We Took our Talents to South Beach

Not really. But I promised Andrew that I would use that as the post title because someone is still a little bitter about losing Lebron to Miami.

We actually took our talents to Cape Canaveral and boarded a ship for the Bahamas. Spoiled rotten? Yes. But after one of the most frustrating/stressful summers ever, we needed something to look forward to. Call it, vacation therapy. We are big fans of such things. (For those who are interested, Andrew DID in fact get his application turned in to over 60 residencies....just in the knick of time).

A big thank you to Grandpa Stacey who watched Luke for our weekend trip. Luckily there is nothing Luke adores more in this world than spending time with his Grandpa (although binkies might come close).

The Boat

We don't have very many pictures on the ship. It was our first cruise and we loved it. From my perspective, it was so nice not to worry about cooking or cleaning or chasing after a little blonde boy. And those afternoon naps...priceless!

This was for the formal dinner night. We were slightly under-dressed.

And this is from the ship as we sailed into Nassau, Bahamas.

Nassau

Fort Fincastle

Can't remember. Maybe a governors palace or something?

It's pink. That was good enough for me.

This guy forced us to take this picture because he wanted a tip. That was the kind of annoying part of Nassau for me. Everyone bugging us for money. For the record, we did NOT give him a tip because he really shoved that gun into Andrew's neck hard when he pretended to apprehend him. It made me mad. Don't upset the pregnant lady in 95 degree weather.

Christ Church Cathedral (first church built here) was my favorite part of Nassau. I wish we had a video because someone was playing the organ and it was absolutely amazing (coming from someone who isn't a huge organ fan). The music just filled the whole room and you can see why with all those pipes.

It rained. I love how my belly catches all the water.

This is the Queens Staircase. The slaves quarried limestone out of this area to build forts, palaces, etc (see the very high walls on either side). After Queen Victoria abolished slavery, the ex-slaves built this staircase as a symbol of climbing out of slavery and dedicated it to the queen by having each step represent a year of her reign. Very cool.

Overall, Nassau was cool and a great place to pick up some inexpensive souvenirs. But it was not that impressive. Even though we were only there a short time, it was difficult to get a sense of the culture. Paradise Island is where I would recommend spending most of your time.

Paradise Island

Just a short taxi trip from Nassau (over a bridge) is Paradise Island, home of the world famous Atlantis Hotel . When I saw people taking pictures of Atlantis from our ship, I thought they were a little weird. Who takes pictures of a hotel? But I must admit that this place was pretty impressive and had amazing beaches.

We had a little too much fun with the sunset pictures. I guess this is becoming a thing, because people will ask me before we go on vacation if we are planning on taking more sunset kissy pictures. Really, we could have come up with some more fun silhouette pictures for hours, but the sunset insisted on leaving us. Which is okay because night swimming in the warm ocean when you have the beach all to yourself is also quite fun.

I had the awesome idea to do handstands but realized quickly that the big weight I have in the front was going to be troublesome. This was the best I could do.

Here is the Atlantis Hotel. Did I mention that this place is HUGE?! We were trying to get from the beach to the hotel and probably spent 1/2 hour wandering through all these different pool areas with waterfalls, lazy rivers, aquariums, etc. I've never seen anything like it.

Cococay

The last day, we sailed to Royal Carribean's private island known as Cococay. Andrew said it was some of the best snorkeling he has ever experienced. I took his word for it and read a book on the beach for hours. Perfect.

The water is SO clear and blue and WARM. Gorgeous!

This guy that Andrew is pointing at literally spent the entire day walking in the ocean with a metal detector looking for who knows what. So funny.

And that's about it. The only regret was that I didn't look closer when I bought sunscreen and accidentally neglected to get a waterproof kind. We are burnt to a crisp, but oh so relaxed!

Daddy Games

There are a few games that only Luke and his Dad can play. Girls not allowed. When Andrew is gone, I try and play these games with Luke but he just stares at me like I just walked into the men's bathroom and should be embarrassed of myself.

To call them games is a bit generous. Father and son can come up with the most interesting ways of entertaining each other. Here is an example of a game they play in the basement (and I'm not even going to apologize for my messy basement...its a basement).

This game usually lasts longer, but unfortunately my camera battery did not. Hopefully you get the idea. This example is a mild one. Usually I am upstairs wondering what in the world those boys are yelling about.

(For the record, Mom has her very own games that she plays with Luke too. One of my favorites is blanket monster. Pretty self-explanatory I think).

Waiting to Shower

Its really sad when something stinks in your house and you search all over only to realize that its you. But I have a good excuse. Luke was up all night throwing up with a high fever and I have yet to take a shower. I'm not totally sure when I'm going to have a chance to get this throw-up smell off of me. Andrew has been on call at the hospital since 7am yesterday and I'm not sure when he'll be home. Plus, I don't know if Luke is done yet, so I hesitate leaving him. Writing is a great distraction right now.

A few observations. At about 2:30am when Luke was screaming and burning like an oven, I rushed him downstairs and put him on the couch while I looked for the Tylenol. Of course it wasn't until AFTER I gave him Tylenol and Motrin that he threw up all over the couch and me (just in case you're wondering, this is why you don't give them at the same time...so if they throw up one, you can still give them the other). Normally, I think most people wouldn't want their child to throw up all over the couch, but I left Luke there until he appeared completely done about an hour later. I know that I sometimes complain about our couch covers because I hate the constant tucking and re-tucking, but last night I couldn't have loved them more. After he fell asleep I just threw the cover in the washer and now its good as new. Being poor has never been so awesome!

