A Mexican Thanksgiving

We were so lucky to be able to spend Thanksgiving in Mexico with Amber and family. The eight of us have so much fun together and we made some awesome memories! First, the resort was beautiful. The weather was fantastic. The kids got along so well and everyone stayed healthy. What more could we ask for?

And this picture will haunt Brian for years to come - good form Brian! (karma has had it's revenge, Amber and I haven't been able to win a game of cribbage since!)

That is a pool that over flows into another huge pool that looks right out into the ocean. Guess where we spent a lot of time? By the pool! A few family members detest the sand, but they were good sports and still came to sand between their toes a few times!

These two are thicker than thieves! I can only imagine what  he was whispering to her!

A little pool side game of Wet Head

We let Elizabeth get her hair braided - one piece - this was a really big deal to her. There was some purple hair added in as well. I was finally able to throw that away last week, but don't worry we still have the shell dolphins that were woven in!

And then there are these two! Someone for EB to mother and Briggs accepts it because it isn't his sister bossing him around!

This is the boys doing aqua aerobics because they lost one too many games of cribbage.

In case you didn't know I have done a cartwheel in the sand at every beach I have been to since I was able to do a cartwheel. I hope I am still doing this when I am 50!

The kids did the aqua aerobics too, but they really got into it!

First day...our toes must be in the sand and ocean!

A little tie-dye shirt project in the kids club

Is there anything better than your kids at the beach pictures?

This was us during the aqua aerobics :)

The resort featured a Mayan ruin. I took it upon myself to try to make this an educational vacation and really learn something. The kids lack of interest was hilarious as I read them the wikipedia information on the Scorpian's Temple. On the last day we walked over to it and I gave it my best effort to import my Mayan knowledge to them. They were really interested in the exposed roots that acted like trampolines. We got out alive.

Happy hour happens on the beach too, not just by the pool :)

We didn't just sit by the pool everyday - most days, but not everyday. The men went diving one day. One day we all took a boat to Isle Mejeures - Brandon just calls in Hairy Island. Our intent was to find a place for the kids to snorkel. Elizabeth was the only that had tried it before but she didn't have a great experience so we wanted to let all the kids try it. The water was way to rough by our resort and there wasn't a reef. Thus the trip to hairy island. On this island you could rent golf carts and tool around. Somehow Brandon ended up with the all the kids in one golf cart and I was with Brian and Amber in a less than functioning cart. After we got on the main road and backed traffic up for 200 yards it was time to get a new gold cart. We have no cell service and come to find out the golf cart place was on a one way street...long story short, we got a new ride that could actually accelerate! Our first stop was to a sea turtle sanctuary. It looked like a hole in the wall but it was absolutely amazing. We saw tons of baby sea turtles and big ones too. A worker there took a liking to Grant and kept puling out aquatic life for him to hold - sea urchins, horseshoe crab, lobster. It was really fun.

on the boat to Isla Mujeres

Next we were off to find a snorkel spot. It became apparent that this was not going to be free and we needed to select a "day resort" to enjoy the water access. We searched for quite a while before deciding on a place. Of course a free meal and drinks were included as well as a freezing cold pool and bungee trampoline that just about put Grant over the edge! We ate a horrible lunch, I mean really not good. The kids were such troopers we sung their praises later and told them what an awesome job they did to get through that meal because not one of them complained. They knew they needed to eat and they made the best of it. It was a proud parenting moment. Then we made our way to the water to attempt the snorkeling. The kids all really tried and at some point they all got the hang of it, but it took a lot of coaching. I looked up at one point and Amber had Briggs on her back heading back to shore! Grant thought that looked fun so he climbed on my back! Elizabeth had a better experience and Stella hung in there. The aquatic life was not abundant but what the kids saw they were impressed with. It just didn't keep their interest for terribly long. That's when they discovered the pool, that had freezing water. The moms declared we all deserved ice cream and then we waited for the trampoline attendant to finish his siesta. Grant was given some super high bouncy pulls that scared the $%*& out of him! Apparently him screaming STOP did not translate to the attendant. We all look back at the video now and laugh but he was not laughing at the time! And with that we told hairy island goodbye and enjoyed our serenaded boat ride back to the resort.

This was a priceless moment. I am not sure how or why but we let the kids go to the other side of pool alone where there happened to be vendors. Actually I think they might have been checking to see if the hair braiding lady was in yet and we decided  there is strength is numbers! They all came back with jewelry and told us they needed $40 to keep it all. So we sent them back and told them we give them $10. It was a pretty funny negotiation and at the end of it we did not reach an agreement and all of the jewelry was returned along with 4 long faces. 

Table side churro cart

This was Thanksgiving at the JW Marriot

S'mores on the beach

This was the adult's night out...

There was piñata fun for all, but not when they line them up from shortest to tallest and it busts open before your giants get a chance!

Such a fun trip!!(Stella, if you would have had sunglasses on we would never have seen your closed peepers!)

A Southern Thanksgiving

In early November the whole family made a trip to see my brother and his family in Georgia to celebrate an early Thanksgiving. We had such a good visit, complete with a feast and family pictures and plenty of play time for the kids. The pictures are slightly out of order and I am having technical difficulties and running short on time :(
 
Ima and Pops, that looks like a lot of space over there at the Waffle House counter!



I think Grant is actually the only one asleep in this picture. This was before dinner! We were slightly delayed due to family pictures but the in-laws (Sara and Brandon) have come to expect late dinners with the Hellers!
This is the guys playing "do you know how to do this with your phone?" and the girls in their matching tea cup pj's!

