The Portland Spirit: Cinnamon Bear Cruise

This last year, Stewart and I decided that Maya was old enough to enjoy the Cinnamon Bear Cruise. We figured that if she enjoyed it, that we would make it one of our family traditions to do every December.

About two weeks before our cruise, we started reading the story of the Cinnamon Bear. Neither Stewart or I had ever seen or heard the Cinnamon Bear Radio Show. We figured that this would be a great way for all of us to understand the story and know the characters.

The morning of our cruise, we dropped Brooklyn off at my parents house and headed down to the river to board. Once we boarded, Maya became EXTREMELY excited. We made our way to our private table and enjoyed a yummy buffet brunch. When the boat left the sea wall, all of a sudden the fun REALLY began....

Maya's first glimpse of Paddy O'Cinnamon Bear.

She even followed him back towards the bathroom so she could get a hug from him.

While waiting for more of the characters to come by to visit, Maya loved looking outside.

Since it was a special occasion, Maya was given hot chocolate to sip. I think she actually gulped it down!

Mommy and Maya loving on each other.

Maya couldn't take her eyes off of Queen Melissa. She was thrilled to have her picture taken with a Queen!

The most memorable picture of our cruise!

Maya held on tight to that cinnamon bear cookie. Daddy kept hinting that if she put it down that he would eat it...guess what?? She shared it with both of us.

The Crazy Quilt Dragon appeared on the top deck of the boat. It was pretty windy up there, but once we saw him, she didn't want to go back inside. Seriously, I think he was about 9 feet tall.

Daddy and Maya at the back of the boat before heading indoors.

Mr. Presto, the magician caught her attention when he pulled a real rabbit out of his hat!

Ah ha, caught Miss Maya in the act...kneeling on the window sill looking out.

Sitting in Queen Melissa's chair.

Judy and Jimmy sang a bunch of Christmas songs together.

One of Maya's favorite characters, Sweetie. Not only did she like her name, but she also liked her bright pink hair.

All the characters were outside as we left the boat. Maya could have stayed at the sea wall all day waving to all of them. She had a GREAT time and we know that The Cinnamon Bear Cruise will be added to our yearly traditions for the holidays. Next year, Brooklyn will join us.

"Oh Maya!"

This last Thursday, both Stewart and I woke up sick with the terrible "stomach bug." Luckily for us, my mom came over late morning to watch and entertain the girls. Stewart and I headed upstairs to bed where we spent almost the entire day. By the afternoon, we were no better. My mom generously offered for her and my dad to take both girls to their house so we could have a quiet night. We accepted the offer and packed the girls up. When the girls left, we went back to bed. A few hours later, we tried calling mom and dad to find out if the girls were alright. They didn't answer and we just thought they were busy putting the girls to bed. A few minutes later, my dad calls me on my cell and tells me that there has been a little incident with Maya.

Here was the phone conversation:

Me: "Oh no, what did Maya do?"

Dad: "She told us that she swallowed a dime."

Me: "What? You have got to be kidding."

Dad: "No, that is her crying in the background. We called the hospital and they told us that if she was breathing ok and had good color, that we really shouldn't need 911 and just to bring her in to get checked out."

Me: "Oh shit! Oh my g-d. "

Dad: "She has good color and she is breathing ok. She says that it is stuck in her throat and that her throat hurts."

Me: "Oh crap! I will call you right back. Call 911 if you need too. I am going to talk to Stewart. I will call you back."

I crawled downstairs trying not to vomit and told Stewart what happened. After a few "not too kind words" from him, we got dressed and drove like crazy people across town to pick her up. On the way out the door, I called dad back.

Me: "We just left. Is she in her pj's? Grab her binky and her blanket. Put her shoes on, we will be there in 15 minutes!"

Dad: "She is in her pj's and I will get her shoes on. She has her binky and blanket with her."

