Cruise!

As many of you know Papaw & MeMaw (aka Randy & Sherri Skipper) took the WHOLE family on a 4 day cruise out of Galveston. We left on Thursday and came home on Monday. We had a fabulous time but with all Wilson family events it was not without some mishaps!!

Immediately when we arrived on the ship on Thursday the kids wanted to swim. They loved the slide that fed directly into the pool. Everyone except Joel who was not tall enough to slide - boy was that a HUGE disappointment for him. He FINALLY got over it (about the 3rd day of the trip) and just swam. The pool is not very large because of course it is on top of the boat. But kids never mind if the pool is packed so they had a great time!








We also had a life saving drill. You can see from the pictures the joy the kids had to be participating in the drill. And as always it opened up many interesting questions about if the boat sank what would happen and if sharks could eat through the life boats, etc....














We went back to our room that evening to get ready for dinner. Joel LOVED that our room had 2 bunk beds that folded out from the wall (as he is showing in the picture)! The window was also a big hit as they all loved to look out of it.




We ate dinner in the dinning room that night. My kids were so funny with all of the silverware and glassware that was on the table. They had NEVER seen so much stuff! (Of course when you always drink out of plastic cups and eat most of your meals on paper plates I am sure the abundance of glass ware was a shock!) We ended up eating all 4 nights in the dinning room because it was easier to be served then to have to go back and forth to the buffet with the kids!












Friday was a day at sea and low and behold their was a miniature golf course on the top deck of the boat. We played A LOT of miniature golf over those 4 days but had a great time!! After miniature golf it was back to the pool to swim and then eat lunch.























After lunch we went through a BIG rain storm that lasted about 2 hours (when Craig and I cruised with my mom and dad we never had any rain but where not so lucky this trip!) This is a picture of the rain against the windows and of us hanging out with MeMaw waiting on the rain to pass!!


























That night we took a family picture together. We got one great shot and I know MeMaw and Papaw were pleased with it.




Saturday morning we ported in Cozumel, Mexico. That morning when I got up it felt like the boat was rocking from side to side. Despite the fact that I had a seasickness patch on I became very nauseated. Later on before we got off the boat Caleb complained about being nauseated as well so we both took a Dramamine. We decided to just do a beach excursion and it ended up that everyone did it together. We arrived at the beach where they had tons of lounge chairs, beach umbrellas, paddle boats, canoes, a water trampoline, and a inflatable mountain out in the ocean. We all ran to get "good" lounge chairs where we could see the kids swimming and then Craig and Papaw went to get the beach umbrellas and put their wallets, etc in a locker. While Memaw and I got in the water with the kids. I had only proceeded about ankle deep when Caleb who was about 5 feet from me began to SCREAM. I mean SCREAM loud and crying saying something was stinging him. I ran over and dragged him out of the water where he just laid down on the ground and continued to scream and cry. I did not know what to do - Craig was still finding a locker - and we were drawing a HUGE crowd but I didn't see anything on Caleb. A lifeguard ran up and asked me what was wrong. So I told him and we pulled Caleb's swim suit down and he had 6 large whelps on his lower stomach/groin area. The life guard got on the radio and began calling for a paramedic. He kept saying a paramedic is on the way. In the meantime I was really getting nervous because Caleb was screaming, I had a life guard who spoke very little English and I did not know what I would be facing with the paramedic. I was desperately looking for Craig. The paramedic arrived and asked us to come with him. So he took Caleb and examined him. He had been stung by a jelly fish 6 times. He began cleaning the whelps with antispectic the other thing that happened was he began to break out in hives. So he received a dose of Benadryl. Because of the Benadryl and the earlier Dramamine he slept most of the day at the beach. Luckily the beach place had a swimming pool as well so the rest of the kids spent the day at the pool. He finally felt better late that evening! (Because of the craziness with Caleb I did not get any pictures of the excursion and then I realized that night my camera screen had cracked and didn't take any more pictures the rest of the trip).

Sunday we were back at sea. Did the same thing as we did on Friday - putt, putt, swimming and the arcade! We also went through another rain storm that afternoon which caused everyone to come inside. Everyone was tired at dinner but had a great day.

