Pizza time

I had some Trader Joe's refrigerated pizza crust (that I store in my freezer, thank you) that we decided to use tonight.  C loves helping to make pizza.

he got a little bit messy helping me mix flour into the dough and rolling it out

sprinkling on a little bit of extra cheese (he likes to eat the toppings as we go as well)



the pizza chefs--now we are enjoying watching the Little Chef on Ratatouille

Mexico, part 3 (AKA: if you can't laugh at yourself--who can you laugh at?)

So another girl on the trip sent me an email of some photos she took and posted some on her Facebook account that I ripped (scenery ones). She captured the pool and beach so much better than I did.  We'll get to the laughing at self part at the end.

this must be after everyone vacated the outdoor pools in the evening

 the pool side. loved the chairs in the pool

the security guy was on his way to ask Scott to get off the horse.  i think it's a common problem when people head to the disco

Night 3 at about 12:45 am--still perfectly normal at the disco



do you see C3PO?  doesn't everyone expect the Mexican disco to be Star Wars themed?  They have a millenium falcon that moves across the ceiling.  ODD.

And now to the good part

approximately 1:30 am.  1 shot of very watered down Curacao, a lot of dancing, and a lot of 80s/90s music and we have officially reached crazy town.  yes, that's my sweater and scarf around my waist b/c dancing makes you VERY hot.  No, I am not in pain, and no I am not drunk.  Just crazy and wishing I had a pony tail holder.  I really can't speak for Scott.  I think he sees a camera and just acts stupid.

Daddy's Back!

Apparently we are all Cardinals tonight according to C.  His reasoning is b/c we are all wearing baseball hats (including the dogs).  C made us all wear one, and he's obsessively trying to keep them on the dog's heads.  Then he yells, "Go Cardinals".  He's talking to the dogs like they understand, and they really don't like it.  Only C is actually wearing a real Cardinals hat, but C is convinced we are all Cardinals.  He's running the bases now after a hit.  Now he's bossing daddy to pass him a football while he wears a baseball glove. There's some confusion here I think.

sidetracked by a leaf

this big guy hates hats

this one was okay as long as he could lay on daddy simultaneously

back on track with the right equipment

Beach Party Playdate

C and I had some friends over today for a day at the beach. 

C was crazy excited about turning our house into the beach.  He talked about it nonstop as we gathered things/put out things for this morning.  He was pumped. He loved getting to wear his beach gear.  He even made me make him a cardboard surfboard, so he could in his own words, "be ready to go to the beach and ride the waves."

 He can't figure out how to wear them correctly, but still a cutie.  He actually asked for these and his flip flops.  Can you tell he has beach experience?



the cute flip flop decor I found.  We had 4 of the 6 strands hanging various places. (I couldn't salvage the other two--a tangled mess straight from the package)

 

Our sunshine and seagulls (the one on the left is turned and hard to see).  We had sunscreen, sunglasses, and beach towels scattered about as well.

Yes, this is an indoor sand table (well a water table filled with sand, rice, and flour) with buried sea shells. Huge hit



Look at all the kids wedged in the bathroom playing in either the sand or water.  I'm crazy, but it was worth it.  Thanks to Kristen for providing the table and sand for us.

the ocean, complete with fishing tool (aka 1 net--not near enough)

groovy blue tub, I know.  it was really hard to let the kids play in this for everyone to see.  i hate this tub with a passion. no matter what i do i can't get it to look clean.  i've tried everything.  not only is blue bad enough, but it's gross looking, but i promise it's clean.

 the table spread w/some muffins and silly straws brought by friends

our "sand" cake: yellow cake crumbled and topped w/ground graham cracker crumbs.  we then added pudding to it to eat on their plates (which made all the crumbs stick together). this was cute but a disaster to eat.

C enjoyed it and everyone loved the drinks in the cooler right on the table.  This turned out so much fun, and the sand wasn't that bad in the house.  I had it cleaned up in no time.

