself up.
Tony's initial thought was that she's just experimenting with the fact that she can get out of bed (and the baby gate across her door keeps her from going any farther). We both wondered if maybe it was a game--but we were both pretty stern with her, and she was never giggly or mischevious about it. Then I pointed out that she's only started doing this since we got back from the cruise. I wondered out loud to him, "Maybe she's feeling insecure about us leaving her. So she gets out of bed, opens her door so she can hear us, and lays in the doorway so she can be as close to us as possible."
That last possibility is the one that makes me do things like this... After finding her asleep on the floor for the last time last night, we both went against our better judgment and went into her room to tuck her in. "Daddy sing," she said softly, and Tony obliged, while I crouched beside him, stroking her cheek and crying silently. (Oh, hush, it's PMS.) When we were done, we both tiptoed out of her room and into ours.
"I am beat," Tony said, and I assumed he meant he was tired, until he added, "That little girl has got me totally wrapped around her finger."
I smiled. "You're just now realizing that? I could have told you that a long time ago."
Monday, October 20, 2008
"So pretty"
Even though you can't really see it, her fingernails are a light, sparkly blue.
She selected the color herself and wanted her toenails painted. Since she already had socks and shoes on, I suggested her fingernails instead. She sat patiently through the whole nail-painting session, then declared her nails, "so pretty!" when we were done.
Now, if only she would let me put barrettes in her hair...
She selected the color herself and wanted her toenails painted. Since she already had socks and shoes on, I suggested her fingernails instead. She sat patiently through the whole nail-painting session, then declared her nails, "so pretty!" when we were done.
Now, if only she would let me put barrettes in her hair...
Friday, October 17, 2008
Oh, right, I still have a kid
Well, now that I'm done with all the cruise blogging, it's probably about time I posted some Ari pictures, right?
We went to the pumpkin patch on Sunday with Matt, Kristin and Nick. I think this is going to become a yearly tradition, because we all did this last year. Just for fun, here's a shot of what Ari looked like last year at this time...
Ha, she was so bald! Anyway, moving on...
We got there late in the afternoon, so we were a bit pressed for time. We let the kids play in the play area first.
Then we got some apple-cider donuts, which got them to sit still for a few moments.
I love this next shot--looks like they're having a real adult conversation or something.
Then we waited in line for the hayride. While we waited, Ari amused herself by relocating pumpkins. She was quite pleased with herself for being able to pick them up all on her own. She even got cocky after a while and started picking them up 2 at a time.
OK, in this picture... all the pumpkins that you see on that white tarp are all pumpkins that Ari put there. That white space was empty when we got there.
Partway through the hayride, we stopped at a huge pumpkin patch. Ari wandered all around, but somehow Kristin got her to hold still for a couple pictures.
See Nick in the background?
At the end of the day, we ended up with 2 pumpkins--one decent-sized one for carving, and an Ari-sized one for Ari. Every time we leave the house now, she calls out, "Bye-bye, Ari's punkin!"
Annnnd... on a completely unrelated note... Little Miss Thing decided she didn't really want to go to sleep the other night. After several rounds of me sternly telling her to get back in bed, her wailing at me, etc., I gave up and just ignored her. Her eventual silence convinced me she had given up.
Then, hours later, when I went upstairs, this is what I found.
(For the record, she woke up a split-second before I took the picture. And she would have woken up when we moved her, anyway.)
So... I suppose this means that she won?
One last story, then I'm done. We went to my parents' house for dinner last night, and Mom surprised me by telling me that while we were gone on the cruise, she'd taken Ari to JC Penney to have some professional portraits done. She further surprised us with this beautifully-framed collage...
... and an entire package of this pose...
They are pictures of pictures, so they're not the greatest, but you get the idea. Isn't that amazingly sweet? And doesn't my little munchkin look so grown-up all of a sudden?
We went to the pumpkin patch on Sunday with Matt, Kristin and Nick. I think this is going to become a yearly tradition, because we all did this last year. Just for fun, here's a shot of what Ari looked like last year at this time...
Ha, she was so bald! Anyway, moving on...
We got there late in the afternoon, so we were a bit pressed for time. We let the kids play in the play area first.
Then we got some apple-cider donuts, which got them to sit still for a few moments.
I love this next shot--looks like they're having a real adult conversation or something.
Then we waited in line for the hayride. While we waited, Ari amused herself by relocating pumpkins. She was quite pleased with herself for being able to pick them up all on her own. She even got cocky after a while and started picking them up 2 at a time.
OK, in this picture... all the pumpkins that you see on that white tarp are all pumpkins that Ari put there. That white space was empty when we got there.
Partway through the hayride, we stopped at a huge pumpkin patch. Ari wandered all around, but somehow Kristin got her to hold still for a couple pictures.
See Nick in the background?
At the end of the day, we ended up with 2 pumpkins--one decent-sized one for carving, and an Ari-sized one for Ari. Every time we leave the house now, she calls out, "Bye-bye, Ari's punkin!"
