Cruise day 2.....Freeport

After traveling all night, we arrived in Freeport. A few of us decided to get off the ship and check out what the Freeport Market had to offer. 

If you have ever been on a cruise, then you know the photography staff love to take as many pictures of you as you will allow. One photographer at dinner told me to get with my boyfriend for a photo. I took one with my husband instead! 

As we were coming off the ship we heard.........I take you photo?........photo with Chiquita?......photo with the pirate?..........photo with family?.......now photo of you?

Naaaaa!

I got it covered!

Note to self: Get Laney some glasses!

 

After taking our free photos, we walked around the market. 

A couple of girls got their hair did. 

The lady did a great job! 2 weeks later and the hair wrap is still in. My sis enjoys pampering my girls and making them feel special. Thanks Bec for the treat!

Once we finished looking around, we boarded the ship and spent the rest of the day on the water slides.

That night at supper, our waiters sang Happy Birthday to Ella and Griffin. Their birthdays are a day apart and happen to fall the same week as our trip.

One waiter made Griffin a special hat out of a napkin! Doesn't he look just precious in a big pink bow?

Here is most of our cruisin crew!

Our nightly ritual, after supper, was to check out our new towel animal left on the bed. That night it was a......

frog!

 

Later that night, a few of the Parkers that can sing (or attempt to sing) took a turn at karaoke.

Yes......the girls above rocked the song...... Ice Ice Baby!

Check back soon for Day 3......Nassau!

2013 Parker Cruise....... Day 1

Each year my mom's side of the family gets together after Thanksgiving and once in the summer. This year marked the 10th year since my sweet grandmother's passing. My cousin who plans all of our activities for the summer decided to go big this year. We went on a cruise to the Bahamas! This was the first time for the kids to go on a cruise. 

 

We left for Fl on Griffin's birthday. We did not get to do much on his birthday due to packing and traveling. I don't think he minded since he was missing 3 days of school and getting to go on a cruise. These are the only pictures I got of him on his day.

 The next day was departure day.

After we boarded the ship, we went to check out our room.

After a peek into our room, we became familiar with our surroundings.

 

We spent a lot of time here!

 

We stayed up top to watch as we set sail for Freeport.

 

After enjoying the views and feeling the breeze, it was time for supper. Each night we had reserved seating at 6:00 in the fine dining room. Our kids do not get a taste of fine dining very often......chairs pulled back for them, napkin placed in the lap, several pieces of silverware, order whatever you want including dessert, etc.  I  think they were a little spoiled from the trip. I am still trying to get them to put their own plates away!

Here is a picture of each table.

Each night, you had several options on the menu. The chef  had  an option that was basically called "eat  if you dare". When it comes to eating, Griffin is my adventurous one. He chose the daring dish each night. It was food like snail and alligator.

After supper, we went back to the room for a minute. This cute little towel animal was left on our bed.

 

 

Later that night, a few of us visited the spa for a very relaxing message, facial, and foot treatment. 

It was heavenly!

I wish I could have afforded that special treat every night!

After parent time was over, we took the girls to swim and then called it a night.

Next up.........Freeport!

Our School Room

While we are patiently waiting for our family to all be together again, my parents are graciously letting the kids and I stay at their house. We are so grateful to them for opening up their home to us. I am sure it has been a huge adjustment for these 2 retired grandparents. They have had to deal with 2 very loud girls, a messy teen and one perfect daughter. Okay......maybe the last part was a little fib. 

I am sure this is not what they meant when they kept telling us to move back home.

We are finally getting adjusted and seem to be getting somewhat on a regular schedule with school.

As promised, here is our current schoolroom.

Oh wait.........that's my side of the room......the bedroom. However, it does make a great relaxing reading area!

I chose my room because it is upstairs on the far end of the house. It's a little quieter for my parents the girls. It also already had 2 desks in the room and is a great size!

Each girl has a bucket  with her name on it. This holds basic supplies.

To help with organization and my sanity we are using workboxes.

I have really loved this! Their workbooks, books, papers, etc are separated by subjects and easily accessible.

Once they are finished with a subject, their tag is moved to the other side of the drawer. It helps them keep track of what is finished and what is left to do for the day. The last 2 drawers hold work to be finished/corrected and work completed. At the end of the day, I know all finished work is in the bottom and is ready to be checked or graded. 

If for some reason they do not understand something, they each have a mom tag. If I am working with the other child at the moment, they can put this tag up and move to something else.

On the side of their workboxes hangs a small pocket chart. This holds vocabulary words for the week, bible verses, spelling words, etc.

The last part of the room has our meeting table. We do our bible lessons here,  meet with each child individually and stores our games/manipulatives underneath.

Of course, this would not be my ideal schoolroom but it's what we have and I am grateful for it!

Everyday has its a challenges!

Some days I want to pull my hair out! 

Other days.......public school looks really good!

In the end, I know we made the right choice!