Kinder Fiesta Parade

All the floats lined up in the gym because of the drizzly weather.

The kids are off every year on the day of the Battle of Flowers Parade. That was yesterday (Friday). On Thursday, the kindergarten put on their own Fiesta Parade. We were told to make a float using whatever theme we wanted. They wanted the kids to use their imaginations as long as their floats could be "carried, pushed, or pulled" by the student, to include any pull toy or device including doll strollers, wagons, and skateboards. In the past, with the other kids, we were told to use a shoebox, so that's what we used. As you can see from this picture, many of the other floats were MUCH more elaborate.

Eric with his simple dinosaur float.

Eric made his float. Patrick covered the shoebox with kraft paper and Eric cut out the fringe on the paper that Patrick then glued to the sides. Eric wanted dinosaurs to be his theme, of course, like everything else in his dinosaur-crazy life. We got these small plastic dinosaur toys from a friend in our Easter egg hunt. Eric did not want to glue the dinosaurs down because he wanted to be able to play with them again. I had some glue that was water soluble and would probably have washed off with soap and water, but we didn't want to take a chance that we couldn't wash them off. Luckily, I had these double-sided foam adhesive dots that we put on each dinosaur foot and luckily, that was enough to hold the dinosaurs onto the box.

The teachers were having fun too.

Although the kindergarteners were the ones marching in the parade, the rest of the school lined the parade route, especially under the breezeway at the front of the school. Some of the teachers dressed up in fun colors and accessories. This is Natalie's teacher with the guitar--he really got into posing for photos.

The parade started on one side of the parking lot and came up under the breezeway in front of the other kids. The kindergarteners waved as they marched along with their floats, and the spectators cheered and waved back. One class had made their own hats that they wore. In Eric's class, the boys wore these crowns from Burger King (which they decorated) and the girls wore flower garlands and other headband type head gear.

Eric dancing with his assigned dance partner.

After the parade, they did dances with assigned partners. I got a glimpse of Eric's future when he was holding hands with his partner and dancing. They had obviously rehearsed the dances. At one point, Eric looked like he was tired of dancing and seemed to just be going through the motions. His partner was way more "into it." Still, we got some good photos and Patrick also took video.

Natalie trying to avoid the camera.

Natalie was there with her GT class. They did the Macarena dance, the typical group dance. The kindergarteners started and then the rest of the school joined in. I tried to take a picture of Natalie dancing, but as soon as she saw me, she started making embarrassed faces and ran behind her best friend Margot. She then went through the motions of the dance, "making" Margot do the dance. I think it still made for great pictures. :)

After the parade and dances, the group disbanded. The kindergarteners got to have their own party in the kinder playground and the rest of the school went back to their respective classes. They had face painting, cascarones, snow cones, and other games. I had to leave at that point because I was on call on Thursday night and had to go to work. Patrick took Eric home after his party, but Natalie wanted to ride the bus home with her friends. I was glad that I was able to see this event in person, though. This sort of thing is better seen in person than in pictures and video.

Picking An Instrument

Natalie decided a little while ago that she wanted to be in Band when she gets into middle school next year. She played the piano for about four years before she had to quit at the beginning of this school year. She wanted to play cello in the orchestra and there just wasn't time for both. Well, she quit cello a couple of months ago, so she doesn't have any music right now and she seems to miss it. When the opportunity came to sign up for Band, she took it.

The kids who are interested in Band have to pick an instrument. There are some popular instruments, apparently--saxophone and percussion, so they suggest that kids that request those instruments have an alternate choice. They were doing "instrument interviews" earlier this week, but as I've previously described on this blog, this past week has been crazy busy, so luckily they had a session today as well. Natalie had a swim practice today from 10-11:30am, so we went there right after practice. She still had her towel and parka on from swim practice.

We were the only ones there. Apparently, a lot of kids already went earlier in the week, so we had lots of individual attention. We were greeted by one band director, who started the interview before the other one arrived. He was actually in the hallway playing his trumpet when we walked in. Natalie had planned on requesting to play the clarinet, but when he heard that she played the piano for four years, he suggested percussion, so she put that as her second choice. The choices were really just a guideline for the band directors. He was going to play to "test her" with different instruments to see what she would be good at. He started by having her tap out rhythms with her hands and feet. She was able to follow fairly easily, but I didn't think she was spectacular or anything. Still, he rated her a "9+" out of 10.

Next he gave her two different mouthpieces, one for the trumpet and one for the french horn. She had previously told me that she couldn't blow into the mouthpiece when they came to visit her music class at the elementary school. Well, she did great this time--not perfect obviously, since she has never played those instruments before, but she was able to blow into the mouthpieces and sustain a decent tone. He rated her a "9+" again for those instruments. Natalie's best friend Margot chose the french horn during her instrument interview, so Natalie was a little interested so she could be with Margot.

The other band director came in and gave her the clarinet to try. To my surprise, she actually didn't seem as good with the clarinet as with the brass instruments. The band director didn't say what her rating was, but she asked her what she wanted to play. As I mentioned previously, there is a lot of competition for percussion, but she told Natalie that with a rating of "9+" and four years of piano experience, Natalie would be assured a spot in percussion. So, what did my daughter say? She said she wanted to do percussion, because she "wants to hit stuff." Great. Can you tell that my daughter has three brothers? Can you tell that when she was about two years old, she used her baby doll's head to pound wooden pegs? Yes, she likes to "hit stuff." I was a little disappointed that she didn't choose a different instrument, but she really seemed excited about playing percussion, and I love that.

After we left the middle school, we picked up food and met Alex and a couple of his friends at the neighborhood park. They had walked from home to the park with Eric. I went home to get drinks and we had a little picnic. After the picnic, the boys played in the playground and with a soccer ball. Eric had a blast! He was showing me his flexibility on the playscape. Alex even got him down at one point saying that he has bad memories of doing something similar when he was younger.

The weather was absolutely fabulous today--sunny in the low 70s with a nice breeze. As a result, we spent a few hours in the park. Alex is having a sleepover tonight and this was perfect for them walking all over the neighborhood. It's a bit of work for me to have eight teenage boys here, but they're all behaving pretty well and they seem like they're having a lot of fun together. Eric is having a grand old time, acting like they're all his big brothers to play with and boss around. :)

School Carnival

Patrick and Anthony are galavanting in the Northeast today (Patrick will have to post about that later), so I'm a single mom for the weekend. The little ones had their big school carnival today. They only have this carnival once every two years, so it's a big deal and a big fundraiser for their school. I was volunteering at 4:25pm-5:15pm, so we left the house even before Alex got home from school. I bought a wristband for each child for $10 apiece and $20 in tickets for food and some games and activities that cost extra.

