Summer!

A lot has happened for our little family since I last posted.  I honestly completely forgot about our blog, but here is an attempt to get back into the swing of things!

During our last post we were on our Western Caribbean cruise (wow!).  Let's fill in the last year and a half in a quick nutshell....

We had an incredible time completing that cruise.
Eli finished 2nd grade.
We sold our house and moved to the other end of M.V.
Christel's brother got married! YAY!
Jess and Christel went on an Alaska cruise with family to celebrate Daryl and Genny's wedding.

Cooper completed his first year of preschool.

Eli completed 3rd grade.
Jess started a new job and has celebrated a year being a manager.
Christel...same thing different day.

And here we are! Summer 2016.

Day Two and Three on the Dawn

Day two of our Western Caribbean cruise was a sea day.  It was a rather rough day with continual waves between four and seven feet high.  You wouldn't think this would be a big deal on such a large ship, however for our land locked legs, it proved to be a bit of a challenge. Although we were rocking a bit, we had a great time checking out the different decks of the Dawn and playing around here and there.  We tried to go swimming, but the waves made it really difficult.  We decided to forgo the whole pool thing and sat in the sun and had ice cream instead.

On day three we were in Cozumel, Mexico.  We docked early in the morning and ventured into town where we caught a taxi that took us to Playa Mia, a water park just outside of Cozumel.  Daryl and Genny spent the day with us and we had a great time playing in the sun!

The little kid section at Playa Mia

Cruising on the Norwegian Dawn Day 1

We're back!

Ok, we have been for a week now, but getting back into the swing of things has been difficult for everyone in our household.  Upon our arrival home, we had one sick Daddy, one sick Cooper, and two very soon to be sick Mom and Eli.  It hit us with a bang and everyone is still hanging on to the crud that we brought home with us.  Thankfully, it's just a virus - but that means we just have to let it run its course, which is what no one really wants.

With that said, we had an amazing trip to the Western Caribbean with family!  The four of us flew into New Orleans on Saturday, November 29th.  We met Grandma, Papa, Uncle Daryl, (soon-to-be) Aunt Genny, Great Aunt Darlene, Kenny and Karen, Terry and Carolyn, and Herb and Levonne.  It was exciting to be welcomed by such a big group of family and friends.

We left Seattle in a little more than a dusting of *snow* and arrived to sun and the low 70s.  Talk about a welcomed climate change!

Before we could board our plane, we had a bit of time to kill.  We found a window where the boys could watch the planes coming and going.  During our brief stay, we saw the UW, WSU, Oregon, MSU, and Russel 12 planes.  They really enjoyed pointing them out.

Once it was time to go, they were very excited.  Because we were in the row in front of the emergency exit, Cooper was not allowed to sit in his car seat.  We weren't sure how that would go over, but he did great!  We were lucky that Elfie, our Elf on the Shelf and North Pole visitor, brought Santa's gifts early because Santa knew we were going on a trip.  We thought that was incredibly nice of him to help mom and dad out on a 5 hour flight in this way! 

Thanks again Santa!!!

After dinner and some visiting, it was time to watch the annual Apple Cup.  Unfortunately, the Cougs didn't pull through for these two little fans.

 

No worries, hotels are fun even when your team plays poorly.

After a good night's rest, it was time to pack up and head to the port to meet our ship, the Norwegian Dawn.  November 30, 2014

Our cruising family:

Daryl, Terry, Carolyn, Dan, Genny, Kenny, Karen, Darlene, Herb, Levonne, Eli, Ruth, Jess, and Cooper.

I got to be in this one.

On board our home for a week.  

Daryl and Genny

Waving at the Natchez (see photo above)

Me, Aunt Darlene, and Genny

Papa and Cooper!

VERY excited to set sail

Goodbye New Orleans!  

We will see you in a week!

School Pictures

The beginning of a new school year means there are school pictures!  Next year Cooper will get his first school pictures as he begins preschool.  For now, it's just me and Eli.  Here are our 2014-2015 school pictures.

I can't believe he is already in second grade.
He is growing like a weed!  

Love this guy.

And here I am in my 10th year of fourth grade.

Well, 11th if you count when I was 10.  LOL

Yes, We're Still Here

Yikes.  It has been 9 months since my last post.  If I had a good reason, I'd share it, but I don't have one.  Nothing other than life.  Life happened.  I didn't post.

I'll see if I can go through and pick a couple pictures from each month to share!  :)

February

It snowed and we had a snow day!  The boys loved it!

Eli played basketball

March

The boys watched Star Wars

We had a beautiful day and got to play outside jacket free!

 Nana and Kendra came to visit. 

April

We had a really warm spring.  Shorts in April?!?! 

It really happened.

We took a little trip to Spokane

Nana, Danielle, Kendra, and Kaelyn came for Easter

The boys even got to see Great Grandpa and Grandma!

Jess and I went on a date. 

 Remember that beautiful weather?  Then it snowed again (barely).
Cooper wanted to clean it up.

May

Once May hit, it was nice again.

Daryl and Genny came to visit. 

Actually, this is when Daryl came up and Genny moved to Texas.

Still beautiful!

We got new sand for the sandbox.

We're in shorts again, it must still be nice!

He's always a ham.

Eli was too big for his bike, so he got a new one.

We had an adult outing to the Mariners throwback game.  

We had a great time with our good friends, Scott and Leigh-Ann.

We ventured to the Seattle Aquarium (on another beautiful day)

June

Grandma and Papa came to visit!!!

Cooper started swimming lessons! 

He LOVES them and being in the water, despite the first picture.

We ran the Waterton to Glacier Relay

We went to Woodland Park Zoo with the cousins!  

July

Every 4th of July we go to Enumclaw for the Independence Day Parade.   This year we tye-dyed t-shirts.  It was very festive and we got lots of comments.

Kaelyn and Cooper had fun...

 ...most of the time.

We had an unusually hot summer.  They boys spent a lot of time in the pool.

We had a water fight.  This was the aftermath.

Cooper thought it was funny when Daddy poured water on Eli's head.

August

The heat wave continues.  :)

September

It was my 10th time in fourth grade and Eli's first time in second grade. :)

Waiting for brother's soccer game

October

The second annual Rivalry Clash 5K run

Pumpkin Patch time!

Halloween

The boys are Walter White and Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad.

The girls are clearly Wonder Woman and Super Woman.