Growing Up

The kids are really growing up! Emma is now eating her snack at the big kid table with Morgan. She is very proud. And we have finally begun Morgan's transition to big boy bed by taking down one side of his crib. He has been doing great; not even falling out at night. Soon we will get my old twin bed set up for him with a new headboard and some cowboy bedding.
Finally, Emma has been getting after it at the park. We go about once a week. She climbs the stairs to the slide over and over again, smiling the whole time. Meanwhile, Morgan makes friends with everyone he sees there.

Best Buddies

Morgan and Emma have been playing hard lately. As you can see in the picture below, they wore themselves out last night. Morgan brought his blanket to the kitchen and they made themselves a bed beside me while I washed dishes.
In the video, they are practicing their jiu-jitsu skills on each other. Emma is not afraid to get in there-she love to rough house. Good thing too because Morgan does not take it easy on her.

Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Yesterday we reluctantly returned from our long-awaited cruise. We had such a relaxing time, and the kids got terribly spoiled spending time with both sets of grandparents. For pictures of the fun they had, you'll have to check out Wes' blog. We really appreciate everyone who helped take such good care of the babies.
Due to Hurricane Ike, we missed our first stop in Nassau, Bahamas. The water was pretty choppy for the first couple of days. But we were able to make the other two stops in St, Thomas USVI and St. Maarten. We spent our time there sightseeing, shopping, and at the beach. I think St. Maarten was my favorite stop since it had the better beach (more waves).

This is our first "elegant night"...

At the dock in St. Thomas

St. Thomas' highest point (we are having their famous banana daquiri)

Magen's Bay Beach, ranked the #10 beach in the world by National Geographic

Here you can see our ship in the port below...

This place was literally a hole in the wall; it was kind of carved out in this little alley between the shops. We should have been bold enough to order conch fritters, but... I ended up with a chicken salad sandwich.

Here's a shot down one of the alleys, with the entrance to our restaurant in the foreground.

St. Thomas had seemingly thousands of upscale shops like this one.

This is St. Maarten on the French side. There is an open air market in the foreground, a pretty ritzy mall further back, and then a 300- year- old fort at the top of the hill. You can also see their many flags.

This is the port at St. Maarten, on the Dutch side.

Here's our monkey...

And here we are with our "table mates", Dwayne and Chrissy from the D.C. area.

We enlisted Chrissy professional photography services.

And here's Emma in her new dress from St. Maarten (she's holding a handmade doll from there as well).

And here's Morgan in his Virgin Islands T-shirt.