Celebracion en Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

 

On July 2nd, Jamie and I said 'adios' to our family and set off for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to celebrate our upcoming 10 year anniversary!  Our actual anniversary is August 9th, however that is my niece Harper's 1st birthday and what kind of aunt would I be if I missed her special day?! ... plus, since my mom had to take off work to keep the boys, it worked out much better to plan our trip during the holiday week so she wouldn't have to use quite so many of her vacation days (especially when she was so sweet to take off work to keep our boys to allow this trip to even happen!) 

We flew out of Nashville at 6am Tuesday morning and arrived in Cabo around 1:00pm.  As SOON as we exited the airport, there was an outdoor bar to our right to greet everyone with a drink... to start our Mexican excursion off right, Jamie had a Corona and I had a margarita!  We stayed at Dreams Los Cabos, which was located on the Corridor midway between San Jose del Cabo and Los Cabos, and were amazed at how beautiful our resort was!  One thing that I was surprised to learn is that Cabo is located in the desert.  When driving the Corridor, there are desert, mountains and cacti on one side of the road and the ocean and palm trees are on the other.  Since Cabo only gets rain about 3 days a year, everything is open; there were no exterior doors to the hotel and as soon as you pull up to the portico, you have views straight through the lobby to the infinity pool and the ocean on the other side of the resort.  It was stunning!  Our room was equally as nice with a gorgeous view of the colorful gardens, infinity pool and ocean.  We wasted no time getting changed into our bathing suits and heading straight out to the pool.  The ocean in this particular area is too rough to play in and it is strongly advised to avoid the waters.  The rough waters cause the waves to crash loudly on the ocean, creating a beautiful, relaxing sound.  We chose to do the all inclusive option at our resort and quickly realized we made the right decision! We were able to order anything and everything that we wanted, included unlimited, meals, drinks, desserts and 24 hr. room service!  After spending all day relaxing in the sun, we had an amazing dinner at one of the restaurants on property, Oceana.  It was great not having to make any reservations and just walking up to the restaurant, being sat quickly, ordering whatever we wanted and leaving without having to pay a dime (tips are discouraged).  

The 2nd day of our trip, we chose to lay out at the other pool on property, the "adults only" pool.  We met several sweet couples that we hung out with the remainder of the day.  There were alot of Texans, as well as a group from Kentucky and Louisiana so SEC football dominated the conversations.  We also met another couple, Nancy & Michael from Michigan who were there celebrating their honeymoon.  We hit it off with them and hung out with them throughout the week. That evening we ate at the Italian restaurant on property and it was nothing short of delicious.  Afterwards, we stopped in the lobby to watch a 'concert' that the hotel staff was putting on... the Village People, some disco queens and a few others performed.  

On our 3rd day, Jamie headed across the Corridor to a Robert Trent Jones golf course, Cabo Real and played a round of golf, while I spent the morning in the spa getting a massage and a manicure.  Afterwards, since we had gotten a little burnt from spending 8 hours in the sun the following day, we headed into downtown Los Cabos.  On every corner, there were touristy stores selling jewelry, hats, t-shirts, coffee mugs... and you couldn't walk by one without them trying to entice you into their store.  There were also plenty of massage stores, bars and pharmacies.  I was surprised to see that so many drugs that require prescriptions in the states are sold without prescriptions in Mexico, such as various pain killers, Viagra, etc.  The only thing that was bothersome was how many people approached us, striking up a conversation (which at first we thought they were just being friendly because we were tourists), then trying to get us to do a boat excursion, play golf, do a tour, etc.  We were hounded the entire day... at first we were really friendly and talked with everyone, but by the end of the afternoon, we would cut them off before they could even begin their spill.  We had quite the experience when we went into jewelry store called The Real McCoy.  We met the owner who called himself, Mr. Holy Shit (a phrase he used often) and found a few pieces of jewelry that we were interested in.  He was doing everything he could to get us to make a purchase: giving us beers, trying to get us to take tequila shots, etc.  He was really a nice guy and hilarious!  His initial price was $1,500 for the 3 pieces and before it was over with we had talked him down to $425!  We actually walked out without making a purchase... I'll admit, I got a little caught up in the negotiations even though the jewelry wasn't something I had to have.  Besides, if he could take his price down $1100 in a matter of 1/2 hour, then we weren't so sure the quality was worth even paying $400 for it.  I was surprised at how quickly a little bit of my 2 years of Spanish classes came back to me, despite it having been almost 15 years since I've used it!  I was able to understand and speak some Spanish with the people we encountered throughout the day.  After feeling as though we had seen enough of downtown, we got a taxi and headed back to our resort.  Since it was July 4th, our resort had a huge 4th of July party that evening, complete with an American buffet of traditional 4th of July food, Bud Light (they typically ONLY serve Corona and we all thought it was too funny that they had a bunch of Bud Light brought in for the party), a DJ, and a fireworks show!  We met up with some of the friends we had made and had a great time ringing in the 4th, Mexican style!  We even had the pleasure of meeting Rickey Henderson, who is a major league baseball Hall of Famer who has set all kinds of baseball records.  He and his family were staying at our resort and we had heard he was there... the night of the party we spotted him and he saw Jamie pointing him out to me and asked US if we wanted a picture... well of course, Jamie did! 