I also learned some new things from early morning television that I had forgotten from the time I was a nursing mom. Did you know that if you're too busy to work out, that you can take a pill to lose all your excess weight? Being too busy seems like a perfectly logical excuse to intake a shifty drug that can only afford commercial time at 3am. In fact, there must be a lot of sick people up at night because I have never seen so many shifty drug commercials/infomercials in my whole life.

I also think that 3am is when they give all the rookie reporters practice at reading the national news. That is probably a wise idea.

Lastly, I have to admit that I was initially very upset that all of this had to happen while Andrew was on call. I normally rely on him to calm me down when Luke gets sick so I don't totally freak out. However, I knew he would be up so I called him right away and immediately had access to all the advice I wanted from the experienced doctors at Children's Hospital (where he is working this month). How awesome is that?! Anything we were a little unsure about was immediately addressed by the best pediatricians in Columbus. Having Andrew on call has never been so convenient!

Just to wrap up, I can't resist posting some of our (Luke and I) favorite youtube videos as of late. These are way better than all the truck/train videos he always wants to watch. I actually watched the Adam Sandler one again after Luke went to sleep. What's happening to me!?? I may need more adult interaction.





The last duck cracks me up when he's all alone. I'm really easy to please.



My friend and old mission companion already posted this on her blog. I always knew we were soul mates.

Forgiveness

Here's another good one. But don't watch it if you don't want to cry, and feel uplifted, and resolved to be a much better person. I always hear stories about tragedies like this but rarely do you here how people are able to move on. So good.

Like Mother, Like Son

Most people who didn't know Andrew or I as children, think that Luke looks like Andrew. Its true that Luke gets his blonde locks, blue eyes, and forehead from his Daddy...but it seems like its my little secret that Luke looks much more like his momma (some people don't realize that my hair is naturally curly and I had a fro growing up). I think that as time goes on, kids sort of go back and forth between which parent they look like, but here is some evidence (embarrassing evidence) that Luke is more a McCann than people realize.

(warning: my parents didn't take very many pictures while we were growing up...for some reason i don't really look happy in any of these pictures. i promise i wasn't a depressed child!)

Chubby cheeks from Mom

Squinty eyes from Mom and paleness from Mom (although Luke is a little darker than me and doesn't seem to burn easily)

Curly hair - Mom

This is also why I'm a little picky about Luke's hair not being grown out into an afro (EVERYONE thinks I should let his hair grow longer). They do not know the pain I felt as a child whose older siblings always thought it was so cute to make me look like Annie or Shirley Temple. To this day it is hard for me to wear it curly. It always made me so mad (which might be why I'm scowling in the 2nd picture). At least Luke has a much better smile than his momma!

I always joke that it is unfortunate that Luke had to inherit so much from his Mom. But really, it is fun to see yourself in your children. I'm so curious to see what the next one will look like!

Bunny Fountains

A friend took these pictures at a recent outing to the bunny fountains. They are called "bunny fountains" because of some enormous bunny statues on a hill nearby (not pictured). It is a great place for the kids to cool off in this CRAZY OHIO HEAT.

Check out that belly! You would think that this kid actually eats! I'm not sure what he keeps in there.

We were anxiously waiting for the fountains to suddenly shoot up while their faces were looking inside the spouts...but it never got them!

Catch-Up

This is basically a catch-up of pictures from this summer that I haven't posted yet. We've laid pretty low this summer because I have either been sick out of my mind or Andrew has had a crazy schedule (or both).

Andrew had a week off at the end of June, but I didn't feel like going anywhere too adventurous, so we spent the week at Andrew's parents' house doing odd jobs. Andrew and his Dad painted the house which was a HUGE undertaking that I don't know if he will ever repeat. But it turned out great! Luke was in heaven at his grandparent's house. You've never seen a happier boy in your life. The house was filled with shriek's of "Granpa! Granpa!" all day long.

We did take a day trip to Presque Isle (near Erie, PA). It is a beautiful peninsula (with LOTS of trees) that juts out into Lake Erie and gave me my beach fill without having to travel very far.

Luke was not too impressed with the beach until he saw the little rocks he could throw in the water.

Can you spot the belly? I'm trying to make Luke cover it up a little.

We rented one of these little bike contraptions and rode the trails for a while. Luke waved at everyone we passed.

Andrew had a birthday. Luke painted the sign (mostly)

Andrew thought his sister, Jessica's gift was the coolest thing ever. They are tube squeezers for your toothpaste. He attached mine right away because I am notoriously a bad toothpaste tube squeezer (or so I've been told by someone who cares a great deal about such things). Our "spirited discussions" about the matter have since ceased. Thanks Jess.

One of my dearest friends, Janay, made an unexpected visit from California to see the church history sites (and happened to pass through Kirtland). This was the only picture we managed to take but you can clearly see that 3.5 months pregnant has never looked quite so big.

Andrew has a grill now and uses it constantly. This makes my mouth water just remembering it.

Luke has been...

... doing a lot of finger (face) painting...

...killing flies...

...swimming in the pool with friends...

...rediscovering the exersaucer...

...dressing up like Dad...

...and hanging out in boxes.