Our Cruise

Another carnival ship at Miami Port (looks the same as ours)

This is our ship: Carnival Triumph

Our stateroom: 8237 Balcony

The main lobby from above The Rome Lounge where all of the big shows were every night at 10:30
Formal night #1

A casual lunch in the Paris dining room
A $15 drink!! Woops!
In Cozumel we started the morning off by going Parasailing.

In the afternoon in Cozumel we took a Twister Boat ( 65mph, and then spins in 360degree turns on the water--fun) to Isla Pasion which was a tiny island with a bar/buffet on it. We were able to relax and enjoy the view, and swim in the crystal clear water.

Formal night #2

In Grand Cayman, we took the Allura Catamaran to Stingray City. Breathtaking views on the ride over. the stingrays were actually quite cute once you got over the initial fear.



Our 3rd stop was in Ocho Rios Jamaica, where we went to a garden and then Dunn's River Falls. We weren't able to bring our camera to the falls since it would have been ruined, but picture us + hundreds of other people forming human chains trekking up the very dangerous falls + me apparently babysitting small child who is too short to climb who needs me to yank her up all of the steep slopes. It was a must do while in Jamaica, but not the most exciting thing on our trip. Anyway, i think we have about 495 more pictures, so obviously, I just picked out a few. The vacation was unbelievable, I would highly recommend cruising. We loved how you get to feel right at home on the ship. You can wander down the hall and have a fancy meal, wander off to have a coffee at the cafe, or go see an hour long show in the huge lounge, all while being 5 minutes from your room. Then the port days were fun for a change in routine, yet you can enter and exit the ship as often as you like. I can't wait to go on the next cruise--Mediterranean here we come!

0h--and Paige was very well behaved apparently. ;) Of course we missed her, but we were so busy and having so much fun that we were able to enjoy our trip, but also enjoy going home to see her. She looked bigger than I remembered. When we first saw her at the airport she couldn't stop staring at us--as if she was trying to work everything out in her mind--"hey...wait a minute..."

How much we've grown.....

Birth Day:

Birthday:

It's unbelievable that when Paige was born we didn't know her at all. We loved her because we had a special bond with her, but she was a complete stranger. We didn't know what we had gotten ourselves into, and what the months leading up to this moment would be like. We didn't know it would take 9 months for her to sleep through the night, or that she would scream instead of nap when she was tired, or that she would go through a phase where she would scream instead of eat. We also didn't know that she would roll over early, and crawl early, and start saying hi at 8 months. We didn't know she would love the water, and stuffed animals, and puppies and cats. We didn't know that the sound of her laugh sometimes makes you want to cry. The fact that she would one day take hesitant steps across the floor at 10 months was a mystery to us. We didn't know that every morning she would stand up and smile and sway back and forth in her crib when we went to say good morning. We didn't know how lucky we were to have the most perfect little girl in the world.

This is the best job in the world.

Paige's Big Day

We're here. Paige is one. After her huge party on the weekend there was less pressure to do anything crazy, but we still had a little outing with Amy and Katharine at a splash park.

We arrived first thing in the morning since it worked in our schedules, but doing so helped us avoid the big kids that would likely have knocked over the little ones. Paige was able to test out her new wetsuit that she got for her birthday from Aunt Leslie and Uncle Mark. The day wasn't that sunny, so the water felt quite chilly; it wasn't warm enough for the girls to walk right into it. Not to mention, there was an incident that Paige was traumatized by. I turned my head for 2 seconds to see what Amy was doing and Paige was apprently standing in the line of fire of a huge thick jetstream that was pouring directly on top of her head. I turned my head when i heard little yelling noises. She was standing there with the stream gushing down on her head and she was crying as best as she could with the water all over her face and flailing her arms. It was probably pretty heavy on her head as well. Poor little thing. After that she was scared when water would start shooting suddenly. She would start to whine and rush right up to me. I would say she was scared yet fascinated.

After we all dried off we took a journey to the Second Cup for some coffee while the girls sat facing each other in high chairs and eating some cheerios. the day was fairly normal after this since Paige had a huge nap in the afternoon, but in the evening she did have some leftover cake--lemon this time.

Paige's 1st Birthday Party

So many photos. Wish I could put them all up. Thanks to everyone who joined us for Paige's big day! It was a blast! She got to try her first ever birthday cake, which was her first dessert of any kind. I felt a little choked up singing Happy Birthday to her, but I knew this would happen ever since she was born. Can't believe we've already had her party...

Happy Wedding Andrea!

Mike and I left Paige for the first time over-night and went to Andrea and Gavin's wedding. Paige stayed with Grandma and Grandpa from Saturday morning till 4:00 the next day (so we could set up for her birthday party). Apparently Paige was perfect in every way and had her naps when she was supposed to, and slept all through the night. Lucky Grandparents. We'll see if the same holds true when she stays with them for an entire week next week.

Mommy's Birthday

I had a wonderful birthday. In the morning we went to Cora's in Oakville for breakfast where Paige was given a kids menu and colouring sheet. She proceeded to eat the crayons. Since it was a warm perfect weather day, we took my new camera to Paletta (where we got married), and took some pictures of Paige with the geese and in the grass. Suuuch a nice camera.
Later I was treated to a manicure/pedicure, and then we went to my dad and Maura's for dinner.

July "Long Weekend"

Since the July "long weekend" wasn't really a long weekend at all, Mike took Monday off and we had a July "extra-long" weekend. We went up North on Friday night and came home on Tuesday. The weather was generally rainy and cloudy until the day we were leaving (of course). Most of our time was spent indoors except for the last day where Mike had a last minute (brilliant) idea to swim in the lake with Paige. We all thought it would be too cold for her, but she couldn't have been happier.

Paige started saying a couple of new words shortly before the long weekend. The first is "Dat" while pointing at something, as in "what's that?". Her little tiny finger is constantly pointing at something. This all started because we have been pointing at pictures of ourselves around the house and saying "who's that?" She has perfected "Mama" when we point to me, and "PA" when we point to her. When we point to Daddy she is silent or sometimes says mama.

Not sure if I will get the chance to write any more this week, I am really busy around the house leading up to this weekend.

Happy Birthday to me in 2 days!!

As a side note...here is a really good picture of Chippie.