Gavin's preschool graduation

Okay, my next several posts are going clear back to June - it's been a while since I've posted, and there are a lot of things that I haven't posted about yet. So, here goes.

We enrolled Gavin in preschool this year. The boys were in school full time, and Gavin was feeling very bored while they were gone. It was done by the high school's child development class, and he had a blast! He went four days a week, and the first day we dropped him off, he didn't even say goodbye to me! He just marched off and went to class. He loved having his own "school!"

Anyway, the middle of May was his graduation - nothing big, but it was fun to go to, and see the kids perform the songs they had learned, and to watch him get his "diploma." Since he was the youngest in class, we enrolled him to go again next spring, and he's very much looking forward to it! "Mom, after the baby is borned is when I go back to school, huh?" Enjoy the pictures!

Marching in for his graduation


He refused to wear his cap like the other kids. He had to have his cowboy hat!


Singing songs during the program


" . . . along came the alligator, quiet as can be . . ."


With his "diploma"


Getting snacks after the program. Yummy!

The finished garage

So, one of our projects over the summer was to put sheetrock and shelves up in the garage. So, Brandon has been planning, and drawing sketches, and measuring to get everything just right. His brother came over and helped him put the sheetrock up, then Brandon taped and mudded the creases, sanded the dried mud to smooth it down, then he and the boys painted the wall while I was at an enrichment activity! (Probably a good thing since I would have been a bit stressed with the boys around the paint!)

An idea of what it looked like before we started

Gavin helping "find" studs


Brandon & Jon getting ready to hang the first piece

Brandon cutting through the sheetrock for the socket opening. He saw sparks!

Hanging the last piece

Anyway, after all of that, we had a nice restful Sunday, then Monday morning, he and Gavin went and got the wood. He spent a couple of days building the shelves, modifying as he went if something didn't fit, or didn't look exactly the way he wanted. I helped make sure the 2x4's were level, but otherwise my job was errand runner, and water getter!

Brandon mudding the creases

Gavin & B with their paint project

Brandon nailing up the first 2x4

Building his shelves


The cat door he built so we don't have to leave the garage door open

After it was complete, we tore the storage room under the stairs apart and moved camping supplies and holiday decorations outside. Our house was a mess for a while, but the closets downstairs look great, as does the garage! I don't have a finished picture yet - my camera battery died, so I'm charging it up so I can get a good picture.

Thanks for all your hard work Brandon! The garage looks great, as do our storage closets!

Pictures of the baby's room

The paint looked magenta when we opened the can. Yikes!

Brandon putting the first swipe of "magenta" on


Gavin really wanted to help, so we gave him a roller and let him have at the wall!

Brandon's tall - need I say more?

My handsome hubby! He's so good to try and please me and my funny quirks


The (sort-of) finished product (after four coats of red, and two of the yellow)

Painting the entertainment center pure white

A close-up of the new carpet

The carpet as it was getting laid

Brandon initiating the carpet with the first vacuuming

Voila! That's his bedding on the floor - I wanted an idea of what it would look like in the room.

We pulled the red up and over the closet door. As for the crooked picture - I was talking on the phone when I took the picture. :)

Our "new" white entertainment center - it's SO pretty!

We have new carpet

Yeah!! For the past three days, we've worked on painting the baby's room - that's done. Yeah! A few weeks ago, there were some HUGE rainstorms here, and they flooded my MIL and BIL's basements. So, they have to get their carpet re-stretched. LaRean, recommened an old family friend to us since we're recarpeting the baby's room, so we called him and he came this morning and laid the carpet in the baby's room - for only $75! Wow!

The room is coming together, I'm feeling the baby move alot (although the boys are disappointed 'cause they haven't been able to feel him yet), and I got a three hour nap today! Much needed considering the past three days we've stayed up until midnight or later working on the room, plus I got hit in the head yesterday by Scott's bike handles as I lifted it up into the truck.

Pictures will be coming shortly, I hope. If not, just know that they will be coming at some point!

Constantly running

Sorry no new posts - we've been running and project-ing this whole month, and I haven't had time to post. Still don't since the boys are outside having a game of b-ball with Brandon and I want to go watch. Tomorrow and Tuesday, we're painting the nursery, then we have dr.'s appointments, picture appointments . . .

I might be able to post all of our goings-on in August!

