Mediterannean Cruise Part 2

This post is long overdue as well, but I just need to do it to make a record of it. I've more trips to blog about, before I forget the details, and more trips coming up this year, so here goes. To read Part 1 of the cruise, click here.

http://theredc.blogspot.com/2009/07/trip-pics-recovered-part-1.html

Thursday June 11th

Today the port was Villefranche, France, which is right near Nice. It was a beautiful view from the ship.



In the square where the royal palace is.

We had decided to take the train to Monaco, which is practically, right next door, and we had heard how beautiful it was, and we were not disappointed. Monaco is so clean and well kept. Breathtaking, and very hilly, but the views were worth it.

The famous Monte Carlo Casino.



|Monaco's Harbour

Then we headed back on the train to Nice, got some crepes for lunch at a sidewalk cafe, and walked along the beach. Holy cow, was it HOT! It was soooo hot. 41 C if I remember correctly, and humid. The water was so blue. I know I took some pictures, but they might have been lost.

Friday June 12th

(Please ignore my back fat)

We were at sea today. I hadn't gotten much color on the trip so far, so I made the foolish decision of laying out by the pool without any sunscreen on. Just for a little while, I told myself. I thought I was doing alright. I kept checking my skin to make sure it wasn't burning, cause it felt hot, but it still looked white as anything, when I took my sunglasses off. I thought I looked a bit pink when I looked through my sunglasses, but thought it was just the tintedness of them, playing tricks on me. (Is tintedness a word?)Anyway, as soon as I walked back inside, I looked in a mirror, and whoa, was I burnt!! Guess the sun was too bright for me to see correctly. I was so sore that night. I asked our waiter at dinner for cider vinegar, because I knew it would help the pain, but he came back with white vinegar instead. I don't think he quite knew what I meant, and there was a bit of a language barrier, so I had to suffer. My own fault though.

Saturday June 13th

Today we were in a port called Livorno, Italy. In the morning, we booked an excursion to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. It was really quite something to see in person. Unfortunately no one is allowed inside the tower anymore. They were doing some restoration work. Here are a few picsof Brian being silly.

Bracing the tower.

|In the afternoon, we had booked an excursion to Florence. We spent the afternoon in and around a famous square, trying to squeeze in as many tourist attractions as we possibly could. It was almost unbearably hot there too. On the bus ride back to the ship, the busdriver stopped on side of the road, beacuse there was a teenage guy vacationing with his family, who needed to use the bathroom. He must have been pretty desperate to want to go on the side of the road. Anyway, while he was gone, his brother told everyone on the bus to clap for him when he came back on the bus. It was pretty pretty funny, but he was a good sport about it.

These are of the Duomo. It is a massive cathedral. I can't even begin to describe how utterly huge it is. We didn't have time to go inside, unfortunately.

Sunday June 14th

We got off the cruiseship today in Civitavecchia. It's about an hour's train ride from Rome. We got on the train, and went a few stops to a place called Santa Marinella. One of Brian's friends has a brother who married an Italian girl from Santa Marinella, and they run a hotel there. We had made arrangements to stay in their hotel overnight and went out to dinner with them that evening. We just lazed around all afternoon, went for a swim in the Mediterannean, it was a lovely end to our trip.

The view out our window.

Logan's 3rd Birthday

I know this this post is way overdue, it's been in "draft" form for months because the pics were on Brian's laptop for awhile, but better late than never, right?

Logan turned 3 on August 18th. We celebrated with family on Friday the 20th with cake and ice cream. I made him a John Deere tractor cake. He was very proud of it, and even helped to make it! He loves "helping in the kitchen" If he hears me making supper or getting ready to bake, he comes right in and says, "Whatcha making mommy?" And then proceeds to get out a mixing bowl and my electric beater and puts them on the counter. What a good helper. He'll often ask throughout the mixing process, "Is it yummy for me yet?" Even if there's only butter and sugar in the bowl. He just wants the beaters to lick off.

Opening presents!

Blowing out the candles!

