Trip to Cancun

I am thankful for so many things. We just got back from a 5 day trip to Cancun, Mexico to attend the wedding of my cousin. It was the most amazing trip ever. My sunburn is now peeling and is confused for the beginnings of frostbite. The transition home has been hard. I could get used to the luxury of being pampered. In the matter of a few days away I had my first massage, first pedicure, and first room service. But we have the memories...

To understand why we made this long journey with our 6 week old baby, I have to explain a bit about my family. My great-grandparents had 10 children over 23 years, 9 who survived to adulthood. My grandmother is the oldest of the girls. Growing up, my great grandparents lived in the same town as us and my grandmother's siblings and their families often came to visit. We had frequent family reunions, making this huge extended family very close. Because of the age span between the children, my grandmother was having her first children at the same time as her mother (my great grandmother) was having her last children. * This is where is gets confusing. * So, my dad has aunts who are similar to him in age making their children similar in age to his children -- that would be me and my sister. It was my dad's first cousin who was married in Cancun last week. And my dad's first cousin is my first-cousin-once-removed. * Are you still with me? *

My sister and I with my grandma. Gotta love the sunburns!

I have great memories with this family. The laughter and good food was over-flowing. I keep in contact with all my cousins (some are listed in the blog list), but we don't get to see them much any more since my great grandmother passed away. I knew this wedding excursion would be fun, but we almost didn't go. When making the decision, I was 9 months pregnant and miserable. Also, it would be a huge expense. Then my great aunt offered to make it possible by providing accommodations, we decided to go for it. When would we ever have this opportunity again? And to be with family in such an a beautiful location was too much to pass up. Nearly 50 of my family went on the trip including my grandma, parents, and sister and her husband.

Getting the birth certificate quickly and then Remi's passport was difficult and time consuming. Many times I wondered what we were thinking to take our 6 week old baby out of the country for a vacation. The passport came just a week before we left and he was ready to travel.

If you have traveled with a child (or children), you know how hard it is. It takes skills and training and should not be attempted by the faint of heart. I think it should be an Olympic event, both summer and winter games. If it were, Jeff and I would have medaled on more than one occasion. We took the gold medal in the relay event when we traveled with Emma to Africa. Then, last year I took an individual gold when I went to Tennessee and Washingshton DC with Mandy. Air travel and children provides a unique set of difficulties, but road trips can also be challenging. Like our trip to Canada. 

We left the girls with Jeff's parents and departed with Remi on Wednesday last week. Thankfully, Remi is an easy baby. He loves being held and rocked and he didn't make more than a few fussing noises for 5 days. People asked, "Does he ever cry?" Nope! He thoroughly enjoyed being an only child. It was really fun to be with him, smiling and talking. We pawned him off with my parents or other family members a couple of times during the trip and they were happy to hold him.

We stayed in 5 star accommodations. Check out this link to the resort: Grand Velas. It was out-of-this world beautiful! Jaccuzi tub, down comforter, 50" flat screen tv, free room service, fully stocked mini bar with Frappachinos and Oreos, and bath towels the size of my car.... we really didn't need to leave the room. But we did to lay by the pool and to attend the beautiful beach wedding.

My cousin Demitri and his wife, Amanda, Aunt Valdean, the beautiful bride, Jenny and my cousin Daniel

The wedding was lovely and it made me want to get married again... actually, it made me want to be a wedding photographer in Cancun. On the beach. I can't think of a more perfect job. Oh ya. Perfect job = my husband, home, and 3 beautiful children. Momentary memory lapse. It must be all that sun and Frappachinos.

Remington has momentary memory lapses as well. He completely forgot about home where he isn't held 24/7, where his loving sisters pester him constantly, and where the only thing tropical about the climate is the rain. I caught him dreaming about the perfect weather and all you can eat buffets as he snoozed in his private cabana by the pool. 

I posted a zillion more pictures on Facebook. So, if you are my friend (and I hope you are), check them out there. Like the one with Jeff wearing a tiny little sombrero, pictures of our resort and amazing food, and about 6 pictures of Remington's cutie-pie, smiling double chin.

Now back to paradise as it describes our blessed, but normal lives instead of a location. :)

PS

I posted these pics through Photobucket and they are HUGE. Sorry if you have problems viewing them. I'll get back to normal here soon.

Read More.. Read More..

Cooling off and other fun stuff

The girls and I just got back from a trip to visit my parents. My parents work as year-round staff at a Christian conference center and Bible camp in Washington. My Dad works maintenance and my mom is head of housekeeping. They are incredibly busy this time of year, but took a break to entertain us during some of our visit. The setting is ideal on a big lake and there is no shortage of things to do. It is a kid's paradise, if only we didn't have to drive 3 hours to get there. 3 hours not including bathroom stops and "I'm famished and might die" stops for food. On the agenda: bouncy house, swimming in the pool, water slide, drinking pop in the dining hall at every meal, and visiting the 3 play grounds multiple times.

The weather was a bit chilly when we got there, but warmed up each day in the afternoon to make swimming in the pool very fun. I am going to try and remember that I recently had to wear long pants, socks, and a fleece to keep warm as the temperatures creep up passed 100 degrees this week.

Emma swam around on her noodle to her heart's content.

Mandy also loves the water.

A bit too much. She has no fear and jumped in twice without anyone to catch her. Even though I lifeguarded, I am still amazed at how a little child can so quickly slip under water while adults are right there. Both times Mandy went under I was close by, but not close enough to get her right away. My life-guard brain told me that the few seconds under water didn't hurt her, but visions of her struggling under water haunted my dreams that night. Please let this be a reminder to you to be extra vigilant with your children in the water. Life is precious.

