Excursion Day

Wednesday- When we got to our hotel, we took a look at all the different excursions that were available in our area. The one we decided on was called Xelha/Tulum. We got up early Wednesday because our bus left at 9:00. First stop was Xelha (shell-ha). It was a location where the ocean came in and there was a nice bay. They offered lots of fun things to do there, swim with dolphins, scuba dive, a sea trek, and so on, but what we paid for only included food and snorkeling. First we took a little train to the top of the river and then went tubing down. We thought it was going to be fast moving water, but the truth is, Logan had to paddle us all the way down. He stopped to climb up a rock wall and jump off a cliff. I opted out of that because there were fish in the water and I wasn't too sure about getting out of my tube. At the end of the river we jumped out and grabbed some lunch. It was another buffet, and although the food was nothing to write home about, they had the most delicious soft serve ice cream I've ever tasted. We both had 3 cones! Kinda sick huh! As we were heading towards the bay to do some snorkeling, we saw this cool spot where they kept a bunch of parrots.

Next up was snorkeling. I was feeling brave because I had gone down the river where there were fish and I didn't totally freak out so I thought I'd give it a shot. I knew Logan wanted to so I wanted to make him happy. As we headed in the water, I got up the nerve to stick my face in and look for some fish. I saw a few little ones on the bottom and I wasn't totally freaked out. That got old and so I though maybe we should head out more so we could see something better. And thats when it happened. . . as I made my second attempt to stick my face in and look for fish, a huge silver one with a giant eye ball went swimming right past me. That's when we found out that I'm not just a wuss, I actually have a phobia of fish. I had an all out panic attack! I started screaming and I felt like I couldn't breath. I just froze. Logan had to calm me down and then drag me over to the edge as I closed my eyes and waved my arms so as to scare off any other fish that might come near me. By the time I got to the edge I realized that I had a little audience. One girl looked at me sympathetically and said "gets kinda creepy after a little bit, huh?" I just smiled and walked towards my towel as quick as I could. Logan continued on with the snorkeling, but I believe those days are over for me. At least I can say I tried it though.

(All pictures taken before the snorkel freak out)

After we were done with Xelha, we got on the bus and headed for Tulum. That was really cool. It was Mayan ruins. Our tour guide was very educated and told us lots of cool (and kinda strange) things about the Mayan people. They build these temples and palaces out of stone. Their village was on top of a hill over-looking the ocean. It was really beautiful there. Before we got there our tour guide told us there would be iguanas everywhere and not to take too many pictures of them. He said we would get home and wonder what we were going to do with 6 pictures of iguanas. Of course, I took like 10. It was just so cool to be walking around and look over to see this lizard climbing up a wall. By the end of the trip I had to delete most of them because we ran out of space on our memory card anyway. It was really hot that day, and after an hour or so of walking around we were ready to get back to the hotel.

When we got back it was time for dinner and then, of course, The Big Show. That night was Las Vegas night, which turned out to be pretty entertaining. We went to bed early though, we were pooped from our long day of fun in the sun.

What a romantic guy!

I don't know if very many people know that Logan is a romantic guy. He is very sweet. He told me right away when we got on our trip that he wanted it to be like a honeymoon (since we didn't really have one, he was in school!) He wanted us to be hammer-pda all over again. So he started a game of kissing every time we left our room. We would walk out into the hall and pause for a minute for a sweet kiss before we headed to our destination. Some of the time it was hard for me to remember but he never forgot. What a sweet guy, I love him so much.

