Monday Thrive - November 13

1) Thank goodness today is Monday and not a Friday! I am not a fan of Friday the 13th! My friend from high school and I were always soooo superstitious. We would go out of our way to avoid a black cat. We were always on edge on Friday the 13th. Random thought I had while typing out November 13. lol

2) We just got back from South Padre Island, Texas. We were there for a week. It was an amazing trip! We did a lot of relaxing. G just loves the pool! It was hard to get him out of there at times. He liked the beach, but the pool was his favorite. The first day he was a little hesitant, but within an hour he was floating all over. I am going to work on a whole blog post about things to do in South Padre with a toddler, reviews of restaurants, review of items we brought with us, and our resort.  

I have a lot of posts planned, but I have a rough 2 weeks coming up! I will do what I can. I wanted to post some gift guides. That might not happen since the holidays are just flying upon us. I still need to figure out what we are doing for Christmas cards! Usually I have them done and printed by now. Yikes!

3) Are you looking for some small businesses to buy from for the holidays? Check out the ihelpmoms holiday guide for up to 30% on the Best Mom’s Holiday Gifts!!! There are some great companies that are offering discount codes. I love SIC Cups. I blogged about them here. 

https://ihelpmoms.com/more/free-books-for-moms/holiday-gift-guide/

4) Next week my sister will be here for a week! We have been making menus and itineraries for the past month! I can't wait for her to come. The last time she was here was for Christmas right after G was born. It will be nice to have her here for a week. I always love having my family with me at the holidays.

Lacey wants to take her fiance to Alcatraz. I have gotten to the point I give instructions to people on how to get there, but I don't go anymore. I want to wait until G wants to go there to go again. I have already been 3 times. It's a great tour! I highly recommend it! I think once you have gone once you don't really need to go again. =)

5) There are always firsts! This year I am going to decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving. I want all the decor up before my sister gets here. We are going to celebrate Christmas with her while she is here. I don't want to deal with putting it all up when she is here, so I am going to do it this week with G. He has LOVED Halloween. He doesn't want to take the decorations down. I think once he realizes we are putting up the Christmas tree he will love it. I put up my Halloween, fall and Thanksgiving decorations up at the same time. I am really looking forward to Christmas with G this year. He tells us all the time stuff he wants for his birfday and Christmas. 

I hope you have a fabulous week! 

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are my own. The post Monday Thrive appeared first on MrsPost08 Blog. 

California Tourists!

My cousins from ND visited for a week around the first part of March. We were tourists around Nor Cal for a week. We had a lot of fun taking them to places we have been and to new places we haven't even been. 

G was really good! We were in the car A LOT! He happily rode along with watching the tablet very little. He really was a trooper. I packed lots of snacks, some car toys and uploaded some of his favorite shows to the tablet. 

We went on some hikes. I put him on my back. He was ok being in the Ergo for a little bit. He would rather run or have us carry him for a little bit. He is getting heavy. I had to tell him if he wanted to be carried he had to go in the Ergo. That usually resulted in him saying he would walk. 

I love this picture of us at the Golden Gate Bridge! It was the first time we have walked on the bridge. It was the first time we have taken G to the bridge too. 

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are my own. The post California Tourists appeared first on Because Chocolate Can't Get You Pregnant.  

Texas

A couple months ago we went to Texas. We went to see if we liked the area and possibly move there. Lacey came with us to check things out. We are all hoping to make the big move in the next year. 

George LOVED the beach! He had so much fun walking around the beach, playing in the sand, chasing the birds and even going in the water. 

We visited a rain forest one day. 

I love this picture! It is so cute how George is looking at Auntie!

Hey, Momma look there is a bird!

Wordless Wednesday

Toddler Mini Golf

Have you ever tried to play mini golf with a toddler?  

Well it's an adventure!  George thought he was supposed to chase after the balls and put them in the hole. We all golfed a lot better with George help! He was super adorable! I think we golfed about 5 holes then called it. We let George have fun instead. 

How adorable is that Lil Golfer! 

I didn't see Russia!

But I did visit the Sarah Palin store in Skagway! I bought 2 tshirts, 2 shot glasses, magnets and Sarah Palin coins all for $8 or $9 bucks. BARGAIN of the year!!! 

This was my favorite shop! There were so many people taking pictures to torture their friends. Little did they know I was there because I like Sarah! It was a highlight. Now if only I could meet her! 

/\ best comment ever!!!! Get to work people! There are too many people working the system in this country! 

Animal Planet

On different floors of the Norwegian Cruise Ship they had different pictures of animals. Art and I decided to have a little fun with the pictures. They started out ok and then ended with us dying laughing. 

Art referred to the Hippo as "Becky". This didn't go over very well each time we passed this picture. We started off our photo session with a picture of the Becky's. Luckily my husband didn't end up overboard. 

Art tickling the panda.

Art running with the cats!

 Dolphins flying through my arms! 

Fed the horses some grass. 

And the very best picture....

We laughed & laughed over this picture. Part of it was just being there in the moment.  

My new friend - Alaska

Oh Alaska how I miss you!!!

When we got back I told my dad we decided to sell the house and move to Alaska just for the....winter lol.  I'm tempted people I'm very tempted! 

Alaska OOTD

Here are my outfits from our Alaska Cruise. I packed my winter clothes, fuzzy fleece and scarves. I wore my black fuzzy fleece daily ,it was super cozy and I loved it. I bought it at Costco for $19.99. 

I thought I would be wearing shoes or boots every day, but I wore my sandals all bundled up. I bought Sam & Libby sandals at Target for $24.99 at the beginning of summer. They have been my go to shoes ever since. I actually bought another pair once they went on sale. I have just about worn that pair out. 