For now, we're doing well, although I do keep having contractions. Nothing regular or consistent, but it does seem to happen on Sunday a lot of the time (or maybe it's because I can actually sit still for a while so I actually feel them), or when I work too much. Hmm.

Oh, on another note, before I forget, we went to Scott's dr. at PCMC for his yearly follow-up on his hand. All's well - no surgery this year. The finger hasn't grown more crooked which gives the dr. hope that the short side might actually be trying to catch up. Scott was VERY disappointed that he doesn't get surgery, but, he'll survive!

That's all for now. I need to get some cookies out of the oven. Speaking of cookies, does anybody else bake on Sundays? I love to bake on Sundays. I'll get the boys involved if I can, but if not, it's fun to sit down after dinner and share our treats. Yummy. Ooh - it's beeping!

Update on Dallin

So, Tuesday morning, they started doing all sorts of tests and monitors on Dallin. They weren't able to find anything - everything came back normal - so they scheduled an MRI for Wednesday at 11:00. Anne Marie arranged with my mom to come to the hospital and drop off two of her other kids for me to pick up- much easier for all involved; they'd have cousins to play with, and mom wouldn't have five extra kids to take care of.

So, I took off on Wednesday morning, met them down there and had lunch at the cafeteria, during which Dallin was having his MRI. They had to sedate him pretty heavily so he would be absolutely still during the scan, but he did well. After lunch, I took off with the two boys and headed home. They kept asking to go swimming, so I called Brandon on the way and had him start pumping up the pool and filling it with water. The boys were ecstatic!!

As soon as we got home, they ran and got their swimming suits on and (literally) dived right in. It was pretty fun, and we got some good pictures of the kids playing. Then, I started dinner (at the request of Spencer, I made mac and cheese).


Tanner


Braden


Spencer


Gavin

While it was boiling I got a phone call from Anne Marie. She asked if we had room for more people. At first I thought that something had fallen through with a place to stay for her other two kids, so I asked how many. "Three," was her response. The MRI came back completely normal, so they dilated his eyes to check for (something), and when that was normal, they discharged them.

Apparantely, a baby is brought into PCMC every couple of weeks with this same problem. 50% of the time, they're able to find a problem and diagnose it. The other 50% is just a "watch and see" type of situation. That's what they sent them home with. The dr. said that in his professional opinion, he'd take Dallin off the apnea monitor and just watch him closely. Anne Marie said that she couldn't do that, to which the dr. replied that as a parent he probably couldn't do that either. No kidding!!!

So, they headed up to our house to spend the fourth of July weekend. Dallin had no episodes up here, but LOVED his bath time, and of course his Aunt Nee! My positive reinforcement of telling him that he will love me is working! :) He'd reach for me, and play with me . . . He's such a sweetheart!

Thanks for the fun time, Anne Marie and Mike. I am sorry your vacation got interrupted, but I'm sure glad we got to spend time with you! We love you!

Tires and hospital visit

So, yesterday morning, Brandon put the spare tire on one side, then pumped up the other tire, and drove to Sam's Club as quick as he could. They were not damaged enough to have to get new tires, so they were fixed for free since we're members of Sam's Club. How awesome is that? Pretty awesome!

Anyway, while he was off getting the tires fixed, my sister called me asking for my help. My nine-month old nephew, for the past 2 1/2 weeks, has had these episodes where he'll stop breathing and turn blue. The first time, my sister was with him, and literally saved his life. It has happened a few times since then, and yesterday it happened four times.

They had him scheduled to be seen at Primary Children's this week, but when he stopped breathing four times yesterday, they life-flighted him out. Since I'm closer to Primary than my sister is, she asked if I'd go and meet Dallin when he was flown in and stay with him until they got to the hospital.

So, I did. Brandon packed me up some snacks and water, and I was out the door about 20 minutes after they called. I got to the hospital around 3:30, and Dallin's helicopter landed about 10 minutes later. The flight EMT called me back, and the poor boy was just frantic. They were trying to get a urine sample to do cultures, so had to put a new catheter in. That sure made him mad. But, once they got the sample and diapered him back up, I was able to hold him. He calmed right down, although was still fussy because they were still poking and prodding.

One of the nurses got him some toys and a binky with some sugar water to dip the binky in, and once he had that binky, he laid down on my shoulder and went right to sleep.

Not too long after the nurses left us alone

I reclined on the bed with him in my arms for the next two hours. He'd shift position occasionally, and semi-woke up once when another nurse came in to do an EKG to check for a heart arythmia.

