The Finke Family

A couple weeks ago, my mom and I started to go to garage sales on Thursday mornings. It’s one of my favorite things to do because you just never know what kind of a great deal you might find. I was really excited to find this little baby grand piano for Gabriel. It works just like a real piano but with a lot less keys. A couple of the keys are a little sticky, but for ten dollars, I’m not going to complain. Gabriel really seems to enjoy banging around on it:

Looking inside. (We had to keep it shut after the first day because he kept trying to open and close it)

Giving himself a hand.

As you might be able to tell from the title of this post, we did not make it home as timely as we would have hoped.

The day started out fine. We were able to take our time getting up and getting ready. We had a nice leisurely final breakfast:

Before we left, we decided to give Gabriel a quick bath in the sink. There is only a tiny shower in the tiny bathroom. He really enjoyed himself and liked turning the water on and off:

When our number was called, we got in line to exit the ship and go through customs. The lines at customs were very long and it took us about an hour to get all the way through. Then, we found a taxi van to take us to the airport in Ft. Lauderdale. Laura and Chris were on a different flight home connecting in Charlotte that didn’t leave until the late afternoon. The rest of us were on an earlier flight connecting through Philadelphia.

The Ft. Lauderdale airport had free wifi which was really nice. Getting through security was uneventful, but then when we got to our gate, we realized our flight was delayed by an hour an a half. And then they said the flight was overbooked, so they were asking for volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for $450 flight credits (in addition to food, lodging, and a flight home the next day). My mom and dad immediately jumped at the chance. They were not ready for this vacation to end, and mom had taken Monday off from work anyway. Andy wanted to get home because he had to work the next day, and Chris and I wanted to get Gabriel home to his own bed and a regular sleep pattern. So, mom and dad were given flight vouchers and put up in a nice hotel for the night in sunny Florida. Eventually, we boarded our flight headed to Philadelphia:

Gabriel fell asleep waiting for our flight to leave. I was trying to keep him awake until we took off so he would sleep longer on the plane. But with the delay, he was just finishing his nap when we got on the plane.

He didn’t actually have his own seat. I think Chris took this picture when I went to the bathroom.

Eating Cheeries on the plane

We were a little concerned with making our connection in Philadelphia due to the delay, but thought we’d have enough time, because the flight was going to be shorter than they originally thought. When we neared the Philadelphia airport, the pilot was told that we couldn’t land because of congestion on the runway. At this point we got a little concerned. We end up circling for about a half hour before we could land.

When finally did land, we had five minutes before our next flight was scheduled to leave. We were hoping it had gotten delayed and thought we might be ok because the next flight was also a US Airways flight. Surely the pilot would have notified the connecting flight that we were late and there were about 15 passengers needing to make that connection. As you might have guessed, that is not what happened.

We ran as fast as we could to our gate (which was on the other end of the airport) and got there one minute after the flight was scheduled to leave. The plane was nowhere in sight and obviously had left before the scheduled departure time. We spent the next hour or so (along with the other disgruntled passengers) arguing with customer service. There were no more flights out that night. Originally, we were told that we could get a discount rate at the local motel 8 and catch a flight out the following afternoon. There was no way we were paying for something that was not within our control. Eventually, we were given meal vouchers and put up in a ghetto-like Holiday Inn. Our flight out would be the following morning around lunchtime.

A sign in our hotel. We decided against checking out the 'poo'

The most frustrating thing for us was that if we would have known this was going to happen, we would have taken the flight vouchers back in Ft. Lauderdale. Then at least we would have been with mom and dad in a warm place. The weather in Philadelphia was disgusting – cold and rainy. We only had our carry-ons with us. So basically, we had all our electronics and no clothes or toiletries. We did have our pajamas (because we had packed them last, right before getting off the ship)

The next morning we ate our continental ‘breakfast’, which was literally a couple of wrapped mini muffins (like the kind you can get at a gas station) and coffee. No juice, no bagels, no cereal, no nothing. I thought Holiday Inns were supposed to have decent breakfasts. Apparently, this one didn’t get the memo.

