A FEW SHOTS OF THE HEFFS

BANZAI!!! Lucy asserts her personality in Turks & Caicos. A few of her favorite phrases include: "Myself! Myself" - "Fries" and "NO!" In no particular order, here are some good shots of the Lucy.

FUN TOWEL CREATURES

Great suite at the resort. The maid left towel creatures for our enjoyment and Adrian and Jess enjoyed the jacuzzi tub. Surprisingly, there was no shampoo left the next morning.

FAMILY ACTIVITIES

There were tons of things for the younger kids, and Jessica jumped into a few of the Sesame Street Activities with Lucy - even though she was much too old for the 'baby' games. Cooking With Cookie Monster was quite fun, and a big photo op for the parents. And the big Under The Sea Parade was good for all ages. Jessica led Lucy through the conga line.

DAILY SNORKELING FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY

The resort had multiple snorkeling trips per day off the dock, and Jessica was amazing going right out into the ocean with us for her first snorkel. We snorkeled every day of the trip except the day we left. Some key 'finds' were a turtle, scary baracuda and a baby lion fish. Props to Bren for finding the lion fish! We also did a Conk and Sand Dollar snorkel and Adrian was the king of the deep pulling up a live conk. The cruise ended with the crew cleaning the conks (underwater they just look like rocks with a bunch of seaweed growing on them) and pulling out the giant snail part and making conk-salad for the ride home. Jess and I passed on the 'slug salad' and ate the plain pasta salad instead. Here is a shot of our conk, and one extra we brought home for Jerri and Brendan. And let's all be honest - nothing says 'family holiday' like yanking a live sea creature out of the ocean, eating it for lunch and then carting it home to become a lovely bookend on Jessica's bookcase.

JESSICA FELL IN LOVE WITH THE WATER SLIDE

The resort had 6 or 7 pools, but one was an uber-kid-friendly pool with water slides and a 24-hour 50's-style diner for food and drinks. This was Jessica's favorite hang, although the swim-up smoothie bar in the main pool was also popular. Lucy also enjoyed the swim-up bar with a little help from mom and dad.

ADRIAN WORKS HIS MAGIC

So when we arrived, we had a great garden-view suite. Not good enough for Mr. Nash and he worked his foreign magic to get us moved into a lovely Ocean-view room. Double balcony and views right to the water with lovely sounds of waves crashing against the shore. The resort sits right on the beach, so most of the rooms are moments from the sand.

THE BEST FAMILY HOLIDAY EVER!!!

So we arrived fairly late in Turks & Caicos, did a walk-around, got a few snacks in the room(s) and crashed on Saturday night. First thing Sunday morning we headed out to the pier to take a look around at the Paradise (or so we hoped) that was our holiday spot for the next week. Gorgeous water! Gorgeous room! 24-hour food AND LATTES! I knew I had died and gone to heaven.

Not to Brag!!! But . . . .

Jessica made first quarter Honor Roll, so we had many celebrations and scoops of Baskin Robbins ice cream!!! Second quarter coming up soon, so we're keeping our fingers crossed for a repeat.

Thanksgiving Lunch '07

A fun time was had by all at the school Thanksgiving lunch. Plenty of parents on hand to pass out juice boxes and clean up spilled corn after the feast was finished in ten minutes flat. Mostly the kids wanted to skip the turkey and stuffing (Why is it so squishy? I'm not eating it!) to get to the pie, and games afterward. Jessica enjoyed lunch and then broke out her Spongebob Squarepants Game of Life. Jess, Sydney and Ananda, BFF's Forever, (or at least for second grade) hung out as per usual.

Please Stow Your Tire in the Overhead Compartment

In case anyone missed it, it was Nascar Races in Phoenix this past weekend. Apparently Nascar people need special reminders of what can and can't be brought onto an airplane. Hard to believe they are giving me agro about my hand creme when others are insisting their special 10-40 oil additives will get chilled in the luggage compartment.

A big WHATEVER!!

Mom and Jess Kick it Jacuzzi-Style

Adrian races Jessica around the fields, but Mom prefers to relax in a warm jacuzzi.

Gotta Love the BLD Ballparks

The new BLD in Phoenix is almost ready to open and looks to be the best of the best. Eight fields, all replica major league stadiums. Jessica enjoyed the tour, but was disappointed the smoothie machine wasn't up and running yet. The first shot is one of the local fields we'll also use. Very nice!

The Pool Choices

So we narrowed the big decision down to three choices - with three very different kinds of pools. All three options have good jacuzzis, but one option has four different jacuzzis nestled into the mountainside overlooking the Phoenix skyline. Oh, and one option has a slide. That was Jessica's favorite. Any votes for best pool???

WHAT IS THIS ALIEN FUNGUS

And don't tell me it's some kind of mushroom. It's not. It's an alien fungus of some type. The type you touch and when you wake up in the morning your arm has turned into an alien pod filled with more tiny little alien fungi. We keep getting these 'things' sprouting up in our yard.

They look a bit like a banana, in size and color, but with a strange top. We had our spooky halloween skeleton out, and this weird thing looks scarily like a skeleton pe#is.

Help, what is it, and how do we get rid of them?!

The Pink Punk Pirate Pets at Page

Proud Pink Punk Pirate Purloins Precious Pets at Page, Publishes Papers Pertaining to Probable Possibilities of Purchase.

The petting zoo at Page was Miss Jessica's favorite spot today at the school Halloween Carnival. And Mr. Nash was quite happy to dunk Principal Evans in the dunk tank. Mom was sorry to miss it, but wasn't quite ready to navigate hordes of suger-crazed kids on crutches.

Adrian captured these shots on his cell phone. Thank goodness for modern technology.

'How You Doin' Pink Punk Pirate?!

Today is Halloween party day at Jessica's school, so we were up early to do her hair, and make pirate braids and pink stripes. Jessica SO loved the Pirate Party at TPT, she decided to skip the Disney Princess theme and go for a Pink Punk Pirate Ensemble instead. MUCH more interesing in my opinion, and who needs another excuse to wear our new Kenneth Cole boots?!

A Note To Remember

When Jess is a teen, and thinks I'm the most horrid mother in the world, I'll have a few notes like this one to look back on.

Light's Out

The Gnasher family had a fun night of old-school entertainment in a recent power outage. We had a HUGE Los Angeles Storm, perhaps it rained all of five minutes, and power was down across the southland. We played Barbie's by candlelight and Adrian got to try out his cool earthquake lantern.

Mom We're Having a Great Time

Here are the kids during their slumber party while their slacker mother Jerri was off having fun and games at the hospital. Jerri made SUCH a big deal out of having emergency surgery on her appendix. Geez, as if she couldn't take care of her kids AND have surgery. Obviously she is not a fit parent and child services needs to give them to me. MU HA HA. Jess and Lucy got up early to snuggle on the couch and watch TV. And Lucy and Charlie enjoyed their pantless freedom wearing various ensembles of Jessica's.

WE'RE BACK!

OK, we've been in the black hole that is TPT, but we're now back and ready to get back on the blog. I'll just throw up some shots I've been saving. Here is one I love of Jessica's hair all curly from braids. We'll be doing this style for our Halloween Pink Punk Pirate ensemble. Complete with pink hair streaks. Stay tuned!