A good month

After the storm, we have had beautiful weather and we have taken advantage of it with lots of walks, raking, and street hockey. Quinn has been everywhere on his Razor scooter...I'm so glad that he likes it! He had a fantastic report card last week with Mrs. Lindquist writing that Quinn is every teacher's dream. Grammy was showing it off to everybody, I don't think any of the other cousins ever had a report card quite like that. The problem is that there's only one way to go from here and it's not up. Our seven year old has set a high bar for himself! Speaking of high bars, the Mite A team has had a few tough games playing what appears to be tougher competition. The ages are the same, but the opponents seem a lot bigger. Maybe they are all 8-year olds. However, the kids are having a great time, and the coaches and parents are all very nice. I give a lot of credit to the coaches for volunteering so much of their time and effort.

We are definitely in Christmas mode, and Quinn and I put the tree up last week. Actually, I put the tree up thinking I was doing the family a big favor and Quinn started crying that he didn't get to help. So, I dragged the tree back into the basement and we brought it up again together. We only had 2 ornament casualties so far. One was a Quinn drop and one was a Buster steal. I am trying not to freak out about doing everything perfect for Christmas. I am trying to do one small decorating, shopping or packing project a day...and it seems to be working. Now I have to get to our Christmas card, which will probably be a hockey picture.

I retired from the Mother Ducks, only to go out and skate with Quinn's team. I felt a little ridiculous with all my stuff on, but who cares? Quinn and I were both disappointed we didn't have a scrimmage! Now I am looking forward to getting our rink going. I bought Matt a small fireplace today for it...it would be fun to have a little party down there. My 50th birthday is coming up, I'm anxious to see what Matt has cooked up for it!

We have a seven year old!

Quinn turned 7 last week and we had another party at the XL Center for the Whale game. We invited 9 kids but 11 came! (Reid and Alex joined the group). The kids were much better than last year. I think it was for a few reasons...1: we didn't load them up with sugary cake before the game; 2: it was a Friday night so all the kids were exhausted from the school week; 3: we had more parents than last year including 2 Moms! (Stephanie and Jackie) and 4: we didn't stress out about missing a few minutes of the game. The best part of the night was that the Whale won in OT with 6 seconds left. That got the kids out of their seats!

Quinn has also started having hockey games with his Mite A team, and he scored his first authentic full-ice goal in his first game. Not the prettiest goal, but he brought the score up to 5-7 vs. S. Windsor. The team did great considering that SW has been playing full ice for a couple of months. Black Friday we get up at the crack of dawn...not to get to the shopping doorbusters, but to get Q ready for a 7 a.m. start time at Simsbury Farms for the first game of his tournament.

Fall is here

Today was day three of hockey tryouts for the Mites Travel team. Quinn is one of 24 kids trying out, with 16 spots available. He skated great and Matt and I think he has a good chance of making the team. We will know in the next day or two! His friend Matthew also did very well...we just don't know the "politics" of the try-outs and whether they favor 8-year olds over 7s. It'll also be interesting to see how many girls make the team.

Meanwhile, soccer has been a very fun experience for both me and Quinn. About 10 days ago, Quinn lost a tooth when he collided with Nicholas' head. Nicholas was fine, but Quinn spat up some spit and blood and cried for a bit. Now he has a gaping front tooth hole that he tries to stick his tongue through. No sign of a big tooth coming in behind. At least he won't have to wiggle it for months getting it to come out! It'll be kind of fun to get his school picture, then look back and think about why his tooth was gone.

The other night, Quinn seemed very tired and on our way to bed, he looked at the pictures I have of his grandpa. Next thing you know, he was face-down on the bed crying that he never got to know his grandpa. He was inconsolable! Bawled for a good half-hour and finally cried himself to sleep after Buster comforted him for a bit and I found duck-baby (glad I still have that old thing!) I would like to believe that he is really sad about not knowing his grandpa(s) because he would have liked to have met them, not that he is sad because his other friends have grandpas. I am going to go with the first option.

