bonfire

Is there anything better than sunset at the beach with s'mores!?  Add in fun games, dance party lights, and pirates?!  Can I go back now?

splashin

We found the beach in this little cove off the Royal Dockyard...

playin

Our first jaunt around Bermuda and we ran into cool cannons and playgrounds...

arrival

When you approach Bernuda the ship zig zags back and forth following the shipping route that protects all the coral reefs. It makes for pretty cool views over breakfast.  The boys were pumped to find some slushies while we got the lay of the land, which included English telephone booths and many giant anchors scattered around.

more on ship

Aiden was our family rep on the winning Family Feud team, the Zikachus which in a Pokemon with zika and made a funny buzz in noise.  They would have won for team spirit too!  The big winners got a RC highlighter which Aiden proudly wore on his lanyard ;) The next big win was when I won trivia (12/22 was a win so it was tough!) and gave my highlighter to Keaton ;). Here's my trivia winning face - ha!

The cruise at sea days were filled with at least one visit to Adventure Ocean kid's club for these giddy guys.  They had different themes and crafts each day.  Keaton was proud of his crown and Aiden was happy to make a popsicle stick frame.

The boys on check in inadvertently were all wearing their cruising stripes ;)

This big guy sure loved all the salmon and shrimp.  He stuffed himself with as much of the gourmet chocolate milk too.  The littler guy loved all the fruit and especially the vanilla ice cream.

We were the only family that found the cards to play a little in between activities.

underwater

Underwater cruising from LB on Vimeo.

bermuda trailers

I can't get enough of these kitschy trailers from iMovie ;)  Here are some snippets from Bermuda recorded mostly on the new generic go pro camera I got before the trip:


Bermuda Trailer Kitsch from LB on Vimeo.

More Bermuda Kitsch from LB on Vimeo.

interview with KC

One word to describe you would be: 

Bam Bam

Why do you like being a kid? 

Because it's fun because then you can play with your brother because you like your brother

If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why? 

A cat because they are cute but I'm allergic to them

Tell about a funny time in your life. 

When Aiden was walking around a corner to get something and we were at target and then he saw a gigantic gorilla and he said ahhh!

What is your favorite thing to do? Why? 

Play with little figure toys

What do you love most about your brother? 

That he's nice

What was the nicest thing you did for someone? 

Hugged them

What do you think you will be doing 10 years from now? 

What teenagers do, playing video games and changing my hair color, but I won't be that sort of teenager

What is the grossest thing you can think of? 

Something gooey

What is your happiest memory?

When Aiden shares with me

formal night

Look at these fancy guys ready for business ;)

on ship

Royal Carribean knows how to keep you entertained. I've been saying that our kids were the perfect age for a cruise, young enough to love the kid's club, but old enough to go to the shows. We saw a kid-friendly comedian, an acapella group, an aerial show in the nine story atrium, a Broadway review, and a orchestra rock show (hard to describe but they played a version of uptown funk that got everyone out of their seats dancing - Aiden was obsessed!)

Our servers at dinner worked so hard but found the time to charm the boys with so many table tricks. They'd come over with a challenge like can you transfer this empty can from one mug to the other (answer blow next to it and it will jump out of one mug and flip into the next, if you're lucky), or pick up this glass with this straw (answer: bend the straw and it will grab the side of the glass - see below) or balance the forks on the S&P shakers using toothpicks or watch as these toothpicks expand into a star with a drop of water.

The boys of course liked the towel animals.  The lobster after eating at lobster night was a nice touch ;)

The officer vs guest pool volleyball was fun to watch.  The officers dominated beating every team in a row and then even beating all eight teams on the opposing side at the same time!

The Adventure Ocean kid's club kept the kids happy with gagaball games, crafts, and even a big stash of imaginext (which makes these boys feel right at home).  At the end of the week the kids were invited to "slime their favorite teacher" which they thought was hilarious.

The lobby had a daily trivia puzzle sheet that was a nice time filler. The boys joined into the dancing during the Sail Away party straight from the pool. Once we saw the aerialists practicing randomly as we walked by the Centrum on the seventh floor.  We took advantage of the all day, every day soft serve machine on the pool deck pretty often.

hey bermuda

We're off jumping around in Bermuda!  More after we cruise on home ;)

kurios

This Cirque de Soleil show was a feast for the imagination - Kurios is seriously such a cool show where railroad industrial steampunk goes underwater with a dash of old school music.  

just be

Love when they humor me and we manage one shot with everyone in the air at the same time ;). Mosaic has the best temporary murals!

bday blast

The best summer birthday party includes a double blow up water slide ;)

happy bday daddy

Happy Birthday to J!  Yesterday was made extra fun when daddy surprised the boys with a great beat the heat idea to celebrate - go to Dave and Busters and play games!  It was still a little toasty in there and DC boasted the hottest place in the country just for J's bday ;). The boys helped make that cake and those cute cards... And his fancy guitar counts as his big present.  We also attempted a skillet cookie for breakfast ;)

little loving hands

So my camera roll is out of control with random photos and snaps of Pokemon... It's making my photo sorting and bloggingspotty but we are enjoying lotsa good fun this summer.  We had two Little Loving Hands boxes to do lately - one for a group in Haiti that collects materials for pregnant women, we made an octopus rattle and soap with a fishes swimming in it.  The other was a Clowns without Borders outreach group were we made a set of juggling balls and a tambourine.

chuckie

Filling up a hot, hot day with a visit to the Chuckie...

tidbits

Free bowling games with the Summer Blast Pass!  Thanks to the bumpers and the ramp these guys each had many strikes and spares.

Some hug attacks in the slide tunnel are tricky.

Daddy taught them how to play poker with Aiden designed battle cards.

This fancy guy practicing his typing for his Brain Chase challenge. It's full of crazy things this time and who knows if we'll get close to solving the treasure with one week to go!

good list

These guys love wearing these matching green shorts lately as soon as they get cleaned they are wearing them again.  So  these photos were not all taken on the same day ;)

Our big monster, sentimental leather chair cracked at the base and it was time to search for a new chair. It was going well immediately when we found that golden throne.  If only they had it in silver accents with a herringbone grey velvet - ha!

These buddies get along so well and cheer each other on!

These bug vacuum is a favorite lately. It was especially helpful when J was in Portugal and all the spiders came inside to play.  It put them in a little magnifying chamber and then you can catch and release.

These white sunglasses gives him a little swagger ;)

sudsy

So many expressions from these goofs:

pokemon go

Is anyone sheltered from this Pokemon Go! phenomenom?!  When J first told me about it, I thought he meant this hypothetically could exist and wouldn't that be cool.... I had no idea that it meant a zubat creature would show up in my bedroom and so many ratatas would surprise us.  At the farmer's market last week, I counted over ten people within four yards of us all playing (we were the only ones with kids btw!). People are out and about even in the heat advisory and I see it bringing people together all over the place... Just keep to the same basic life rules of not going to dark alleys to avoid being robbed or not climbing over fences to avoid falling off cliffs. Hey media, chill out, at least these people are out walking, talking and buying stuff... Getting kids in the parks is a great thing.

tv bear II