Long Update

Well, there is a lot to update to my silent blog over the past week. The reason for the silence wasn’t because I didn’t have anything to say. To the contrary, in fact, however, Eric and I were both at the doctor’s office with different upper respitory problems that we had for over a month. As it turns out we were even sicker than we thought. I had an infection in my sinuses that I had attributed to a bad allergy season or a “school” cold from one of my germy students. Eric infection was even worse than mine. His had spread to his chest and he needed more intense antibiotics to get rid of it. I am so thankful for modern medicine. After the doctor, we both feel better and I am not going to wait so long to go see her the next time I feel sick.

Without further ado, I am going to start at the beginning of our very busy week. Last Monday, Kaylee had the encore performance of her grandparent’s day program. She was so adorable up there. She is a little peanut compared to the other kids in the performance. Every member of the pretend family in the play shared a microphone. In order for Kaylee to be heard she needed to stand on her tiptoes just to speak into the microphone. This made her lines all the more adorable even drawing some approving laughter from the crowd. When Kaylee was finished with her program, you could tell she was full of pride. Cameron was also proud of her sister which you could feel by the hug she gave her when we went to congratulate her after the show. She grabbed onto Kaylee and would not let go. So cute.
To celebrate a job well done, we took the kids out for smoothies at Kaylee’s favorite place. While we were driving back Kaylee has been asking when she is going to be able to do another play and I am contemplating how to get her involved in the theater more. Kaylee might not be the only thespian in the family. Cameron learned every line of the play and says she wants to try it too. If I find something for Kaylee, hopefully Cameron can get involved as well.

We had a short week at school last week, however, Kaylee still was able to bask in the glow of her performance at Grandparent’s day. She had teachers and students from all over the school telling her she did a great job. The school week was short because of teacher’s convention. The girls were eagerly awaiting this fall break because they were going to be staying with their grandparents for awhile. While normally I attend the teacher’s convention, this year I was skipping because of a birthday present Eric surprised we with a couple of weeks ago. Eric was taking me to Mexico to celebrate the big 3-0. At the risk of being called corny by my husband for the hundredth time, I will recount some of our memories of our time together.

Eric and I are very lucky to have family members in around that are willing to take our kids. They have so many people that love them and want what’s best for them. Luckily for us, our kids are still young enough that they are excited to stay with other family members. They were counting down the days to hang out with their nana and papa’s. (You know that a couple years from now, if we try to take a vacation without our kids, they are just going to accuse us of being cheap. Hee, hee.) When Kaylee was done with her half day of school on weds, I took the girls and my mom out for lunch at Panera Bread and they happily went home with my mom to day for a few days.Although we really miss our kids when we have taken vacations without them, we also cherish the time we have together. While Eric’s job has flexibility during summer months, he works really long hours during winter months and also travels from time to time. Weekends are sacred family time and we rarely get a sitter to go on dates. About once a year we go on a weekend trip to help us reconnect, relax, and renew our energy to put more time and effort into our daily life and our family.

I really enjoyed myself in Cancun. When you plan a trip without your kids, it’s important to try to do all the things you can’t do with my kids there. That means, sleeping late, only reapply sunscreen every two hours, swim in the strong ocean current, drink fruity drinks, have a two hour dinner with my handsome husband, go to a show that doesn’t begin until late, lay in the sun all day, have a conversation without being interrupted, try new foods such as marlin, going dancing, etc.

The memories of our trip are too many to be told and some are better left unspoken to the public because they mean more if they are just a shared experience between two people. I will give a short list of highlights of the trip such as: warm, salty ocean waves, soft and sticky white sand, good and even sunny weather despite that it was rainy season, small crowd also due to the rainy season, tropical rain at night to help aid in sleep, a $3 per min phone call to the girls telling them how much we missed and loved them, how Mexican people always refer to you as mi amigo, good conversation, afternoon siestas, Mexican vino blanco, holding a real monkey, amazing Thai and sushi restaurant on the beach, renting a boat to take us snorkeling in the Caribbean, the old couple dancing to “thriller” on the pool deck, the reference to John 3:16 during an acrobatics show, listening to the waves, souvenir shopping for the girls (shopping with pesos is so inexpensive!), the smell of gauvayaba fruit, the large pool, the crazy couple taking pictures on the beach and planning for the future. Here's a couple of pictures...
Overall, I loved the experience. It was an unbelievable birthday present that I will not forget. Not only that, I am ready to say good-bye to my 20’s, and embrace what the next decade will offer me. I feel that I have a lot to look forward to and a lot to be excited about. So…no mid-life crisis here, however, check with me when I turn 40.

Would we come back to Cancun? Probably not…only because Eric and I have many more places to experience in the world. Considering we have only traveled about 20 places (only four other countries) together, we have a lot more to go. Where are we off to next? Eric turns 30 in June, so we have decided to celebrate his birthday by taking the kids to Disneyland. Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and Princess Belle here we come!!