Spring Break Cruise

We decided that this year would be the first year to have a big family vacation. This decision came after a great deal of deliberation. You see, Joe and I will be celebrating 10 years of wedded bliss in a few short days (thank you, thank you), and we were planning to take this spring break to travel somewhere together. As I did more and more research on Caribbean destinations, the option of a cruise kept coming up. The problem with a cruise is that you are basically unreachable, unless you're willing to pay big bucks (which I'm only willing to spend on drinks). And I know for a fact that being unable to reach my kids to make sure everything is okay is completely out of the question. I'm still not ready for that.
Besides, Joe and I will have many, many years in our future to keep each other entertained without the charming company of our two children, so why would we start trying to escape from them now? Stop laughing. Yes, I know they are precocious and a handful and not given to allowing their parents to relax at anytime. But, I'm not able to relax anymore - with or without my children. I'm a mother.
After looking at the children's activity options available on the various cruise ships, departure ports, itinerary dates, prices, and on and on and on, I became overwhelmed and hired a travel agent to take care of it (thanks, Joanna). We settled on a 5 day Royal Caribbean cruise sailing out of Tampa. The distance was manageable, the price was reasonable, and the dates fit within our spring break restrictive guidelines. Plus, the boat had several attractive kid-friendly attractions - splash pool, small water slide, supervised kids' program for Jacks's age group, parent supervised activities for Nealy's age group. We were sold.
Not to mention the cost of the trip covered all the food we could possibly eat. I mean, this week has probably cost me some major setbacks in my year long quest to lose the baby weight (to mild success), but I got to have amazing three course meals every single night of my trip with no regard for how much they cost. I never get to look at a menu and choose items without thinking of the bill coming at the end. It was GREAT.
We had a blast. And what's even better? My fake college son, Luke, and his girlfriend, Amber joined us on our tropical vacation (he's only fake because he's not really my son, he's real AND he is really in college - just to clarify what fake college son means). I could not have chosen a better pair of travel companions. They are fun, relaxed, easy to talk to and get along with, plus the kids love them. Well, Nealy has an irrational crush on Luke, and although she talks about him when he's not around, she is unable to look him directly in the eyes in his presence and she starts crying when he attempts to talk to her. I keep hoping she'll get over it. And so does Luke. I worry it's starting to hurt his feelings.
In addition to enjoying all the fun stuff on the cruise ship, we got to spend 2 fun beach days in Mexico. The first day was in Costa Maya, which was a short day and relatively non-eventful (plus I got a little sick and was unable to join the group), and the second we splurged on an excursion in Cozumel to a family friendly beach at a National Park with lots of fun things to do. We enjoyed a huge lunch buffet, open bar, endless soft serve ice cream cones, sand castle building, splashing around in the water (sea AND kid pool), shopping for touristy junk, lazing around in beach chairs under the umbrella (tans are nice, but come on, folks - this was Mexico and I'm whiter than white. That sun will kill me), and tons of other great beach activities. And there were clean bathrooms. The cost of the excursion alone was worth it for the clean bathrooms.
I would have loved to take a trip to see the ruins in either port, but the kids are still a little too young to enjoy a day like that. Lots of riding in buses, lots of walking, too many hours spent on things they don't care about, yet.
This was a perfect family vacation. I think we'll definitely be planning another one in the future. Let us know if you'd like to join us next time. Cruises are always more fun with lots of friends.
And as always, please enjoy a barrage of pictures from this amazing week that I still can't believe is over.

Here's the little ones enjoying the kids' pool.....

Formal dinner night......

An attempt at a family picture on formal dinner night - Jacks was uncooperative since he was made to wear a collared shirt.

How good looking are these two?


Our stateroom attendant was an expert at "towel art"


Here's the obligatory, "here I am on a Mexican beach with the cruise ship in the background" picture in Costa Maya......


Nealy was not as thrilled with her obligatory shot......


Nor was she so happy to be in a Mexican bar.
Jacks seems to be a natural when he bellies up to the bar.


Here they are on the beach in Cozumel.


Jacks loved playing in the sand.....


While Nealy preferred the pool (she takes after her mama).....
You will see this picture turn up again on someone's senior yearbook page (also known as blackmail material). But look how happy they are - they're just so overwhelmed!


Jacks was thrilled to be in the sand, the pool, or laid up in the chair.....


Nealy found herself to be done with the beach after a while.....
Until she got some ice cream......
They had guys walking around the beach with parrots and iguanas. You could hold them and have your picture made. Jacks just wanted to touch this one's tail. You should have seen him jump when the bird squawked when Jacks had barely put his fingertips on that tail feather.


