My family came and helped load up the moving truck July 8th in Texas. Thomas drove the moving truck and Mom and I rode in the car with Lydia. It was about a 17 hour drive. We went about 4 hours Wednesday night and we arrived at our new apartment on Friday. Lydia did really well for being stuck in her car seat for so long. We got here Friday and started unloading and unpacking. Thomas' parents came to help. I am really glad they came because otherwise I have no idea how we would have gotten the couch up the stairs.
On Saturday we mostly unpacked and tried to get things in their rightful places. Sunday morning, we dropped my mom off at the airport and started driving to California so that we could leave Lydia with Thoams' parents while we went on a cruise. The poor baby was stuck in the car again for 6 more hours.
While I was packing one day, I found Lydia climbing up the side of her crib to try to get her paci...
This is her new thing. I don't know why she does it or what exactly she is doing.
Lydia and Ellie had fun playing in the bed frame while we were cleaning up. We miss Ellie!
Lydia had fun crawling in the nightstand at the hotel the first night.
Lydia hugged her baby doll and gave her kisses during the loooong drive.
When we got to the new apartment, Lydia loved her room because it has a full length mirror. She still goes in there every day and plays with her friend in the mirror. She will get clothes, hair bows, etc and drape them across her, look in the mirror, and say "Aww" or "Wow!"
Sunday we went on a cruise! I'll put how things went day by day like I did for the beach house.
Sunday: This was the most stressful day of the entire trip. We had to be at the port to check in for the cruise from 1pm-4pm. We had planned out the trip so that we could drive from Arizona to Thomas' parents house and then from there make the one hour drive to the port. Our arrival time when we planned it out was going to be around 2:30 or 3. Plenty of time. The cruise line says that if you don't check in by 4, they have the right to refuse boarding. We got stuck in traffic from Thoams' parents going to the port. The whole way my stomach was churning. I was so scared we weren't going to make it in time. The ETA on our phones said 4:05 pm. At one point, I even asked Thomas if we should just turn around and go back to his parents house. Thomas reminded me of something very important-- everytime something really good has happened in our lives, there has been a big period of doubt beforehand. This happened when I got the surgery for my stomach pacemaker. I doubted the insurance would go through, then I doubted we could time the surgery right, then even the day of the surgery I thought I wouldn't be able to get the surgery because it was scheduled for 9am and it was 3 pm and we hadn't heard anything from the doctor. The doctor had been caught up in another surgery, I got mine done, and all went wonderfully. When Lydia was born, there was a lot of doubt that she would survive. Now she is healthy and a huge blessing in our lives. I tried to keep hope but I wouldn't let myself relax until we got on the boat. Even after we had checked in and were walking on the on ramp to the ship, I didn't believe we were going to make it. But we did and it was fantastic!!!!
We had a mandatory safety meeting where we met lots of annoying, immature, drunk people. Then we kind of just chilled and walked around the boat. We were both feeling sick from being so worried about being able to make it in time.
Monday: We arrived in Catalina Island around 7:30. At Catalina, you get off the boat onto smaller boats that take you to the island. At the "Welcome Aboard" show they told us it is best to get on early so you don't have to wait. If you get on later, you have to go to an auditorium and get a sticker that says which group you will be in. We got off around 8 and there was barely anyone else on the boat with us. We didn't feel like buying an excursion because we are cheap and about to start medical school. We googled what there was to do on the island and found a botanical garden that seemed cool. It was a mile and a half walk uphill to go to it, but we had time and we were just enjoying each other so we took the hike. It was gorgeous!!! We saw a lot of really cool plants and there was a memorial at the top of the gardens with a beautiful view. I really enjoyed this day and it was a lot cheaper than any of the excursions we could have done.
On cruises you are assigned a time to eat dinner and a table to eat at in the dining room. If you don't want to eat in the dining room, there is 24 hour pizza, soft serve, and there are other buffets throughout the day. Sunday we didn't end up going to dinner because we were so tired, but we went today. We sat down at the table and there were 9 other people all from the same family. They were from Utah and Idaho. What are the odds that they would stick all the Mormons together? Haha. It made it a lot less awkward since we already had something in common. They were a very nice family. Thomas tried escargo for the first time. Gross. He liked it though.
We then went to a show on board called "Divas." It was a bunch of songs from singers like Lady Gaga, Rhianna, and others. It was ok, but it was a little too much for me. Their dancing was kinda questionable. The girl that did our safety training was one of the singers though so that was cool!
Catalina Island
It's a dragon tree!
This was a huge tree. I couldn't get all of it. Thomas is standing next to it.
All these tiles were hand made and painted.
View from the top
Heart rock. Aww!