Annnnd... on a completely unrelated note... Little Miss Thing decided she didn't really want to go to sleep the other night. After several rounds of me sternly telling her to get back in bed, her wailing at me, etc., I gave up and just ignored her. Her eventual silence convinced me she had given up.
Then, hours later, when I went upstairs, this is what I found.
(For the record, she woke up a split-second before I took the picture. And she would have woken up when we moved her, anyway.)
So... I suppose this means that she won?
One last story, then I'm done. We went to my parents' house for dinner last night, and Mom surprised me by telling me that while we were gone on the cruise, she'd taken Ari to JC Penney to have some professional portraits done. She further surprised us with this beautifully-framed collage...
... and an entire package of this pose...
They are pictures of pictures, so they're not the greatest, but you get the idea. Isn't that amazingly sweet? And doesn't my little munchkin look so grown-up all of a sudden?
Monday, October 13, 2008
Cruise: Day 8
Day 8, Saturday, October 4: Miami
We set our wake-up call for around 6:30 AM--the earliest we ever got up on this vacation. I peeked outside, and it was still dark. We were already docked in Miami, and I was too sleepy to take much notice of what it looked like outside. We got ready to go to breakfast, and once it started to get light out, I took my routine first-thing-in-the-morning picture.
Gross, huh? It wasn't just overcast--it was raining. I suppose you could say the weather matched my mood, since I was reluctant to leave the ship and say good-bye to our perfect vacation.
We went to breakfast at the Windjammer, laughing at the fact that it was the first time we'd eaten breakfast out of our room. And the only reason we were going out was because they didn't offer room service on this last morning. We got a table by the windows and watched the rain trickle down the panes as we ate.
When we finished, we returned to our rooms to collect our bags. The previous night, they had sent us colored luggage tags to put on all the bags we were leaving in the hallway--basically, they assigned you a color based on what time you were supposed to leave the ship, which was based on forms they made you fill out earlier in the week telling them what times your flights were, etc. We figured we would be the very last group off the ship, since our flight was so late, but we were surprised to find that the "Brown" group was scheduled to leave the ship between 8 and 8:45 AM. It didn't matter to us--we'd already made arrangements to rent a car and spend the day seeing Miami, so getting off a bit early worked to our advantage.
I took one last picture of our room...
... and then we left it for the last time. Our designated waiting area was the Platinum Theater--the same theater where all the nightly shows had been. We got there a few minutes before 8, and of course, took another picture.
We had hardly gotten settled into our seats when they called for our group to leave. As we exited the ship, they scanned our SeaPass cards for the last time (but they let us keep them, which was cool), and we walked down the gangway, away from Liberty of the Seas, our beautiful home away from home.
In hindsight, I suppose we could have taken our time getting off the ship. I just wasn't entirely sure how the whole process worked--since they said our group could leave from 8-8:45, I assumed that meant we HAD to be off the ship by then. But now that I know how it all works, I know that just meant that was the earliest you could leave the ship and know that your luggage would be waiting for you.
We waited for our luggage at a baggage carousel on the bottom level of the RC building, and it all arrived pretty quickly. It reminded me of waiting at baggage claim at an airport. I was a tad nervous about going through customs, simply because I've never done it before, but we breezed through without a hitch. Tony called Hertz to have them pick us up, and they told him a shuttle was on the way. Moments later, we were piling into a van and on our way to the downtown Hertz office.
I waited with our luggage on the sidewalk, huddled up against the building to avoid the rain, while Tony went inside. We got a sweet car--a brand-new Chevy Impala with only 167 miles on it. It had a sunroof, leather seats, and heated seats (which, yes, I ended up making use of, because the AC made me too chilly).
We hadn't thought to get any maps or tourist info from AAA before we left, but luckily, Hertz gave us a map of the city marked with all sorts of attractions. We drove aimlessly around for a long time. Our first stop was Miami Beach--even though the weather was awful, we had to at least go see it. Don't let these pictures fool you--yes, the water looks pretty, but it was pouring rain when I took these pictures.
After that, we just drove and drove--through the Art Deco district, the shops on Lincoln Road, Little Haiti, the Design District, Morningside Historical District, past several museums and convention centers, etc. Due to the weather, we never parked and got out--just drove and appreciated all the buildings from the outside. We were a bit at a loss for what to do, since we'd planned on spending a chunk of time at the beach.
We ended up driving out to Key Biscayne, a small island just off the coast, which turned out to be a gorgeous drive. We stopped at a Subway for lunch and then headed on to the Seaquarium, thinking that might be a nice way to kill a few hours. But when we found out that parking was $8 and tickets were over $35 apiece, we changed our minds. It was just way too much money to shell out, especially at the tail end of an extravagant vacation.
We ended up returning to the Port of Miami area, to check out the shops near there. On our way back in, I snapped a few pictures of the Miami skyline.
