birthday

Ending in Great Stirrup Cay

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Our last two days…sigh. I swear the first few days go by slowly and then BAM! It’s the end. We were at sea on Thursday and then at Great Stirrup Cay (NCL’s private Island) on Friday morning.

Our day at sea we actually found ourselves some lounge chairs. Were they by the pool, no. Were they three levels up in the middle of fifty chairs? Yes….But we had a place to call home base. We made nice with our neighbors and then decided we were going to go to a wine tasting.

Wine tasting

We had the best time. Turns out we know a little about oenology. Some called us “teachers pets” which just made the experience that more fun.

So, we didn’t leave after that, we stayed for another wine tasting.

Blind tasting along with some macaron’s. We were swapping wines and cookies with are table mates, taking the ones they didn’t love and vice versa.

The next morning we were in the Bahamas. A little island that a big company owns. Great Stirrup Cay.

This was the only stop that we tendered into. With that, it’s one beach and first come first serve.

You can’t just get onto the Tender because you are first in line. You have to have an excursion or a ticket…something.

I read about this before our trip and was prepared. On our first sea day, I went to the excursion desk. I rented us an umbrella and two chairs on Great Stirrup Cay. That got us a first class ticket off the ship and on the first tender/ biggest tender ever.

You guys, I am not kidding when I say that the island was empty when we arrived. The beaches were newly combed, not a footprint in sight and two hours later, the place was packed. If you take any advice from our trip, let it be that. Especially if you want a chair by the water.

We got some nice chairs by the blue water. We drank some drinks, duh. Then we went and played some corn hole. We meandered around the small island and some shops. We shortly contemplated walking to the other side of the island. However, we weren’t sure how far the other side was (the view was sand and trees). We decided against it, we didn’t want to waste our day lost on a hot island.

We spent the afternoon in the water. I took out a paddle board for awhile, we swam, we ate and we just soaked it all up. This was our last stop and we weren’t ready to go home.

But sadly, that was it. That’s the end. It was a great trip, a little too crowded. A little to0 long of lines for dinner and drinks, BUT at least it wasn’t full of college students . That was bad.

Cruises are still our favorite way to travel. And I most definitely want to go stay on St. Thomas or Tortola or both in the future.

The End.

My Birthday Cruise

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We decided on a Caribbean cruise for my birthday this year. One week in paradise with warm water and beautiful beaches. This itinerary had us leaving out of Port Canaveral Florida on my birthday stopping in the Dominican Republic, St. Thomas, Tortola and the Bahamas.

Our flight left San Diego late on a Friday night and we arrived in Orlando before 6 am.

We got some coffee and charged our phones while we waited for our ride.

We arranged a transfer from the airport to the port for 9:00 a.m and were at Port Canaveral before 10:00. Unfortunately the previous cruise arrived late {or passengers weren’t disembarking} whatever the truth was, our boarding was behind schedule.

Alas, we were making our way onboard. Our rooms weren’t ready so we headed straight to the pool deck we went.

We sat and people watched. Sang along, more people watching, made friends and then found our room to unpack and shower. We had a nice dinner in one of the two main dining rooms followed by espresso martinis and music.

Day two was at sea which meant we slept in. The only downside to that was the pool decks were packed. This cruise was full which we weren’t used to. There were lines and limited seating for most everything. So instead of sitting poolside we decided on wine and chocolate tasting.

Followed by a night of dueling pianos.

Our cabin at the end of the night.

Our cabin stewardess was the BEST!

The next morning we woke up in Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. Our plan was to take a taxi to Umbrella Street and Costambar Beach.

Can we talk about the port though?

It took us a good 30 minutes to walk through the port of Taino Bay. I mean it was beautiful and full of things to do, see, drink, eat and swim in…but WTF. Half of an hour just to get to public transportation.

Once we got in a taxi and made it to our first stop. He didn’t just let us out, he parked and walked with us to Umbrella street. Actually, he took these photos for us.

He suggested that we go to Playa Dorado instead, because “Costambar is too quiet”. Stupid me said OK because Playa Dorado was also on our optional to-do list.

We pull up to a beach and a little bazaar. Our taxi driver was greeted by buddies whom walked along side us through a maze of bright sarongs, t-shirts, hand-made ceramics and then to the beach.

It’s fine, we thought…We are where we want to be.

