Un Viajecito a Mexico...

Thad and I (with a little bit of help from some willing and wonderful grandparents) took a three day cruise to Ensenada, Mexico and back as an early 5 year anniversary getaway. I wasn't really worried about the kids because they adore their grandparents and I knew that they'd be fine. That said I had been prepping them for us leaving telling them that they were going to Grandma's and that she was picking them up and when she pulled up Nate when sprinting to her car and turned back to wave and said "bye-bye!" and Sammy buckled himself and the two backpacks into the car without being asked. LOL. I knew that they'd eventually miss me...

Our friend Ed drove us to the Long Beach port and Sammy came along to see the ships and trains while Nate went with Grandma since it was nap time. We accidentally went to the San Pedro port first (oops) but luckily it was close via bridge to the LB port! We got there in time to eat lunch and have tons of time before the ship sailed to walk around and get to know the ship a bit.

The first full day, Saturday, we docked early in the morning in Ensenada, and had time to play there until about 6 pm. Thad and I had gone to sleep early the night before and when I woke up at 5 or so in the morning I needed to eat (or get sick) and we found out that the pizza place was open 24 hours a day so we got fresh pizza (since breakfast didn't start till 7!!) It was definitely some of the best pizza that I'd ever had! Yum-o! After that we took a nap and then had some fruit and hot chocolate before heading to Ensenada around 9:30 am.

We took a shuttle out to the blowhole, La Bufadora, which is about 20 miles outside of Ensenada. It was only $15 per person and well worth it! It was a full moon and rainy the night before so the tide was high and the blowhole was great! It was blowing water up about every 30 seconds or so and anywhere from 20 to 80 feet in the air! The only other blowhole in the world is in Hawaii so it was kind of fun to be there. After watching the blowhole for 10 minutes or so and getting some great pictures of it and some beautiful rainbows we headed to the next best thing about being out by La Bufadora-the shopping!! Even the locals shop here because in town the prices are higher because of the proximity to the cruise dock. We got a few more things that we anticipated but I think that we got good deals. I got a pair of silver earrings (bargained down from $50 or so to $20), a big soft Mexican blanket (down from $35 to $12 --woo hooo!), 2 spiderman capes (these were the hardest to bargain for from $8 down to $4!), a buffalo leather wallet (from $45 or something CRAZY like that down to $15), a leather belt (from $25 to $10), two kids shirts (from $5 to $3 a piece), some fresh churros and some delicious, fresh tacos from a stand that we were passing and that I couldn't pass up--fresh made tortillas and all for $1 a piece! We got back to the ship $100 poorer, full to the brim but happy that we had fun and had bargained our hearts out!

That day we took a nap and I read a bit of Inkspell before heading out for a snack, a walk around the ship, watched Bolt and then We had a bad experience with "open dining" and after waiting 45 minutes got changed back to traditional dining (they had changed us without asking). Later that night we went to a show and then passed out watching the ship channel...

We got up early Easter morning and had a nice breakfast and then lazied around all day...watched movies, walked around the ship, enjoyed the sun, and even did some dolphin and seal watching (I spotted them first and everyone came running--woo hoo--there must have been 100 of them!) and it was pretty neat. We tried to get pictures but it is really hard to get good pictures of dolphins playing and jumping in the water! We had a nice dinner, dressed up for formal pictures, and enjoyed our last kid-free night walking around the ship and enjoying the beautiful views and nice cool breeze. We fell asleep watching High School Musical 3 (woo hooo--there were soo many channels to choose from ;) ) later that night.

We got up early the next morning tried to eat pizza but that was closed so we ate some fruit and hot breakfast when they opened up. Then we went back to pack the few final things and then relaxed till it was time to debark the ship. We got a little talkin' to by the customs agent since we didn't have our passports yet (you don't HAVE to have them for Mexico until July but they are pushing it now) and we only had our Driver's Licenses which the cruise line said was okay but the customs guy wasn't too happy with. This was one time that I was glad for racial profiling since he lectured us and then let us go.

It was a fun trip but I'm glad that we didn't take the boys. I would NOT have been able to relax with an 18 month old and probably not even the 3 1/2 year old on a moving vessel. Too many places to lose them, too many people, and just not fun for them. It was nice from time to time to see some cute kids on the ship but I was glad that they were at home playing and having a blast without us. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us escape on this early 5th anniversary cruise!!!

If you're still crazy enough to see more pictures you can look here on Facebook to see about 30 or on SmugMug to see the rest!

Who's that crazy pregnant lady with the two wild boys?

I think that is what some of the people at the Towne Center were thinking today when they saw me...

Thad is always saying that I need to let the boys be boys and be crazier. The other day when Nate (now 18 months old) was counting to three (although it is cuter than heck to hear him count) and then jumping off the couch Thad said, "at least they're not jumping off the house yet". Off the house? Oh man, I'm in for it with three boys aren't I?

Anyway, I digress, and my stories get too long Thad says, so I'll focus back on my adventure at the Towne Center. I decided to be a good teacher and go support the Boys Baseball Team at their Rubio's Fundraiser tonight and eat and let the boys play at bit--they love running around there up and down the stairs at the Towne Center and especially sitting by the fountain. Today was not too different but there was another family of four boys that were doing the same thing and Sammy just jumped in and was chasing them. I wanted to go back and get some water from Rubios and Sammy was ignoring me so I ran in and got some water while toting my 30 pound heavyweight Nate.