One of the highlights of our trip was the amazing breakfast buffet that was available every morning at El Patio, one of the restaurants that was an outdoor patio overlooking the ocean.  We had a plethora of foods to choose from, including made to order omelets, fresh fruits, pastries and assorted breads, traditional Mexican breakfast choices, such as Huevos Rancheros, pancakes, waffles, biscuits, cereals, bacon, and create your own fruit & granola parfaits with various flavored yogurts to choose from.  It was delicious and to sit overlooking the ocean with the sounds of the waves rushing up on the shore was the perfect way to start each day!  It almost felt surreal or like something out of a movie.  The scenery was that beautiful!

The next day was yet another pool day for us (we did alot of those) and we managed to squeeze a nap or two in as well.  It was a rough life! That evening we went to eat at Himitsu, the Japanese restaurant on property and enjoyed fresh sushi and wonderful Japanese dishes.  Later that evening, the hotel had a Mexican performance with several men and women dancing traditional Mexican dances as well as a character who went by the name of "Jose Cuervo" that could lasso and do tricks with a rope like no other!  The show was fun to watch and they did a good job of getting the audience involved in their performances.

On our last day, we headed back into the city to visit the marina, which happened to be just a few blocks over from the downtown area.  We walked around the marina, visited a few little shops and bought the boys Cabo t-shirts and got a cute little bracelet for Harper.  We visited a little outdoor restaurant to cool off and were serenaded by a duo that sang "Brown Eyed Girl" to us.  After our morning excursion, we headed back to spend our last day soaking up the rays, floating in the pool and later joined Nancy, Michael and 2 of the resort activities directors for a fun game of beach volleyball.

We had a perfectly relaxing vacation, doing exactly what we wanted to do! We both took daily naps (something Jamie NEVER does), worked on our tans and ate enough chips and guacamole to last us a lifetime.  Their guacamole was the BEST and we ate it at almost every meal.  We loved getting to spend quality time just the 2 of us, not having to worry about getting our other 2 people ready, fed, or cleaned up (although we did miss them but knew they were in great hands).  It was nice getting a week to ourselves to focus on one another.  The entire week was the perfect way for us to celebrate our 10 years of marriage to one another and I'm so glad we were able to make it happen! 

Summer Happenings

Not to sound like a broken record, but I've let it happen again.  Here I am a month behind on the blog and trying to figure out how to catch up without this post being a mile long.  For starters, we've had a busy, fun summer.  One afternoon, we borrowed Jamie's brothers boat and took the boys out for several hours.  Noah loved it but Collier was terrified at first.  After 15 minutes of being scared, Collier settled down and all was good for several hours, both kids were having a blast... until another boat came up on us kind of close, causing some pretty big waves, sending us up out of our seats as our boat banged down on the water, which scared the mess out of Noah.  He was terrified until I finally calmed him down and he fell asleep in my lap. All in all, we had a fun day but it was slightly nerve-wrecking being out on the water with Jamie driving the boat and me trying to keep my eyes on both kids.  Especially with this being their first time on the water (well, technically Noah's 2nd time, but he was 3 the first time).  At one point I was applying sunscreen to Noah, Jamie was driving and I glanced up to see Collier leaning over the front of the boat tossing ice into the water.  I JUMPED up, Noah fell right out of my lap into the floor, and grabbed him so quickly.  It definitely scared me and Jamie... needless to say, I don't think purchasing a boat will be in our near future!  I do believe if there is a next time, another adult on hand would be helpful.  But overall, it was an enjoyable day.