Don't let that break in the clouds fool you--I think that was the one and only time all day we saw blue sky. And every so often, the rain would taper off. Other than that, it was a steady rain all day long.
Also, you can't see it in these pictures, but we could see our ship, just barely, from that bridge. And there were several other places throughout the city where we could catch sight of the Liberty of the Seas. It was weird to look at that ship, then look at our watches, and say, "Exactly a week ago, we were just getting on for the first time." Even weirder was to think that there was a whole new group of people checking in, getting on, seeing the wonders of the ship for the first time... even a brand-new couple setting up in our old stateroom.
We found metered parking near the Bayside Marketplace, and as we were trying to figure out the payment machine (they had one machine where you paid, rather than individual meters at each spot), a couple that was leaving offered us their ticket, which still had over 2 hours left on it. So, we got to park for free.
One of the first things we saw in the Marketplace was this crazy tree. It's a banyan tree, and all those "branches" are actually roots--they grown down from the top of the tree, and once they touch the ground, they burrow in and form a new trunk.
We walked slowly through all the shops--there were your typical tourist-trap souvenir shops as well as regular mall-type stores (I was excited to find a Disney Store, for example). We bought a few last souvenirs, and once we were done, we realized we had kind of run out of things to do. I mean, sure, we could drive around more, but we would just be killing gas, and we really didn't want to spend any money on museums or other attractions. So we made our way to the airport Hertz, got a shuttle to the airport, and began the airport check-in process. The airport was crazy-busy, but we were in no hurry, so it was fine with us. Turned out that one of Tony's suitcases (which was tipping the scales at 49 lbs. before we left) now weighed 51 lbs. (I blame the souvenirs), but the airport lady was nice enough to let it slide for us.
We got to our gate by about 5 PM... and our flight wasn't due to leave until 9. I knew I'd be fine--I had a book to read--but I wasn't sure what Tony would do. Of course, we chatted for a while, got dinner, and found other ways to kill time. Tony ended up swiping my word find book and doing those for a while... but eventually, he got bored, and took it out on me. Nah, I'm kidding. I was getting antsy myself, even though my reading material was really intriguing (I Am Legend, in case you're wondering, which also includes several other short horror stories--good reading). So we took one last vacation picture.
And then it turned out that our flight got delayed by more than a hour, because the plane was coming from Mexico and had gotten delayed there. My parents had told me earlier in the day that their plan was to bring Ari to our house around bedtime and then just wait there for us--that way, Ari could sleep in her own bed, and she'd be there for us when we woke up in the morning. Mom said she'd been starting to cry for us more in the past couple days--it seemed like she was really starting to miss us. I kept Mom posted on the flight delays, but since they'd already told Ari they were going to her house (and she was psyched about getting to see Sasha and Ivan), they decided to stick to their plan. I felt so bad when we got delayed, even though, of course, it wasn't our fault.
Our flight finally took off around 10. Tony and I had the middle and aisle seat, as before, and there was someone else in the window seat. About halfway through the flight, he got up to use the restroom and ended up telling us he was going to change seats, since there were several open seats on the plane. So I stretched out to my beloved window seat... and promptly fell asleep.
We got back home, got all our luggage (with only one damaged suitcase--part of the zipper broke, but seeing as I've had that suitcase since college, I really wasn't surprised), and the valet service for the long-term parking picked us right up. By the time we got to the long-term parking lot, our car was pulled up, running, with the heat on. We finally got home around 1:30, and after chatting with my parents for a few minutes, they left.
We sneaked upstairs to see Ari, who was peacefully sleeping. Tony covered her up (since she always kicks off her blankets when she sleeps), and then rearranged her blankets... and then rearranged them again... and then rearranged them again. "I know what you're doing," I whispered with a smile. "You're trying to wake her up."
He just grinned in reply... but his plan worked. Ari stirred, opened her eyes, looked at Tony and said, "Daddy sing?" He scooped her up and started singing. She laid her head on his shoulder, looked at me, and gave me the biggest smile. And, miraculously, she went right back to sleep when Tony was done singing. We went to bed not long after.
And so ends our cruise vacation. That last day in Miami was kind of a bust, due to the weather, but it wasn't a horrible day or anything. Though nothing can compare to the cruise itself. I'm serious when I say it was the perfect vacation--everything was above and beyond our expectations. I could go on and on, but I think, from all these previous entries, you can already tell how pleased I was with this vacation. And the food... oh my gosh, the food. I have never eaten so much in my life, and I can't remember the last time I've ever eaten 3 square meals a day for so many days straight. I mean, my normal breakfast is a donut or Pop Tart--but on the cruise, I was eating cereal, fruit, sometimes eggs, pastries... every single day. And a full lunch and dinner--both finished off with dessert--and sometimes snacks in between. I was terrified to get a scale at home, but by some miracle, I didn't gain any weight.
