Tommy in Curacao

Checkin' Out The Ladies of Curacao!

Caribbean Napping-Half Moon Cay

For all the times that we comment about what a rascal little Coop is, this is a picture of our little boy curling up in my arms, under the cover of a beach clamshell shelter, in the sweltering sun, with the chaos of a packed beach all around him...

and sleeping the afternoon away!


While in the Ft. Lauderdale airport, as our flight to Houston was being canceled, Coop decided he'd had enough. He plopped himself down on the concrete floor beside me, lay himself out flat, and proceeded to fall asleep. We were stepped over and smiled at, with a long line of frustrated and worried Continental travelers snaking around us, and he never stirred.

Not bad for our little rascal!

Sail Away!

Today was the big day! The day all our plans revolved around....making the ship boarding. If the ships leaves, you don't, and Lil talked to people on the cruise who'd learned this all too well. They had missed their flight, caught another that put them into port half hour after sailaway time. They probably could have seen the ship from the pier! Anyway, they then had to find a flight to Aruba and sit there until our ship made it there into port on Saturday. They missed three days on the ship and spent a ton of extra money as a result.
Anyway, we made it, and immediately found it to our liking! People are REALLY, REALLY friendly on a cruise. They are helpful, they are smiling and laughing, they are eager to please. They want to meet you, know where you live, then tell some sort of story about where you live and share with you their thoughts and feelings. They laugh and ooh and aah over your children, point and whisper to each other as you pass. I am so thankful that Coop does not have issues being touched, as he was like some sort of cuddly pet on this trip, with people stopping to touch his hair at all turns. People in the elevators would stoop down just to look at his curls, then walk away with a passing rub to his head. It's amazing what tight ringlets will do for a person!

John and I were very excited about showing the boys a big ship. It's thrilling all the amazing stuff there is on a ship, from the entertainment side, such as the pools and hot tubs, to the long halllways in which to fly down! For any child, I'm sure the enormity of a ship in itself is a big deal, and we have waited a long time to take Tommy back to a place such as this. We headed out to the decks where the party had already started. We played soccer, hoops and squirt guns up in the sports court, then checked out the kids play are, Club HAL. The sun was shining and it was warm, and I could feel the effects of a long, long winter begin to fade, just a bit. We had our dinner in the Lido, or as Tommy took to calling it, the WEEDOH! The lines were long with people grubbing it up, and I had a hard time not being a little put off by the looks of that, as if they had not eaten in months and were suddenly prepared a banquet. The bounty of fruits and good things to eat proved too tempting, though, and we cautiously participated, if but a little. We spent time together in our cabin, where Cooper promptly got to work learning all there is to know about the toilet system, the mini bar/fridge and everything on any shelf or cabinet there was to find! Later, during Coop's afternoon siesta, we were called up to the decks for the life boat drill. For an adult, this is not the best way to start your cruise. For a toddler being pulled away from his nap...it's a definite challenge. Coop managed to put the huge life vest on, but with the sun beating down on him, he began to melt...down....badly. With all the screaming and carrying on, I eventually had the people stuffed against me trying to help me with him, as he flailed away and begged and screamed for daddy. Of course, daddy had to be back further with all the men ( women and children in front, if you remember the Titantic!). Eventually, an officer came up to me and gave me permission to take off his life jacket. I was then able to hand him back through the crowd to his dad, which made it all better. Usually a child will cling to his mother when upset...well, you now have Cooper....and he chose that exact time to desperately need his dad! I have never been so thankful for the end of life boat drilling!!!
Eventually, after all the partying and exploring, we found our way to the ice cream stand, then headed up to our cabin. Tommy curled up on his couch-turned bed and promptly began snoring. Cooper lasted until 11 pm, still content to explore the cabin and play.

We've been away...

Hopefully Cynthia will update our recent adventure :)



It started out as a spreadsheet, really. A way for us to organize all the items, big and small, that we needed (and maybe just "wanted") to take along with us on this adventure. Although I would try to deny it, there was some fear as I looked at the spreadsheet. How would this ever work? How would we even make it on the plane? And would it be worth all the trouble?