Elephant foot tree
Heart cactus.
Old man cactus. So cool!
This is what the inside of a cactus looks like.
Tuesday:
When we woke up Tuesday we were in Ensenada, Mexico! I've only been out of the country once to go to Niagara Falls when I was really young, so I was excited to see a new country.
We got off the ship and walked around a little bit and looked at the shops. It was really fun to hear Thomas practice his Spanish and for me to freshen up on mine. I could understand most of what was being said, but I didn't want to speak myself. We ended up buying a few souvenirs and Thomas got a "you speak Spanish" discount from one of the guys. It was sad to see children making and selling things or women making things to sell with a baby on their back and kids at their sides. It was very humbling.
After looking around a little, we went back to the ship until our excursion. We splurged and bought an excursion! We went to the blow hole there called La Bufadora. It is an hour long bus ride. The tour guide on the bus told us a lot of humbling facts about the area. There is no running water. The minimum wage is $4.50 a DAY. It was interesting to see the dirt roads, people out picking in the fields, and yet there was a Costco, a Walmart, Mcdonald's, etc. It was good to see a different perspective.
La Bufadora was really cool. There were a lot of shops on the road there so we got churro samples and pina colada samples. The blow hole shot about 6 feet in the air and got a lot of people wet. The view was beautiful.
When we went back to the ship, there was Hasbro the Game Show going on in the auditorium. It was fun to watch. The cruise director called up kids and they played huge versions of games. They had really big bowling pins with 6 sided dice on the side of them and the kids rolled a ball to knock down the pins and played yahtzee. It was fun to watch.
After that, there was the Newlywed Show. This was probably the funniest show I''ve ever seen. I was crying form laughing so hard. They picked the couple that had been married the longest in the audience, the one that had been married the shortest amount of time, and then for the 3rd spot the audience picked who they wanted. The ones that had been married the shortest amount of time got married on the ship. They had been married for one day. The ones that had been married the longest were from India and had been married 41 years. When they got up on stage, they realized the wife in the couple could not speak English. This made the show. She didn't understand all the questions so her answers were that much funnier. They were a really cute couple and very sweet to each other.
Wedensday: This was the fun day at sea. We were at sea all day. In other words, a lot of people got sea sick. haha. The boat was rocking pretty good and we couldn't walk straight all the time. It was a lot of fun though. We were able to relax, take lots of naps, and enjoy the ship. We went to the serenity deck which was my favorite part of the trip besides the food. It is an area just for adults 21 and over. There are two hot tubs. Not many people are there so it is really nice. The guy that worked there was from India and his name was Johny. We have been watching YouTube videos with Lydia and one of the channels is Indian kid songs. There is one called Johnny Johnny, yes Papa that is really weird and we had never heard before. We asked Johny if he knew the song, and he did!!!
We tried out another show. This was was called Epic Rock. It was SOOO good. The singers were good, the costumes were more tasteful, and I knew all the songs! After Epic Rock, I got a burst of energy so we went and got our one last soft serve cone then played bean bag toss, ping pong, and mini golf. It was fun!
It's a very big boat. Thomas dared me to spit off the side so we could see how long it would take the spit to reach the ocean. It took 6 seconds!
The seagulls would sit on the side of the ship and everytime you looked away, they would scoot closer to you. Someone was eating on the deck and reached down for something and the seagulls attacked their food.
Thursday: It was sad to be back in Long Beach, but we really missed Lydia so we were glad to be back. We did relax check out which went sooo smoothly. We were able to get in another round of mini golf before we had to get off the ship. When Lydia saw us, she squealed! It was good to be all together again, but it was really really nice to spend time alone with Thomas before he starts medical school.
Lydia did pretty well at Thomas's parents. She wasn't on her best behavior because she was cutting two teeth and because the time is 2 hours different and she had been stuck in a car for the last 4 days and taken to 2 different hotels, then a new apartment, and then to their house which she had never been to before. She got teeth!!!! They aren't visible yet, but you can feel them. The first one she got is on the top right (looking at her) and the other one is on the bottom left. She is starting to take steps now. Her record is 9 steps in a row. She is still adjusting to the time difference and the new place, but is glad to be out of the car. Poor baby was in the car for 30 hours within a week . We love the new apartment, the library here, and everything is going well so far!
Thoams' mom tried to put a baby gate up so she wouldn't climb her stairs. We have a climber.
This table was a gift from his Thomas' mom for Christmas when he was 2. She made it. We were able to fit it in the car so now we have it!
First time coloring and she did great!
Playing at the library
We made her run errands with us for a long time so she got a lollipop.
Lydia took her first selfie with my phone