A cry for help

This is a cry for help from all those moms out there. I had the experience everyone talks about today as I took the kids to Target. All we had to get was envelopes for Sophie's birthday invitations. Ayden hates riding in the cart so I told him if he was good that I would let him walk but he had to stay by me. As soon as we got in the store he started running off looking for toys. I talked to him calmly and explained that I needed to find some envelopes first and then we could look at the toys. Lately he has been pretty reasonable when you explain things to him. That was not the case today. He kept running off so I put him in the cart. Boy did that really set him off. He started screaming at the top of his lungs. Then when I tried to calm him down he started hitting me and screaming louder. I took him out of the cart and he started running again, so I put him back in. Now he was livid. I finally took the few things out of our cart and headed for the door. I felt like all eyes were on me as I calmly walked out of the store, holding back the tears. He screamed all the way to the car and all the way home. When we got home I took him to his room, kicking and screaming. I shut the door and he of course opened it. I started to yell and realized that it doesn't matter what I do, he's not going to listen. I felt utter despair as I realized that my son has no respect for me. He doesn't care if I'm upset or if he's doing something that makes me angry. Once I realized he would stay on his bed as long as I left the door open, I walked away and had a moment to myself. I cried, called Logan, yelled, and cried some more. So now I'm crying out to you all, if you have any words of wisdom or advise for me, I'm all ears. These are the moments when you realize you just might not be cut out for this whole mother thing.

continuing on. . .

My baby sister graduated from high school yesterday which, needless to say, was a huge deal. I can't believe she is so grown up. I'm so excited for her to go to college next year, I know she's going to have a great experience. It was a busy day though, and I didn't make it to the computer for which I apologize. Continuing on. . .

Tuesday: We had the most relaxing day. We got up and had breakfast, then headed immediately to the pool. See, it's hot from the time the sun comes up until it goes down, so it's never too early or too late to swim. The pool there was unreal! It was huge, with lots of different sections, and the best part. . . there are bars in the pool! Oh ya, you swim over and grab a pina colada or our new favorite drink- tropical coconut. (it's basically a pina colada with grenadine in it. Yummy!) Then they also have beds in the shallow part of the pool so you can just lay out in the pool sipping your drink! It was awesome. When we were ready for lunch we headed to the buffet that was directly between the pool and the beach. Then it was beach time. We laid out there and swam in the ocean. The water is so blue and clear, and best of all, it's totally warm. Sometimes it was almost so warm that it wasn't refreshing enough. All that laying around made us tired so we decided to take a nap back at our room before dinner.

We had reservations that night at the Mexican restaurant which turned out to be really good! I was thinking it would be like american mexican food, but it wasn't. It was this delicious meat. We both really enjoyed our meals. Then we headed to THE BIG SHOW.

So every night they had a different show going on in the "theater." This was a place between two hall ways that was all open, and had a big stage with lights. They would do some interaction with the crowd and then came the best part. The lights would go out. A techno song would start (the same one each night). The spot lights would circle, and then the voice over "WELCOME TO THE BIG SHOW" would repeat over and over. It was absolutely hilarious. The first night we looked at each other like "what the heck is this?" and by the last night we were screaming and clapping, and dancing like crazy. The shows were entertaining, mostly because the performers weren't very good. They had great costumes, amazing back drops, and really good lighting, but the actual performers were not good. Plus they were super cheesy and usually somewhat inappropriate. But it gave us something to do at night so we enjoyed it.

and the story continues. . .

So most of my blog readers already read my first Cancun post and wanted more! That makes me feel good, and since I aim to please, here's some more:

Monday: We got up early, ate breakfast, and headed out for a fun day of shopping in Playa del Carmen. See, the resort isn't actually in Cancun, it's in a place called Rivera Maya. Some of Logan's friends told him that the best shopping is in Playa del Carmen, another city about 20 minutes away, so that's where we went. We didn't really know what we were in for though. This was ghetto shopping. I thought it would be like New York, where you find knock off stuff for cheap. Well they had knock-offs, only they wanted you to pay a lot for them. I don't know if they just think we're stupid or something, but they wanted like $50 for sun glasses, and $30 for necklaces. They wouldn't let you leave either. So we finally realized we had to walk down the middle of the road and look from afar or else they thought we were going to buy something. They would yell at us from their shops "Hey newlyweds, you want some sun glasses?" or "Hey amigo, you want a Cuban cigar?". It was definitely a unique experience. We got cool matching bracelets, though, and I got a necklace so it was successful. We also got to see the beach there. It was so beautiful and you never get over how blue the water is. That night was chill. We got back and hit up the pool for a little bit. After dinner we went to "THE BIG SHOW". More details about that next time!