This was after the EKG was done. He had to lay flat while they measured his heart rate, and after it was done, he sat up for a second, and then plopped (sitting up) right down onto my chest

But, otherwise, he slept the whole time. I kept putting my hand on his tummy, and his chest to make sure he was still breathing. He had been so upset that for a while his breath was irregular (you know when you cry hard, and then kind of "sob" afterwards? That's what he was doing). I felt so bad for him.

And, I love my kids to no end, but can I just tell you how nice it was to hold a little person, and have his little body just melt into mine - and NOT squirm?? Plus, he smelled so good. I just kept kissing his little head and inhaling him!


I had to take a picture of his cute pouty face!

His mom and dad got there a little after 6:00, and I told Anne Marie all that had happened. We switched positions, and she just laid there and cuddled with Dallin. The floor dr. (vs. the ER triage dr.) came in and got his history and then did an exam. He woke up during that, and was happy and smiling and playing. I even got a big grin and a hug from him. (His brother just older than him would have nothing to do with me for a while, so I keep telling Dallin, "You're going to love me!" And, I think he does!)


My awesome sister, and a cute, but very out-of-it, Dallin

I left the hospital an hour or so later, stopped to get some dinner and some munchies, and made it home around 9:30. They're going to meet with a neurologist today and do some more scans and tests to see if they can figure out what the problem is. The whole family is praying for them and helping where they can, but any extra prayers would be awesome!

We love you Dallin, and pray that you get better soon!

How did he come up with this?

How does a four year old get the idea in his head to put nails under the tires of the van? I mean, really?

Two of our tires are completely flat, and one is slowly losing air. The fourth (so far) seems to be fine. Hopefully we can just get them patched instead of buying brand new tires. *sigh*

Nesting - kinda' early??

I'm pooped! *sigh* Yesterday, I spent the day unloading our bathroom closet and our linen closet, then rearranging and organizing (getting rid of old medicine, doubles . . .), and putting everything back in. Then, I started in on the computer room closet, because the computer room will become the nursery. And, there's absolutely no room (currently) for a crib in here, or a dresser, or a rocking chair, or even anywhere to put a bag of diapers. So, we're rearranging.

Then, today, while Brandon sheetrocked the garage with his brother's help (pictures will be coming next week when it is completed), I tackled our "school box." That's the box where the boys school papers have been put throughout the year(s) and it's been sitting in the computer room for the last couple of months. So, I dug through all of that, and have been buried in paper for most of the day.

But, I got it done, and even reorganized my music boxes that have a way of emptying as I pull out music that I want to play or sing. More often than not, they get put in a pile until it bugs me enough to put them back in the boxes. So, I have a lot of clean closets/activity boxes/music boxes today.

However, if you come to visit, be warned - the rest of the house is NOT clean. As we pull out things from the computer room, stacks are made - keep, throw away, file . . . you get the idea. (I will be taking the day tomorrow while Scott & Brandon are at day camp to catch up on laundry, sweeping, vacuuming . . .) On the upside of today, though, my mother-in-law came over today (I asked her to come, despite the horrid mess), and helped me choose colors for the baby's room! I got the bedding the other day, and now that we have colors picked out, and carpet (most likely) picked out, I'm getting very antsy to get this baby's room done! Soon!

So, I'm pooped, but despite feeling saddle sore (I carry all of my babies VERY low), and despite still having messes around the house, I feel good. It feels good to organize, throw things away, and get my house in order. And, it's nice to have the boys playing with friends, riding bikes, and not having to worry about homework getting done so that I can concentrate on my projects and this nesting phase. And, when Brandon get the garage walls done, he'll be building shelves for in there that will house our camping stuff, decoration boxes, Christmas tree, which will give me more closets to organize to make room for this little babe.

Isn't it too early to nest? Not for me! This is my usual time. By the time I'm 7, 8, 9 months along and most women are nesting, I'm too sore because the baby is so low and I feel like I've been riding a horse for the previous 4 months! Oh, and then the baby has to drop even lower, so anything like sitting, standing, laying down, or just plain moving hurts. :)

But, I'm not complaining - just rambling. I've had a busy day, and Brandon's off buying bread so that he and Scott can have sandwiches for their Cub Scout day camp tomorrow, the boys are in bed, and I'm just relaxing and unwinding as I write.