YES

12 Days is a long time to be away. 12 days with Tommy would be a long, long time to be away. 12 days with Tommy and COOPER would be an eternity, and I will say that he was the wild card in all of this. We knew Tommy would adapt, would make the most of it. He would love the sun, enjoy the other people, at the very least spend all his time in the pool. Cooper, on the other hand, throws a tantrum in the grocery store if the cereal box isn't JUST the right color! Coop only drinks one type of formula (Costco) and I doubted I would find that particular brand in the jungle of Panama should we run out. Coop eats chicken nuggets and Dairy Queen....more strikes to the food list. Basically, Coop runs the Whipple show at this particular time, no matter how we look at it. I know parenting books would say otherwise, but reality is that Cooper is showing us exactly what "almost two" looks like for normal toddlers. Tommy passed this stage without as much as a whimper, so this is new territory for us.

Two weeks before, Tommy missed all week of preschool due to a bad cold. The week before we had word that a bad flu was going around, and as I knew that parents at our school were still bringing their sick kids into school, I opted to keep the boys away from preschool and quarantine them the week before we left. That meant no outings, no grocery store, no mall...nothing. John and I prepared for the trip on our own and kept the boys at home that week. It was drastic, but worth it for some peace of mind to know that we were doing the best we could to keep them as healthy as possible. Cooper's cold cleared up, then returned that weekend, so Bruce and I opted to use up some of our old meds at that time, rather than risk continued green goo and nasty cough on multiple travel legs. We were packed up on Sunday for the most part. Monday both John and I worked. That night, despite the anxiety of the weekend, we felt pretty relaxed. Packing was done....

Tuesday- Travel Day 1

John has Pink Eye! Are you kidding me?!!!! Pink Eye?!!! At 6:30 in the morning?!!! Before our morning flight to Houston?!!! Okay, so maybe we call up Robin and have her call in a prescription to the Burien Walgreens. Do I have an old bottle? No! I gave it away to the Allens this summer. Got to get a bottle of Pink Eye juice! JENNNY!!!! Text Jenny...of course she is still sleeping, not having to get up this early to work out as usual. Text Jenny again! I'm feeling bad, but worried enough to not feel bad enough to stop frantic texting. Okay, going to call now. Call again. If I have to go up there and pound on her door I guess I will have to do that. Thankfully, Jenny saves the trip and calls me back, and yes, she still has Sophia's bottle of Pink Eye medicine from a few weeks ago. Crisis averted! Thanks, Jenny, for saving our trip. Not sure we would have managed to get it all sorted out before our flight left. We broke this day into "legs". The trip to Seattle, the flight to Houston, the flight to Ft. Lauderdale, the shuttle to our Ft. Lauderdale hotel for the night. Each part of our day went so smoothly it was beautiful. Cooper had some minor flooding issues in his pants, but that was the parents fault for not changing him, and the people around him thought his chubbly legs were pretty cute anyway. I forgot to pack a second pair of pants in our carry on, so he walked around the airports in his shirt and diaper. We watched some Elmo and Phineas and Ferb, and shuffled the kids between our seats and Grandma and Grandpa's. Coop seemed most relaxed hanging out with Grandma, and spent a lot of time curled up in her lap. Tommy was quite taken with everything, and did a fine job all day long.

Tommy's 5th Birthday

Erica and Brad made it up last night and we went out together to celebrate at Red Robin. it is so fun to sit and enjoy a real meal together with the kids enjoying their time together. This morning I went out for a run before the guys went on their run, then we settled in to enjoy the day together. Erica and I went out for supplies while the guys entertained the troops for us. By afternoon, it was time to get our party started...but I was pretty relaxed about the whole thing, including not setting a time for the whole thing to start or how it would all come together. I think the highlight of the afternoon was the super Indiana Jones cake, complete with jungle color, and Indiana action figure and a mountain with a ball rolling towards Indiana. Pretty cool cake in my opinion. Tommy loved opening his presents and received such wonderful gifts. The themes for this birthday were Indiana Jones, Webkinz and Star Wars legos.

Dear Tommy,

Mommy is so very blessed to call you my son. I can't believe you are five years old today! You are the sweetest, most precious boy, and I love you with all my heart. I love how you laugh at the most silly things, I love how your face lights up with such joy. I love how you wrap your arms around me and tell me how much you love me..."more than my house!" Honey, I love YOU more than anything in this world, and I always will. Five years ago your Mom and Dad were blessed with a miracle neither of us could have ever imagined.

Tommy's 5th Birthday begins early!

