Our first cruise...

Getting ready to board the ship...

Two sick girls on the mend, at the end of the cruise

The view of Cabo San Lucas from our stateroom balcony

Our ship (on our way to the beach in Mazatlan)

Swimming with dolphins in Cabo

Eating a raw coconut at Stone Island in Mazatlan

One of the formal nights on the ship

A restaurant in Puerta Vallarta (David was drinking a lot of.... Pepsi)

DAY ONE: Ariel got a kidney infection on Monday and went on antibiotics.

When we went to the childcare center, the woman there was distinctly unfriendly to Kavanna. She glared at her, which made Kavanna cry. The woman said to David, who was holding Kavanna, "Take her over there until she calms down."

From that point on she refused to go to the kids club, which was a huge part of why we chose to go to the cruise. We had no time for ourselves the entire trip, except for one dinner when Lori looked after her.

DAY TWO & THREE: Ariel was able to swim with dolphins on Tuesday in Cabo but the next day she felt sick all day while we were at the beach in Mazatlan. I took her back to the ship doctor and she was diagnosed with the flu, necessitating different antibiotics.

She was in bed in our room, not the one she was to share with Lori (she wanted to be with Mom while she was sick), so David slept on the floor the entire cruise and I slept with the girls in the bed) until yesterday. Except for swimming with dolphins in Cabo, and a day at the beach in Mazatlan when she felt terrible, she had zero vacation.

DAY FOUR (THANKSGIVING): Kavanna got a 104 degree fever so we spent Thanksgiving in the ship medical facilities. She had an IV with antibiotics, cold packs, and two nebulizer treatments, plus an xray that determined she had bronchitis, probably gotten from Ariel.

The whole time, this Romanian nurse was telling Kavanna, "Stop crying! You are ugly when you cry!"

We got back to find there was a problem with our backyard sprinkler, that went off despite being turned off, and our yard is flooded... And then, Kavanna got diarrea, probably because of the antibiotics.

Generally it was a disaster of epic proportions. It was so bad that it comes all the way around to being funny.

Next vacation, we're staying home!

Photos!!

Princess Kavanna at a princess birthday party!!

She doesn't really know the story of Cinderella... she wanted to go as Cinderella for Halloween because she liked the dress!


At Kavanna's third birthday party...

Princess Cake for the birthday princess!

Birthday Girl Kavanna at her party! Wheeeeeee!

Daddy, Kavanna and Mommy (Ariel took the photo)

"Look, I can do the splits!"

For some reason, pumpkin patches brought out the exhibitionist in Kavanna.

Face painting at the Halloween Festival (she's a flower).

Kavanna is three years old!! She's a feisty, smart (really, really, smart... scary smart!), affectionate, loving little girl with a ready laugh, who loves to play with her friends, to read (especially the newly discovered Mo Willems books), and to dress up. Her favorite color is pink, pink and more pink! She has a huge crush on Ariel's boyfriend, Nick, whose only competition is Diego from the Nickelodeon TV show. She recently informed us, "I'm crushing on Diego."

Our family is complete and we are having so much fun together!!

Now... and then.

Kavanna always has a smile on her face... She's excited about Halloween this year, and this is her "Princess Dress" as she calls it (also known as a Cinderella costume).

Two years ago today, we saw Kavanna's smiling face for the first time. As David put it, she's been like a shot of pure love into our family.

Where did the last 3 1/2 months go???

I recently was reminded (thanks, Alyson!!) that I'm behind on my posting... so here are a few photos from the past few months. I'll try to be better at posting... and at actually logging onto Facebook... and looking at other people's blogs.

Some cute things Kavanna has said:

When I told her she was cute, she said, "No cute, mama. Beautiful!!"

Her song lyrics: "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the street..."

Every third sentence is, "My do it! My do it!"

She told Ariel, referring to me, "No Ariel's mother. My mother!"

When Ariel said, "If mommy is not my mother, then where is my mother?"

Kavanna thought for a moment and then said, "China!"

Ariel said, "Are we sisters?"

"No," replied Kavanna.

Ariel persisted. "We're not? We're not sisters?"

"No, said Kavanna. "Princesses."

And there you have it.

Ariel is doing really well. She switched into a new school that is much smaller than her previous one, with an art emphasis, and is thriving. She has a whole new group of friends and her grades are awesome (straight As, yeah!!).

Grandma Lori moves in with us on Friday. We're excited!

Playing with friends...

Seeing art at the Museum of Modern Art

Art is in the eye of the beholder...

Nina and Ariel on Mother's Day

Kavanna and Nina on Mother's Day

Kavanna and Grandma Lori (no, she's not going into the ring for a fight; this was taken right after K's bath...)

What does a nice Jewish Chinese girl do on Easter? Hunt for eggs, of course!

Resting after the Great Egg Hung

Our friend Gregg at Passover...

Year of the Tiger!

All ready for Chinese New Year.

Di & Dave and their daughter Sophie

A pensive moment. What is Kavanna thinking? (Mommy is thinking, "Kavanna is soooo cute!", and more on this in a moment...)

Okay, here's the cute Kavanna story: We're on our way to the FCC Event and I said, "Kavanna, you look so cute!"

She said, "No, cute. No cute, Mama. Beautiful."

Is that the cutest... er, most beautiful... story ever, or what?