Then we took the shuttle to the airport, only to find out that our flight was, of course, delayed. Chris used the extra time to go back to the US Airways customer service desk and get us some breakfast vouchers (which, according to him, was like pulling teeth out of an angry crocodile: by the time it was over, he had what he wanted, but nobody was happy about it). By the time he actually got them, it was 11:30 and everyone had stopped serving breakfast. $5 breakfast vouchers don’t go far to get lunch at an airport.

One nice thing about the airport was that they had a nice play area set up for kids with airplanes. It was a little grungy, but I kept a wet-wipe with me at all times.

Our flight ended up leaving about an hour late. We had to wait a little extra time once we had boarded because they couldn’t get enough people to give up their seats (they were overbooked again). They had to raise the price of the flight voucher they were offering in order to entice people. The duration of the flight was shorter than expected, so we arrived in Minneapolis almost on time (around 2:30). Mom and dad had arrived around 11 that morning (oh, the irony). Laura picked us up from the airport and brought us home. It had never felt better to be home.

Our final day of the cruise was spent at sea, making our way back to Miami. We spent the day mostly relaxing, eating, and packing up.

We finally took Gabriel up to the top deck to check out the kiddie pool. It was very tiny and not as warm as I would have hoped, but Gabriel enjoyed splashing around:

Here are some pictures from around the ship. It was decorated ‘Americana’ style to the extreme.

Looking down on one of the levels.

Flag table and chairs

Elevators

There was a chocolate bar for lunch:

We got this delivered to our room:

We realized later that it was actually meant for dad. (He went on a behind-the-scenes tour of the ship). Whoops!

Here are pictures from our final dinner:

Our waiter, Christopher. He was great and always had a few jokes to tell.

Our waiter is the guy in the middle giving the thumbs up sign.

The guy on the far left is the one who would bring our drinks.

And here are our final towel animals. The monkey one was the one that Laura and Chris got:

Gabriel rides the towel stingray.

On the sixth day of our cruise, we stopped in Cozumel, Mexico. We scheduled a Discover Scuba course through Scuba Tony. The course didn’t start until the afternoon, so we were able to take our time eating breakfast in the morning, and then we went into Cozumel for some shopping. This was by far the cheapest place we found to buy souvenirs, and I think it was the only stop that we bought anything at (aside from Gabriel’s dew rag and maracas that we bought in Grand Cayman). Mexico is known for its vanilla, and just recently, Chris and I had run out of the vanilla we bought on our honeymoon to Mexico four and a half years ago. So it was perfect timing, and we are now restocked on vanilla. We also bought some carved wooden monkeys for Gabriel’s room, and I got a sundress. As we were shopping, we came across a Pizza Hut that we couldn’t pass up. Chris blogged about our experience on his foodirl blog here.

It worked out nicely that we were able to do our scuba diving right off the beach with Scuba Tony himself (and his assistant). When I had originally inquired about a reservation, I was told that they were booked for that time slot, but if we wanted he could instruct us privately on the beach, and we could dive at a reef not too far off the beach. He was even able to give us a discount because he didn’t have to take out a boat.

Someone had to stay back with Gabriel and originally, that was going to be me. But, once we got there, Chris agreed to let me go instead. I’ve always wanted to try scuba diving, and I’m so glad I did. For this introductory dive, we only went down to 40 feet. In order to go down further than that, you have to become certified, which is a longer process that requires multiple classes and training dives.

When we got to the beach, Tony and his assistant gave us a brief overview of our equipment and the skills that we would learn while in the water. They taught us a few hand signals — up (thumbs up), ok (the ok sign), and I think there was one more but I can’t remember it. Laura, mom, and I put on wetsuits because they said it might be a little chilly, and then we strapped on our air tanks and masks. The air tanks felt really heavy until we got in the water. One thing that was a little difficult to get used to was breathing out through my mouth. The masks go over your nose, so I had to get used to that.