Natalie was hanging out with one of her best friends, Margot. I was volunteering with Margot's mom, so Natalie took care of Eric for a bit. That included getting him something to eat, since the food was in the cafeteria, far away from where I was. I was a little nervous about letting her do that, but lots of people knew her and a few less people knew me, so I figured that someone would let me know if she and Eric needed anything.

After I finished volunteering, I relieved Natalie of her "Eric duties". She and Margot had matching hats on that they had won in a game. They both had their hair "colored", meaning that there was a "Hair Flair" booth where they got the ends of their hair sprayed with different colored hair spray. Natalie, of course, chose red. She later found me and handed me a Beanie Baby type of stuffed animal--a Triceratops named Topper, which she wanted me to give to Eric. The rest of the time I saw her running around with Margot and another friend from our neighborhood, Paige.

Eric seemed a little lost, at first. Even when we were first driving to the carnival, he kept talking about how he was going to look for his "best friend Christopher" so they could play together. He didn't really know what to do until he found Christopher. The only problem was that Christopher is a little more energetic than Eric, which meant that he didn't stick with Eric. He kept running around all over the place. There were so many people that it was hard to keep track of him, so we lost him and found him a couple more times before they finally stuck together for the rest of the carnival. After that, Eric was clearly having a lot more fun. They played on the swings and playscape. They raced on one of the big inflatable obstacle courses and bounced in the bouncy house. They spent the most time at the "Egg Scramble" game where they had to balance a large plastic egg on a large plastic spoon. They did that one over and over again, each time claiming a prize from the prize box. Eric got a couple of hard candies, some little stampers, and a plastic spider. Christopher's mom was following him around like I was following Eric around. We were both getting tired following the little boys around.

Oh--I almost forgot to tell this one story. Before we found Christopher, Eric went to the "Dig for Worms" booth. This was his class booth, so he probably gravitated there because his teacher was there. Basically, they covered a gummy worm in whipped cream and the kids were supposed to get past the whipped cream to the gummy worm without using their hands. Eric refused to put his face in the whipped cream. Actually, he didn't want ANY whipped cream. He only wanted the gummy worm. His teacher laughed when she realized this, and she helped him get the whipped cream off. She also gave him a hug and told him that she was glad he made it to school today after being sick for four days this week. We love her.

Eric went to bed in my bed tonight, with Topper the Triceratops. I'm hoping he'll sleep well. I know I will.

Summa Cum Laude Ceremony

Last night we went to a ceremony of this year's summa cum laude graduating seniors at Anthony's school. The criteria for summa cum laude at his school is everyone who has an average of 100 or greater. There were 49 of them. Each graduate was tasked with choosing a teacher/counselor/administrator that most influenced their educational years. Anthony chose his Chemistry teacher (and advisor). The graduates had to right a short speech of 100 words or less describing how this person influenced them. Here is what he wrote:

"Tonight, I would like to honor Ms. Felger for the incredible amount of commitment she has demonstrated for me and all her students. Throught the years, Ms. Felger has encouraged me ever onwards, becoming a driving, motivational force in my life. She did not assist me in any typical way; instead, she was always the guiding hand, leading me to my own path. She has helped me discover that I truly want with life, also providing me with the skills and knowledge to do so. I only wish I could give back to her everything she has given to me."

I'm just a little biased, but I thought not only was his speech one of the best, but his delivery as well. He even improvised a little and he definitely was not reading straight from his little piece of paper. He has worked hard to be better in public speaking and it shows. She gave him a homemade card with $20 in it awarding him as the "Felger Scholarship Recipient". The bottom also read, "Scholarship Conditions: Annual visit with Ms. Val Felger and continued enrollment in a school of higher learning." So sweet!

First Long Course Meet

Natalie went to her first long course meet this past weekend. There were no 50 meter races, only 100 meter and 200 meter races for her. Patrick told her that the first time he was in a long course meet, he looked across the 50 meter pool and thought, "Wow, it's a really long way to that wall!"

Natalie's coach wasn't at this meet. There was a meet in Corpus Christi also this past weekend, and he was there with some other members of his team. The coach from the team above Natalie's was her coach instead. She wasn't that familiar with him, but Patrick told me that he seemed like a really great coach.

She swam in the 200 IM and 200 Free races on Saturday and the 100 Free, Breast, Back, and Fly (in order) races on Sunday. Her seeded times and actual times, along with how she placed amongst the 10-year-olds are listed below:

200 IM--Seeded time 3:36.51/ Actual time=3:28.36/ 8th out of 15

200 Free--Seeded time 3:10.71/ Actual time=3:07.93/ 8th out of 17

100 Free--Seeded time 1:26.66/ Actual time=1:25.36/ 7th out of 19

100 Breast--Seeded time 2:00.02/ Actual time=1:59.71/ 13th out of 20

100 Back--Seeded time 1:29.81/ Actual time=1:27.64/ 1st out of 23

100 Fly--Seeded time 1:36.18/ Actual time=1:40.53/ 3th out of 7

Note that the seeded time were mathematical conversions from a 25 yard pool to a 50 meter pool. Patrick says there really isn't an accurate way to do that since the times are affected by how well a swimmer does turns in the pool and other factors. Other notes are as follows:

--Natalie improved her seed time in all but one of the races. Still, she was in tears because she thought she could do better. Her tears were more short-lived than in the previous meets, however, so hopefully she is starting to find that balance between high expectations and reality.

--Her coach gave her specific critiques after her first race of the meet, the 200 IM race on Saturday. She took this as "stuff she did wrong". We explained to her that was not the case. He was merely letting her know what small things she could do to improve. Patrick keeps telling her that she is getting good enough that there aren't any big things, only little things that she can improve on to decrease her times.

--She really does better when she hangs out with her friends in between races. She calms down and enjoys herself more. They also encourage each other. She got a better time in the 100 Back than two of her friends (Renzi and Aspen). Renzi was the one who came up to her and informed her that she got first place.

Natalie's big goal is to meet the TAGS Time Standards so she can go to the big meet in July. She has high expectations for herself but that goal is actually very possible. I'm praying that will be the case because meeting that standard will go a long way to giving her the confidence she needs to keep going for the long term.