Of course, there was an accident on the freeway and so we had to make a little detour. We finally made it and I jumped out of the car and into the house. I grabbed Maya and ran back out to the car. As I buckled her up, I yelled back to dad "keep Brooklyn and we will get her in the morning. We will call you soon from the ER." I jumped into the backseat and sat next to Maya on the way to the hospital. The look in her eyes was scary. She was wheezing and so sleepy. She didn't want to talk. She just wanted to hold my hand. Ten minutes later, we arrived. Stewart let Maya and I out at the door and he went to park. I checked her in and went to the waiting room. A couple of minutes later, Stewart arrived and the triage nurse called us in. She took her vitals and history and sent us back to the waiting room. She fell asleep in Stewart's arms. Stewart and I just looked at each other and shook our heads. The nurse called us back about 20 minutes later. Stewart carried her back and set her down on the gurney in the room. It wasn't even a minute later when Maya said, "mommy, I am going to throw up." The nurse opened the cupboard and handed me a basin. I just got it under her chin, when she threw up A LOT and I heard a "ping" sound. I looked at the nurse and said, "I think she just threw up the dime." "Really?" the nurse said. "That was quick." She took the basin out of my hand and went to the nurses station where she needed to "drain" it. A couple of minutes later, she came back in and said, "she didn't swallow a dime, she swallowed a quarter." "A quarter, WOW." The nurse told us that the doctor would be in quickly, so we could be on our way. About two minutes later, the doctor came in. He took one look at Maya and said, "wow, you are one lucky girl. How do you feel?" Maya looked at him and said, "better, can I go back to grammy and papa's now?" He giggled and smiled and said, "I want to take a quick look at you and then give you a popsicle to make sure you can swallow ok." Maya agreed and then asked for a grape one. When the doctor examined her, he noticed that she had a laceration above her tonsils that probably happened when she vomited the quarter up. The doctor looked at me and said, "did you get the quarter back?" I am sure that I made a funny face and said, "um, no. Do I want it back?" He said, "you might want it for her baby book." "If you can get it, sure?" We heard him at the nurses station, say, "does anyone have the quarter that 5 threw up?" The nurse said, "It is in the biohazard bag along with her vomit." "I am going to fish it out for her, which bin is it in?" A few minutes later, he arrived with the quarter she swallowed. "As good as new," he said. "I washed it off and sanitized it."

Well, Just as promised, we were out the door within a few minutes. Stewart walked to get the car and I carried Maya out. When we were in the car, leaving the hospital, Maya said, "can I now go back to grammy and papa's house to spend the night? I promise that I won't swallow anymore coins." Stewart and I looked at each other, smiled and together said no. We made it home and it wasn't long until we were all asleep.

Leaving the hospital. I guess we forgot to wipe the grape popsicle off her face before we left.

One VERY tired girl. It took her all she had to give us a thumbs up that she was feeling better.

"Mommy look! It is the quarter that I swallowed!"

THE clean and sanitized quarter that now lies in her memory box!

Hopefully Miss Maya has learned her lesson, that only food goes in the mouth. We are VERY lucky that she was able to throw it up and it didn't get stuck in her lungs. The doctor even told us that if it was about another inch further down, she probably would not have been able to get it back up. The chances of her then having surgery would have been extremely high. Never a dull moment around here!

Sorry this post is late. It actually happened Thursday December 9th, 2010. On the 12th, I started writing this post and the following night (Monday the 13th), I slipped off our bottom step and broke my leg. Yes, you heard me right. I broke my fibula right in half. No surgery but in a cast. It has been one tough month around here. It has taken me a LONG time to get back on to our blog, but now I am back. I have many more posts, so check back soon.

Who Knew?

The other night, Stewart called me into the other room to show me where Brooklyn had fallen asleep. He told me to bring the camera, because I would want to take a picture of this. When I walked in, this is what I saw.....

While trying to get a decent picture, we were laughing so hard. What the heck? She had seriously fallen asleep!

About an hour later, Stewart called me in again. He told me to bring the camera because I would want to take another picture. (I was a little bit worried, because how could she top where she had fallen asleep before). When I walked in, this is what I saw.....

Awe...So sweet!