Quinn's shyness with adults seems to be disappearing. At the Harvest Fair, he shouted out to the art teacher "Hey Mrs. O!" and when he got to demonstrate this week in soccer, he made sure to shout out "Bye, Coach" to the big guy in charge. Very cute!

First Grade

I love conversations in the car! Quinn and I have the best talks...usually about school. He's the typical kid who won't answer at all to "How was your day?" at 3:15 off the bus, but boy, will he open up when he doesn't realize he's doing it! I have finally figured out the names of all of his classmates in Mrs. Lindquist's class. There are 8 boys and 10 girls. And I have met many of them at soccer. I crack up every time the kids get in the big circle for their soccer instruction and they all scream at each other to say hello. I don't know it strikes me so funny...I think because it's so stupid! Back to school, I heard from a reliable source, James' mom, that the girls have instigated a daily game of chasing the boys around at recess.

Quinn and I had the day off from school today, and we had a relaxing morning with plenty of time to play with yo-yos (we were trying to master "Around the Town"). We also went and bought a couple more Bey Blade tops and I actually convinced Q to come with me for a quick stop of dress shopping (this would be for Joey Trenholm's wedding). I found six dresses to try on in about 3 minutes and bought 3 of them. Later, Nicholas came over to play and they had a good time. Oh, and we saw four deer (three on our street) and I had my closest viewing of a black bear near Nicholas' house. I wonder if the animals are foraging knowing the muggy weather is about to finally break.

Quinn still calls out of bounds "out of balance", but I noticed in soccer that other boys say it too! He also wants to know why the mountain "follows us" in the car. Finally, he is very interested in where girls pee. I pointed very quickly to the general area. I'm sure the girls in his class will let him know as well.

Boston lost their wild card chance in the last regular season game yesterday...and for what it's worth, there is no Giants torture this year! I'm going to miss dressing up as "the franchise."

The endless summer of fun

After getting back from Saratoga and getting a few chores and errands completed, it was time to visit Jackie and Mei at the beach. Quinn and I went for 2 nights each of the 2 weeks and had a great time. The weather was perfect...not too hot...and we all had fun going to the beach, playing wiffle ball, playing Monopoly and eating ice cream. The cottage is right on the water with a great screen porch and patio. Morning latte (instant coffee and milk) was delicious and it was great to enjoy it next to the ocean breezes on the porch in the morning before the kids got up. Jackie's parents were extremely hospitable and I enjoyed visiting with them. Quinn's highlight would probably be learning to skimboard. Both of the kids picked it up very quickly. Not being afraid to fall makes it much easier to learn! I also loved collecting seaglass and finally getting to the R.J. Julia bookstore.

Following the second trip, we returned home, only to head out again the next day for East Lyme, CT and Wendy Savarese's 40th birthday party. It was at a beautiful private lake owned by Yale and they had a delicious clambake. It is amazing that having lived in CT all of our lives, the many unspoiled and beautiful areas of our state that we have not seen.

Matt decided to have lobsters the following night at home with the Brookes and McNamaras...will the fun never end?


Now we are back home and in between batting practice in the front yard, are getting ready for the school year.

Saratoga Summer vacation

Memorable moments on vacation!

Friday, July 22: the hottest day on record in a long time! My car temperature read 108 at one point. But we made it and the house is fantastic! We met the owner, Mark Sutton, and he gave us a lesson on using their very cool TVs and movie projectors. We had fun cooking up spaghetti and shrimp for Walker, Abby, Steve and Katie and enjoyed listening to music out on the screen porch.

Sat. July 23: Today's highlight was telling Chris Brooke he won $600 on a $1 trifecta bet he made. He had only made one other bet the entire day...talk about beginner's luck! Had another fun dinner with the group of 8 (plus Quinn and Mei). Quinn and Mei caught a couple of sunnies on the dock...and Walker got the fish off the hooks and back into the water.