Today we celebrated Tommy's 5th birthday with his preschool friends at Fun Zone in Bellingham. John and I had debated about where to have it and how much we were willing to spend, but after watching all the kids bounce and run themselves into exhaustion for almost two hours, we realized that it was so worth the price we paid to have our party there. In the morning I was preschool helper, listening to the kids give extra attention to the birthday boy, watching him have the extra classroom duties like counting numbers for the calendar and being line leader, and then having the kids sing to him at snack time. It was so wonderful to see the little smile on his face throughout the morning. By late that afternoon, as I rushed off for an evening of training at work, both the boys were exhausted from all the activity..and it's only Wednesday!

Thursday!

Today, Tommy took his first playdate....to Carson Neff's house. Michelle and I have been trying to make this work for what seems like forever now, but this week was even more tricky due to my crazy training schedule this week. Between work scheduling and the babysitters that we have coming and going, it was difficult to organize. But we finally managed it, and when John went to pick him up, he was holding a Wii controller in his hand and asking to stay longer. I'd say that was a successful first playdate for him...

Friday night!

Today, Brad, Erica, Emma and Grace rolled into town, and we started the weekend party with a trip to Red Robin! Fun times with them all!

Captain Cooper

Maybe No Easter Bunny

Tonight, while cuddling in bed, Tommy said to me, "Mom, the Easter Bunny is just a big man in a costume, right?"
"What?" I asked, clearly buying for time, trying to figure out the "correct" thing to say to my almost five year old who is starting to figure it all out, and way too soon.
"He's not real, Mom, he's just in a costume, right?"

"Nah, baby. He's a big bunny that delivers Easter baskets full of chocolate, right?"

He didn't answer me, but just smiled. How is it ending already?

Feeding Time

I have had many conversations about the eating habits of my boys. Thomas will eat just about anything, making it extremely easy to feed him whenever and wherever we may be. He's even tried sushi and like it..once. Now he's not so sure, but we recently got him hooked on Pho, a bit on the spicy but not too much red sauce. He prefers grandma's mashed potatoes and gravy, or just about anything else she'll whip up for him. He'll ask for salad and veggies with dip, and he goes through a ton of apples when grandpa's munching with him. He's into Mexican, Chinese and Thai. He'll ask for Red Robin many nights a week, and we have to ration him on Clucks n' Fries...now with a side of Buzz sauce. I didn't know almost 5 year olds could even stomach Buzz sauce!

Cooper..well, I was warned that things could be drastically different with a second. Cooper's main staple is Dairy Queen "anna", or Dilly Bar. He wakes up asking for "anna", and gets quite vocal if we tell him not yet. When we mention going somewhere in the car, he's quick to yell, "Elmo"? and "Anna"? at the top of his lungs. Then he starts to bounce. Yes, bounce around, just like Tigger on a pogo stick. If we tell him anything other than this, he'll start to howl...and Lil can hear him hear him carrying on upstairs. Aside from Dairy Queen, we are very limited. He'll eat pancakes, waffles and French toast. Sometimes he'll eat grandma's eggs. He'll eat things he can dip in ketchup, like hot dogs, french fries chichen nuggets and anything else that's fried. He'll eat sausage and spagetti. He'll eat junk food like chips, puffs and ice cream. He won't touch dressings, salsas or dips. He won't touch a vegetable or a fruit. He'll eat JUST the tips of popsicles, and will go through a whole box of "tips" if you let him, then howl when you cut him off. He drinks a ton of water, both hot and cold, both clean and water from the bathtub and outside puddles. He maybe will drink hot chocolate when Tommy gets it, but a lot of it ends up tipped into his lap. Today I filled his cup with chocolate milk, then turned my back to see what he would do. He seemed to get a lot of it down. I would love it if he would add this drink to his diet...it's part milk, right? The other day he tried a bite of cheeseburger..then flung it over the seat and into my lap...as I was trying to navigate through the snowstorm on the pass. I guess he hasn't acquired that taste just yet!

He seems to be growing, so I run from worried on some days to not caring on others.

Washing and Painting the Sailboat

The boys were eager to head down to the boatyard early today to watch the men pull the boat out of the water. Grandpa has a big job ahead, preparing the boat for spring sailing. Trips down to see the boat cleaned up and painted will be a lot of fun!

Tommy Registers For Kindergarten!

And his Mother almost forgot!