Sick Boy

Whenever I think we are busy, something happens that makes us even busier. We already had a busy weekend with Natalie's first long course swim meet yesterday and today. Patrick left town today with Anthony so they could visit Rice University, one of Anthony's top college choices. That meant that I would be a single parent until tomorrow evening. We thought we had everything planned. I would go into work late (coverage already arranged) and a neighbor would take Natalie and Eric as they got off the bus, and I would later (at 5pm) go pick up Alex after track practice. Luckily, Natalie already said she didn't want to go to swim practice tomorrow or that would be just one more thing to get done. As is typical with kids, though, they always find some way to remind you that you're not really prepared.

I thought Eric felt warm this afternoon, but I just thought it was because he had put on a long sleeve shirt and jeans this morning even though it was up in the 80s today. Later, when he said he felt cold, I told him to snuggle under one of our many blankets that are scattered around the house. Alex then told me that Eric had crawled into his own bed and fallen asleep. Eric doesn't nap. When he started complaining that his stomach hurt (around 5pm), I thought it was because he had not had a snack and he was used to eating early. When he started complaining that his stomach hurt and complained that he felt cold but his whole head felt hot to me, plus he was crying and refused to eat, I couldn't deny it anymore. Eric was sick. Fever of 101.4 sick. Sigh.

First I had to throw out all of the bottles and cartons of expired medicines (some from 2007!) before I could be sure that we did not have any liquid acetaminophen or ibuprofen. After all, our kids don't really get sick, so we don't usually need medications--except for allergies. We have plenty of up to date allergy medications. I had to make another run to the grocery store. Meanwhile, Eric was huddled next to the toilet because he felt sick. I had to go through a whole process of "grieving" before I accepted/realized that yes, I would have to call into work tomorrow. I've never had to call in sick to work, at least not since I've worked at my current job. I've even gone into labor while at work--but I came into work that day. I felt so guilty making that phone call, but what else could I do? I refused to be one of those parents that will medicate her child and then send them to school, only to get called in the afternoon when the medication wears off or worse yet, so they can infect someone else's child while they're at school.

I could see Eric get better as the ibuprofen took effect. He was even smiling when I tucked him into Patrick's side of our bed. I didn't want Eric climbing up and down from his top bunk in the middle of the night when he is sick. So, I guess now I'll be at home with time to do all the cleaning and stuff that I didn't get to do this weekend because of the swim meet.

Last 1600 meters

This is what you get when you leave your serving plate over at a good friend's house and they return the plate to you. How cool is that? I brought my plate over to their house filled with my Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars when we were there for Easter. We left the plate and the rest of the goodies so they could enjoy them and today they brought the plate back. Chocolate strawberries are a definite favorite at our house, but I'm going to store away a couple that I can have for breakfast tomorrow. :)

Yesterday, Anthony ran in his last 1600 meter race in high school--really his last high school race period. I was wrong on the previous post. It was the next to last event, the last event being the 1600 meter relay (or 4x400m relay). We don't have the official time, but Anthony said he finished with a time of 5:14, his personal best. Even better--he didn't come in last! Yay! That just seems so fast to me, but the guy that won finished with at time of about 4:30. That's crazy fast!

We were sitting on the first row of bleachers in the stands, so we could see the track very clearly. Patrick and I had to bring Eric with us because Alex was on another sleepover last night and there would be no one to watch him. We left Natalie at home by herself so she could go to bed early for her swim meet today. I figured that Anthony would love to hear Eric's voice cheering for him, so I encouraged Eric to say, "Go Anthony!" every time Anthony passed by us. Since this was the 1600 meter race, there were four laps, and Anthony passed by us four times. Each time, Eric yelled "Go Anthony!" He really seemed to enjoy cheering for his brother. We couldn't tell whether or not Anthony heard us, until I had this text interchange with Anthony when we were on our way home from the meet.

At the end of Anthony's race, Eric told me, "Anthony did pretty good, actually." When I texted this to Anthony, he replied that he had heard Eric during his last lap (he said he had zoned out the rest of the time and didn't hear anyone). I read Anthony's reply to Eric (that Anthony had heard him) and Eric got such a big grin on his face. When I told Anthony this, Anthony replied to tell Eric that "he was as loud as a t-Rex" and Eric's grin got even bigger. It was dark in the car by that time, but I could see a lot of white teeth even in the dark! What a sweet sibling exchange!

Last 3200 meters

Anthony has only been in high school track for two years. Patrick and I encouraged him to join as a freshman and as a sophomore, but he didn't want anything to do with it. I'm not sure why he changed his mind last year, but I suspect it had something to do with one of the coaches.

He doesn't get to really train for track because he is in soccer for most of the track season. He has only run in two other meets this year. In both, he ran in the 3200 meter and 1600 meter races. In the 3200m, his time was a little over 12 minutes. In the 1600m, his time was less than 5 1/2 minutes. Patrick and I think that's fast, but Anthony was one of the last to finish those races. The boy who won one of the 3200m races won with a time of 9 1/2 minutes. Wow! That's a whole other level of "fast".

Anthony wasn't even sure if he wanted to go to the District Meet which was held today with the second half tomorrow. This is his very last meet in high school. The coach he likes so much is leaving, but he's sticking around for this last meet, so Anthony decided to go ahead and run. This is a two day meet. He had to be at school this morning at 7am so he could catch the bus to Heroes Stadium, where the meet was being held. The 3200m is the first race in all of these meets, and they were starting at 9am. They ran the JV then Varsity girls' races, then the JV then Varsity boys' races, so Anthony didn't run until almost 10am.

I was hoping and praying that either he could meet his goal of breaking the 12 minute mark or that he at least didn't finish last if he didn't break that mark. He came in last with a time of 11:56.82. He was good with that. Tomorrow evening he runs in the last race of the meet, the 1600m.

Eric's 6th Birthday

Today is Eric's sixth birthday. On Facebook, I posted a link of my blog post six years ago, describing his birthday story. That seems like yesterday.

Patrick brought cupcakes in to school for Eric's class. They have a requirement nowadays to only have store-bought goodies at parties because of all of the child allergies out there, so I didn't bother trying to make anything special. Patrick also brought Eric's favorite lunch--Wendy's Spicy Crispy Chicken Nuggets and a Vanilla Frosty. It was unfortunate that Wendy's messed up his drive-thru order, but Eric and Natalie didn't seem to mind. Patrick wasn't even able to be there when the cupcakes were distributed by Eric's teacher. She picked them up from the office where he had left them and distributed them herself.

