On Patmos

So, just an update from Rodos, we had to pay for a couple of lemonades to use the internet at the internet cafe...too bad we didn't ask how much those would cost before hand. 10 Euros for the internet use is quite spendy. the reality is that if we worked out the time + the drinks it was cheaper than using the internet on the ship.

We had an early morning this morning because we arrived at Patmos at 6:30 am and the last tender back to the ship is at 9:30 am...meaning just about 3 hours at this island. Since we decided not to do a tour, we were one of the first off the ship, the first to get a cab, making us the first tourists to arrive at the Grotto- the cave where John the apostle wrote Revelations. It was very interesting because they have now build a monastery on top of the cave and they use the cave as the place where they do worshiping ceremonies. There was one in progress so we stayed and watched for a while. Then we went up to the monastery on the hill that was built in honor of John and walked around. Now it is time for us to depart, so we sign off for now.

Thank you family for getting us information on parents and Corban. We are now at ease knowing he is enjoying strawberries, watering plants and "having a ball!"

Rhodes (Rodos)

i am posting this blog from old town in Rhodes right now. we climbed to the acropolis of Lindos and spent some time up top where there were fortifications were built over the originals. the temple of athena is still there. amazing that these structures have been around since the 11th century B.C. we have seen the palace of the grand master, walked the best preserved mideval streets, spent the morning in Lindos, and did this all with a guide. his name is Dimitris, which is greek for Jimmy. he was awesome, he is a local and shared a lot of information about the land, history and the culture. we loved it.

i am loving Greece. i am not normally a sight seeing type of person, but i think that this has been my favorite sight seeing trip that i have ever been on. if you love sight seeing you will love it, if you don't you will love it...either way the culture here is wonderful, the country beautiful and the food is amazing. it would be a fun place to live...although you would have to learn greek. you can get by with english and even some spanish, but i get frustrated sometimes with the misunderstandings.

we really miss Corban. don't get me wrong, having this time together is awesome and we are having a lot of fun and laughs and whatnot...but we miss our little boy. we are also finding it impossible to get in contact with Ron and Kathy! R&K if you are reading this check your email...or just email us at jandacrane@gmail.com. if you are reading this and can call R&K please call them and tell them to check emails and send us one.

we really want to post some pictures while we are here, but cannot at the moment. we will as soon as we get the opportunity.

If you pay a Euro

You want to get all you can for your money. We went to an Internet Cafe (1 Euro for 1-15 minutes) to check my email because I have no contact with my mom and dad since we don't know how to use their phone. When trying to unlock the phone, we ended up putting it into another mode that you can't even try the password anymore. YIKES! Anyway, they have not checked their email today, so I didn't have an answer on how to use the phone or whether or not Corban is okay. I am sure he is having a fabulous time with grandma, but this is the first time mom and dad have left the little one.

So we have embarked on a 3 day cruise. I must say that the ship itself is leaves a lot to be desired- Aquamarine doesn't really compare to Freedom of the Seas. However, when you look at the price difference (FREE for Aquamarine...because we have fabulous parents), it is expected. Thus far we have seen our room, picked up a blow dryer, opted out of the standard 80 Euros a day for gratuity, and eaten in a buffet that we probably won't go back to. After that, some time in the room gave us rest before arriving at MYKONOS.

This really is a lovely Island off Greece. Wish I could upload photos for you. The streets are enchanting with cobblestone streets and ALL the buildings are concrete-white stucco, with colored trim (mostly sea blue in color). We are off to hopefully find Little Venice, get some pictures of the sunset, and then we board the boat again.

Well my time it up, but I have got to say that 1 Euro for 1-15 minutes beats the 1 Euro per minute on the ship!

We love you all!

Procrastination

I am avoiding packing our bags for Greece. We are pretty much ready, with all our stuff sitting just outside of the suit cases. All that needs to happen is someone needs to put the stuff into the bags. I make it sound like I am not ecstatic to go, but I am. I am just not as ecstatic about the long flight we have tomorrow. I am praying Corban will find it enjoyable :)

Here are some pictures to tell our tale of the past 2 weeks:


Two Wednesday's ago Corban got really sick. Though it isn't fun to have your child hurt, it is really nice to be able to just lay around with him all snugly-like. I love pictures of these two sleeping together!