Once we got in the water, they put some weights in our suits to help us sink, and then they showed us how to breathe through the mouth piece and clear our glasses underwater if we got water in them. They also reminded us to continuously equalize our pressure by pinching our noses and blowing. In order to sink down, we had to blow out as long as we could. Whenever I would see something interesting under the water, I think I forgot to exhale, so I would start rising to the surface (which was the exact opposite of what I wanted to do). We also had to practice taking our mouthpieces out underwater and then sweeping our arm back in order to grab it and put it back in. This was done in order to simulate what we would need to do if our mouthpieces got knocked out while we were diving. It was great to practice everything in the shallow water until we felt confident.

Once we started the actual dive, it went by way too fast. There’s so much more to see when you can get that far down. I think everyone enjoyed it except mom. She had a lot of trouble equalizing her pressure which caused pain in her ears, and she couldn’t get herself to sink. She was never able to clear her ears after that. When she got back home, she had her ears checked and was told that she had gotten holes in both her eardrums that would take quite a while to heal.

This was one of my favorite experiences from the trip and I hope I can do it again one day.

We went shopping on this street along the coastline.

Posing with a 'statue' (it was a real person)

Sleeping in the stroller

Pizza from Pizza Hut. The crust was cheese sticks. Mmmmm.

Dad is practicing with his mouth piece and Christina is getting suited up.

Getting all our gear on.

Christina in her fancy duds.

Gabriel playing in a tidepool. He found a little hermit crab that he proceeded to attempt to eat.

Laura and Chris entering the water.

Here we go!

In the water.

Christina doing the 'ok' sign.

Doug doing the 'ok' sign

Laura, Chris, and Andy

Chris and Andy

Exiting the water. It had gotten very windy and choppy, so it was a little difficult to get out of there.

I think we were concentrating really hard here.

Heading back to the boat.

Dad and strange man. There were quite a few intoxicated people getting back on the boat. Dad had the pleasure of posing with one of them.

Our ship at the end of the pier.

Towel animal. I think it's a crab.

On our fifth day, we stopped in Belize. We had originally planned to rent a car and see the sights, but our cruise director said that Belize is a poorer country and did not recommend that anyone venture out alone without a planned excursion. So we reconsidered and decided to take the day to “sleep in” and relax. Thanks to Gabriel, Chris and I were not able to sleep in, but I think everyone else did. After a late breakfast/early lunch, we did make our way into Belize but didn’t go further than the port’s gates. There were a bunch of touristy shops and restaurants that we browsed before heading back. It was extremely hot in Belize so we didn’t stick around for long.

Laura's lame attempt at making an ice cream cone.

Doug at the restaurant in Belize with one of the walkie talkies we brought along. They really came in handy.

Sally sips her drink at a restaurant in Belize

It was also our second formal dinner night, so we all made ourselves pretty and got a family picture taken:

They always had a photographer available so people could get their picture taken for free. But then of course they charged you for the print.

Here are some pictures from dinner:

Gabriel enjoyed playing with the covers from the butter dishes. They made great cymbals. And also hats.

Laura and Chris

We could see a beautiful sunset from the window by our table.

This was a tiny island we passed not long after departing Belize. I wonder what was on that island.

And our towel animal for the day:

Every night after supper, Gabriel enjoyed crawling around on the bed in his diaper. He loved climbing up the pillows by the headboard:

Day four of our cruise brought us to Isla Roatan. It is technically part of Honduras, but it is an island off the mainland. It is one of the newer ports of call, and so not as developed as some of the other stops. Our itinerary for the day consisted of a tour courtesy of Bodden Tours. My mom and Chris Schaefer went zip-lining while the rest of us visited a petting-type zoo at the same location. Is was VERY HOT in Roatan. We were basically constantly sweating, but we tried not to complain considering what we had left behind in Minnesota. A van took us from our boat to the zip-lining place where we parted with mom and Chris and went to see the animals. No sooner had we laid eyes on the ant-eater cage, when this series of events occurred:

Nice Anteater?

Eating out of Andy's hand?

I guess the ant-eater had different ideas.