Patrick also displayed a new crafty side today. He has been unable to find dinosaur wrapping paper anywhere, so he made his own. He wrapped our presents to Eric and my sister Melissa's presents to Eric in kraft paper and then he used Eric's stamps and ink to stamp the paper. Eric didn't seem that impressed, but I think because he almost expects everything to be dinosaurs anyway. What a lucky boy.

When the big boys came home around 5:15-5:30, Eric opened his gifts. Anthony's best friend and Eric's "other brother" Alejandro was already here. The theme was definitely dinosaurs from books and a Lego Creator from Aunt Melissa and cousin Emily to an excavation set from Grandma. Aunt Cynthia and her family got him a requested Nemo play set. Yes, he still loves Nemo and still sleeps with a Nemo stuffed toy in his bed every night--right next to the T-Rex. They also got him a requested Cars polo-type shirt and Cars-themed swim goggles. I was sending Cynthia pictures of everything he was asking for as Eric and I shopped at the Disney Store a week and a half ago. I'm told that he still has other presents coming. His big brothers even drove by the Toy Zone near us to get him this Brachiosaurus. This toy is $40 and I had discouraged Alex from getting it. I guess Alex knows what his brother likes. What a very lucky boy.

We went to Chili's for dinner. I'm not sure why Eric loves Chili's so much. He only ordered the kids' Mac and Cheese, which is what he gets at pretty much every place we go out to eat nowadays. I think he just has fond memories of Chili's when we used to go almost every Saturday after we went to church. Tonight he ordered the kernel corn as his side, but he was disappointed when it came. It took Alex to be able to decipher why Eric was upset. Apparently, the picture in the kids' menu looked like candy corn, and that's what Eric thought he was ordering. Um no--you're not THAT lucky a boy.

We went to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream after dinner. Yes, this was Eric's choice also. He had his favorite--Rainbow Sherbet. Afterwards, I had to take a picture of Eric with Alejandro. Alejandro is almost a member of our family, although the last year or so has been very busy for him and for Anthony, so we haven't seen him much lately. Still, he made a special trip to be with us for Eric's birthday. Now THAT is a lucky boy.

Senior Design Project

Anthony has to complete a "Senior Design Project" in order to graduate. The model is due this coming Friday. I asked him to explain what that is and I basically typed it all in as he narrated it below:

The goal of the senior design project is to pick a problem and solve it. The problem Anthony picked was the inability to charge a mobile device while on the move, given society's increasing reliance on such devices. He decided that a solar panel would be the easiest and best way to increase the battery life of a mobile device. Originally he had planned to have a special type of cell (CIGS solar cells), which are extremely efficient and flexible, as well as very thin, making them ideal to create a phone case to hold them. The company, however, never responded back to his email or phone messages about the materials. So, the problem now is that the solar panels he was able to get are not the ones he wanted. Of course, he only got them the week before last, which doesn't give him much time to modify them. Adding to his problem of having the wrong solar panels, he did not want to tamper with the actual phone battery because there would be the possibility of an explosion--a bad thing. So now, he has a larger, less efficient solar cell which is directly connected to the charging portion of solar device. This solar device is charging very slowly, which he expected, but there's also an issue with the phone receiving the power, even when it's connected to the solar device. The phone fluctuates between charging and not charging every second, and he can't figure out why. Because the project is due on Friday, he has no choice but attach the device to a case and hope that it works well enough, given enough time to charge.

Despite the problems he is having with the building of his model, he is grateful that his father is helping him. Patrick had been asking Anthony about this project and if he had the necessary materials for weeks now. Luckily, Patrick is able to give Anthony guidance as to how to attach everything and what additional building materials he needs. They both went to Radio Shack yesterday to get some materials, including a soldering iron to attach the wires. Anthony had to go back to Radio Shack late this afternoon because of the problems he was having with the charging fluctuations. Luckily the presentation and the research paper on the project isn't due this Friday. Making the model has been time-consuming and problematic enough.

I was able to get the above photos this morning. Anthony needed some photos for his presentation about his project. Patrick remarked on how Anthony had his personal photographer "on call". I knew he wanted pictures at various stages, so I hung out in the garage with the two of them, playing on my phone until they called me for another picture. I was glad to do my part.

Speaking of doing their part, Eric is starting to do chores. He helped here and there before with cleaning the game room (usually his mess anyway), folding the laundry (I think I may have already shared a photo of his folding a shirt on my blog), and emptying the dishwasher. Today he did almost the whole dishwasher, with some help with drying the things that were still a little wet and reaching the drying rack and such. I joked about how he is blurry in this photo because he is moving so fast. He knows that he will start receiving an allowance when he turns six. That's on Tuesday. I give out their allowance on Sundays, so next Sunday will be his first "payday". Of course I hope he continues to be energetic about doing chores, but I know that won't be the case, just like with his siblings.

I've been dreaming about Warm Chocolate Melting Cake since we had it on the cruise a couple of weeks ago. I found a recipe online and I was dying to try it out. We're going to be very busy on the weekends between now and the end of school, either with kid activities or with Anthony and Patrick gone on college trips. I made a simple fried rice dish for dinner incorporating the brisket leftovers from earlier this week and I made the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake for dessert. For me, the center could have been more liquid, and the top could have been more done, but the taste was pretty much the same. Even better, the kids and Patrick all loved it and asked me to make it again. It was funny how excited they were that I was even talking about making it. Natalie couldn't finish her cake, but she asked for everyone else's extra vanilla ice cream. This recipe is definitely going in the recipe file to make again.

Swim Banquet

Natalie has only been in club swimming for a little over six months, so we're still having lots of new experiences. Today was their banquet. We've just finished the "short course season" where the kids swim in a pool with 25 yard lanes. Starting next week, we are starting the "long course season" where they start swimming in Olympic size pools, which are 50 meters long. I think a lot of kids take the long course season off, so they have their banquet now as a sort of end of season/year celebration.

