Mini Reunion

One of my very favorite best friends, Tracy, came into town to visit last week! They live in Montana...and haven't seen *SUNSHINE* yet this year. So we hauled the kiddos to the waterpark. As usual, we didn't complete a full sentence the entire time because we were chasing children. Good thing we know each other well enough that we can still complete each other's thoughts! lol

The Wild Crew

(Noah, Anden, Sophie, Taylee)

After the waterpark, we conned Jeremy into watching the kids while we ran for a full hour shopping. We apologized in advance...seeing as it was dinner and bedtime.

We returned to an eerily quiet house.
Obviously he had a much better parenting style then we did.

Her kids didn't want to leave. Mine refused to go to bed.

I think they know it'll be another 6 mos before we meet again! :-(

Finally in Theaters

Saturday morning after we returned from FL. We headed straight to....

The kids were so excited! We would have been there on opening day but we were flying home instead. They had prepped for this grand event by watching Toy Story 1 & 2 at least once a day for 3 weeks prior. They even brought Buzz & Woody along to watch their own anticipated return to the big screen.

(don't mind the drunken pose, the bright flash threw him off!)

Good thing I took a pic of a rare sighting of Taylee sitting still. That only lasted 5 mins. She hadn't had a nap and rather than sit and possibly fall asleep, she chose to crazily roam the theater. Needless to say, Jeremy took her home 20 mins into the movie. At least he got a refund.

And for the record, I've turned into a crybaby since having kids.

I cried in this frickin cartoon movie.

Actually, cried a lot.

You see, I spend lots of time with Buzz & Woody on a daily basis.

I apparently relate to their feelings a little too much.

Miami Trip - 6/18/10

All good things must come to an end.

We spent the morning swimming at the hotel

and then packing.

The kids had been the hit of the week.

The hotel staff knew us personally.

They each came to wish us farewell.

Seriously.

No more pictures from the rental car return, shuttle, flight home, etc.

The flight was 1 hour late.

The kids were worn out.

Two of Jer's fellow managers were on our flight.

We're shocked he still has a job,

after meeting our rugrats.

What a fun trip! :-)

Miami Trip - 6/17/10

After we we dropped Jer off at work on Thursday, wed headed back out to Key Biscayne to Crandon Park. We all had a blast. Of course Anden made friends with every kid in a mile stretch. So his new buddies made it even more fun for him.

After a few hours, we returned back to the hotel for naps. We have this routine down perfectly now! The kids awake and off we rush to pick up Jer for more beach fun.

We went straight back out to Crandon Park again. It was low tide so the kids LOVED that you could walk out forever before the water started...and then still walk out forever before it ever got deep!

And this time I was actually able to pin down Anden long enough for a few pics!

When the beach patrol finally kicked us out at sunset, we walked over to Crandon Gardens. It's an old abandoned zoo that they preserved. It still has the ponds, walkways, cages without bars and plenty of wildlife. It's like the hidden gem of Key Biscayne. Seriously, several people we asked didn't even know about it. So cool!

When it was almost dark and the mosquitoes were appearing in armies, we headed back to the hotel. We drove home in this gorgeous weather!

Upon arriving at the hotel, we proceeded to wait TWO hours for our food delivery. No worries, I regulated and we got dinner for free!

6/16 Update

OMG, how could I have forgotten one of my other fave parts of the day. (ya can you believe there's more?!)

When we arrived in Miami, I sent the boys to pick out the rental car. They pulled forward in this lovely lime green machine.

I immediately started laughing and before I opened my mouth to point out the obvious color explosion, Jeremy proudly proclaimed "I let Anden pick it out!" That explains a lot. You never let your 3 year old pick out your car.

