Tragedy

Today was a tragic and sad, sad day for our family.  I can't tell you how much my boys have loved our newest pet, Chewy, always playing with him and loving him.  Well, Danny took him out of his cage today and handed him over to Maggie - of course she bit him and that was the end of Chewy.  Cole cried for an hour and half - and it wasn't just crying - it was a "wailing."  So sad for Cole.  Hunter was devastated too - he started to sob when he was told.  The sad thing is that Danny had no idea what went wrong - nor does the statement "Chewy died" mean anything to him.  It was hard to be angry with Maggie too, since she was handed the little guy.  I found myself going through all the emotions of grief: denial, anger, sadness, mourning, acceptance... I think there are 7 steps - but I'm still stuck on the mourning part.  It was really sad to see the lifeless little guy and to think about how fragile our little spirits are.  It was especially hard to see my boys' broken hearts.  Cole constantly reminds us and his friends who have stopped by that "at least Chewy's still alive in heaven."  Another tender moment during this ordeal was while I was hugging Cole and we just sobbed together.  He said, "he was my 2nd most favoritist thing in the whole world!" I asked him what was his first and I honestly thought he would say his blankie, but his quick and tear filled response was, "you guys" (meaning mom and dad).

::sigh::

Cole's Challenge

Every time I take the boys to the dentist, the dentist is very kind about the fact that Cole sucks his thumb.  He has said, don't worry about it yet - he'll stop when he is ready.  When he asked me about his thumb-sucking now that he's in Kindergarten, I mentioned he'll avoid it at school, but sucks like CRAZY at home.  It was driving us bonkers as it had INCREASED this school year.  The dentist recommended a "POSITIVE" method for quitting and I took it to heart.  He advised me to find a prize for Cole that would motivate him - and he should go 30 days without sucking his thumb, IN A ROW.  Honestly, this kid could not go even go 15 minutes.

So, we tried things such as "How about we take you to Lagoon?"  nah.

"We're goin to California this summer, do you want to go to LegoLand?"  nah...

Cole, what do you REALLY want?

C: A house

Me: You already live in a house.

C:  But I want my OWN house!

Me: Like a play house?

C: No, a big house.

Me: Sorry, it won't happen.

C: Then I want a car.

Me: I can't afford a car either.

C: Then I'll never stop sucking my thumb.

Me: Ok.

A week later -

C: Ok, Mommy, I want a play house, but it has to be a BIG ONE.

Me: Let's see what the playhouses look like

I pull up the Toys R Us website and we look at the houses that are UNDER $100.  I had to run out of the room for a second and when I return to the computer, Cole has scrolled down to the bottom of the list and exclaimed...

C: I found the one I wanted!  THAT ONE!!

Me: Sorry hon, but that's $2500 for a playhouse and I don't have that much money.

C: Then, I'll never stop.

Me: Ok.

A week later...

Cole comes home from a friend's house and exclaims that Layton's big sister is giving hamsters away for FREE!

C: Can I have one?

Me: They cost money to take care of.  Sorry.

C: But it's For FREE!

Me: Well, the hamster is free but, you'll need a cage, a water bottle, and an exercise wheel.

C: I'll do jobs!

Me: Ok!!

Cole did jobs for the next hour and a half - really it was impressive.  He came up with the jobs and worked really hard.  He earned $1.75.

C: Do I have enough?

Me: Let's look and see how much a cage costs.

We look online and see that the supplies are well above Cole's savings and then the lightbulb comes on over my head....

Me: Cole, I would be happy to buy you all these things if you stop sucking your thumb for 30 days.

C: Then I can get a hamster?!?!

Me: Yup.  30 days, IN A ROW.

C: Oh! I really want a hamster!

We made the following chart:  (notice his little hamster picture)

It took him a couple of days to get that "FIRST DAY", but once he started, he never missed a day.

Meet Cole's new pet:

His name is "Chewy"

We also stopped by the dentist's office and he gave him this bear - wow, I didn't expect that!

Maggie isn't so sure about the new addition...  but she hasn't attacked him or even barked at him.  We have such a good dog.  I hope this little guy is as great a pet as Maggie!  So far, the boys are LOVING him.  we'll see how much love they have after cleaning the cage!  One complaint though, the boys' room now stinks like Hamster.  Any advice fellow rodent owners?

My indulgence

When I was a missionary in Argentina I fell in love with a candy that looks like a gum drop, but tastes SOOOO MUCH BETTER!  Very fruity and sweet.  When we went on our Caribbean cruise a few years ago, I found the candy at one port.  I bought a handful of candy packets thinking that I might see the candy at other ports too.  Well, that was not the case and I was so sad that I hadn't BOUGHT EVERYTHING!

When we got to Mexico, we walked by a grocery store on the first day and I went inside, hoping to find "gomitas."  HALLELUJIA - they had some!  They look a little different than the Argentine version, but taste just as yummy (maybe because it's been so many years since I had them?)  So, I bought out the supply at the store - about 6 or 7 packages.  At the next port, I found more packages, and bought out the supply (another 6 or so packages).... do you see the pattern?  Shayne let me indulge in the candy hunt and we searched at every port.  By the 4th port, I didn't need to buy it ALL, but I did buy at least 6 packages every time I did see them!  Now I'm hopeful that one of the Mexican shops in this area will carry this type of candy... oh that would be heavenly!  So, behold my treasures from the cruise  (and did I mention it was hard to take a picture of these and NOT OPEN A PACK?!?  I'm trying to conserve and be wise... it's impossible to open a bag without eating ALL OF THEM).