Monday it was the process of getting off the boat, going through customs, getting loaded up and heading home. Then it was lawn mowing and laundry - vacation is over!

Enjoy the rest of the pictures!

Nicole Grace Duran

As some of you may or may not know Leanna had an emergency c-section yesterday (Thursday, June 12th) and gave birth to Nicole Grace Duran at 3:19pm. Nicole is 4lbs 4 oz and 8 weeks early. She is perfect for being 8 weeks early. She is almost independently breathing on her own, is stabilizing her temperature and is going to be getting a little bit of food today. She is very, very pretty and since Kyle and I peeked underneath her hat she has dark hair!!

Leanna began experiencing sever contractions around 1:00 yesterday. She had a friend drive her home from work but by the time she got home she was in severe pain. Kyle rushed her to the hospital where they discovered her placenta had pulled away and did an emergency c-section. Leanna is superwoman! She looks fabulous and is doing very, very, well.

They expect that Nicole will be in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for at least 4 weeks. Please keep everyone in prayer. That Nicole would continue to improve and develop despite her early arrival and that Leanna would heal very quickly. My brother was a champion through all of the stress and is holding up very well!!

Below are the best pictures I could get through the incubator. Enjoy!

Caleb

We left for Austin on Thursday as soon as the kids got out of school (I will post those pictures later on this week). Thus, I didn't go through their end of school year stuff until today. In Caleb's report card was a CD that his teacher made. Just click on the link to play it and turn up your volume because it does have audio with it. It is a timeless keepsake that I so appreciate his teacher taking the time to do for us! Enjoy!

School Awards

Since this is the last week of school we have attended 2 school award ceremony's! I wanted to share some pictures. On Monday we had Caleb's award ceremony. Caleb was so cute as he walked across the stage and got his folder that contained his certificates. Of course the one we are most proud of is his reading certificate for having completed the reading recovery program.

Then on Wednesday it was Christian's turn. Christian's was a Promotion/Award's ceremony. Because his Elementary school is K-5th grade it is a big deal for this school to lose kids that have been there for six years! Christian received the President's Education Award for outstanding academic excellence. It is based on their TAKS test scores plus their GPA from 4th and 5th grade. There were several students who received the award! After they handed out the awards the teacher's presented the kids with a DVD collection of pictures set to music from the whole year. The greatest part about that was each student gets their very own copy of the DVD!! They ended the ceremony with cake and punch and a very happy group of soon to be 6th graders. Enjoy the pictures!

Swim Time!

One of the many "perks" of living in a large master planned community is the option to choose from 4 pools within the community. The boys really wanted to try out a new pool today since the one that is clossest to our house the diving board is broken. I said fine so we went. I didn't bring my camera but captured these shots with my cell phone - for some reason today I had really great timing especially with Christian's first picture. Here are all three of them. The last picture is the first one I tried to take of Christian doing a flip - I missed it but check out those FEET!

New Bike

Caleb has been needing a bike now for several weeks. Craig had originally planned to surprise him last Saturday morning by taking him out to breakfast and then to pick out a bike - unfortunately that was the morning we discovered the chicken pox!!! So, we changed our plans to this Saturday. Caleb was so excited. After two stores they finally picked this one. It is burnt orange and as Caleb says has really cool tires! He will be arriving to school in style tomorrow!

It All Started with a Text!

On Thursday morning I was out running errands when that familiar beep goes off that I have a text message on my phone. It was from my brother (Kyle). He said take your kids out of school tomorrow (Friday) and come meet us at the lake. I immediately called him and said you know what my kids are out of school tomorrow for staff development day. (Background information - my mom and dad were already planning to be in Austin Thursday night and Friday (Kyle's day off)to go to the lake in Kyle's brand new boat and so Kyle could see my mom for Mother's Day.) As I thought about it I decided I would go ahead and surprise my mom and dad and drive up to Austin on Friday. Craig could not go because he was working his LAST NIGHT SHIFT on Thursday - he starts days this Sunday - YEAH. So I came home that afternoon, talked with Craig, made a mad dash to Wal-Mart for flip-flops, water, snacks, sunblock, gas, came home did all of the laundry and tried to get 3 boys to go to bed (they were so excited!!).

