Monday, November 30, 2009
Birthday(s)
Figured I'd dig back and post some of my birthday layouts. I've been working on them for the past couple weeks. I think Victoria celebrated her birthday for the entire month of October. LOL!
Here's our family birthday on her actual birthday, October 7th.
Here's Victoria's birthday party, October 10th.
Victoria's alternate birthday party, October 18th.
Labels: birthday
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
Victoria playing Assassin's Creed 2. She watched Uncle Ben play and then took over the controller.
Yum! I didn't contribute nearly as much to this Thanksgiving dinner. Aunt Claudine keeps it pretty well orchestrated. Look at all that wonderful food. This dinner is always a treat each year.
Didn't get nearly everyone in the shot but I wanted to get to the food too. LOL! Sorry Uncle Matt and Uncle Ben. I'm sure you're totally disappointed to have missed being in the photo.
Labels: holiday
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Heading Home
Here's Victoria after the Security checkpoint. It went pretty smoothly in Orlando. We're about to head over to the tram to go to our gate.
Victoria was fascinated by the trams. She sat up on the seat this time rather than standing.
The best part about the airport... she got a chocolate chocolate chip muffin to eat before the flight to tide her over. Luckily, the cafe also had bananas.
On the airplane heading home, she spent most of the time watching her cartoons on the iPod clicker.
Labels: beach, fall, vacation
Back to the Airport
So, it's the end of our vacation. We're all packed up and heading to the airport. Here's Victoria modeling her backpack.
The only way to travel.. with iPod. She's watching My Friends Tigger and Pooh right now.
We're pretty sure this is the new jewel in the Carnival fleet, the Carnival Dream. It's supposed to be the largest cruiseliner to date. It really is impressive. We could see it from the 528 highway on our way back to Orlando.
And, still hooked up to the iPod as we got on the Hertz shuttle to the airport. Been there, done that already. LOL!
Labels: beach, fall, vacation
Friday, November 20, 2009
Afternoon
We spent a lot longer at the pool than I thought we had. So, we were late getting out for lunch. Headed off to the Pizza Hut again. Not so many choices with a picky eater like Victoria.
She's getting pretty good with those word searches. They're handy to have around when the restaurant doesn't have kids menus with games or coloring on them.
A little on the tired side after getting back from lunch. So, she worked on the Cars watercolor book from her backpack.
Victoria re-found her energy when I reminded her that she wanted to visit the game room. She and I played the air hockey game while Daddy played an Old West-type gunfight game. The one she really wanted to play was this Gauntlet Legends. She started playing and then Daddy joined her. That games takes a lot of tokens. Victoria did pretty well, even if it did eat up all our tokens.
Once we'd used up all the tokens, we went swimming again. No pictures of that because I was actually in the water the whole time. I got my exercise swimming the length of the pool. Victoria hitched a ride at one point and I pulled her across with me. That was fun. Very tiring, but fun.
Here she is at the end of the night. Not the best picture of Victoria. She's really flagging by this point. But, you can see the crescent of the moon behind her. We'd managed to play in the pool until sunset.
Labels: beach, fall, vacation
Adult Pool Swim
We've moved over to the adult pool now. Victoria's becoming more confident in the water without either the floaties or the ring on.
She made up a new game of ring toss. LOL! She's allowed to defend and put her hands up to knock away the ring. Daddy can't do that.
So here he is being ringed by Victoria.
The margarita Jeff brought me back last night was just as delicious. I didn't share that one. Mmm!
And here I am.... your friendly neighborhood photographer. I just love how crystal clear aqua blue the water was.
This drink was absolutely marvelous. From the pool bar, it's a Cherry Bomb Smoothie. Yum! Yum! Victoria and I shared it. Not too willingly on either side after we'd gotten a taste. Wow! Wish I'd known this yesterday. Best $6 non-alcoholic drink I've had in a long while.
The margarita that Jeff brought me back last night was delicious too. I didn't share that one. LOL!