As we walked in, the kids all got medals based on their best times. Natalie's best times meet the "A" standard times, so she got this medal. As she took her medal, she made a sad face and said, "I was so close to TAGS times!" TAGS times are faster than "A" times, and indeed, she was very close to a couple of TAGS times. The kids that had TAGS times, of course had different medals. During the presentation part of the banquet, they called out the different categories of time standards. When they called for the kids with the "A" times to come up onto the stage, Natalie and her friend Aspen, who are on the same team, were the first ones up there. When they had the kids with the TAGS times onstage, they talked about how kids 14 and under who achieve the TAGS standard times tend to eventually be competitive at the National level. I looked at Patrick hopefully. Natalie is close enough that she will most likely be able to get a TAGS standard time well before she turns 14. He whispered to me, "I told you she's good." I still have no concept. The National level still seems very far away, but it was nice to know (since Natalie has stated her goal to make it to the Olympic Trials) that she has a chance.

Besides the awards part of the banquet, they also had some fun stuff. When we got there, Natalie immediately found two of her friends, Aspen and Renzi (L->R). They hung out together for the whole time we were there. They had a Hawaiian theme. Patrick wore his one Hawaiian shirt. I didn't really have anything, and neither did Natalie. They had a Hawaiian dance group perform during the entertainment part of the banquet. First they performed and then they took audience volunteers and showed them how to do a Hawaiian dance. They even gave them hula skirts to dance in. The audience, especially all the kids, got a big kick out of the boys that participated, especially this one particular boy that got front and center and wiggled his hips quite a bit. Natalie's two friends were encouraged to go on stage, as was she, but even though they were reluctant, they went ahead and went onstage. Natalie adamantly refused. I was hoping for a photo op--oh well.

I didn't mention dinner. They had lots of varieties of pizza for dinner. I tried their spinach and alfredo and veggie--both good. The swimmers got to line up first and there were several boys with five or size pieces on their plates. Natalie remarked on how much she loved the cupcakes, which were chocolate filled. By the time Patrick and I got to line up to eat, the cupcakes were gone. There was a big cake left and lots of fruit. Apparently, Aspen's mom made all of the desserts. I was impressed, considering Aspen is a triplet plus she has an older sister AND they're home-schooled, so Aspen's mom is already very busy on a normal day.

The order of festivities was check-in, dinner, entertainment, awards, and then dancing. At first, Natalie was fine with going home after the awards, but then she started having fun with her friends. They started doing a sort of Hawaiian congo line all around the room. This photo is a bit blurry because of the moving subject, but at least Natalie is the least blurry kid in the photo. She was having a blast. She would have wanted to stay longer, but for whatever reason, they started cleaning up the banquet hall. I guess they were going to clean first then allow people to keep dancing? That didn't make sense to me. Anyhow, at that point, pretty much everyone started leaving, so Natalie was fine with also leaving.

So thus ends our first swim banquet. There will probably be many more.

Little Things

I was just explaining to Alex this evening about how sometimes it's just the little things that make me happy. Yesterday, I got the results of the Resident Semi-Annual Evaluation of Faculty. Almost of the comments were complimentary, for the most part. They all seemed to "like me", except for one. That one read as follows:

"In speaking with other residents, it seems that Dr. Lawinger is fairly enjoyable to work with. She becomes frustrated very easily, though, and is quick to blame residents for situations/outcomes that are often out of control of the residents. She writes highly critical evaluations when she perceives something is wrong with a resident, but she writes very little if a day went well. She does not inspire much confidence from the residents because she gets frustrated and argumentative easily. Many residents voice that they do not look forward to working with her."

I was very upset when I read this. I showed it to another faculty member and he said, "That doesn't even sound like you." Today I showed it to several more faculty who assured me that this was incorrect. I pleaded with them to tell me that if there was some truth to this comment that they tell me, because I would be compelled to change something. The person described in this comment was not the person I wanted to be. What did I do that made this person so mad at me? The last line also bothered me, because they supposedly got the same feedback from other residents, although the other comments I received did not support that. Several others that I showed this to today, including former residents that are now also faculty, told me that they didn't think this was true also. I'm slowly feeling better about this, but I was pretty distraught yesterday.

Yesterday evening, I took Alex and Eric to Baskin-Robbins (Eric's request). I told Alex about this evaluation and he said the sweetest thing. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Whatever. That's just one person. You're awesome, Mama." Awww, what a sweetie! I felt so much better after that!

Today, I had to work late. I didn't leave work until after 6pm. I went straight to Heroes Stadium where Alex was running in a track meet. I missed his first two races, the 4x100 relay (they placed 6th), and the 4x200 relay (they placed 3rd). I was able to watch the 4x400 relay, the very last event where they placed fourth. After the race, I was following Alex so I could ask him if he wanted me to pick up something for him to eat before meeting his bus at the school, or if he wanted to eat at home. He said he had to run to the bathroom and he had a pounding headache. Finally he told me he wanted to eat at home, and because I know he doesn't like for us to hang around him too much, I started to turn to walk out of the stadium to my car. He came up behind me and gave me a quick hug. That was enough to totally make my day!

On the way out of the stadium, I got a call from Patrick. Eric was going to bed and wanted me to sing his bedtime songs to him over the phone. I waited until I was in my car to call back so I could sing to him. We did our little routine where I would start singing a line from the requested songs, (ABC Song, Row Your Boat, Twinkle Little Star, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town), and he would either finish the phrase or substitute a different word. He loves inserting "dinosaur" instead of "star" in the song "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star). He seemed to enjoy it and Patrick told me that I made his night. I loved that too!

I explained to Alex tonight about how he made me so happy when he told me that yesterday and when he gave me a hug this evening. He thanked me for going to his meet and told me again that I was awesome. I told him that I enjoyed little things like that. It's those little sweet things that make me happy.

Easter Traditions

We continued some traditions and started some new ones for Easter this year. Our family couldn't make it to town to visit us this year. We didn't go out of town because we were out of town for all of Spring Break and barely got back a couple of weeks ago. While it's new that we didn't spend time with family, it was also new that we got invited to our friends' house for Easter.

We first got to know Alicia and Al when our daughters started swimming together. They live around the corner from us, and we've enjoyed spending more time with them lately. We walked over there at about 12:30pm. We had lunch--"Mexican Style" then we did our usual Easter egg hunt for Natalie and Eric and their two girls Anna (age 10) and Sofia (age 6). This time the big boys got the eggs ready before we even left the house. I heard Natalie saying to Anthony, "Hey, you're not supposed to be eating (candy)!" I just laughed and I knew she was talking to Anthony. Our friends prepared their own eggs. Here, the boys are counting the eggs so we could know when we had found all of them.