Elizabeth and Grant absolutely dote on Megan!

Because David likes to give us cultural experiences we all went to the Waffle House for breakfast. 

The look on the lady's face when we said "there are 9 of us" was priceless.  I think she said something like "We don't have tables that big" and walked away! Ima and Pops sat at the counter and the rest piled into what would normally be a 2 person booth, but because we all really like each other it was not a problem at all!

Apparently you don't cook Thanksgiving dinner with a shirt on in Georgia - oh wait that's just David being David. And I have a son who doesn't really like to wear pants - perhaps this runs in the family. I promise the rest of the girls kept their tops on!

Doesn't everyone eat Thanksgiving dinner at 9:00 pm? Poor Megan missed the turkey!

The feast is finally ready!

A Few Home Improvements

Occasionally I get the itch to change a few things in the house. My latest ideas included stenciling a wall in the foyer and refreshing the powder room. The stencils that we used in EB's room were expensive and it was quite the project - cost someone a broken rib! I really wanted to see if I could do this on my own, but my mom offered to help which saved a lot of trips up and down a ladder! I used a $10 stencil and was really pleased with how it turned out and although it took some time it wasn't hard.

Onto the powder room. I picked a new paint color, Lincoln's Cottage, which is basically black. I don't know how but somehow the room actually looks bigger! Brandon and my dad installed a new vanity and and my parent's surprised us and hung crown molding while we were gone! And I have my new favorite piece of artwork, the cow. She doesn't have a name, I just affectionally call her, my cow. As I described to my sister-in-law, if the house was on fire and the people were all safe and I had time - I'm grabbing my cow!

You have to see it in person to truly appreciate it!

Fall Fun

After commenting on the kids schoolwork I have now been corrected several times that we call them Native Americans and not Indians. In the spirit in embracing this political correctness, we are having quite the Native American Summer!! This has been such a warm fall. One day the kids actually went to school mad because they I wouldn't let them wear jeans and their new boots - the forecast was a high of 80! But all of this warm weather has afforded us extra outdoor time and fresh air is good for all of us!

First, the Campbell's were home for their fall visit. As we were driving in the country and discussing the fields and the crops (making sure the kids know where and how stuff grows!) my sister in law said it best "you just can't do fall like this in Arizona!" We were both a little misty eyed soaking in everything midwest, while we were all singing along to the new Train song (Play That Song - I dare you not to get it stuck in your head!) and if you haven't heard all 6 of sing you should just ask Brandon what an enjoyable experience that is. I am guessing he would put it right up there with the kids playing baby or dog! Stella and Elizabeth were excited because they got to do art class together. The boys got a special surprise while the girls were at art - we stumbled upon the Weiner Mobile!

Yes the girls painted that by themselves! 

We tried a new farm this year and even completed the corn maze. To be perfectly honest, I am not sure we hit all of the check points, but we made it out with all 4 kids still smiling and no blood or tears so we count that as a success! As if this fall activity wasn't enough we then headed to the farm to harvest with Pops.

Corn angels - he had corn everywhere!

And as an added bonus for me Uncle David was there!!

The pictures don't do it justice. A full moon followed a perfect sunset with all of the corn dust in the air! Everyone got to ride with Pops and we took home 4 very tired kiddos.

Not exactly xmas card material here - thanks for smiling Grant!

The next day was soccer and Aunt Becky and Uncle Darrell's fall bonfire.  The kid's favorite part of the fall bonfire at Uncle Darrell's is the the spooky walk that Jake and Darrell take them on in the woods. However, Uncle Darrell wasn't there this year so Amber and I went to help supervise. And of course it is always fun when the moms scream louder than the kids - which we did!

Every weekend I think this will be the last warm one and then we get another one! Since we are going to be out of town the next two weekends and I know this heat wave surely can't last forever, I convinced Clark to hang xmas lights outside! I know the neighbors thought we were crazy but to hang lights without coats and gloves was awesome. I promised the mayor we wouldn't turn them on until after Thanksgiving!

Halloween

I think I have set a new record for taking the fewest amount of Halloween pictures! Ima gets all costume credit again this year. (Thank you Mom!) Elizabeth wanted to be a witch, but a good witch. She picked the fabric and Ima sewed up a storm to make her a pink/purple good witch! Grant had a very difficult time deciding what to be. We finally narrowed it to two and since they were both pretty simple we agreed that he could have two costumes this year! Grant was a fisherman or a scuba diver. I can take credit for spray painting his air tanks but getting them in backpack form was all Ima! We did the indoor trick or treating at the high school (he choose to be a fisherman) and then they had their costume parade at school (again the fisherman) and then Halloween night Scuba Grant made his debut. His costume got a lot of compliments, while Elizabeth was commonly mistook for a princess, a fairy godmother or something else! At one point I whispered to Brandon "no one knows what she is" to which he replied "hell I didn't even know what she was!" She was a beautiful good witch and she was proud and that is all that mattered. We were able to trick or treat for an hour and a half with no coats, no gloves, no umbrellas - just very heavy candy bags! I stopped on the sidewalk about an hour in and asked everyone to take a moment to reflect on the best Halloween night we have ever had! No one really stopped, it was really more just me talking aloud hoping they were listening! I mean c'mon there were doorbells to ring!

We sorted candy into lots of different piles!

First stop on Halloween was giving out full size candy bars! 

It was a little breezy at the school parade!

Pumpkins carved after an Illinois game

Fisherman Grant at the school parade

Boo Bash

She got her full size candy bar too!

With the master seamstress!