We had a guide who brought us to each of the cages and told us about the animals. He gave Andy some food to feed the anteater, who was not amused. At first it didn’t look like a very big cut, but it kept bleeding more and more and we realized the gash was quite deep. The guide went and got rubbing alcohol and band-aids. Eventually, the bleeding stopped, but Andy’s hand was swollen and nasty-looking for the remainder of the cruise. Some of the other animals we got to see included parrots, deer, and monkeys. We enjoyed the monkeys the most because we were able to go into their cage and they climbed all over us. We had to keep an eye on our stuff, because they tried to steal anything they could off of us. One of the monkeys gave dad a little bite, but it was nothing compared to the ant-eater bite.

The monkeys apparently love Gatorade! They grabbed the bottle right out of Andy's hand.

Bowing to the Gatorade bottle?

Sally and Chris enjoyed ziplining:

'She flies through the air with the greatest of ease.'

After the animals and ziplining, we were taken to a local beach where we swam and relaxed for awhile before being taken back to the boat:

Gabriel sleeping at the beach.

Beautiful clear water that was a little warmer than in Grand Cayman.

We stopped at a scenic overlook on our way back to the boat:

Dad with our van driver. He and dad really hit it off, and by the end of the day dad was ready to stay in Honduras and work with this guy.

Our daily towel animal (a bunny)

Our third day was one of my favorites. We arrived at the island of Grand Cayman. We got off the boat relatively early (around 9 I think) after loading up on a great breakfast. We had to take a smaller boat (called a tender) to the actual island because there was no port for the ship to dock at.

We booked our excursion through Moby Dick tours because we read great reviews about them. They did give a great tour, but somehow they screwed up our booking and we ended up on the second tour that didn’t leave until 11, when we thought we were going on the 9:00 tour. It wasn’t a big deal because they arranged for a taxi to drive us to a local beach so we could hang out for a couple hours. Then, their big purple school bus picked us up from the beach and took us to where our tour started. The highlight of our tour was swimming with stingrays, but we also got to do a little snorkeling on a really nice reef. I love snorkeling, so I wish we had had more time to do that. My mom stayed on the boat with Gabriel while we snorkeled, and then Chris stayed with Gabriel while the rest of us swam with the stingrays.

The water where the stingrays come is on a sandbar, so it’s really shallow. They put out buckets of squid to attract the stingrays. People have been coming to this particular sandbar for decades, so the stingrays are very tame. The males are smaller and more shy, but they still came up to eat the squid. The first time they brushed up against me, I got a little freaked out, but it was a really awesome experience. Something I found interesting was that the stingrays don’t actually “sting”. They have a barb on their tail that would only be dangerous to humans if we actually impaled ourselves on it. (At least that’s what the tour guide told us).

We had a little time before we took our taxi to the beach, so we did some shopping. This hat was the first 'treasure' that dad found. We also got the green dew rag for Gabriel so his head wouldn't burn.

Sleeping in Grand Cayman.

Gabriel and Grandpa on the bus on the way to the boat.

Getting some background on stingrays from our tour guide.

Beautiful clear water!

Andy Snorkeling

Chris and Gabriel having fun on the boat.

On the way to the Sandbar

Chris and Gabriel on the boat.

Christina and Andy with a Stingray

Dad's deciding if he's hungry enough to eat the squid in the bucket.

Stingray under water

This stingray was nicknamed 'pizza slice' because of the huge cut on the front of her face.

Laura kisses the stingray

Christina kisses a stingray

Chris and Laura with a stingray

Mom kisses a stingray (their mouths are underneath)

One of our tour guides holds up the stingray's tail which contains its barb.

Christina holding a stingray.

Is dad more concerned about the stingray in from of him, or mom swimming up beside him?

This picture shows the little boat that took us to and from our cruise ship.

Back in the room, our towel animal was waiting.

The second day of our cruise was spent entirely at sea as we were making our way to Grand Cayman. It was nice to have a day to find our way around the ship and relax a little bit. Although, I don’t think it was until the last day or two that I finally felt like I knew where I was going.

The ship was really like a little city. There were several formal dining rooms, a huge cafeteria, two pools, a theater, and a shopping area. There were also several bars and dance clubs (if you want to hear what those places were like, you might want to talk to Andy or Laura and Chris).