Sun, monkeys and calamari…. I mean what is better than that?

We swam and soaked up the sun until our time was up. Then we bought shit we didn’t need before our taxi driver took us back to the port.

We ended the night with a nice dinner and listening to music, our favorite hobby.

The next day we are in St. Thomas.

The Baby Turns 10

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What in the actual…

Days are long and the years are fast, is that how the saying goes? Averi is ten! Can we take a moment and let that settle in?

For her summer birthday she wanted a trip to Great Wolf Lodge (GWL), a pink birthday party and cake pops. She got her wish and now I don’t feel the need to do two of those things again. We have officially grown out of GWL and the cake pops were the absolute worst thing that I have ever done.

I ordered cupcakes for her actual July 10th birthday and then we headed for the lodge later in the week.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our years celebrating birthday’s at GWL but we have outgrown the place. Not enough to keep the older ones interested and I don’t care to stand in anymore lines… for anything.

For her little celebration I gave the kid what she wanted… chocolate cake pops. Who knew the phenomenon of said dessert was such a nightmare to make? I mean I have made croissants and tarts, dutch babies and pavlova’s but leave it to cake pops to lead to profanity, alcohol and tears; and let’s not forget about the mess. I’ll have you know that I did my research and I was ready, armed with all the tools but it was a disaster. The cake and frosting rolled into balls, cake stick inserted and chocolate coating melted just for it all to melt and fall apart, one cake pop after the other sliding down the stick, chocolate getting everywhere, hands, counter, fridge, sink. I ended up saying fuck the cake sticks we will have cake balls, feeling so proud of myself in that moment. But, it wasn’t a real cake pop more like a cake truffle. Averi the empathetic child that she is felt guilty and said that she will never ask me to make those again, god I love her. Happy 10th birthday my sweet Aves.

They Say it’s your Birthday

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We woke up eager to get off the ship. Shawna had some anxiety leading up to her big day so we wanted to make it the best birthday ever.

We still weren’t sure what or where we were going that day because being in a brand new place is just the best so it all sounds fun! I have family that has lived on the little island of Roatan for years but unfortunately they were on the mainland during our visit. However ,we were encouraged to try Roatan’s famous Monkey La La’s.

We wandered off the ship and through the port, taking it all in.

When what do you know….

We took this as a sign and stopped for a drink.

These were very good. I think they are made with Kahlua, Bailey’s, vodka, creme de coco and condensed milk blended with ice, or something like that. Filling and sneaky.

Still not exactly sure on our plans moving forward, we walked outside to see about a taxi. This is where they are all waiting, the taxi’s, tour companies aka everyone wanting your money. We ended up walking with a man who called himself Dusty, explaining to him that we wanted a place where we could park ourselves for the day, eat and swim and be picked up when we were done. We walked, he talked and before we knew it stumbled upon were lead to a little place on the water called Aqua Bar.

We popped in so we could figure out our life and Dusty sat down with us. I was wondering if he was going to be with us all day. He told us about growing up on this small island and that his moms house was right next door this this bar we were at, of course it was. When we decided that he most likely wasn’t going to have us murdered we set out on our day, but not before popping by his moms house. She was out front of her cute yellow house selling a few souvenirs, shirts, sarongs and some homemade elixers.

She told us about how she made these concoctions during the pandemic and everyone who drank them never caught Covid, or that is how the story went. We went ahead and bought a small bottle to try but decided to wait until we were back in the safety of our house to try that risky little game.

{So…. it’s gross, tastes like gasoline blended with a hamburger.}

Dusty had called us a ride to take us to Sundowners in the West End. A beach front bar with beautiful views of the bay with a super laid back vibe. We staked out a prime spot on the beach and then headed to the bar.

Margaritas and Mojitos were made while I met the local bar cat.

Then straight to the water.

We met a lot of expats who were there for repeat vacations or diving trips and they all had nothing but great things to say about this little island.

We swam and talked the day away.

Then just like all great days the time flew by and before we knew it we were piling into our ride and headed back to the ship.

We never once felt unsafe being in Roatan, just putting that out there.

When we reached our room, her birthday cake was waiting.

Congratulations on turning another year older, ha.

We cleaned ourselves up and made our way to dinner. We had a very good meal at Le Bistro the ships French restaurant.

That night was 90’s night which I was super excited about but the 80’s music turned out to be a little more more fun.

