Richards Cruise - Grand Turk

On Thursday, the ship was supposed to go to Great Stirrup Cay, in the Bahamas. JB and I were there on a previous cruise. But heavy rain had the captain go to Grand Turk instead, in the British Virgin Islands.

This may have been a favorite stop for the Richards family. We had lots of beach chairs all in a row in the shade, they were free, and behind the beach was a freshwater pool, also free to cruisers. And it was all within walking distance of the pier. Swim-lunch-swim-naps.

Benny learned to float.

Here are Uncle Joe and cousin Kate, who was pretty much the cutest thing on that beach.

Well, cutest besides my baby.

Andrew has a snack while Aunt Sarah captures cute Kate.

Then Andrew got tired again.

And so did baby James.

  

And so did Max, who thought Nona's wheelchair would work fine. Nona just had knee surgery before the cruise. 

 

After lunch on the ship, we came back to the pool near the beach, and watched Joe, Seth, Suzanne and Jeff just kill it on the flowrider. I mean, holy cow. My favorite was guys watching making bets on how long each person would stay up, and Suzanne showed them all how it's DONE.

Meanwhile, in the pool, the cousins were working on a strong man type show (almost every night in the ship's theater, two strong men would come out and do tricks). Max ended up being the base every time. Poor oldest cousin.

Then they found a friend and practised group jumps.

With snow in the forecast for this weekend here in Utah, this warm scene will be a memory to treasure.

Richards Cruise - San Juan

On Wednesday we landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico. JB and I were there years ago on another cruise and I love it. I love the forts, the history, and the feel of the old city.

We walked around the city first.

When we got to the first fort, the Castillo Columbia I think it's called, we ran into other members of the family also exploring, and Suzanne took this photo of us peering through the walls. Max held on tight to Andrew and I didn't climb up, even though there's a long space in front of those openings to prevent any falls.

This is the view of Benny and Max in those openings, from the other side of the picture above.

Inside we found cannon balls. "BALL!!" Squealed James and he wouldn't turn around for a picture.

And we found this iguana sunning himself.

And we ended up in jail. By the way, wearing a KSL or BYU or UofU shirt or a Jazz hat is a good idea on vacation. We ran into Utahns everywhere on the ship and at ports, including the niece of a very good friend of ours, on a different cruise ship docked in San Juan that day.

From that fort, we walked to the other one. It was uphill and hot, and the boys thought they were going to die, but what a view, and what an experience. Goldfish from my backpack and a shared passion fruit smoothie and Sprite from street vendors cheered them up.

Notice again, Andrew asleep on my back, James asleep in the stroller. And I was constantly re-applying sunscreen the whole week by the way. Ain't no quicker vacation-killer than a sunburn.

On the way back to the ship, we followed the calles along the old city wall to the Parque de las Palomas (famous pigeon park) but they all flew away before Benny could sneak in there for a picture.

JB went out looking for more rice to try and dry out his drowned phone, or even a TMobile store to get a new phone, but no tenia suerte (I had random Spanish phrases in my head all day in San Juan).

He got a new phone back in SLC when we came home, and it was a big upgrade from what he had. I kept my phone off most of the trip and tucked away because I was afraid of big charges and afraid of losing the thing. But it also meant I never knew what time it was, because my watch battery died before the trip. I just about went crazy.

Richards Cruise - St Maarten

I miss this.

On Tuesday of our cruise we docked in St Maarten. JB and I have been there twice before, and this time were content to take a water taxi to the nearest beach and let our boys experience it all.

This moment is also the moment where JB's phone drowned. He had it in his pocket unawares. So sorry if you were trying to reach the Bishop, or loan officer that week. Wave bye-bye to daddy's phone, James!

Andrew preferred collecting shells. He tried to put the whole beach in his backpack.

James felt like nursing to the sound of the waves. What the heck, St Maarten does have a nude beach on the other side of the island, right?

Aunt Suzanne and James's twinner cousin Phin, who was not sure what he thought of the sand.

Andrew was so tuckered out, I put him in the Ergo for the journey back, and he proved he can sleep anywhere.

Our other tired beach baby.

Richards Cruise part one

We counted down for months, and now, it's all a memory. But what memories! Two weeks ago, the extended Richards family went on a Caribbean cruise.

We started by parking the car and taking Trax to the SLC airport.

Then we waited with cousins at the airport for the overnight flight.

Did I mention it was a redeye.

We arrived at 6 AM Miami time, then took several transfers of airport and Miami public transportation and then walked a lot to get to the docks. We had plenty of time to kill.

I felt like I was constantly counting little blonde heads and luggage to make sure we were all together. In this picture, I keep checking on baby James, while uncles Seth and Jeff laugh at two ladies fighting over their advice to where we needed to exit the train.

 

When we finally got on the ship, hallelujah! All you can eat lunch, and all you can take swimming.

Until sleepiness caught up.

Andrew is the cutest little alligator at the muster station for the life jacket drill.

And we sailed away from Miami!

We went to the show that first night. It was Frank Sinatra songs in the big theater.