Noah, my dad and I made a trip down to Birmingham for Noah's recheck on his eyes.  He has always been slightly far-sighted (which is normal for babies/small children, but improves with age) and even had some strabismus that they have been monitoring for a few years (slight wandering of the eye periodically.) The strabismus has corrected itself but the farsightedness has gotten quite a bit worse so they prescribed him glasses.  I must say, I was feeling pretty bad when the ophthalmologist told us how bad his eyes have gotten.  He actually had his eyes checked at the first of the school year and was sent home with a note saying I needed to follow up with his doctor.  I made an appointment but then all of the cancer stuff came up and I kept having to reschedule his appointment because of my surgeries, etc and his doctor books up several months in advance, so here we are 9 months later just now following through on this.  I kind of beat myself up over it but I was just doing what I had to do when I was trying to take care of my cancer stuff at the same time!  I was pretty skeptical as to HOW we would keep glasses on him but I got him fitted the following week and it really wasn't that much of an adjustment.  He pulls at them every once in a while but for the most part doesn't mind them, probably because he can see so much better now!  I've noticed he's done quite a bit of falling lately so hopefully as he gets used to these glasses, that will get much better.  And he looks pretty darn cute, if I must say.

We're fortunate enough to have a super fun Sunday school class and all got together one Saturday evening for a cook-out and baby shower for one of the couples in our class.  All the kids were there and had a blast playing outside together.  Noah fell down in the driveway, hitting his face, mouth and nose flat on the concrete.  Jamie brought him inside to me and his nose and teeth were bleeding and his top 2 teeth were loose.  However, Noah was too busy having fun that he really didn't even cry but just for a second and wanted us to leave him alone so he could get back to playing.  I tried pulling the tooth that was the loosest but it wasn't quite ready so I let him get back to playing.  The day after he got his glasses, which happened to be a few days after his fall, the tooth had wiggled its way down quite a bit more, so I pulled it without any problems. This made tooth #3 that he's lost. He almost looked like a completely different kid in a matter of just a few days with new glasses and a missing front tooth!  Here we are a few weeks later and he has lost not just the other top tooth, but ANOTHER bottom tooth.  He is currently missing 3 teeth (the front top 2 teeth and the lateral incisor, which is the tooth right beside the front 2 bottom teeth) and has lost a grand total of 5 teeth now!  It sure makes for one really cute, toothless smile!

New glasses and he lost a tooth in 1 week 

Collier playing with his friend Ethan at the Sunday School party

Noah's current smile minus 3 teeth (and a new cut on his face courtesy of another fall!)

And lastly, soon we will have 2 new members in our family! No, I'm NOT pregnant with twins, but we are getting 2 English Springer Spaniel puppies!  When Jamie and I were engaged over 10 years ago, we bought our first springer, Baxley and he was the BEST dog.  Jamie had 2 springers as a kid and loved the breed... and I quickly fell in love with Baxley.  Unfortunately, he got hit by a car a couple of years into our marriage and we were absolutely devastated.  Since we started building our house, it has been our intentions to get the boys a dog and pretty much knew we wanted another springer (or two).  We are about a month away from moving in and I did some research and came across a litter of springer puppies a few hours away.  The puppies are 5 weeks old and a couple of weeks away from being ready to leave their mom so I BEGGED Jamie to let us get two.  After a little convincing (since we'll still be in the rental when we get the pups), he agreed to us getting them.  We get to bring them home at the first of August and we can't wait!  So now, I introduce you to our new babies...

Birdie & Bogey Brink!  Yes, their names are a homage to my husband's love for golf, but believe it or not, I am the one that came up with them! :) We were watching a golf tournament on Sunday afternoon (fun, I know) and I joked that I was shocked he hadn't wanted to name them something golf-related, like "Luke Donald & Adam Scott (his favorite players) or... Birdie and Bogey!" Then it both hit us at the same time and we both said, "HEY! That's kind of cute!" and the names stuck!  Of course, the rest of the males in our family (on my side) all LOVE the names because they are all golfers.  I used to be the BIGGEST animal lover before I had children.  In fact, the past few years is the first time in my life that I haven't been a pet owner.  I will say that with having children, it is very hard to have an inside pet(s)...or at least it was for me.  Or maybe I should say that having a child with special needs makes it difficult to have an inside pet.  And since I haven't been a pet owner for the past few years, I developed that 'they are just animals' attitude.  It was really weird coming from the girl who wanted to be a vet all of her childhood.  It has slightly annoyed me when people post continuous pictures of their pets on facebook.  I mean, really?  How many different pictures must you post of the dog laying there asleep?  But now that we are about to be dog owners again, I've done yet another 360 and I'm slightly worried that I might become "one of THOSE people?!?"  I'm going to do my best to refrain myself from posting a gazillion pet pictures!

