Happy Mother's Day.......How bout' a Cruise?

So let me start this post with a big fat Happy Mother's Day!!! I know so many great mom's out there and this is definitely a day that should not be overlooked.  I was lucky enough to go on a cruise last month for free because of my wonderful job. But I think the best part was I was able to take my mom. So many (mainly our family members) were a little wary that we would both make it back alive. They had seen the many blow ups of my teenage years and lets face it, two grown woman - one bathroom. Nuff' said! Funny how my mom and I didn't have any worries at all. I think the only thing my mom worried about was losing her luggage.

So, about the cruise. We left Saturday, April 17th to fly to Miami. My mom had a few hang ups in security. She hadn't flown since 1999 so it was an experience, for both of us. Our flight was mostly uneventful. We had an idiot for a pilot who I'm pretty sure was trying to do barrel rolls on the decent. Needless to say, my dose of Dramamine didn't stand a chance. No I didn't puke, but I had the bag at the ready and many of my coworkers watching in fear. We stayed in Miami one night and set sail on Royal Caribbeans Liberty of the Seas on Sunday.

We had four ports of call, the first being Costa Maya, Mexico. We didn't schedule any excursions in Costa Maya because we were ready to shop. Mexico is a mecca of sterling silver jewelry on the cheap. My most favorite find was a ring that a local Mexican guy made for me with my girls name on it. He busted this thing out in like ten minutes while he was talking to us. It was my most favorite purchase. I also found a really neat leaf pendant because I do love leaves.

Our next port was Belize. I have heard people so many times say how beautiful Belize is. Yes, it is beautiful, but very poor. Although, as poor as this country is, the people were very kind and happy. We had decided to take a tour of Belize City and Altun Ha. The main city was fairly nice, but on our way to Altun Ha to see some Mayan Ruins we saw many poor living conditions. I dare say our shed was as big and nicer than some of the homes I saw. They had a lot of schools and every one of the children we saw were in uniform. Our tour guide, Wilford, was from the village that we drove through to get to Altun Ha. He pointed out his house as well as many of his family members and he was very proud of his home. I almost shuddered at the thought of what he would've thought of our homes here in the states. He also clearly stated that they just received electricity and water in there village 5 years ago. *Gasp* I know. Gas was $10 a gallon ($5 US), and minimum wage was $3.00 and hour ($1.50 US). I felt so spoiled and so blessed to have the life that I have. Anyway, we got to the ruins which were amazing. I'm always amazed at the ingenuity of the people before us. I will share all the photos below, incase you were wondering.

Our next stop was Cozumel, Mexico. Again, we didn't plan an excursion, we shopped. If you've never been to the Caribbean and shopped the many little stores, you need too before you die. My mom and I picked up a lot of our souvenirs in Cozumel. I bought the girls some cute little dresses, a rain stick for Peanut, real vanilla, a pair of earings, a palm tree pendant, and several other things. It was a short port, meaning, not a lot of time to do much. We did eat some delicous nachos with salsa and guacamole at Senior Frogs, mmmmm.

Our last port was Grand Cayman. We chose to go on a glass bottom boat at this port. It was interesting, they took us over a ship wreck, and a couple reef systems. It was only about an hour long tour. Afterwards we went shopping, again. We found a really cool store full of semi-precious gemstones and doo-dads called 20nty. Everything was $20. My mom bought my dad a beautiful globe made of several different gemstones. I bought a gorgous beaded necklace with probably ten different gemstones in it. We picked up a few more items for friends and family and headed back to the boat.

We had two days on the ship that were completely at sea. The ship has so many things to do you could never get board. Let me list them-Flow Rider, rock climbing, basketball, arcade, 3 pools, theater, several restaraunts, shopping, spa, gym, etc. Most every night they had a show of som sort. We saw three production shows, an Ice Show, and a concert featuring Mosaic. You might remember them from Americas Got Talent a few years back. One night we watched the Love and Marriage show, featuring a couple from our Tooele office. I laughed so hard I was in tears. I can't say we did a lot of relaxing by the pool. One day we did a jewelry making class. On our last sea day we did lay out for a bit to prove we actually went on this trip.

Our room made me think of the trailer my parents had when I was a teenager. It was about the same size, bathroom was small and we did really well considering. They had a mirror in the main room so we could both get ready at the same time. We did share the bed, only because neither of us really move that much and it seemed like such a hassle to have them come separate them. I can honestly say that my mom and I have never spent so much time together in our lives. And I honestly feel closer than ever to her. I will never forget this trip or the time spent with her. I just hope we can do it again sometime.

New Motivation

Today we started a new motivation for Punkin to be a little more focused. She gets so bored with the day to day and needs some direction. We had a rough start one morning a couple of weeks ago and after a long chat with my mom she helped me come to a hopefully effective solution. Punkin is not a morning person. She will kick, scream, yell, and fight me just to get out the door. I realize it's near child abuse to wake a 4 year old up at 6:00 am every morning but, that's the way life has to be in our house. Anyway, my mom and a good friend of mine gave me a couple of great ideas that I can use together. My mom sent me a link to a website called FatBrainToys.com. It was a responsibility chart made by Melissa and Doug. It was fairly inexpensive and looked like a great solution to our problem. I ordered it as soon as I saw it. Next, my friend Bonnie told me about Daddy Dollars. I googled it and found several blogs that talked about it. First you go here and upload a photo of your husband/yourself. You can choose from several denominations and lots of currencies from several other countries. We will be doing US $1, $2, $5, and $10. For every goal that Punkin accomplishes she'll get $1, if she does something everyday in the whole week she'll get a bonus $5. Here's the kicker, once she earns enough money she'll get to spend the money at the Mommy Mall (market, mart, what have you). We'll be using the money for everything from going to the park, computer time, one on one time with us, and even sleep overs. They will also be priced appropriately. I may even hit up the dollar store and get her some actual things to buy. We are really hoping that this will give her motivation and purpose. I've decided that I may not be so great at this parenting thing and I really need to focus more on my job as a mom. In light of the economic "crisis", I focused so much on my job this last year that my job as a mother was put on the back burner. And don't think I've forgotten about our (mine and D's) issues as well this last year, that certainly didn't help matters either. I'm really hoping that this year will be better for all of us. And I'm very excited to start working with Punkin and making her responsible for her bad behavior as well as the good. As a matter of fact, tonight we went over the chart one by one, and as I asked her if she accomplished each thing she seemed to understand and didn't get too upset that she didn't do it all. I'm hoping she'll see the benefit of the reward system at the end of the week as well. I'll keep you posted as to if it's working, but in the meantime, wish us luck.

Being A Mom

Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby.......

That Somebody doesn't know that "normal" is history.

Somebody said being a mother is boring.......

That Somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver's permit.

Somebody said you don't need an education to be a mother.....

That Somebody never helped a fourth grader with her math.

Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her child-rearing questions in the books.....

That Somebody never had a child stuff beans up his nose or in his ears.

Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery......

That Somebody never watched her "baby" get on the bus for her first day of kindergarten.

Or on a plane heading for military boot camp.

Somebody said that a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one hand behind her back....

That Somebody never organized four giggling Brownies to sell cookies.

Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married.....

That Somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a mother's heartstrings.

Somebody said a mother's job is done once her last child leaves home.....

That Sombody never had grandchildren.

Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't have to tell her....

That Somebody isn't a mother.