Girls Trip to Cancun

On Thursday of last week I went on a girls trip to Cancun along with Amy, Virginia, Patsy, Ana and Krisi. This is our 3rd annual trip and Virginia, Amy and I have been on all 3. :)

The trip started super early in the morning on Thursday. Our flights left Dulles at 6am which meant we had to be at the airport at 4:30am. This was brutal-especially when my alarm went off at 3am! I picked up Virginia on the way and we started the adventure! Amy and Patsy met us at the airport and we got to the gate at around 5:15 or so. Thankfully we found a place that was open and selling breakfast etc since none of us had eaten breakfast yet.

Most of the flight we all chatted since we were all so excited to be on our way and hopped up on caffeine. This didn't make some of the other people on the flight happy but oh well-this is life. I attempted to read my book but once again we were all chatting so I only read about 1 page-lol. We had a long layover in Miami which turned out to be bad since there was nowhere in the airport selling alcohol at 8am. ;) Ana and Krisi arrived from Regan and we all boarded the plane to Cancun together. Excited was the word of the moment for sure!

When we arrived in Cancun we were greeted with a very long line at customs. It took about 30 minutes total and only one of us got the red light. It's this random system for who gets searched but they don't exactly jump on the person that got the red light so Ana just walked by. We teased her that she needed to run but there was no one chasing us or even cared. It was kind of a weird system. We caught the shuttle to the hotel and excitement really started to set in!

Once we got checked in it was only about 1pm and we decided it was time to eat some lunch. This resort was all inclusive so we could eat and drink anything we wanted from 6:30am-4am. Basically there were less than 2 hours a day we couldn't get something to eat or drink for free. The food at the 1st place we ate was a buffet style and was pretty good-granted it could have been because we were all starving and drinking many beers at the same time. I ate pineapple at EVERY MEAL and it was sooooo good. Granted the pineapple in Hawaii is a lot better but this was pretty good too! Another yummy thing on the buffet was fried plantains....yummy......

In the afternoon we changed into our bathing suits and went down to the beach. The only problem was....it was super chilly with the wind etc and most of us spent the time under our towels instead of on top of them. I think the air temp was about 75 but with the wind it felt like 60 or so. I tried to tough it out but eventually some people changed back into their clothes and then came back fully clothed on the beach! lol We checked out the bars and found out that the mixed drinks were ok, the beer was good and the frozen drinks for the most part were terrible. The only one that was any good was the Mango daiquiri. I guess that is what happens when the alcohol is free! We did see something on the beach I thought I had never seen.....peacocks! It was a male and a female just walking along the shore-too funny! Of course we all took pictures of them.....

After we all showered it was time to grab some dinner. We decided to try out the Asian place. Some of the group had sushi and personally I had Thai chicken which was TASTY! We sat outside since it was so nice but it was pretty dark even with the lights so it was hard to see what we were eating-lol. I'm sure I ate vegetables I don't normally eat when I can see them. :) After dinner we wandered around a little and went to bed at 10pm I think since we were all exhausted from getting up at 3am. I can speak for myself, Amy and Patsy since we shared a room and we were all asleep within seconds of hitting the pillow!

The next morning we all got up at around 9am so we could get 6 chairs on the beach together and get breakfast before they stopped serving it. :) We spent the next 6+ hours on the beach! We spent this time drinking, eating, talking and relaxing! Once again I tried to read my book and read about 5 pages in total-lol. The beach vendor people were kind of annoying but a lot of people buy their stuff so I guess it's nice they can make a living that way! Thankfully we were all really good with our sunscreen and didn't end up with too many burns on people.....

That night we went to the Mexican restaurant on the resort that overall was AWFUL. The apps weren't bad but the main dishes we got were awful. Oh well-live and learn. We got a little more to eat at the other restaurant before heading out so people had at least a little food in their stomachs. Then we decided to hit a club downtown. Originally we decided to take the bus but then went down to the bus stop and weren't too sure about it. We took the first cab that drove by and somehow all 6 of us crammed inside. Next thing you know our cab is being pulled over by the cops and the cab driver asked us if we had 50 pesos-lol. The cab driver paid them off and told him he was a lucky guy. Apparently it's illegal to have so many people in a cab? Who knows.

Once we got downtown Virginia and Ana were in charge of talking to the people in the streets with the tickets because they speak Spanish and the rest of us were clueless. :) They decided on "The City" which was billed as a discotechque that was all you can drink. :) When we got in the club it was PACKED and there were probably 8 guys to every girl! Only one person was single (Krisi) and those were good odds for her! :) We never made it past the opening of the room since we found a waiter that would bring us drinks all night instead of standing in line at the bar-we had to give him $40 but for 6 girls and not having to stand in line and lose our places on the dance floor it was worth it! The music was great (but loud-lol) and we all had a BLAST! We had fun people watching-I think we were the only girls with clothes on there! I swear the people behind us were having sex-lol. Before we knew it....it was 4am! We decided it was time to head back to the resort. Krisi had found a boy to kiss but decided she would be safe and come back with us. We caught the bus out front along with a lot of workers and drunk people and made it back to the resort and fell into bed! It was another night of us falling asleep immediately!

