Our Cruise According to Harper

This absolute preciousness may go down as my favorite ever travel souvenir.  I can't even stand the sweetness on these colored up pages.

I grabbed a pack of three blank books out of the Dollar Spot at Target, not really having a plan for them. (Sam says I'm a craft hoarder. Which is probably actually true.). But, as I had every inch of our clothing lying on the dining room table waiting to be packed, it occurred to me that those may make cute little cruise books for the girls and serve the double purpose of distracting them while we waited for dinner. So, at what I'm sure was probably 11:15 on a "school night," I sat down and penned the bones of a little book for each girl to tell their own vacation story.

In all fairness, Willa apparently spent her travel time fighting the color red because that's her book in a nutshell. Lots of scribbling. Lots. So, that is why hers isn't represented here. I thought you may be able to imagine that on your own.

But, here's the Cliff's Notes of Harper's cruise. Some evenings she would need some prompting-- "what did we do again?"-- (I wasn't kidding when I said there were a few of the girls ' naps that resembled unconsciousness.), but for the most part, these were her own highlights of the day.  You can likely tell from the pictures (wink, wink), but I'll go ahead and translate just in case.

Day One: Boarding the Ship in Tampa

Highlight: The Pool

Day Two:  Day at Sea

Highlight:  Lunch Date with Dad. (Sweetest thing ever. I totally thought the pool was winning again.)

Day Three:  Roatan, Honduras

Highlight:  Monkeys at Little French Key

Day Four:  Belize City, Belize

Highlight:  The Slide

Day Five:  Costa Maya, Mexico

Highlight:  Buying a handmade coin purse with her own money

Day Six:  Cozumel Mexico

Highlight:  The Dolphins

Day Seven:  Day at Sea

Highlight:  the Circus

Florida Bound

I don't know if I've ever been this unprepared for a trip. (I know, I know, I say that every time, but really.) Adding the girls to the mix really ups the stress level. It's one thing if Sam and I just want to wing it with last minute travel plans, or go to multiple countries without the slightest game plan. But, my goodness, throw in two little humans who depend on us, and even a direct flight and a straightforward Caribbean cruise feel like a massive undertaking.

To get our party of four ready for this trip, I basically just had to highjack the dining room table to lay everything out. The girls' things were packed first, with each outfit, undergarment, and coordinating hairbow packaged together neatly in individual ziplock bags. By the time I finally got to packing my things, it was 1:30 a.m., and I was totally over it. So, stay tuned to me wearing the same outfit every day because I only managed to pack half a suitcase for 10 days. Oh well. At least my kids will be cute.

Sam and I had both planned to work on the day of our departure since we weren't flying out until early evening, but we hadn't necessarily planned for him to get called in to work at 3 a.m. So, he had already worked 10 hours by the time he came home in the afternoon to get changed to leave.

Kasey was super sweet to help us get the girls changed while we loaded the Yukon, and then she drove us over to the airport to drop us off. It felt kind of weird having the girls unload with us this time. 

 I had printed off everything online (since cheapo Allegiant charges you $5 per boarding pass to print them at the airport), so we checked in quickly, but then got reminded (again) why our flights only cost us $332 when they quickly told us our checked bag was overweight. Now, I have a pretty good sense at this point what 50 lbs feels like in our suitcase, and I had felt pretty confident that ours wasn't over 50 lbs. And it wasn't. It was 48 lbs. But, ol' Allegiant sets their weight limit at 40 lbs, so it was 8 lbs over. Gah. They offered for us to move some things around, so we were stuffing Sam's heavy jeans into about any bag we could. We were still 4 lbs over, so we asked if we could just pay for the overage. She happily said, "sure, for an additional $50 each way," to which Sam laughed and said, "I'll throw the jeans away before I'll pay that." haha. We somehow managed to get it down to 42, and since our other bag was only 38 lbs, she allowed the cumulative to be 80 and called it fair.

The girls played in the terminal until our plane arrived. Allegiant's 737 is actually the largest plane to fly out of Roanoke, and it looked huge compared to the AA's turbo prop plane at the next gate. The girls enjoyed learning about the difference between jets and propellers, and one of the sweet American Airlines gate attendants talked with Harper about different plane protocols.