You know how the nights end by now.

Happy 50th birthday me fave!

The next day was supposed to be Belize……

The Nine Year Old

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Averi, fabulous and nine years old. She had a mermaid theme birthday and chose McDonalds for her dinner choice..She hasn’t changed much in that department. She is, much like me, an emotional mess, I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets her Big Girl before her older sister. But she is smart, sassy, funny and outgoing, the world is hers!

Sweet baby Aves is all grown up!

This is 12

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Twelve years ago I had a baby and that baby is now a tween.

Kaili, used to love milk, fruit, music and her mama….now she loves water, spicy chips, music and her mama! Some things never change.

She is in deep with BlackPink and a few other Kpop bands, so in true fashion she requested a BlackPink cake and Korean BBQ for her birthday dinner.

The cake was a red velvet and cream cheese frosting and a dark chocolate ganache drip on the top.

The whole family gathered at a popular Korean BBQ spot and it was a hot mess of a meal. Kaili has decided that she doesn’t need to go back and I am fully on board with that decision. Definitely don’t want to cook my own food with small utensils and noisy children, adding in that everyone wanted to eat something different was just chaos.

Even though it wasn’t a relaxing meal, it is always fun to have us all together. Lot’s of laughing and love!

Happy birthday my K bear, I can’t believe it’s been 12 years since we started this journey together. I love you!

I’m the Problem, it’s Me.

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The irony of my blogs name….Finding time to blog has become an art to say the least. It’s been 55 days since I last posted here, not that I’m counting. I will feel my guilt tug at me and consider sitting down to tell y’all about what we ate or how we are all getting older…. but then I start to feel more guilty and just don’t…I am sure there is a therapist reading this with BIG thoughts.

In reality, I am back in the classroom and just wrapped up DRDP (Desired Results Developmental Profile) to prepare for conferences.

And now that is done, and I am ready to catch you up. Even though it’s been some days since we last chatted, I do remember saying that I was going to make a few of Jet Tila’s recipes out of his cookbook….and I did.

Obviously it was delicious as we knew it would be.

Shawna turned the big 49 and we took ourselves to Vegas to celebrate. Casey and Aileen gifted us a stay at the Golden Nugget so that is just what we did. We LOVE Downtown Vegas. Sure the big hotels with the fancy shit and $25 buy-ins might look nice, but dammit it’s not worth it. (insert Ted Lasso’s voice) They are great for certain shows and concerts but I promise you, the fun and the food is just as good downtown. The end.

Fun story happened minutes after this picture was taken. We were sitting at a great table outside ready to watch a country (cover) band that we quite enjoy. A man approached our table and said “I’ll give you $300 for your table.” Shawna replied with a “fuck you.” I mean it’s Vegas you guys….Then he pulled out $300 and she said, “babe, grab your shit, we are moving!” And that is how I saw my first ever bubbly vending machine.

We took that money and ran….to a pool table and sipped some bubbly with someone who could have been Lil’ John, and didn’t do half bad on the Roulette table.

Oh, I almost forgot Dancing Chucky, you’re welcome.

We also saw the Padre’s play, they lost but the food and weather were winners.

The girls like to make TikTok videos…. but just for us (no they don’t have SM or post this shit..over my dead body.) Anyhow, they liked this one.

We spent Easter Sunday at SeaWorld, we have SoCal passes and can go back and back and back until Averi conquers a roller coaster, little scaredy cat…Definitely not my DNA.

The only plus is that she holds all our stuff while we ride the fun ones.

It’s a phase right?

I think that brings us up to April. I hope to see you guys sooner than 55 days…Cheers!

This is 8

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8!

Can you believe it? I can’t.

Smoosh face.

We had family over for dinner, cake and pressies. Celebrating Averi and Aileen who have birthdays one day apart.

Averi’s cake was chocolate with vanilla frosting but I apparently I added too much lemon zest (said the girl who loves lemons) and they didn’t like it.

For fucks sake.

Aileen got a Julien apple pie, she is much easier to accommodate.

The girls went to bed and the adults played a fun game, before we knew it, the night was over.
Happy birthday ladies.

