On the first day she preschooled

Today our little HeaBug became an official big girl when she started preschool! Her 3rd birthday is just around the corner and she was talking about school a lot. I take her to work with me but I felt bad for the long hours she was spending in our office and with the iPad.

After much searching, we found a great little place where she already had a friend, Gman. We enrolled her last week and dropped her off for her first day today. All "nervous" smiles as she met with her new teachers and class. We lingered for just a moment then made our way to the door. The walking away was slow and I knew we were both worrying. Mr B took a glance through the window as we headed to the parking lot. She was crying. All of a sudden there they were, my own tears and boy was I choking them back! Gman's mom waited for us in the lot with support and reassurance. Thank goodness my fear of crying in public saved my face from streaky and scary mascara!

We picked her up after lunchtime and she showed us her paintings and her cubby. She waved goodbye and squeezed me all the way to the car. I am definitely going to miss our little Rock Steady Gal but she's off to bigger and better things. Argh you, Growing Up. It's going by too quickly.

We are gonna skaaate tonight!

JT's Charter school hosted an 80's themed family night at Skate Depot!

HeaBug brought her skates and JT had the rollerblades he's been practicing with since Christmas. It had been years, seriously, many years since the last time Mr. B or myself had gotten our skate on at Skate Depot! It was SO much fun! Both bugs did great, I swear JT sweated out his body weight!

It was an enjoyable evening hanging with pals and getting a serious work out. Our backs are still hurting from the hunched skate position we traded off on to keep the little miss going "faster! Let's go faster" around the rink!

We were totally rad with our side ponies and leather band jacket! Although truth be told, we had nothin'
On the full gold lamè Hammer Time suit or the white linen Crocket suit either ;)

Our school is like totally wicked, fer sure!

Choosing Right

We were so happy to attend the baptism of our nephew D Lane last Sunday!
We visited their ward (church service) today so Mr B could participate in D's confirmation.
HeaBug said very loudly, "D you are so brave!". Yay for congregations with a sense of humor.

Congratulations D, we love you!

"Ever After" Kind of Living

We could start by saying Once Upon a Time but that's how fairy tales begin... And those aren't generally true. 

Back in the day, when were were young... but we're not kids anymore...

We were kids though. Kids who became friends then kids who fell in love. 

I went to see scary movies (which I hate) so that I could sit next to him and hold his arm in terror.

He took me to Disneyland for my 16th birthday.

He took me to sushi for the first time and all I ate was rice. (that has changed)

He is who I kissed when the world was fearing Y2K.

He told me to get a job. Then he got me a puppy.

He took me to the prom, in a dress he had made for me by a costume designer friend. He gave me a necklace that I still wear every day (and through every important life event). We only danced to one song.

I knew I would be his wife.

On January 26, 2002 I laced up my blue converse tennis shoes and put on my white dress. We walked our own aisles of the Jordan Theatre to the stage that we met on and this is what we said:

I, take you, to be my very best friend. I promise to support you in everything you do, to stand by you in good times and in bad. To believe in you, to trust in you and to honor you. I promise to love you until the end of time.

People were so skeptical because the idea of marriage isn't so optimistic anymore. 

We looked like kids up there in front of our family and friends.

It's not right for everyone and I'm not an advocate of marrying young by ANY means, but it was right for us. We were still seeds and with sunshine just happened to grow into the same kind of flower.

We have embraced the adventure of marriage knowing it requires constant care, attention, and work.

It's a very conscious decision that we remake often. 

We've seen marvelous sights.
Lost some very dear to us.
Gotten lots of tattoos.
Been embraced by God's good love.
Sealed our family for eternity.

Our life has grown by two amazing children.

Each bringing light, joy, and a few years of sleep deprivation.

Mostly they make us laugh.

And they eww when we kiss... which we still do a lot.

We've started a business. 

Out of our garage, our computer and two credit cards...

Rock Steady was born.

We work together, we live together, we sleep together, we parent together.

We don't tire of the company. It's nice to not only love each other but to truly like each other.

We're friends.

We work hard to live the life that we want. It doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful.

