Cancun

I know most of you are going to be very bored, because this isn't short. The problem is, I like telling stories, and there are many stories to tell. For those who are just in this for the pictures anyway (admit it!), all of our pictures are posted up with captions here.

Day One

The flight out went well, which is good news when traveling with a 5 month old baby. The first problem came when we tried to pick our luggage, and came up short. Four bags from our group were missing, including two from the same couple and one from us. Upon inquiry, we found out that our bags were not on the direct flight to Cancun, but went to LA, Mexico City, and finally made it to our hotel in Cancun at 3:30 am. Thank heavens my mother reminded me to pack some of everything in each bag, so we weren't short on much.

Then we headed to the big dinner with the whole company. We all were having dinner at the buffet at the resort, and Kaitlyn discovered something. You see, it is DANG HOT IN MEXICO. Especially at night when the ocean breeze goes away. Kaitlyn also decided she did not care for this at all. So she screamed and screamed and screamed. We could calm her down by taking her into the room where you picked up the food, so we alternated that all night.

Then it was time to go out and party, at least for most of the group. Ken (the CEO) has spent weeks talking about going clubbing with everyone that first night, so he wasn't going to let Christopher's clothes being in the wrong bag stop him from coming with them. A bunch of mormon married guys going clubbing just strikes me a strange, but whatev. Chris headed out that night in clothes that were so Ken's style (read:actually trendy) and so not Chris's style (read: never ever trendy) that it made me laugh. Reportedly, they had a grand time and came in at about 3 or so. I went to sleep.

Day two

This was water day. We found that it is rather nice out during the day, so we went to the beach and alternated going kayaking with other parents. Then we went to the pool, and discovered that Kaitlyn LOVED the pool. That shouldn't suprise anyone, since she loves bath time, and so this was just one giant bath. The pool was really neat, with lounge chairs and jets and a swim up bar. This started our week of asking for pina coladas and every other drink imaginable, and making sure they really did make them virgin. They apparently don't get much call for that, so it was a challenge. And they sure thought we were strange. Especially at dinner. If I ordered first, they could understand the woman with the little baby not having alcohol. And then the next person was the same, and they started to wonder. By the time a whole table ordered virgin drinks, they would walk away muttering "no alcohol?" with a "crazy gringos!" tone of voice.

But I digress. Not long after all of this swimming, I discovered that it is important to read all of the sunscreen labels before swimming. Kaitlyn's baby stuff said "very waterproof" on the back. She was the same color at the end of the day that she was at the beginning. Our "Sport" sunscreen had things like "ultra sweatproof!" on the front, but the back read "re-apply after every swim or after toweling dry." I slowly got redder and redder. The funniest part is that I am a wimp at sunburn. I think I honestly handle natural childbirth better than I handle sunburn. Still, better me than the baby. She came home just as lily white as she went.

We took a break from swimming to visit. Kaitlyn decided she liked the other baby in the group, and even got him to smile when she took his hands. I smell a romance coming on here!

That night we went to the Mexican restaurant at the resort. (The resort was "all-inclusive", meaning you could go to any of the six restaurants or the buffet and all the food was "free".) The food there was our favorite that we had all week. It was funny to see that what Taco Bell calls a chalupa has nothing at all to do with what they called a chalupa. But the real thing was amazingly tasty. We didn't get much of "real Mexico" at the resort, since they cater to American tourists. But what we did get, we really enjoyed.

Day three

Since I was sunburned a bit, I suggested that we go out instead of just swimming all day again. To be honest, this was when I started to feel really crappy. An air conditioned bus sounded really good. So we took the "shopping tour" that our hotel had, mainly because it was free (other people in our group paid $6o to take a taxi to Cancun to shop), we wanted some souveniers, and it would take us through actual Cancun. We had a great time, and got the usual trinkets (dress for Kaitlyn, handmade little purse for me, noise makers for Tyler, Nacho Libre mask for Christopher). And then, as the last stop was drawing to a close, we found the painting. We just thought the 3-D effect was really cool, and fell in love with it. With no idea how we were going to get it home, we bought it for $100 and had them box it up the best they could. We ended up checking it after a bellboy helped us wrap it better, and miracle of miracles it made it home safely to our family room! So cool.

Oh, and the tour also took us to Dolphin Beach to take pictures.

Not much else to say for that day. We just took it easy by the pool. We went to the Japenese Restaurant that night, but Kaitlyn had just had it, so I ended up having a minor meltdown and Christopher brought me my food back to the room. We both went to bed early that night.