Ignore this post if you want, or read it. Whatever. I'm happy, unwound and ready to watch a quick episode of NCIS. Then bed. :)

Scott's bike race

Yesterday, Scott decided that he wanted to have a bike race. So, he wrote out invitations to all the kids in the neighborhood stating that there would be a bike race on June 23rd at 3:00 pm. Today, he cut them out and handed them out to the kids.

All morning long there have been bikes zipping past our house, going off a ramp that Brandon built for the kids, and turning around to zip past again. We've never had so many bikes in the neighborhood all at the same time. It was pretty fun.

So, at 3:00, they all lined up at the designated starting point. Brandon explained the rules (as explained to him by Scott), then he was off to clear the way and make sure no cars hit the kids. The younger kids started first, then the older kids took off. They all had a blast! Apparantely, Scott wanted to do two laps, and he and one other boy were the only ones to do both laps, so according to him, he came in second, even though a few kids had already been done for a minute or two.

Lined up at the starting line

The younger kids are off!!

The older kids are off!!

Coming into the finish line

All the kids having an otter pop after the race

I'm proud of Scott for taking the lead and doing this. He's not typically your leader - he's happy to follow (for the most part), or just stay to himself, so for him to put himself out like this and initiate this race is awesome! Good job Scott!!!

Tulum Xtreme slideshow

Tulum Xtreme (Thursday in Mexico)

It's been a LONG time since a Mexico trip update. Gavin's in the tub, celebrating his birthday, the other boys are outside playing with friends, so I have a few minutes to finish this post. Enjoy!

So, on Thursday, Wayne & LaRean decided to stay at the resort, get a massage, kick back, relax . . . Brandon & I decided to head off for some "Xtreme" fun! We saw a brochure for a zip line that was called Tulum Xtreme. We thought that it was included in the Tulum tour (the ruins), but it wasn't. So, we decided to try that.

Our guide, Carlos, picked us up in a van at 7:30 in the morning. I dozed on and off, and wasn't really awake to see where they were taking us. Apparantely, Brandon was quite concerned, although he didn't let me know, because they got off the main road at one point and were taking us farther and farther away from civilization. As we looked around, we saw more and more rundown houses, mangy dogs running around, and lots of jungle. Finally, though, they got us back on the main road (I guess that way was shorter), and went around to pick up the others who were participating that day.

We drove through the jungle for a while over bumpy roads, and finally arrived. Carlos checked our group in, and we were told that we got to do the zip line first, the rappeling second, and the underwater cave last. So, the workers got us all hooked up with our equipment, Carlos demonstrated the proper way to sit while doing the zip line, and then we climbed!

I don't know how high the towers were, but they were pretty high. I was first in line, and as we all got to the top, Carlos hooked us all up to safety lines so that if, by chance, we went over the edge of the tower, we wouldn't fall far. Then, he hooked me up, showed me how to sit with the line behind one of my shoulders, and shoved me off the tower!

Oh, how exhilerating! There were some in our group that were nervous, or kept saying they couldn't do it (there was actually one girl that decided not to do it and climbed back down the tower), but not me! I've been on zip lines before (thanks Snow College) and I loved it! This was awesome to be zooming through the jungle with the trees on either side of me, and just flying! The ride was over all too soon, but we had two more lines to go. Brandon soon joined me, and then we watched as the rest of our group zipped down.

Once we were done with the zip line, we were instructed to go up one platform and wait for the rest of the group and our guide. Once Carlos was with us again, we hiked up a couple more platforms to the next zip line. Brandon went first this time, but Carlos had a challenge for us. He wanted us to run off the platform instead of having him push us off. This sent the rest of the group into frantic mutterings and titterings (yes that's a real word), but Brandon & I just looked at each other and grinned. Carlos unhooked him from the safety line, and I watched my husband of 9+ years run off the platform into nothingness! He LOVED it!!

Carlos wasn't sure if I wanted to run, and when I replied that I did, his eyes got big, and he clapped for me. Off I ran - it was a BLAST!! How awesome! We again waited for the rest of our group, and then climbed the rest of the way up the tower. This one went all the way to the ground, so it was by far the longest line since it started even higher than the other two. This time, Carlos shoved us off, and then bounced on the line for some extra fun! Some people didn't want that, but man, for me, bring it on!!

