January stuff

Rocklond got all dressed up for the cold weather.  60 degrees can be brutal on your ears and neck. 

We went and visited Ross in Dallas a few weeks ago.  We ate at this really fun theme restaurant called the Magic Time Machine.  Belle was our waitress and was very funny. 

the next day we went to the Fort Worth Museum of science and history. we watched a short movie in the IMAX Dome. Rocklond really like it and sat threw the whole thing. 

they had a lot of other really fun exhibits too. this was the first time I have taken Rocklond to a children's museum type thing where he was the perfect age to participate in almost everything. 

now that all of the parties and vacations for are behind us for a while it is time to buckle down and work on the front yard.  

When we moved in this lovely little spot buy the front windows was "Landscaped for us" there was no weed barrier and the plants soon dies due to lack of sunlight in this area.  I spent the last year weeding and trying to make this area look good but something drastic must be done. 

here is the rest of our yard that we threw some bushes into sort of haphazardly when we first moved in and now we need to make it look better. we need something that will match that adorable garden Gnome that we have. 

I sepent Saturday morning weeding out this spot. just to see what we had to work with. after about two hours of weeding and raking I was left with this. 

which sadly doesn't look much better than when I began.  We want to turn in into a rock garden of sorts maybe with a little fountain. hopefully I will have a wonderful after picture to show you soon. 

oh and just for fun I threw in this picture of John teaching Rocklond how to clean and reassemble john's hand gun.   he threw in a gun safety lesson as well about not ever pointing guns, even fake guns, at people. 

Nassua, Bahamas

JOhn and I went to the Bahamas this last week. 

My mom flew in from SLC to watch Rocklond while we were gone. the trip was to celebrate Our 5th year wedding anniversary.  It isn't until June but we knew we couldn't do a trip like this with a 2 month old. 

We had originally planed to go on a cruise but had to change our plans because I was too pregnant to go on the cruise ship. But I could still fly and so we decided to Fly to Nassua Bahamas. 

I think I preferred this trip anyways because we got to spend the whole time at the destination instead of on a ship.  (the free food would have been nice though)

We left on monday and had a 2 hour delay at the airport, but before long we were on our way and on the beach. 

We had a good time walking arround the little shops that they have in the down town area. 

the water was so beautiful you could see right threw it Even at the marina. 

My favorite thing we did was snorkeling we could see the fish so well in the water. they were all so bright and different. we saw some really big snapper in the water and a couple lion fish as well. 

this was my first time snorkeling and it was so much easier then I thought it would be.  the trip also included a little tour that took us by celebrities homes. we saw homes belonging to Christina Aguilera, Michael Jordan, Opra, Tiger woods Ex and many others.

 I loved the hammocks that the hotel had by the beach that was my favorite spot to hang out.

On day we went fishing. we were very disappointed that it was just trolling the whole time. that means that we never even got to touch the polls so it didn't even feel like we caught any fish because the deck hand did everything.  all we did for 4 hours was drive around in the water. thankfully I didn't get sick. 

these are the wahoo that the boat caught

We really wanted to do some Real fishing and so we paid this guy named Godfree to take us out.  he too us out while the tide was changing on an already choppy day at sea. 

the swells on the ocean were HUGE! the little boat looked like it would be swallowed up at any moment.  I just wanted curl up and cry because I was so scared.  then Godfree would say "I think we will drop the anchor down hear" and john and I would just think how can we possibly fish in these conditions. But then we dropped our lines down and would instantly get a bit and we would forget all about the swelling waves crashing in on our boat.    we fished for the whole two hours and at the very end I suddenly got very sea sick. I was amazed that it hadn't happened in the first five minutes of the trip. Godfree took us over to the marina where he kept his boat. they didn't have a dock and so we had to climb from one boat to the next until we got to one that was small enough to pull in to the bank and jump on to a tree root and climb to the land. 

here is the little boat. it only had two seats on it. 

here is the restaurant that they took us too to cook our fish.  I was a little skeptical that we were going to get some kind of food poisoning.  but since we caught the fish we knew they were good and fresh. 

here is one of the little beauties that I caught. I caught about 8 fish. we only had light fishing tackle and so most of them were on the small side. 

this is a strawberry fish check out the teeth that he has. I think I caught this one too. but I didn't know how to hold it for a picture. 

here are the fish waiting to be prepared. the fish we didn't eat were taken by locals as soon as we got to shore.  

here are the fish all cooked up. JOhn loves fish and can eat it every day. I prefer it only in moderation, but this fish was THE BEST i have ever had. I ate way more then I thought I would and john was mad that we didn't have more cooked up. 

we loved relaxing in the shade of the palm trees.  and taking pictures. 

  

 these are panoramic pics from our hotel.

the last day I went Kayaking john didn't want to get wet so he just took pictures. the water was a little choppy again and the ladys handing out the Kayaks were doubtful I would be able to get around.   Especially when they found out I was going alone. It was really easy to maneuver and the waves were barley ripples.  I had fun stopping and being able to look all of the way down to the bottom of the water. 

Then I got dried off and we checked out of our Hotel.  we didn't have enough cash to take a taxi to the airport and we had three different sorces say we could take a bus to the airport. so we were waiting for about ten minutes for a bus. john and I were starting to decide how long we would wait before finding an ATM and just taking a taxi when the most beautiful white limo pulled up. he said that there aren't any buses that will take us right to the airport. he said he would take us for $10 I opened my wallet and there was our last $10 in Bahama money. we jumped in an he took us right to the airport.  I was so grateful because he showed us where the bus would have dropped us off and it was still a good mile from the Airport. 

It was a wonderful way for the Bahamas to thank us for coming.  

then we flew back home to Houston where Rocklond and my mom were VERY happy to see us. Rocklond wouldn't even let us go the rest of the night. the next day we gave him a hair cut because his hair looked like it had gotten very long while we gone. 

We had a great time and are so thankful to my mom for coming out and watching Rocklond so we could go on this trip.  

Rocklond's 3rd Birthday

Rocklond was so Excited about his birthday party this year. for days before the party he would ask when it was and then jump around yelling "Pardy pardy!" but it sounded more like "potty potty! whenever he said it.
I let him pick out almost everything about the party. he told me who to invite and picked out the invitations. he also chose what kind of cake he wanted and what shape it would be in. originally he wanted a Bee cake and then I convinced him to do a Dinosaur because I already had a pan for it. the day before the party he changed his mind and asked for a Buzz light year cake but I  steered him back to what I wanted to make.
I did the coloring so it would look like the Dinosaur Buddy from the TV show Dinosaur Train.

     We played a few games one of them was a treasure hunt that I took all of the kids on. they all had an eye patch and a map. the Eye patches were really small and didn't fit hardly any of the kids. but they had fun and loved finding the Treasure.  the treasure was their party favors.

We then went out side for the Pinata. Rocklond LOVES pinatas and was supper excited about this. he wanted a Robot Pinata and so JOhn and I made him one out of cardboard boxes. and then spray painted it silver.

Then it was time for cake and Ice cream.

and finally opening presents.
Rocklond had a good time and was so happy to be three.