Like Dora!

Alli was super excited about her new backpack. We will ask her, "do you want to wear your backpack?" and she says "like Dora!". She loves her backpack.

Monterey

To top of our very busy August we hopped on a plane and went to Monterey, California for a long weekend. The flight was quick and easy but Allison's little legs are now just long enough to touch the seat in front of her. The jerk sitting in front of her with his leaned back seat did not appreciate her excitement and outstretched legs. But instead of simply moving seats on our not even close to being full flight he decides the best thing to do would be to yell at me and tell me what a pain it is. So our fun flight resulted in me crying and all of us shifting seats to accommodate the meanie. Whatever, I got over it pretty fast and had a great weekend. And just to be safe, Papa Phillips sat in the seat in front of Alli on the flight home. He said he didn't care if Alli's legs could touch his chair.
To him it would feel like a gentle massage....thanks Papa!

We flew into Oakland and drove down to Monterey. On the way down we stopped in Concord to see where Dave grew up. This was his childhood house.
We also visited with their old neighbors and family friends Tom and Diane aka Daisy. Then we ate lunch at one of Dave's favorite California places, Togo's.
After that we headed down the coast to Monterey!
We spent a lot of time that day on Cannery Row. The first thing we did was go to the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium.
That aquarium is AMAZING! It had everything you could imagine. There were numerous floor to ceiling glass walls with all kinds of sea life behind them. In them we saw all kinds of sharks, huge schools of fish, rays, kelp, jellyfish, and giant fish to name a few. Standing in front of them was mesmerizing. We also saw seahorses, flamingos, penguins and lots of smaller tanks filled with interesting things. They had lots of different exhibits where you could touch different things that you would find in tide pools like starfish, anemones, seaweed and slugs. We spent some time in the different children's play areas. Which were awesome by themselves. And we all loved watching the "big water", the tide simulation.
The next day we went to the Denis the Menace Park. We explored the train and swung on the swings. It was hilarious to watch Allison try to keep her balance while walking across the big sway bridge. There was lots of really neat play equipment. We had fun!
We stayed with Dave's best friend Mike Pola and his cute family. Allison and Vinnie had the best time together! It was so cute to watch them interact and play. They are both the first and only child in their families so at first they both had a little crash course in sharing :) But by the end they were best friends!!! Mike and Tami are the nicest people. We loved staying in their home and when we got there they had even bought Alli new jammies and a stuffed animal. So thoughtful and unexpected! Thank you, thank you for your hospitality!
The actual reason we decided to go on this trip was because Dave's grandparents were having a 55 year wedding anniversary party. We went to that on Saturday after the park. On Sunday morning we drove back down to their house in Carmel Valley and had breakfast with some of the family. It was nice to visit, see their home and see the beautiful area where they live.
From there Dave, Allison, and I stole Papa away and drove up to Oakland. We had a late flight and the A's happened to have an afternoon game that day so we went to the game. This was Alli's first MLB game. A's vs. Rays. We had the greatest seats. Not because they were super close to the field but because they where in the shade and had this fabulous little area behind them where Alli could play but not run away. It was perfect!
Then it was off to the airport and home. Along the way Papa did get a great little gentle "massage" courtesy of Alli Bear :)

Cozumel

was our last stop before heading back to Miami and onto home. We had a good time in Cozumel. We did some shopping and the new bag I bought in Belize bled onto my skin and clothes (luckily it came right out). Uh...yeah...cool. When we got home I washed it 3 times and even in the last wash it still bled a little in the water. Awesome. Besides that it was great.
The culprit bag...grrr...but still cute :)
After a while we went to a beach. It was nice beach if you like laying in the sun, ordering sodas and nachos delivered to your shaded table, seeing peacocks and chickens wandering around, and looking at a beautiful view. But not if you like nibbling fish. That's right I said nibbling fish. We were all just standing around about chest deep in the water when it felt like something bit me. Not hard but enough to notice and I jokingly said I think a fish just bit me. Everyone laughed and didn't believe me. Then later on Dave and some others said they felt like they had been nibbled on too. They still stayed in the water but after that first bite I just hung out on the beach and on the very edge of the water. Swimming with piranhas (not really) is not my idea of fun.

Hi Dave!

After we had had enough beach time we headed back to get on the boat for the last time.

We all had a fantastic vacation and made lots of fun new family memories. Thanks again Mom and Dad for this trip and also thanks again Mom and Dad Phillips for watching Allison and loving her so much!

We missed her tons!

Belize

Belize was an awesome stop for some and a little uneventful for others. My dad and Dave went on an excursion. Just the two of them :) They went to see some ruins and were very excited about it. I wanted to go but the description said you need good walking shoes/no sandals and I had only brought sandals, so I didn't go. Others just weren't all that interested in going. Well come to find out when they got back that tons of other people at the ruins were wearing sandals and the trek to get there was nothing more than a walk. Lame. The two boys had a great time and actually so did the rest of us because.....we shopped and shopped!
We thought this was hilarious. Just outside the shopping areas was this little building standing alone next to a giant palm tree. The sign on top of the door said Immigration Office. We just thought it was cute and funny and fitting for a little tropical place.
Isn't my sister so cute? She got her hair braided in Roatan.

The Ruins
* I will have to have Dave fill this in and tell you all about it when he gets a chance. He LOVED it!
Until then, enjoy some pictures.

