We celebrated six and a half years of Coco on Monday. She had so much fun filling out my little questionnaire and then asked for more questions when we were finished.
Favorite Color: Gold
Favorite Sport: Ballet & Gymnastics
Favorite Pro Sports Team: Cubs
Favorite Food: Pizza
Favorite Restaurant: Outback
Favorite Movie: Leap
Favorite Book: The Day the Crayons Came Home
Favorite Subject: Recess
Favorite Bible Verse: John 3:16
Favorite Bible Character: God
Favorite Animal: Llama
Favorite Friend in Kindergarten: Claire and Piper
Favorite Person to Play With: Claire and Piper
Favorite Fruit: Watermelon
Favorite Dessert: Cake
Favorite Candy: Lollipops
Favorite Place to Go: Urban Air (or Heaven but I haven't been there yet)
Bedtime: 7:30
Favorite Thing About Yourself: That I'm pretty, sweet and a good friend.
Cora is still tall for her age but appears to be slowing down just a bit! She's 48 inches tall and about 48 pounds. She continues to have a ton of energy and participates exuberantly in all her activities. Coco loves dancing! Ballet is her favorite part of the week especially because Claire is in her class. Cora has diligently been working on stretching before bed so that she can be flexible enough to do the splits. She's getting so close! Cora is a fast runner and she recently learned how to pump herself on the swing. She's getting really good at cartwheels and loves jumping on the trampoline. Cora has two missing teeth which she is so proud of.
Cora has been growing so much academically this year. Her handwriting is getting so much neater (although she tends to rush through her work sometimes). She reads so well and loves going to the library to check out books! She loves when her brothers listen to her read which they both graciously do. Cora loves recess, math and music. She loves being around other people and playing with her friends. She has grown so much this year in her ability to be a positive leader as was noted on her report card. Kids seem to flock to her and follow her. We've talked a lot of the importance of being a loving, servant leader. Cora is so good at making sure the other girls are included and she's fiercely loyal and protective of her friends. Cora loves Jesus and she loves praying out loud. She has such a compassionate heart for those she meets who are struggling, homeless, or don't know Jesus. She wants everyone to go to Heaven. I'm so proud of the little girl she's growing into! We are still working on being slow to anger and choosing what things are worth making a deal out of and what things we should just let go. Cora will always keep us on our toes but I know that God is going to use her passion, loyalty and compassion to do big things for his Kingdom.
We love you so much, Coco Bean! Stay our baby just a bit longer, ok?
It's probably no secret that we love to travel and explore new places. Our kids have that love as well and are generally extremely easy going and well behaved when we travel.
But sometimes we all (including the adults) need a little reminder about kindness, respect, teamwork and most of all, grace. So this was how we started off our Spring Break adventures.
We had some time to spend before we could board our cruise ship so we spent the morning at the Florida Aquarium. This is a beautiful, super fun aquarium. We all wondered why we hadn't visited when we lived nearby.
This fish had tiny little teeth! The details in all of these animals are so amazing. It was fun to really focus and study the creative side of God.
The boys found this hilariously funny.
Traveling is always educational.
Around lunch time it was finally our turn to board the ship. We headed straight to the Lido deck for lunch
and ice cream.
Next, we explored the ship.
The five of us stayed in one tiny stateroom but it worked out great. We were only in our room for small amounts of time, we were super organized and it provided us lots of opportunities to be patient with each other and work as a team. I've always found lots of cruise hacks through out time that really help make the space so much more usable.
We ate dinner in the dining room every night. This was one of my favorite parts of the cruise. Everyone gets to choose their favorite foods, eat as much of them as they want and I don't have to clean it up. It's amazing. Both boys enjoyed ordering steak off of the adult menu several times, Cora loved the spaghetti, and all three kids had several servings of rice or french fries each night.
The kids had saved up their Valentine's money to spend at the ship's arcade.
Sunday was our first sea day. We had breakfast by the water.
We spent the rest of the day moving between Kids Camp, the water park, the pool and the hot tub.