Back to reality. . .

You know how you see pictures of a hotel or resort, but when you get there the it's not exactly as beautiful as the picture portrays? Well that was definitely not the case for our trip to Cancun. . . in fact, the pictures didn't do it justice!! It was absolutely gorgeous!! The sand is white, and the water is crystal blue. There are trees and flowers everywhere. It was beautiful, sometimes it seemed like a dream!

When we got back from California I posted all the pictures at one time and then it took forever to load the page, so I decided to do it a little differently this time. I'm going to take it a day or 2 at a time and just post those pictures.

Saturday: Our trip began when my dad drove us to the airport at the crack of dawn. I had the stomach flu from the night before, so the whole first day started off a little rough. Poor Logan, he was so excited to go and then I was sick. I felt bad, but I'm so glad it only lasted 24 hours.

After we got to Cancun, they had a shuttle waiting to take us to the resort. When we got out of the van, we couldn't believe our eyes! It was amazing. Then lobby to the hotel was completely open. . . no walls. Just arches and hall ways. We checked in and went to check out our room. The buildings are spread out so it was a little hike from the main building and once we got to our building we realized that our room was on the 3rd floor and there wasn't an elevator. (I guess that's how they keep you fit while you're laying around and eating all day.) That night, I just went to bed so that I could regain my strength. Logan walked around the resort and check everything out so we would be able to party the next day.


Sunday: We woke up that morning to the most beautiful view from our balcony. It was amazing! We got our swimming suits on and took some pictures. (mainly to document our white bodies so we could have a comparison for later).

That day was spent trying to figure out how the resort works. There were 4 buffet restaurants that you could eat at whenever you want. Then there were 8 nice restaurants that you needed a reservation for. When you stay for 7 nights, you get 3 reservations at the nice restaurants so we made our reservations. We checked out the pool- checked out the beach- got henna tattoos- an had a delicious dinner at the Brazilian restaurants. Sunday was so great.

We're off!

The time as finally come. . . we are on our way to sunny Mexico!! That's right, we are leaving the kids behind and going on a relaxing vaction full of laying by the pool, playing in the Ocean, massages, dancing, hiking, and I'm sure a whole lot of eating!! We are going to have a ball. Logan knew that there was no way I would leave my babies for 8 days unless they were able to go to their second home. (Actually one of Ayden's first homes!) Nana, Papa, Aunt Jenny, and Uncle Mike are kind enough to take them in and care for them while we're gone. The truth is, they're going to have so much fun they aren't going to want to come back home with us. Ayden loves all the attention he gets there, especially from the girls. I'm anxious to go, and a little nervous, but I'm mostly excited to spend some quality time with my Babe. He is so amazing, and I am so lucky to have him. I'm sure I will have a ton of pictures to post when I get back, so be ready for those.
Sunny Mexico. . . here I come!

Putting things together. . .

I was getting dressed today and I put on a skirt. Ayden walked in the bathroom and said:

"That's girl pants Mommy?"

I thought that was the cutest thing. He is really interested in determining the difference between boys and girls.

It is so fun to watch Ayden grow and start putting things together. I can see that he understands things but he doesn't have the vocabulary to express them. What an adventure this parent stuff is!

The Joy of Two

I am starting to realize the joy of having 2 children. Up to this point it has mostly been twice the work and 1/2 the sleep. Each day I see a little glimpses of what is to come. This morning I was watching "Dancing with the Stars" (another guilty pleasure) and for almost an hour my kids played in the toy room together. Then I sat down at the computer a few minutes ago and as Sophie stood along the banister, Ayden ran up and down the stairs making a silly noise. They were both cracking up! What a fun thing, to see your children enjoying each other. And I know there are many experiences like this to come.