Day four

Still felt really crappy. At first I thought it was just the sunburn, but I think in retrospect it was just my digestive system adjusting to Mexico. But today was Xcaret day! (Pronounced Ish-car-et.) Xcaret is a huge park, which is part zoo, part water park, and part archeological and cultural center. But when we were halfway there, I realized that I had put our three swimsuits in a plastic bag, since they were mildly wet from yesterday, and then left the bag in our hotel room. Our leader told us it would be cheaper to buy suits there than take a taxi back and get them, so Christopher bought a suit right as we entered the park. He tried it on and liked it, and then didn't want to change back and forth. So he just had the lady take the ink tag off while he sat on the counter. I love my crazy husband!

I tried to hold out as long as I could, but it was really really hot. I ended up spending the $60 on a suit just to prevent passing out in regular clothes. Meanwhile, we wandered and round and enjoyed looking at the turtles and other marine life.

Kaitlyn ended up just dozing off in her stroller whenever she got tired, since it was too hot to wrap her up and give her the binkie like we normally do. But we discovered that whenever she got fussy, we just gave her our map of the park. Ooooh, did she love that map. Pretty colors, lots of crinkling and tearing, and always a new corner to munch on. We took home literal shreds of map that were loved to bits. I was suprised we didn't find bits in her diaper the next day. Not my favorite toy for her, but there are days when you are just glad the baby is happy.

She decided she had had enough for the day during the "big show" at the end, so we ended up leaving early for the bus. Christopher ended up leaving early as well, mainly because a few of them were rather bored with the Mexican celebrity that was performing. We slept well that night.

Day five

I woke up feeling fabulous! Hooray! This morning, Christopher decided to try his hand at sailing, since the resort had boats you could rent out for only $2. Well, it was $2 if you knew what you were doing and didn't need a lesson. $40 for the lesson. So Christopher spent a half an hour online first learning everything, and then off they went. They loved it!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I had a hard time before we left figuring out what we would do with Kaitlyn on the beach. I wanted to protect her from the sun and from rolling around on the sand. I ended up taking a cheap little kiddie pool with us that had a shade on it. When I draped a towel over the shade and put her in there instead of the water, it worked perfectly! She liked that it made noise when she kicked the sides.

That night, some friends offered to watch Kaitlyn so we could go to the fancy French Restaurant that won't allow kids. We loved the atmosphere, and the food was really good (except the lobster bisque, because I love lobster bisque and this just didn't compare). Kaitlyn wouldn't go to sleep when we handed her off though, so by two hours into the 3 hour "European Sytle dining" meal, she was done. I got her to sleep and the waiter was kind enough to bring our dessert out to the lobby where we hung out on a couch, so it really turned out quite perfectly. And then we stayed up late that night playing BS with others in our group. It was a lot of fun!

Day six

We woke up to a serious storm. It had actually started the night before, but it was still in full force the next morning. Which was good, because it was time to go home. That made it easy to leave. Notice the palm trees.

When we got home, Tyler was actually happy to see us! He had a lot of fun with his cousins while we were gone, going to Seven Peaks waterpark and going down big inflated slides at the Fun Center. He had a bump on his head, and his cousins seem to have taught him to scream when he wants something instead of asking, but no permanent damage was done. And we are glad to be home!

Holy blog post, batman! Sorry this is so long. Like I said, I like telling stories . . .

Strawberry Days

We wanted to go to the rodeo for Strawberry Days last night, since we have gone almost every year since we moved to Pleasant Grove. (Strawberry Days is our city's summer festival each year.) But Kaitlyn was just too young, and too attached to her 9pm bedtime. So we decided to go have dinner at the Purple Turtle (a well-known local burger joint with special Strawberry shakes and cones for the week) and wander the carnival. While we were eating, I picked Kaitlyn up while she was fussy and then started to eat my ice cream cone. But that little girl grabbed onto my hand and pulled with all her might, tongue out as far as it would go! She has certainly hit the "everything I can possibly get my hands on has to go in my mouth" stage. Too funny.

Then we went down to the carnival. I remember when I was a kid that we could never go on many rides because they were expensive. But nothing prepared me for $2 per trip down the big slide with Tyler. $2! And that was only if you bought the tickets in bulk. Oh well. I told Christopher we didn't have to do it, but he insisted that since Tyler LOVES slides, he really wanted to let Tyler go down. And so we did it anyway. I guess since we are abandoning the poor kid like an orphan for a week while we go to Cancun, he has earned some trips down a giant slide. Tyler laughed and laughed the entire way down each time (he went down 3 times)! I also took him through a little fun house thing before we decided to just sell off the remaining tickets.