Despite numerous reminders from Jenny, on this morning I raced around my house getting ready for work, dashed out to the car, and hastily made my way out of the neighborhood-without a thought about kindergarten registration. I got so far as to gas up the tank down at Lafeen's, before taking a call from John out near Whatcom Falls. John usually doesn't check in with me quite so early, so I wondered what it could be this early. Had Tommy come out of his room to find me gone? Was he upset? Did he need to talk to me? Was something else wrong?

"Cynthia, Jenny just called. Today is we need to register Tommy for kindergarten."

Oh....oops.....

how could I have possibly forgotten my first baby's first registration for kindergarten (well, let's hope I don't have to register him a second time...remember....we have college dreams for him and a repeat of kindergarten is not in our plans!)

I raced back home to get the birth certificate that John had pulled out, then raced up the street for the Geneva Elementary school office, most certain that I would have to walk the line of shame past other mothers who'd gotten there early and now had already labeled me the "loser mom who almost forgot".

No, not a line in sight! No line of shame, and the secretary didn't even blink an eye. In fact, there were only a few other names on the list....hmmmm...maybe not so much a horrible parent after all. I started to relax a little, although my hands shook as I tried to fill out the stack of paperwork in front of me. You'd think I was entering him into college for all the paperwork they gave me.

Or maybe it was reality hitting me...I was signing my first baby up for the wonderful world of kindergarten. My baby.....our surprise....

I look forward to the wonderful journey that will begin, holding onto every "I love you, mama" and schmooches that I can!

uppy [up-ee] - verb

Cooper's 1st Hair Cut...and Tommy's 2nd :)

After many discussions about the growing (and growing) issue with Cooper's puffy, poofy, crazy hair, John was able to get a slight trim in tonight while Coop played in the bathtub. It wasn't really hard on me, as I had anticipated. My request was that the poof balls coming out of the side of his head would be "fixed" but the rest of his beautiful curly top remain the same. His ringlet curls are so beautiful when they are washed and have some product on. However, without product to manage it, his head is one big 'fro. It's a part of who he is, though, so we are not doing much in the way of change.

Animal House

Thomas and Cooper are full of love for their stuffed animals these days. Currently, there is Orchie the dolphin, the newest addition from Valentine's Day. There is Fluffy the Husky, Hermit the green frog, Rah-Rah the Leopard, Oof-Oof the beagle, a weaner dog yet to be name from Cooper's Valentine's Day bag,and rounding out the menagerie... Beaver and Hippo from Christmas! Some of the animals are fortunate to be invited along to school, and many times throughout the day we are pretending to be animals in different situations. "Meow Meow" and "Woof Woof" are popular sayings, and many times you will find the boys slinking around on all fours or on their bellies meow-ing and barking in play together. Cooper particularly enjoys coming up and trying to scare us with "Rah"!!! and roars really loud, trying hard not to add a giggle at the end.

The boys somehow convinced Dad to take them outside in the freezing cold for beach time, followed quickly by tubbin' time. After a short winter break from the outdoor buckets, it appears they are prepping for the warmer weather to come, and quite optimistic I might add!

In case you are wondering if their lack of haircuts is an indicator of our increasing economic crisis....no, they in fact LOVE their hair, and it continues to be both a source of our amusement and frustration. We keep saying "next weekend" we will travel down and beg Uncle Brad to have his way with their heads.

We've seen this before...

Cooper and Thomas

"Aah-ck" a.k.a. Popsicle

Who needs a hat?!

Mt. Baker Hardcore

Out of the Mouth of a 4 1/2 year old

After confusing a V-Tech with a Nintendo DS, Tommy says to me, "No, mom, it's not a V-Tech. A DS is like a computer but it's a gaming system." I don't even know if he's technically right, but he sure sounded like he knows what he's talking about!

Too Small...

The Cousin Parade Continues!