Sun. July 24: Today we took the kids to play mini golf and then met Matt and Chris for lunch at PJ's. Matt, Quinn and Mei went on a fishing expedition with Ed, our neighbor for 2 weeks. He is a really nice older man who is a recent widower and loves to fish! We ordered very fancy, yet small pizzas from Harvest and Hearth.

Mon. July 25: So far, our only day of rain...but we made the best of it and found a spot in the main building for the races. Not too many winners, but we still had a nice day. Playing cards later with the Brookes was a lot of fun. Earlier, Jackie and I had fun poking around in a few shops downtown.

Tues. July 26: Jackie and I had our mineral baths today and the new Roosevelt facility is very nice. The bath is so relaxing. I thought I would get restless or bored, but it was nice to relax and focus on nothing but breathing. The time flew by! Later, we headed up to Lake George and took the kids to the arcade and out to lunch. Finally, Matt offered to drop us at the outlets, which was a big mistake for him because women simply can't stop at the Outlets for 20 minutes. It's a 2-hour trip, minimum. The Martins joined us today and we had fun seeing Drew and Lucas.

Wed. July 27: Today was a big transition day. The Brookes left from the racetrack and we moved all our stuff downstairs. The master bath/closet is so huge...I keep wondering if the layout would work at our house if we turned Quinn's room into a room like that. Quinn has not really done that well sleeping with Drew, so he has been sleeping on the floor in our room! He seems totally comfortable...I guess kids can handle things like that. Wed. night we had a chance to go out to dinner with Nealy and Rob (Ally and Brittany babysat) and it was a real treat. We went to 1 Caroline Street and had a great meal...We have to get the recipe for the artichoke appetizer. Then, after some argument and discussion, we ended up at the Tin and Lint (who am I to mess with tradition!) Matt commandeered the jukebox and Nealy got a Sharpie so we could memoralize our many visits there with some comments on the booth. It was a really fun night.

Thurs. July 28: Lee and Dale and Ryan came up today, and after the usual 30 minutes of arguing and tension as we got ready to go to the racetrack, we had a great day. The track has been pleasantly uncrowded, and we had a nice time under the trees. Ryan, Lee and Quinn went on a quick fishing trip with Ed, and then we had a great dinner of steak and potatoes and corn all brought by the Huckers. I was nodding off early, but in spite of that; it was a fun day.

Fri. July 29: Today was interesting because the guys played golf and Quinn and I went with Nealy, Dale, Drew and Lucas to visit grandma necklace (Debby) at her apartment. She really worked hard to make us welcome and we had fun going to Latham to Hoffman's Playland which is an amusement park for little ones. Despite the huge bruise on my thigh from the mini roller coaster, it was a fun day. Quinn has been really good with the little ones, and he loves to pick up Lucas. Friday night was pretty mellow as we waited for the guys to get home, and we just missed getting caught in the rain.

Sat. July 30: Back to the racetrack, and today the crowds were back. We found a good spot out by the road and had room to move around, but it was hard to manuveur our way over to the betting windows. Earlier in the day, I went for a long kayak ride...Ryan and Lee both got tickets for fishing without a license, so that was a bummer. After dinner, Lee asked us all what our most memorable moment of the day was (which gave me the idea for this posting). My moment was taking Quinn in to watch a race and the starting gate was right in front of us. I used to see that all the time at Santa Anita, but I think it was a thrill for Quinn, so it was fun watching him. Ryan mentioned watching Quinn looking at the monitor for the odds and scratches which was cute, but again, scary!

Sun. July 31: Everyone is gone...but instead of feeling sad, Matt, Quinn and I hopped in the car and headed to Lake Sacaganda where we rented a pontoon boat at Magic Mountain rentals. We had a great day on the boat....we rode out to the bridge and docked at a place where we could grab a sandwich. We tried to fish with no luck, and battled the flies. The lake is beautiful....very scenic and not too busy. Jumping in the lake from the boat was very memorable! Even Matt got in. Thank goodness the owner of the boat found a ladder for us, or we would have never gotten back in the boat. We had a dinner of BBQ from right down the road on Route 29 and it was pretty good.

