summer nights

This picture represents what has been going on most nights at our house the past week.

Girls spending lots of late, late nights eating food (cookie dough was the healthy food of choice this particular night)


Watching romantic movies (Penelope, Pride and Prejudice and a late night jaunt to the theater to see Eclipse - for the 2nd time)  I'd like to add...I love Pride and Prejudice..."Mrs Darcy, Mrs Darcy, Mrs Darcy" kills me every time!


Laughing with cousins and friends (this particular night there was lots of giggling - we love our Arizona cousins and Kenzie)


Spending time with Andrea our Summer house guest that we truly love like one of our own.  We love when she is in our home.


Pretty much no sleep.  

finally!

Just walked in the door from picking up the last kid from school...Summer is here!  

8:43, i love you

Today was a good day when I opened my eyes, looked at the clock and saw those glorious numbers...8:43 am - three cheers for Summer!  No more 5:30 am alarms so that we can make sure Megan gets up for seminary.  No more everyone up at 6:30 am for the hectic morning schedule of getting ready for school.  I highly doubt we'll be sleeping in like we did today but today was joyous anyway.  

felt like home

Our afternoon of shopping in Playa del Carmen was not my favorite day of the trip but it was still lots of fun.  I have to be honest...it felt like any other trip to Tijuana, just a heck of a lot hotter and with no begging children selling Chicle (how do you spell that?)

There were plenty of the standard souvenir shops - you know the ones that sell the garbage that they think the tourists want.  I would much rather by something handmade from the locals but the kids thought this was perfect.  They all had their own money that they had earned before the trip and the freedom to buy whatever cheap little trinket they wanted.
It was so blasting hot & humid that whenever I would take my camera out the lens would fog so you'll notice lots of blur on my pictures.
The highlight of the day was this adorable little monkey - the furry one, not Luke.  We all fell in love with him (except Derek)  Derek got to listen to us for the next 20 minutes try to figure out how we could have a monkey as a pet - I don't think he was amused :)
The little guy is either giving Nate some kisses or looking for lunch.


This picture reminds me of pictures I have of myself from trips I took to Tijuana when I was little.  I love Luke looking at the cart full of flags.

i wish i was laying my little head here tonight

mexico, i miss you

Oh, how I'm longing to be back on the Mexican beaches that I love.  

Yes, it's been months since this trip but I desperately wish I was there right now and I have nothing else to do tonight but blog so your choices are...enjoy the pictures or go read a different blog.

One of the days of our trip we planned for a day on the island of Cozumel.  Derek and I have been there a few times but Derek has never really seen the island because he has always been diving.  I felt like a local tour guide since I knew my way around.

We started at Playa del Carmen where we enjoyed sunny skies as we got ready to board the ferry that would take us over to the island.  I love that the water in the next few pictures is all different colors - it's not different lighting, the water really does change to all those colors depending on how far out to sea you are.  The water is one of my favorite things about this part of Mexico.

No sooner had we docked in Cozumel it started to rain - a lot!  I mean a lot, a lot!  Some of us took cover in the rental car store while others (the boys of course) paraded around the streets enjoying every minute of the down pour.  I'm sure it will be a great memory.


There was lots of splashing in puddles.
Our main reason for going to Cozumel was to visit this orphanage.  We got to spend some time with the kids that live here (12 total) and the women that care for them (4-5 women)  The kids were adorable and loved the lollipops that we gave them.  We also took bathing suits, underwear and other clothes to them but I think the candy was the big hit.  I'm glad we had this experience with our kids.

After the orphanage we hopped back into our rental car - this time with top down because the sun finally made an appearance.  I love this car!  If safety laws were not an issue and I wouldn't be pulled over for squeezing my family of 6 in this car I would so drive one of these.  With Mexico's anything goes attitude our family fit in just fine (luckily my "safety mom" of a mother wasn't there - she would have freaked)
We found a great little restaurant right on the beach where we enjoyed some nachos and guacamole.  I seriously think this could be heaven - sand, warm beautiful water AND guacamole - does anyone really need anything else?
Right below our table there were a bunch of hammocks where the kids ended up for a bit of a rest
After our meal we headed down to the beach to do some snorkeling and hunt for shells.  So I have been on this beach 3 times and we always find the most amazing shells.  I'm not talking little broken shells that you find at our California beaches - we're talking big mama conch type shells.  The kids dug it!
Every beach we were at Luke always made time for some sand castle building - he loved it and would spend hours building.
It was a fun day on the island - it rated right up there with the day we visited the Coba and Tulum ruins.  I loved every minute of family time we had on this little island - I'd go back in an instant.