Waiting for the boys to come down the slide.

We noticed that the city park was just behind the huge slide, and it had a regular park slide. So we took him down that. And he laughed just as hard as he did on the big one. Just goes to show us parents. Oh well, what is important is that he had fun, and got completely filthy throwing wood chips around. Hopefully he doesn't forget us while we are gone this time. When we got back from Maui last October, he just looked at me like I was an alien, and kept looking back at Grandma like "is this okay?"

Well, anyway, off we go! We are basically packed now, but I am still running a pacifier hunt all over the house. We should have about 6, and yet somehow I only have 3. Where do those things go? See you on the flip side! I should have lots to say next Friday when I finally see the internet again.

Getting ready for Cancun

Wow, what a week! This was supposed to be just a free week to get ready, but there was just too much to get done. I don't even really have time to make this post right now, but a lot has been going on, and I won't get to a compuer until next Friday when we get back, and I will have a lot more to blog about then. If I am going to count this as keeping a journal, I better keep at it. I have had three tasks this week.

1. Make a Girls Camp Slideshow.
Every year they show a slideshow of pictures at the "camp review", which is next Wednesday. I was not there for much of camp, and I won't be there for camp review, but the most tech-savvy person in our group has a different assignment now, so I volunteered. I told everyone I had to have the pics on Sunday, and the adults followed through, and I just went with that. Monday was spent at the computer, with only the nessesary breaks to take care of my kids. I mean, I actually forgot to eat, which is not how I normally work. But I got everything done that I could do on my own on Monday, with leftovers taking me the rest of the week (gathering music, having people explain the pictures, etc). So glad that is done. Other people will be left to burn copies for everyone, but I don't feel too guilty about that.

2. Wedding time capsules
This week's activity for our girls was a Wedding timecapsule, where we had them choose their wedding dress, colors, Temple they want to get married in, number of kids they want to have, qualities they want in a husband, etc and seal it up in a food storage can. They open these time capsules when they get engaged. I wish I could be there to see the laughter when they open them up and find out what dress they picked over 10 years ago! This was one activity that just had too much prep work though. I kept thinking of more things we needed to get, more stuff I wanted to add to the decorations, and it ended up not working out nearly as planned. But the girls had a great time and made some really cute stuff, so I can't complain.

3. Getting ready for Cancun.
We leave tomorrow morning for Cancun, as another trip with Christopher's company. There is a lot to look forward to, but I have a lot of concerns as well.

We can't leave Kaitlyn behind, because she is nursing. So taking a 5 month old on a long plane ride to Mexico should be interesting. (We had to get her a passport with a baby picture. That should be hilarious if she has to used it again!) And since Tyler is old enough, he is staying with Grandma like he did when we went to Maui last October. He did great last time, so I wasn't worried. And then Christopher's sister moved in with their two toddler girls. Okay, a little more going on, but Tyler likes them, so no biggie. And then the oldest brother from Minnesota ended up moving his trip with their four kids from after we get back to arriving while we are gone. And they are all staying in that house. Now I have plenty to worry about. Of course, the sane part of me knows that he will probably just be happy to have so many cousins to play with all under one roof, but the mom part of me will worry the whole time that he will just be his quiet self and get forgotten, or that he won't get the sleep he needs because he goes to sleep hours before his cousins do and doesn't have a room to sleep in, or that his Grandma will just feed him sweets all week because she has always thought I was absurd for not giving him candy or extra dessert all the time starting when he could eat solids. That was a long sentence, sorry. But all of that keeps running through my head just that fast! He will be fine, he will be fine, (repeating it helps) he will be fine . . .

And then, of course, we have to get ready to go ourselves. Things like buying a new swimsuit for the first time since high school, etc. Like the activity, there are always things popping in your head that you need, which would be a lot easier to take care of if you don't have an infant that wants to sleep every hour and a half. Yesterday I went to my friend's house, since she is an esthetician, and she got me all waxed and ready. I mean, bikini wax, eyebrows, upper lip, and nose hairs! Ouch! It is always worth it afterward, but ouch! And I got my fake spray tan last night. I love those things. No cancer beds, just a slightly uneven base color to build on and not look like a white scary ghost. Let me know if you ever get one of those, because there are a lot of things to know as I found out the first time I tried. I ended up with awful streaks of brown running down my legs that day. This time I did much better!