Noah's 6th Birthday & Kindergarten Awards Day

At the end of April, NOAH TURNED 6 YEARS OLD! That's right, my tiny, sweet firstborn baby boy is a big 6 year old (who also just finished his first year of school!)



The actual day of Noah's birthday, April 30th, was the day that I was in Birmingham for my whole body scan (which you can read about in my previous post). It was hard to plan a party since my RAI treatment was scheduled the week before his birthday and I wasn't sure how I would feel or how long it would take me to begin feeling better, so we just planned to have cake and dinner at my parents' house the night of his birthday and then planned a small, family party the following week at Chuck E. Cheese.  Noah had a great time at both of his celebrations and we are so blessed to have had our sweet boy in our lives for the past 6 years.  Wow, it takes some getting used to saying that he's now SIX!

 

 





The night after his birthday, Noah and I went shopping together to buy him a new pair of shoes and some clothes.  Most boys wouldn't exactly love a clothes shopping trip, but Noah is just thrilled anytime he gets one on one time with me or Jamie.  Sweet boy :) He wore his new shoes and picked out this hat... although it was a little too big and made him resemble the man in the yellow hat from Curious George.. needless to say, we passed on it.  Although we did find some him a few new bathing suits since they had a fun water day planned for the next day at school. (Although it ended up getting cancelled due to rain).



We had a bit of a cake catastrophe the day of his Chuck E. Cheese party.  I tried to keep it no-stress and simple so I ordered a dinosaur cake at Publix.  When I went to pick it up, I realized the cake was way too small so I decided to get cupcakes as well.  Well, EVERY single cupcake in the Publix bakery was pink and 'Mother's Day' themed and I didn't have enough time to make my own.  In addition, on our way out of Publix my dinosaur cake began splitting down the center! The lady helping me with my buggie (gotta love that Publix customer service!) told me to bring it back in and they would fix it but I was out of time and needed to pick Noah up from school.  I had to later make a run to Walmart where I found baseball cupcakes. I'm not going to lie, the pinterest, theme-loving part of me was bothered that our Dino cake and Baseball cupcakes had absolutely nothing to do with one another but it was just for family and there was no other option at that point.  I was able to gently put the cake together and thankfully, it held up until the party.

 

 

 



In addition to his big birthday, the school year was quickly coming to an end.  Noah had a great Kindergarten year and I can't believe his 1st year is already over.  He learned SO MUCH this past year and I'm so thankful for his wonderful teacher, aides, and therapists ... it's amazing to have people in his life that really, truly care and want to see him grow and learn and do whatever to help him get to that point.  He has learned the colors: red, yellow, blue and green consistently and will point to the appropriate color when asked.  He has learned the different types of weather: sun, clouds, rain, etc. however he isn't yet recognizing what the weather is doing outside, but when asked which one is the sun (or clouds, etc) he'll ID the correct card.  He knows and is pointing to picture cards to identify the other 4 students in his class, as well as his teacher, aide and "PaPaw" (the volunteer elderly man in his class).  He can now sign "boy" and will answer when asked if he's a boy or girl.  His fine motor skills have made some improvement and he is doing better at feeding himself.  His walking has gotten much better and his is 100% an independent walker.  In fact sometimes he walks so fast, it's borderline running (or at least speed walking!)  He can ascend and descend the stairs independently, as long as he has a hand rail to hold on to.  I'm excited that his teacher (and hopefully his aide) will be the same next year so he won't have to adjust to someone new.  Noah was honored at Awards Day and was one of 25 out of the entire kindergarten class who received the Bucket Filler Award. The award is based off the book, "How Full Is Your Bucket" and means that the honored students are known for being kind and sweet-spirited kids that help 'fill the buckets' of their peers.  Basically it's an anti-bullying program that focuses on being kind to others.  I was a happy momma to see my sweet boy receive such an important award.  He may not communicate, read, write, do simple math or any of the other things that you learn in kindergarten but it filled my heart to know that his sweet smile is a daily blessing to others... because it is MOST DEFINITELY a blessing to me!