The Kirby's: July 2010

Well, I'm finally getting a chance to update about the last couple of weeks. Reid and I went to Mexico on the Carnival Cruise lines FUNship Ecstasy. His grandmother turned 80 and wanted her 4 kids and their families to go on a cruise. It was an AWESOME vacation for us.
It was also Jack's first vacation to his Grandpa (Ye-Ye) and Grandma Skoch's house in Hastings. I'm so thankful they agreed to keep him. He was there for 9 whole days! I was really anxious about the whole thing when I left him there, but I knew he was in good hands. My mom said he did wonderfully. He definitely kept them busy! My siblings were chasing him around all week. He loved to run around to the different rooms (since its a big circle around the fireplace), flip the lights on and off, and play outside in the backyard. He was spoiled with all the space he had.

At the beginning of the trip to drop Jack at the Skoch's house:

We left Friday morning the 9th after Reid got home from work at midnight that night. We drove 2 vehicles from KC to Houston, where Uncle Jeff's family lives. We were all getting so anxious and it was hard to sleep. More family arrived late in the night and it was wonderful to catch up with everybody. After rearranging the bags, we piled in the cars drove to Galveston to board the ship.
We had these great "Phillips Family Cruise" shirts made for everyone:

We spent the first evening on the ship, exploring all the fun things to do. There were comedy shows, game shows, a casino, performances, and dance clubs. We got to have fun umbrella drinks and enjoyed some simply amazing food. The dining on the ship, by itself, is worth the money. We felt like royalty being served such fancy meals every night.

Our first port was Progresso. It was a culture shock to me. The town was quite small and seemed rundown. However, there was a great little open-air market where we got fantastic bargains on some souveneirs. They wanted to sell us their stuff pretty bad so we were able to make some deals. And they had a BEAUTIFUL beach (see next photo). While we were on the beach, the locals were selling everything from jewelry to singing (people would stop and want compensation for a serenade). It seems like this was how many of the locals made their living. I spent the day with Jeff and his girls, while Reid explored the Chichen Itza ruins. It was a great day!

Here is a picture of us as a night of dinner:

Our second port was Cozumel. That was awesome and such a difference than Progresso. As soon as you got off the ship there were big, fancy shops with LOTS of shopping. Reid, 2 of his cousins, and had chosen to go to the Playa Mia Beach Break Deluxe. Basically it was all you can drink/eat Mexican buffet and water toys. There was a water trampoline and slide in the middle of the ocean you could swim out to. You could also check out the paddle boats. I just laid out and drank some pretty great margaritas.

Me and Reid enjoying the sun:

Margarita #1 for the day! I was in heaven...margaritas and beautiful beaches...what else can a girl ask for:

The rest of the time was spent enjoying the ship. Reid won a round of trivia and got a little trophy. We played pitch on the lido deck until late at night with the family. Then after the parents went to bed, we explored the dance clubs. I would definitely do that again.

Here we are on the last night with the sunset as we were sailing back to Galveston:

When we got home life picked back up really fast. We met my mom halfway to get Jack. I was so incredibly excited to see my little buddy. I couldn't believe how fast he grew and changed. He came back saying like 10 more words and he knows what so many things are. It was like his vocabulary exploded while we were gone. He knows car, ball (of every shape and size), book, block, dog, woof woof, duck, Ye-Ye (Chinese for grandpa- and Grandpa Skoch wants to be called Ye-ye), nana for banana, and so much more. He is holding "conversations" with us. It is just amazing to see this little boy emerging. Other than new words, Jack has his 12th tooth coming through. He has 4 top and bottom in the front and then his first molars on top and bottom are through. The last one (bottom right) is popping through as I write this. I can't decide if teething is worse as a toddler or infant. He's really growing up so fast.

Until next time...