Dave said he took this picture to show how thick the jungle was around the ruins. That is amazing.

Dave and our new family pet....

Roatan

was our very favorite stop. We still say that of all the places we went to on this cruise Roatan would be the one we would go back to and stay for a week. It was beautiful and the people we met were so nice. As we came into port we saw two ship wrecks a little ways apart from each other. They had been there for a long time. We were told one of them had been carrying construction material and the one had gasoline and both had run aground. They looked very cool and have become part of the reef. Looking back at the first ship.
This island was seriously beautiful.
Ship wreck #2.
Roatan had a great port area. It was clean and fun. Just outside there was a zip line to ride through the trees and also they have a ski/sky lift to take you to different parts of this beach.

We took a tour bus to another beach and along the way we saw these high school kids having band practice. Not a bad place to practice...

This was the beach we went to. Oh my gosh, it was a fabulous beach!

I want to go there again right now. Beautiful white sand, warm, clear water, lounge chairs, sunny but with nice shade spots, little craft stores and restaurants, excellent snorkeling, not crowded, pretty much perfect!

This is the view we had while relaxing. Not that we spent much time there. We were too busy playing in the water and exploring.

This is my brother standing by where we were snorkeling. Notice around his legs how clear the water is.

Dave and I spent a lot of time snorkeling. If you look at the bottom corner of the picture you can actually some little fish. There were so many different kinds of fish. I would say we saw around 20-25 different types of fish. There were also some big rocks just under parts of the surface and a big sea grass field where lots of fishies live. Josh actually found a tunnel going through one of the big rocks and swam through it. We had the best time here.

Mom and Dad and the boys swimming around just enjoying the day.

My cute Mom and Dad. We love them.

Thanks for this wonderful vacation!

Grand Cayman

Our first stop was in Grand Cayman. In order to protect the reef around the island we had to anchor the boat far away and take a smaller tender boat to the island.
When we got to the port we rode a bus to another part of the island. From there we took about a 30 minute boat ride out to a sand bar and did an excursion called Stingray City. As we were about to get on the boat Dave and I saw this other boat named Allison. It made us miss our little girl so we took a picture.

I just like this picture of Josh and Kim on the boat.

This is Stingray City! It was so awesome! The water was crystal clear and warm. There were tons of stingrays swimming around. We got in the water and the guide showed us how to shuffle our feet so we didn't step on the rays. Then we were able to snorkel around and play with the rays. Did you know they like to cuddle and give kisses? Well they do (just don't touch their backs or the tail). We all took turns holding them under their wings and if you make kissy noises they lift their face/noses and give you kisses! It was so cool. The most cuddly one is named Sweet Suzy. She loves kisses. We took an underwater camera with us but it is at my parents house and hasn't been developed yet. So this is just some random lady I took a picture of as we were leaving. But all those shadows in the water are stingrays and there were tons more. And she is cuddling and getting kisses like we did.

The water in Grand Cayman was so amazing. It was so clear and the most beautiful color.

After we got back from our excursion Dave and I went to lunch at Margaritaville. That was a lively place! Very fun. Then we just shopped around for a while before we needed to get back on our boat.

Beware, while we were there Dave and Kim made friends with the local pirates! Argh, Matey!

Caribbean Cruise

In August Dave and I went on a cruise with my family. We had the absolute best time! It was so wonderful to get away. No phones, no internet, not a worry in the world, just time to be together and have fun. This was the first time we had left Allison with someone and went on vacation alone. She stayed with G and G Phillips and that is why we were able to not have a worry in the world. She was in the best hands and had the time of her life!

We cannot thank you enough!!

We flew into Miami. The next morning we went to the cruise terminal. From there Kim, Scott, and Josh took a taxi over to Miami Beach to explore and see some sights. They were on a mission to find the best Cuban sandwich. Their mission was accomplished and they brought leftovers to us! Yummy! Me, Dave, and my parents decided to go ahead and get on board. This was Dave's first cruise and all of us were excited to explore the ship. We loved the boat. There were so many things to do or not do. We saw lots of shows, did activities, played games, ate LOTS of food, and Dave took a golf lesson from the PGA pro on board. How would that job be to be a golf pro just traveling the seas giving lessons and taking people on golf excursions in some of the most beautiful places in the world. Yes please! The girls and Dad played Bingo just about every night and the boys watched movies on the laptop. One of our favorite things was getting frozen yogurt cones on the top deck. We did go on excursions but just being on the boat was very fun. I loved the towel animals our steward left for us each night when they turned down the bed and left a little chocolate for us. Have I mentioned we ate a lot? We laughed so much while seeing the PG comedy shows but mostly avoided the R rated late night comedy shows. Swear words annoy me. We left early. A couple of times Kim and I caught the outdoor movie under the stars. We loved going out on the balcony and seeing the ocean.
We ate dinner every night in the dining room. Cruises are the best for this reason: You don't have to cook, nobody has to do dishes, and it is like eating at a gourmet fancy restaurant everyday. The food was so so good and our servers were the best! We had a great view from our table. We were at the very back of the boat and had huge windows to look out of.
This was on one of the formal nights. I love him!
And this is a cup of THE BEST hot chocolate I have EVER had!!! I could go on and on raving about it but for your sake I will contain myself. Just know that yes I did order it every night to have with my dessert and some nights I just ordered that for dessert.