Cozumel, Belize, and Honduras

     The first stop on our cruise was to Cozumel, Mexico. Lucky for us they have a port that we can easily unload of off. The next two stops we will have to take tenders. The plan for Cozumel was to relax at the beach and just snorkel like crazy. But when we got there EVERYONE told us that you had to pay to go to the beach and they could take us somewhere better for cheaper and it would include the car ride there and boy was it a nightmare. Luckily for us we had Tanner, my RM from Peru, little brother to translate for us. We ended up paying for some guy to take us to a beach resort type deal where we could play in the water, snorkel, and have a relaxing day at the beach.
      I was worried that Jace was not going to be happy about the water, but surprisingly enough it wasn't too cold for him. He didn't like the waves so much. But he was rather content to just stay in the water and float around with Paul or myself. I got to go out snorkeling with the first group, (Paul is so great. He just let me go and swim around while he played with Jace). After I was finished, I took Jace and Paul went out. Jace and I played around in the water until he got fussy. By then Paul was back and we somehow managed to get him to nap. Paul took him and napped under the coconut trees for several hours, (such an amazing husband I have), so I could spend some more time snorkeling. I absolutely LOVE to snorkel. Its like being in a whole new world and I love it. So Paul gave me some extra time to go out with my family and just look at how beautiful everything is.
     After our time on the beach, we took our taxi back to the city center. The boys dropped our snorkeling gear off on the ship while the rest of us went out shopping. My translator brother got us some great deals on real chocolate, and pan dulce from the markets. We were supposed to meet up with the boys, but we never found them after they dropped off our gear. Eventually we met up with them on the ship. The welcome reception from the crew members is great. They all stand outside the boat with drinks and cookies and play music and dance for you. It was pretty great.

Silly Jace just doing his thing sitting in the stroller while we wait to play in the water. He loves to play with his feet so its no surprise he is doing it in the picture. 

He also loves to eat the lanyard for his bink. for some reason it tastes better than the bink itself

Enjoying the 80+ degree weather!

Jace's first reaction to the sand. He wasn't quite sure what to think....

Then he thought, oh ok, "I can handle this. Its kinda squishy and stuff!"

"...And then oh boy, I bet this would taste good!" We were cleaning sound out of his mouth for quite a while. We weren't quick enough to get it before he got a good fistful in his mouth. 

Jace deciding if he likes the water.

My two brothers getting in the water to snorkel. The water was so blue!

Enjoying the beach!

After a long day nothin' tastes better than the water in Mom's camelback!!

      The next stop on our cruise was in Belize. My family planned to go tubing in a river that goes through some caves. Paul and I really wanted to go, but they said that we couldn't take Jace with us. My dad said, just come talk to the people and maybe you can do ATVing instead. So we came with them and the guy said we could bring our baby on the tubing trip. So we ended up going with my family on an excursion. We took a bus an hour away from the port. Drove into pretty much the jungle and then got to our destination. Everyone else in our group did a zip line excursion so we were going to meet up with them, but they were delayed and we didn't end up catching up with them. It was such a bummer, but We still had fun. Jace was unsure about being in the dark, so for most of the trip I had to nurse him, but once we were out of the caves and in the sun light, he loved it. He was cooing and smiling at everyone. The company we booked our excursion with fed us a homemade lunch. We had authentic chicken tamales cooked in banana leaves. Finding bones in my tamale was a new experience, but other than that the food was good! While talking with our tour guide, we asked how they felt about tourists. They said tourism makes up a huge part of their economy so they are grateful for all of the white people that come to visit their country. He also said that 70% of Belize is undeveloped jungle! It is crazy to think how much land is available in places like that. He also said that more and more Canadians and Americans are buying property down in Belize for super cheap, developing it, and reselling it for a profit. It is just crazy to see how everything works in different countries.
     Because We had to drive so far to get to our excursion we didn't have a lot of time to look around or go shopping when we got back into the port town. We hit up a few stores just perusing. The tender ride back to the boat was 15 minutes long. They said it was a 5 mile trip because there is a reef just off of the coast of Belize so they can't bring the ships in too close. Jace didn't like it. The boat engines were too loud for him, and he cried most of the trip back. but lucky for us the noise was so loud no one could hear him crying for 15 straight minutes. Poor kid had to put up with a lot. But he did great, and as soon as we were off the tender and back in the quiet ship he did great.

