Mexico!!

Tom and I went on a Mexican Riviera cruise for our 10th Anniversary.  It was tons of fun, and really nice to escape responsibility for a week.  It also helped me to really appreciate my beautiful children when I came back.  (And also appreciate all the people that helped take care of them when I was gone!)  I'm not sure if I want to go through a play by play here on the blog - so I'll probably just post a bunch of pictures.  Mexico had some gorgeous scenery - we went to Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta.  Cabo had beautiful beaches and Puerto Vallarta had lush jungle foliage.  The ship was a floating city and had everything we really needed - a spa, several pools & jacuzzis, a water slide, a comedy club, a fancy restaurant, a gigantic buffet, 24 hour pizza station, 24 hour room service, miniature golf course, all you can eat ice cream cones, awesome Asian lounge singers, towel animals with our turn-down service, cheesy "Vegas style" shows.  It was pretty sweet.  Did I mention the food was pretty amazing? We had some of the best desserts ever!  I even tried escargot - and it didn't taste gross, just creeped me out.

These next pictures are from Cabo San Lucas:

Glass blowing factory - it was pretty cool

Downtown San Jose

Mission in San Jose

Port in Cabo

Gorgeous beach!

Tom and I near the gorgeous beach

Sea lion rock by the arch

Famous? Cabo Arch

Tom getting sick on our crappy little glass bottom boat

Sea lion hanging out on the rocks

On the tender boat back to the ship

These are from Puerto Vallarta:

Church we couldn't look through because they were having Mass

So green!

The scenery was amazing

Hanging out in the flea market - it was SO hot!

Us at the tequila factory along the tour

Hanging out by a random river

Our tour group

And most of the other pictures are towel animals.  My favorite!!

Tom eating frog legs!

The pizza was awesome

Fish Lake Campout

We went camping in August with Tom's family down by Fish Lake.  His family used to camp by Fish Lake every summer when he was a kid, so it brought back some memories for them to be there.  We don't camp very often and hadn't used our tent for at least 5 years, but we were ready for a little adventure!  We brought four air mattresses and discovered this was NOT the way to go.  One of them lost air too quickly, and one of them was much too tall for the tent and took up too much space.  It was also lots colder at night than anticipated (low 50s) and I was really cold.  Thankfully, the kids were plenty toasty in their beds.  It was an adventure, and I'll try to be better prepared if there is ever a next time!  We might just have to invest in a little camper trailer if this becomes a regular thing.  :)

The kids painted their own t-shirts

I'm pretty sure Steve makes the best worst faces ever

 Tom's dad led us on the unmarked trail of doom through stinging nettle and thick shrubbery to go to a spring infested with deer flies just waiting to bite us.  Abby slipped and stepped in the boggy mud and got her shoe all gross.  

Here's the spring we hiked to.  Not worth it!! 

Don't see a pathway?  That's cause there wasn't one!!

A rare smile from Sophie on this expedition - the deer flies made her TOTALLY paranoid! 

Grandpa told the grandkids why this spot is called "Umbrella Hole".  It's a funny story.

Alice was decked out in her finest necklaces for our excursion.

Tom taught Abby how to fish

She even caught one!!

Fish lake had some really nice views

Brownie Wagons

Alright, I'm going to have to play a little catch-up here.  The girls made these brownie covered wagons in primary for the 24th of July.  They are such a cute idea!  I love the little animal cracker oxen and the pretzel yokes.  These didn't last long around our house!

School is in Session

School is back in and I've got TWO kids going to school now!  Abby just started the 2nd grade and Sophie had her very first day of preschool today.  Abby has been in school for two weeks and doesn't hate it yet - so that's a good sign!  She really seems to like her teacher and talks about how the teacher brings her ipod and they listen to music in class. 

I was lucky to get a smile rather than a grimacey smile out of this kid.  She's going through such an awkward picture phase!

Here comes the bus!  It's just so convenient and the bus stop is across the street from our house.

Sophie was so excited to start school, and had to wait for two WHOLE weeks after Abby started to get her turn.  She was super obedient this morning and didn't drag her feet while getting ready.  Her classroom is full of lots of fun stuff, so what kid wouldn't want to go there?  They have a sand table, play-doh, a big playhouse, a fish tank, dress-up clothes, blocks, and lots of dolls.  (I'm sure I'll find out what else there was to do when I go pick Sophie up in a bit.)  Alice had to be dragged away after we dropped Sophie off.  She wasn't very happy that she didn't get to stay for school too.

Sophie brought her special blankie to keep her company in the  car.

Here's Sophie with her first school activity.  Hopefully she can show a little patience with all the other kids!

My kids are growing up so quickly!  I love to see them learn and grow and make new friends.  But it's hard to see them grow out of that little kid phase.  It's a good thing I've got Alice around to keep me on my toes when the other two are gone!