Mon. Aug. 1: Can't believe it's August! We had a mini golf challenge in Clifton Park in the morning, then came back to let Buster out (he is having a great vacation by the way...he loves running around in the yard and chasing the Canada geese...he also has become quite a swimmer!) We headed over to the races but it was not a very lucky day. Our most memorable moment was having a drink in the Reading Room kitchen with Donna, Thea and Denise. After my usual sleepy time, I caught a second wind and watched "The Blind Side" with Matt.

Tues. Aug. 2: Rob and Barb came up today and we saw them when we got back from 36 holes of mini golf. We played Gooney Golf and Pirates Cove and it was fun, although Quinn was disappointed he came in 3rd every time. It's hard to explain to him how good he is! I would have never scored 2s and holes in one when I was is age! Yet, I don't want to let him win....I think he needs many lessons in sportsmanship. We had lunch at an old fashioned hamburger drive-up place with milkshakes that made us all sleepy. I hope Rob and Barb have a fun visit...I think so far, things are good.

Ok, ok, I lost track of the daily blog. A few other memorable events from our vacation included Quinn golfing as part of a foursome with Dad, Uncle Rob and Mr. Franklin in Vermont. Apparently, Quinn played all 18 holes as he ran the golf course. Scott and Cindy also came up for a visit and Scott broke all the privacy rules of friends/weekend get-togethers when he tagged Quinn to give Matt a wake-up solar plexus wrestling move on our bed! After this sudden wake up call, we all went to Lakeview Cider Mill for a large breakfast. We came home, packed up the cars and proceeded to the racetrack. Matt handed Alex, the parking lot attendant kid, $20 to walk Buster and give him some water. Not sure he paid him enough! 

All in all, it was a wonderful vacation and we will probably go back next year.

Go Giants

We just got back from a trip to Chicago. Quinn and Matt saw three games and I went to two. The first game was a 6-3 win, the second a 2-1 loss and the third a 4-2 loss (I think those are the right numbers)! But all the games were exciting...the last game was 13 innings! Quinn loved all of it and never got bored. We laughed in the second game because he had a fantastic view for about 3 innings. Then the biggest man ever  with a neck the size of a large tree trunk sat down in front of him. Oh, well. Quinn also got a lot of laughs and comments because of his panda hat.

Other things we did on this trip included a visit to Millenium Park; lunch at the Taste of Chicago; dinner after the day game at Rockit; and a fun day with Tanya and Paul including a visit to the top of the John Hancock building, and a visit to the zoo. I have never seen a gorilla so close up before! I also got a chance to visit the Chicago Museum of Art which is enormous. Three hours and I probably didn't even see half of it. I must have seen artwork from at least 20 artists I have heard of; and countless others I hadn't. The impressionism area was great (and crowded), but I really enjoyed looking at the religious art with the gold and all of the beautiful detailing in the fabrics, etc.

This is an old story, but a couple of months ago, Matt woke Quinn up at 1 in the morning to see the end of the Canucks/Black Hawks series. The game was just about over for the series win, when sure enough, the Blackhawks scored...making sure Quinn would lose sleep on a school night as the game went into overtime! Fortunately, the Canucks scored pretty quickly.

One other funny story...After Quinn found out who he has for a first grade teacher, he got out his phone list from kindergarten and began calling all of his friends. It was great to listen to him talking to his friends.

End of School

Quinn is almost done with kindergarten...hard to believe! And I am almost finished with my long-term sub position. There sure is a lot of celebrating for teachers and students at the end of the year--it's kind of like the Christmas holiday season. Lots of food, too. We are going to have a kindergarten pool party; a T-ball pool party and a Children's center pool party. I think I need to hire a lifeguard!

Today is kind of cold and dreary and I asked Quinn if he wanted to go to the movies. He said "Mom, you know I'm not really a movie person!" True. So we're waiting for Matt to get home from his trip to Chicago and maybe we can come up with something fun to do. This morning we went out and bought BeyBlades (how long will this toy phase last?)...One set for Quinn and one for Kieran's birthday. At least we didn't break them yet, and they don't need batteries.