Seriously, way too good looking.....


This one was just happy to be there.....


A good family picture on the last night.

As you know, this selection of pictures was just a drop in the bucket. If I find some more that are worthy, I'll do another post.

I came home with a miserable cold, so I've spent most of today in bed with a throbbing head and lots of time to think about the great time we had. Work tomorrow will be a mighty rude awakening after this week of fun. I hope I don't spend tonight tossing and turning stressing about it.

My Favorite Artist

Joe has been making the rounds around some local art shows, and I couldn't be prouder of him.
First off, Joe submitted a few pieces into the Drawing In Alabama show. The show is an exhibition of artists from around the state. All submissions must be current, and they are selected by a juror each year. This year the juror was the curator of drawings from the Whitney in NYC. Up to three pieces can be submitted for consideration. Joe submitted the maximum three, and two of them were accepted. This is huge considering the statistics we were quoted:

• 208 pieces by 83 artists from 27 communities around the state were submitted.
• A total of 42 piece by 37 artists from 18 communities were accepted.
  

This information was a huge boost for Joe, since that means he was in an elite group chosen, and he was among an even more elite group of those who had more than one piece accepted into the show.

The show was on display at Auburn University's Biggin Hall, which is the art building on campus, and the location where Joe spent many a late night during his undergrad years and the building where I was taking an art class which led me to Joe nearly 13 years ago, so the venue was a familiar place that really felt like home. So familiar that the kids cared NOTHING for being at the opening because the leftover toilet paper was still covering Toomer's Corner from our recent National Championship win. As you can see below.....



Enjoy some pics from the opening......

Above you see the following pieces:

on the left......
Canary
Ink, wash
22 X 30 inches
Joe Dyer, 2010

AND

on the right......
Still-life?
Charcoal
19 X 23 inches
Joe Dyer, 2010

Since the show has been taken down, Joe has learned that he won the prestigious juror's choice award with his "Still Life?" piece, which means his piece was the best! Of all the pieces in the show, Joe's piece was the stand out, most amazing, wonderful, excellent artwork that won the prize! So, in my book, this means that Joe has officially been recognized as the best artist in the state. Of course, I already knew of his amazing talents and mad skills, and I certainly think that he's probably the best in the world (biased much?), but it feels great to have recognition from an outside source.

The Drawing In Alabama show was held on a Friday night, and the very next night Joe and I headed out on the town sans kids to enjoy the membership party for the Auburn Art Association which was held at the Jan Dempsey Arts Center. In conjunction with the party, an invitational show was on display of local artists. The show was titled A to Z, and each artist was assigned a letter. The submitted piece had to represent the letter in some way, and it could be a piece of the artist's choice (sculpture, photo, drawing, painting, etc.....). Joe created a piece called "Nectar" which was beloved by many. He was honored to be voted one of the most creative pieces in the show, and it has already sold.

See the artist below posing with his work:

Winter 2011 has been a successful one for Joe and his artwork.

Sometimes he gets to feeling like Mr. Holland - for those of you who remember the film Mr. Holland's Opus, Mr. Holland was a high school music teacher who intended to spend his spare time creating his own music, but he spent the duration of his teaching career focused on his students and their successes. Although this is an honorable and valiant pursuit, it is still rewarding to be allowed to become an artist in your own right while teaching young people the value of the craft, and this is certainly a lifelong dream for Joe.

I am bursting with pride for my darling husband.

Happy Birthday to Joe!!!

My dear husband's birthday is today. And I didn't forget. Not even at all. It's okay, I'm not bitter about my birthday. I know it will be made up to me. I'm not sure when, but someday. Possibly on my next birthday, but at least I know it's out there somewhere.

So the weekend started off really HUGE with Jacks finishing off a very important chart. Without getting too embarrassing or graphic, Jacks has had some difficulty maintaining regularity in the past year since he's been totally potty trained. And lately we've been having to part with some of his favorite underwear due to soiling past the point of no return. So, Jacks has had to sadly throw away The Hulk, Wall-E, Lightning McQueen, and a variety of characters who have graced his delicates.

