Cruise 2012

The 3rd annual cruise is in the books and what a ride it was. What was supposed to be a seven day cruise turned into a nine day cruise, we picked up 58 Haitian refugees during the trip and had to change our course several times because of Tropical Storm Isaac. Fortunately, the waves and weather were good enough to still enjoy our vacation. 

We ported out of Ft. Lauderdale's Port Everglades and left on the Allure of the Seas just as Tropical Storm Isaac was taking form in the Atlantic. Our first stop was Nassau, Bahamas where mommy & daddy went snorkeling at the rainbow reef. It had been some time since either of us had used anything besides a digital camera, so the pictures are less than extraordinary. Most of them turned out with either fingers/hands in the shot or were so blurry nothing was recognizable. These were the only shots we got, sadly, nothing under water. 

After leaving the Bahamas, our next ports of call were supposed to be St. Maarten and St. Thomas, however, we ended up being rerouted to Jamaica and Cozumel. We didn't get off the ship in Jamaica, but did in Cozumel, where we got Abs some really cute maracas, which she loved.

Abby enjoyed all the time she got to spend with her cousins, Ella, Reece & Scarlett. Abby & Reece particularly enjoyed each other's company and we're sure that the two of them will be T-R-O-U-B-L-E in the very near future. We can't wait to see when Scarlett can join all the shenanigans as well.

During our trip we got to enjoy lots of great shows, lots of great food and of course lots of great company! What a wonderful trip, thanks to Papa & BB!

Much love,
Moises & Jennifer

Daddy & Abs enjoying one of the shows.

Reece & Abs bonding with Papa A.

Mommy & Daddy on date night!

Nuestra chiquita bonita!

Mommy & Abs swimming

These girls LOVED the hot wheels at Ella & Reecie's birthday.

The family + giant bear that Abs loved.

These three loved playing on the BB's iPad.

The Cozumel bench & Dos XX

Daddy & Abby on the boardwalk with her new stuffed toy (Goomba).

The humidity made Abby's hair wild!

BB, Scarlett & Abs playing

Bath time with Reecie & Abby

BB & Abs on the carousel

The three babies playing together

14 Months!

Abby girl is now 14 months old! She has 6 teeth (two on bottom and four on top). The teeth really came in fast after the first one finally popped in when she was a little over ten months old. She's getting faster everyday and really enjoys playing with her doggies. She thinks that all dogs are called "Ginger", which was her first word besides "mama" & "dada". We've been trying to teach her more words and she's been doing well with that and can say/identify correctly "agua" (water) and "pan" (bread). She's really starting to mimick us now and any time she picks up a cell phone, she puts it to her ear and says "hello". We are working on identifying people and body parts. She does great with her belly button and nose, but is still working on ears, eyes & mouth. She is still our laid back baby girl! We love her so much and just love everyday with her. 

Much love,

Moises & Jennifer

  

Erik's Birthday!

Yesterday, we all attended Erik Robles' birthday party. Erik turns one year old on Monday. We haven't seen him since he was born, so Abby & Erik had a lot of catching up to do. The theme of the party was an Arkansas tail gate. So we all wore our favorite Razorback gear and even called the Hogs before Erik dug into his first cake ever. Erik really smashed into his cake and did so much better than Abs did with her cake.

After cake time, Erik opened all of his gifts. Abby was insistent on helping him out even when mommy or daddy tried to get her to sit still.










Before we left, we snapped a few shots of the kids sitting on the couch together. It was pretty cute watching their interactions! Abby had a blast celebrating Erik's first birthday and so did we.

Much love,
Moises & Jennifer

Camper Abby

This past week Abs got her first taste of camping. We say taste because most of her time was spent in a cabin on the lake, but she still got her share of fun time outdoors. Grandma & Grandpa came over Wednesday to pick her up and took her to the campsite on Thursday morning. They kept us informed of all camper Abby's antics. She was having a ball! By the time we arrived on Friday, she hardly noticed our presence. Abs and Grandma were BFFs and Abby was really enjoying spending all the time with everyone.

Abby really enjoyed being lakeside and didn't mind the least bit how dirty she got.

 

Abs loved spending time with Seth. He was so sweet to her the whole time and even gave her a soap bubble kit before we left because they had so much fun blowing bubbles together.

Abby loved her camping chair. She needs to get a little taller before she can get in it herself.

We went to the fishing pier early Saturday morning before it got too hot.

Abby loved the wind blowing in her face.

Grandpa showed Abs how to fish!

We headed to the shade (and cool) pretty quickly!

Daddy and Abs, could they be any cuter?

We're sure that Abby will love the outdoors as much as we do. Hopefully, next year it won't be so hot and maybe she can spend even more time outdoors!

Much Love, 

Moises & Jennifer

13 Months!

 When Abby turned a year old we joked that we would not be those parents that talk about their child's age in terms of months. Just like in the movie Grown Ups with the "48 month old boy". Well, here we are making sure Abs still has her monthly picture. We'll probably continue this monthly ritual until she's two and then every 6 months to a year thereafter. It's hard to remember when she was just a lump of a new baby that could barely lift her head. When now she prefers walking to crawling, sitting up to drink her bottle to being held and isn't even scared of her sombrero anymore!

Her developments now come in huge leaps within a matter of a couple of days rather than minuscule steps over the course of a couple of months. It's still amazing that within the course of a year she is so much more independent than this time last year. We know that this will only continue and that time will always move faster than we want it to with our baby girl. So, we enjoy every minute we can with this sweet girl.

Much love,
Moises & Jennifer

Abby's First Lake Adventure

 Well, we thought it would be a great idea to get Abby's sea legs under her. Abby had other ideas and was not too keen on the huge life vest that we made her wear. It doesn't help that this little girl runs about a million times hotter than others. So, the heat coupled with the life vest made Abby an unhappy camper.

The life vest was so obtrusive she couldn't even feed herself puffs!

Clearly, not happy. 

It ended up being a very short trip on the boat since Abs was so miserable. Our goal is to find a life vest that fits her more comfortably, but still provides all the safety we want. Otherwise, we'll just wait until next year!!

Much love, 

Moises & Jennifer

Sally Kate Turned 1!!!

Abby's cousin, Sally Kate, turned 1 on July 13. We got together this weekend to celebrate at her Aunt Krista's house. It was such a fun time, as always, having these girls together. Their personalities are really starting to show! Even though we were gathered to celebrate Sally's birthday, Abby had a couple gifts too. Kurt & Sarah got the girls the most adorable matching chairs that each had their names embroidered on them. Then Uncle Eric also got the girls each a stuffed animal. Sally LOVES animals so she kept squeezing and giving kisses to her new friend!

The girls hardly sat on their own chair, but they loved scooting them rolling over them and having some "refreshments" while lounging in the furniture just for pint sized people! Who knew, one year olds would love furniture so much!

After present time the girls went swimming in the pool. Mommy & Daddy forgot their bathing suits, which was a bummer for us because it was HOT, HOT, HOT! Good 'ole Arkansas summer! Aunt Sarah and Uncle Eric took turns swimming with Abs.

All in all it was a great day to celebrate a sweet girl! We loved being there with everyone!

Much love,
Moises & Jennifer