Wolfs Tail

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Yes, we did make it to Great Wolf Lodge in case you were wondering. It happened sooner than we originally planned for, aka turned into a spur of the moment situation. We decided to keep it a surprise from the girls. We told them that we were going to Grandma and Grandpa’s and that we were meeting them at the their pool. So the girls packed the night before and let me say, Kaili wanted to pack every damn thing, she wanted to give this and that to Grandma and I felt guilty as hell for lying. Come morning, we packed up the car and headed out. Passing our normal Laguna Niguel exit, luckily they didn’t notice with their heads in IPads. But when we got closer to GWL they meaning Shayne, realized something was off.

“Why did you say we were going to Grandma and Grandpa’s? Mom guilt.

We grabbed our luggage and off we went.

Our room was ready when we checked in, so we went and dropped off our stuff so we could get to sliding.

Averi’s birthday, her choice of bed. She chose the twin, no bunk this time.

We found a table to drop our shit, thankfully, that can be the biggest hurdle. If you can’t get there early, everything is taken.

We played all day.

The girls’ Paw Passes came with it all, ice cream, golf, arcade, yada yada yada. So around 6pm we went back to the room and changed and then went for ice cream.


Then they chose their stuffies, played games and then mini golf and then and then and then. For dinner, Averi wanted McDonald’s, sigh. We had it delivered (brilliance) which saved probably $125 for not eating at the resort.

The next morning we were up and down at the waterpark when it opened, easily grabbed a table and did it all again. Once the outdoor pool area opened, Shawna and I went out and had some adult beverages in the quiet sun.

Averi decided to brave the wave pool and boogie board before we went home, we were so proud.

She did so good for her first rodeo!
We stayed late into the afternoon and then decided to make our way back home. GWL is always a fun time. Next up though, maybe just Raging Waters and a motel, hahaha!

Plunge into Eleven

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We went through a handful of party themes for Kaili’s 11th party. First it was this, then it was that, and finally we landed on a Cheetah theme. Which was exciting for me because for some sick reason I like to attempt new things in the kitchen when the audience is bigger than the our household. I wanted to see if I could make a cake with the cheetah print inside, reach for the stars you guys. So that put me in crunch time to order a cake topper because even though I like to bite off more than I can chew, I don’t want like to choke; so creating cheetah prints on the frosting was out of my comfort zone. I ordered an edible topper and had it rushed delivery so I wouldn’t be panicking the day before the party. I got the UPS updates all day Wednesday telling me that it was out for delivery and would be here by 5:00, sweet. Well, 5:00 came and went and then I got a message saying that it was delivered to our front door, but it wasn’t, so then panicking ensued. I went to the neighbors like a crazy person and with no avail, decided to wait until morning. Maybe the good samaritan that had my kids birthday cake topper would drop it off. Meanwhile I racked my brain of a back up plan and the thought of having to roll out fondant to decorate the cake was too much for my mind to take. So after the kids were at school, I set out on foot to check everyones front porches for the white envelope I know so well from past birthdays. You guys, I found it, it was on our neighbors porch, hidden behind plants. But….I had already rung their doorbell and no one answered. On top of everything it was a camera doorbell and apparently I am a chicken shit, I went home empty handed. Shawna told me to man up, take the envelope and stop stressing. So I went back, grabbed the envelope and cowardly mouthed to the camera that it was mine and waved like an idiot and went home with my heart pounding like I just went through TSA with cocaine in my panties. I mean, I hadn’t even baked anything yet, sigh.

Kaili wanted her party at the Plunge in Mission Beach. The Plunge is a huge indoor pool with an inflatable obstacle course. We had never been before so it was a blind mission. I was able to order all of the food before hand, they were super easy to work with and would definitely do it again. We had a nice area by the pool that had a table, a couple of benches and loungers.

The girls went straight into the water and didn’t want to come out.

I took you through a vital piece of birthday cake background and you’re probably wondering what the hell? Let’s talk cake.

Super underwhelmed about said cake. I’m not sure I even like cake anymore.

The cake was crumbly and I don’t know why because I didn’t over-bake it.

The design sort of turned out, I was not thrilled with the outcome but my cream cheese frosting is always good period.

Three hours went by in a snap, and our time slot was up. We had to drag the kids out of the pool, they were having so much fun. Next time we will reserve for a longer period of time and maybe just Uber to and fro to avoid the parking fiasco. But, it was a good time and I’m sure we will be back, however Averi has already decided on Great Wolf Lodge for her birthday.