Tales of a manipulative 2 year old

So, I had a babysitter for C last night so I could attend book club while Scott is OOT.  I got the 12 year old girl down the street on short notice.  She's a sweetheart, but without much experience. The last time she watched C, her 15 yr old sister came along to help.  Last night she was solo and had to contend with bedtime.  I wasn't worried about C, I was worried for her.  I was pretty sure C would give her the marching orders...I'm pretty sure I was right.  When I pulled in to my driveway last night at 9:30 I saw his bedroom light was on.  Uh-oh #1.  I walk inside and it's all quiet.  At the front door/where the stairs case comes to the main floor stands the babysitters mom. Uh-oh #2.  To backpedal a bit, the mom had come with her originally to just put her at ease and left within 5 minutes or so--I told them both to call me if there were problems, but the mom said, no, she had told her daughter to call her instead (fine with me if not an emergency--since the mom wants her daughter to be able to learn to solve her own babysitting problems).  Anyhoo...I ask the mom if everything is fine.  Here's the tale I get.  I will call the babysitter D from here out.  D took C up to bed at normal time--about 8:30.  Read about every book in his room, and then from what I can understand refused to get in bed.  I assume he ran downstairs and then wouldn't go back up for her.  He was likely mean.  D calls her mom, probably frantic if she's any kind of 12 year old like I was.  Mom walks down.  As soon as mom walks in the door, C makes eye contact with her, bolts up the stairs followed by D, reads one book (which is the time I arrived), and crawls in bed for D. Ultimately a success for her, but C had her number.  He saw her fear I guess, and he knew he could push her.  As soon as the mom showed up, w/o even saying a word, the tables turned.  What a stinker.  When I asked him if he was a good boy for D this morning, he told me he was.  When I asked him about not going to bed for her and her mom showing up, he kind of grimaced and changed the topic.  5 minutes later he recounted the story pretty similarly about D's mommy showing up and him running up the stairs for bed.  Double stinker.

When the parents are away the little one will play

My parents had the little firecracker while were were busily sunning ourselves in Mexico.  Let's just say he's exhausted and filled to the brim with ice cream. 

His new thing is to sleep with every single stuffed animal in his room.  He calls it his "collection." Many naps are spent "sleeping" on the floor on his "collection" pile.



 at the Children's Discovery Museum



playing at the library

 The aviation museum

Playdough with Nana

C had a great time with his grandparents. 

A little underwhelming

So, I had big ideas about how I wanted to blog about our vacation.  I had hoped to do it like a travel diary, but I'm not feeling the creativity when it comes to putting it down, so I'm just going to give you the highlights. I'm too lazy to put these into any order b/c no one probably cares.

Excited on the bus--ready to hit the resort.  This was the down state group on the later bus/flight.  The Chicago crew got there first.

Beautiful!

Vogue

We are in almost the exact spots--exclusive, adults-only is awesome that way

 This is the last night after our marathon hike to another resort on the Iberostar property.  Basically anything other than the grand is kid-friendly (well, not in my opinion, but that's a whole soapbox I won't get on)

 The second day at the resort's shopping center.  We just had some chicken and shrimp tacos, ice cream, and crepes (all part of the all inclusive)

 This is the first night at karaoke.  Craig and I are singing Journey...and it was bad.  I sang "These Boots were Made for Walking." Karaoke this night was lame.  There were only 3 of us that sang, and you're looking at 2 of them. The last night of karaoke was so much better.  Packed with people singing (all from our group except the last girl), including me and Craig again. I sang "Time after Time" the last night

Earlier that night at the tranquility pool for our cocktail hour with the group.  Then we had an amazing meal at the Surf and Turf restaurant. 

The is at the other resort's bar that last night.  My face is very sunburned.  I don't have any pics from the second night b/c I got sick during dinner and went back to my room. I think I was severely dehydrated (long story that involves working out in a sauna basically and not drinking enough water).  The last night was great.  After this bar hop we went back to our resort for karaoke and then to the disco at the shopping center until 2:30 am. About 15 people from our party went down to the disco and danced. It was hilarious.  It was us, some teenagers (dancing really inappropriately), a 50 year old man, and a very drunk couple.  That was pretty much it.

the reason for our trek to the other resort bar. flaming shots--Mexican flag--a couple with us fondly remembered from the last year they were there alone. they were hot and disgusting.  licorice.  the weirdest part: there was an 8 year old girl having a banana chocolate milkshake at the bar (never taking my child to Mexico--too weird)

enjoying the cigar bar the first night

enjoying karaoke night

Fun trip, but glad to be home.  Wasn't so sure yesterday (I was so tired and the weather sucks), but I was so glad to come home to C.