Several people told us that nothing beats your first cruise, and I can see what they mean. I felt like, everywhere we went, we were just like little kids, with our mouths hanging open, saying "Wow!" about everything. And it's not that I think we'd be "jaded" by the time we take another cruise--but I guess there wouldn't be that same sense of wonder. Not to mention the fact that we were on the biggest cruise ship in the world--totally unintentional, by the way. When we were searching for our cruise, we knew we wanted to go to the Caribbean, but didn't really care where. And we were more concerned with what dates we'd be gone, since we were trying to coordinate babysitting with my parents, and trying not to miss 2 Sundays from church. What ship we were on was the least of our concerns, so it was a complete accident that we ended up on the world's largest. But again, I don't think that means we're going to be disappointed with any future cruising.
I think the best thing about this cruise was that it felt like a true vacation. Due to the fact that we were at sea and/or in international territory, and because we didn't want to spend money on Internet access or phone calls, we were pretty much cut off from the world. The whole time we were gone, I barely thought about work, about church, about anyone back home. It was a perfect escape. Am I going to sound like a horrible mom if I say I didn't even miss Ari that much? I think part of the reason was just that we were in such a strange, new environment. Oddly enough, once we were back on solid ground in Miami, on that last day, I suddenly missed her immensely. I guess setting foot back on US soil was enough to shake me out of the dreamland I'd been living in and remind me that I had a real life to get back to. If any of that makes any sense.
OK, I'm just rambling now. It's a little sad for me to end these cruise entries, because now it feels like the cruise is most definitely, surely over. I'm in the middle of working on a Picaboo photo book, though, so I can relive it all through that too.
So for those of you that have tagged along through this long, LONG saga... thanks for sticking around. I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I love the way so many of you are saying things like, "You know, cruising never sounded that great to me before... but now that I've read your entries, I really want to go!" Let's just say, I highly recommend it. You won't be sorry.
THE END
We set our wake-up call for around 6:30 AM--the earliest we ever got up on this vacation. I peeked outside, and it was still dark. We were already docked in Miami, and I was too sleepy to take much notice of what it looked like outside. We got ready to go to breakfast, and once it started to get light out, I took my routine first-thing-in-the-morning picture.
Gross, huh? It wasn't just overcast--it was raining. I suppose you could say the weather matched my mood, since I was reluctant to leave the ship and say good-bye to our perfect vacation.
We went to breakfast at the Windjammer, laughing at the fact that it was the first time we'd eaten breakfast out of our room. And the only reason we were going out was because they didn't offer room service on this last morning. We got a table by the windows and watched the rain trickle down the panes as we ate.
When we finished, we returned to our rooms to collect our bags. The previous night, they had sent us colored luggage tags to put on all the bags we were leaving in the hallway--basically, they assigned you a color based on what time you were supposed to leave the ship, which was based on forms they made you fill out earlier in the week telling them what times your flights were, etc. We figured we would be the very last group off the ship, since our flight was so late, but we were surprised to find that the "Brown" group was scheduled to leave the ship between 8 and 8:45 AM. It didn't matter to us--we'd already made arrangements to rent a car and spend the day seeing Miami, so getting off a bit early worked to our advantage.
I took one last picture of our room...
... and then we left it for the last time. Our designated waiting area was the Platinum Theater--the same theater where all the nightly shows had been. We got there a few minutes before 8, and of course, took another picture.
We had hardly gotten settled into our seats when they called for our group to leave. As we exited the ship, they scanned our SeaPass cards for the last time (but they let us keep them, which was cool), and we walked down the gangway, away from Liberty of the Seas, our beautiful home away from home.
In hindsight, I suppose we could have taken our time getting off the ship. I just wasn't entirely sure how the whole process worked--since they said our group could leave from 8-8:45, I assumed that meant we HAD to be off the ship by then. But now that I know how it all works, I know that just meant that was the earliest you could leave the ship and know that your luggage would be waiting for you.
We waited for our luggage at a baggage carousel on the bottom level of the RC building, and it all arrived pretty quickly. It reminded me of waiting at baggage claim at an airport. I was a tad nervous about going through customs, simply because I've never done it before, but we breezed through without a hitch. Tony called Hertz to have them pick us up, and they told him a shuttle was on the way. Moments later, we were piling into a van and on our way to the downtown Hertz office.
I waited with our luggage on the sidewalk, huddled up against the building to avoid the rain, while Tony went inside. We got a sweet car--a brand-new Chevy Impala with only 167 miles on it. It had a sunroof, leather seats, and heated seats (which, yes, I ended up making use of, because the AC made me too chilly).
We hadn't thought to get any maps or tourist info from AAA before we left, but luckily, Hertz gave us a map of the city marked with all sorts of attractions. We drove aimlessly around for a long time. Our first stop was Miami Beach--even though the weather was awful, we had to at least go see it. Don't let these pictures fool you--yes, the water looks pretty, but it was pouring rain when I took these pictures.