Look at that sheer enjoyment on Natalie's face! Well, actually, that looks a bit sinister. Natalie really loved mashing eggs on top of her brother's head. After they kiddos found the eggs, we moved on to our tradition of breaking cascarones over each others' heads. I am usually immune because I am taking pictures, and I don't want to risk getting confetti all over or inside the camera. Of course Anna and Sofia didn't obey that rule, and really, neither did Alex. Alex at least went for my arms, probably to avoid the camera. Each child had a dozen cascarones, plus one dozen for Patrick.

Poor Eric had a lot of eggs broken over his head because he was such an easy target. Poor Sofia had Eric breaking eggs over her head because hers was the only head he could reach. Everyone had a LOT of fun. The best thing about going to someone else's house was that all the confetti ended up inside and around someone else's house and not inside and around ours, although we did manage to track a little confetti back to our house.

After we went back inside, the kids counted and opened up their eggs. Eric still needed a little help finding eggs, so he got quite a few. Interestingly, two of the eggs had pieces of paper in them that said, "Whoops" and "Better luck next time". The adults immediately turned to the big boys, who started grinning and laughing. Yup, they had sneaked in those little notes. We had to admit that the notes were a funny touch.

Some of the eggs had money. We tried not to overwhelm the kids with chocolate, mostly because we didn't want them eating all of that chocolate. Some of the eggs had little plastic dinosaurs filled by my friend Alicia, because she knew that Eric loved dinosaurs. He loved them so much that he traded them for an egg with money in it. He doesn't really know the value of money yet, because he traded the egg with a dollar and change in it instead of one of the eggs with only change in them.

After all the activity, Sofia and Eric played on their own and the rest of us played Apples to Apples. That game is one of our all-time favorites. We always have a lot of fun conversations when we play that game. After Alicia won, we got our things together and headed home. We enjoyed our usual traditions, but we also enjoyed doing new things and making new memories.

Happy Easter 2013

Happy Easter to all our friends and family!

We went to church this morning at 9am. Even though we got there by around a quarter till 9am, there were no seats left, at least not where we could all sit together. I'm sure the little ones would have rather been able to sit down in a pew instead of on the floor, but for me, I prefer staying together than being comfortable. I told them that we are better able to stand than a lot of other people that came after us, so at least Natalie was satisfied with that.

I took this photo after we got home and before Natalie had a chance to change out of her dress into jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie. Eric and Anthony were fine with what they were wearing. Every time I take one of these photos, I realize that I still need lots of practice. The kids are blurry! Ugh. I'm still happy I got at least one photo of them. I didn't dare ask for more.

I was a lazy mom this year. Usually I buy them little toys and things to put in their Easter baskets, but I was fresh out of ideas. We try to get them more toys than candy, but I also didn't want to buy more junk toys that would be left all over the house. I didn't even buy them any chocolate bunnies. Luckily, our local natural science museum, the Witte Museum, was selling these chocolate eggs filled with little chocolate dinosaurs as part of their current dinosaur exhibit. They were even on sale. Even though Eric is the dinosaur-crazy child, we got one for each of them. Anthony was the first to eat his egg. That's his hand in the picture.

Eric wanted to eat the dinosaur egg, but he said he had to eat lunch first. (Our brainwashing must have been effective.) He did ask to have lunch right away, but we were invited to our friends' house. She has to teach Sunday school until about 12:15, so we're not heading over there until 12:30. They only live around the corner from us, so we'll probably just walk. Meanwhile, Eric was very interested in Anthony's egg and the little dinosaurs inside.

Our dinosaur-crazy boy is turning six soon. Easter is extra special for me because Eric was born the day after Easter six years ago. We are planning a big birthday party for him, although Patrick had to gently explain to him this week why we couldn't have a party on his actual birthday (since it's on a Tuesday). I'm sure I'll post to my blog again before then. Happy Easter everyone!

Eric's First Conference

At our local elementary school, instead of the traditional parent-teacher conferences where the parents sit down with the teacher, they have "student-led" parent-teacher conferences where the student sits with their parents to show a folder of expectations and work done. Eric had his first one this past Thursday. Patrick, the fantastic husband and father that he is, knew that I was on call Thursday, and so scheduled the conference in the morning so I could also attend.

I've been telling friends recently that Eric is the perfect youngest child because he lets me get some cuddle time, even though he is already almost six years old. This was not the case with his older siblings. When he saw Patrick and me approaching his classroom, he ran to me with a big smile, and gave me a hug. Isn't he a sweetie?

We got there a little early, so we waited until the rest of the class could go off to another area of the school. Only four or five kids were left awaiting their parents in the classroom. When his teacher came and got us, she said, "They're all very excited." I could imagine a bunch of five and six year olds bouncing off the walls, excited and nervous about their first conferences. When we walked in the classroom, Eric was sitting at one of the tables. When he saw us, he gave us a huge smile and again ran up to me to give me another hug. Love! He then proceeded to show us his binder full of his work. One of the worksheets showed that one of his goals at the beginning of the school year was to be able to draw dinosaurs better--a surprise, I know. He had colored in almost all the boxes showing that he drew dinosaurs many times. The goals were simple. Another one was to be able to trace his hand better.

This book was at the end of the binder. Of course the pages are illustrated. Eric was practicing his goal of drawing dinosaurs. The title is misspelled, but reads "Tyrannosaurus Rex Dusent Cair" (Tyrannosaurus Rex Doesn't Care). The book only has three double pages in it. On the first page, a Spinosaurus roars and says to a T Rex, "I Wel eet you up" (I will eat you up). On the next page, a Giganotosaurus tells the T Rex "I wel eet you up too" (I will eat you up, too). The T Rex replies, "I Dont Car" (I don't care) in both of those first two pages. On the last page a Tyrannotitan says, "I wel eet you up too" (I will eat you up, too). This time the T Rex replies, "I ran away from a Spinosaurus Gigantosaurus and I will run away from you." I'm not sure how correctly he spelled everything on the last page, because all the letters and words were running together and it was hard to read. That's what he said the page said, but the words don't read that way. He also had to tell me what types of dinosaurs were on the pages because of course, I don't know as much about dinosaurs as he does.

On the table was also a sheet for parents with suggested questions to ask their child about their work/presentation, but after what seemed like only a few pages of his binder, he was done. He didn't feel like answering any more questions. He had probably expended his nervous energy on what he had already presented plus the title page had lots of big words that were difficult for him to read.

