The Crooks Chronicles

Jacob and his Popa on Sunday after the cruise. We were so lucky to sneak in a quick visit to Popa's house. He had some fun little treats for the boys which they loved! Anyone wonder where the blue eyes come from? Grandpa Denos, Crooks, and Great-Grandpa Dunn- told you he really was my kid!

Tyler and Popa. Tyler got some yummy Peeps and cars. This boy loves his Popa and his cars! Tyler loved exploring the "backside" (backyard) at Popa's house. He even saw a horse at the neighbor's house.

Jacob grew quite fond of Grandma and Grandpa Denos by the end of our week long cruise. He was cracking up on Grandma's lap as he was making his water bottle squirt water everywhere. We were all suited up heading for the spa at Batchu's house. It felt great.

Most mornings on the cruise we were awake early enough to watch the sunrise (unfortunately). I finally had my camera handy on the last morning and had some fun playing around. There really isn't anything quite like a sunrise on the ocean.

I loved all the pinks in the sky this last morning. Kinda makes me miss California. We'll make it back someday.

Notice the moon is still out- Tyler loves to point out the moon when he can see it. He thinks it's neat that it is still there during the day. One of his favorite books is all about space, moon, stars, planets. It has way too many words so I just make up my own story to go along, but he is starting to put together what he reads and what is real.

The last morning of the cruise. Tyler ended up sleeping in my parent's room the whole cruise. We thought we would be able to put the four of us in one room for sleeping- but it just didn't work out that way. I bet Grandma and Grandpa were ready for a break after 5 am wake-up calls all week!

Tyler trying, and LIKING, escargot. Daddy ordered it as an appetizer the last night and Tyler thought he'd try eating snails. He's now had sushi, frog legs, and snails. What a crazy little boy.

Daddy with the escargot. Ryan always gets this at least once when we're on a cruise. You've got to try something new when you've got the excuse!

Jacob and Tyler didn't love the formal dining room- but they did love the bread basket. Both boys were usually starving by the time that we got around to eating dinner. Jacob was still willing to eat some baby cereal, although he prefers something he can feed himself and chew on.

My wonderful (and attractive) parents. We are so lucky that they are just crazy enough to go on "vacation" with us and the two boys. I'm not really sure how much of a vacation they got- but we sure do love our travel companions. They got to go scuba diving one day all alone. They are both SCUBA certified and working towards master certification (or whatever it's called).

Sweet Tyler has turned into a bit of a challenge. One of the many things we did to pass time was play with our dollar store purchases back in our room. This night, our activity was making "spikey hair crowns" which he insisted on wearing to dinner. Most people just smiled- they must have had a 2-year-old at some point. Sometimes you just let them do what will make them happy.

Our little cutie-patootie in the kids swimming pool a the back of the boat. Tyler convinced my dad to take him almost every day. I was way too whimpy because the wind made it much too cold for my liking. He LOVED swimming with Grandpa though- always made his day!

The pool had this cool little slide, a few big water slides, and a hot tub just for kids.

We found this great sit-down restaurant that didn't have a cover charge...but we found it on the last day! The service was way faster than the dining rooms and we could still sit down and have the food brought to us. This place is called the Blue Lagoon and had a great view of the ocean.

All this time I thought I had a single stroller! My mom and dad were watching the boys while Ryan and I finished up dinner one night. Ryan and I went down to the Promenade deck to find them and we only saw Jacob in the stroller as they were coming towards us. I freaked out for a second thinking Tyler had run off and got lost- then they showed me him, passed out in the basket ;) So creative!

Fun times in the kids' free-play area. I felt the most sea-sick in this room because it was tiny, hot, and on the 13th deck. We had fun anyway and it gave the boys some space to run around and be crazy.

My Dad had the pleasure of putting Jacob to sleep one night- like a pro! Jacob loved sitting out on the balcony with the wind in his face and the sound of the waves. He was usually pretty tuckered out by the end of the day and fell asleep happy and exhausted. It was so nice to have the extra love to share with the boys.

Tyler got in my mom and dad's dive stuff and I had to take a quick picture of him with my Dad's mask on.

