A day at Sea

The first full day on the boat was a day at sea.  We started the day with a run.   It's a little trippy to be running, watch the ocean below you and feeling the boat rock.  The up side; at sea level I ran my fasted 5K since baby Greta.  We then had breakfast in the fancy dining room, it was one of my favorite meals of the cruise.  The rest of the day was spent on the deck, going down the water slide, reading, doing a little dancing with the 300+ LDS single adults, (Holly and I found ourselves in the middle of that group a lot.  They liked to dance and so do we!)  We had beautiful weather for the day, and it was really nice to catch up on sleep and pick up a good book.
The evening was our first Elegant night.  We got all gussied up for dinner and everyone look great. We were missing Michelle who got a bug that keep her in bed the whole day. It wasn't the best day for the Dodsons, Eric was also the only one to really get stricken with the sea sickness.

The dinning room. After dinner we went and took pictures by the pool.  Everyone looked so great.  Sadly the only picture of us is out of focus. But really, I look best that way. I will call it soft focus. When we got back to our room, the towel animal for the night was this super cute elephant. I was very impressed with this one.

Greta Jane: week 37

Greta Jane: 36 weeks

WE SWAM WITH DOLPHINS!!!!!

Yes, we swam with Dolphins and it was so, so cool!  It was one of those things you want to tell everyone about, but then you know it just won't sound as cool as it actually was.

We swam with the dolphins in Cozumel, Mexico.  We did the Royal Experience at the Dolphin Discovery Center in Chankannaab National Park.  It truly was a Royal experience.

We were taught six different hand signals we would give the dolphins to direct them.  The dolphin kiss, the handshake, the nose tap, the hug, the pull, and then best of all the foot push.

Mitch and I each holding one of the two Dolphins.  Our dolphins were Danny and Emiliano.

The handshake. The nose tap.
The Kiss. The Pull. We swam out in the bay, stuck our arms out to the side, and the dolphins would come and swim up next to us and pull us in while we held onto their dorsal fins. So Cool! And now for the Super Cool, foot push. Again we swam out into the bay. This time we we floated on our bellies with our arms out in front of us ( Superman style.)  The dolphins swam behind us, pressed their noses to our feet and pushed us up out of the water. It was amazing. I came completely out of the water! It was hard to believe that these amazing creatures could do this. We floated above the water! Seriously, so cool.
Mitch rode the dolphins almost to the dock and knocked the rest of our group over with a wall of water, he was moving that fast. I could feel that I was completely out of the water, however, our photographer, (we were not allowed to take our own pictures) was just not very good, and cut me off at the knees for my picture.  I find myself a little annoyed with these pictures. He didn't get the money shot, and he should have been shooting portrait and not landscape, to capture the moment correctly. But I have the memory, and that is really all that matters, right? (says the photographer).   I should also consider that we are lucky to have these pictures. It was such a great day.   Such an amazing experience. I have to admit, I kept thinking; I can't wait to bring my kids to do this. They love sea animals, I just knew they would love doing this.  Considering we were all as giddy as kids, I couldn't help but imagine how much Jackson and Asher would love it.   They were very jealous when we showed them these pictures.

We also recieved an added bonus and were able to touch a Manatee.  The lovable cow of the sea!   They are cool creatures.  Did you know that they have fingernails?  They are actually closer related to elephants than dolphins or whales.  Cool, huh?

We had so much fun with our group. We went with Jon and Melissa, (Jon was so excited for this, I seriously thought that he would tear up at one point.) and Myles and Dana.  We were also joined by another couple, Eric & Erica (who we discovered, quite awkwardly, were not married and then it got even more awkward when we couldn't figure out if they were even dating.

One of the best quotes of the day, "Only three things are cute; babies, puppies and Dolphins" -Jon Anderson

Lily's first time skiing

After a few days skiing with Jackson and Asher to warm them up after not skiing for a few years, I decided it was time to take Lily skiing.  She was very excited.  She woke up early, dressed and couldn't wait to go.
  As soon as we sat on the chairlift the first time Lily immediately yelled "Weee".  Then she said "Daddy I am flying" and put her arms straight out like wings.  She had a huge smile on her face and was excited the whole ride up.  She started saying "bye" to clumps of trees, and said they were "tree Families" because there were big and little trees.  She wanted to stop and see all of the cutout animals as we skiied down the mountain.  I love her big smile.      Later in the afternoon, Lily got tired so I dropped her off in the childcare, and Jackson and I skiied together.  Jackson wanted to do some "Black diamonds" and was determined to ski "Ruby's Gulk" (Gulch) Jackson at the bottom of his first black diamond run.  He was pretty excited.  We also hit the park with rails.  Jackson went off some big jumps.  He is a great skiier. 

Greta at 8 months

8 is great!

At 8 months this magical girl has her first two teeth. The two on the bottom.   I not sure if its the teeth, or the fact that she is getting older, but her smile seems to have changed. It is adorable!
She began rolling around in the last few weeks. She used to love her swing and the hop-n-pop. But now, she is happiest on the floor with toys. He favorite thing to do these last few days, is to roll over to the fireplace and play with the stone. She also loves her crib bumper. When I put her to bed, she immediately rolls over and runs her fingers over her bright orange crib bumper.
She is very close to crawling. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. She usually ends up pushing herself backwards which gets her quite frustrated.
Her hair is starting to grow, so now we have the dreaded ear fuzz. I have learned to just keep tucking it behind her ears, if I cut it, she will end up with a mullet, and we don't want that.
She makes the sweetest sounds. My favorite is " ba, ba, ba, ba". She has the sweetest voice most of the time. She also has a loud voice.  It's like she want to make sure that she is heard.  She will pop out her binki and make a loud noise, just to make sure we are listening, then put her binki back in.

I did a mini shoot since she turned 8 months on Valentines Day.  She is so loved, and we love her so much!

She is sitting in these pictures, but she doesn't really sit. She doesn't like it. When I try to get her to sit, she straightens out her body and will not bend. If she does sit, she falls over very quickly, but I can tell that sitting for real is very close. She is growing up so quickly. I am loving every second with her, and I am trying to drink it all in. I think that is why there are so many pictures. I am just trying to freeze time the best way I know how.