We pulled into Havana, Cuba bright and early Monday morning. Cuba was the reason we chose this particular cruise.
Cuba is a bit different than other cruise ports we've visited. For one, you need a visa to visit Cuba. It is still illegal to travel to Cuba for tourism but there are several categories that make it possible to visit.
After we made it through customs and exchanged our money, we got our first glimpse of Havana.
Our main goal for the day was to immerse ourselves in different areas of Cuban culture and support as many Cuban people as possible in various ways.
The kids, especially Cora, were really sad for all of the animals roaming the streets. There were so many stray dogs and cats that the kids lost count after about 20.
The fun cars were a highlight for the boys.
We visited a small local shop where Cora chose her souvenir. If you know Cora, it comes as no surprise that she chose early and quickly.
Rowan chose his souvenir not long after- a hat just like Daddy's!
We walked along in search of some music.
This band was so good! The kids were happy to drop Cuban coins in the musicians hats!
Next, we met up with our driver Rene. We were excited to spend the next three hours learning more about Cuba from the seats of a red 1948 Buick. Rene spoke excellent English and was full of knowledge.
One of our first stops was the sight of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. We learned all about the Russian missiles pointed straight at the USA a mere 90 miles away.
We learned that Russia agreed to dismantle the weapons in exchange for Cuba's safety from the United States and the United States quietly agreed to dismantle its missiles in Turkey.
Beautiful view.
World's longest cigar!!
Next we visited Morro Castle, a beautiful fort protecting the entrance of Havana Harbor. We were able to climb up the high walls which the kids loved.
The kids thought it would be funny to pretend to pick up these cannonballs (we figured they'd be permanently secured and unmovable). As it turns out, safety is more lax in Cuba and you could actually pick them up.
Because the United States does not do business with Cuba, their Coke products are actually purchased from Mexico.
Real Cuban cigars from Cuba. We enjoyed watching a man rolling the cigars in the small shop where we purchased them.
A lot of things are under construction in Cuba but we saw the capitol building on our way to lunch.
We had lunch at one of Havana's paladares which are privately owned restaurants. The government has more recently allowed these. We had a delicious lunch!
Sweet Cruz was the last one to choose his souvenir (which is no surprise)! He went back and forth between quite a few things before settling on some musical instruments. One of the vendors offered him a great deal which included maracas, wooden sticks and a drum.
We said good-bye to our driver Rene and headed back to the ship. It was so fun to spend the day with Rene and learn about his family and two small kids. He was so kind to our kids too!
On Tuesday morning, we woke up and had breakfast in our pajamas. The kids were excited to find that while they'd been sleeping, a whole zoo of Carnival's special towel animals found their way to the pool chairs. This sting ray was Cora's favorite.
This alligator eating a little towel mouse was my favorite.
When we got off the boat in Cozumel we headed straight for our scheduled snorkel tour.
Our goal was to find a sea turtle while snorkeling and WE DID! We also saw so many other beautiful fish, a barracuda and Roger even saw a tiger ray towards the end. The water was so clear and beautiful.
Back on the boat, our captain offered us fresh fruit and Mexican sodas.
Our final day, Wednesday, was a sea day. We started off with the Dr. Suess breakfast.
Rowan was not in the happiest of moods this morning and it really didn't help that Cora accidentally dumped her entire glass of orange juice on him about two seconds after I snapped this picture.
The breakfast had special Dr. Suess themed entrees as well as the opportunity to meet several Dr. Suess characters.
Roger had the cereal crusted French toast! He said it was actually delicious.
Coco tried the green eggs and ham!
I didn't take this picture til the airport on the way home but on our last afternoon on the ship, we participated in a Family Scavenger Hunt. Each family was given a list of things to find on the ship, plus some extra credit items. We had a half an hour and the family with the most points won. Every single person in our family is crazy competitive so you'd better believe we were in it to win it... and we did! Haha.
Its always hard to finish an adventure and this one was no exception. I'm so thankful for the warm sun, the new places and time with my fam though. Only one more quarter left to go in this school year. I can hardly believe it!!!