The next day of swimming had Mandy being much more cautious, hanging on to Grandma for dear life. 

Speaking of fearless...

Emma scoped out the water slide one evening after dinner and decided she wanted to try it the next day. It is about 100 feet long and goes down the steep hillside straight into the lake. I was sure (or maybe I was hoping) that once she saw it in action she would chicken out.

But I forgot that my fearless 4 year old doesn't chicken out. She watched the big kids for a few minutes and then said she was ready. 

This won't be the last time her adventuresome spirit leads her down exhilarating paths. Just look at the look of excitement on her face as she speeds down the slide into open water!

I can hear the phone call now, some years in the future, "Hey Mama, I'm in Tajikstan! The train trip from China was only a few days long, so I figured, why not? Don't worry. I met some nice guys from Italy and they seem to know where they are going, although they don't speak any English."

"Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." -Elizabeth Stone

My husband has family that lives near my parents and I called up cousin Sara (and blogger friend) to come and swim with us. While the others got their fill of the water, I held Baby Ben. Mandy was whining beside me and I assumed she was jealous of my attentions going to the baby. But I soon figured out that Mandy wanted the baby to herself.

Mandy wasn't happy unless she was holding the baby and the baby wasn't very happy unless Mandy was nowhere in sight. Our little baby boy will be getting love overdoses from his attentive sisters. Both Emma and Mandy love babies and Emma talks daily about her boy baby who is coming soon through a small hole. Ya, something like that and don't remind me. She also enjoys coming up with names. Today she told her Sunday School teacher that her boy baby was named Mongo. Yesterday it was Boysen. 

Cousin Abby (1 month younger than Mandy) really enjoyed the water. This was her first time in a big swimming pool and she loved it.

I have no idea what the lady in the background is doing. Sorry Sara, I'll crop her out and send you a picture, but she was too funny not to include.

On Friday, I attended a workshop for Handwriting Without Tears, a curriculum that I plan on teaching Emma this Fall for preschool. More on that later. But I am really happy I went, Seattle traffic aside.

I was happy to take the picture of one of my parent's co-workers and family. Have camera, will travel, should be my tag-line for my business.

These children are so beautiful. I would like to think I am just brilliant, but I had to double check the captured picture 14 times to realize I actually got all three smiling perfectly. This never happens! I can't wait to get the pictures edited.

Four days away from my husband is enough and we made the trip back to the hottest weather on record forecasted for this week. Why did I leave the pool-side again? We had a great time, but it is good to be home. We made it home in time to hear news of our newest nephew, Jamin Ezra (pronounced Jay-min), born to Jeff's brother and wife on Saturday. Jamin is having trouble breathing and is not doing as well as we would hope. There is nothing like the anxiety for a tiny one who is sick. I'll continue to put updates on FB as I hear them. 

Right before I left, I finished the girls' room and I will post pictures as soon as we clean it up again. They can't seem to remember that we live in a Pottery Barn catalog and messes are not allowed.

Read More.. Read More..

Home again guarding the fort

We returned home from our Canada trip. For all those of you who were very confused that I was posting when I was supposed to be on vacation, I was actually enjoying my time away from the computer and had scheduled posts in advance -- I never run out of things to blog about. I have heard from several sources that we shouldn't announce to our blogging audiences that we are going on vacation and then disappear for weeks on end. Since I am a pretty regular blogger, you would have noticed my absence I am sure. There might be a crazy person out there who would take advantage and come and break into my house or something. They would probably take my most prized possessions like my Vita Mix and the new box of size 4 Huggies from Costco. I know you would never break into my house. It is only the stalkers from Ohio and New Mexico who never comment that I am worried about. In any event, we were gone and now we are not and I am having really great fun catching up on email and comments. Thank you!

We were gone for 9 days and I have lots to share, but I will limit the info to 10 things:

1. We drove 3,011 miles and spent 56 hours in our very comfy and functional mini van going from our house to BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan via Washington and Idaho.

2. Amanda and her family were so fun to be with in Nipawin. The baby didn't present itself like I had hoped. Amanda was pretty uncomfortable. We look forward to their exciting news soon.

3. The weather was gorgeous for the entire trip (the only rain was on the way home). It was sunny and unseasonably warm. It was above freezing during the day -- I never had weather like this when I was going to college in Saskatchewan.

4. The Canadian Rockies were as beautiful as we remembered. I highly recommend the trip north if you have never been.

5. We attempted to climb Sulfur Mountain woefully unprepared. Jeff and I summated the mountain pretty easily when we hiked it 6 years ago in August, minus 2 children, ice and snow. I can now say that I don't need to summit the mountain in order to conquer it. Maybe a good lesson for life in general.

6. A few rural Canadian towns are famous for their "biggest" somethings. On the drive, we saw the biggest dinosaur, pinto bean, teepee, and truck. You don't have that kind of fun in an airplane.

7. Emma is a really good traveler and is always up for an adventure especially mountain climbing, swimming, seeing trains, and playing with Liam's toys.

8. Mandy teethed 2 top molars and 2 bottom front teeth on the trip. She did really well considering her pain. She's a real trooper.

9. I had a run in with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Medicine Hat, Alberta, at 2:30am. I was speeding through on their deserted and well lit highway at 80 kilometers per hour (about 50mph) and missed the sign to slow my speed to 50 kph (about 35mph). The police guy, who looked eerily similar to Benton Frasier from Due South, was quite pleasant and apologized for pulling me over and disrupting my journey. He thankfully did not give me a ticket.

10. Our time together as a family was priceless and we had a really fun time. It is also very good to be home and out of the car.

Read More.. Read More..