Summer vacation plans are still a little sketchy. We will probably do Smuggs for one week, but we are way behind on planning and choosing a condo. Then I'm voting for a few nights by the CT shore, so we can visit the Brookes on their vacation.

The pool is looking really good, mostly thanks to Emmet for working for us 2 days a week this summer. I should have decent gardens this year with his help. We are still waiting for the basketball court to be done...I hope it will happen soon so Quinn can use it this summer.

Spring in CT

We just got back from a nice vacation/visit in South Carolina with my Uncle John and Aunt Mia. They have been asking us to come for a couple of years and we were finally able to fit it in! Their house in Kiawah is beautiful with a wonderful view of the expansive salt marsh in back of their house. My favorite spot was the screen porch; great for drinking coffee and looking at the view (I sound like a Maxwell House commercial!) Of course, that tranquil time was quickly interrupted when Quinn and Gussie woke up and landed in my lap. The hot tub wasn't too hard to take, either.

We got to play golf at two great courses. Thursday was "grown-ups only" (our rule, not theirs) at a course named Osprey Point. This course had a lot of beautiful manmade lagoons and $3+ million (gasp!) homes. That's a lot of money to watch alligators climb up your bank. Very scenic, and maybe this is what kept all of us from making any putts! Quinn spent the day at Kiawah Kids Kamp, and seemed to like the very warm pool and the fact that they played "Big Time Rush" music when he first arrived. The second course we played at was Briar Creek, which was just off the island. This is a really nice, I would think really exclusive country club. Quinn will now think that any golf club offers free cookies, danish and a cooler full of juices to the players before they head out for their round! Quinn did really well for his 9 holes, especially considering we had left his driver at the range 2 days before.

The whole trip was great...and the frightening ride in the car during the severe thunderstorm added the little bit of excitement we may have been looking for! John, Mia, Bo Diddly and Gussie were wonderful hosts and they made our visit seem very special.

No Buster!

Actually, Buster has been a pretty good puppy. We've had a few accidents here and there but I think between crating him at night and taking him out literally every hour or two...he's getting the hang of it! Of course, he hated being out in the rain. And he's quite the little biter. Depending on his mood, it can be little nibbles if he's just being quietly playful, but if he's all revved up--especially with the kids--his little razor teeth can pack a good little whallop. So far, no crying children so that's a big plus.

Here are some differences between Kirby and Buster.

Kirby never really minded loud banging noises or thunder...I think Buster is going to be afraid of them.

Kirby was never a fan of climbing under furniture...he never had that cozy, enclosure feeling that dogs are supposed to have! Buster will go under our bed on one side and come out on the other. Maybe he's making new friends with the dust bunnies.

So far, Buster has no romantic interest in pillows...I have my fingers crossed he'll stay that way. I think Kirby was a freak of nature.

Buster likes to play "fetch" a little bit, but I think Kirby might have been the best canine shortstop or goalie that ever lived.

Meanwhile, on the two-legged front, Quinn is doing great and is gearing up for his 3-sport spring. Once the temperature gets out of the 30s, we'll be ready to go!

Sunday, March 13th

Well, I wasn't able to hold Matt and Quinn off any longer. Yesterday, Matt looked at the newspaper and decided we should all take a road trip and look at a toy poodle in Colchester. It was love at first sight. He looks exactly like Kirby except that his coloring is a little more brown. He's a very pretty sandy color. He might be a little bit more a city dog whereas Kirby was definitely a country dog. We decided to stick with the name "Buster" that we had come up a few days earlier. Buster seemed overwhelmed by the open spaces in our house. I think he was pretty confined at the breeder's cluttered home.