As we got to the ground, the workers helped us unhook the couple of hooks that are only used for the zip line, but left the rest of the gear on so that we could rappel. We waited for Carlos, and then off we went. He again gave us a demonstration of how to rappel, "Knees straight, butt out." He told us that we couldn't be all lady-like with our legs together and our knees bent, but we had to stick our butt out. Someone yelled out, "We gotta' be sexy!" From then on, whenever someone forgot to stick their behind out, Carlos told us to "Get your sexy on!" It was really funny, and our group was great!

Brandon & I were the last ones in our group to go, and to be honest, I was more nervous than Brandon was. I've been rock climbing and rappelling before, and I loved it. But, when I went then, I had a rock face to push off of and slide down. This time, other than the first three boards to help us get our bodies straight out, we had nothing. It was kind of unnerving for me, but I did it!

After this, we went back to the base and were able to change into our swimsuits for our underground cave snorkeling. Since it was in the water, and underground, we didn't take our camera, but I'll put some pictures of the cave in the slideshow. It was incredible! It was shorter than what we were expecting and wanting, but all the same . . . Awesome! Stalagtites hanging from the ceiling and dipping into the water; stalagmites jutting up from the ground and just appearing out of nowhere. It wouldn't have been smart to just go swimming there - you couldn't tell where you were going or when you might hit a rock. We had very strict instructions, though, not to touch any of the rock as it would ruin its growth. Kind of hard to do with a bunch of people all clustered together stirring up the water, but we managed, with only a few touches to rock!

Once we were done with our adventure, they served us lunch in one of the huts there. I couldn't stand the thought of sitting for another 2 - 3 hours in my wet swimming suit, so Brandon & I changed clothes before eating. Lunch was yummy - grilled steak strips, rice, tortillas and beans, Sprite! Then we loaded up in our van, and left, not realizing that we had left Brandon's new Skechers shoes on top of our locker. They're long gone by now. *sigh*

When we got back to the hotel, we headed to our room for a quick check-in with Wayne & LaRean, and then on to a nap. When we got to our room, we saw that our housekeeper had seen our new turtle that we bought in Playa, and made a turtle out of one of our towels! It was pretty cool! Just goes to show that it really does pay to tip! We woke up in time to get ready for dinner - this time at El Ranchito (which means the ranch.) You can imagine what they had for dinner here - salad, beef broth, and a type of steak. SO good, and SO much better than the previous nights' liver.

As we left dinner, we noticed that they had a mini-market set up in the plaza area of the hotel. Everything from jewelry, clothing, paintings, hats . . . So, we wandered. We stood and watched one guy paint for about 30 minutes. He was using spray paints, and his paintings were incredible. I don't even know to describe how he was painting, but it was cool!

We thought about getting one of the paintings, and then remembered the hotel's jewelry store. Brandon & I went in and asked about their rings. The woman there started pulling out rings for us to look at. Unfortunately, they didn't have the one that I had fallen in love with at Playa del Carment (and I don't even have a picture of that one), but I didn't find one that I did like. We ended up getting that one, and I'm happy we did. It's still a little big for my ring finger, but as the summer wears on (if it ever stops raining), I imagine that I'll start to swell up more and it'll fit. If not, it's easy to get it sized-down.

After our wanderings, we headed back to our rooms. We had decided to call the boys again that night since internet access was really expensive, and we weren't able to keep in touch with them. So, we called, and talked with Scott for a minute (he was not talkative at all), then with B. B asked Brandon, "Dad, did you get me a . . . well what you said you'd get me?" (A souvenir.) Brandon answered that we had, then B asked, "Well, what is it?" Of course, we had to tell him it was a surprise, to which he responded, "Well, is it a little toy horse?" (No idea where that came from!!)

After we laughed with B for a bit, we got Gavin on the phone. Apparantely, he had wanted to talk to us alone, but B was still on the phone, so he broke down, sobbing. "I wa-a-a-ant-t-t mm-y-y-y-y m-o-o-o-m-m-m-m." He was just sobbing for all he was worth, so of course, I had to cry, too. I missed him so much (even though he's so super-energetic that I can't keep up with him some days.) We told him we loved him, then hung up. I cried for a bit, missing my boys. (Apparantely, after we hung up, Scott stood next to Anne Marie, who was comforting Gavin, and said, "I don't know why I can't cry. I want to, but I can't." He's such a cute kid!)

