Corporate Research

So we have been asked by many who live far away if we can ship cupcakes. We would love to do it but it is hard to do and we wondered how other cupcake places do it so we ordered some cupcakes from Saint Cupcake. When the box arrived, we decided to share it with Titi so we invited her over for dinner and after dinner we dove in to check it out.The whole concept of Saint Cupcake is an interactive experience. You get the cupcake deconstructed and it is your job to put it all together - you get to ice the cupcake and cover it in sprinkles and then eat it. Not everyone at the table was keen on the do it yourself thing but it was fine by me.We also tasted all the components individually so we could rate how they tasted. It was pretty unanimous at the table that the cupcakes tasted very chemically and full of preservatives and the icing was not good at all.All in all - we weren't impressed and we don't think we would want to ship our cupcakes this way.

Opening Ava's Presents

Christmas was very hectic and since we left early the next morning for our fabulous vacation, we never had a chance to focus on Ava opening her gifts from the family - she got a chance to open her gifts from Santa but not from everyone else so we took some time and opened them together. It was super fun to watch her open her gifts when she was fully rested. What a sweet baby we have! We even found there were a couple left for Jasmine to open!

Wise Men Day

Coming from a multicultural background, I was raised in an environment where we had some traditions that were different than everyone else I knew. One of these is the observance of Wise Men Day which happens on the 6th of January. This is the day that the Wise Men reach baby Jesus and shower him with the gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.
Traditionally in South America, the night before, you put out a shoe for the Wise Men to fill with gifts for you and usually these are way better than what Santa brings on Christmas.My mother and grandmother wanted to do something fun for the grandchildren so we brought over the girls' shoes and ours the night before for the Wise Men to fill.We went to my mom's house the next night (January 6th) to see what the wise men had brought us. It was so fun and Jasmine and Roman were so excited. Everyone dove in and at the end of the evening there were smiles all around. Thank you Wise Men!

Last Day on the Ship

We tried not to do much on our last day aboard. We relaxed, sat by the pool, took naps, wandered around the ship and packed. I put Ava in her sailor outfit and with her sun-kissed cheeks, she looked like she had a fabulous time on her first big family vacation with us.Jasmine spent the day with her kids club being a pirate and participating in the children's talent show. She had told us she wanted to sing and so we had practiced with her and even told the directors that she would be singing. We arrived at the show and when they announced Jasmine, they said she would be doing a dance. This really disappointed us because Jasmine is a girl with many talents and she hadn't practiced a dance and so she was just winging it like the other little girls her age instead of doing something that would blow the crowd away, like singing one of her songs. We watched her dance and clapped for her but really saw this as one of the first falling into peer pressure situations Jasmine has been in. We are going to have to help her understand that being different and being herself are great things to be.We didn't take any more pictures on our last day because we didn't do anything photo worthy but it was a nice and relaxing day on the ship. We look forward to our cruise next year...

Last Port of Call - Cancun, Mexico

What better way to begin 2010 than to be in Cancun Mexico? As we got off the boat to explore, we found it to be a most gorgeous day. We decided not to purchase any excursions in Cancun because we wanted to explore and take a look around. We also decided to go to a local beach on our own.The shopping in Cancun is amazing. You can find everything you are looking for except a cute swimsuit that isn't a bikini.There are also a lot of people everywhere. My husband likes to say that I don't like people - this isn't true, I love people fine, just not when I am on vacation or trying to do something cool!
We found a taxi driver and asked him to take us to a local beach that wasn't too far away. The place he took us to was lovely.The water was like bathtub temperature and it was clear and gorgeous. Jasmine loved playing in the sand and at first didn't want to go in the water. She eventually let Laura and I take her in.
Ava on the other hand wasn't such a fan - she wasn't sure what to make of it so we only dipped her feet in and then let her relax for the rest of the time. Unfortunately I didn't bring sunblock off the boat so she got a tiny bit sun-kissed.That night after dinner, they put on a Chocoholics Buffet and they had all kinds of chocolate desserts and chocolate sculptures as well. I piled it on my plate but ended up only eating a bit of most of the desserts - many were not that good - they looked better than they tasted.It was then time for bed and it was a great first day of the year - they should all be this good.