I decided that we would make a 2 week chart in which he would have a daily goal to keep it clean and make it all in the potty each day. Check out how well he did....He was so happy with himself that he gave his sister some sweet kisses. That was heartwarming.
In other news, Nealy has been letting me put her hair in pig tails, which pleases Joe to no end. I told him that this was his birthday present, and he was sooooo happy with that (it wasn't his birthday present, but it would have been a lot cheaper than his new national championship sweat shirt). This picture is a little out of focus, but you can see the Fraggle Rock hair situation we've got going on here. I think it is so cute it could put you in a mild cute coma.

Jacks had yet another birthday party to attend today, so we went ahead and took the whole family. Nealy managed to work herself into the party here and there like she usually does.

Notice how she's just casually strolling by during the group picture.....


Joe's birthday tends to be easy peasy because he loves strawberry cake and pepperoni pizza. This year, I had my friend Mandi at Cakeapotomus whip up a strawberry cake emblazoned with a Luche Libre wrestling mask. She finds the masks terrifying, but she was a sport about it and saw it as an opportunity for some creative sprinkling work (notice the yellow stitches).

Why Luche Libre, you ask? I really don't know. It turned out cool, though, didn't it?
Jacks was especially pleased about this cake, and he's known of its existence since yesterday when I showed it to him in its hiding place in the back of van. He walked right in the house and said, "Daddy, I'm not allowed to tell you about your cake. I know all about it, but it's a secret." I guess I should have expected as much....

Can you get over this smile?

Anyway, we enjoyed a great dinner of pepperoni pizza from Mellow Mushroom and salad from Olive Garden. I mean, whoa. I really knocked myself out on this dinner. I also managed to get the entire dinner for free! How, you ask? I have my ways.

And here is an example of why I shouldn't be allowed to use Joe's camera.....
Happy Birthday to Joe!!! I hope you loved your day, your dinner, your gifts, your pig tails, and everything great that happened today!

It's a Celebration!

Auburn University graciously decided to swing the doors of Jordan Hare Stadium wide open in order to celebrate winning the College Football National Championship. And people came. Boy, did they ever come. I won't pretend to have any idea of how many people our fair stadium holds, and I'm certainly too lazy to open another window and Google it right now, but it looked to be pretty full. I mean, look at this......

I mean, there wasn't a game being played here, folks. And these pictures were taken nearly an hour before the whole shebang started, so there was more to come.

I guess it didn't occur to me that people would come in droves from the farthest reaches to attend a celebratory presentation, but they did.

This dawned on me as I was standing in the concession line making friends with people. More on that concession line in a moment....

The best part about this whole thing was that everyone there was Auburn folk, so everyone was friendly to each other. There wasn't a lot of pushing or shoving or acting as if everyone was an enemy, but mostly smiles and War Eagles and apologies for bumping into one another.

Which is how I made friends with Amanda from Oxford, AL and her mother in the line for snacks. I apologized for standing 2 inches away from her head in order to scooch out of the way of traffic and insert myself in the line. She turned and smiled warmly which of course led to chit chat and intros. I don't know her last name, but I told her mine so I'm still waiting on my Facebook friend request.....

Anyway, she asked me where we lived. To which I was about to point toward the direction of our house and count the number of blocks we walked over to the stadium. Then I realized that she was asking from whence I hailed because she, in fact, was not a resident of our lovely village. She drove a distance to attend. And then I looked right and left, and I realized that lots of these people came from far and wide. I mean, this wasn't a celebration just for US? The residents of Auburn alone? How clouded have I become living in this town to not realize that the rest of the world loves this place, too?

Long story long, this celebration that we nestled into our already packed Saturday schedule was a pretty big deal. An estimated 78,000 people were there. And trust me, that's an estimate, because I don't think anyone counted us as we waltzed through the open gate. Joe read a number that was something like 78, 274. I kinda made that up, but we were greatly entertained that someone had an exact count that HAD to be fabricated. Either way, it was a celebration enjoyed by WAY more people than just the inhabitants and students of Auburn. Which is pretty amazing.

Now I don't even want to tell my concession stand story.

It seems trivial. Okay, okay, here it is.

Basically, Jacks begged for popcorn, I debated over standing in the longest line in the free world for burnt, overpriced popcorn versus listening to him whine about wanting popcorn for an hour, and I opted for the former. We stood in that line for an hour, were terribly disappointed with the lack of efficiency when we made it to the front of the line and felt incensed over the reason we had been standing there for an hour, dashed back to our seats which we couldn't find for a while, Jacks started to cry a little out of fear and discombobulation, I kind of wanted to cry a little over the same thing, Joe left his cell phone at home so I couldn't call him, I considered leaving at that very moment and killing Joe the next time I saw him, I used Jacks as a human shield to bust through throngs of people until we finally made it back to our seats in tears and a little sweaty even though it was freezing cold out. See? It was all pretty trivial. I mean, look at this smile.....