After that, we just drove and drove--through the Art Deco district, the shops on Lincoln Road, Little Haiti, the Design District, Morningside Historical District, past several museums and convention centers, etc. Due to the weather, we never parked and got out--just drove and appreciated all the buildings from the outside. We were a bit at a loss for what to do, since we'd planned on spending a chunk of time at the beach.
We ended up driving out to Key Biscayne, a small island just off the coast, which turned out to be a gorgeous drive. We stopped at a Subway for lunch and then headed on to the Seaquarium, thinking that might be a nice way to kill a few hours. But when we found out that parking was $8 and tickets were over $35 apiece, we changed our minds. It was just way too much money to shell out, especially at the tail end of an extravagant vacation.
We ended up returning to the Port of Miami area, to check out the shops near there. On our way back in, I snapped a few pictures of the Miami skyline.
Don't let that break in the clouds fool you--I think that was the one and only time all day we saw blue sky. And every so often, the rain would taper off. Other than that, it was a steady rain all day long.
Also, you can't see it in these pictures, but we could see our ship, just barely, from that bridge. And there were several other places throughout the city where we could catch sight of the Liberty of the Seas. It was weird to look at that ship, then look at our watches, and say, "Exactly a week ago, we were just getting on for the first time." Even weirder was to think that there was a whole new group of people checking in, getting on, seeing the wonders of the ship for the first time... even a brand-new couple setting up in our old stateroom.
We found metered parking near the Bayside Marketplace, and as we were trying to figure out the payment machine (they had one machine where you paid, rather than individual meters at each spot), a couple that was leaving offered us their ticket, which still had over 2 hours left on it. So, we got to park for free.
One of the first things we saw in the Marketplace was this crazy tree. It's a banyan tree, and all those "branches" are actually roots--they grown down from the top of the tree, and once they touch the ground, they burrow in and form a new trunk.
We walked slowly through all the shops--there were your typical tourist-trap souvenir shops as well as regular mall-type stores (I was excited to find a Disney Store, for example). We bought a few last souvenirs, and once we were done, we realized we had kind of run out of things to do. I mean, sure, we could drive around more, but we would just be killing gas, and we really didn't want to spend any money on museums or other attractions. So we made our way to the airport Hertz, got a shuttle to the airport, and began the airport check-in process. The airport was crazy-busy, but we were in no hurry, so it was fine with us. Turned out that one of Tony's suitcases (which was tipping the scales at 49 lbs. before we left) now weighed 51 lbs. (I blame the souvenirs), but the airport lady was nice enough to let it slide for us.
We got to our gate by about 5 PM... and our flight wasn't due to leave until 9. I knew I'd be fine--I had a book to read--but I wasn't sure what Tony would do. Of course, we chatted for a while, got dinner, and found other ways to kill time. Tony ended up swiping my word find book and doing those for a while... but eventually, he got bored, and took it out on me. Nah, I'm kidding. I was getting antsy myself, even though my reading material was really intriguing (I Am Legend, in case you're wondering, which also includes several other short horror stories--good reading). So we took one last vacation picture.
And then it turned out that our flight got delayed by more than a hour, because the plane was coming from Mexico and had gotten delayed there. My parents had told me earlier in the day that their plan was to bring Ari to our house around bedtime and then just wait there for us--that way, Ari could sleep in her own bed, and she'd be there for us when we woke up in the morning. Mom said she'd been starting to cry for us more in the past couple days--it seemed like she was really starting to miss us. I kept Mom posted on the flight delays, but since they'd already told Ari they were going to her house (and she was psyched about getting to see Sasha and Ivan), they decided to stick to their plan. I felt so bad when we got delayed, even though, of course, it wasn't our fault.
Our flight finally took off around 10. Tony and I had the middle and aisle seat, as before, and there was someone else in the window seat. About halfway through the flight, he got up to use the restroom and ended up telling us he was going to change seats, since there were several open seats on the plane. So I stretched out to my beloved window seat... and promptly fell asleep.
We got back home, got all our luggage (with only one damaged suitcase--part of the zipper broke, but seeing as I've had that suitcase since college, I really wasn't surprised), and the valet service for the long-term parking picked us right up. By the time we got to the long-term parking lot, our car was pulled up, running, with the heat on. We finally got home around 1:30, and after chatting with my parents for a few minutes, they left.
We sneaked upstairs to see Ari, who was peacefully sleeping. Tony covered her up (since she always kicks off her blankets when she sleeps), and then rearranged her blankets... and then rearranged them again... and then rearranged them again. "I know what you're doing," I whispered with a smile. "You're trying to wake her up."
He just grinned in reply... but his plan worked. Ari stirred, opened her eyes, looked at Tony and said, "Daddy sing?" He scooped her up and started singing. She laid her head on his shoulder, looked at me, and gave me the biggest smile. And, miraculously, she went right back to sleep when Tony was done singing. We went to bed not long after.
