Mexican Anniversary!

Joe planned and booked a surprise anniversary trip for us!  It was a given that it'd be somewhere tropical, since we'd talked for years of our next big trip together being a tropical one, so I was able to do some preparation clothes shopping;  BUT he didn't tell me WHERE we were going until the morning we left, while we were packing!  He'd made up a sealed envelope full of pictures of where we were going:  Playa del Carmen, Mexico!  Just down the coast from Cancun, where we could do all the tropical stuff, plus see many Mayan ruins (our first pictures are there at Tulum).

 MONKEY!

Our hotel suite at The Royal, Playa del Carmen:



 Scuba diving!!!  Well, I did the training videos and water training, but freaked out completely.  I kinda hated it:  only breathing through my mouth, feeling the compression of the water, being weighed down, trying to remember all the buttons & what they did, and rules to 'not die'... it was OVERLOAD and I had a panic attack during the training in the 5 feet of water.  BLAH!  Oh well.  I went along on the boat while Joe did the deep dive at the reef, and, even though I was crazy seasick, I still have no regrets about bailing on the scuba.

My favorite day was definitely the dolphins!  I wish we had more pictures, but we couldn't use our own cameras, and they were charging an insane amount ($150!!!) to get all the pictures they took of us (or $25 per picture- so we opted for the two best pictures, since we weren't that crazy about a lot of them).  We got to ride the dolphins (holding their fins, dolphins on either side of us), do the dolphin foot push (you float on your tummy, lock your knees, and two dolphins push the middle of your feet... you get to superman across the top of the water- my favorite!!!).  Plus lots of dolphin time: dolphin kisses, 'dancing', petting, etc.  It was awesome.

We also got to swim and play with the manatees!  It was spectacular!  This is my manatee kiss (don't worry, it's a girl... her name is Juliet).  :)

Walking around town, some men had panther and leopard cubs!  SO CUTE!  He took our picture with them.  They were so so soft!

The Mayan temple at Coba:  117 steps.  We climbed it!

Joe at the top, laying down (steps behind him, down to the ground):

 At the top!

Easter Hunt

Since we'd just gotten back from our spring break vacation in Raleigh, we didn't do anything big on Easter weekend.  The park we love does a free egg hunt for the kiddos, and it was a beautiful day for it!  Then Sunday we had dinner with our friends the Schlossers, and the four missionaries serving in our church.  It was a DELICIOUS meal and beautiful, simple Easter!

North Carolina Trip!

For spring break, we tagged along with Joe to a work conference in Raleigh-Durham!  Work put us up in at the beautiful Washington Duke Inn on Duke University's campus.  The boys enjoyed swimming at the indoor pool (it was still somewhat chilly, and rainy most days), and going to the FREE Natural History Museum in Raleigh!

Touching a SNAKE!

Riding the lion statue outside the hotel... I'm sure the doorman loved that... not a lot of little kids at a hotel like this!

Duke University Gardens- beautiful!  Notice the top of their chapel over the forest ridge?

^^^Photography by Sawyer! ^^^ :)

The chapel on Duke's campus.  AMAZING inside & out (sorry I didn't get a pic inside)!

It was a good FREE trip! :)  Kids did great on the 6.5 hour drive, and I'm sure we all put weight on by eating out for every meal... but good trip!



Little League!

Sawyer had his first little league game of the season on Saturday the 17th.  He's not as into it as soccer, but still wanted to have a sport to do in the spring (soccer is in the fall).  He doesn't get super excited or practice during the week at home, but he still is enjoying meeting new friends and being part of a team.  I still think that's worth it for him. :) 

Above:  Playing center field.  He got to retrieve almost all the hits, which was fun!

Below: This is the first age year they use the pitching machine instead of a Tee.  They actually do fairly well for kindergartners!

Below: The last inning, he was the catcher.  I love seeing the tiny kids all decked out in huge padding!  He thought this was the best part of the game, since he actually got to DO something consistently (he thinks baseball is usually boring, like his parents...).

How does your garden grow...

I know it's only a select few who seem to love gardening, so disregard this entire post if you don't care, because it turns out I'm one of them!  My grandma's influence must've actually rubbed off on  me after all, after two decades of growing up next door to her, watching and helping her in her gardens of flowers and food.  Usually I didn't even really like helping that much. Plus, she'd force us to stand in front of her flowers and take pictures of us with them, and my brothers and I thought it was soooooo lame, but humored Grandma.  But ever since owning our first home in Wisconsin back in 2005, owning my own land, it was like the "Grandma Eleanor" gene sparked to life & I've LOVED flower gardening.  I've tried a bit with growing food as well, but that's more to be smart & healthy, and I haven't really had space for real results yet.  My true gardening love is watching my flowers come in (tulips and hydrangea bush):

We only have a very tiny 'backyard' behind our townhouse.  The whole thing is only about 25'x30'.  There's not a single area that gets full sun, so I can only do shadier plants (even though I risked doing the tulips, just to see...).  I'm still so happy to have a little bit of land to play with. I sectioned off two little flower areas around our patio, with stones, and think it'll be satisfying enough until we buy a house in the next few years. :)

(tulips popping up, and azalea bushes) 

The above pictures were taken on March 14th.  Pictures below are of the same areas, taken today (amazing what 8 days will do).

Race Day!

 Carrie signed up for a last minute 5k trail race on March 10th!  The whole family decided to tag along.  It was a coooooold morning- 32* when we got there, around 7:30am.

Carrie all ready to go!  Without make-up! What, am I trying to win a beauty contest, or run a race? ;) 

Turns out they also offered a kids' race for FREE, so the boys ran that while I was out on my 5k course.  Sawyer got 2nd place (there were only about 15ish kids, under 10 yrs), and Hunter decided to walk nearly the whole thing.  I guess he's not very competitive!  Or into distance running!  Haha :)