JB took this picture. On his other side, Andrew was already asleep on Papa's arm.....and Papa was asleep with his head back on the red velvet chair. As the show started, JB nodded off too. DID I MENTION THE RED-EYE. Meanwhile, the Sinatra singer then started to move among the audience with the spotlight following....and he stopped right by the sleeping Richards family for his big moment:  "I did it, MYYYYYY WAAAAYYY!" I cannot think about this moment without giggling and guffawing.


Max and Ben slept on the couch bed in Nonna and Papa's cabin; the little boys slept on the couch bed in our cabin around the corner. Well, James ended up in our bed more often than not (we are now sleep-training him back at home).

It took us all of the two days at sea to explore the ship and figure out its secrets in those 16 levels. It was the MSC Divina, a different cruise line than any of us have taken before, but by the end we felt like it was home. Cousin Emily knew her way around better than any of us, and would often lead the kids as they went to and from Kids Club and the pool and the buffet.

We dressed up one of those sea days:

And we went back to another show. Same singer, different songs, different costume. Each night. I also got the giggles over this.

The cousins had the best time together, whether it was playing games, playing in the pool, or playing at Kids Club, where they were the majority of the kids there. Much better than a Disney Cruise, which would have been full of kids. This way, our kids had lots of attention from the staff.

Next posts talk about our stops in the Caribbean!

That's entertainment

These lucky ducks got tickets to a Jazz preseason game recently.

Andrew has such a scrunchy smile. Max told me they were so high up, it was steep. They came home at half-time because school night. They are happy to see NBA basketball returning. All boys=lots of sports talk at our house.

Last Friday JB and I went to see "Meet the Mormons" in the theater. I really liked the movie. It was very well done -- gorgeous cinematography, editing, writing, etc, but the stories of the 6 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that were profiled have stuck with me. I laughed and I cried, learning more about the good things my people are doing around the world. And we really aren't that weird!

I took two pictures in the theater of me and my honey: one horizontal and one vertical. I was given a hard time at work about taking vertical pictures on the scene. I was told they should be horizontal in order to post on ksl.com with my stories because blah blah blah. Well, the vertical one I took of us posted just fine to Facebook and Instagram. This horizontal one refuses to flip.

Highs and Lows

High

LDS General Conference. 

It’s always such an uplifting and reaffirming weekend. JB and Max and Benny and I were able to go to the Conference Center during the Sunday morning session. We stood for the prophet and heard the stirring Mormon Tabernacle Choir. And I did the KSL radio conference reports on Saturday, and got lots of food and treats.

Low

Nona/Pauline/JB’s mom had knee surgery and we’ve been worried about her. But whenever I ask my SILs about how she’s doing they say she’s doing well.

High

This bun.

And getting the new iphone 6 from work with which I took this picture.

Low

The boys want to play on the iphone all the time, while I have a new motivation to get them outside before it gets cold, or reading books instead. Also, I feel the need to have the phone near me in case work sends an email or text because they pay for the phone.

High

Going to a BYU football game with Max and Ben in September. BYU won!  

Low

I didn’t take any pictures. And during the next game Taysom Hill broke his leg.

Swing back to high to see the Utes beating UCLA. And the Cardinals and Royals doing great in the postseason.

Low

Benny fell on a ladder and scraped his armpit, and down his arm. (How does one do that?) Reapplying medicine tickles under there.

High

Playing games like Racko before bedtime.

Low

The youngest brother likes to grab the cards. See how Benny is blocking James with his leg?

High

Putting up Halloween decorations

Low

It’s just the slow slide to cold wintertime.

A prayer with Andrew

I love this boy, this Andrew-alligator going through 3-year-old angst combined with middle-child syndrome.

He's like the girl with the curl right in the middle of her forehead: "When she was good, she was very very good. But when she was bad, she was horrid."

He does what Benny used to do at this age when he would wake up from an unexpected or late nap. He cries. Make that screams and cries. And he can have a doozy of a tantrum.


I saw this happen last week. On Wednesday JB and I attended our ward's temple night. We had a chapel devotional at 6 PM, then attended the 7 PM session. We were so happy to see a large number of our ward there that night with us, by the way. So happy.

But it meant a late night for me (with my alarm coming even earlier on Thursday morning -- I had to be in the newsroom at 3 AM to fill in for the producer). And it meant a late night for our boys, who didn't get to bed until 10 PM.

The next day, Andrew had a rough time.

He was tired. And cranky. And it snowballed until bedtime. He would not stop crying, and it turned to screaming and crying and tantruming so bad that no one could function. After another silent quick prayer for heavenward help, I felt like I should give an outloud prayer. So I gathered the sobbing Andrew into my lap, and prayed with him.

I talked about how we had taken time out of our lives to go to the temple, and how we have been promised we could be blessed for that sacrifice – and I asked God for that blessing right now.

And it came.  Andrew immediately calmed down. His breathing slowed, he relaxed, I put him down on his toddler bed and he cuddled into the pillow quietly, then he smiled as he lifted his face up for his goodnight kiss.

The big boys looked at me from their bunkbed with eyes like, “YES! HE’S QUIET!” I gave them their kisses, then softly closed the door. Still quiet!   

As I tiptoed back up the stairs, I said another prayer:

“Thank you, Heavenly Father, thank you for this moment of peace.”