We still go on dates. He'll surprise me with flowers. I'll surprise him with Red Bull ;)

We are still adventuring. We've only just begun. There's a lot for us to see and do and experience, but we are doing it together.

To my guy Mr. B. I'm so glad to be Mrs. B.

Thanks for balancing out my crazy.

I love you.

10th Anniversary Trip Journal: January 9-10 St. Thomas and Antigua

January 9^th
After a terribly restless night of sleep, we were up bright and early for our day in port. We wanted to get some breakfast before we were out to the gangway to meet up with our excursion group. We were done pretty quickly (I had jam stuffed french toast and as delicious as it sounds, it just didn’t do it for me… there does seem to be an endless supply of pineapple on board this ship so I think I’ll turn a little yellow lol). Headed back to the room to grab out towels that the ship provides. Then made our way down to the gangway. We were pretty early so we just kind of mosied around. When we were all present, there were about 20 from our ship. 2 other cruise ships had pulled in behind us (the Carnival Victory which we sailed on when we came to the Caribbean 5 years ago and the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas). The rest of our group was made up of passengers on the latter. 

We headed to another small dock to board the Silent Lady, a pirate ship schooner. As soon as we were on board we knew we were in for a good time. Seriously, the crew was super funny! There were 4 of them and this one guy Ben, it was his first day. He got a month long internship! How crazy and cool is that? To get credit for school to come down to St. Thomas and hang out on a pirate boat all day?! I sent a postcard to Bri telling her that she should do something like that. We left the dock and went over to Buccaneer Bay which is a marine and fowl sanctuary. You can snorkel and swim around but you can’t actually go on the island itself. We got our gear and in the past I’ve been a giant chicken when it comes to snorkeling and as soon as I get too close to coral or something I get all unbalanced and such. This time, I was the first one in the water and although I blew up my life vest a lot (according to Robert) I did great.

 It was relaxing and we saw at least 6 sea turtles! We watched two of them as they came up for air too. It was amazing how different their coloring is when under water as opposed to above water… green and brownish then when they come up they’re a beautiful golden green and amber color. I got to hold an urchin. It kind of latched on to my hand with it’s little suckers. The snorkeling guide, Mary, said that the water was freezing but it felt so nice and warm! Which just leads me to wonder how fantastic it is during the summer months! There were a lot of people in the cove but it wasn’t overwhelming at all. We snorkeled for about an hour. They were mixing “painkillers” on board which is rum, pineapple juice and orange juice I think. By the way people were singing and stumbling they must’ve been pretty strong. It’s kind of funny to watch. They were also great about handing out ice water and such. We kept drinking it up and Rob only had a few diet cokes since we definitely didn’t want to get dehydrated!

We sailed (with the sails up and everything) to fantastic music over to Water Island and Honeymoon Beach. It was amazing how clear and beautiful the water is. Our ship, the Silent Lady, dropped anchor and we were invited to either wait for a ride to the beach on the little zodiac or jump off and swim. Guess what we did? That’s right. Off the side. There was a lunch set out of ribs, chicken, green salad, macaroni salad, baked beans and rolls. Our crew brought ice chests of coke, diet coke, sprites, coors lights and water for us to drink. It was nice not having to pay for them or turn in tickets like we did on one of our excursions 5 years ago. While the food wasn’t as fancy as the ship, it sure was delicious! We enjoyed every little bite. The only thing that could’ve possibly made the lunch any better was if there was cake haha. 

After we ate we just swam around on the beach. I sat in the sand (which I never do because it grosses me out) and dug my feet in and made a sand sea turtle. There were a couple of kids playing on the beach with another group and it made me miss mine. Rob saw me looking at them and told me to stop before I burst into tears lol. There was also this random dog that was on the beach. Some people were playing with him. We met and talked to a bunch of cool people. A lot of Canadians cruising. There was one guy that was in the Canadian Air Force and was traveling with his family on Royal Caribbean for the 8^th time. I guess there’s and ice rink and a rock wall! We’re definitely on that cruise line next! 