I predict that Buster will have a very different personality than Kirby. He seems kind of mellow. His favorite activity it to crawl around behind your neck and lick your face to death. I just hope he eventually will be a ball chaser like Kirby. This puppy also seems like he might be a little bit more of a chewer than Kirby (one of the few bad habits Kirby didn't pick up). We'll have to see how he turns out! This week we'll get him to the vet and make sure he's on the right track with the "potty" training. So far he is doing very well! Last night he cried when we went to bed and left him in his crate, but he stopped after a while and seemed fine today. I think he'll get used to the routine quickly. Quinn is adorable with him. He held him in the car and was very gentle with him. Definitely a good age for a boy to get a dog...even if he does get tired of playing with him quickly, I'm sure he'll be a good addition to the family.

One last note: Grammy is away getting ready to surprise Aunt Cake for her 80th birthday. Wait until she sees who is waiting for here at home! Hope she doesn't mind our new addition.

Today is Wednesday March 2nd. On Saturday, Walker got married to Abbey in Cape May, NJ. We had a great time. The reception was at Congress Hall, which is where we stayed. I think we had the most slanted room in the hotel. Quinn and I were taking balls and rolling them down the floor without pushing them. But the hotel had a lot of interesting history and charm and the banquet hall for the reception was beautiful. The "Tiffany blue" color was really gorgeous. The cocktail hour was in the "Boiler Room" and it was definitely the basement! Quinn and Grammy both didn't care for that room too much. I thought it was cozy....it was probably even better suited for the after-party because there was a band playing and the acoustics were really good.

The weather for the day was really nice...about 45 degrees and very little wind. I still don't know how all of those women manage without coats. I went into the church with no coat and I was freezing outside! Quinn did a fantastic job as ring bearer....I was so proud of him I could hardly stand it. He ended up standing up for the entire ceremony next to Uncle Rob. I think Walker and Abbey appreciated the levity he brought...especially when he covered his ears when the minister began to speak about love! Barb and Grammy both laughed out loud.

At the reception, Quinn had to turn down many offers to dance. Some of the women really refused to take no for an answer and one of them actually picked him up, carried him to the dance floor and started swinging him around. He was a trooper about it...I think he might have secretly enjoyed the attention, otherwise we might have seen his "angry face." Two other highlights of the reception were Uncle Rob's best man speech...it was really emotional; and the entrance of the bridal party...each couple did a unique entry, such as a chest bump, etc. it was really clever. And of course, Walker and Abbey entered to the tune of "Brass Bonanza."

I thought Cape May was really pretty...too bad it's so hard to get to. And it probably gets warmer ocean water much quicker than Cape Cod. The first (or last) hour of the drive to get to Cape May is very open with a lot of water and marsh land. It was really pretty.

One other note to remember, Cape May had really good prices on lobster! We had a lobster lunch at the Ugly Mug that was really good. I think if I really wanted to, I could convince Matt to go back to Atlantic City and Cape May for a few days...we would just have to be strategic with going off-season to avoid traffic and high costs.

Friday, February 11 4:45 pm

We are supposed to have a big thaw next week with the temp getting up to 50 degrees! I really need to take a picture of our deck while the snow is at its highest (I hope!) Quinn lost his 2nd tooth today. As he described it, he yanked it and yanked it and YANKED it until it came out. Then he got to go to the school nurse and she gave him a special tooth box. Hope we all remember tonight at bedtime and later to get ready for the tooth fairy. Quinn thinks that he gets more money for yanking it out himself....not sure how he came up with that one!

I subbed 2 days at Tariffville this week and loved it. It's getting to be that time when everybody is speculating about next year and what will happen with the librarian situation. I hope they're considering me in that mix!

Quinn has a hockey jamboree tomorrow with Avon and he is so excited! He and Drew really want to win their games. I found out that Drew, Nathan and James are all signed up for lacrosse. Drew is actually signed up for lacrosse and T-ball, so we'll probably do the same thing. Lacrosse is either going to be extremely muddy, or it won't start until Memorial Day with all this snow. I can't wait to see when we actually get in the pool. Last year, Matt and Quinn were in by May 15th. My bunco friends want me to host a pool bunco party with floating dice for the water. That could be fun!