And today I can just pack. As soon as I get the laundry done. And the dishes. And clean our room after packing. I think I am going crazy! But we had fun last night. I think I will make that a separate post so this one doesn't get too long, and so I can take a break and get things done. Strawberry Days post coming soon . . .

Recent improvements

1. Kaitlyn rolled over! I always laugh at how they just spontaneously do that one day. Sure, we parents try to coach them, show them how it works, bribe them with toys that are out of reach until they roll over to it. But I was talking on the phone, and set her down to have my hands free, and she promptly rolled over to her tummy for no reason at all. She has now reached the stage where she rolls over almost every time I put her on her back, and then cries because she doesn't like it on her tummy as much.

2. Today I decided that I wanted to finally paint the wood by our driveway. Christopher wasn't so sure he wanted that painted, but I have been very gung ho about it. So I figured that while he was gone at Scout Camp I would just get to work on it. Of course, I soon remembered why I don't do outside painting projects with little kids. I spent most of the time either helping Kaitlyn or keeping Tyler off what I had just painted. So when Christopher came home, he offered to take the kids in for me. This was a complete role reversal for us! Christopher usually likes his projects done a certain way, and so I usually stay inside with the kids while he works outside. But I really enjoyed the change of pace today. It was nice to be able to truly accomplish something today, rather than cleaning up toys and scrubbing counters that I know are going to get dirty again tomorrow. What I did today will actually still be done tomorrow! And Christopher enjoyed his time inside with the kids. Of course, when I finished up and came in, I was met by a sad baby who was not only bored (because Daddy was having too much fun with "my little buddy" to hang out with the "boring baby" more than he needed to), but her diaper was full and she was overdue for a nap. Daddy just isn't used to being the decision maker that knows what needs to be done, that's all. Here is my handiwork today:

The before shot. Notice the boards? Didn't think so. They were so faded that they were the same color as the concrete. This picture is from when we first bought the house, by the way.

This is the after. I painted the railroad ties in the walkway and by the driveway the same color as the trim on our house. I really think it looks sharp!

What a day.

Yesterday marked the start of Girl's Camp this year. Since I work with the Beehives, I should be there right now. But camping and nursing babies don't mix well. The plan was for me to come up during the days, but yesterday was enough of an adventure that we are home today. Let me start at the beginning.

I had a tutoring appt. at 10, so I figured that I would just head up on my own after that rather than leave at 8 with everyone else to set up camp (since I wouldn't be much help with Kaitlyn). All went well until about 11:15, when I printed out the schedule and realized that instead of trying to be up there for the 2pm activity, I actually had everything in my trunk that they would need for the 1pm activity. Time to hurry.

Then I lost my keys. I spent 20 minutes looking for them and found them when Christopher was about 1 minute away, having left a meeting at work to drive home and give me a key. Note to self: make a copy of that key today.

Then I went to pick up the CPR dummy. I was supposed to call when I was close so the lady could bring it out to me, rather than me drag my two kids in. She didn't answer. I go in, she isn't at her desk. "Just take a seat, she should be back shortly." Thank heavens she was only gone 5 or 10 minutes, so we were off.

Then I got on the freeway and realized that I had enough gas to get out there, but probably not back. Stop, get gas.

Dropped off Tyler. Thank heavens for Grandmas. I think he actually prefers it over there, since two of his cousins live there right now. Much more fun.

Miraculously, after all that I managed to get to the campsite at 1:20 or so. Then I found out that they were at least an hour or two behind schedule. Kaitlyn was really happy for a while, since she had slept the whole two hours we were running around getting up there. But then the wind starting REALLY picking up. And Kaitlyn attempted to gulp all of it down as it went by, making a stomach ache start in rather quickly. Poor thing. She wailed for a long time, and I finally went on a drive with her to get her out of the wind and down for a nap. She was so tired from screaming that she slept for 2.5 hours!

During that time, the weather went from T-Shirt to T-shirt, long sleeve shirt, and hoodie with the hood up. So this is what Kaitlyn looked like at that point:

That is three outfits on top of each other, with socks, a hood, a hat, and a blankie. We left the very cold crew after dinner. They texted me this morning to tell me that it snowed quite a bit this morning, so it looks like that was our whole girls camp experience this year!

I think I am tired.