When it was time to head back to the Silent Lady, our captain, Dave blew a conch shell. Rob and I swam back out to the boat and enjoyed a ride back to the dock. We bought a t-shirt for Klaus and did some shopping at the port. A few souvenirs for the kids and then we mailed some postcards and headed back to the ship. We both got some color today even though we put on SPF 50. We just need to keep applying! We’re going to a comedy show tonight before dinner since we weren’t able to get a reservation before 8:45. Now we’ll have eaten at all different time frames so we’ll hopefully get through dinner before 10! Tomorrow is Antigua and we’re zip lining!

January 10^th

Up early because we had to be on the gangway at 8:15. There were 10 or maybe 12 from our group. Our taxi driver was cool, he told us about the differences in dialects between the islands. We listened to a ton of different types of music, from island reggae to celine dion. Rob and I sat in the front, we were able to talk to him a lot. The rest of our group seemed a little bourgie.

We arrived at Antigua Rainforest Zipline and there were two other groups there, one from a ship called AIDA we think it was out of Denmark. They had a German translator, made us think of Klaus. We were harnessed up, seriously felt incredibly safe considering the number of people that checked on our safety clips and such. Since my belt hung low I had a chest harness as well. We had helmets and gloves, you put your strong hand behind you on the lower cable and that acted as your brake. 

The first zip line was a little intense because it is. But after that, we breezed. Seriously. I didn’t even hesitate! Rob went first each time. I was nervous on the first one but then I saw they had a camera so I smiled my terror away haha. 12 lines in all including the 5^th line called the screamer… it’s 325 feet off the ground and 300 feet in the air. No one was screaming and this is the one that they take video so I busted a little chee-hoo. It was incredible good fun. Rangers at the beginning and end of each line to hook and unhook you. Great lengths for your safety, some of the stations are just platforms in the trees. Most of them were listening to music on their phones.

There came a point where you can either zip across a section or “jump”. It’s called the leap of faith and you step off a platform to a 32 foot drop. There was no question that I’d do it but that initial step was definitely second thought. A motor kicks in right a way but still that first 1.5 seconds you’re falling. Then we used a rope to help climb up to the next platform.

We came to a treehouse and were showed how to move our guide cable and clip and unclip ourselves from one station to the next. From there it was on to the challenge course which was a series of bridges and suspension lines. It was definitely challenging. You know that fear of falling and then the sense of accomplishment when you look back and see where you’ve been. Some were harder than others but we took them all! After heading back, we walked around down town and finally headed back to the ship. 
Getting changed and cleaned up we went out to the foyer to watch the dancing. Every night there are couples dancing and it’s fun to watch them. We grabbed a drink from the coffee shop and headed to the theatre to watch the variety show. There was the boogie woogie piano guy again and then a super funny comedian. We were laughing like crazy. We watched Bridesmaids and didn’t hit the sack until almost midnight.

10th Anniversary Trip Journal: Jan 6-8 At Sea

January 6^th
Although it was incredibly hard, I woke up this morning at 7:00, put on my running shoes and hit the track that is on the boat! I did week 2, run 1 of C25K which I’m counting on to help me get my stride back. It was tough but I’m glad I did it!

 After room service breakfast, I went to the spa where I got a facial for the first time ever! It felt great! Robert went for his massage after I got done and since tonight is the first formal night, he’s even made an appointment for a men’s haircut and shave. He walked around the boat a lot and is easily recognized because he has the full sleeves. We are truly on average probably 25-35 years under what seems to be the standard age range. It’s okay though because we’d rather be with people who are older than us than people who are crazy partiers. Not that we don’t like to have fun but we spent the morning watching a documentary on how they build the Celebrity Solstice Class ships and it was crazy cool! There are so many nook areas on the ship. I’m typing from the library where I came to read my book for book club but I’ve misplaced it in our stateroom. We’ve committed to taking the stairs every time unless I happen to be in heels. It will be good for us considering all the delicious options for food! I miss my kids terribly but I know they are being well cared for and because of that, I can truly chill out and enjoy myself! I’ll write more later!
Took a nap while Robert watched a movie. Then I camped out in a giant  hammock while he got a facial and hair cut and shave. I got halfway through the 2^nd Hunger Games book. So nice to just relax. 