Gabriel decided to wake up about 6 every morning, so unfortunately, this vacation did not include sleeping in for Chris and myself. Our room was on the second floor (of twelve or thirteen floors total). Mom, Dad, and Andy’s room was right next to ours, and Laura and Chris were on the seventh floor. The rooms were very little, and Andy’s bed came down from the ceiling. Luckily, there was a significant amount of storage, so once we got everything unpacked, we were able to move around enough. The rooms also had TVs, which was nice for Chris and I to have something to watch after we put Gabriel to bed.

One of the first things we did that day was rent a stroller for Gabriel. It quickly became apparent that it was not going to work very well to carry him all over the ship. The stroller only cost $25 to rent for the whole week. In my opinion, it was worth it to not have to lug one along from home. The first stroller we had did not steer very well so we exchanged it for a new one that was a mild improvement. The stroller was great because it could recline a little, and Gabriel often fell asleep in it. In fact, I think almost all of his naps took place in that stroller. Sometimes, I would just push him around until he finally fell asleep, and then I’d just park the stroller in our room.

The cafeteria was open almost all of the time. In addition to indoor seating, there were also two decks where you could sit outside and eat (the decks also contained the two pools). The area surrounding the pools was filled with lounge chairs, which were always full. It was really crowded and loud on the deck. The pools were not heated and the hot tubs were barely heated. From the pool and hot tubs, you could look up at a big projection screen where they showed movies at night. One night, we all decided to sit in the hot tub for the movie showing, but the tubs were not even bath-temperature warm. I got out after 10 minutes because I was freezing. The air got quite chilly at night.

The food was probably the highlight of our day. They had a breakfast buffet with an omelet bar and several different lunch stations (pizza, burrito bar, sandwiches, and a big buffet line with a variety of food). They also had supper available buffet style, but we always ate in the dining room for that. This was the first of two formal dinner nights. (There was a large range of what was considered “formal”. Basically, no jeans or shorts.)

Here are some pictures from our day:

Gabriel in his stroller

Gabriel in his stroller.

The wonderful mac n cheese that Gabriel got almost every night (and that the rest of us coveted)

Laura, Chris, and Gabriel

Dad and Mom

Mom and Laura

Chowing down

Mmmm

Laura and Chris at Dinner

Towel Animal (not sure what it's supposed to be, anyone?)

In addition to celebrating Easter yesterday, we also had a little birthday party for Gabriel in the evening. We had a great time, and Gabriel seemed to enjoy all the attention. I thought we might have a rough night with all the sugar he ingested, but he slept straight through the night and took two long naps today. I think all the excitement tired him out. Also, Gabriel took four steps yesterday which is the most he has taken so far.

Trying to decide between playing with his Easter basket from Grandma Tewes and opening a birthday present from great-aunt Jill

Gabriel and Cousin Bennett

Gabriel and Aunt Laura open the tractor from Granpda Tewes

Gabriel and Uncle Andy play with the stacking cups from the Traska's

Chris made a red velvet cake for Gabriel to tear into. He was hesitant at first, but gained momentum as he went (I’m referring to Gabriel).

Jill pushed Laura's hand into Gabriel's face when she was trying to feed him a bite of cake.

Gabriel was not too happy about it.

Laura and Chris Schaefer

Joan, Sally, and Jill (Sisters)

Joan, Sally, and Jill (crazy sisters)

Joan (Christina's aunt) and Baylor Maurer

Don and Jill Dettman (Christina's Uncle and Aunt)

Don Dettman and Laura Schaefer

Bennett and Rachel Ford (Chris's Cousin)

Chris’s mom and dad drove from Winona and were able to spend the night. Here are some pictures from this morning:

Grandma Finke and Gabriel

Playing phone with Grandma Finke

Two phones (he's a great multi-tasker)

Gabriel and Grandpa Finke

We made it the final month on our journey to one year! What a crazy (but quick) ride it has been.

