May 2017

After years of wanting one, I finally purchased myself a zero-gravity chair. I love it! And so do the kids. :)

Bennett and Tessa

Cooper found a penny and really wanted to show his Grandma Williams. Since she was unavailable to Skype, we took a picture and sent it to her. My kids are always finding/making things that they want to show their grandma. She may live halfway across the country, but she is definitely well loved and thought of constantly.

We pulled out the water table for the season. Tessa and Cooper then proceeded to pull nearly every sand toy they had from the sandbox to the water table.

Cooper heard me cracking my toe knuckles. Apparently I don't do it in front of him ever because he was shocked that I would "break my bones" like that. He then went on for five minutes why that was a bad idea.

Nearly every night they all crawl up to Cooper's top bunk for a book or two before going to bed.

I look over and see Tessa pulling down her pants.

Me: Tessa, what are you doing?

T: Putting my phone in my pocket!

This is her new thing lately. She thinks her leggings make a great storage spot for anything that will fit. The phone didn't last long. I think she discovered it's not very comfortable to sit on. Haha.

Just hanging out in the garage on the zero-gravity chair. The kids were riding their bikes while I supervised, but it ended up with us flipping through pictures and videos on my phone. They love to look at themselves.

The kids are OBSESSED with Moana these days. They watch it every chance they get. I was making dinner and they were getting underfoot, so I turned on Moana on the computer. Afterwards, I realized I should have just turned it on downstairs, but they were so cute huddled around the small computer screen watching their favorite show.

We decided it was probably time to turn on our sprinklers for the summer. As Jason was testing them to make sure they were all working properly, the kids decided to play.

Tessa was the most brave. She ran right down the middle of them.

Cooper ran around the outskirts of the sprinklers so he wouldn't get too wet.

And Bennett didn't run in them at all. Haha. 

Jason and Tessa running back from the sandbox.

Bennett's creations have evolved into cool designs that he makes for his trucks and trains to drive on and live. He calls them houses. They even have designated beds to sleep on.

The kids were super excited about the gifts we brought home for them. Especially the super hero capes the boys got.

Cooper as Superman

Tessa showing of her Mexican dress

Bennett as Captain America. He really likes the wings that "help him fly".

Once we got home the boys starting using the bat and horse as weapons to fight the bad guys. The main bad guy is named "Gravy". I am not sure where they came up with that name, but started using it after they came home from the neighbor boy's house. I need to ask his mom about it. Haha.

Bennett

Cooper showing me what Superman is doing on the back of his cape.

I love that the kids love the sandbox.

Cooper left, Bennett right

Tessa's first french braid!

So the handle on our microwave just randomly snapped off one day while I was trying to open it. It was so sudden that it startled me. Jason somehow jimmy-rigged it back on until we can come up with another solution. (My guess is it will probably stay that way indefinitely.)

On May 31st I was able to attend the dance recital of my cousins Audrey and Lily. Their dance school does a fantastic job on the production and incorporating all the different dance skills and levels into a wonderful show. This is the second one I have been to and have been very impressed both times.

What the kids were up to while we were in Cancun

While we were in Cancun, the kids got to spend time up at G&G Webre's house. Marie was so kind to take pictures of my sweet kids. Since these are Marie's pictures, I can't tell you much about them but I CAN tell you the kids had a blast.

Tessa, Cooper, Bennett

Every day they were there, Grandma would take them to a different park to play.

Cooper left, Bennett right

They LOVE parks and being outside, so they were in heaven. (I do not know who the extra kid is. I am assuming it was a new friend they made while at the park.)

I think their favorite was the train park. At least, that is the one I heard most about when we got back.

Bennett

Cooper

It made me laugh to see the boys carrying sticks in a lot of these pictures because that is so typically them. They find the best stick they can everywhere they go.

Bennett sticking the stick through the hole.

Love my kids and so glad they have such an awesome grandparents willing to take great care of them while we were away.

Cancun 2017: More Snorkeling and Final Day

When we were done with breakfast we woke up to find a bunch of wind surfers cruising past our resort and Jason has now put wind surfing on his bucket list. It was really fun to watch them for a few minutes. The whole time we were in Cancun it was breezy and there were red flags all along the beach (which says it's too dangerous to swim). The breeze was actually a blessing because it kept the bugs away AND kept us cooler while outside.