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

Cooper (Tiger); Grace (Bear); Tommy (Cat)

Trip To Mt. Baker with the cousins

We decided to put on our brave faces and headed up the mountain today to see the snow and maybe get Drew and Thomas up and riding the snow. I must admit I'm a bit afraid of the drive to Baker, as there is little roadway up near the top with lots of snow. With only a snow bank to stop you, I just cringe and barely breathe for a good section of the way up. Despite this, we had a great, quiet trip up the mountain, as Billy and Andrea graciously allowed Tommy to ride up in their big rig. Cooper and Elmo get a long quite well, and he was very content to just sit back and watch while we enjoyed the falling snow and beautiful scenery. Once at the top we bundled the kids up, rented gear and hit the tow rope area. I didn't have a choice for Cooper, so we slung his big booty up high on my back and carried on. With only a bit of fuss with the snow and cold, he fell asleep. John and Thomas played and finally found success on the tow rope, while Drew ended up fighting it out with the snowboard and getting up. We decided against lessons this time around, as both boys were hesitant about it from the start. After lunch in the lodge, we headed back down for the trek to our car. By this time it was snowing very hard, and the kids were content to play in the cars and warm up. Once back, Billy and Drew reported a lot of success with snowboarding this time around. What a great time it was and the kids were fabulous. The snow was falling pretty hard as we headed down, which made for a very beautiful drive back home. Even better was that once again Cooper was very content to sit back and be entertained by Elmo.

Merry Christmas

Sweet boy

On a mission for "Ann-nah," a.k.a. "Ice Cream"

Mr. Mischief

Cooper Whipple should not be confused with his brother!

Cooper may share many things with his brother, but from his kinky, curly hair to his deep dark eyes, there are some definite differences with my little boy. First of all, he regularly smacks the back of his head throwing it back in an explosion of frustration about something or other. Even his brother has taken to the saying, "That's what happens, Cooper," when Cooper cries after smacking his head on something. I used to enjoy taking Thomas to the grocery store or the mall. Not Cooper. Just the other night, on a quick trip to the grocery store, Cooper threw items in three different aisles, and that was even after all the bribing treats he was offered. I tried again yesterday to get some shopping done on my one free day and made it through two stores before I was completely done with him. Today I attempted to get ONE thing...gloves for Thomas at REI before the snow hits, and we spent every moment dodging through the racks and chasing him down the aisles. Left without gloves-within minutes of walking through the doors. Cooper does not appreciate shopping! Cooper loves to dance, he loves to hang out in the bathroom playing with the faucet, enjoys playing with the eggs in the carton and dumping food all over the place. He loves to take him arms and wrap then around my neck tightly, holding on and saying, "Mama, mama" over and over. And he loves to be upstairs. It's so hard to keep him downstairs, and he becomes inconsolable when we won't let him go up to see "Bah-bah". He just begs and begs. He loves to watch animals on YouTube and wants to sit with grandpa to watch these videos. He loves to read books with grandma and take apart her kitchen. He's a picky eater and won't eat a lot of what we put in front of him unless it's ice cream or fried foods. He loves Elmo, and I got a kick out of watching his face light up as he held on to the talking Elmo at Target the other day. Maybe if Elmo had a little more to say we would have accomplished more at Target, but for $50, Elmo didn't do a good enough job and didn't come home with us either!
So...Cooper is a lot different than his brother and his temper goes a long ways to proving that. But what a sweet little boy we have as well. He loves to give kisses, loves to cuddle and snuggle up. It is so fun to watch Thomas and Cooper chasing each other around, and for every time we have to break them up, there are two other times when they are playing nicely with each other. Coop will not be left out, though, and senses when things are "up" and he may be left out of something. He's not talking much at this point, but has taken to pointing at things and loudly getting his wishes met. There is no doubt who is in control of our house at this point. Cooper has his foot firmly on the gas and we are just along to try to keep up!