We didn't get any pictures tubing because we were worried about the water, but after we met up with the family for lunch I snapped a few. 

Tallus chillin in a hammock chair

We look so sunburned!

He was so zonked out from the long day. It was nice for him to actually sleep!

Jace and Aunt Nena! She bought him his Hawaiian shirt and he loved it!

Jace crawling with the dinosuars!!

or just destroying them!!  

     Our last stop was the Banana Coast in Honduras. A small city called Trujillo. Normally our ship stops at a private island called Roatan, but for some reason they changed our itinerary. Paul and I were a little bit sad at first because we had heard fun things about Roatan, but after our visit we were super grateful for the opportunity to visit Trujillo. Trujillo has only been having ships port there for a short time, so its not super touristy and it is still a very impoverished city. Our group had no plans for an excursion in Honduras we just planned to walked around and see the culture. Once we got there we walked straight to the edge of the tourist area and into the actual city. We stopped and got some fresh coconut water (my favorite), and we also got to play with a monkey. Some guy would let you hold his monkey and take pictures of it. It was so cute. My mom held him and most of our group had a turn with the cute monkey on their shoulders.
      We walked up and through basically a neighborhood in search of a market that was run by locals for locals with hopes of getting a better price for food than what they were making the tourists pay by the port. We found a small little market on the side of the road, and Tanner translated for us and got a great deal on some lichees. We sat in the humidity and ate our delicious lichees before heading down into the city center to find some shopping places. It was so nice to have Tanner with us because we were able to get great deals because he knew the language so well.
      My family wanted to have an authentic Honduran meal so we asked a girl to show us where she would go to get a traditional meal. We sat down and had fresh squeezed orange juice, chicken, rice, plantain, and beans. All of that food for just under 2 US dollars. Crazy! It was super good. I felt so bad though because I couldn't eat all that food. I felt so bad wasting it because there are so many hungry kids there, but I just could not finish. We had our lunch, did a little more shopping, and then headed back to the ship.
     I can not tell you how many looks we got for having a blonde haired, blue eyed baby. It was like a wonder of the world I kid you not! If Paul and I had a dollar for every time someone either took a picture of Jace or asked to hold him, we would have easily made $100! People were just in love with him. It was super cute, but you better believe I made sure that we were near him all the time and could see him so he didn't disappear. Jace loved it though. He gave high fives and smiled is super cute smile, and let them hold him with out a fuss. I do just want to mention how poor this little city was. We talked with one of the locals, and she said that people here just have no way to make money. They are all so poor. She said that the cruise ship stopping here has been so great for their economy. People can make money for their family, and it gives them something to do rather than sit around doing nothing and being hungry. It made me truly grateful for the wonderful country that I live in, and all of the commodities that I am privy to.
     Thankfully this tender ride was only about 5 minutes long and on a smaller boat so it wasn't so crazy loud for Jace. We made it back to the boat and got a huge glass of ice water. Paul and I didn't realize how hot and dehydrated we actually were because it was more humid than hot so we just sweat out all our water without even thinking about it.
    Our last two days were at sea. We had to cruise from Honduras all the way back to Texas. We sure made the most out of them though. We played lots of shuffle board, bored games, and the girls even did pedicures. When we docked back in Texas I was both happy and sad. It was nice to be of a rocking boat and on dry land, but it was so much fun to be surrounded by family, and away from technology for a whole week. I got to see sides of my siblings that I never see because one of us always has a phone or tablet to distract us. I was sad to leave all of Jace's new friends behind also. Every single one of the cooks, waiters, or staff that ran into Jace just loved him to bits. But I was grateful to be able to put Jace back on a schedule again. We got off the boat, into our Taxi, and to the airport without much trouble. After our 2 hour wait, we boarded the plane, got home, then had to rush right to a family party for Paul's side of the family. We both tried to be pleasant, but we were so tired from traveling all day that we may have been less than pleasant to deal with. After the first family party, we had a second one with Paul's immediate family to go to. By then Paul, Jace and I were just EXHAUSTED! We made it through that family gathering and headed home. We finally got home, to our very own home and our very own beds by around 11:00 PM. Talk about a long day! Our vacation was great, but now we have to get into the Christmas mood. It is only 5 days away!