And so ends our cruise vacation. That last day in Miami was kind of a bust, due to the weather, but it wasn't a horrible day or anything. Though nothing can compare to the cruise itself. I'm serious when I say it was the perfect vacation--everything was above and beyond our expectations. I could go on and on, but I think, from all these previous entries, you can already tell how pleased I was with this vacation. And the food... oh my gosh, the food. I have never eaten so much in my life, and I can't remember the last time I've ever eaten 3 square meals a day for so many days straight. I mean, my normal breakfast is a donut or Pop Tart--but on the cruise, I was eating cereal, fruit, sometimes eggs, pastries... every single day. And a full lunch and dinner--both finished off with dessert--and sometimes snacks in between. I was terrified to get a scale at home, but by some miracle, I didn't gain any weight.
Several people told us that nothing beats your first cruise, and I can see what they mean. I felt like, everywhere we went, we were just like little kids, with our mouths hanging open, saying "Wow!" about everything. And it's not that I think we'd be "jaded" by the time we take another cruise--but I guess there wouldn't be that same sense of wonder. Not to mention the fact that we were on the biggest cruise ship in the world--totally unintentional, by the way. When we were searching for our cruise, we knew we wanted to go to the Caribbean, but didn't really care where. And we were more concerned with what dates we'd be gone, since we were trying to coordinate babysitting with my parents, and trying not to miss 2 Sundays from church. What ship we were on was the least of our concerns, so it was a complete accident that we ended up on the world's largest. But again, I don't think that means we're going to be disappointed with any future cruising.
I think the best thing about this cruise was that it felt like a true vacation. Due to the fact that we were at sea and/or in international territory, and because we didn't want to spend money on Internet access or phone calls, we were pretty much cut off from the world. The whole time we were gone, I barely thought about work, about church, about anyone back home. It was a perfect escape. Am I going to sound like a horrible mom if I say I didn't even miss Ari that much? I think part of the reason was just that we were in such a strange, new environment. Oddly enough, once we were back on solid ground in Miami, on that last day, I suddenly missed her immensely. I guess setting foot back on US soil was enough to shake me out of the dreamland I'd been living in and remind me that I had a real life to get back to. If any of that makes any sense.
OK, I'm just rambling now. It's a little sad for me to end these cruise entries, because now it feels like the cruise is most definitely, surely over. I'm in the middle of working on a Picaboo photo book, though, so I can relive it all through that too.
So for those of you that have tagged along through this long, LONG saga... thanks for sticking around. I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I love the way so many of you are saying things like, "You know, cruising never sounded that great to me before... but now that I've read your entries, I really want to go!" Let's just say, I highly recommend it. You won't be sorry.
THE END
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Cruise: Day 7
Day 7, Friday, October 3: At Sea
Friday was yet another gorgeous day, despite the way this picture makes it appear. (I have no idea why it looks so cloudy and gray...)
We got breakfast around 8:30 and lazed around the room, eventually (and accidentally) falling back asleep. I guess those 3 port days in a row tired us out more than we thought. When we woke, it was only a few minutes before we were supposed to be meeting Kyle and Amy at the Windjammer for lunch--oops. We made it there about 15 minutes late, but they were cool about it. The reason we'd all decided to do lunch was because the guys had been dying to climb the rock wall and try out the FlowRider, but since neither of their wives wanted to do it, they hadn't gotten around to it. But now that they had each other, and since it was our last day at sea, the 4 of us decided that Friday was the day.
After lunch, the rock wall was our first stop. There wasn't much of a wait. They gave you special sneakers to wear, so I got a picture of Tony putting them on...
And then, of course, The Wall itself. It was definitely a decent-sized wall, with several different "courses" to choose from. (And, there--look at the sky. I told you it was a beautiful day.)
Within minutes, Tony was getting harnessed up (I almost missed it because I was watching Kyle)...
... and then he was off.
Headless Tony (ha ha ha)...
And then, before I knew it, he was ringing the bell at the top. I was surprised how quickly it was all over.
Our next stop was the FlowRider--an attraction found only on Royal Caribbean's largest ships. Basically, it simulates an ocean wave, and you can surf or boogie board. They had different times for each activity, and this afternoon, it was boogie boarding. And they also split the FlowRider into 2 halves with that blue tarp you'll see, since it was so busy. Amy and I found seats in the bleachers and gabbed like girls while the guys waited in line.
Here's Tony's first run...
Starting to get up...
And up on his knees!
Both guys liked it so much that they wanted to go again. Tony did even better his second time around. See? No hands!