Christmas Tree Hunting 2008 Cooper 19 mo, Tommy 4

Tommy's Surgery

It was great relief mixed with anxiety and worry that we greeted today.  It has been months now that we have wondered how bad Tommy's hearing was.  Days and days of "what?" and "what did you say", days of loud tv, loud talking, repeated sentences and blank looks.  Tommy's teacher advised that he would often leave the group, table or activity when others joined him, and we wondered if the commotion, loud chatter and activity was just too much for ears that couldn't decipher anything.  On the playground she would call to him, but he would not respond unless she could catch his eye and talk directly to him.  If his back was to her, he could not hear her.  Finally, after all the worry, today was the day to get it addressed.  The day before we took him in for a tour of the surgery center, on the advice of the staff who thought it would be good to relieve his anxiety about it.  It somewhat backfired on us, as he was more worried and scared than before.  Grandpa met us there, which made it better, and like the great boy he is, he gathered his courage and walked back to the room.  I kept repeating the doctor's words over and over in my mind.  "It is a simple procedure."  I knew it would be no big deal, but when it is your child, and the doctor is saying to him, "I will be the one to put you to sleep and the one to wake you up", my heart lurched.  "You'd better believe you will be waking him up!" I thought, and tried to breathe again.  Getting him undressed was only successful after forcing the "sleepy juice" down his throat, and we had to chuckle when it finally started to work and he took on a loopy expression, big eyes and a dazed look came over him.  After that, he no longer fussed about the gown or the wagon ride.  As the nurse pulled him along, and the doctor walked beside the wagon to distract, we pulled away, hoping that our confidence was spot on.  Barely opening the new issue of People magazine, the doctor came back out.  "Wait, this is a new one!" I thought with a smile, but quickly put it down again.  It was that simple and that quick.  Walking towards the inner waiting room, we could hear screaming children that they warned us about.  Kids often wake up very unhappy, emotional and carrying on.  We paused to try to determine if we could hear Thomas, though I knew they would bring us back before he was fully awake.  When it was our turn to go back, we followed another set of parents on the walk back to the recovery rooms.  Seeing Tommy sleeping so peacefully was quite the sight.  He was so little, so still, so peaceful.  I touched him to assure myself, whispering to him that Mama was here, that we were with him.  Either my touch or the screaming child down the hall roused him, and he simply and gently woke up, looked around, cuddled up to my hand and flopped back down.  It was so easy, and I was so thankful that it was soon to be over.  He wasn't all that interested in the popcicle they offered him.  They don't know that Tommy has his own personal stash from Grandma that he can raid at his leisure.  After a bit of argument about the Lego that was his reward, he determined that the giant airplane Lego dad surprised him with was worth it, and we headed home.  Once there, Thomas was quite the entertainer as he struggled to walk on unsteady and loopy legs.  John had to guide him and hold him for a bit until the effects of the anesthesia had worn off.  A bit of an emotional ride passed quickly, and by afternoon he was good as new.  Two weeks from now we will take him back in to see if his hearing is restored.  I heard a few "whats" this afternoon, and I had to pause, but I will wait to see what these tests show, and pray that this procedure was all that was needed to have him hearing normally again.

Whistler, B.C November 21st

We headed up for the weekend, hoping to spend some quality time in the pool and hot tubs.  The last time we were up at Whistler, Cooper was just a small little guy, so we were eager to give him a shot at Whistler!  Thomas thoroughly enjoyed the pool and hot tubs, impressing us with his diving ability and creativity in pool jumping.  It is great to see his confidence growing and pretty impressive to see the show he can put on doing tricks and cannon balls into the pool.  Cooper was not so thrilled with the hotel initially.  He was rather clingy and didn't seem to find as much enjoyment in his surroundings as we'd thought.  He soon warmed up, though, and quickly found himself launching into the pool just as fast as we could get in to position.  John and I would get in position in the pool and hot tub, and Cooper would make a mad dash back and forth, launching first into the pool, then the hot tub, then back again.  Again and again!  I prayed for a snow, and we were not disappointed.  On Friday  night it was a blizzard!  Wind and snow blew while we raced from the pool to the hot tub and back.  John and I were physically exhausted from all the effort.  Swimming in the pool with the snow blowing was quite the treat!  The snow stayed for the weekend, but nothing quite like Friday night's show.  On Saturday it was more cookies at the front desk, swimming and tubbing.  Somewhere in there we worried about the boys eating more than just front desk cookies, but they didn't seem to mind and the front desk didn't say anything about our eating habits.  We took a few breaks to go look around, but the boys were less than impressed with shopping and looking around, so we had to quickly make our way back to the pool.  Cooper was almost as happy playing in the bathroom.  At one point John had to barricade him out of the bathroom as he was incessant about the toilet bowl and flushing.  We paid a lot of money for him to play in the bathroom!  Thomas started running a fever Saturday night, so it was a long night of coughing, snoring and trying to find some sleep somewhere.  While others partied it up around me, I made a mad dash through the village- with Cooper in the stroller- trying to find cough syrup amongst the throngs of villagers hoopin' it up.  Somehow the night passed us by, and soon morning brought more swimming and tubbing.  By mid morning, though, we brought the boys up to the room to pack up from our swimming stay-cation!  They sat on the bed not moving, staring at the cartoon on the screen in our room.  "John, I think we exhausted them," I said.  They didn't budge.  Quiet...for a short while!