Drinking some delicious young coconut water!

Lena's face is kinda interesting, but we had to get a picture in front of one of the biggest houses we found. Of course it was gated and the fence had spikes on the top. This is not uncommon in places like this. If they aren't wealthy enough for spikes on their fence, they mortar crushed glass in the tops of the walls to keep their families safe. 

The both of us enjoying a lychee. Jace actually liked eating them more than I thought.

The both of them enjoying being fawned over by the locals.

Sitting down for lunch.

The boys. Trying to get wifi service. Typical

The girls, just enjoying the culture

And then there is me and my daddy

This is the massive plate of food that cost us less than 2 dollars. It was really good! 

Paul pretending he liked the food. Just kidding he enjoyed it quite a bit actually.

This thing was just posted on the wall. We took a picture in front of it just because it was cool. 

Not too excited about taking the picture with the crab tonight.

Even more not excited about it.

Luckily dad is there to help him feel a little better

maybe he is kind of a little happier

Took off his clothes and gave him some paper and now he is happy as a clam!

I think things are going to be ok

Waiting for dinner.

Day at sea. We were trying to tan, but it was so stinking cloudy

Everyone attempting to enjoy the somewhat sun

I know this one is just about the same as the one above, but Jace is actually smiling and looking so I had to keep both.

Nena just being Nena

Apparently boys have to have their electronic devices to enjoy the sun

Like I said, electronics.... 

Enjoying the hot tub because the waterslide was closed.

We actually got to cuddle and spend some time with no baby.

Jace loved the water until we pulled him out and the wind was cold.

Last day on the cruise we stayed up late playing games. Thankfully we got this guy to konk out on some chairs so we could play. 

We leave the country for a week and he learns how to crawl. I can't believe it!

Cruisin' in the Western Caribbean and 7 months for Jace

     Somehow I convinced my Dad to take all of the kids on a cruise this year for our Christmas present. I don't know how I actually got him to agree to it, but this year, the Blatter's took a trip to the Western Caribbean the week before Christmas.

    We left on Friday the 12th of December and all flew into Houston Texas at different times of the day. Paul, Jace, my Mom, Tallus, and I were all on the same flight and we arrived sometime around 2 ish. We had an uneventful flight and shuttle ride to our hotel for the night. Sadly we were pretty much in the ghettos of Texas half a miles walk from any sort of food place. Once we got to the hotel we were starving and walked the half mile to Burger King to get something to eat. We did have a small scare while checking in to the hotel when Jace, whom I didn't strap into his stroller because we were just walking inside, leaned too far forward and fell out face first onto the tile. Paul was terrified that he had cracked his skull, but thankfully everything was fine. He didn't hit his head at all. Jace just cried for a little bit and then calmed down. 

    Dad and the rest of my siblings, (minus Tyson and Yulia, who couldn't come because of work), arrived around 5 or 6 or so. We then braved about a mile walk through a semi scary neighborhood to get some food. We ate, got back to the hotel and just sort of hung around the rest of the night. Aunt Julie, Uncle Tim, and my cousin Brytt showed up around midnight but we didn't see them until morning. 