I've gotta end with this shot...
I want this blown up for my house.  Not sure what it is about this photo but it's one of my favorites from the trip.

mom, i'm bored

I'm sure I am not the only parent hearing this phrase at the moment.  Some days I am tempted to run away from home if I hear "i'm bored" one more time.  It hasn't been a constant whine but we have had a few days that were worse then others.

On one particular day we headed over to Michael's to try and beat the boredom.  We were met with success.  

Nathan got a kit explaining all about the virtues of marshmallow shooters.  The kit came with everything necessary to make a small shooter.  Couple that with the 3 bags of mini marshmallows we got at the store and Nate was set for a good few hours of entertainment.

Luke's purchase was a Superhero kit.  I actually didn't think that this would be a successful activity for curing his boredom but I couldn't have been more wrong.  Who am I to mess with the power of America's superheroes?

The kit came with a fantastic red cape, a superhero i.d. card (all good superheroes carry an i.d.), face masks, wristbands (that contained powers to control the universe) and a bunch of stickers. The end result...Luke saving the world for hour upon hours.  He managed to fight the villain Boredom for the whole day and continued to battle evil up until bedtime.  

Yes, this was a highly successful kit from Michael's and worth every penny.

Protecting the universe...Super Zap!

Stinging evil with his bare, dirty hands...it's Captain Buzz

it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a Star Boy!

keeping busy

Saturday always seems so busy around our house.  I woke up early while the rest of the family slept in and recovered from our family room sleepover.  I managed to get my grocery shopping done and then came home, grabbed the girls and off we went to the local farmers market.  We loaded up on produce - the boys were thrilled with the carrots.  They love eating carrots with the stems still on them - it cracks me up.  

We spent the rest of the day doing a ton of house work.  We cleaned out rooms, took one of Emily's beds out of her room (she had 2 twin beds).  She is so excited to have more floor space and is making big plans for what to do with the extra space.  We installed book shelves in Megan's room to store her multitude of books, and we made a trip to the dump to get rid of all the "treasures" that had been hiding in our home. 
Emily had a couple friends over to watch Camp Rock  - a Disney made for TV movie and not a very good one I might add.  After Emily's friends left the 2nd round of kids showed up with Megan's friend's coming over at 10 pm to watch the same movie - they have the same opinion as I do about the movie, not Disney's finest.  It was a night full of friends, bad movies and pizza and when everyone hit the pillow that night we were out.

summer vacation friday

Friday we continued swim lessons for the boys.  Friday night we all went to the local pool and the boys got to show off their swimming skills to dad and the kids got to play with friends who were also at the pool.  

After some swimming we came home for a family room sleepover.  Mattresses and excercise mats were brought down and we cuddled in for a movie - Spiderwick Chronicles.  Kind of an intense kid movie.  Nathan had been eager to watch it since he just finished reading the series a month or two ago.

summer swimming

The boys started swim lessons.  We found a great teacher that teaches them more in a half hour then some of their past teachers taught in a 2 week period. We have to drive a bit far (Santa Ana) but it is so worth it.  Lessons will last 2 weeks and the boys are totally enjoying their classes.  

Luke is in a class with 2 non swimmers - we thought Luke was a non swimmer but after one class with Miss Denise (his teacher) he is much more of a swimmer then we thought.  We had Nathan in the same class as Luke but after Miss Denise saw Nate swim she moved him into a beginning swim team class.  She teaches the class with a swim team format and is helping the kids to learn various strokes.  

The boys are doing great and beg us each night to go to the community pool so they can show off their skills. We are all getting our fill of summer swimming.

fun in the sun

Monday started bright and early with Nathan, Luke and me heading off to Cub Camp at 6:45 in the morning. Going anywhere that early is not right but it is especially wrong during the summer months.

The theme this year was Fun in the Sun - we had fun and sun although there seemed to be much more sun then fun for the adults.  It was so hot on Monday!

Nate had a blast.  What boy wouldn't have fun running around with friends, getting dirty, shooting arrows, racing go karts, digging through owl vomit and finding a totally in tact shrew skull, having a water fight, watching a spider eat a beetle, using a saw to build a birdhouse, doing obstacle courses and much, much more.

Luke got to hang out at the sibling camp all day.  I didn't see him the whole day until pick up time but if his dirty clothes and smile were any indication I'm guessing he had a great time.