Oh man. We will remember this day with great disdain. My poor boys will be forever scarred. We did a pirate boat adventure in Peurto Vallarta. Started at 7:50am didn't get home until nearly 5pm. We had to take a little power boat in 4 ft. swells out to the pirate boat and attempt to go from one moving boat to another while holding backpacks, diaper bag, and my baby. I had to hand off my kids to crazy Mexicans dressed as pirates. The boys were freaking out and even Ryan and I had a rough time getting from one boat to another. But the fun doesn't end there...

This is Tyler at the end of the day- on the way home. Our poor boy was puking his guts out on the way there. It ended up being a 2 hour boat ride in the crazy heat and "medium swells"...They felt larger than "medium". Tyler and Ryan got sea sick. Poor Jacob was screaming his head off from the heat. I had to keep pouring water on him and cover him in a damp towel but he was still overheating and getting listless. It was miserable!

The one redeeming part of the day was once we were safely on the private beach. Although, getting there we had to go from the moving pirate boat to a little power boat again...in the middle of the ocean, handing off my babies again, then getting tossed out in the surf...the beach was beautiful and it was private. Tyler got to participate in the treasure hunt that the pirates put on and he loved his treasure (chocolates).

Captain Groucho led the kids on the treasure hunt and even had a cute little story to go along with it. Like I said, the only redeeming part of the day.

I love how tropical the sky looks, so blue, the palm trees so green, and my little guy so focused on finding treasure.

Beautiful water- but the picture does no justice for how crazy the surf actually was. The shades were drawn on the boat after the first hour and a half or so of the boat ride...arg!

The boat was supposedly an exact replica of the Santa Maria that Christopher Columbus sailed. Pretty interesting little story. We even got to go down below to eat some breakfast- but we skipped the lunch on the way back. Everyone still felt pretty gross.

The Norwiegan Star- our home for the week.

My poor dad ended up being Tyler's pillow a few times. Tyler enjoyed the freedom of not taking a nap a few days- but then this is how he ended up. This was on our way back from Stone Island- a great day in Mazatlan.

This was our cute little restaurant for the day. They had great chips and salsa, yummy fish, chicken, quesadillas, rice, beans and open bar for the day (aka free soda ;) )

We drove through this adorable, humble town and through part of a coconut farm on the way to this great beach.

Part of what we loved about this place is that the kids could go in the ocean or this little pool. Nothing fancy- but somewhere without waves in case they were scared. It was beatiful but a little windy.

Mom and Dad by the pool at Stone Island. They were gracious and did a Horse-drawn carriage ride with Tyler so Ryan and I could go horseback riding on the beach.

Eating our yummy authentic lunch. Even Jacob got in on the action.

Tyler found this bug by the pool and became best friends.

Love this handsome boy. He was so happy on the beach and in the fresh air. He was loving a chance to go in the water since he wasn't technically allowed to go in the pools on the cruise ship.

Fun little horse-drawn carriage ride. They got to go down the beach about 15 minutes and back. Tyler was so excited to be close to a real horse.

Ryan's horse was "numero uno" mine was "wessos". His horse was always first in line, and mine was slow as molasses. It was fun- but my bum hurt so bad after riding on a wooden saddle for a half hour.

Beautiful beach in Mazatlan. Our cute boys loved playing in the sand. If only we could live closer to the beach!

Ryan and Tyler enjoying the ferry ride to the island. I loved how simple and vibrant the houses were. Makes you think twice about complaining about where we live.

Stone Island by boat. It was a cute little island that survives on Coconut Farms and Shrimp processing.

We walked around Cabo San Lucas on Monday. It was our first port. We didn't have anything planned so we just took the tender off and enjoyed window shopping and looking around.

Jacob traveled in style in the backpack. Tyler got to be in the stroller for part of the time and walked the other part. There were these kids all over the place trying to sell obnoxious whistles. At least it was one up from the chicklets they try to sell you in Ensenada.

Enjoying the balcony with my boys. They did a better job sleeping than we thought- but we spent our fair share of time on the balcony before 6 am ;)

A little view of our room. Not too bad! We got to enjoy connected rooms. We had the crib in our room so we spent most play time in Grandma and Grandpa's room.

The boys on our first day on the boat. Jake was still getting used to the beautiful views. I sure miss being in vacation mode.

This was our first day- exploring the ship. We found the kids place and Tyler and Jacob loved the little teeter-totters. There were two of them. We could always get a good smile out of the boys if we played back here.