CRUISE *February 2012*

Russ and I took a fabulous weeklong cruise out of Miami to the Eastern Caribbean.  We decided to go all out and book ourselves a Haven suite.  We were on the second level from the top.  That whole upper level was private.  Only those who had rooms on the top two levels were permitted to use the Haven decks.  Can we just say it was AWESOME!!!!! One night Russ and I were on the back deck at sunset and there was no one else around.  PERFECT!!!

Each night we were welcomed back to our cabin by a friend.....

 One reason we chose this ship was for all of the fun activities
 available.  We gave the rock wall a try.

 It was raining when we arrived in St Maarten. No problem, we just got our ponchos and headed for the bus to take us on a city tour and then to the butterfly farm.

 The butterflies were amazing.  We enjoyed walking around having them land on us periodically.  We had some nectar to feed them with.

 The next day we arrived at St. Thomas.  We took a cab up to Bluebeard's castle. It was fun to walk around the city and see all of the old buildings and homes.

 We walked the "99 steps".  Afterwards we took a cab to a beach called Meghan's Bay.  We were shocked to see pelicans diving into the water for fish all around the people playing in the water.

As we pulled in to Nassau we fondly remembered our trip there a few years ago when we stayed at the Atlantis resort. This time we were just in Nassau for the day so we decided to go on a paddleboard/snorkling adventure. We had a great day!

Happy 20th Birthday Ben *February 2012*

We surprised Ben with a scavenger hunt at breakfast.  He followed the clues which led him to the backyard where he found a new TRAMPOLINE!!!!!  He was very excited. What a great way to start the day!!

After school we had a surprise party for Ben and his friends from his Young Adult program at the batting cages.  Ben was beaming with all of the attention.  The girls in the program love Ben!

Birthday dinner with Grandpa and Grandma Judd, Uncle Lawrence, Aunt Jan, Mike, Jenny and their children.  Ben got a remote control car which we had fun driving out in the street.

Ben is such a great boy, and we are so blessed to have him in our family.  He is very sweet natured and loving.  Ben likes to do his "work" everyday.  He writes sports team stats in notebooks.......he has filled up many many many notebooks! Ben has a great sense of humor, and keeps us laughing with all of his antics.  Ben doesn't eat sweets, but watch out if there are any bagels, chips, frozen burritos or tater tots in the house because Ben will gobble them up!

Happy 11th Birthday Hannah * February 2012*

Hannah had a "Minute to win it" birthday party. She probably had as much fun planning the party as she did attending it! 

Everyone had a blast!!!

                  The games were quite entertaining to watch.

                        This is one very happy birthday girl!!

      Grandpa and Grandma Judd were able to come for dinner.

Hannah is such a joy to have in our family.  She is full of smiles, energy and laughter.  Hannah is a born performer with a very creative mind.  She likes to eat leftovers for breakfast. She's not too fond of cleaning up her room, or doing any chores for that matter, but she will do them when asked or bribed with money!