     Saturday the 13th we boarded the Norwegian Jewel. Boarding was a cinch and they took such good care of all of the passengers. After dropping off all of our carry on luggage, you better believe we hit up the buffet first thing. In my defense, it was a few hours past lunch and we hadn't eaten since breakfast, so food sounded great. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the ship, hanging out, and just resting. Jace was a major hit. EVERYBODY loved him. All the waiters and waitresses just loved to talk with him and play peek-a-boo and hi- five him. He made lots of fun friends throughout the trip. 

    Sunday was a day at sea. We really didn't do much. We played lots of games together as a family. took some Sunday naps, and played more games. We kept ourselves busy with shuffleboard, cribbage, and hand and foot. 

     Sunday, Jace turned 7 months. I tried to keep up with the stats for him so I will give a little rundown. Jace still hates pureed baby food. for a month now he has been doing baby led weaning and we are having a huge success. He chews his food a lot more than he did in the beginning. He gets more food in his mouth than he did at first also. He is most likely around 20 lbs. I haven't weighed him in a while, but if I had to guess, he is probably 20 or so. He has gone mobile. He has been pushing back to his knees and rocking like crazy and can army crawl for sure. He could sort of scoot around before, but now he scoots with purpose and can basically get anywhere he wants. Jace still doesn't sleep through the night. We are certainly working on it. He still has trouble putting himself to sleep as well. He goes down for a nap and bed time just fine as long as I nurse him, but eventually he will need to put himself down, and so that is a work in progress. Lately Jace has been obsessed with pooping in the bath tub. I don't know if he does it on purpose or if it just happens, but the past few weeks almost every other day he is in the tub we have had to drain the water and start over because I find little poops floating in the water. 

     Jace has done such a good job so far on the cruise. He is trying new foods, and being introduced to so many new people and doing just so well. I am excited to see how well the rest of the cruise goes for us.

This is how Jace plays with his toys. He loves to climb inside of the toy box to get all the good ones that hide in the back. Lately though he has been trying to pull himself up onto the toy box which is a little dangerous because it is so wobbly. 

Jace hanging out with his Aunt Nena before the cruise. She loves him and he loves her!

We are all just chillin in the hotel room waiting for our taxi to the cruise port. Jace is loving all the attention he is getting from his Aunts and Uncles. 

First night on the boat we played some cards. Jace was happy for some of that. He was napping originally but didn't stay sleeping for long. Eventually he woke up but was able to entertain himself for a while before the adults had to intervene and play with him. 

Day at sea #1. Just playing some games on the balcony and trying to get a little bit of sun in the process. 

We discovered that Jace LOVES watermelon. He eats it like crazy, and tries to stuff his cheeks so full that he can't fit any more into his mouth. This is a picture after he devoured most of his watermelon. The rest he is saving for later in his little cheeks like a chipmunk!  

After dinner we played outside on the deck while everyone took turns playing shuffleboard. Jace played with his toys and practiced his army crawling. 

Our cute family. Jace was pulling faces most of the time so this was the best picture we got. 

I just love the little towel animals that they leave for us every night. Our first night we got a puppy. Jace was more interested in eating the eyes than anything else about it, but it was fun to take pictures of him with the animals each night. 

The First-ish Snow!!

     The day after I finished typing up the last blog post about Jace and I just waiting for it to snow, it snowed! We didn't get a whole lot of snow. Maybe an inch, maybe even less. But there was enough for us to take Jace on his first sledding experience and see what he thought about snow.
     I think Jace wasn't sure what to think about the snow at first. He liked it, but he tipped over and white washed himself first thing. He was a little hesitant with the snow after that for a little bit. He liked being pulled around on the inner tube, and even giggled a little bit when we pulled him fast through the snow. He also loved eating it. Jace isn't a huge fan of cold food, but he gobbled up the snow we gave him. His facial expressions were so silly. But he ate all the snow that we gave him.