In the end, I'm glad we went. I'm glad we took our children to such an important event at the University that is so important to us to honor the biggest football win of all of our lives. At least for now. We hope to live to see another National Championship for Auburn. War Eagle and Amen.

We did manage to get a stranger to take our family picture in front of the stadium, which was very nice of her to do. You can lead a stranger to an SLR camera, but you can't teach her good composition now can you?

Our feet are cut off, the sign behind us is cut off, we're not centered..... No wonder we hardly get any good family pictures without paying for it. (Big shout out to Amy McDaniel at Dewdrops Photography, what what!!!). Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. Of course, minutes after this we ran into Joe's fellow art teacher Clay Cox who would have taken a gorgeous photo of us, but we had clearly moved on to tracking down our wagon that we had secured on the bike racks under Parker Hall.

Overall, it was a great experience. We came home and Nealy promptly fell asleep, and then Jacks and I whisked away to yet another birthday party. Such is Saturday life in the world of a four year old. Enjoy this pic of one quiet moment I enjoyed that day.....

Ahhh, mah sweet bebe.

War Eagle, everyone!

Ice Storm

Well, we didn't get snow. It was pretty sad and upsetting, especially since I bought Nealy some boots exclusively for snow. Okay, they're rain boots and therefore useful at other times of the year, but still!

We did, however, get two days off of school due to the threat of black ice on the roads. For those of you who DON'T know, the buses are a huge part of running school. And if the buses can't run, can't nothing run. Transportation rules the world.

Needless to say, we have all been getting a little wacky being cooped up in the house all weekend. The most activity we had yesterday was a walk around the yard to check out the ice. The kids didn't seem to care that they didn't get snow, because they seemed pretty excited about the ice. Of course, they could have just been excited to be out of the house even if it was for about fifteen minutes until their hands and noses got too cold, then they wanted back in for hot chocolate and cookies.
So, we started school last week with a four day work week, then we got a four day weekend. This week officially starts tomorrow, which means a three day work week followed by a three day weekend thanks to MLK. I think I could get used to a schedule like this, but the kids at school will never get back on track at this rate. Every day will be like the day before Spring Break!

Either way, back to the grind tomorrow to make a school full of overjoyed Auburn fans focus in school for a few days until the weekend. Wish me luck with that!

National Champs!

Well, it's been over half a century, but Auburn has managed to win a second national championship in football. It has been a very sweet victory for Auburn fans of all types and ages, and our town has never been happier!


We were invited to watch the game at the lovely home of some dear friends of ours (see the celebratory brownies pictured above that I made for the occasion), who are also some of the biggest Auburn fans around. The entire night was so enjoyable, with the exception that we were all extremely tense and on edge about the game. It was not an easy win for Auburn, and we wanted the best for the team and fans, many of which went to great lengths to travel to Arizona for the game.

Nealy made it until about half time when she was ready for bath and bed time, but Jacks and Joe stayed to enjoy the festivities until sometime around the 4th quarter when Jacks started to get a little nutty. The game started at 7:30, which means it was a late night for the little ones.
Although the kids were both home and bathed AND still awake come the amazing end to the game, it was way too late and too cold outside for us to attempt the Toomer's Corner experience (which I was kind of torn about given the importance of this win). We settled for enjoying it via web cam as the kids finally gave in to the excitement of the evening.

We did venture downtown this afternoon to witness the aftermath of the rolling of Toomer's Corner, as did tons of other fans and students.

It was a little crazy down there - certainly nothing compared to the thousands down there at midnight last night, but still crazy considering the roads were open for traffic, clean up crews were busy with rakes and trash bags, and hoards of people of all types were down there just wandering around and attempting perfect photo opportunities. In fact, a college girl who was trying to climb up on one of the entrance gates nearly kicked one of my kids in the face, and she successfully ignored me when I yelled at her.

Also, since schools were closed AGAIN today due to icy roads, we got to keep Jacks's school friend Tristan for the day since his parents had to go to work for a little while. We loved having Tristan, but every time we add another kid to the group, it is a valuable lesson that Joe and I are good with having TWO kids and not MORE than two. Adding a third to the mix might send us directly to the funny farm, which we actually wouldn't have the time or money for if blessed with another child.

ANYWAY, enjoy some pictures of downtown Auburn on the morning after the big win.