Our St. Kitts VACATION

Nick and I traveled to St. Kitts (West Indies) about a month ago for a week's vacation with his dad, Mike, and his step-mom, Julie. They invited us to come with them earlier this year. I wasn't sure about it since Ryker is still so little, but we decided to go for it. Flights were booked, and plans were made.

We left on a Friday, and we met up with Mike and Julie in Miami that morning. We all landed in St. Kitts that afternoon. We checked into the resort, and the fun began. We had an amazing buffet dinner by the beach that night. We also went swimming for a little bit too.

The next couple days we spent most of our time at the main pool. The guys did play golf, and Julie and I hit the spa for treatments Sunday morning. Other than that, it was pool time. There was music, cool water, volleyball, and drinks. Oh...and drinks. Did I mention the pool had amazing drinks?!? :) SO FUN! I had so many frozen pina coladas and Miami vices (pina colada mixed with strawberry daiquiri) it wasn't even funny. Yum. Nick actually had too much fun on Saturday, and the first time I've EVER seen him with a hangover was Sunday. Womp womp. He swears he'll never drink rum again. We'll see. We all played BINGO at the casino Sunday night. I won a game which means I won $100 and a t-shirt. I found a new addiction. It was very fun!

Monday we ventured out to check out a local beach with a well-known restaurant/bar. It was a BUST. It was very dirty. We were all disappointed, and we went back to the resort within a couple hours. More time spent at the pool that day as well.

Tuesday Nick and I went out on an excursion with ATVs and a tour guide. I didn't have good luck driving mine (I ran off the track into a sugar cane field), and we ended up cutting the tour short. I was terrified I was going to get hurt, and I wasn't about to get back on that ATV. We went back to the resort and did some snorkeling that afternoon. Dinner and another night at BINGO capped off the night. Nick won the jackpot, which he had to split, but he won $250. Julie also won some money that night on video poker.

Wednesday we spent some more time at the beach and did more snorkeling. I had more fun that day since I snorkeled with a boogey board. Nick and I got to see lots of fish, some stingrays, and a couple sea turtles. You will see the pics below. It was really cool to see all the animals in their natural habitat.

Thursday Nick and I went out shopping at the port (where the cruise ships come in) to grab some souvenirs. We were able to get some cute clothes and a stuffed turtle for Ryker. We also got a pretty domino set to add to our game collection and an ornament for our Christmas tree. We all spent the rest of the day poolside as it was the last day in paradise.

It's funny how we got into a routine while we were there. We played games back in the condo every afternoon and once back in the condo before bed every night. Julie is a BIG game player, and it was fun to learn a new game from her and Mike. We also went to the casino after dinner every night. We had so much delicious food the whole time we were there, and Nick and I even went to the gym and worked out one morning.

Friday we left to come home, and we were able to be upgraded to first class on our way back to Miami. It was both our first time up there, and WE LOVED IT! It's gonna be hard to fly coach from now on. From there we split with Mike and Julie. We were back in Houston late that night. We were reunited with Ryker the next morning. It was ONE of the BEST moments I've had as a mom. We spent time with him all weekend. He pretty much got away with everything for a couple days. :)

Enjoy the pics below!

 

 

 

 

 



September happenings in the Carlson household

We had a busy September in our house. After we got back from vacation, we were back into reality mode...full swing.

Ry had his 15 month appt with shots, and we started back to boot camp. We also started MOPS. For those who don't know what MOPS is it stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. It's a program that is worldwide, and you find them through churches. It's a group of moms who meet ever so often (We meet every 2 weeks) to discuss being a mom to preschoolers along with family, God, church, friends, households, etc. While I am spending time with the other moms, Ryker is in childcare called Moppets. He stays in a classroom with other kids his age to play and eat lunch. We missed our first week while Nick and I were on vacation so we went to the second meeting on the 20th. Ryker didn't start in the nursery too well, but he calmed down enough so I could stay. I really enjoyed myself. I am looking forward to the program. :)

The week after we got back from St. Kitts is when I got the news from Maya that her mom wanted to stop treatment for her cancer. That was a tough one. We had plans to go visit that weekend, and we went on to San Antonio for our visit. We made the best of it. Ryker, my mom, and I went to see Barbara at hospice that Saturday. The next Thursday...she was gone. We were back in SA that weekend, and we stayed for almost a week. I wanted to help Maya with anything I could and be there for Barbara's memorial. We also spent some time with Val one day before we came back. We took Ryker to Chuck E. Cheese. I had also taken him the week before for the first time by myself. He really liked it both times.