Jace's very first run in with the snow. My apologies for the bad video skills

Jace was a little bit upset because I let him face plant right into the snow. 

He seemed to like being on the tube as long as it was moving.

Jace eating snow for the first time. Don't you even worry, I made sure it wasn't yellow! 

Tasting the snow. Yum

He didn't like just holding still in the snow. We always had to be doing something. 

Has it Really Been 6 Months?

       I honestly can't believe that Jace is 6 months. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was writing up the blog for him being 5 months old. Jace has grown so much this past month! He rolls all over the place without any hesitations. He can pretty easily get from sitting to his tummy. We still have a few mishaps, but most of the time its a success. He has been pushing himself up on his tummy and just a few days ago started planking and working on pushing himself to his knees. He is working on crawling already and I am just not ready! I have a feeling that he could be crawling by Christmas. I hope not, but it is looking like possibility.  Jace is trying to scoot forward. He can sometimes, but he is much much better at scooting backwards. That usually upsets him though, because he gets further and further away from his toys. Jace love his binkey. Sometimes he even has two or three in his mouth. He also loves to play with his toys on the floor. He likes to eat squash, sometimes, and carrots, sometimes, and banana sometimes. He is so silly. Off and on he likes his foods but other times the same food he gobbles up, he acts like he is choking on it and gags it down. Silly kid. We are starting to try baby lead weaning because Jace really wants to eat like a big kid. We will see how that goes over the course of the next month.
      For the past few months Paul has been helping our landlord, (his aunt), build a patio. We decided the easy pavers were just not challenging enough. Instead we have taken upon ourselves to lay a flagstone patio. It has been a rough few months with lot of manual labor, but I am excited to say that we are almost done! I am sad that we didn't take a good before and after picture. We had already started clearing the grass and such out of the way before we thought about taking pictures. We do have some good progress pictures. I can't wait until it is done because then I will kind of somewhat have a husband again. He still has to study for his last CPA test, so I won't truly have my husband back, but I am pretty sure he won't be as busy when he just has to study.
      Jace and I are just waiting patiently for it to snow a good snow. I am surprised we haven't had more because we live right at the foot of big cottonwood canyon. But we really have only had a few sprinkles. I really want to see how Jace responds to the snow, and I really want to have a lazy stay at home because its snowing and cuddle day. Now that I am home with Jace instead of working I can actually do that.
   

Jace loves to do the whole big boy thing. Dad decided it was time he learned how to drive. Start 'em young I suppose!

Aint nothin' better than lounging around in a diaper and no shirt!

And again, the big boy thing. He loves to attempt to drink out of our cups. He does great at getting the water in his mouth, but he is still figuring out the whole swallowing thing. 

I got to babysit for my friend Meagan the other day. Jace had a blast playing with Lyla. He only tried to eat her headband a few times. But after that they played pretty nicely together. 

I can't get enough of those cute cheesy grins. He makes my heart melt every time he smiles. 

Sunday naps are the best! I think its so cute when those two snuggle. I am slightly jealous. But I get twice as many snuggles with Jace as Paul does, so I really shouldn't complain. 

I love how they play together. It is so much fun to see how Jace learns to interact with the world around him. 

The only way to play with your toys, is to get down and dirty and in the toy box itself! Jace likes it best when I let him pick his toys out of the box. 

He was having a bit of an emotional day today. I tried to get some smiles, but it took quite a while. The little mummy that he is eating is one of his favorite toys. He got it while we were trick or treating with Paul's parents, and he has been attached to it almost ever since. 

After some snuggles, and help from Paul, we actually got some smiles out of this guy for his 6 month pictures. 

It is so so fun to watch him figure out how to play with his toys, and see what he does with them.