After the guys were done, the 4 of us headed to the pools. Kyle and Amy told us they preferred the kids' pool--there were all these sculptures that sprayed and squirted water, so it seemed to keep you much cooler, even when you weren't in the water. But as hot a day as it was, we pretty much just sat in the pool. All the pools were equipped with large areas where the water was only a couple inches deep--perfect for just dipping your toes in, or sitting down and keeping your legs wet. We literally spent hours at the pool, talking and talking and talking. We exchanged the typical "how we met" stories and shared our engagement stories, and talked about everything under the sun. It was the perfect way to pass away our last day on the ship. (And helping ourselves to the free ice cream didn't hurt, either.)
We finally dragged ourselves away from the pool, knowing we had to get ready for dinner. When we got back to our room, we had our gratuity vouchers waiting on the bed for us (we opted to do the pre-paid gratuities, which meant having a fixed amount charged to our SeaPass card). I took a moment to write a short personal note to our stateroom attendant Barbara, our waiter Davut, and our assistant waiter Jovenito, to enclose along with their gratuities. A few moments later, Barbara knocked on our door, delivering the bottle of rum Tony had purchased earlier. (Weird rule on the ship--any alcohol purchased in port or on the ship is held by the ship until the final night of the cruise. I'm sure there's some good reason for it, but I don't know what it is.) I thanked her, and then took advantage of the chance to personally hand her the gratuity envelope and verbally thank her for everything she'd done for us. Tony took a few extra minutes to pack, since we would have to have all our bags packed and outside our stateroom by 11 PM that night (standard cruise ship procedure, so that they can easily get all the luggage off the ship the next morning).
Dinner was fantastic, as always. Davut spent a lot of extra time chatting with us, answering our questions, and just generally making the most of his last night with us. The waiters sang again, so dinner ran a little later than usual.
We went back to our room after dinner, and it was my turn to furiously pack. Yes, we had until 11 PM to get it done, but neither one of us wanted to feel like we'd have to rush back to our room to pack after the evening show--not that we had any plans, but you never know. By some miracle, I finished packing and we set all our bags outside before leaving for the show.
Once again, we sat with Kyle, Amy, Steve, and Freyja, and took the time to take a few final pictures. First, one of me and Tony... (another favorite picture of mine--look how tan we are!)
Then, one of the other 4...
And then I decided we needed to take a picture of us looking sad because it's our last night of the cruise...
The cruise director, James, started off the show as usual, and they showed about 10 minutes worth of the 45-minute "Cruise in Review" DVD that was available to buy. We didn't see ourselves or any of our new friends in it, but it was still fun to watch. We both kind of wanted to get a copy, but the $30 price tag convinced us otherwise. Then the real show started--Chuck Gunter (the comedic juggler) opened again, and he was funnier than he had been the first night. Then came comedian Carlos Oscar. When the show was over, they showed a short video of all the crew members in each department waving good-bye to all of us. Then James came back on stage, joined by the Royal Caribbean singers who sang "Imagine." Then, they were all joined by a bunch of the crew--not everyone, but still a lot of people. I have to confess, it was a pretty emotional finale, and I got tears in my eyes. I just hated to see this perfect vacation end. This is a pretty horrible picture of the finale, but I had to get a picture...
When the show was totally over, we said our good-byes and exchanged hugs with all our new friends. We had all given each other our e-mail addresses earlier at dinner (which reminds me... I need to e-mail them!), and we all promised to keep in touch and send pictures. And then we all went our separate ways.
Tony and I took one last walk on Deck 12. It was pretty windy again, and we could see heat lightning and another cruise ship in the distance. Other than that, it was fairly quiet and uncrowded. There were even still birds flying around overhead--those same birds we had seen the previous night.
After our time on deck, we wandered slowly and aimlessly around the ship, not wanting to return to our room and officially end the evening. We took one more picture of the Promenade...
And then we ended up at the On Air Club for another night of karaoke. There was one girl who tackled Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You"... and totally nailed it. She was awesome. We finally called it a night shortly after midnight, knowing we still had a long day ahead of us the next day.
Next entry... the final cruise entry, our day in Miami...
Friday was yet another gorgeous day, despite the way this picture makes it appear. (I have no idea why it looks so cloudy and gray...)
We got breakfast around 8:30 and lazed around the room, eventually (and accidentally) falling back asleep. I guess those 3 port days in a row tired us out more than we thought. When we woke, it was only a few minutes before we were supposed to be meeting Kyle and Amy at the Windjammer for lunch--oops. We made it there about 15 minutes late, but they were cool about it. The reason we'd all decided to do lunch was because the guys had been dying to climb the rock wall and try out the FlowRider, but since neither of their wives wanted to do it, they hadn't gotten around to it. But now that they had each other, and since it was our last day at sea, the 4 of us decided that Friday was the day.
After lunch, the rock wall was our first stop. There wasn't much of a wait. They gave you special sneakers to wear, so I got a picture of Tony putting them on...
And then, of course, The Wall itself. It was definitely a decent-sized wall, with several different "courses" to choose from. (And, there--look at the sky. I told you it was a beautiful day.)
