Mexico

I was all ready to pretty much write a novel about our trip to Mexico, but I feel too overwhelmed to blog all the details. I guess I will just give the highlights. (But I'm kind of a long-winded blogger anyway, so we'll see how this "short version" goes.)

Right. Here we go then...

To celebrate Charles finishing up his MBA, and because we pretty much didn't see much of each other the whole time he was in school, we went here... for 6 nights... without the kids.


We're so lucky to have a mom living so near to us and who is actually willing to take on our kids for a whole week. (Thanks a million, Mom!)

It was really hard, but we left all of this May, Winter Wonderland behind...


...for this. :)


This was our "suite." It also had a living room and a huge bathroom. It was awesome.



We laid... in the shade (did NOT want to burn) and read a lot.


I also did a lot of "people watching." This guy was money. Unfortunately I missed the golden Kodak Moment. Right before I could get my camera, he had been lying there, skimpy speedo and all, with one leg straight up, resting on that tree. It was priceless. And I missed it.


This lady was our reminder of how much we did NOT want to get burned... and how much we loved the continuous spray sunscreen.


Right outside our suite there were these signs all around our building. "Privileged." We didn't like them. They made us feel ueber-snooty. But I told Charles I WAS going to get a picture of him standing next to one. He said he would NOT let that happen. When our friends from Texas arrived, I pretended I was just getting a picture of them arriving. Heh-heh-heh.


This is Joe and Kamille. Joe and Charles met on their mission in Italy. We all just happened to be vacationing around the same week, so we decided to go together. It was SO much fun having them around. We really lucked out! :)


So... on to the highlights...

We had LOTS of good food and drinks. We had Mexican... of course...


Italian...


Japanese... This dinner was my favorite. It was yummy and entertaining. We sat at one of those square tables where the cook makes your food right there in the middle. It was a first for me. He was quite entertaining with his all his cooking tool acrobatics. We watched him make fried rice, and then he threw everyone bits of egg to catch in their mouth... I was so close!

And Charles...

...well, you can see for yourself on the video. :)

One morning we took a bike ride down to the marina.


Holy crap it had been a long time since I rode a bike! But it all came back.

Side note: So I can't remember the last time I had been on the other end of a camera so much. I tell you, I struggled! I'm usually the one taking the pictures, and it was an ordeal to get any of me with eyes open, smiling, not laughing, or making some goofy face. I hate it! I'm happy to return to my post as "photographer" and not "subject."


Anyway we watched the dolphins for a little bit, checked out the shops and sat down for a free drink.


While at the Marina, the guys wanted to go Deep Sea fishing but they hadn't found a good price yet. They figured if we went and spoke to the people in person we could haggle a more reasonable price. It worked. A little too well. So well that Kamille and I found ourselves on the boat too. Hmmm...

Charles and Joe were so excited to go Deep Sea fishing. They'd been talking about it for months. Once we got going Joe grabbed Charles by the shoulders and said, "We're doing it man, we're doing it!"



I'm starting to feel sea sick...


So after about an hour or so of riding around, not catching anything, we stopped to do some snorkeling. They took us to a place that is known to have sea turtles swimming around, and sure enough... we saw up to 4 at one time. I was totally freaked out and I would jump onto Charles' back whenever they came near. But Charles actually fed one. Just as he held out the dead fish for a sea turtle, another one came swooping up under my legs to fight for it. It was cool... freaky, but cool. Joe actutally tried to ride on the back of one them, but didn't get too far. Kamille had a pretty sweet "ziploc" bag for her camera so she was able to get some good underwater shots.


We saw lots of schools of fish swimming near the bottom of reefs both out in the deep and at the shore of our resort.


The thing that I couldn't take was when they started to swim in a circle around us. I felt trapped. It really freaked me out and my only escape was to stand up and take off the mask. If I couldn't see them I was a lot more calm.


Then we got back into the boat for some more fishing. Well, we caught a whale of a fish! But then we let it go. I mean, where would we put it? In the mini-fridge at our hotel room?