Even Nika got in the fun of lounging around.
One of Corban's favorite things to do is put this bucket on his head and walk around. It is hilarious because he looks like an alien. I am sorry I don't have a better picture.
Jared cut out our hot tub so we could build and plant a garden. This happened last weekend.
We had a baby shower for Jamie Heusser at our house. There were more children than adults, so we fixed up the backyard for them. Jared built the beautiful sturdy fence in the background on the evening we decided to move the shower to our house due to a bee infestation at Kim Garcia's. What a husband! It is times like these, at a moment’s notice, that it is such a blessing to have a husband that is a handy man...in more ways than one. The day of the shower he watched all the kids!
This was a picture of only a few of the kids that played in the yard while we women enjoyed getting to know Jamie. Aren't they adorable! They could all be little farm animals in our corral. You need to take note of the sink in this picture compared to the previous picture. Somewhere along the way the original faucet got a clog that wasn't repairable. So Jared rigged up this high class faucet- 2 spouts with twice the power. There were kids surrounding the sink the entire afternoon. Another reason why my husband is amazing!
He is just enjoying our view.
A new game Jared and Corban like to play. Corban brings the ball to daddy…
And daddy throws it high up in the air. Corban goes and gets it and the game goes on and on.
Still enjoying the view. That's mommy at about 28 weeks (6 1/2 months for those who don't like to do the math).
Corban surprised me with this new trick he can do at the fence. We were gardening on the other side so he wanted to join us.
And this is what we accomplished this weekend- garden fully planted! And now Christine Done will tend it while I am away for 3 weeks. Looking forward to telling you all about our travels in Greece!

Pictures will tell the story

I haven't posted pictures in a while so that is just about all you get this time. Enjoy!

Our little munchkin helping pick out tile at Home Depot Expo during their liquidation sale. He was a tough one to contain!

Bubble time! One of the fun things we do in the backyard...or in the house when it is too cold. You can see that our little baby is coming along just fine...that's my belly at about 22 weeks.

We want to make sure Corban hates Chocolate as he gets older, so we just handed him the entire bottle.

Corban loves his stool. And now that he has figured out the drawer, it can be entertainment for at least 20 minutes, every 2 hours, every day.

This is a reinactment, but I found Corban in this position one night as he was hollaring for help. He didn't want down, he wanted help getting all the way in.

Corban and daddy sitting down for Corban's dinner. He started playing with the spoon and was teasing his dad by bitting down on it when Jared would try to take it out of his mouth. Notice the crossed ankles- he does this everytime he is sitting down at his table. And if you could see it in action, they would be swinging back and forth.

Corban enjoys all his fruit and vegetables WHOLE. Notice the plum in the background. Anytime I open the fridge he points to the fruit drawer for me to hand him a piece of fruit. That is a cucumber in his hands. We have had some cherry tomatoes in our yard (not garden because that doesn't exist at the moment) and he knows right where they are. In fact, he has eaten every last one.
YUMMY. Corn on the cob for the first time!

We sure wish we spent more time at the beach! Corban was a little tired at this point since he had been running all over the entire evening. Baby at about 23 weeks.

Family Home Evening the week before Easter. This is one moment I am proud of- we actually had FHE BEFORE the holiday and actually had the lesson on something that pertained to the purpose. This is the empty tomb. Before putting it in the oven it is a marshmallo (Jesus in white robe) with spices (what they sprinkled on his body) wrapped in a biscut (the tomb). You bake it and this is the result.

Corban LOVES to play outside. This was his Easter present, which provides a distraction from the dirt and the tomatoes...but only temporarily. We are looking to build a fence/wall so the backyard is a little more kid friendly.

I was busy getting ready for scrapbook night on last Thursday and when I came into the kitchen to wash my hands, this was my view from the window.

And this is what I got when Corban realized I was behind them taking pictures:)

Happy 3 year anniversary! We went out for Japanese food. Jared tried to convince me to order the "Dragon" with him, but I refused. It is a really good thing because the taste I had of it almost made me throw up.

The Dragon

And just in case you didn't know, it's a GIRL! Due August 4th! We are more than thrilled and can't wait!

Visiting Loma Linda

We just enjoyed a short weekend at Scott and Ali's. We have just began to realize that our time is almost up with them and we haven't taken advantage of having them so close for the last 3 years. I don't think we can make up the time in the last 2-3 months, but it is worth a try!
The decision to visit came on Saturday afternoon. After Jared's long week of working grave yard, staying up 27 hours just so he could sleep through the night on Friday, I awoke him at 8:30 am to go GARAGE SALE'N! We didn't find much, but we did find packed softball fields to do GS marketing at. It was after spending a few hours at the field that we decided we needed an enjoyable weekend with family. Well, the lack of preparation earlier in the day made for a late start Saturday evening- arriving at their home about 9:30 pm. Plenty of time to still have an enjoyable evening of conversation.
Sunday we attended their Stake Conference. Two hours in metal chairs can be a challenge when you are dealing with a wiggley 16 month old and carrying an extra 15 lbs. Jared actually mostly handled the wiggley boy, taking him into the hall for the last 15 minutes as we were nearing naptime and Corban's atttention had long expired. It was a great meeting that reminded us to share the good news of the gospel with others, be good to each other, and attend the temple. AFter the meeting I ran into a friend of mine from HIGH SCHOOL! What a small world- Katie (formerly Christensen) happens to be friends with Ali and Scott since her husband is going to Dental school at Loma Linda.
The babies fell asleep on the way home, which provided time for a small lunch prior to the enjoyable Sunday nap. Instead of napping, I spent time on the internet researching my new interest which will have to have a post of it's own. I had to be ripped away from the computer- which I should have restricted use as it is on Sunday's. We enjoyed a walk to the park, a few minutes on the toys, and then a walk back home. It was then that Ali reminded the both of us what we are looking forward to this summer, both having babies due in the summer- Ali's due date is July 1st (but she gets to have her baby early) and ours, August 4th. Needless to say, hot weather is NOT what pregnant women really "look forward" to.
While we were out, Scott was slaving away in a hot kitchen making PIZZA. Wow! What a chef he is! We had 3 different styles of pizzas- Pesto chicken,Tomato and Basil, and famous, delicious, perfect combination for a hot crust- BBQ chicken- all prepared on a hot BBQ grill! It wasn't exactly what I had in mind when we said, "Let's have a simple dinner." If that's simple, I have a lot to teach them!
The night ended with a game of Bridge. I must say, I wasn't exactly excited when the cards were dealt and the decision was made that we were going to play Bridge. I have NEVER played this card game and everything I have heard about it is that it isn't for the casual game player. I REALLY enjoyed the game and look forward to our next visit with them when we can play again. That kept us up til about 1 am and bedtime was a must since we had an early morning.
It was a fabulous weekend and THANKS Ali and Scott for allowing us to come!