We came back out and Nate was squirming to get out of my arms so I started chasing him and trying to watch Sammy over by the fountain when all of a sudden Sammy disappears around the back side of the fountain (which is usually okay because he marches around and around and around it) but only this time he doesn't come immediately back out and I hear a little boy start screaming. Ahhhh! Nate is running one way, Sammy has fallen into the fountain and I don't know where to run so I ditch Nate and hope he doesn't fall or run off or get stolen and I run to grab Sammy from the fountain. I get there just as two high school kids are helping him out and grab him soaking wet and throw him into the stroller and then run and chase Nate who is climbing up the gate and then falls (luckily not on his head). Sigh. I didn't even stop to see what people were saying I just ran to the car, stripped Sammy,threw him in the car and headed for home. Wow, what a day. I can only imagine what is to come...I guess I won't be adventuring off to the Towne Center with three by myself until they're a little bigger...

p.s. it would have been a great picture with Sammy dripping wet in his orange shirt and khaki shorts crying and shivering but alas my camera was dead--dumb Murphy!

A Quick Trip to Utah...but too many sick days!

I took the day off on Friday so that we could leave Thursday night after Thad's class for Utah. We left at 10 even though Thaddeus was feeling quite sick and drove through the night so that the kids could sleep in the car (instead of going crazy). It worked out well and they slept all but 2 hours or so. Sammy woke up with a super huge grin because the ground was covered with snow. He didn't stop smiling for about 45 minutes--he was so excited to be in Utah. By the time we got up to Orem the snow had all but melted from the day before but Sammy did get to see a little on the ground.

We made great time (10 hours without speeding), but by this time Thad was about ready to die and crawled into bed. He was really icky but rested a bunch and felt a lot better but still coughing and sneezing. I felt it that night and I spent the second day with the chills, coughing, sneezing and wanting to die (okay, not really, but you get the picture). And poor Sammy got it the worst on the third day --He was up half the night, coughed so hard he threw up, and had diarrhea, the chills, and a fever along with his cough and runny nose. Nathan seems to be coughing now but hopefully he doesn't get it as bad!

On Saturday we got to go to James' baptism (Chris and Jana's oldest) and it was very nice. The baptism was our whole reason for driving up so I'm glad that we all felt well enough to go!

It was a nice trip but we didn't get to visit the extended family that we would have liked to because of the yucky sickness (we didn't want to spread anything and the sick person was not happily moved or awakened on their day). Here are a few more pictures though...

Our latest attempt at a family picture...not perfect, but cute?

Thad and I in our sick and snotty but happy stage...



The boys and the kids playing Laser Tag with Chris' toys...Sammy wanted to play so badly but was so sick!

Surprise! :-o

We're not the best at sharing news in person so... surprise! We had an ultrasound today and found out that on August 20th (or whenever this little person decides that they're ready) our count will be 3 and 0! Yes, much to Sammy's dismay, this next child will be a boy. We're going to have our hands full! Thad and I are excited (and we didn't care either way) but Sammy was sure it was a girl! I guess that I won't have to worry about spending too much on cute little pink outfits just yet! ;)

A Sunbeam Story...

I had to share this...if you're a mom or an auntie or just love kids you'll think that this is funny. Kathryn, Sammy's Sunbeam teacher, wrote on my wall in Facebook and when I read it I almost spit out my salad I was laughing so hard. Enjoy!

"I had to keep from laughing in primary yesterday. Sammy kept picking his nose and trying to hand whatever he picked out of it to poor little Alina. Alina would then say loudly enough for me to hear but still remaining quiet enough for nobody else to hear "Ewww! I don't want that! You keep it! Ewww! Teacher, tell him I don't want that!" It was more her reaction that made me want to laugh. Gotta love Sunbeams! :)"

p.s. He does love Primary! Yesterday Nate got hurt and we tried to take Sammy out of his class and crying, he said, "no, I want to learn!" I had to take him back to class...

Still Alive...

We're still here. We're still alive. Not too much exciting stuff has gone on in March. Our house is trashed and I haven't caught up with the dishes or the laundry or the papers that I need to grade. We did work on our garage and our cars but life never slows down. Sammy is mostly potty trained although he still has accidents sometimes :( Nate got two more teeth this week :) and the time change is really killing me! I hope that I catch up soon--I really don't want to wait till Easter Break to find my living room floor or my sink! Now I must return to the trenches....I hear two little boys playing instead of snoring...

(Cross your fingers) Could Sammy finally be potty trained?

So Sammy is 3 1/4 years old and he might have finally mastered it (for the most part). For a long time he would pee in the potty usually but would sit and sit and sit and sit on the potty and not poop. Then we got him pooping in the potty sometimes but he would scream and not want to wear undies. Then we got him to wear undies but he usually had an accident each day (but would usually wake up dry overnight?)... All in all it's been an ordeal! Throughout this time I've gotten way too many comments from too many people (usually strangers!) Maybe it's because of his size (he's in 4T-5T stuff now) but some even said, I had mine potty trained by 18 months! WHO CARES?! :) That aside, I am a working mom and things happen in their own time. That said, I'm sure that we will have accidents, and this morning (after many days of waking up dry) he had a little pee in his diaper, but we're hoping that we won't have to put diapers on Sammy anymore! At least he likes the undies we bought along the way to bribe him! Wish us luck!