He is starting to plank and pull himself up onto his knees. While he is on his knees, Jace is also trying to rock back and forth. I am excited for him to crawl, but gosh, I am not looking forward to having a mobile baby! We will just have to see how long it takes. 

Halloween 2014

     Because Jace was so little, Paul said I couldn't take him trick or treating. My parents and I thought it would be fun to do a Halloween party for us older kids that have babies too young to go trick or treating. We decided on a theme, Wreck it Ralph, and planned our costumes around the movie. I decided that Paul would be Fix it Felix, Jace would be Wreck it Ralph, and I would be Candlehead, one of the racers from the Sugar Rush game.
     The best part about was making hair for Jace. Ralph has lots of hair, and Jace has hardly any. So I managed to put something together to make him look a little closer to what we wanted.
    Monday before Halloween Paul and I went to my parents to carve pumpkins. It is somewhat of a Blatter family tradition to carve pumpkins and and make delicious caramel apples. So this being the first Halloween in the SLC Valley in a long time, I thought it would be fun to continue with the tradition. My mom makes the best cinnamon white chocolate caramel apples. So you better believe that is what I pigged out on!  
 A few days before Halloween, Paul's mom, had a trick or treating activity at her work. Which was good for us because we wanted to see his parents, but we didn't want to drive all the way out to their place then have to drive to my parents all in one day. This made it so much easier. We were able to celebrate a Halloween with them and not have to worry about splitting the time. We had fun going around to all of Julie's clients trick or treating. Some of them were dressed up and it was really cute.
     Halloween with my family was really fun, but low key. We all dressed up as something from Wreck it Ralph. My mom was Venelope. Dad was Gene from the Fix it Felix game. Tyson was a little bummed because originally we had planned to do pirates of the Caribbean, so he had grown out his beard to be Mr. Gibbs. But he pulled of a Wreck it Ralph character by being one of the Cow boys from the game Tappers. Tallus and his girlfriend were the game pong.
    We kept everything pretty low key because the younger two sibs had plans to trick or treat. We had dinner together. The younger children left, and the adults played a few games. After that we watched the oh so classic Halloween movie "Hocus Pocus." I know it doesn't sound like a crazy amazing party, but it was just what we needed. We hope to turn this into a tradition. And as the years pass it should get a little more lively because the grand kids will be old enough to enjoy a few games.

Jace trying on his hair hat to show me how much bigger I needed to make it

Jace and Lyla playing at her house. She is so smiley its cute. Jace just does his own thing and takes over all her toys. 

Paul got PRK Lasik and was seriously out for a few days. He is still trying to heal, but he enjoys the fact that his vision is clearer than it was before. (without his glasses). 

Because Paul had just had eye surgery, he didn't trust himself to carve a pumpkin so my dad carved Jace's pumpkin. Jace was so silly. He loved the guts, but of course, he tried to eat them!

Just showing off his pumpkin guts

In Cottonwood Heights there are tons of trees. Jace decided he loves the fall just as much as I do. He likes to eat the leaves more than play in them, but I think it will get better. For now, I guess I will just have to be ok with the leaf eating. 

Sometimes, when I can't get his food made fast enough, I have to keep him happy with the breakfast of champions, nerds and fruit snacks. Neither of them really worked but it made for a good picture. 

Jace all dressed up on the way to go trick or treating at Grandmas work

I was a bad mom and let Jace eat a sucker. He did a great job eating it. Only tried to choke himself once, and that was only because he tried to eat the wrong end of the sucker. There were lots of tears when I told him he had had enough, and took the sucker away. But I think he has forgiven me.

Jace with no hair, but really big eyebrows. He is just so cute. 

The three of us dressed up for the family Halloween party. 

Daddy all dressed up as Gene

Mom dressed up as Venelope 

Paul and I made ghost brownies

Witch finger cookies

They were supposed to look more like eyeballs, but these deviled eggs were the hit of the party. 

Wreck it Ralph enjoying his sippy cup on top of Mimi and Papa's table