Back to the houseboat - hopefully this picture shows how large it was. For 14 people, it was pretty comfortable!
My favorite part was the deck and hot tub on the 2nd level - perfect for star gazing. The kids liked being up there too - there was TV as well as a built in radio - they loved dancing! Here's a video of dancing Tyler - he's got some moves! :)On our last night, a neighboring houseboat (we could barely see them though) set off crazy fireworks - I'm talking the Disneyland fill-up-the-sky-MUST-be-illegal type. It was very nice. :)
Here's a picture of my parents with (from left) Lindon, Andy, Will and Ken. Not bad for my parents - they've got all 4 of their kids married off pretty young - my dad's pretty lucky he doesn't have to worry about any old maids in the family.
Here's a photo of Will trying out the life vest on Tyler when we first got on the boat. MAN, was Tyler pissed. Look how red he is. I even have a video of him screaming and kicking, it's the saddest thing! We even kept Tyler on a leash in the beginning since we were so paranoid, but we loosened up (thank goodness). Good thing about having so many people on board, there's always someone who can watch a kid real quick!
Here's a video and some photos of the speedboat that we rented - it went fast! Definitely a good decision (although it was kind of pricey) to have since it got us off the main boat for other water activites and also allowed us to scout out quiet little coves to dock for the night! Even Tyler got to drive the boat! (that's Kareen and Grace being pulled in the back)!Here's Andy driving, and me with Tyler - notice how upset Tyler looks in his life vest!
Not sure if you can really tell, but that's Will and my brother in law Ken being pulled in the raft behind the speedboat. We worked out a system of signals for faster, slower, and STOP!! The scenery was pretty breathtaking too!
For the hike on the 2nd day, we had to maneuver the houseboat through a super narrow gap - a gap the houseboat driving instructor recommended us to NOT go through. We're fearless though! Will got us through with no problems, but we were definitely all holding our breaths. Here's a photo of Will driving from the top deck - yikes! I think everyone would agree that Will was the best houseboat driver (although we did have a rough landing one night!).
Here's a shot of the houseboat after we had docked it to go hiking. Most people head in here on a speedboat.
Here's a shot of the beginning of our hike, walking from the bridge of the dock to land. It really was amazing and beautiful - and SUPER sunny.
I was worried that we hadn't brought any tennis shoes for Tyler - I had no idea we were going to be hiking! Luckily, my older sister had some extra tennis shoes for my nephew Ryan that Tyler got to borrow - he was so cute in them! Definitely a bonus for Tyler of having a cousin the same age! However, Tyler never even set foot on the ground - he didn't want to walk and we ended up holding him the whole way. F U N .
It was so hot that Tyler forgot how much he hates wearing hats. Usually he tears his hat off (or anything else on his head) the moment we put it on, but for some reason that day he didn't object. He was super thirsty too and kept motioning for water. I'm sure there's some backwash going on in the picture! :) Good thing we were lathered in sunblock.
Here's a group shot of the whole family on our last day. It was definitely a lot of fun, and I can't wait for us to all take another trip together. It's just going to get crazier I'm sure, since there'll just be more and more little ones each time!
I mentioned how nice it was that Tyler and his cousin are so close in age. It's cute seeing them play together, but man did they fight too! :) They always wanted to play with whatever the other one was playing with. It was hilarious, until someone got shoved and started crying. Usually it would quickly get to where both boys are holding onto the same toy screaming. :)
But Ryan is pretty smart - he knows his spot on the food chain! He gets pushed around by his older brother Adam, and realized he could do the same to Tyler! I even caught it on tape! :) kids, heehee.
Back at the marina, they had water fountains for kids to play in - Tyler got such a kick out of them! He ended up completely drenched, but it was so hot that day that his clothes dried super quick.
Ooh, on the way home, Tyler had his first happy meal! Who knew, but they are much healthier now! Tyler had just gotten the hang of a straw (ok, I had just started letting him use one...) and really enjoyed his milk, chicken nuggets, and apple slices!
Hopefully it won't be too long until Tyler gets to play with his cousins again! Here's a shot of Ryan, Tyler and Adam the night before they left to go back to Houston. 
Saturday we had lunch with our friends Jeff/Joan/Antonio/little Jake/baby Brandon. They had brought Zachary's pizza from Berkeley! Yum! I was quite proud of myself - there were mushrooms in the pizza and I STILL ate it. OK, so I didn't know at first, but when I realized, I didn't freak out like I usually do. Whoohoo - progress! Afterwards, the boys went to play golf and Joan and I took the kids to South Coast Plaza. With the exception of a mini meltdown at the end of the day (Tyler was the unknowing instigator!), everything went smoothly! We'll have to do it again! Dinner we tried out a Brazilian BBQ place in Irvine -Agora Churrascaria - Tyler was not very cooperative though (it was way past his bedtime).Here's big brother Jake watching over Brandon and Tyler!
I caught Tyler sucking on his toes. ?! Not sure when he started doing that, but when I noticed he laughed and looked guilty. Hmm. He tried doing it too later with shoes on too, blech! :)
Sunday was the Chinese Autumn Moon day so we spent it with Will's family in Monterey Park. We tried out a new nap schedule for Tyler (he's only on 1 nap a day at daycare now) and it seemed to work out alright. Here's Tyler and me with 2 of Will's aunts, his parents, and grandmother. His uncle is in the picture too! (see the sleeping guy in the background right). Tyler started out a little shy (fresh from a nap) but warmed up soon to Will's parents - he was super comfortable with them and was running after them and sitting in their laps!
Some random pictures from the past week:
I can't quite seem to come up with a good caption for this photo, but Tyler has such a funny expression on his face!
Natural lip gloss = drool!
Tyler reads better in the (almost) nude. 
1 comment:
yay more houseboat pixs!
i love the one of ryan pushing tyler. it's so sad but hilarious!! tyler tooo cute...
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