Mother's Day

I had such a great Mother's day. First of all, I got to go to the mall on Saturday night with Sophie and we had a great time getting stuff for the trip this weekend. Then I woke up to breakfast-in-bed. (yummy crepes!!) After that I came out to see that Logan got me some beautiful flowers, a new feather/down pillow, and an apple cutter. Then one of the highlights, a card with the kid's hand prints on it. I will cherish that forever. It was so fun to spend the day with my family. After church we came and had a wonderful nap that actually lasted a little too long because we ended up being totally late to Hammer-on. They went easy on us though. When we got home we went next door to watch the end of the Jazz game (which we won) and stayed up talking until 11:30. All in all it was a great day and I'm so grateful for all of my family, and great friends, and most of all to be a MOM!!

Summer Fun!

Saturday was officially the first day of summer for our little family! It was so warm that we got out the little pool I bought weeks ago and had a swimming party. Ayden had a ball! Of course he had our neighbor Maddy (his best friend) come swim with us. From the moment he wakes up until he goes to bed he is asking about Maddy. Sophie liked being outside and crawling around, but the hose water was a little cold for her tiny body. We worked in the yard as well and got a lot done. I was unaware of how much work it is to keep up a yard. Especially to Logan's standards. I enjoy spending time with my family though. I'm really looking forward to all the fun things we will get to do with our kids this summer.

When Daddy's gone

I know as mothers we all go through it, those times when Daddy is gone on business, and for some of you it's more then others. Logan doesn't go out of town much, but when he does it's a totally different world. In some ways it's nice because I don't feel the pressure to have the house clean or dinner ready (we've had a lot of Mac & Cheese this week!). But the days seem really long when there is nothing to look forward to except bed time.

So last night, to kill some time before bed, we decided to go out to dinner and to Toys R Us for some play time. Dinner was actually okay, you'd be surprised to see how many strangers are totally willing to help you when you have one kid on your hip and your chasing after another. I had people carrying my tray, grabbing me a high chair, and even cleaning up for me. Then it was party time for Ayden. The kid loves to be set free and he had a ball running around the store, going from one toy to the next. Of course he lost it when it was time to go, but it was still a successful evening. By the time we got home it was time for bed and I got to watch my shows. So my advise to all those moms with dads who are gone- fill the time with fun stuff for your kids, and you'll be surprised how fast the time goes.

11 months today!

Sophie is 11 months old today! We are dying at how fast she's grown. Unfortunately she had to go to the Dr today and she has another ear infection. One more and we have to see the Ear,Nose, and Throat specialist. She's a tough girl though, and she's hanging in there.

Sophie is such a joy to have in our family. As most people know, her smile lights up a room, and she'll give them to almost anyone. There hasn't been one trip to the store or mall when I wasn't stopped by a stranger to tell me how great her smile is and how pretty her eyes are. She has a very happy disposition most of the time and she is happy to entertain herself. She loves going places where she can just watch people. She loves her brother and especially her daddy. Every night when we check on her before we go to bed, we stand above her crib together and just stare at her beautiful face, wondering how we got so lucky. She really is a great blessing and we are grateful to have her as our baby girl. Happy 11 months Soph!

Hair raising experience!

Now that Sophie has pony tails, if she doesn't get a bath at the end of the day her hair looks like this in the morning! It's so funny to go in her room in the morning and have her look like this. She looks up at me with this georgous smile and this crazy hair. What a doll. With a face like that, it doesn't really matter what your hair looks like!

Guilty Pleasures

I have many guilty pleasures. Sometimes there is something that you know is stupid, but you just can't help enjoying it a little bit. One of my guilty pleasures is watching The Bachelor. I know it is so ridiculous and I know that Andy is a total cheese bucket, but I love every minute of it and I can't wait for Monday nights. I also can't help discussing it with fellow Bachelor watchers and trying to read between the lines. I have even gone as far as to join a group on the ABC website and vote on who I think will get a rose at the next rose ceremony. Pathetic I know, but it's fun. And what's life without a few guilty pleasures!