Then, the hotel hosted a local group that puts on musicals. We thought it would be interesting, so we went and checked it out. They re-did Grease, sort of. They just did the major scenes, and sang the songs. Well, that's an overstatement. They lip-sinked (or tried to) the songs. "Danny" did pretty good. "Sandy" was awful. She was so concerned about doing her dance moves right, that more often than not she forgot to sing. Oh, and they were Mexicans, trying to lip-sink in English. Anyway, Brandon & I ended up leaving early.

After sitting through that painful rendition of Grease, Wayne, Brandon & I decided to head to the beach for a bit, while LaRean headed to bed. Brandon & I played in the water (no swimsuits, so just our feet and legs), got some pictures, and decided to come back first thing in the morning to watch the sunrise. It's still the coolest thing to me that we were swimming and playing in the Caribbean! There's almost nothing better in the world than listening to the sound of the waves on the shore, feeling the warm water on your feet, and enjoying the beauty that God made.

Friday's next! Hopefully sometime soon!

18+ week picture

This will have to count as my 18 week picture.

During our little mini-vacation this past week, I ran down to Amber's house and met her and Val for lunch. We let the kids run around like crazy (with only one getting hurt - how is Lincoln, Val?), and had a VERY delicious lunch of chicken salad sandwiches with plenty of fruit and veggies. Yummy!

I'll write more about our mini-vacation later, but for now, here's my 18+ week picture! I'm almost halfway there!

We're having a . . .

BABY!!! Well, of course, you all knew that! I had my ultrasound today, and everything looks great! The head is measuring perfectly, the femur, the tummy, the spine - it all looks great. The problem? The baby wouldn't move for ANYTHING!!! The tech. was bouncing the doppler up and down on my stomach (can we say ouch??), and the most the baby did was squirm a little and put one hand up in front of the face. So, no profile shots either.

But, we did find the gender, and the tech. can say it's a girl . . . at least until November when the baby is born, and then it's positively a boy! So, no girl for us this time. Braden & Gavin are off the wall with excitement, and Scott's a little disappointed. I asked him if he was sad that the baby was a boy, and he said, "Well, I'm a little disappointed, but we'll still have fun!" So cute!

Anyway, we're off on our mini-vacation, so I'll have to post u/s pictures when I get back! Thanks for the girl wishes, though! I guess we're just meant to have a houseful of boys!

Braden's moves

Just a clarification: B is really not violent like this movie portrays! He's just a little boy who has some super cool, superhero moves, with an incredible imagination to boot!

Enjoy the video! :)

School's out, school's out!!!

Well, almost! Only 4 1/2 more days until school is out for the boys. Only eleven days until my u/s where we found out the sex of the baby. Only two weeks until Brandon's completely done with school for this school year! And, in the middle of that, we all get to go down to Salt Lake because Brandon has a conference down there. The boys and I get to hang out at the hotel, swim, play at parks . . . Should be fun!! Yeah! Summer's (almost) here!

Awesome music video!!!

Playa del Carmen & liver

Okay, here we go with the next day of our Mexico adventures. Wednesday morning we slept in - again - and woke up to the sound of the phone ringing. A really loud ring. It was Wayne & LaRean asking if we were ready to go to breakfast. Um, no!! So, we got up, showered and dressed really quickly, and ran downstairs to meet them for breakfast - wet hair and all!

Ahh! Hurry and get ready!

Breakfast was DELICIOUS - they had an assortment of things from sausage and bacon, to pancakes, to breakfast rolls, cereal, omelets cooked with the fixin's you wanted, to some authentic Mexican breakfast "things." They also had at least a dozen juices - from the normal orange and apple juices (both with pulp and without), as well as pineapple juice, tangerine juice (YUM!!!), mango juice, pomegranite juice . . . They had a lot of things, but my fav. was the tangerine juice. Wow!

One of the things, though, that I didn't like was their hot chocolate. They made it with milk (very creamy milk, too), and I don't like h.c. with milk. It's too creamy and thick for me. Brandon also found some batido's - basically a "shake" with milk and banana (and I'm sure some other things. We make them here at home with ice cream, milk, and bananas. Sometimes we had strawberry flavoring.) Anyway, he's talked about batidos from his mission in Ecuador and how great they were, so it was fun to finally taste the real thing.