We also got a $250 credit from Costco which I forgot about! Tonight is the first formal night so we’re getting all prettied up haha. All in all we’re having a great time. Yay!
Had dinner in the main dining room again. Rack of lamb and black salmon, both super yummy. The section we were sitting in though didn’t have a very on it drink person. Since it was formal night, there were several photo stations around. We are not shy about taking pictures and the set ups on Celebrity are much less cheesy than the ones we’ve done before on Carnival. The first photographer was totally down with us being silly but the next two were so serious and annoyed by us. You’re supposed to give them your room number and they send all the pictures digitally to your apple controlled tv! I asked one of the photographers if she needed our room number but she said they have facial recognition technology which might have been BS because all the other photogs asked for our room number. I think she was just irritated that we kept making jokes.

We went to the captain’s toast and saw the staff be introduces. The show was really really good! Last night the crowd seemed a little tough and not very “clappy” I’m a huge clapper so I felt like I had to get my baseball clap on to make up for their lameness! Tonight though, the crowd was super into it! They sang songs from Footloose, The Wiz, Chicago, Nine, Mamma Mia, Les Miserables, and a bunch more. So good though!
We started filling out our “all about us” book. Our answers are funny and very similar on many questions.

January 7^th

 We slept in until almost 10. We were going to try to get up and run again but we were so tired! I slept much better on the opposite side of the bed and we leave the curtain open to get natural light. As much as I like blackout curtains, I like to know when the sun is coming up regardless of which time zone i’m in. We decided to head straight to the gym anyway. We worked out for a good 45 minutes or so then went up to get some breakfast. The food even in the buffet is super yum! I had orange butter on my waffle (uhhh YUMM!!) and whipped cream. They have free coffee and tea so I’m trying a bunch of different hot teas to see which ones i like best. We’re heading to the indoor pool now to chill out. I’ll write more later :) 

January 8^th

Slept in and rolled out of bed around 9:45 and went straight to the gym. We had to set our clocks forward yet another hour though. We both had a really good work out. It’s nice to be getting back into the swing of doing that. We had the late breakfast in the cafe and we’ve decided that even thought the ship is so incredibly beautiful and detailed , the staff doesn’t seem overly excited to help you over indulge. Rob has the premium non alcoholic drink package so he can get red bull and sodas and stuff but it’s difficult to flag down a waiter or waitress to bring you one when we’re eating. Only a few of the spots on the ship even carry red bull let alone sugar free. It seems that they are more than willing to accommodate you if you ask but they aren’t going to offer. It’s weird. Still, we’re having an excellent time. Tomorrow starts our shore days and thus all of the adventurous activities! We miss the kids so so much. I’m glad to be able to just chill out but I do miss their voices. Brina has been awesome about emailing us and she sent a picture of Hea yesterday. 

10th Anniversary Trip Journal: January 2-5, New York and Boarding the ship.

January 2^nd and 3^rd 
We left out of John Wayne Airport at 9:30pm. We arrived two hours early to the airport just in case we got caught in security. Well, we were seated at the terminal by 7:45. Haha. We flew 1^st class which was crazy awesome. We got free snacks (and unlimited mind you) and our drinks came in glasses. Not plastic or paper cups! We had an oversized bag but it flew free! I watched the movie One Day with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess and it was ok. Rob watched Drive which turned out to be really artsy and not as action packed as he thought. It starred Ryan Gosling who was in Crazy Stupid Love which we just watched the night before and it was hilarious! 
We flew into Atlanta about 4:30 am EST, 1:30 home time. We had a 3 hour layover and got on the plane to JFK at 7:30. Because of a malfunction on a seat, Robert and I were separated and had to sit on opposite sides of the 1^st row. The man sitting next to me wouldn’t switch because he didn’t want to sit by the window. I started crying… mostly because I was tired. They gave me a voucher for $150 to use on a future flight. We got breakfast in first class. I had an egg salad croissant and a salmon and onion croissant with tea, fruit, and yogurt. 

We got picked up by a car service. It was so cold outside the airport. I shivered!! Our hotel is RIGHT in time square. We had to get some rest though so after the hotel let us check in early we napped for a few hours. Afterwards, we ventured out to see a little of Manhattan. 

