Jam Cruise 11

Two weeks ago, Ryan and I set sail from Fort Lauderdale on Jam Cruise 11.  Magic Hat was sponsoring the cruise so Ryan, his co-worker, and the head brewer all had rooms on the ship.  There were various events sponsored each day.  The cool thing about the cruise is that it's really all about music.  Jam Cruise is a 5 night cruise around the Caribbean with concerts all day, every day.  All of the bands on the cruise are eating, drinking, and listening to music right next to you.  I can't say that I came off the boat a big fan of cruising, but it is easy to do, just get to a port and leave from the same port a couple days later.  

The bands were fun, especially since it's been awhile since I've listened to live music.  The crowd was so enthusiastic and happy that it was so refreshing.  Even though I'm not a big fan of getting seated with other tables of people that I don't know, we had two great tables of fun people.  The food was not great.  I could do the buffet for lunch, but we ended up going to the sushi place on board three of the nights.  5 nights, plus the night before in Fort Lauderdale was a little too long to be gone from Maeve.  She spent first 4 nights with Nana & Papa Daley and then Michelle wrapped up the week.  I heard good reports all around, but doubt they would have told me differently. 

I've got a couple pics from the cruise, but just google Jam Cruise 11 and you'll see more than enough evidence for the craziness that ensued.  

Ryan and Justin, Magic Hat Head Brewer, pouring some draft for the masses.

Standing up on the balcony watching a concert, the sunset, and enjoying a Pistil... yum!

This was JJ Gray's set on the patio.

 
Bands at sea!

So we got up to watch the sunrise one day and this is what greeted up when we came up... about 25 people (plus the 200+ behind me) that had the same idea, but they had been up all night while Ryan and I were coming off 6-7 hours of sleep.

Overall, fun time and nice to get away with just Ryan, plus I got to wear flip flops for 6 days straight:)

Happy 2013

Not really starting this year off right by blogging frequently but just when I think I'll catch up I've gotten socked with a new project at work and Maeve came home from school on Friday with a fever of 103 and a cold.

Pictures always tell the story better so let's catch up.  The rest of Christmas was great.  Here is Maeve finally getting into some presents... bath toys of all things, as well as here kitchen.  It's hard to believe but even since Christmas it's as if she's flipped a switch verbally.  She is talking up a storm!!  As in I can actually understand some of it, certainly not all, but she's learning to communicate and she loves it, yet it frustrates her beyond believe when you aren't doing what she's saying.

Lots of her vocabulary so far is coming from her books.  This is pretty typical - hanging out with some milk and a couple books.  Words so far include oldies of "Dada, Mama, No (!), On, Oh No, Apple, Isla, Drew, Dog, Lion, Roar, Woof, Butterfly (muffled, but pretty good), Hey, Bye-bye, Neigh (working on horse).

 After Christmas, Julie and the King family came into town to see everyone and hopefully get in some snow time.  Fortunately for them, a nice snowstorm arrived just before their arrival with plenty of snow to keep the girls busy for a couple of days between sledding and just horsing around outside the house.  We got to have a couple family get togethers, which are always the best, as well as a relaxing New Years Eve dinner (Thanks Bill!) with Michelle, Al and Jon.  They left for Baltimore New Years Day, but a perfect way to end the holidays before start of the new year.  I was pretty terrible with pictures, but did snap a funny one of Alexa and I playing with the kitchen.  She was the chef preparing my meal.  I think Alexa might of enjoyed Maeve the best because she finally had someone younger and smaller than her.  I think Maeve enjoyed all of the attention as well!

 Cute as a button!  The headband didn't last long, but I'll keep trying.  Her hair is a DISASTER right now and desperately needs a cut.  The back is growing out so much quicker than the sides so she looks alittle funky, especially with crazy bedhead in the morning.

 Maeve's latest thing besides talking is her love of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Here she is completely enraptured with the show.  She'll burst into a huge smile as soon as it starts up and she'll always run back into the room to watch/dance to the Hot Dog Dance.

 Nothing wrong with alittle snow!  She was trying to grab snow off my car today to eat before I got her in the car seat.

Friday we got a call from school in the afternoon letting us know that Maeve had spiked a fever.  She woke up with a cough that day but nothing crazy.  By the time we got her home from school, she was really warm and just out of sorts.  We pretty much spent the last 3 days just trying to keep her hydrated and comfortable while sleeping.  Her fever is gone and although mucus is draining, cough isn't too bad.  I'm hoping she's on the mend.  Any one else ready for spring and the end of cold/flu season?

Ummm Yeah... so let's just get through Christmas

So it's been over a month.  It's not that there hasn't been alot going on, it's more that there's been SO much going on that I can't keep up!  Pictures will help catch me up.

Here were a couple more of the pictures that didn't make the cut for the 2012 Christmas card.  

Pretty much most of December the whole family was dealing with colds and runny noses, but we did our fair share of preparation for the Christmas holiday.  I made cut-out cookies for the first time in about 10 years.  They turned out pretty well and Maeve officially developed her sweet tooth.  My favorite part of the holidays is seeing all of the family and friends that we don't see year round.  My parents were in town for a whole week ahead of Christmas so it's always nice to get those extra visits.  Maeve is consistent with both sets of grandparents at least.  Both Grandma & Nana go out of their way to get on the floor to play/read with Maeve, while she will quickly ignore them to bring a new toy or book to Grandpa/Papa who are in the other room or up on the couch across the room.  She's a stinker who seems to love the men in her life.  I get the same treatment since she'll say "Dada" about 100 times a day vs maybe 5 "Mama's".

So Christmas 2012 was wonderful.  Maeve and I were still battling colds, but we pushed through to enjoy the holiday.  Here is our pretty girl in her Christmas dress. I found this on sale at Macys and couldn't resist.  She might only wear it once, but she looked angelic.  We started out Christmas Eve with the Daley's.  She was alittle unsure of the whole party and presents, but slowly came around.

 Evan and Maeve practicing coloring outside of the lines.

 Alittle unsure... maybe pink isn't Dad's best color.

Maeve continues to get loved/spoiled on by her family.  She got lots of great gifts, but her favorite for the moment is the tricycle from Nana and Papa.  This thing is tricked out and she loves to get pushed around the house with it.  Here was the first test run!

 We left Nana/Papa's house around 7ish to head to Pohlman's.  Maeve did fall asleep on the way, which wasn't surprising since it was close to bedtime, but she rebounded and pushed on through for another hour so I could hang out with some of the Griffin family.  She was OBSESSED with my cousin Kim's dog and pretty much just chased Ernie around the house... not sure Ernie enjoyed the attention, but Maeve sure did.

So Santa arrived with plenty more gifts... maybe a few too many because we were still unwrapping on Dec 26th.  Maeve just wasn't really into opening presents.  She got a kitchen from Heather with lots of accessories but it definitely took her about 1-2 days to comprehend everything.  Once the toys were moved in the back room/toy room, she started to dig in more and play with everything.

 Love these two!

 Mid-morning pajama change before we headed to Mark & Jennifer for Wallace presents!

So wonderful to have these two around for Christmas.  They were just taking in all of the madness... much of it coming from Aidan, who was just so jazzed up we were all cracking up at him.

Such a happy boy on Christmas morning.  I got him an ornament for Christmas and he was so appreciative and wanted to hang it on the tree right away.  He is such a sweetheart!