Allegiant says the can fly so inexpensively in part because of their efficiency, and I will say that boarding was pretty quick. It could also be because they charge $30 for any carry on placed in the overhead compartment, so only a fraction of the customers have them, which cuts down on all those folks standing the aisle trying to find a place for their bag.

It was so cute watching their reaction to take off. Here's a little glimpse (and by "glimpse" I mean a six minute long video that only grandparents will want to watch, though it is cute!):

Harper literally talked the E N T I R E hour and thirty-nine minutes of that flight. So, despite the fact that I desperately wanted her to be quiet for just. five minutes. it was pretty entertaining to hear some of her comments and insights. As we were ascending, I told her we were starting to clear the clouds. A few minutes later, she randomly says, "Are we going to meet Jesus?" Ummm. That's not exactly what this not-in-love-with-flying person wants to hear. Hahaha. But, I said, "no, I don't think so. Why?" And she responded with, "Oh. Well, just that He lives in Heaven and that's up above the clouds where we are." She is so literal, that sweet girl. She thought we'd be crashing into pearly gates any minute after we passed those few clouds.

After the pilot announced our "initial descent" into the St. Petersburg area, Wills got so excited and was yelling, "we're landing! we're landing!" I am so thankful for the patient ladies that were seated together with our family. The lady beside Willa interacted with her, asked her questions, helped her do things. And the lady beside me ended up being our friend Megan's mom! Small world.

We were able to find our luggage easily and then waited for the rental car shuttle. Within about an hour, we were off in our Kia Optima, and headed to our hotel. It was only an hour, but it must've been an hour in dog years. Because with two tired, hungry kiddos, it felt like it took foooorrrrrreeeevvvvveeeerrrr. By about 9:30, we had managed to grab some to-go Chick-fil-A and get settled into our hotel room. Shew. I think we were more tired than the girls.

Altogether, our first big travel together went pretty smoothly. It was taxing, definitely, with the constant policing and correcting of the kids. But, it really wasn't terrible. Now it's time to rest up to be able to enjoy Tampa tomorrow!

Well. Unless you're Willa. 

Harper's Prayer

My sweet Big Girl is learning a lot at preschool and church.  I can't thank them enough for the ways they pour into my Harper Mae.  Because of a prayer (song) she has learned at Cave Spring Baptist Preschool over the last three years, she now volunteers to pray at nearly all of our meals.  Here's a little snippet of one I caught on video.

5 Days of Christmas {Tennessee Christmas}

 Christmas just kept on going with some fun in Tennessee; there was even some birthday fun mixed in.  Here's a sweet little recap from my mama on our time together the weekend after Christmas (which also happens to be my poorly timed birthday).  Cheers to a fun weekend with lots of hugs, time-outs, memories, and pictures.

PapPap & MarMar with Harper (4.5), Willa Kate (21 months), + Win (3)

Now that it is mid January, this post may have lost some of its luster, but the sparkle is still in MarMar's eyes from sharing Christmas with Ally, Harper, Willa, Leah, Edwin, Win..and PapPap.   We all MISSED you Sam!

Our family is scattered across three states...Alabama, Georgia, and Ginga (as Harper pronounces Virginia right now), so I am so very appreciative of everyone's efforts to meet up in yet another state, Tennessee, to share a post Christmas celebration at the house we purchased in Dandridge two years ago this month!

After we had spent Christmas in the Bluefield, Va/Princeton, WV area and the Sweetens in Columbia,SC...and my homebody daughter in Roanoke, we had all finally converged on Douglas Lake by the wee hours of Saturday morning.    Allison braved the lone drive with the typical Willa screaming in the back seat and Harper dutifully sleeping on the way to her "faraway grandmother's house that lives past the big green bridge".        Grandson Win arrived after midnight..and several hours of sleeping..and greeted me at the door with a huge hug and an enthusiastic "let's go play in the big room, MarMar!"     And that we did..until almost 3 a.m.