We made out way uptown to Central Park and took one of those horse drawn carriage rides. It was SO COLD! 18 degrees! We took the long ride that took us all the way around the park, even though it was the most expensive, we really wanted to get the most of the park. It was cold but magical seeing the park.

Walking back we were numb, we went to 30 Rock… Rockafeller center was super cool. We went to the top of the rock, an elevator that went up 67 floor in 43 seconds. The top of the elevator is plexi so you can see as you go up. It was insanely cold up at the top!

You have a 360º view of the city, it was amazing.
Afterwards we had dinner at the Olive Garden right in the middle of Time Square.

January 4^th
Slept in (according to NY time, keeping in line with back home we were up by 6:30!) We printed out our 9/11 memorial passes in the business center and were finally able to print out our cruise express passes too. We warmed up and headed out in search of breakfast. We found Stardust Diner where the servers sing fabulous songs while taking your orders. It was a great experience!

After breakfast we caught the subway down to the canal district. We saw the charging bull statue in the financial district and walked around Battery Park. We got some tea at starbucks because it was SO cold! During our walking around I’d lost our visitor passes to the 9/11 memorial which we were expected to be at by 2:00pm. We were able to pop in to a FedEx office and log into my email and print out new passes. We visited the 9/11 World Trade Center Memorial. The fountains incur a lot of overspray and it’s been so cold that the spray has frozen in to ice. 

Seeing all the names engraved was incredibly sobering. There was one name, a  woman Jennifer and her unborn child… That one really got me. The memorial is beautiful and thought provoking and inspiring. I can’t wait to see it in the spring when the 400 white sycamore trees are full of leaves. It’s definitely something I want to bring the kids to.
After the memorial we tried heading back to Battery Park so that we could catch the ferry taking us over to Ellis Island. Unfortunately we missed the last ticket sales. We bought pretzels from a cart and they weren’t very good at all. We made our way through Chinatown to Little Italy and ate a late lunch/dinner at a place called Cafe Napoli. Chicken Piccata and Manicotti. So delicious.
We stooped at Cafe Palermo and picked up some tiramisu and cannolis. We walked by Dean and Delucca and I had to go in. I bought some cookies and we were so full from dinner we didn’t even eat them! Went back to the hotel and skyped with the kids. Miss them SO much.

January 5^th
This morning we slept in and had room service for breakfast. We used the same car service that picked us up at the airport, this time they picked us up in a town car. It was in the 30’s today, significantly warmer. I mailed post cards from the hotel before we left. We drove through Chelsea and took the Holland Tunnel to the New Jersey Turnpike. Just terms that I’ve heard before, it was cool seeing them in real life. Cape Liberty is in Bayonne, New Jersey. There is definitely much more space in New Jersey. 

We got through the line super quick and we were on the boat before we knew it. Got a chance to talk to the kids which was really nice. I do miss them very much! They were just finishing up Gymnastics and Hea was a little fussy. I do think that they’ll miss us a lot by the time we come home though. We set out to explore the boat, excuse me, ship (lol, freddy). We found the Celebrity iLounge and seeing as how we are complete mac geeks we had to check it out. The decor throughout the ship is stunningly beautiful. Seriously, it’s amazing. The ship is only 6 months old. There are more than 1200 staff members, more than 4 specialty restaurants, the captain is from Greece, there’s an Acapella  group from Michigan, they were amazing! The gym is huge. We’re going to run tomorrow morning on the jogging. We made appointments for a facial and a massage! We made our dinner reservations for 6:45 so after i unpacked ALL of our stuff, we headed to the main dining room. I had goat cheese tart, endive and arugula salad with candied pecans and red apples. Lamb shank wrapped in phyllo dough over tomato rice with root vegetables and mint jelly. Robert had tropical fruit, angus beef consumme (which is a broth made from angus beef and root vegetables but it was very clear like miso soup) and prime rib with mashed potatoes. Super Yummy! For dessert we had Creme Brulee and some apple pie that wasn’t that great. There are dishes that are served every night regardless and others that chef specialties. We saw the show, tomorrow night is a formal night so we get to dress up even though after 6pm there is a dress code on the ship. No ball caps or slippers. Now we’re watching a movie in the room. Looking forward to a fun full day tomorrow!