Various shots of the buffet where we ate breakfast every morning

Enjoying my batido

After that, we wandered to the lobby at the top of the stairs to decide what to do with our day on Thursday. Brandon & I wanted to go off and do something, but Wayne & LaRean were content to stay at the resort, get a massage, wander the beach, take a nap . . . As soon as we found a seat and sat down, Wayne wanted another pinada. (Keep in mind, we had just finished breakfast literally 5 minutes ago.) So, when a worker wandered over, Wayne asked for a "virgin pina colada." She nodded her head yes, and walked off to get it.

Another view of the resort

I was singing as we were walking and Brandon had to get a picture

This was the "roof" above the stairs. It was HUGE!

A few minutes later, she brought back his drink, but we knew at once that it was different. First, it was in a real glass. All the other times that we've asked for a pina colada without alcohol, they always give it to us in a plastic cup. I guess only those with alcohol get to feel special and get the real cups! :) Second, it had a slice of pineapple and a cherry garnishing the top of the glass.

So, LaRean and I decided to smell it, and boy was the smell of alcohol STRONG!! But, Brandon & Wayne couldn't smell anything, so Wayne proceeded to take a drink. "It doesn't taste any different to me," said Wayne. "I can't smell any alcohol, either." LaRean & I tried to convince the two men that there was, indeed, alcohol in the drink, but neither of them believed us. He drank a few more sips, but just to be on the safe side, he didn't drink anymore. What a good guy!

Wayne and his "virgin pina colada!"


What about doing this tomorrow?

Just to show you how much father and son are alike. (And, apparantely, the guy sitting behind Brandon. Maybe it's a "guy thing.")

After that, we went back to our rooms to do the usual getting ready stuff - brush teeth, apply makeup, dry and curl hair . . . Brandon perused the TV channels finally settling on CNN where they had breaking news about the pirate attack on an American ship. Kind of interesting, but (very selfish of me) it wasn't what I wanted to hear about. This was my vacation - I didn't want any gloom and doom.

Once we were ready, we headed back to the front of the resort to catch our bus into Playa del Carmen for our shopping excursion. There were only about four other people on the bus. Of course, being the teenager at heart that he is, Brandon wanted to sit in the very back of the bus. (He wouldn't make out with me, though! Hmm.)

But, we enjoyed our trip into the city very much. We saw some very American type stores - Sam's Club, Home Depot, Chevy, Sherwin Williams - and some very authentic Mexican types. One guy was riding along on a backwards tricycle pedaling his wares. It was very interesting to see. Oh, and there were people walking down the middle of the street selling newspapers to the commuters going past. I don't think I could have brought myself to do that line of work, but they seemed pretty good at it.

Our very empty bus

Workers making breakfast for the people that worked at the resort


Pedaling his wares on his backward tricycle

Once we got into Playa and got our bearings, we headed down to the beach to see about catching a ferry out to Cozumel. (We saw the ferry coming in, but could never find a place with ticket information. They had a "You Are Here" map, but no contact information for anything to do with the ferry. So, we decided to bag it, and just do some shopping instead.)

The ferry pulling into the dock - the water was INCREDIBLE and such a pretty blue color

Along the way, we wandered into a couple different stores, and at the very first one, a dress caught my eye. I turned to LaRean to show her the dress and how pretty it was, and the next thing I know, this dress is being shoved over my head. The lady of the store said, "Here. You try on. Hand made. Very pretty." And she literally took it off the maniquen and put it over my head. So, I guess I was trying on the dress. It was a VERY pretty dress, and you could tell that it was hand-stitched just by looking at it, but with my blossoming figure (all right, all right, it's more like my ever enlarging figure), there was no way I was going to pay $75 for a dress that I could only wear a few times the rest of my life.

The lady "helping" me try on the dress

Once we started the "real "shopping, I was SO glad to have Brandon there to help us bargain and understand the store owners. (I mean, I was glad to have him there anyway 'cause he's my hubby, and we had a week-long date with no kids, but to have his knowledge of Spanish and bargaining was wonderful.) Brandon went to put his sunglasses on that morning, and the snapped on him. In the middle of the ear piece. So, we were looking specifically for sunglasses. We found a store that sold some name brand ones - Ray-ban, Ralph Lauren, Polo - and Brandon & LaRean haggled with the store owner for a while. As they were arguing, I walked into the next store and looked at jewelry.

I'm a sucker for a pretty piece of jewelry - earrings, rings, necklaces . . . I found some BEAUTIFUL rings that were silver with amethyst, and blue/green opal in them. Gorgeous. The store owner was having fun watching Brandon debate with his next-door neighbor, so didn't notice me for a while, so I was able to browse in peace. He finally saw me, though, and then came over and tried to "sell" his wares.