Monday is Valentine's Day, so Quinn has started writing out his valentines. It is like pulling teeth, although from what I wrote before, that's not a good analogy because he enjoys pulling teeth! So writing out valentines is much worse. I think our jigsaw puzzle phase might be over...it was fun while it lasted. We have been back working on mazes a little bit. Right now for books, we are reading Arnold Lobel books in addition to rereading a "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". Quinn loved "Big Nate," so we need to look for another of those. We also read an entire "Wallace and Gromit" graphic novel which was pretty involved. I would like to try Tin-tin sometime. Mixed in with those books we are rereading the Mercy Watson series, and reading whatever Quinn brings home from the school library. I am trying to get through the 2012 Nutmeg nominees. So far, my favorite book is "Masterpiece".

I am looking at several feet of snow piled up outside my home office window and wishing I was looking out at the Caribbean Sea as I was last week on our Norwegian cruise. I guess this year (2011) is a record in many ways for snowfall and cold.

Our cruise from Jan. 22-29 was wonderful and the combination of the Brookes, Grammy, the Huckers and ourselves worked out great. Quinn and Madeline got along perfectly for the whole vacation. They were always in sync with wanting to do the same thing. The DS systems really came in handy at times...it was great to have them at dinner, so the grown-ups could relax with their wine and desserts. The water slides were fantastic (although I confess I don't have first hand experience). Chris went down the Epic Plunge three times with the help of some great crew members.

Other highlights of the cruise included:

--Mouthwash happy hour

--The shows: Legends, Blue Man Group and the comedian/magician. Also, the Howl at the Moon pianists were really talented, and played all of our requests right away!

--Going bowling

--Getting the daily crossword puzzle....it was just the right level for me...I could almost finish it every day; it wasn't my fault that a few of the clues were lame.

--Eating, eating, eating!! I'm not sure what my favorite was in this category. It could be the eggs benedict, or the great french fries, or the feeding of the animals (I mean passengers) the chocolate chip cookies at 2:00. I loved how our cabin was so close to the buffet...we could grab morning coffee and happy hour cheese and crackers with no problem. The dinners were great and we loved every restaurant we tried. I think the most pleasant surprise was Cugino's. It was a great meal for a $10 surcharge...well worth it! And Matt got us off to a great start on the cruise by sending us to the sit down restaurant for lunch instead of fighting the crowds on deck.

--Playing roulette at the casino. Although Matt and I lost, we kept it going for a while and our numbers came in occasionally. I always look forward to playing for at least a little bit. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any of the roulette machines that we've had great luck with in the past.

--Roatan, Honduras. What a pleasant surprise we had from this island stop! The beach was incredible and we had a great tour guide for the day-- "Ronnie" who was with us for the entire excursion. Lee set up our ride and I am sure that this is the way to go...to find our own excursion as opposed to setting up the same thing through the cruise ship for twice the $$. Ironically, Matt was close to not even joining us for the day, and he agreed it was one of the best parts of the trip! I have never seen a more perfect beach. White sand, perfect water temperature...blue blue blue water and sky, and just enough teeny tiny seashells to beach comb through. The banana boat ride was a blast and I enjoyed getting a peek at the end of the island where it looks like they're building a beautiful resort. I wonder how prices compare to stay there as opposed to something like the Ritz Carlton on St. Thomas?

--I wasn't that impressed with Costa Maya, but I'm so glad Jackie signed us up for the dolphin encounter. Quinn didn't last too long in the cold water, but I made it through and so did Jackie and Madeline. There wasn't too much else to see here, so I'm glad we did it!

--My last favorite was the spa! I loved spending a little bit of time in the "stations" hot tub, although I fell in at first and almost lost my swim suit in the waterfall. I think it's impossible to go to a spa for the first time and not make at least a little bit of a fool out of yourself. Oh well, by the fourth visit I had it down pat. I really loved the scented steam room; it helped sooth my nasty dry cough.

Those are the highlights: If the weather had been a little better, and we didn't have a cold and cough bug running through us, I would rank this vacation a 10. But in spite of those two minor complaints, I give this vacation a solid 9.