Within minutes, Tony was getting harnessed up (I almost missed it because I was watching Kyle)...
... and then he was off.
Headless Tony (ha ha ha)...
And then, before I knew it, he was ringing the bell at the top. I was surprised how quickly it was all over.
Our next stop was the FlowRider--an attraction found only on Royal Caribbean's largest ships. Basically, it simulates an ocean wave, and you can surf or boogie board. They had different times for each activity, and this afternoon, it was boogie boarding. And they also split the FlowRider into 2 halves with that blue tarp you'll see, since it was so busy. Amy and I found seats in the bleachers and gabbed like girls while the guys waited in line.
Here's Tony's first run...
Starting to get up...
And up on his knees!
Both guys liked it so much that they wanted to go again. Tony did even better his second time around. See? No hands!
After the guys were done, the 4 of us headed to the pools. Kyle and Amy told us they preferred the kids' pool--there were all these sculptures that sprayed and squirted water, so it seemed to keep you much cooler, even when you weren't in the water. But as hot a day as it was, we pretty much just sat in the pool. All the pools were equipped with large areas where the water was only a couple inches deep--perfect for just dipping your toes in, or sitting down and keeping your legs wet. We literally spent hours at the pool, talking and talking and talking. We exchanged the typical "how we met" stories and shared our engagement stories, and talked about everything under the sun. It was the perfect way to pass away our last day on the ship. (And helping ourselves to the free ice cream didn't hurt, either.)
We finally dragged ourselves away from the pool, knowing we had to get ready for dinner. When we got back to our room, we had our gratuity vouchers waiting on the bed for us (we opted to do the pre-paid gratuities, which meant having a fixed amount charged to our SeaPass card). I took a moment to write a short personal note to our stateroom attendant Barbara, our waiter Davut, and our assistant waiter Jovenito, to enclose along with their gratuities. A few moments later, Barbara knocked on our door, delivering the bottle of rum Tony had purchased earlier. (Weird rule on the ship--any alcohol purchased in port or on the ship is held by the ship until the final night of the cruise. I'm sure there's some good reason for it, but I don't know what it is.) I thanked her, and then took advantage of the chance to personally hand her the gratuity envelope and verbally thank her for everything she'd done for us. Tony took a few extra minutes to pack, since we would have to have all our bags packed and outside our stateroom by 11 PM that night (standard cruise ship procedure, so that they can easily get all the luggage off the ship the next morning).
Dinner was fantastic, as always. Davut spent a lot of extra time chatting with us, answering our questions, and just generally making the most of his last night with us. The waiters sang again, so dinner ran a little later than usual.
We went back to our room after dinner, and it was my turn to furiously pack. Yes, we had until 11 PM to get it done, but neither one of us wanted to feel like we'd have to rush back to our room to pack after the evening show--not that we had any plans, but you never know. By some miracle, I finished packing and we set all our bags outside before leaving for the show.
Once again, we sat with Kyle, Amy, Steve, and Freyja, and took the time to take a few final pictures. First, one of me and Tony... (another favorite picture of mine--look how tan we are!)
Then, one of the other 4...
And then I decided we needed to take a picture of us looking sad because it's our last night of the cruise...
The cruise director, James, started off the show as usual, and they showed about 10 minutes worth of the 45-minute "Cruise in Review" DVD that was available to buy. We didn't see ourselves or any of our new friends in it, but it was still fun to watch. We both kind of wanted to get a copy, but the $30 price tag convinced us otherwise. Then the real show started--Chuck Gunter (the comedic juggler) opened again, and he was funnier than he had been the first night. Then came comedian Carlos Oscar. When the show was over, they showed a short video of all the crew members in each department waving good-bye to all of us. Then James came back on stage, joined by the Royal Caribbean singers who sang "Imagine." Then, they were all joined by a bunch of the crew--not everyone, but still a lot of people. I have to confess, it was a pretty emotional finale, and I got tears in my eyes. I just hated to see this perfect vacation end. This is a pretty horrible picture of the finale, but I had to get a picture...
When the show was totally over, we said our good-byes and exchanged hugs with all our new friends. We had all given each other our e-mail addresses earlier at dinner (which reminds me... I need to e-mail them!), and we all promised to keep in touch and send pictures. And then we all went our separate ways.
Tony and I took one last walk on Deck 12. It was pretty windy again, and we could see heat lightning and another cruise ship in the distance. Other than that, it was fairly quiet and uncrowded. There were even still birds flying around overhead--those same birds we had seen the previous night.
After our time on deck, we wandered slowly and aimlessly around the ship, not wanting to return to our room and officially end the evening. We took one more picture of the Promenade...
And then we ended up at the On Air Club for another night of karaoke. There was one girl who tackled Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You"... and totally nailed it. She was awesome. We finally called it a night shortly after midnight, knowing we still had a long day ahead of us the next day.
Next entry... the final cruise entry, our day in Miami...
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