Which is probably why our Christmas morning didn't start until almost noon, but the leisurely breakfast and late sleepers gave us time to play with the real nativity set and a cardboard stand up figure one and chat about the real story of Christmas.    My heart was thrilled to hear Win and Harper recite the Biblical characters with little Wills chiming in with baby Jesus!    Precious to hear them learning and remembering the things that even Mary pondered in her own heart. 

Santa came again!

In traditional fashion, we took a moment to hold hands and thank God for His indescribable gift to us and for the blessing of our salvation, for our dear family, and for the love and joy in sharing our time and gifts with one another.     The kids went through their gifts first, and MarMar with her themes and chosen Thomas the Train for Win and like almost every other little girl in America, Frozen for Harper Mae and Willa Kate.    From sleeping bags to pajamas, books to puzzles, outfits and hairbows, they seemed excited to have their toys to play with while the big kids opened theirs.  Isn't it something though that with all the toys to be played with they seemed to still just want to hang around where we were and be part of the action!

It was even nice enough to go outside for while that afternoon and walk the neighborhood enjoying the company of Leah & Allison, and Willa Kate could try out her new Frozen riding toy (Win's Thomas trike arrived moments after the Sweetens left on Monday..boo!)  Naturally, we tried for a photo shoot during a rest stop and hopefully got a few good smiles!

there they go!

I could just eat them up!

Bestest sisters ever

My giant birthday rainbow

Not only was it our "Christmas Day", it was also Allison's birthday...I'm not saying which one though!      So we had a crowd favorite lasagna, salad, and bread dinner with some cake, ice cream, and balloons and sparklers, and of course, more gifts!     Even the kiddos had a few from the morning that still needed opened, so we literally celebrated all day!   Funny though, that they enjoyed tossing and catching the balloons just as much as anything else.    

::: Though Mom is sweet and won't mention my age, I will-- the big 3-1!  How is that possible?  Last year when I turned 30, I was not prepared for how melancholy I would feel, but boy, did I!  I was happy for that day to come and go.  Not this year!  My family loved on me, my firstborn prayed for my birthday meal (though earlier in the afternoon she had a meltdown and told me I "ruined her life even worse than she thought." It's hard not to laugh at the über dramatic back talk. Just keepin' it real.), I saw a giant rainbow, the chocolate syrup spelled an A in the milk I poured for my girls. How could it not be a great day?  And better yet, how could this not be a great year?  It's off to a wonderful start.  I'm even showing some signs of definite maturity-- like not crying when my precious sister asked each family member to go around and say something that they love about me.  :)  I felt so known, so loved.  Ok, back to mom before I start crying just thinking about it.  Ha!  

Win had been singing Frosty the Snowman in his sweet voice, not quite sure of all the words (must get that from MarMar), so we did a Frosty balloon that somehow managed to make it through the next few days.  I didn't have the heart to pop him, as it made me smile thinking on the previous days, so he sort of just "melted" into a shrunken, wrinkled version.

Sunday morning, we headed to our church First Baptist Dandridge, with gifts in hand for baby Jesus, to once again emphasize with the kids that Christmas is about His Birth!     Each grandchild had an age appropriate toy to give to their classroom teacher as a present for Jesus,   a set of puzzles, a farm tractor, and a musical toy.      Win was quite distressed that he left church without having ever gotten to play with the farm tractor!

Naming the Nativity characters

All the kids loved the dumplings...

especially...

this one!

There was plenty of merriment and excitement for us over the next few days.      Late nights snuggling, movie, lots of treats, Dutch Blitz (a card game that is mandatory whenever Leah and Allison are together...thanks to Aunt Christy Page!    Lo and behold, I even won a few rounds of this fast and furious card game.    I have a little plaque sitting out in the foyer area that pretty much sums it up....    We didn't realize we were making memories.   We just knew we were having FUN!

If you'd like to see the rest of our Christmas fun, check out these links:

5 Days of Christmas {Our Merry Little Morning}
5 Days of Christmas {Tennessee Christmas}
5 Days of Christmas {Christmas Dinner}
5 Days of Christmas {Smith-mas Eve}
Christmas with Kasey
Christmas Pictures 2014