Meghan Jayne

She's finally arrived!!! Meghan Jayne Moses was born at 8:01pm on Thursday December 9th. She tipped the scales at 7 lbs even,(a new record low!)and was 19.5 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great, and the rest of the clan are quite taken with her. More pics and details to follow.

Baby stuff!

I have been busy getting ready for baby. I found a crib that I LOVE, on kijiji for $40. Yep, $40. I was so excited!! I had my heart set on a mini crib, that converts into a twin bed, but we'd have to order it from the states, and the shipping was a little ridiculous, so Brian put the kybosh to that one. It's okay though. I'm very pleased with my super deal. I love the turned spindles.

I am in the middle of redecorating the nursery with these fabrics. Can't wait to take the after pics!

I discovered "Sleepy Wrap". My sister, Keah purchased one, and I really liked it, so I made my own. Mine is beige. Didn't want to go too crazy with the color. Beige will match everything.

Also made myself a new portable changing pad. I copied the "Patemm" pad. I think they're pretty cool. You can check these out at http://www.sleepywrap.com/ & http://www.patemm.com/

I've gone through all my girl clothes, and have washed and put them all away. Now I just need the baby!!

Baby Update

Last week at my 38 week appointment, baby was in a breech position. Booooooo! She was bum down, so I was referred to an OB-GYN. I really, really, really, didn't want to have a c-section and was willing to try a breech delivery if the doctor agreed to, so I was booked for an ultrasound and assessment that took place today. I am thrilled to say that the little bugger decided to turn around the right way, so she is head down, for now, and doc says there's an 80% chance she'll stay that way. The head isn't fully engaged, but it's down pretty far. I have been booked for another assessment next Tuesday November 30th at 9am, to see if she's still head down. If she is, they will induce me then, (if I don't go into labour before then). Only one day shy of my due date. I'm measuring a bit small, which is unusual for me. I've been measuring 1cm smaller for weeks, then I caught up, and now I'm back to 1cm smaller. The ultrasound today estimated baby's weight at 6lbs 4oz. I don't believe it though. My smallest baby was 8lbs 4 oz, and I feel I'm about that big this time around too. Time will tell though. Still have a week to grow, and still have so much to do. The nursery is pretty much done. Just one more quick project, and then I'll post pics. I just decided to make a rag quilt. I've never made one for myself before. I always give them away.

On another totally unrelated note, we're planning a trip to Utah at the end of February. Brian has a medical conference in Park City, so we're making a family vacation out of it. I am looking for suggestions of things to do while there, and the names and locations of some awesomne fabric/crafty stores and just general good shopping. I know there's a great outlet centre in Park City I've been to once before. I want to stock up while I'm there. We'll be in Park City from the Feb 27-Mar 4, and in and around Salt Lake from Feb 23-27 and Mar 4-7. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Keep in mind I'll have 5 kids aged 0-10 years. Oh, and in case you think I'm entirely crazy, we are bringing our mothers along to help out. Not doing that alone! We'd love to meet up with friends while we're there too, so we'll have to plan a get together of some sort!!

Happy Halloween

Check this out! It's hilarious!!

http://http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/8tK6whG0MnMEU2BM

28 week belly pic and other stuff

Holy Blog slacker! I don't know why I have such a hard time uploading pictures onto the computer, but for some reason, I do. Even though I'm at 31 weeks now, I'll post my 28 week belly pic. Not a great one, but as you can see, I'm definitely growing.

I guess I'll start where I left off last time. I visited my family in Bridgewater in mid August, while Brian took Avery and Jacob to Orlando, for the Star Wars Celebration 5 convention. Nope, I'm not kidding. I asked him to do a post about their trip, so hopefully that'll happen soon. They had a great time. I, on the other hand, did not so much. Izzy and Logan had had a cough a few days before we went to Bridgewater, but were pretty much over it. I started with a sore throat, got a cold on top of it, the day before we left, and felt just wretched. I woke up the next day with chills so bad I was shaking, and my fingers were tingly and nails were half blue. I put on a sweater and my Mom made me some hot chocolate. I thawed out and then got a fever and body aches, while I still had a sore throat and sinus congestion. Thank goodness for my neti pot! And Tylenol. (Iwould have much rather have taken some good cold drugs, but being pregnant and all, Tylenol was the only thing I could take) I felt a fair bit better the next day, and even better the next. And then I woke up with an earache. It was just one thing after another, and I was sick pretty much 80% of the time I was there. I had so many plans, but most of them fell by the wayside. I barely got to see my twin nieces, but toward the end of my stay, I was able to go and visit them. I made one trip to Frenchy's and scored big time! I got Avery a brand new "Columbia" winter coat. I was pretty excited. I also went to dinner with two high school friends and we had a great time catching up!