We left Friday morning at 7:40 am. Kyle had let it slip that morning to my dad that we were coming but my mom had no idea. She called that morning when I was about 30 minutes away. I didn't answer my phone because I knew she would be able to tell that we were all 4 in the car and I couldn't think of an excuse to tell her what we were doing! We rang the doorbell and walked in and she was VERY surprised and EXCITED to see us!!

We drove out to Lake Travis where Kyle keeps his boat. First let me give a shout out to my brother!! He had a total of 8 people he was trying to please - including 4 boys ages (11, 7, 5, & 1)!! He was so great for everything and I know he was EXHAUSTED - he had gotten up with Austin at 4:30 am that morning and he had also wake boarded all the day before and was blistered - but you would never know it because he never complained with everything he had to do!!

We did a quick tour of Lake Travis which is beautiful and then went to a cove where the water was like glass!! All of the boys (including Kyle and PawPaw) immediately jumped into the cold water and started swimming!! Leeana and I "eased" our way into the water but we did both eventually totally get in and swam with all of the kids. Grammy stayed in the boat with Austin (she never did get in the water!).

I decided that if I was going to ski or wake board I wanted to go first because I probably would NOT get back into that cold water!! So I decided to slalom first. Leanna (who is 6 months pregnant had to "assist" me to get the ski boot fastened!) I haven't water skied in over 10 years and you forget how much energy and strength it takes to get up on one ski. After several unsuccessful attempts I told Kyle I was done - he said you can't get in until you try to wake board. He carefully and skillfully explained the aspects of wakeboarding!! I did get up on the first try and for the next 3 times. The problem was staying up! I had one very successful ride until I decided to take one hand off the rope and adjust my swimsuit - big MISTAKE with a glorious FALL! Wake boarding is A LOT easier to get up on then a slalom ski but it is VERY DIFFERENT once you get up to control. (Pictures - I told Christian if I got up to hurry and take my picture - and he did!)

Next Christian wanted to try. Since the wake board was out and not the ski's we talked him into trying the wake board first. (Remember we had 8 people in the boat and getting the skis out and putting them up was an event in itself!) Christian got up the very first time but then fell. We had the wake board boot to tight and Christian hurt his foot when he fell so he was done. But he did say he would like to try again when we go back! (Here he is getting ready - the only picture I got!)

Caleb just wanted to tube! We had forgotten the tube at the dock and Kyle so graciously took us all the way back across the lake to get the tube. The first tube wouldn't inflate so he HIKED back up to the truck and got a SECOND tube came back down and inflated it for us!! (THANK YOU UNCLE KYLE). For those of you who know Joel you know that we put him on the tube and as soon as the motor cranked he FREAKED OUT and demanded to get back into the boat. He said I didn't know you were going to move the boat -ha. ha. So Christian and Caleb rode the tube for quite a while and then Caleb wanted to ride by his self. Caleb rode for several miles - he was so funny - he had his feet crossed and arms behind his head like he was on a recliner!

After 5 hours on the lake we were HUNGRY! So we docked at a GREAT restaurant on the water and ate dinners. It was such a GREAT DAY - and I am so glade he sent the text message! Enjoy the pictures - Austin rode the whole 5 hours. He was so good, here he is getting MORE sunblock and enjoying a "siesta". Caleb was chosen as Bullfrog of the week for next week (now he won't be there see side note below). Part of that privledge is you get to take home the class frog for the weekend, take him everywhere you go and write a story about what he did, and attach a picture!


Side Note - I noticed yesterday while we were at the lake that Caleb had these red spots on him. My mom thought he may have just gotten into some chiggers. We'll when he got up this morning those bumps were everywhere! Craig said I think he has chicken pox. So I immediately called the Dr. and got him in and of course he has a "perfect" case of the Chicken Pox including bumps on his head!! (Yes he had the vaccine but that doesn't guarantee you won't get them!) He is VERY upset - not about any discomfort and of course not about missing school but he is UPSET about not being able to play with his friends and most importantly our pool opened today in our subdivision and he wants to SWIM!! - Maybe a long 5 days!