The next morning we were up again at 9am to grab chairs on the beach and to get breakfast. Needless to say we were all very tired. Virginia, Ana and Krisi slept in a little but Amy, Patsy and I chose to sleep on the beach-lol. That was were we spent the rest of the day....on the beach....sleeping, eating and drinking! Later that afternoon we took the bus downtown to do some shopping. It was a super nice outdoor high end mall. We found a great restaurant with real Mexican margaritas-they were yummy and we only drank a few of them-lol! It was nice to get a good margarita since the ones at the resort tasted funny-probably from their mix.

Saturday night we had planned on going to Senor Frogs to eat a late dinner and drink of course. We got there at 10:30ish and found out they had closed the restaurant. It was just as well since many bus loads of college kids showed up on the bar crawl at that moment. We wandered down the way and found an Argentian Steak House. We all had GREAT food and it was cheap! Once we were done we were all stuffed and getting sleepy (it was after 12:30 at this point I think). We decided to call it a day and head back to the resort.

Unfortunately Sunday we had to pack our bags and head back home. We all missed our families but it's hard to leave the beach! Our flight leaving Cancun was delayed because of air traffic but we had a long layover planned in Miami so we weren't worried. Once we were taxiing down the runway about 20 people starting frantically pushing their call buttons and waving their hands in the air. Honestly I was worried the wing was on fire or something these people were freaking out. The flight attendants were sitting right in front of us and one got on the phone to the cockpit. Then she hung up and said they aren't allowed to answer the phone at a certain point in take off. I then asked her if maybe they should see what those people are freaking out about. She finally goes back there and asks for someone with medical experience. Two people rush back there followed by a dentist-lol and it turns out some guy travelling by himself had a seizure. He was conscious but out of it and at a point we almost had to turn around. Thankfully he was stable and the doctors stayed with him the whole time. When we landed in Miami the paramedics were waiting for him. We almost missed our flight to Dulles because of some issues in customs....but we did make it thankfully. It was almost midnight by the time we got home.

It was a great trip and I read almost an entire book on the flights home! LOL

I feel so behind......

Since last Monday things have been busy. Evan was in Europe and I went to Cancun on the girls trip. Looking for time to update on everything from last week....maybe sometime later today? :)

The calendar says March but the 8 inches of snow say January!

I still can't believe we got all of the snow in March! We have been waiting for a snow storm all year and the most we got before this was a couple of inches. We had at least 8 inches of snow on our deck-though I think it was more like 5-6 on the driveway itself. It was brutally cold though-the temp was about 21` but the wind chill made it feel like 6 degrees-brrrrrrrr.

Travis' school was closed and I stayed home from work since I heard the roads were terrible. I wasn't going to try and trek in with Travis in tow if it were that bad. Later in the morning we bundled up and went outside. I shoveled the driveway-brutal and Travis played in the snow. He had the most fun putting snow in his dump truck and driving the truck somewhere to dump the snow. The only problem is that I was having a hard time getting him to dump the snow in a place I hadn't shoveled yet. He ate some snow and decided it "was disgusting" which is funny to me since I remember LOVING that when I was little. Oh well-not everyone like to eat snow I guess. Travis got cold before I was done with the driveway so he went in to get warmed up. No surprise he asked for a cup of hot chocolate when I got in!

I hope Travis had fun since I think that is the final snow of the year here!

Perfect "Mommy and Me" day

Since Evan is in Europe, Travis and I had some quality time this weekend. I know what some of you are thinking,....hasn't he been to Europe a lot lately? The answer is yes-he has. The past 2 months he has been gone a week, home a week and gone a week. It will continue like this until the end of March when he gets a month break and then its 10 days gone, a week home and a week gone again until mid June I think. Pretty hard on everyone-it just puts a kink in our normal "family routines". The nice thing about it is that he does get some nice travel checks out of every time he's gone. Can't complain too much about that!

Travis got up at 6:30am on Sunday morning which kind of stinks but he had a cough so it wasn't totally his fault. We watched TV in bed for a bit-he liked watching the coverage of the snowplows getting ready for the snow etc. He and I had a nutritious breakfast of chocolate glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts (don't be jealous-lol)and then went downstairs to watch....wait for it.....wait.....Sponge Bob. Were you surprised I said that? Uh no I guess not since that is what he wants to watch on TV all the time!

Eventually we got going and it was time to run some errands. No I didn't run out to get bread, milk and toilet paper because of the impending storm but I'm sure a lot of people did! I needed a few things at Target and shocker I spent a bunch of money and don't have much to show for it. lol Travis wanted to get McDonalds so we did that and he enjoyed putting together his small Lego car while we where there. Then we went to the library since it had been awhile since we'd gone. Travis picked out about 20 books and I picked out a few to take on my trip this week. He loves the library which is a great thing in my opinion-this kid loves to read!