So throughout the week I had become quite the driving pro. I had often told Jer how awesome I was at zipping around the freeways, islands, city even without the GPS! Well I was humbled when we were coming home from the Seaquarium (the 1st time). I pulled off and followed the crappy GPS instructions to Burger King for the kids' lunch. When I pulled back onto the road, the GPS and kids were both screaming at me that I needed to make an immediate left hand turn at the light. Only problem is that I was in the straight lane. So I kindly turned on my blinker and naively thought someone would let me in. (miami drivers aren't so courteous and the traffic/roads sucks!) When no one let me, I had to hurry and cut into that lane before the cars behind me ran me over for holding up the straight green light. Well immediately into my turn I looked up and saw a nice motorcycle cop with his lights flashing behind me. Crap, who pulls illegal maneuvers with a cop right behind them?! I was hoping he was just giving me a ticket for my screaming "i'm a tourist" colored rental car. So I pull off into a parking lot and wait for him to come to my window...while threatening the kids to not cry or scream.

After awhile I look back and the police man is motioning me to get out of the car and walk over to him. Hhm, never seen that before. Naively I jumped out of the car and started walking over. Then I remembered the ghetto white trash outfit (which was still wet by the way) that I was wearing. I was beyond embarassed. I knew I was definitely getting a fashion ticket too now. Luckily I was the only white, blond haired girl in a 10 mile radius so it was more than obvious I wasn't a local. Well as I approached him I just said sorry and started joking that I'm clearly a tourist and have no clue what I'm doing. Luckily for me, he had a sense of humor and laughed along with me. He asked me where I was visiting from and I proudly declared Arizona. 10 mins later he was still chatting my ear off and still hadn't even asked for my license. Finally Anden figured out how to kick his door open and started yelling for me. He apologized for taking so much of my time and didn't realize I had kids in the car. So he pulled his motorcycle up to the car door and showed Anden his cool cop badge and motorcycle.

At this point, my newfound best buddy starts to ask me, "Hey what do you think of your Phoenix law enforcement?" I paused for a second unsure whether this would start a political debate about our current immigration bill. Then I proudly stated, "I love it!" He grinned from ear to ear and said "WE DO TOO!!" Then he raved about how much he loves Sheriff Joe and the tough stance Arizona has taken on criminals and the immigration issue.

He then continued on by saying how he and several of his fellow officers have sent Sheriff Joe fan mail. I told him that regardless of what the media says, the public overwhelming supports the immigration bill. We live here, we know how bad it is. He gave me a pat on my back and said "Well you just tell Sheriff Joe that we here in Miami Dade Country are proud of him and hope we can get something similar passed!" Then he thanked me for MY time (lol ya that cracked me up) gave me a few suggestions of fun places to take the kiddos and then sent me on my way.

I love being a girl! :-)

OK in all seriousness, if you haven't already, educate yourself about SB1070. It simply enforces a federal law that is already in place. It is illegal to be in our country without proper documentation. I carry identification with me everywhere I go. And if I ever get asked to show it, I gladly cooperate. It's not racial profiling, it's abiding by the law. So go ahead and sue one of your own states Mr. President. At least we're taking action to help curb this overwhelming problem.

Miami Trip - 6/16/10

On Wednesday morning, we dropped Jer off at work and then headed back to Key Biscayne to the...

Jeremy insisted this would be super fun for the kids. So I agreed that it would be a good shake up from our "beach routine". I checked their website that morning and it said there was water areas for the kids. So I packed their swim gear...but not mine. Little did I know that would be a huge mistake.

Well we finally got there and paid a fortune to get in, Anden decided he wanted nothing to do with any living swimming creature. Then an epidemic hit and his legs were stricken with sudden paralysis. He could no longer walk and wanted to be carried. Then there was Taylee....who was tired and the only fish she cared about was the goldfish crackers of which her entire head was shoved inside the box. And to top it off, immediately upon entering and being forced to take a family picture with a parrot clawing your arm, you had to walk past a lawn area filled with blow up bouncer water slides before you actually entered any exhibits. So of course my kids were whining and begging that they just wanted to go on the water slides. I was persistent that we see at least one frickin fish first. I drug their whiny paralyzed limbs over to the Flipper Dolphin show that was just starting. Anden was less than thrilled.

