Day 3: Port day at Cozumel

Day 3 we woke up and had breakfast on the ship and then headed off the ship to see Cozumel, Mexico. We spent a while walking around and shopping when we first got off the boat. After shopping, we at lunch at a restaurant called, Pancho's Backyard. It was delicious! Some of the best food we had on the trip. After lunch we explored the coast while we walked back to the ship. The kids really enjoyed splashing in the water and finding different treasures.

Abby loved eating cereal from the little cereal boxes every day. She especially liked Rice Krispies because Ryan was eating them one day.
The kids both enjoyed all kinds of fruit on the ship.

Merry Christmas from Cozumel!

It was so unusual to see all the Christmas decorations everywhere while we were wearing our swimsuits.

These two are so funny!

I think that's Abby under there.

Here's Abby again in her favorite spot.

Abby found these maracas that she just had to have!

My boys!

Abby and Mimi

Clay, Ryan, & Grandad

Deep thoughts.

Back on the ship at sunset & getting ready for dinner.

I love this pic. I think it is just sweet.

Cruise Day 2

Day 2 was a day at sea. We enjoyed a day eating, exploring the ship, swimming, and relaxing. We had one questionable sea sickness episode this day. Abby threw up one time in the swimming pool after she had been in for less than 5 minutes. I'm not sure if she was guzzling the salt water or if she was queasy from the pool sloshing around. All I know is one minute she was swimming around and the next minute she had thrown up. I quickly scooped her up and carried her off. She was fine, though. 30 minutes later she was eating an ice cream cone. They had soft serve ice cream machines out by the pool and in the restaurant. So we pretty much had ice cream all week long whenever we wanted. The rest of the trip went without any sickness issues.

Getting ready for breakfast. Daddy does the best job brushing teeth! That's Abby's new Ariel toothbrush she got from Santa.

This is the Abby technique for eating a donut. She only eats the top. Whether is has icing or not. She just eats the top. Don't know where she came up with that, but you know Abs, she has a mind of her own.
Our kids love their Uncle Ryan and Aunt Alyssa.

My awesome family!

Day 2 was also our first formal dinner night. It was fun dressing up, but there is something weird about getting so fancy and spending so much time getting ready for dinner on your vacation. We enjoy being casual. I have to say though, these 2 looked awfully cute all dolled up!

They really love the windows!

Daddy's Girl!

I love my sister-in-law! BFF!

Abby and Nathan also learned that you could go up to the bar and they would give you as many cherries as you wanted to put in your Sprite. They caught on to this really fast and any time we walked through this particular bar they wanted to stop for cherries.

The Piano Man!

Aren't they handsome!?!

Cruisin' at Christmas Day One

This year instead of having a traditional Christmas gathering, the Johnson branch of our family went on a cruise. Clay's dad and step mom took 13 of us on a cruise out of Galveston. We left on 12/28 and returned on 1/4. It was a fun way to spend our Christmas break. Especially since it was so cold here the day we left.

Day one was spent waiting in line to board the ship, exploring our stateroom, having a the muster drill in case of emergency, and enjoying our first night at dinner.

Abby spent alot of time in front of this window in our room. I think she enjoyed having a stage in the room. Isn't the Port of Galveston just beautiful behind her there!?!
Aren't they cute?

Muster Drill. This was only somewhat fun for about 4 minutes. Then it just become cranky time. It was SO cold out on the deck that day when we left Gavleston. Abby was done with the whole thing.
This is the first of many pictures take of Abby on her Uncle Ryan's shoulders. She spent alot of time up there throughout the week. She wants to be with Ryan all the time.

First night at dinner.

Our waiter's name was Oswin and he totally catered to the kids at every meal. If they wanted spaghetti and it wasn't on the menu he made it happen. Our kids are big shrimp eaters. One night he even brought them about 5 shrimp cocktails to share. He brought Abby pink ice cream with strawberries whenever he wanted it and on the last night he made Nathan a little mouse made out of his napkin. We still have the mouse and his name is Mr. Cheese!

Checkin' out the bunk beds. The bunk beds for the kids came down out of the ceiling over our beds. They had a great time climbing up and down the ladders and playing during the week. The first night when we came in after dinner and the beds were all turned down, Abby climbed up on her bunk bed and said, "They left butter on our beds!!!" Of course she was referring to the chocolates they had left on her pillow.

Christmas at Paw-Paw and Dee's 2008

Christmas Eve night we drove to my mom and dad's to have the Etheridge Family Christmas. We had a great time and it was so fun to celebrate Mallory's first Christmas with everyone. Christmas morning we woke up and enjoyed our traditional breakfast casserole, opened stockings, & then opened gifts! We took our Wii with us and after all the Christmas festivities we had a blast with the whole family playing the Wii at various times. Boxing, tennis, & golf are some of our favs.

It's really hard to get a picture of all 3!
Dee got these Disney Princess tissues for Abby. She loves them!

Nathan got these new sheets for his bed. They have baseball team logos all over them. He is wanting to get new stuff for his room with a baseball theme.

Abby feeding her new baby. She named her Baby Caroline. For some reason Abby names all her babies Caroline. Who can figure her out?

Mallory enjoyed getting into small spaces. She had a great time with the dust pan of Abby's new sweeper set.

I sure love these two!

"I'm working!"

Abby got some great washable coloring books from Parsh, Maf, & Mal. She really enjoys them.

The girls tackling Uncle Matthew.

As you can see Mallory has a consistant pose for all her pictures. She's very in to the open mouth smile. Some shots you can see the back of her throat!

This is Abby's mermaid pose in the tub. She likes to swirl all around in the tub and pretend she is a mermaid.

Cousin Bath!

We're Back!

I have alot of blogging to catch up on, but here are some photo highlights from the last 10 days. Laundry is calling right now. There will be more to come! I've got a ton of pictures to go through!