michellesblog- for His glory and to declare His praise...

way overdue, huh?
life has kinda swallowed me up since we've gotten back from our vacation. that, and our computer was having a little work done.
just got it back and nothing is the same- which is really fun for someone like me who knows nothing about computers.

so back to the vacation....
we had a lot of fun and i have about a million pictures for you. here goes-

we spent 3 days in New Orleans before the cruise.
it was so strange to be back there! being in the same part of town as the law office where i met neiko for the first time.
as we walked through the city visiting the aquarium, the zoo, and the mall- and riding on ferries and trolleys- i kept wondering if he had been to these places before. with his other mom. so strange.
i kept picturing him as a tiny baby being cared for by someone else and walking the same streets and i just couldn't hardly wrap my mind around it!

especially the mall! i figured he HAD to have been there before!

turns out he gets a lot more attention in the south :)
about every other person would greet him and rub his head. lots of, "hey little man!" or "you're awfully cute!"
and one lady mistook him for her nephew and almost walked off with my stroller! i wasn't sure what to say to her as she stood there talking to her friend with her hands on the handles of my stroller. seemed like an eternity before she realized he wasn't hers!!

here's neiko standing by a car in the mall. or a "ca ca" as he calls them.
which made our spanish-speaking taxi driver in mexico chuckle a few times.....

while us women were shopping with all the kids, the guys were deep-sea fishing!
they had a blast! something about lots of fish, 6ft waves, fog, rain, getting grounded on a river.....

then sunday started with a ferry ride to the aquarium-

shaeya can't get enough of pushing neiko in the stroller. its wonderful!

the whole group!

neiko yelled, "fishy!" about 600 times that day....

the kids' favorite part of the aquarium was the birds! :)

except for tekoa. i think she was reliving her trauma of being bitten by a bird when she was a baby....

we had a good laugh over the love-birds on dave's head. every time he shooed them off they flew right back....:)

after the aquarium we took a trolley to the zoo!

my brother justin- during the long walk from the trolley to the ferry.....
with little wren all tucked in his jacket and sound asleep :)
....i remember looking like that with her not all that long ago!

boarding the cruise ship- i mean "the big boat"

the kids had to learn from the first night how to stay up waaaaaaaay later than normal. or to just fall asleep when they got tired

relaxing with our hot chocolate on a cloudy day.....

formal night! :)
i bought a dress in new orleans with the help of my sister-in-law katie and a few native new orleanians from the dressing room across from mine :)
a little shorter than what im used too.....

our first day in mexico. we weren't very impressed with the "private beach" we paid to go to :)

second day in mexico-
cozumel was awesome!

we started the day with swimming with dolphins!
the kids had sooooo much fun!
and so did dave and i :)
unfortunately they didn't allow us to take our own pictures, and the disc of pictures they took would've cost $265.

so we are pictureless :(

neiko's make-shift bed :)

the beach in cozumel was MUCH nicer :)
i really could've used about 5 or 6 days there!

then back on the boat-

okay....my big, funny story is that i auditioned for a part in the big finale show on the last night of the cruise.
for the part of shania twain.
i auditioned for fun and didn't really think about actually getting the part- but then i did.
i got the part. sooooooo funny.
it was a pretty big deal- with a song to memorize, costume fittings, and dress rehearsals......
poor dave had to take over with the kids for all of that.
but you only live once, right????
but the funniest part of it all was the costume. i was kinda nervous about what they were gonna put me in, being shania twain and all. and during the other shows we saw some pretty scantily- clad cowgirls.

but when they pulled out my outfit i had a really good laugh.
hideous. and way too big.
a big, long flowing white shirt tucked into a big, brown leather indian skirt with tassels.
and a wig and a cowboy hat.

i looked so funny! and they didn't have anything smaller for shania!

i received a complimentary DVD of the show which will only be seen by a VERY SMALL group of people, but i will let you all see a picture of me with the whole cast- :)
can you find me??