Okay okay, we didn't actually catch anything. Instead we all got sea sick. You can kind of see Kamille lying down at the bottom. I was lying down on the other side of her. Joe is gripping the side of the boat and looks like he's about to lose it, but somehow, Charles was just fine.


Anywho, back at the resort...

...we saw these iguanas walking around everywhere...


...we did some archery...



... we tried out the spa. There was a Sauna, Vapor Room, and Water Massage Pool...


...I got a pedicure.


Y'know, one of my favorite things about meeting strangers (like the lady who did my pedicure, or people I sit next to on a plane) is seeing their expression when they find out my age. They gasp when they find out I am married, their eyes widen when they hear that I have graduated college. And they are in shock when they find out I have not one, not two, but three children. It's hilarious. It used to bother me, but now that I am approaching 29 next week, I don't mind being thought of as 10 years younger!

And of course there was a little bartering. I found this ring and I thought it was nice. Guess how much they wanted for it? $145. Not Pesos, U.S. Dollars. Yeah-freaking-right!


I got 'em down to $30. I was quite pleased with myself. That's like, what... 80% off? Although I am sure I could probably have found the same thing at Walmart for 7 bucks... Oh well, it was my souvenir!

However it has proved to be a much cooler ring than I expected.

#1 It hasn't turned my finger green.

#2 It seems to change colors. When I bought it, it was a pale blue. But I have seen it change to dark purple and a light pink, depending on what I am wearing. Not bad!

Anyway...

We swam and snorkeled in the Ocean. Charles was very proud of this particular find:


Unfortunately there was still a little guy living inside the shell, so after giving it a few days to just leave on it's own, Charles had to take matters into his own hands. And let me tell you when that sucker finally died it was stanky!

We also did some kayaking out in the Ocean...


...and in the Lagoon. Here's Charles picking up a sea creature that seems to resemble a member of the jelly family. Sick.


And here he is trying to catch a fish with is bare hands. That fish really liked us. It stayed close to us, swimming around, and in and out of our legs, over and over again. It was pretty funny... when I wasn't screaming.


They had 4 different pools, and 2 of them had the swim up bar.



Here's Charles humoring me with like the millionth "smile!"


We also went sailing. That was my first time and I loved it.


Charles has been trying to talk me into someday buying a sailboat over a ski boat. His argument has been that they are cheaper to buy, cheaper to maintain, no fuel needed, and can fold down relatively small so they would take less storage space.

I said they were slow and boring.

Boy was I wrong.


In the evenings the staff there would perform shows. They were all very good.


My favorite was not the historical reenactment...


...or the acrobatic circus-type one...


It was the "Divas Night." They "sang" and danced to J-Lo, Cher, Shakira, Cher, Madonna...


...Beyonce...


...Christina...


and... Brittney. What can I say... I'm a 13 year old girl at heart.

Man, if I could relive my life, I would so do THAT as a summer job. How awesome would it be to hang out at the pool playing games, dancing, teaching water aerobics, having competitions and playing sports during the day, and then performing as Brittney Spears at night!

Kay, so this "short version" didn't turn out so short, did it? Oh well. Just imagine how long and boring my novel would have been!

Our trip was freakin' awesome. We missed the kids towards the end, but now we're good. We're so ready to go back!

I Told You So!

While walking down the cereal aisle at Wal-Mart yesterday I experienced a moment of redemption... validation... and triumph. Why you ask? Because this is what I found...


What's so great about a box of cereal?

Well, about 11 or so years ago, while in High School (yes, this goes back that far...) I was obsessed with Crunch Berries. My mom would buy a box and I would eat it like crazy at first, but then leave half of the box untouched. It would just sit in the cupboard for weeks.

The reason?

Yup. I had picked out all the berries and left all the... "crunch."