I had found one that I was absolutely in love with, but the owner wasn't sure it would. I had told him I was pregnant, and he kept insisiting that I was going to "swell up big" (sure makes a girl feel good, huh?) and that a bigger size would be better. He insisted that he could make one a size bigger in a day and that I could pick it up tomorrow. *sigh* That wouldn't work because we weren't coming back. So, we decided to keep looking at jewelry stores to see if they had that same ring in the size I needed. As we were leaving, he offered the one that I wanted for $80. Still a little high, though.

Anyway, Brandon finally talked the sunglasses guy down to $10 each for his and LaRean's sunglasses. The guy was not pleased (so he seemed) and went on muttering about how he had to feed his family, too, and that selling glasses at $10 each wouldn't do that. As we left, LaRean asked, "Are you mad at us? Or are we friends?" He grinned and said, "We're friends!"

The rest of the trip was pretty much the same, although, we did find one store that had set prices. (SO nice after having to haggle for a while.) We went in and bought some souveniers for us and the boys, then went to find some lunch. We found a little bistro type place and ordered some ham and cheese quesadillas. They were really good! While we were waiting for our food, a guy came up to us and offered to make us some grasshoppers. Huh? He showed us how he was making grasshoppers out of leaves. It was really cool! Wayned ended up buying two of them and managed to get them home without them being ruined.

One of the many stores in Playa del Carmen

Waiting for lunch

The making of the grasshoppers


The finished products - Mama and Baby grasshopper

We still hadn't found me the ring I wanted at the price we wanted, and we had to start going back to catch our bus. So, we tried the first store again, hoping that he saw we had come back and he'd make a better deal. Still no go, though, so we headed back to our bus. As we stood there waiting, I asked Brandon to go back one more time and try to haggle with the guy. Brandon walked up to him to ask about the ring, and the guy said, "No! I give you the ring for $160!!" I think he was irritated at us that we wouldn't accept the ring for $80, so we ended up not getting the one that I really wanted.

Ring shopping

We headed back to the bus and found out why it was empy when we left this morning. Apparantely, they ferry a bunch of people throughout the day, so they only allow so many people on the bus each trip. That way, they can tell everyone to meet at a certain time and a certain place and not have to make six different trips to pick everybody up.

Once we got back to the hotel, we dropped off our purchases and freshened up for dinner. Tonight's dinner was at an international restaurant - La Fleur. *sigh* Shouldn't have done it. :) You had to make reservations for the restaurant of your choice the morning you wanted to eat there. And, you had to make it early, or it would fill up quickly. We had tried an authentic Mexican restaurant a few nights earlier, and it was pretty good. So, we thought we'd try the international. I was a little skeptical - I thought they might be serving something like frog legs and snails - something I'm not a fan of, even if they're not cooked and on my plate.

But, we got there, and had to order our food. Yikes. Most everything on there was a seafood dish, and I DON'T do seafood. So, I ordered a dish with a fried egg, and some liver. I thought I could at least eat the egg, and I decided that I'd at least try a (tiny) bite of the liver. BIG mistake!! The liver was sitting on top of the egg, so all of the flavor drained down into the egg. So, I couldn't even eat that. I did try a tiny bite of the liver, though, and regretted it in the middle of the night. (I sat by the toilet for 30 minutes thinking, "Okay, just throw up. No, don't throw up. Oh, just get it over with and throw up. No, I don't want to throw up. Ugh, I feel sick!")

Hmm - should I really try it?

My liver plate (all taken apart)

Uggh - did I really try this? Gross!


Brandon & Wayne had the seafood soup

Brandon opening one of the clams in his soup

Wayne trying an octopus (or a squid) tentacle

I don't remember the rest of the meal - who could after eating that? - but for entertainment that night, they had a couple of guys dressed up as Mayan warriors and they did a war dance with their tall drums. After that, we headed back to Wayne & LaRean's room to play some pinochle. I'm fairly new at pinochle, and Wayne & LaRean have been playing for a long time, but we won them that night. That's twice in a row that we've won. But, don't worry - we won't get over-confident!! It'll probably never happen again!

The Mayan Warriors

Kickin' back - playin' Pinochle

Hmm - what do we have?

A view of one of the many swimming pools at night