We spent the rest of the evening at home waiting for the snow to start. He read a few books to me which shocked me since they were books he had never seen before. I had assumed he was memorizing the books in the past but I guess he really can read! Wow! What a way to end the weekend! I am so proud!

An oldy but a goody....Travis decides he likes juice in his bottle ;)

Kelly turns 5.....complete with a party at the local Fire House!

Kelly had her 5th birthday party yesterday at the Cascades Fire House. I'm not sure how long they have been doing birthday parties there but I noticed a sign up about a year ago advertising it.....it's a great idea for kids who like fire trucks!

When we got there everyone was put in the "party" room. Once more than 3 kids got in there however it turned into a huge game of running tag. It was only a matter of time before someone collided with someone else. Unfortunately some kid from the old school ran into Travis and Travis got mad and said he did it on purpose....blah, blah, blah and before I could stop him he punched the kid in the arm. Thankfully this was really the only problem I had with him the whole time which is a good thing. Birthday parties and Travis don't usually get along since the extra kids and noises make him super wound up. The hours before the party he was being nice and calm playing with Legos etc and the minute he walks into the party it's like I just gave him an IV full of caffeine!

Eventually it was time for the firehouse tour. It was kind of boring to the adults...oooh it's a kitchen.....oooh it's a TV room....but the kids ate it all up! Then we got to the main reason the kids were so excited.....the ENGINE GARAGE!! There were a few fire engines and ambulances inside. Travis immediately goes up to the firefighters and asks for high-fives-never shy. Once all the kids filed in they had a competition between 2 firefighters to put on all their gear in under 2 minutes. Apparently they did it in 1:15 and I only know that because the Dad behind me was recording it on his camera. After that the kids got to climb onto and into the truck-this was definitely one of the highlights. Travis was of course picking up random things inside the truck and putting them on his head etc. No shocker there. They also played a game where they carried a bucket around some cones, crawled on a fire hose and did the stop/drop/roll on a blanket. They had fun doing this too! Some kids did it over and over and other kids only wanted to do it once-lol.

The firetruck eventually left the station. All of the kids waved good bye! The funny thing is the truck wasn't going to a fire....it was going to go and get lunch. Your tax dollars at work......5mpg to get McDonald's. ;)

Overall I think all of the kids had a blast though most of the kids were not happy the engine put on it's siren and it's horn. It's pretty darn loud!

The other video of Travis reading to Kelly....This was "Pooh Animals"

Movie night with my sisters!

Tuesday night my sisters and I met up at Tysons Corner to catch a movie. We try to do this once a month but have been slacking lately unfortunatly. The chick flick du jour was "Confessions of a Shopaholic". We have read the books so we knew what the basic storyline was before it started. This can be a good thing or a bad thing and in this case it was bad......

Overall the movie was OK but knowing the story made it kind of boring. Oh well. It's always nice to hang out with my sisters and have the chance to catch up as well.

If you have read the shopaholic books you may want to wait for the DVD but if you haven't read the books it will all seem new to you. :) Once the movie was over I had the uncontrollable urge to spend a ton of money which was exactly what the movie was telling you not to do! Oh well!

Travis reading Kelly a story....too cute not to post.....

The great powder incident of 2009

This picture was taken BEFORE this incident...aren't they innocent? ;)

Yesterday Travis and Kelly were playing together. This is a normal occurrence and they were playing very nicely together. After about 2 hours I asked Evan to go and see what they were doing upstairs (mind you they had just gone up there maybe 10 minutes before that). Then I hear Evan yelling..."TRAVIS WHAT DID YOU DO? LOOK AT THIS PLACE"......on and on and on......

I get up there and find Travis and Kelly in the bathroom covered in powder and Travis smelled like deodorant as well. Kelly was quickly taken home by her mom and Travis was placed in his room crying and apologizing the whole way there. Now we aren't sure how to proceed since the powder has been tracked by little feet running back and forth upstairs and the bulk of it is on the bathroom floor. Thankfully I remembered we have the hard floor cleaner and brought that upstairs. It did a good job on the floors thankfully and then it was time to move onto the counter, tub etc. Evan put the powder covered Travis in the bath at some point during this so he could get clean as well. I found lotion had been added to the mix at this point and there was even powder in the automatic cat watering machine.....yikes. All in all it took about 30 minutes to clean up and Travis was punished of course (no TV that night).

Earlier they had been pretending to be "husband and wife" so my guess is they were pretending to get ready for work or something. Who knows. I'm sure it was Travis' idea to start it but we will never know because he won't fess up. I did get some cute pictures and video of them in bed before all of this and Travis reading her a bedtime story. Hopefully my card reader will be happier tonight and let me load the pictures/videos to post here.....