We had Gabriel’s 12 month doctor visit on Tuesday:

• Weight: 20lbs. 15oz. (25th%) At this age, Chris weighed 22lbs. 3oz, and Christina weighed 22lbs 1oz.
• Height: 29.75in. (50%). At this age Chris was 32 inches, and Christina was 29.75 inches.
• Head Circumference: 46.8cm (18.4 inches) (55%). At this age, Chris was 19 inches. (I couldn’t find a recorded measurement for myself at this age, but at 1 year, 7 months it was 47.75cm)

• Gabriel still has eight teeth. We continue to wait oh-so-patiently for those back teeth. Here’s a fun fact – Chris got his first tooth at four months. Christina didn’t get her first tooth until she was 10 months old. I guess Gabriel took after his dad.
• Gabriel took two steps to Grandma Tewes on Tuesday March 30th. He likes walking behind his push car but hasn’t really taken off on his own yet. We try to entice him to walk to us, but he thinks it is a game where the object is to fling himself forward while shrieking wildly (with the expectation that we will catch him, of course). Picture the trust game where you have to fall back into someone arms, only Gabriel does it falling forward. He thinks it is hilarious.
• He continues to learn new words. In addition to the words he could say last month (“up,” “mama,” “daddy,” “puppy” (pupuh), “grandma,” “bye, bye,” “uh oh”, and “kitty” (kikee), he can now say light “ite”, grandpa “ga-pa”, baby “beebee” (he says this when he looks in the mirror), birdie “beebee” (to me it sounds the same as baby, but he differentiates between the two and says birdie when we go outside), water “o-ter”, all done “aah-dah”, yay “yee!”, night night (he waves his hand and says da da. (He gets his d’s and n’s mixed up sometimes so that’s what we think he means), Hey or hi (we’re not sure which one he means), and hot “ot”.
• Favorite foods currently include bananas, strawberries, pickles, potatoes, pasta, and cheese.
• We gave him his first taste of whole milk on his birthday last Saturday. We gave it to him cold in a sippy cup and he was not very impressed. (I think he was expecting water). Since then, he has learned to like it and will drink it from a sippy cup or warmed up in a bottle.
• He eats three meals a day and an afternoon snack.
• We are working on getting rid of his bottles. When I am at work, Chris is just giving him one bottle of breast milk and then trying to get him to drink more milk from his sippy cup during the day. I am just pumping once at work instead of twice, and soon I will drop that as well. It will be nice to be free of that pump. I am working towards only nursing him at night before bed and in the morning when he wakes up. For awhile I thought that he would give up nursing soon because he seemed so disinterested in it, but lately he has been asking to nurse a lot more. He does the sign for milk and then leans his head against my chest.
• He wears size three diapers, and 12-18 month clothes.
• Napping has been somewhat volatile lately. About 50% of the time he will take his 2 regular naps around 9 and 1 (usually each 1.5-2 hours), but the other half of the time he just takes one nap (it varies whether this nap happens in the morning or the afternoon). If he just takes one nap, it’s usually 3 hours. I wish there were some way we could know when we start the day whether it will be a one or two nap day. It’s hard to know how long to try to get him to go to sleep before giving up.
• Night-time sleeping is also somewhat hit or miss. He almost always goes to sleep between 7 and 8 (the exact timing depends on how his naps have been during the day) and he will wake up for the day anywhere from 6-8. Sometimes he wakes up once during the night as well. If he is really gnawing on his hands and crying, we give him a little tylenol. Sometimes if he wakes up at 6, I will nurse him and he will go back to sleep until 8 or 8:30.
• He doesn’t suck his thumb very much any more, if at all. I can’t remember the last time I saw him sucking it.
• He knows that he is not supposed to stand up in the bath. Tonight after he had been playing awhile, he started to stand up because he wanted to get out. He got about half-way up, looked at me, then abruptly sat down and put his hands in the air, doing the sign for “all done”. It was really cute.
• He loves to play on the couch and crawl around on the pillows.
• He thinks it’s really funny to knock down tall stacks of things
• His eyes are mostly green now with brown in the middle. It seems like they are still changing.

Here are his monkey pics:

Throwing his monkey overboard.

Throwing his monkey overboard while saying 'uh, oh.'

Say, what?!?

Tired of picture-taking.

Really tired of picture-taking. (And also drooling)

Seriously, another picture?

And here’s a slide show showing one monkey picture from each month:

If you hover over the bottom of the slideshow, you can see the thumbnails of all of the pictures in order from month 1 to month 12.