Of course, when we showed Maya the pictures of Brooklyn from the night before, she wanted to sit in the chair too. When I told her that she was too big for it, she told me that it was her perfect size. I walked back into the kitchen and a few minutes later, she was awfully quiet. I went in to check on her and she was reading a book. I quietly walked out to grab the camera. When I came back in, this is what I saw.....

"See mommy, I fit perfectly! It is a perfect place to read library books!"

"Yep, I see Maya." What could I say? As long as she was happy, and wasn't bothering anyone, what could I say. She looked pretty comfortable to me!

Family Pictures

It always seems like you have so many things to worry about when taking formal pictures. Luckily for us, our photo session this past weekend went pretty well. Everyone was in a good mood, we had smiles from everyone, (not the teeth grinding ones like Maya loves to do) and we got cooperation from both girls.

Here they are:

Brooklyn patting the big block.

B's newest "trick" is sharing. It wouldn't be right if she didn't share with our photographer!

Two years ago, we had Maya in this same pose. It is really cute to see the difference in the girls heights at the same age.

Brooklyn giving us a big wave.

B is showing us how big she is!

Check out all the teeth Brooklyn has...all six of them!

B was concentrating on something..not sure what it was.

Total sweetness!

100% cuteness!

We couldn't have photos done with Maya's pet bunny!

There is Maya with her million dollar smile.

We are not ordering this one, but Maya loved it because her bunny was in it!

Maya's big blue eyes and adorable smile.

After five tries of the family together, this was the best one.

Now the hard part... Which ones do we order and in what format; black and white, color or sepia. Um..decisions, decisions!

October Overload!

WOW! What a VERY busy month we had. In one way, I am glad that October is over, but in another way, I know that November is going to be crazy too.

Let's get right down to all our fun events:

Our month started off, by a party at The Pumpkin Patch which my sister hosted for her work.

On our hay ride back from picking out our pumpkins.

Daddy and his two girls.
Brooklyn showing off her piece of straw.

One final picture before going home for the night. We had a great evening with a bon fire, eating hotdogs, going through the corn maze and roasting marsh mellows.

Days later, we decorated our pumpkins.

From left to right:

Daddy, Mommy, Brooklyn and Maya

I then thought it would be cool, to make a haunted house. We were given a kit by a friend a year ago, but did have the chance to do it. We cracked open the kit, and had a fun time doing it. I added the spiders and the skull fence. (The spiders were party favor rings and the fence was a necklace that lit up. When you pushed the button, the fence really worked!)

A side picture.

The front of our house.

During the month, we also had some awesome fall weather. One beautiful afternoon, I decided to take the girls around the corner, to a huge leaf pile. They had such a great time sitting, playing, climbing, giggling, waving and tossing the leaves around.

Maya then had her school fall field trip to Plumber Farms. I was very excited that I was able to attend her field trip. I was so busy helping out, I forgot to take pictures. We had lunch, visited the farm animals, went on a hay ride, went down two different slides, picked out a pumpkins and played on the play equipment! We had a wonderful time.

A few days later, we again decorated pumpkins.
From left to right:

Maya, Brooklyn, Mommy and Daddy.

This time we used stickers, which was so much easier and faster.

We then attended Maya's Preschool Halloween Party, which again I didn't take pictures. The school had a parade, a dance, games and of course trick or treating. We had such a fabulous time. The school did such a great job decorating and making it special for the kiddos. Next year, I WILL take pictures.

Last but not least....Halloween. We had a blast. My family came over for our 2nd annual party. We had pizza for dinner and then went trick or treating.

The girls this year went as...

a cow

and a 50's girl.

Even though you can't see Brooklyn's face, we still love it.

Auntie Jen came along trick or treating

along with Rob, Rileigh, and my parents.

Phew, what a lot of pictures! Better go erase our pictures off the camera and charge our batteries; can't wait to start snapping pictures. We have a lot of exciting things planned for November, beware!

If you didn't get a chance to read our post "Do we have a doctor in the house" scroll down.