Puerto Rico and The Caribbean 2010.

It's impossible to capture all aspects of our 10 day adventure that was kicked off with a weekend in Puerto Rico. The weather was PERFECT... low 80's with just the right amount of humidity(in other words...my hair wasn't TOO crazy). We enjoyed a night on the town in Puerto Rico anda day by the pool and a trip to the beach before getting on the cruise ship which took us to: St. Thomas, Tortola, Antigua, St. Lucia, and saved the best for last Barbados. We got off on every port and spent the day roaming the island and checking out the picturesque white sand beaches(puts So Cal beaches to shame!)We loved our beautiful ship and all the amazing food we had to choose from(especially loved the unlimited room service and breakfast at our door every morning)! Our cabin was roomy and Sophia and Preston love our balcony so they can look out at the ocean. Nana had the room next door which connected via balconies! There was a huge play gym for kids on the ship where Sophia fell in love with Mr. Potato head:) We had our aunties and uncles there to play with and have meals with too which made it extra special. The kids were such angels on the plane. Everyone around us was as shocked as we were that the kids were so well behaved!! The only bummer is that our dvd player was on the fritz so only worked 20 minutes of each flight. I could write pages upon pages about each island. They all had unique charme but St. Thomas had the most amazing white sand cove beached area with no waves and luke warm water called Aqua Beach. Antigua is where we had a wild adventure but ended up at our own private cove called Deep Bay. It was surreal and the kids loved playing in the crystal clear water. Sophia passed the time on the ship by entertaining everyone with her impromtu dance recitals in the middle of the dance floors. She'd dance to the bands by the pool, in the lounges, and on the islands,basically wherever there was music and there was a LOT. Inevitably a small crowd would gather and clap at her performance which she ate up(such a HAM)! Preston learned a lot of new words on the trip: Cracker, thank you, Leyla, Car, and pointed to anything that interested him. Brian and I were able to watch the sunset each night on our balcony and enjoy wine when the kids went to sleep. Nana gave us date nights where were bar hopped on the ship! All our hard work pays off with weeks like this with the kids, we feel very fortunate and are looking forward to our next family adventure especially after learning how well the kids travel! We took over 400 pictures so here are a few highlights:

SanJuan, Puerto Rico(where they were still celebrating Xmas in Jan)




The view of the pool and ocean from our hotel room!


Off to the Caribbean!



Our First Port: St. Thomas,Magen's Bay




LIFE ON THE BEAUTIFUL CARIBBEAN PRINCESS SHIP!












Movies under the stars every night! They even played Sophia's favorite Toy Story 3:)


2nd Port: Tortola, British Virgin Island(a day of shopping!)





3rd Port Antigua, Deep Bay(our own private paradise!):






The Antiguan sunset as our ship set sail...


4th Port,St Lucia: Brian went zip lining while we took a private tour of the island. We all met up for and afternoon at the beach where BT had "the best hamburger" he's ever had at Spinnakers:






Presto was sleeping and we didn't want to wake our monkey so this is what happens with no car seats:


5th Port: Barbados, Aqua Beach

Preston's 1 year old Stats!

With all the holiday craziness I forgot to post PJ's 1 year old stats. He's weighing in at 23lbs 12 oz(65th percentile) and is 30" long(50th percentile). He's clapping now which is mommy's absolute favorite!! He dances on command which consists of him picking up his feet really fast(he gets that from his sissy). He says "mama", "dada", "baba", "nana", "nigh night" and can pant like a doggy on command ha! He's no longer crawling but more running from place to place(with a lot of falling and running into walls poor baby). He also likes to put his hands and feet on the ground with his butt in the air and do "upside down baby" a lot. He also started sleeping in until anywhere from 9-11am!!! This started when he started exclusively walking! We replaced formula with whole milk the day of his 1 year doc appt and he didn't skip a beat!! We also just found out that he's VERY allergic to what we think is sesame. We fed him hummus at a restaurant and his lips and tongue swelled up(VERY scary for mommy and daddy) and we ended up in Urgent Care. Poor thing. Now we carry benadryl with us everywhere...doctors orders!!! This is our Preston blowing kisses:

And this is our PJ being his adorable, happy self!

Reagan Library and the NYE 2010!!

On NYE Day we went to the Reagan Library. We'd heard from other parents that we had to go see the Christmas tree display. It was PACKED with people so next year we will have to go on a different day but well worth it. There were 20-30 trees each uniquely decorated and they had 6 kids trees(which Sophia loved). They also have a miniature White House that fills a room and it was decorated for Christmas. One of the library employees asked Sophia if she wanted her picture taken in front of the princess tree and OF COURSE our little ham jumped all over it. The view was beautiful so we took a few pictures. We saw Air Force 1 but the line was too long to go in! Booo. There's always next year! In the evening Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch the kiddos so Mommy and Daddy could enjoy a dinner out with friends. 2010 was very good to us...we are VERY blessed!

Can't forget our Christmas picture with Santa!

This year Sophia talked a LOT about Santa! Every night she has me sing, Sleigh Bells Ring, Jingle Bells and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer on repeat before we go to bed so she was allll about Christmas this year however, not so much about Santa in the flesh. She liked him from about 5 feet away and waved and would appear to be excited to be next in line to sit on his lap however when our turn came the tears immediately turned on so this is the best we got! Preston wasn't a big fan either which is surprising because he's our easy going boy!! Both kids ended up looking completely freaked but NO TEARS so we count it a success!

Christmas Day!

We were exhausted from our Christmas Eve festivities but so excited to see if Santa had come for a visit. Sophia woke up at 7am however Preston, so pooped from the day before slept until 11:30am!!! For the past week he's been "sleeping in" until 9:30 or 10am but 11:30 was definitely a record so we checked out all the loot from Santa with Sophia first. She LOVED her Woody doll and her new pink trike! BT put together the new cottage from Grandma and Grandpa for the backyard so Sophia played in it every moment she could! We opened all our stockings and once Preston woke up we headed to Nana and Nonno's for brunch. They made a FEAST of course with snowman and Christmas tree pancakes and omelets and crab cakes and mimosas YUM!!! We had another present opening extravaganza and Sophia of course enjoyed passing out all the presents. We then headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a yummy Christmas dinner! Phew...it was a LONG day which ended with a long drive home in the rain but all worth it. This was a great Christmas!

Cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer!

This year we were so excited to leave Santa his cookies and carrots for his reindeer for the first time. Sophia was very excited about Santa coming down the chimney so she poured the milk and placed the cookies right next to the chimney so Santa didn't have to go far. She fully understood Christmas this year so we had a blast explaining everything in detail and watching her eyes light up with every new story! Her face was priceless on Christmas morning when she discovered that Santa had eaten the treats and his reindeer had snacked on the carrots(Santa even left the empty milk cup tipped over which Sophia immediately noticed of course).

Christmas Morning: Sophia was so concerned that Santa tipped the cup over. I just love her expression(with her new Woody doll from Santa in hand!)