We couldn't swim at our beach but we did enjoy playing in the waves. 

Jason was more adventurous than I and would go further out.

Soaking up the sun on our last day at the beach. Of course we had our pina colada and strawberry daiquiri in hand.

That is our resort in the background.

I could not get over all the different shades of blue in the water.

Jason wanted to play volleyball the whole time we were there but never got the chance. Finally on our last day he was able to make it happen.

After soaking up the sun and playing in the waves all morning, Jason thought it was time for an adventure. He had this "brilliant" idea to walk to the end of the peninsula along the beach with sand that is super soft and hard to walk in so we could possibly go snorkeling at some reef he spotted on Google Earth. I was not too excited about this idea because it was super hot in the middle of the day, the waves looked choppy and dangerous since it was so windy, and we didn't even know if it would be safe to snorkel in the spot he picked out. Oh yeah, and we didn't have life jackets. Our resort didn't have any life jackets we could borrow so Jason thought we would just go into town and see if we could find some floaties to use (which was in the opposite direction from where we wanted to go). Luckily the guy working the resort gift shop suggested a little gas station store along our way could possibly have floaties for purchase. So we took off walking down the road in the heat of the day. We found the store and purchased some float rings and headed  toward our hopeful snorkel spot.

(The strip of resorts along the beach. Ours is somewhere in the middle.)

Along the way we found this sweet Cancun sign. We stopped for a picture before continuing our trek.

When we got to our destination we were lucky and there was actually a lifeguard station there. The lifeguard told us that our float rings were a TERRIBLE idea because the current was too strong and they could easily be torn from our grasp. But he had some life jackets (just like the inflatable life jackets you can find on an airplane) we could rent as well as some flippers for Jason. I had brought Marie's flippers with us so I was set.

He told us to walk along the super rocky shore to a little patch of sand and start snorkeling there. The current would take us back to the lifeguard station, then we could get out, walk back, and let the current carry us again. As soon as we got in the water we noticed the current was fairly strong but pulling us the OPPOSITE direction from what the lifeguard told us. So we got out and walked back to the lifeguard station. He said "oh no! It always pulls that way near the shore, but if you go further out it will pull the way you want to go." We got back in the water at the station and stayed near the shore to let the current pull us back to the little patch of sand, then swam out further to try to catch the current going the opposite direction. I never felt that current happen. At best it was just more neutral farther out and so we didn't have to fight against the current. Oh well. We survived and it was probably the best snorkeling spot yet.

Jason trying some shallow diving.

There was plenty of fish and coral to see. There was shallow spots and deep pockets of water. Every time we got to a deep part I had Finding Nemo run through my head: "The drop off!!" and had a slight freak out.

The deeper parts had bigger fish, like this barracuda. You can't see it very well in this picture, but it was huge! And freaked me out because once again I thought of Nemo and how the barracuda ate his mom. So I snapped the picture and swam away fast. Jason just laughed at me because barracudas do not eat people. But I could see his teeth!

A small sampling of our sight-seeing:

In the shallow parts near the shore, there was a bunch of tiny fish that you could find in a fish store. It was fun for me because it felt a little like I was swimming through an a aquarium that I had growing up.

After a loop and a half I was starting to feel fatigued fighting against the current, and I could see that a storm was coming in so I called it quits.

But Jason wasn't done. He wanted to do one more loop before we packed up our stuff and trekked back to our resort. Jason swam around by himself for a bit and then the lifeguard waved him back in. Jason turned and started swimming back to shore before finishing his loop and he ran across a sea turtle! He said it was so close that he could have reached out and touched it. And it didn't seem scared of Jason at all. I am so glad he got videos of it. So cool!

We cleaned up a bit and headed back across the beach back to our resort just as a storm rolled in.

We packed up most of our things that night and hung up all our wet stuff to dry.

The next morning we had one last look out our window and headed to the airport for a bunch of lines and waiting again. It was a glorious vacation!