Hope and Change

it's jared...notice the uncapitalized words and horrible punctuation. i received this in an email from my father and could not stop laughing...and crying on the inside. how true this is. hope and change...how about change and slash hope. the american dream is disappearing before our eyes. anyway, on that note, you may not like this if you are an obama supporter. especially since the mock article lists the full name "barack hussain obama". take a look! there were photos and snipits...and it has the espn logo on the top dated march 32, 2009.


Steelers to loose Super Bowl Trophies
Pittsburgh, PA. The Super Bowl XLIII Champion Pittsburgh Steelers, the only team to win six titles, will soon be loosing half of those trophies. After a meeting between NFL Commissioner Rodger Gadel and President Barack Hussain Obama, Obama decided to redistribute half of their Steeler Super Bowl victories and trophies to less fortunate teams in the league.
"We live everyday in the country that invented the Super Bowl." said Obama "We are not about to lose this Great American tradition in the wake of these difficult times." Obama’s plan calls for the Steelers, who are a successful NFL team, to give half of their Super Bowl trophies to teams that are not successful or have not been as successful as the Steelers. "The Detroit Loins are just as much a part of the same fiber of the NFL as the Steelers and they should, no rather will, be entitled to a Super Bowl Trophy as well." Obama explains in his plan that he has imposed on Godel and the NFL.
The Pittsburgh Steelers, who by virtue of hard work, excellent team play, stellar draft choices, responsible investing of free agents, careful hiring of coaches and excellent community service and commitment to their fans, has prospered greatly during the past 30 years and have won six Super Bowl Trophies. But President Barack Hussain Obama’s plan calls for the Pittsburgh Steelers to carry the larger burden of the NFL’s less successful teams. Obama went on to further proclaim, "In these difficult times we are all in this to work together. We must reclaim the NFL Championship Dream for every team, for every city and for every fan."
"My plan will not affect 31 of the 32 teams in the league." Obama assures. That’s over 95 percent of the teams in the NFL will not have to worry about loosing any Super Bowl Trophies. "The worst teams in the NFL and the teams that can’t seem to get a break and win a championship will no longer have to worry about going without a title." Obama promises. "We are a country and league of hope. We all need to make a change. It does not matter the color of the teams uniforms, the personal decisions that the teams make or their performance but rather if they are a member of this great American league."
The Super Bowl XLIII trophy will be redistributed to the 0-16 Detroit Lions. Through no fault of their own incompetence, the Lions could not manage a victory all season and this trophy will help ease the pain of their lack of performance and give them hope once again. The redistribution of Super Bowl XL trophy will go directly to the Steeler’s division rival the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals who also have fallen on hard times have never won a Super Bowl. This victory will bring a smile to hundreds of Bengal fans all over the world as they can now celebrate. Finally, one of the Steeler’s two Super Bowl victories over the Dallas Cowboys will go back to the Cowboys since the league needs to provide hope in the face of difficulty and provide hope in the face of uncertainty. This is a heavy burden for the Steelers but together we can all prosper.
All hope is not lost for Pittsburgh fans, Barack Hussain Obama has another plan in place. Obama has meet with MLB and commissioner Bud Selig on a similar plan. The New York Yankees will redistribute two of their world series trophies to the Pittsburgh Pirates as a supplement to their loosing 16 straight seasons and counting. This plan will help stimulate the Pirates and enable them to regain the American Dream. Barack Hussain Obama will be meeting with the NHL and Michael Phelps in the upcoming weeks as this issue is high on his agenda for "Hope and Change."
Steelers must now share their wealth and fruits of their success and hard work.
Obama provides hope to NFL teams.