Ensenada

Too bad I don't know how to the Spanish "n" to spell that name correctly.   The final port (#5) was Ensenada - which is just south of San Diego.   The highlight was visiting the "largest blow hole"... where water spits up into the air hundreds of feet.  We saw one (a blow hole) in Hawaii a few years back - evidently this is the largest one.  It was tough to get a photo of it - not a very good photo op being above it.

A father with his sons playing a marimba.  The marimba was beautiful.  It looked homemade when compared to marimbas I had in my classroom, but it was a very beautiful instrument.  I didn't mind making a donation to this trio's "donation" cup.  There were lots of beggers everywhere - but I like to see TALENT and hard work in action!

This proved to be the cheapest port as far as cheap, junkie souvenirs go.  We should have done all our shopping here - oh well.  We didn't bring home much - like I said, it was all the same junk at every port and honestly, we didn't like any of it.   

A view of the shopping street - hundreds of shops all filled with the same stuff.

We got the boys "Nacho Libre" masks.  They LOVE them.  I'm glad we got these!  Cole and Danny's have little attached capes.  I had to convince Hunter to take his mask off when we went to the Dino museum - I thought it was a little creepy to wear in public!  They are also wearing their new shirts - Hunter got a German Soccer Jersey (German while in Mexico? whatever...) and silly shirts for Cole and Danny - the mouths lift up and you can see the animals' teeth.  Danny LOVES his monkey shirt.

Sea Day #3

Well, truth be said, I asked Shayne if there was a formal night.... his response was, "I don't think so.  I never saw anything about it in the information."  As I mentioned before, I didn't worry about anything as far as the trip was concerned - I was more concerned with preparing grandparents and kids for a week together!  So, I took a nice shirt and a pair of nice shoes, in case I needed to dress it up a little.  Well, we had TWO formal nights while on the cruise!  Needless to say, we were under-dressed.  But what-cha-gunna-do?  I put on my "dressier" clothes and Shayne just didn't care!  We survived and I don't remember any scowling looks from others - but I sure admired the pretty dresses and tuxes!

Food and food and MORE food.  Food is ENDLESS on a cruise - fancy dinners, all you can eat buffets any hour of the day and fee-free room service too.  Here are a few highlights of our fine dining:

This is Shayne's FAVORITE dessert - typically he'd order the special dessert for each night ALONG side this favorite: Chocolate Melting Cake.  (Yes, he'd have 2 desserts!)  Essentially it was chocolate Souffle and I could barely look at the stuff... I'm not a chocolate fan.  My favorite was the Creme Broulee which was only served the 1st night.  Bummer.  But I am a huge fan of Sherbet and I indulged EVERY night.

Cabo San Lucas

Port #4: Cabo San Lucas

We decided to leave our nice camera on the boat today - we weren't sure how the "kayaking" excursion would go.  It was a blast!  It was also a longer trip than we expected - just across a bay - but it was very busy and definitely a workout!  We brought our cheapo underwater camera and hoped that it would take pictures above water - luckily it worked.  

We kayaked to "Lovers beach" where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean... so on one side of the beach it's the Cabo San Lucas Bay - and on the other, it's the pacific ocean.  The two sides were only 100 yards apart - (if that) and the waves on the bay side were nill and the pacific side had HUGE crashing waves.  It was a spectacular beach and we thought Cabo was beautiful.  If we go back to Mexico, we'll start here.  

Snorkeling on the bayside...

La Paz

Port #3: La Paz  

We went snorkeling at "Los Isolotes".  It was a 1 1/2 hour boat ride to a little area where hundreds of Sea Lions lived.  We were able to snorkel/swim next to them!  It was definitely a highlight of our trip.  I took a bunch of pics with our cheapo underwater camera - some of them are ok!  A baby sea lion played with Shayne - even kissed him on the nose!  He also played with my flippers - it was like having a little puppy playing with us.

Shayne wasn't timid about touching this little guy - and the sea lion loved him!

He decided to play with me - I didn't dare touch him, but he loved my flippers (yeah, Shayne had flippers on too, but mine must have smelled better)

Mazatlan

Port #2: Mazatlan

We arranged to go on an excursion to "Stone Island" which in the end, is not an island at all.  It was a rather funny experience - they loaded us into a boat and we took a 45 minute boat ride (thinking we're going to a great island in the middle of the ocean) and we turn around and park the boat across the bay from the cruise ship.  Ahhhhhh, sweet memories.  We were guests at a little restaurant (the last picture) and had the option of two activities.  We chose horse riding and a banana boat ride.  The horse ride was more like donkeys, but still nice....  not quite the "black stallion on a beach image" I was daydreaming about! 

The banana boat ride was hilarious...  just see the below image of the "speed boat."  We spent the day on the beach, reading and relaxing.