Black fleece: Costco

Pants: Gap Outlet

Sandals & Scarf: Target

Sweater: Loft

Pants: Old Navy

Necklace: Ebay

Sandals: Target

Outfit: Old Navy

Sandals: Target

I did wear regular shoes a couple times. Mostly when we went on excursions. I would have packed differently for Alaska. I would have packed more tshirts because I wore my fleece every where. Alaska you need more layers. Someone on the ship said to dress like an onion. Lots of layers to peal off. They should have told us that when we booked the trip. 

Alaska Overview

Two weeks ago Art & I cruised with Norwegian Cruise Line to Alaska. We stopped in Juneau, Skagway, Ketichan, cruised through glacier bay & one final stop in Victoria Canada. 

To be honest I wasn't looking forward to going to Alaska. The part I wasn't looking forward to was the cold, all the elderly people, lack of sun, getting sick and cruising. All the things I wasn't looking too ended up being non-issues. It was warm, tons of sun, there were lots of elderly people but that was fine, and didn't get strep throat on this cruise. I was looking forward to the vacation, time away from work & limited communication with the world. 

I also felt Alaska was a cruise to take once you retire. My entire outlook on Alaska has changed. It is the place to go when you are mobile. There is so much to see!!!!  I can't believe how many excursions there are in each port. Some ports you can fit in 3-4 excursions. 

In Juneau we booked the glacier and salmon bake excursion. It was a last minute decision and I'm so glad we did. The scenery is breathtaking! Pictures just don't do Alaska justice. I would snap a picture, look at the picture and then back at the item. The real deal just couldn't be replicated. 

Salmon needs to be grilled over an open fire and top with a brown sugar butter glaze. I had tons of salmon over the week. It was the very best at the salmon bake in Juneau. Mmmmm I'm hungry for it again! 

Skagway we checked out the town in the morning. In the afternoon we went on a nature boat tour. We saw tons of eagles, seals, fish and 4 hump back whales. This was the only excursion we booked outside of the ship. We were both a little nervous about this trip. Our fears were quickly extinguished. The crew of Ocean Raft Adventures was super friendly, timely, funny and knowledgeable. We had a fabulous experience. 

Sagway had the best store!!! A Sarah Palin store!! Oh it was my favorite place! We bought a bunch of stuff for $8 bucks! CLEARANCE!!!!

Ketchikan we booked an excursion on the Aleutian Ballard crab boat from season 2 of Deadliest Catch. Fabulous excursion!!! We met Derek who was the captain of Phil boat after he passed away. We caught halibut, crabs, sharks, octopus, and rock fish. Saw lots of eagles, deer, but no bears :(  

In Victoria we just walked around bought souvenirs and went to dinner. It's beautiful there and I want to go back. We rode in an adorable little water taxi. I was just tired by this time and wanted to do nothing lol

Previously we cruised with Royal Caribbean. We liked them and didn't really have any complaints. We heard amazing things about NCL, so we decided to try them. NCL is a freestyle cruise. There aren't any set times to eat and you have different dining options for all meals. If you are cruising bring your fat pants!

Here is one thing I noticed a difference with NCL staff.  On Royal Caribbean the staff seemed worn out and very few left the ship. NCL staff seemed more rested, a ton of them left the ship, and they had 1 job not 3-4. I felt NCL treated the staff better.

I can't wait to go back to Alaska one day. We even talked about going to Ketchikan for a whole week. 

This vacation was much needed!!!! It was so nice to turn off the outside world for a week straight. I didn't think about work or cancer for 5 days. That is something that hasn't happened in 2013. I ate waaaaaay too much, slept a lot, read, ate, napped, enjoyed the scenery, exercised a little and loved every minute of it! 

Where is your next vacation? I suggest Alaska!!!

Menu Monday

The ship had some of the best food ever! My 2 favorite things were the cream puffs that were just out of this world and the french toast. I have always like french toast, but the french toast on the ship was out of this world. It was about 2 inches thick, blueberries, syrup, fresh whip cream.....oh my lord my mouth is just watering! I hate it 6 days out of the 7. I tried a lot of stuff on the ship and believe me the scales shows it. Every bite of the french toast was worth it. 

Art loved the sausage gravy and biscuits. He asked me if I would make a pot of gravy each Sunday for the week when we got home. LOL I told him biscuits and gravy are a treat not an every day thing. I will make a pot of gravy each week when Art makes me fresh french toast each morning. lol

Well it is time to get back on the wagon and eating healthy. My scale is SCREAMING at me. lol  We will be eating lots of salad, smoothies, and fruit. Today it is back to having veggie smoothies for breakfast, salads for lunch and veggies & meat for dinner. 

2013 Vacation Schedule

Cancer has nothing on me! I just booked our vacations for the year.

May - Tahoe for Amber wedding

June - North Dakota for Lacey wedding

August - Alaskan Cruise

November - Hawaii

Holy bazooka I'm excited! Lots of wonderful places to see for the very first time. I can't wait!

Reef Fishing

Art and I went reef fishing while we were in the Bahamas. Reef fishing is for littler fish. We caught a lot of sand fish, which are used as bait. We caught some yellow tail snapper, grunt, and a trigger fish. Art actually out fished me this time around. My reason for not catching fish was because I wasn't letting my line down low enough. Ugh!!!! If I had let my line all the way to the bottom I would have out fished Art. lol

 

Art caught the first yellow tail snapper

 

Hey, I got a BIG one!

 

Isn't that fish just beautiful! The colors were soooo bright. Art didn't keep this fish. The fishing guide said trigger fish are very hard to skin. That fish had some massive teeth. They were as big as Sammy teeth. lol

 

Look I caught one too!

 

Everyone fish!