Lately

Things have been kinda crazy around here lately.  Baseball is going well although several games have been cancelled due to rain.  But of the games they have played they have won more then they have lost!  Go Hopkins!  Logan has been very busy with soccer and tee ball.  He has had one soccer game and tomorrow is his first tee ball game tomorrow.  He is loving it!  Gavin wishes he could play...literally:)  The playground has no interest in the giant playgrounds, he wants to be on the field with his brother!  Easter was nice, we went to worship at the church we were married in.  The boys enjoyed hunting for their eggs and their baskets:)  (see easter videos on facebook...Gavin doesn't understand the concept of gentle and eggs:)  And of course Scott and I are enjoying the hockey playoffs!  GO WINGS!  And Lindstrom just scored hahahaha!  I have been told by more than one person to blog about the good and the bad.  So with that in mind I am sharing that Scott got pink slipped today along with all the other teachers who have not reached tenure.  Again.  Just like last year.  While the principal and super intendant both say it is just a formality, and they anticipate Scott being called back by the end of the school year it is still a scary time.  But we are trusting God to take care of our family, in whatever way that may be.  Please pray for our family to continue to trust God (me in particular not to be the worry wart that I am).  Meanwhile we have a lot to be thankful for and to look forward to.  Our new nephew Carter is at home and doing well!  He is adorable!  Also Gavin's second birthday is only a week away!  I can't believe he is almost two already!  We are looking forward to celebrating that!  Also Grandma Gerry turns 70 on cinco de mayo!  And of course we have another nephew, Jack, due in June!  So much to be thankful for!  So for now taking each day at a time and enjoying each one as it comes!  More to come...and lets not forget...GO WINGS!

Stockwell Family, Easter, 2011

Carter Isaac Stockwell!

We welcomed a new member to the Stockwell family yesterday.  Carter Isaac Stockwell was born at 8:25 AM on Thursday April 14, 2011!  He weighs 9.8 pounds!  He is a big boy and he is so cute!  Derek and Rachelle are very proud parents:)  Carter has to spend sometime in the NICU due to constant low blood sugar and he is not eating well at this point.  As soon as his blood sugar stays up on its own Carter can go back with mommie and daddy!  Please pray for this to improve quickly as well as for strength and peace for Derek and Rachelle!  He is a cutie!

 He is a good sleeper so far!

 Such squishy cheeks!

 Proud papa!  And a natural;)

Headed home

On the last morning we had a fancy breakfast again while we waited for our zone to be called for getting off the ship.  The process went really smoothly.  We didn't fly out until Sunday so we stayed at a Hilton near the airport and it was a gorgeous hotel!  We took a nap then headed down to relax by the pool.  We met a group of guys from a rodeo that was in town and they were characters! It was fun.  Then we headed back to the room and ordered some pizza and watched Little Fockers.  We went to bed early and got up for our early flights.  Once again the flights went smoothly.  And when we got home I was SO happy to see my boys! And it was 80 degrees! It was a great vacation!

Nassau

Day five was Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas.  We got up and had a fancy breakfast in the dining room.  When we got off the ship we were very surprised.  There was no beach, there weren't many shops and there were a lot of locals asking us if we wanted to get in their taxi for a tour...very sketchy...needless to say we decided to get right back on the ship and hang out there for the day.  Later we found out that unless you pay to go to one of the resorts its not the best port.  So we got some chairs by the pool, the ship wasn't crowded because a lot of people were in Nassau.  We laid by the pool and read, relaxed.  Played some more putt putt and bean bag toss.  Later in the afternoon we took a nice nap.  We did some on board shopping and went to a Broadway show before dinner.  It was really cool, the theme was dancing/singing from different countries.  They were very good.  At dinner the staff sang to us again.  After dinner we went to the comedy club again.  The comedian was hilarious.

 Nassau from the ship...Atlantis Resort is in the background

Half Moon Cay

Day four was Half Moon Cay.  Scott and I woke up and ran on the track again.  Then we got ready to head to the island.  This island is a private island owned by Carnival.  They leased it in 1978 for 99 years for only 6 million dollars!  Only 8 people live on the island, the people who take care of the horses and the island.  They get their food from the cruise ships that stop there.  The water was too shallow for the ship to dock at the island so we had to take smaller boats to get to the island.  This island was absolutely beautiful.  The bluest water and the sand was like silk.  We hung out on the beach for most of the day.  We walked along the beach and saw these different sand sculptures people had made....that was cool.  We went swimming in the ocean.  It was amazing.  It was our favorite stop by far!  Once we got back on the ship we got some wine and cheese and relaxed and talked in the library..our own private little date:)  At dinner Scott ordered escargot...yes that is snails...yuck...but he liked them!  That night was really wavy and I wasn't feeling well so we called it a night after dinner.  But what a great day it was!

 Such blue water!