She would get so mad at me for that, too. :)

Well one day I was watching TV and I saw a commercial for Crunch Berries. Something had "gone wrong" at the Crunch Berries factory and it was only making the Berries. And so they packaged it as "Oops! All Berries" It was a dream come true.

It was like Christmas. I couldn't believe it. I searched and searched and searched for that cereal. But no one had it. In fact, that was the only time I ever saw that commercial. I told people about it and no one believed me. I kept telling people it was true, and that it was called "Oops! All Berries" People thought I was crazy.

I was dating Charles at this time. You know what that sweet guy did for me?

He went to the store and bought 4 boxes of Crunch Berries.





He poured them all out into a huge bowl and picked out all the berries and filled one entire box with nothing but berries. Then he made a new label and covered the box with... "Ooops! All Berries"

When he drove to my house and gave it to me I thought I was going to cry. My perfect cereal. Such thoughtfulness... I asked him what he did with all the remaining "crunch" and he said he now has 3 boxes of "Cap'n Crunch" to eat every morning until it's gone.

So now... 11 years later... to anyone who thought I was crazy... I told you so! :)

It's only $2 at Wal-Mart and the box says "Limited Time Only," so I'm thinking I should stock up. At least 11 years-worth.

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day was a lot different for me than in the past. Usually I look forward to Mother's Day because it means a day of rest! Charles does everything that day. He helps the kids make me breakfast, he gets them ready for church while I lounge around and take my time, he takes care of all the cooking and cleaning, and I get homemade cards and presents. It's a great day. But this year was different.

Late, late, the night before Charles and I had just returned home from a week-long stay in Mexico. It was SO much fun. But by the end, we were missing the kids. Well, we had been so preoccupied by planning for this trip, that we didn't realize it would be Mother's Day the morning after our return, and so we were a little unprepared for our normal traditions. We were out of food, the kids never had a chance to go shopping or make me a card, and Charles had to work a little bit that day.

But...

It was also probably my best Mother's Day so far...

I got up super early. About an hour earlier than the kids. I couldn't WAIT to see them. We had seen Jaden a little bit, the night before when we arrived back, but Kaleb and Bradley were asleep. I wanted to wake them up, but I'm smarter than that! I know the repercussions! Kaleb was the first to wake up, he came downstairs and gave me the best hug ever. He just sat on my lap and hugged me for a good 3 minutes. I never get hugs that long! And then he said "Mommy? Can you be Darth Vader?" That's my boy. :)

After a few minutes I told Kaleb we should go jump in my bed and wake up Daddy. He was really excited about that. Then I went and got Bradley. Bradley gave me a little bit of a confused look at first, but then smiled real big and said, "Momma!" He gave me an awesome hug too. I brought him in the bed with Charles and Kaleb and we sat and talked, and laughed for a few minutes. Then Jaden came in, rubbing his eyes. He had been up LATE trying to wait up for us. He jumped in the bed with us and we all just talked, laughed, bounced and hugged.

That was my favorite part of Mother's Day. Being so happy and excited to see my children, instead of being relieved to have a break from them.

But I DID get something that day as well... my mom and dad had taken the boys to the store the day before and let them pick out flowers, a balloon and a chocolate bar. They were very proud of their selections and they even offered to help eat the candy bar. :)


Here are the boys that morning, after we gave them shirts and hats from our trip. Jaden was not so happy to wear it over his jammies. Oh well. :)


Bradley was very clingy. I loved it. He's definitely more so for Charles, but I get my share of these hugs too.


All day I just wanted to watch and play with the kids. I didn't do any unpacking or cleaning that day because my focus was glued to the kids. I watched how patient and delicate Bradley has become with his blocks...


...how Jaden struggled with his separation from my mom. :) And how he takes care of his brothers, even when he thinks no one is watching.

...and how much more vocal Kaleb is becoming. His enunciation is really quite impressive. And his skills at the computer are astonishing.

I love my boys. This Mother's Day I had a clear realization of how lucky I am to be a mom. It's hard work, but I would do anything for these little guys.