Taylee wouldn't stop climbing up/down the bleacher stairs. Anden just wanted to sit & squirm on my lap. Oh and did I mention that it was 100% humidity?!?! So I literally was soaking wet and we had only been there 15 minutes! I wanted to die. I texted Jeremy that he and his fish loving idea were in severe trouble when I returned home. We managed to somehow barely make it through the 20 minute show without liquefying and sliding off the bench. Once good ole Flipper started flying out of the water, the kids interest increased at least .05%

Once the show was over, I peeled myself off the bench and hauled our sticky selves out of there. Anden was still begging to go back to the water slides. I gave in. At this point, if they were happy then it didn't matter that I just spent their inheritance to go on a cheap water slide. So off we went to the non air conditioned muggy bathroom to switch into swimsuits. After I got them dressed, I realized I didn't have my swimsuit. I was soaked in sweat/humidity. I'm a fainter...and I was extremely close to meeting the germ infested cement floor face first. So I figured what the heck and started peeling off layers (literally, they were infused with my skin). I was now down to just a tank top and jean shorts. Then I realized this was a "T" back tank...meaning my entire bra was completely hanging out the back. I scrambled through my bag for anything more appropriate. Nothing. So I gathered every last bit of pride and walked out of the bathroom in my finest white trash attire. Blow up water slides, here we come!

And yes, I was forced to go on the slides with a too small Taylee. So now I was in soaking wet clothes. To describe it better, that meant heavy jean shorts that were falling off and a baggy T back tank top that was also falling off.....again with the majority of my bra exposed. I texted Jeremy and briefly explained that we would probably be kicked out soon due to indecent exposure. He was laughing so hard. I, on the other hand, didn't find it funny at all. I felt like a martyr...that sacrificed my pride for my children's happiness. And happy they were! Which meant I was too! White trash and all.

While at the slides, I made friends with a more appropriately clothed mother. I was just happy she would even talk to me considering my appearance. She informed me that the Whale & Dolphin show was starting soon. So we drug our kids out of the water and over to the arena. Funny how some cool refreshing water made everyone in better moods....including myself. So there we happily sat at the show, in our own personal air conditioned outfits.

Jeremy was begging for me to take a picture of ourselves for him to mock us. This is the best I could get. I'm sure the lady I asked next to me to take the picture probably wondered why I would ever want photographic proof. (I especially love the hungry butt eating the lady's dress behind us)

After the show, Anden just wanted to go home. I was thrilled with that idea and couldn't have sprinted faster to the exit! However, my money conscious side forced me to ask the attendant for same day re-entry...just in case. After all, we had only been there 1.5 hrs.

We struggled in the heat and humidity to get everyone loaded up and happy. Once I got in the car, I flipped down the mirror and finally saw how awful I looked. Since I had no pride left, I took a picture. Folks, this is what humidity does to you!

Five minutes after the A/C was blowing on us, we were much happier!

We basked in the air conditioning the whole drive home and then dumped the kids in bed for naps. They woke up just in time to rush to pick up Jeremy from work. I must have gotten amnesia in that 2 hours, because I decided we should all go back to the dang Seaquarium so Jeremy could experience the pure bliss.

We hauled there and arrived with an hour before closing. Seeing as there were no attendants when we entered, Jeremy got in for free! I immediately felt vindicated for the previous money we had spent and not fully utilized! The place was a ghost town! Finally a worker told us the last whale/dolphin show of the day was going on right then. So we rushed over...and watched the same dang show we had already seen. Anden was excited to see the whale splash and soak everyone again. Taylee was excited to run up/down the stairs again like a crazed toddler. After that, we went and played in the Pirate Ship playground. Yes, again nothing that had to do with living creatures.

With 15 mins left until closing, we drug the kids off the playground and forced them to view a real animal. The crocodiles and sea turtles.

Sweet lil Taylee began ferociously growling at the crocodiles

But was nice to the huge turtle

And on the way out they were forced to pose by the life size whale tail

From there we debated whether to go back to the beach or just to dinner. Since it was already almost sunset, we headed to dinner. We found this awesome restaurant right on the water overlooking the bay and downtown Miami. When we pulled up to the "only valet" parking lot, we realized we were grossly undressed. Oh well, that sums up the theme of the day anyway. Oh, and we were the only ones with little kids. You can imagine the rest.