Labels: beach, fall, vacation
The Pirate Ship Pool
There are probably more pictures of me on this vacation than on the last 2 that we've taken before. Helps to have a fancy new point and shoot that I can hand off. :)
I'm being given instructions by Victoria here. I was supposed to stand to the side of the slide and toss the ring over Victoria as she slid through.
I had just as much fun with the water bomb as Victoria. It was just like playing fetch. I got to really wing it and Victoria would rush off to get it.
She was trying her best to get some good throws. Definitely need to work on overhand tossing. Most often it landed just a couple feet from her. Good for her because she always got the water bomb back.
She also experimented with going down on her tummy. Being the worrying parents, she was only allowed to do it feet first. That worked okay on the pirate tunnel slide with all the water shooting out. Not so good on the other two slides. She didn't know enough to really push off to get her momentum going down the slides.
Labels: beach, fall, vacation
The Second Day Begins
Victoria really enjoyed being able to run around without shoes. Here she is on the Promenade, walking back to our loft after breakfast at the Captain's Grille.
Victoria and Daddy almost always leave the room before me at the beach. Victoria has no patience for waiting. And, if I end up getting hurried putting on my sunscreen, then I get sunburned. The compromise is that I get Victoria all ready to go, make sure Daddy has sunscreen on his back, he makes sure I've got some on mine and then they head out to the pool. Leaving me to finish up my sunscreen.
This time I arrived to find them playing water bomb.
I couldn't find Victoria's inflatable ring from our trip to Ocean City. We were lucky enough to find one in the gift shop here. It's very precarious to balance on though. Not meant to be used as a seat.
Ah, there she is with the water bomb. Another $2 dollars well spent. Found it in the gift shop. She really wanted the water pistols. Wasn't ready to go there yet. LOL! Cheap and flimsy, but it served its purpose. Victoria had a blast with it.
Labels: beach, fall, vacation
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Oh, wow, the beach...
Just look at that beach. Just perfect. And it was late in the day. Look closely, you'll see Victoria and Daddy out there. :)
She was right there in the waves. As soon as we dropped our stuff, she grabbed Daddy's hand and away they went. Pretty brisk in terms of temperature. Again, didn't bother her one little bit. She wanted to jump waves. And, she did.
Look at that face. I got a "Mom!" from that one. She can't be distracted from watching the next wave coming in.
It looks like she's collecting seashells here. And, she is. Except she's collecting them to throw in the surf. :)
Labels: beach, fall, vacation
First Day Continues
And, eventually Daddy joined us in the pool. Here she is without her floaties or the ring. Daddy tried teaching Victoria how to swim. She just doesn't get it yet. We'll have to keep working on it.
This was Victoria's game. It was a ring toss. Only it had to go over a person's head. She was giggling like crazy as she tried to toss it over Daddy.
Drove around quite a while looking for a place to have lunch. Surprisingly, not too many eateries here. I guess all-inclusives must be big in the this resort area. Finally found a Pizza Hut where Victoria dug in and ate the entire kids pizza.
Next door to the Pizza Hut was a Surfware/Beachware shop. We stopped in to see if they had any cheap and decent towels. Victoria loved a dolphin towel. Daddy found a really cool shirt. While he was trying on clothes Victoria and I headed outside for a walk. Nice area. You can see her in her cool sunglasses. Behind her, way in the background, is a trolley car.
Labels: beach, fall, vacation
Kids Pirate Pool
This is where Victoria wanted to be all morning. She kept asking when she could go to the Pirate Ship. The water was a little on the chillly side though. Not for her. She was right in there.
It had all kinds of slides there in all different directions.
I missed having my D80. Just can't get close-ups with a point and shoot unless your right on top of someone. And, really, I dipped my toes in and didn't go any further. LOL!
However, the adult pool was another matter. Victoria did talk me into swimming with her. It was okay once I was finally in and swimming. I even managed to swim the length of the pool. Should do that more often. Good exercise.
Labels: beach, fall, vacation