I asked Patrick to take a picture of Eric and me before we left and he took the first photo above. I was happy with that, but then Eric said, "I'm going to hug Papa too." My hands must have been a bit steadier than Patrick's, because the first picture was a bit blurry. ;) I took the second picture of Patrick with Eric. What a sweetie!

Blue Lagoon Shore Excursion

It's been almost two weeks since we got back from our cruise and I'm not yet done documenting it on my blog. Today I'm going to talk about our stop in Nassau, The Bahamas. This time we signed up for a formal shore excursion, and it was a good thing. We went to the Blue Lagoon beach, a private beach that was 30-45 minutes away by boat. It was windy again, but at least warm enough for us to wear swimsuits. There were a ton of other people on the two deck boat. We were sitting on the top deck and it got a bit chilly during the boat ride. The kids started huddling under the beach towels we brought. They played music and Eric really got into it at one point, dancing and entertaining the rest of us, even the other passengers.

The water was still a little cold, so Aly, Natalie, and Eric mostly played in the sand. At one point, Nick also joined in. Alex and Anthony mostly just walked around, exploring. There were other activities, like an obstacle course and a dolphin encounter, which cost extra and which we did not participate in. We did pay extra to rent these big water bikes (see below). Aly, Nick, and John took off in one while Emily, Natalie, and Patrick took off in the other one. They were all gone for a while, going to the other side of the lagoon water area and back. When they got back, Emily and Natalie decided to do other things. The big boys arrived from exploring at that point, so they took off on one of the water bikes. John got off the one he was riding and at one point, Nick and Aly got stuck on the rope surrounding the obstacle course area. With some help, they were able to free themselves and ride around some more.

There was a little place to eat there, so some of us ate lunch while we were there. Cynthia and I wanted to wait until we got back on the boat to eat. In all, we were there for around two hours, just long enough to have some fun without getting tired of being there.

Last Week's Recap

With all of this blogging about our cruise, I have neglected what's going on now. Today I'll detail last week's events and later this week I'll do the same for this week's events. Last week seemed very chaotic. I usually prefer not to be away for a full week of vacation, because I have no time to catch up on the house or the usual activities. We got back into town on Sunday, March 17th in time to go out to dinner at El Mirasol and not much else. Patrick usually wants to celebrate his namesake day, St. Patrick's Day plus we didn't really have time to cook or anything. Patrick started doing laundry and we didn't really have a chance to unpack before going back to work and school on Monday, March 18th.

I came down with some sort of cold/allergies as soon as we got back in Texas, so all week, I tried to get some extra rest so I could heal. That put me further behind the usual schedule. On Monday, Natalie started a stroke clinic at a different location than her usual swim practice and I realized that there was more traffic traveling to the other location--not fun. That's pretty much all I did.

On Tuesday, Alex had a track meet. Thank goodness that only the boys were running in the meet, because as it was, he didn't get home until after 9pm. There was a fundraiser at the local Willie's Icehouse, so I took the little ones there before swim practice. I had to bring Eric with me because Anthony wasn't yet home from soccer practice.

On Wednesday, we had the usual schedule. I came home from work. Natalie left for swim practice before 5:30pm, but this time with Patrick. I stayed home with Eric and actually got to spend time reading with him and to him. Anthony picked up Alex and they came home by around 5:30pm. We repeated that schedule more or less on Thursday. I struggled to get blog posts up and get ready for bed at a decent time because I was still battling that cold. Luckily, I was getting better.

On Friday, I had to work late. I got off work after 6pm and went straight to Comalander Stadium where Anthony played in his last Varsity Soccer game. I had not been able to go to any of his games this year. Patrick was the one who had gone to those other games. Since I came straight from work I did not have a chance to get my camera, so I have no pictures at all of Anthony playing soccer this year. :( I also had not had time to eat dinner. Anthony actually played almost the whole game, but unfortunately, they lost 0-6. The other team was bound for the playoffs the next week, so they really had no chance. Anthony and his teammates have been pretty frustrated all season mainly because of their coaches' lack of experience (and maybe understanding) of soccer. That's what happens when you have football coaches coaching soccer. Still, it was a little sad that it was the last game, and Anthony's last high school soccer game ever.

Meanwhile, the other kiddos were at home. Alex had not had track practice after school, so he got to come home on the bus, for once. They were all asleep by the time I got home, however. I felt like I had to keep choosing which child I could spend time with. I spent time watching Anthony play soccer, so I didn't get to see the other three. The rest of the week I spent with either Natalie or Eric, and barely got to see the other three then also.

As for other news, the kids all got their report cards last Friday. Anthony's grade in Calculus BC increased by 10 points by his teacher somewhat arbitrarily so he could get an "A" just because. Actually, she knows that he and his friend John are in the back of the class not paying attention to her and teaching themselves Calculus, so honestly, they deserve the best grades. Alex also happened to get an "89" in Rocketry because of a missing assignment that wasn't really missing. Patrick remarked on how Alex is so smart that he can get a "0" for a missing grade and still manage to get an "89" in the class. So yes, our kids are very smart and we are so blessed.

Also, Anthony found out he was accepted to RPI (Rensalaer Polytechnic Institute) while we were on vacation. He also found out he was not accepted to MIT. Last week he found out he was accepted to Rice University. Just yesterday he found out he was accepted to WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Both RPI and WPI offered him substantial scholarships. We're still waiting on Stanford.

All Ashore At Freeport

Our second stop on our cruise was Freeport, in the Bahamas. This stop was NOT picturesque. There were cargo ships and cranes to load the cargo ships. We were pretty relaxed on this one and took our time getting off. It seemed like other people were hanging out on the boat too, because we didn't have any lines getting off like we did when we got off at Key West. We even checked out the ship a bit. This photo was taken from the "adults only" spa area outside. We didn't spend too much time there since it was still very windy and as a result, a little too chilly for pool time for the kids or adults.

Instead, we went ashore and did a little shopping. Natalie bought this shark made out of wood. There were lots of shops selling mostly the same sort of things--T-shirts, wooden items, dresses, cheap jewelry. Alex bought a couple of necklaces there. Nick bought a big shell. I bought a couple of T-shirts of Anthony and me. Anthony bought a big wooden lizard that they carefully packaged in lots of paper--but that ended up with a small piece missing anyway when we got home. We spent a lot of time just looking at everything, just so we could spend some time off the boat.