Nick and I celebrated our third anniversary on the 19th as well. We had plans to at least go out to dinner, but with everything going on, we never made it. Nick did send me 2 dozen roses, which was really unexpected, and we did spend time together that night when he got home from work. A quiet celebration in a time of some sadness was perfect.

It was a crazy month, but we made it through. Hope that October is a little more laid back.

Our annual Port Aransas trip

SORRY SO LATE WITH THIS POST......

This was our fourth year heading down to Daylong weekend in Port A. Nick, Ry, and I packed up and drove down at the beginning of August to meet up with my parents and Val & Michael in our fav Texas vacation spot. We decided to stay down there this time for 4 nights, and we all arrived in town on Friday afternoon.

Once we got off the ferry we headed to the condo to unload and get Ryker out of the car. He was ready to have some freedom! We all headed to the beach that evening for a few hours. Ryker LOVED it! He didn't want to get out of the water. He liked splashing and walking through it over and over. We had dinner at the condo that night...lasagna and salad. My mom and I always plan ahead for our meals there so we don't have to go out to eat for every meal. We all turned in early that night since we were all getting up early the next day.

Saturday morning Nick and Michael got up early for golf. Their tee time was at 7. Dad, Val, and I also got up early to go fishing together. Mom was up too so she could be awake when Ry woke up. She volunteered to stay back with him for the morning. The guys took off, and we left shortly after them. We stopped to get bait and then headed to an area off a sea wall to the left of the ferry. Dad knew it was there. We had SO much fun! I caught the first fish of the day, but Val and Dad weren't far behind. We all caught multiple fish although none were keepers. We saw a few big fish swim right on by, and we saw a sea turtle too. He even got caught in my fishing line at one point. Luckily Dad was able to get him untangled. Mom showed up with Ry as we were packing up to leave, and we all went back to the condo for lunch. We took Ry down to the pool for a few minutes, and the 2 of us came back sooner than expected because he was hungry and tired. Once he was down for his nap, the four of us hung out in the condo watching TV and sleeping. Nick and Michael got back about 3 from golfing. We all decided to go hang at the beach again as soon as Ry was up. Again...so much fun! Chicken tacos and rice is what we had for dinner that night, and we played Apples to Apples once Ryker was down. Good times.

Sunday was Dad's 55th birthday! WOW. He sure is getting old! Ry woke up really early that day, and he was ready for an early nap. We hung out in the morning for awhile as he slept. We went down to beach around noon, and we stayed down there until almost 7 that day. It was great. Ryker did so well down there again, and he even took a nap for a bit in his canopy. We played ladder ball, in the sand, Nick BBQ'd some hot dogs, and of course had some drinks. :) Awesome day. That night we ordered pizza, and Val picked it up and brought it back to the condo for everyone. Poker night followed that...Dad loves that game. I actually won that night! I gained a whole $5 profit.

Monday was our last full day there, and we hit the beach again before noon. We weren't down there too long when Ryker was ready for his nap. My mom, being the WONDERFUL grandma that she is, took him back to the room to nap so Nick and I could stay down there and play ladder ball and hang out. It was nice and relaxing. We got some good sun time in, and we bonded over drinks and games. Dad played quite a few times too. :) We were back at the condo in late afternoon so everyone had time to get ready to go to Kody's that night. We have been eating there one night of the trip for the last three years. It was good, again, but not as good as we remembered so next year we decided we will try a different place for dinner. We only go out one night of the trip because everything is always SO crowded there at dinner time. This year was nice because we did our night out on Monday. No problem getting, and there was hardly any wait to order. Back at the condo once Ry was asleep we played Guesstimation. It's a really cool game. Everyone should get it. I think Nick won that night.

Tuesday morning we packed up to head home and all went to breakfast at Island Cafe. We've been going there now for three years also for breakfast before everyone leaves. This year Ryker got to enjoy breakfast too, and it was so much less crowded on a Tuesday morning. After that, we stopped at a gift shop to take some pics and browse. Ry and I ended up getting a t-shirt. We all said goodbye, and we headed out in 3 different directions. It is always a little sad to end the weekend, and this year was no different. Another perk of leaving on Tuesday morning...NO FERRY WAIT! We literally drove right on to it! SO nice. We arrived back home about 2:30, and it was back to reality. I am already looking forward to next year. It will be really fun again!