Last Days Of Summer

Since I failed miserably in keeping the blog up-to-date, here is some of our last days of summer in pictures.

We took the boys to their 2nd movie, to see Planes in 3D.  They loved it and so did me and Jamie.  We also joined my mother-in-law and nephew for an afternoon of bowling.  The kids had a difficult time waiting their turn but had so much fun pushing the bowling ball down the slope into the alley.  We also got 2 new puppies... brother and sister English Springer Spaniels whom we named Birdie (girl) and Bogey (boy). The boys love their 'puddy dogs' as Collier calls them and they are now BIG puppies that are 3 1/2 months old.  We love our new fur balls.  I had actually forgotten how much I enjoy being a dog owner and have really enjoyed loving on and playing with our new babies.  For now, they are inside at night but spend the day in the backyard.  When we get moved, they will be outside dogs.  Now that I have kids, I just can't handle the shedding and dander that dogs bring inside.  I'm not sure WHY it didn't bother me before kids but the amount of fur I sweep up around their crates each day grosses me out.  And they only SLEEP inside.  We went on a few play dates with friends to the movies and to visit UNA's gorgeous campus and see the lions.  And right before school started back, our children's department at church hosted a back to school bash at the Splash Pad at Gattman Park.  

We really did have a fun, busy, memorable summer!

School's Back in Session

Noah started 1st Grade on August 19th.  Last year, I was an absolute nervous wreck on the night before school however it was much different this year.  Noah has the same wonderful teacher that he had last year and the same classmates, with the addition of a few new ones.  There have also been some (positive) changes for this new school year and the special ed class gets to participate in weekly adaptive music, art and p.e. classes...which absolutely THRILLS me.  The new interim principal has put a special emphasis on allowing Noah and his classmates to be treated the same as the other students and has been proactive in making some changes at the school to allow this.  Noah had a great first day back at school and didn't have any problems adjusting to being back in school (other than taking a little bit longer naps when he got home.) Now that school has been back in session for a month, he's loving all of the new classes and things are going extremely well.  We are so blessed to have such an awesome, caring teacher and aide to care for and teach him from 8 - 3 and it definitely makes dropping him off a much easier thing to do! While I do enjoy having him at home during the summer, it's nice being back on a schedule and having some free time to get more done during the day...although that alarm clock going off so early each morning can be a pain!

Collier started preschool on September 3rd and is back at King's Kids except that he's now going 2 days a week.  He loves school and benefits so much from being there.  He has made friends that he comes home talking about and is learning new things every day.  He counts to 12 consistently, knows majority of the colors and knows plenty of songs, such as his ABC's (sometimes he says some of the letters wrong but he knows the tune and is getting better saying them all correctly.)  His language has just exploded and he talks non-stop.  He cracks me up daily with things he'll ask or say.  I'm constantly questioning how in the world he knows what 'this' or 'that' means.  Like coffee... I'm not a regular coffee drinker but just recently have begun drinking it a little more regularly.  Today he brought me my empty coffee mug and said, "here's your coffee, momma."  He's very observant and is such a smart little guy.  I'm loving this age with him and the conversations that we are now having.  A few weeks ago, right before we left for our Disney trip, I was driving and talking to him while he was in his carseat in the back, about how he would get to meet Mickey Mouse and we would eat breakfast with him.  To try and explain I said that it wouldn't be like on tv, but that he would actually be there with us and we could hug him, talk to him and sit beside him.  Collier responded by saying, "will he sit beside me in a carseat?"  He's very into choo-choos, Henry Hugglemonster, Mickey Mouse (of course) as well as Pete and Goofy, Cars the movie as well as any race car, and his latest obsession is all things construction... bulldozers, tractors, and backhoes.  And he KNOWS the difference between the three.  I just have to take his word for which is which!  It blows my mind that my baby is less than a month away from being 3.  I don't feel like it's been 3 years since we welcomed that sweet, beautiful baby into our lives but he's growing up and emerging into such a bright, caring, funny little boy and seems so much older almost daily.

For comparison's sake, here are the boys' 1st day of school pictures from 2012

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!