The Nelson Narrative

This week was just getting back in the groove after our vacation.  It was so hard going back to work on Monday!  And I just finally got caught up on laundry this weekend. Dayna, our awesome nanny, did some fun stuff with the girls.  They went to Starbucks for breakfast on Monday, since the housekeeper was coming and they needed to get out of the house.  Then another day they went out for Thai food for lunch, and yesterday she took them to Michael's for craft supplies.  They ended up getting a tie-dye kit and some plain white t-shirts and then on Friday they dyed them. Thursday night our neighbor took his girls and ours to the outdoor movie in the park and then Friday night they went to a birthday party at the pottery painting place and then a sleep over at the birthday girl's house (same neighbors/friends that they went to the movie with). Saturday was the first weekend day in forever with no plans.  I was finally able to work on some of my projects, ...

So, after a little over a year of waiting and anticipating, our big Caribbean Cruise was last week.  It was so fun! We flew to Ft. Lauderdale on Friday, the 14th, spent the night and took a shuttle to the cruise terminal on Saturday.  We met up with all our friends who had flown in on various days, boarded the ship and we were off! A view from the ship before leaving Miami Sunday and Monday were both days at sea, so we spent most of our time by the pool and exploring the ship. One of the two pools The H20 deck, with movie screen, bar, 2 hot tubs and a cool cave-like water feature One of the water slides A giant chess board Ropes course Cave-like water feature We went to a few shows during the week.  One was a comedy/juggling show, one was a regular comedian, and one was a dinner show with a singing group. The girls and friends at the juggling show Meeting the juggler, Scott Cavanaugh or something like ...

It's been a crazy week of appointments and trip prep.  On Monday the nanny took the girls to the pool at the golf club where she has a membership.  That was a special treat because we are not nor is anyone we know (except, now, her) members and have never been.  Then today I had to get the girls up super early, 6:50, for a 7:30 orthodontist appointment (Kayley got her expander off (yay!) and Olivia just for an initial exam).  I was dreading it because they normally sleep until at least 9:00 now that they are on summer vacation and getting them up early can be difficult, plus I got a late start to work so I had to stay later so I can be sure to get done what I need to get done before we leave on vacation FRIDAY!  And since the housekeeper was coming at 9:00, right after we got back from the orthodontist, and they had to get out of the house anyway, the nanny took them to Starbucks for breakfast.  Lucky them. Today I had to drop my car off at the dealers...

Week 3 started out at Crescent Bar where we spent the weekend before the 4 th .  We were just cleaning the condo and washing all the towels and linens before heading home, however, so not really enjoying the pool or river and whatnot.  We stopped at an old-fashioned drive-in for burgers and shakes on our way home.  I have fond memories of making such stops on camping trips with my family growing up, so once in awhile I try to recreate some of that for the girls, but turns out no one (except me) really cared for the food there so I guess we'll come up with some other tradition. The next day was the 4 th , and we went to a friend’s for a barbeque and fireworks and then to the big community fireworks show after that. The girls were having a blast (literally, ha ha) shooting them off themselves this year, with plenty of adult supervision playing with kinetic sand before doing fireworks sparklers their poor dog hid out in the bathroom :( Our ...