 Scott swimming

 Half Moon Cay from the ship

Snails!?

Grand Turk

Day three was Grand Turk.  It was a beautiful beach!  The first thing we did was buy a hat for Scott's burned head:)  We found a spot on the beach and sunbathed for a few hours.  Then we did some shopping.  All the shops were very touristy...and lots of jewelery shops.  Then we stopped in at Margaritaville and had a margarita!
We only had until 2:30 at Grand Turk so we got back on the ship and played some putt putt.  Then Scott treated me to a massage and facial at the spa.  It was so relaxing!  Nothing like a massage in paradise!  Scott and I watched as we pulled away from Grand Turk.  The horn scared me every time...its so loud!  Then we went and bought wine for our dinner friends and had it sent to there room as a little surprise.  That evening they had a special cocktail party for returning guests, so we went to that before dinner.  Free drinks and appetizers.  After dinner we went to a "couples trivia" game show.  Scott and I tried to get on, he even leaned me over and kissed me in front of everyone but some other couple was picked.  The show was hilarious!  We played some bingo with our friends, and then headed out to the main deck for a deck party.  We did some dancing and hanging out watching the stars.  It was a great night!

 Beach Bummin

 View of Grand Turk from the ship

 Couples Trivia

Deck Party!

Day at Sea

Our 2nd day was a day at sea.  Scott and I woke up and went for a run on the track on the top of the ship.  That was really cool to run and see nothing but water all around you.  After that we got in our suits to hang out by the pool but since we didn't get out early enough we couldn't find seats anywhere.  We finally found some on the very top deck of the ship.  It was so windy, but it was nice because we could sit in the sun and not get too hot.  We were out there for about 5 hours.  Scott got really burned on his chest and head..poor guy.  I got burned on this tiny patch on my hand...I have no idea why because I applied lotion more then once...its a mystery, but it hurt!  When we were all sunned out we went to an art action which was cool...those auctioneers can talk so fast!  While we were getting ready for dinner we heard/saw the cruise director and we were both convinced he was one of the random interns on the show Bones...he sounded and looked exactly like him...we even sought him out to ask him...turns out he wasn't...boo.  This was the evening of the captain's dinner so we both got dressed up.  We sat at the lobby bar which was gorgeous, they had live piano music, very formal.  Our favorite drinks were pina coladas, margaritas and mojitos.  When we got to dinner our friends Dave and Melissa had bought each of us a picture that the crew took the night before at dinner which was nice of them!  The dinner crew sang to us too which was pretty funny.  After dinner we went to a comedy club.  There was this really annoying guy in the crowd, you know that guy who wears his sunglasses inside at night...yeah that guy, and he was being really loud and obnoxious during the performance so the comedian wound up making fun of him several times throughout the show...it was hilarious...they guy deserved it!  After the comedy club we hung out with Dave and Melissa for a bit before going to bed.

 Comedy Club

All dressed up for dinner

Cruise Day 1

So off we go!!!  Up at 4 am for our 6 am flights.  I was so nervous that we weren't going to make our connecting flight in Maryland because we only had a half hour layover so we bumped up to first class so we could get off first haha.  It was really nice though to have the extra leg room!  The flights went really smooth which is nice since I hate to fly!  When we got to Fort Lauderdale we hopped on a shuttle to bring us to the port.  The bus driver was hilarious, kind of gave us a tour on our thirty minute ride.  He was going to retire in 12 days! Once we got on the ship we did some exploring, Scott had been on the same ship before so he knew where a lot of things were.  We had some lunch, unpacked and then hung out by the pool.  We were suppose to go to a "emergancy drill" but we didnt...we kind of got scolded for that haha, but we figured if something happened we would just follow everyone else....we wanted to enjoy the sun...we were the only ones on deck...we thought it was pretty funny, the crew didn't...oops:)  So we hung out by the pool for most of the afternoon.  Then we got all dressed up for our first dinner we had the 8 o'clock dinner.  We met our "table mates"  Steve and Ebony, and Dave and Melissa.  Both very nice fun couples.  Dinner was great!  We were pretty tired so we went to bed after dinner.

 On the plane!

 Yeah..everyone else was at the drill like good passengers:)

 Sailing away from Miami!

 1st Dinner

 Our friends..Steve, Ebony, Melissa and Dave

Our room

Off we go!

We took Logan out to a "send off" dinner tonight.  We wanted to spend some special "two on one" time with him before we left for the cruise.  We went to Carraba's and Logan loved it!  It was a fun dinner!  We are looking forward to our cruise but we will miss our boys while we are gone!

Little Ninja!

Logan received his new belt rank at Karate this week!  He got his yellow belt with green tip!  He did a great job and he loves karate!  We are so proud of him!

 Receiving the new rank

So proud of himself!

Girls night!

We had girl's night at Molly's this week and we got to spend it with baby Blaise!  He is so cute!

Such a good little baby!