The kids got to finally meet Finley and Emmy in person. Izzy held Emmy for a few seconds. She started to squirm a bit, and I think that scared Izzy, so she kind of threw up her arms and didn't want any more of that. I don't think she has ever held a baby before. She was so young when Logan was born, and just wasn't all that interested in him. Logan didn't hold them, but he was always right there, observing. He said a couple of times, "I wuv dat baby" and would blow kisses to them. It was pretty cute. Ave and Jake held them. Jacob couldn't get enough. He thought their tiny little hands and feet were amazing and was very inquisitive as to why things were the way they are. Avery was paranoid that Finley would spit up on him. It was kind of funny.

We celebrated Logan's 3rd birthday on Aug 18th. I'll do a separate post on that later. I also did up some Italian stewed tomatoes. I was pretty proud of myself. Most of them came from my mom's and grandparent's garden. Aren't they pretty! I also made some rosehip syrup from rosehips I picked from our front yard, but I didn't take a pic of that.

We headed back up to Bridgewater on Sep 5th for Finley and Emmy's blessing in church. It was a big family event, with some good food afterward. Mike gave them both wonderful blessings, and a ton of pictures were taken to mark the event. The girls behaved exceptionally well.

That's Emmy on the left and Finley sleeping on the right.

Seymour family.

Moses Family

One big happy family

Then school started on the 7th!! Jacob had a rough morning. He had gotten his hair cut before they went to Florida. If you know Jacob, you know that he has always been sensitive around the head area, and therefore haircutting is nearly unbearable for him. He has gotten a lot better the older he's gotten, but he still does not like it. Anyway, at the time, he felt that it was too short, and wore a hat constantly for the next week or so. It didn't help that Avery made a comment about him being bald either. He got over it, until the morning school starts. He gets on this thing about him being bald again and doesn't want to go to school. He says he's sick so he can't go, he's says he's going to barf, and makes theses gross gagging noises. Wouldn't get his shoes on, so I left him in his room, and I walked out to the bus, because Izzy was starting school for the first time, so I wanted to be there for her. She did great. I meant to take a picture, but discovered my batteries in the camera were dead when I tried, so I took one on the second day, instead. She turned and waved like three or four times as she was climbing up the steps to the bus. Avery was fine. He couldn't wait to get back to school because he was so bored at home. So I went back inside, and Jake was in the hallway. I told him he missed the bus, so I was going to drive him in. It took awhile, (had to get Logan dressed, had to forego my shower, as I was going grocery shopping and the school is 3 minutes away from Superstore, so I wasn't about to make two trips, and I wanted to get him there before school actually started) but we got in the car (Jacob sans shoes) and drove. I called Brian on the way there, and explained what had happened and got him to talk to Jake on the phone. He told Jake that we'd cut Avery's hair that night, so he's have short hair too. (He was due for a haircut anyway) That seemed to make him feel a bit better. I was able to get his shoes on when were stopped in road construction, but he still was making up these excuses as to why he couldn't go to school. It had started raining, so he couldn't go to school. Maybe an elephant would step on the school and crush it, so he couldn't go to school. Seriously, where does he come up with this stuff?! We got to school, and he didn't put up a fight at all. We walked in and met his Star Program teacher in the hallway so that helped. Got his shoes changed, hat off (thank goodness) etc., and he was taken into his classroom, just as "Oh Canada" ended. Once he got there, he was fine. And Izzy's classroom is right next door to his, so that was a bit comforting, as they can walk to their classrooms together. They play together at recess all the time. Haven't had any "not going to school" issues since, thank goodness.