There were a couple of photo opportunities. Anthony found this one and he was the first one to pose for a picture. I love that he can be a ham sometimes for photo ops. Eric saw him and practically ran over there to pose too. Patrick had to lift him up in order for Eric to be able to put his head where it was supposed to go. Natalie took a turn after this. The families also took turns posing next to a "Freeport" sign and Eric also posed with a big adult-sized frog statue (see both above in the blog header).

So, Freeport wasn't a very exciting stop, but it was still good to get off the boat and stretch our legs for a bit.

Key West Shore Excursion

Our first stop on our cruise was Key West. We hadn't booked a shore excursion because it looked like we could just walk to where we wanted. It was a long walk, especially for Eric, but we headed for the beach. Along the way, the big boys decided to go back closer to the boat because they hadn't worn swimsuits and really, Alex just wanted to shop. I had not worn a swimsuit either, but I wanted to go along anyway.

The beach was at a public park. We paid $2.50 per person. Eric ended up being free. The girls were the only ones who had worn their swimsuits. Melissa had actually stopped to shop for a swimsuit for Emily before joining us, because Emily had not brought a swimsuit. We all mainly walked along the beach and climbed on some rocks (see Nick in the background). It was very windy, which made it a bit chilly for the kids when they did get wet. Emily decided not to get in her new swimsuit after all, which allowed Natalie to wear Emily's new rash guard when Natalie's shirt got all wet. We had not brought any towels. The adults were content to just enjoy our time off the boat and to enjoy the nice weather, even if it was a bit too windy.


I had been trying to get a picture of the whole ship, and I had to resort to this panoramic shot with my iPhone. The ship was so big that otherwise I would not have been able to back up enough to get a picture of the whole thing. This was very picturesque port. In back of me as I was taking this picture were a line of shops that were all basically right outside of the ship. Alex bought his sister a shark necklace. I also bought Natalie a new rash guard--red, of course. I had to go to the boys' section to get it since my little girl does not like the typical "girl colors".


Cynthia took this picture with her iPhone. It was a pole with a bunch of cool signs pointing in the different directions of different cities. The girls luckily allowed the picture to be taken. I think Natalie was trying to look serious. I was just happy they were all looking at the camera and not trying to hide their faces.

When we got back to the ship, Alex and Anthony were waiting. I had everyone's passport in my purse. Anthony had a picture ID in the form of his driver's license, but Alex did not, so they wouldn't let him back onto the ship. All in all, we had a good time even if we had not planned anything in particular.

Cruise Activities

Although the cruise ship had "rooms" or "clubs" for different age groups (Camp Carnival for ages 6-11, Circle C for ages 12-14, and Club O2 for ages 15-17), the kids mostly enjoyed each other's company, so they didn't really participate in many of the organized kid activities. There was a library on the ship, but there weren't many kids' books there. What they had were lots of games that could be checked out and played with and then returned at the end of the week. One of the games the kids picked up was Uno, and the other was Sorry. I think they pretty much wore these out by the end of the cruise. Eric didn't go in the "club" for 5 and under because he wanted to hang out with his cousins.


Besides the Sky Course that I described yesterday, there was also a miniature golf area. The day I took this picture, it was very windy, as most of the days were. Still, we were able to play six of the nine holes. We didn't know where the other three holes were until another day when we discovered them on the floor above, near the Sky Course. Eric didn't really know how to play miniature golf, so Patrick tried to show him. I thought it was hilarious how Patrick moved Eric's legs and arms into place but in the end, Eric played however he wanted to play.


The girls especially loved the arcade area, called The Warehouse. This is a game where they stomped on the lighted area in time with the music. Their favorite was probably the Air Hockey table. The adults wished that we could have bought an "unlimited pass" for that game, but alas, it wasn't available. Aly and Natalie also enjoyed another game that was basically like a rollercoaster ride. The seats moved as if they were rattling on some tracks and wind blew in their faces as if they were going down the track. I have a video of them being shaken as they sat in the seats, looking at the screen.


My brother-in-law John particularly enjoyed the various trivia contests on the boat. The first day or so he won the Sports Trivia. He got his "ship on a stick" or a "solid 24 karat gold plastic trophy". He joked about how if he could replace his knowledge of useless trivia with more important information, he could have become a doctor or a lawyer. In this picture, the kids are listening to the "Useless Trivia" questions. The girls were especially excited about the Harry Potter Trivia--they even studied for it. Alas, a group of truly nerdy Harry Potter fans won that trophy.

My sister reminded me that the cruise staff had several names for the "ship on the stick" trophy. They would chant (which the girls subsequently recited over and over) something like this:

Ship on a stick
Vessel on a trestle
Thingy on a dinghy

John won four total trophies. He kept one for himself and gave the other three to the three girls. They loved it. He almost won a fifth trophy in another sports trivia contest and he came close to winning another bean bag toss trophy. Let's just say that he provided entertained us with his trivia knowledge and bean bag tossing prowess. :)

Finally, one of our other favorites was the Bean Bag Toss. There was a Family Bean Bag Toss in the morning, and another contest for those ages 18 and over. John won one of those contests. The kids' games were mostly for fun, although one time they gave a medal or a "ship on a rope" to all of the kids that participated. One family contest had about 40 entrants, so these were popular.

The girls and Eric also enjoyed watching some movies on TV in the cabin and they went in the hot tub at least once a day. The pool was too cold for them and they must have used salt water, because Natalie complained that her dry patches from her eczema stung a lot the couple of times she went in the pool.

I'm not even sure exactly what the big boys did. Patrick said they just "hung out". A couple of times they were mischievous. Cynthia and I were looking for the girls and the big boys started following us "like little ducks". Another time, Patrick said they sat in the area near the glass elevators and enjoyed watching the elevators stop on every floor since they had previously pressed all the floor buttons. Alex and Nick disliked the Circle C for their age group. They found other things to do though, because they usually stayed out until after midnight. Anthony really enjoyed Club O2. He made some friends and stayed out very late every night talking to them. We were surprised the first night when he didn't get back to the room until almost 3am, but I was pretty shocked the one night he stayed out until almost 4am! Patrick and I didn't feel compelled to stop him since we were on vacation except for the last night when we had to get up early to leave. If I haven't made it clear with these posts yet, we all had a great time on our cruise!