Siblings

Jack and NonaJane are entering a new phase of 'sibling-hood'. NonaJane is no longer 'the baby'.  She doesn't have to drink milk all the time, she doesn't try to eat/choke on all of Jack's toys (Well kind of. She does like to chew and slobber on them, but she doesn't try to actually EAT them anymore.)  She can walk, run, talk, dance, climb, celebrate, and PLAY!  Jack and NonaJane are finally really playing together.  The other day they sat in Jack's room and played with his trains for over 30 minutes without any type of prodding from me.  NonaJane thinks Jack is hilarious, and she has the wildest sense of humor. I mean, she laughs when he knocks her over, when he screams in her ear, when he tries to run from her, or lock her in the pantry.... wait a minute. Those are all bad things.  Weird.  I know, but they actually do have a good time too.  He makes silly noises and faces, then she tries to imitate them.  He taught her how to blow bubbles in the bathtub, how to make all the little toys and gadgets open and close, how to make a really tall tower- then how to kick it into oblivion.  He seems to be getting the big brother thing down. We find ourselves yelling at him a lot to be 'GENTLE', or to 'QUIT trying to rip your sister's arm off'!  But despite these actions, NonaJane adores her brother Jack about as much as I do.  Which is why I try so desperately to explain to him that whatever he does, she wants to do.  If he hits, then she hits. If he screams, she screams.  I never had this pressure when I was little because I too was the baby sister. I have spent my life adoring my big brothers, so I know how much Jack really means to her.  It breaks my heart when I see him treat her badly, but I know she doesn't see it.  She can't see anything but the good in him.  Jack has already become her hero.  The other day I sent him to time-out after he hit her.  He was crying, so without hesitation, Nona went and joined him in timeout.  She had forgiven him before he ever even hit her.
Having a second child definitely came with extra stress and work, but the sense of pride and joy I see in my children has grown exponentially.

playing chase...in her bumblebee costume

lounging in their movie chairs

 This girl knows how to party. Giant hello kitty ice-cream wasn't enough, we had to get in the swing too :) Trust me, this did not end well. Luckily we were outside... no harm done.
An update on NonaJane: she is now 16 1/2 months old and according to the doctors office she is in the 96% for height (thinking they must have mis-measured... she doesn't look that tall to us).  She weighs in at 20 pounds (roughly 30%).  Her vocabulary is ever expanding, but her list so far includes: Mom, Dad, mess, Jack Jack, Nona, NO, uh oh, yes, this, hi, bye, done, cheese (for taking pictures), more, ball, duck, quack, door, dog, and go.  It seems like she is starting to mimic all kinds of words. Each day it is so much fun waiting to see what she will say next!

Riviera Maya! August 31st - September 6th

On our way to dinner

Against better judgement, we went to Mexico.

Not a very upbeat way to start a post about a family vacation, but true!  With Adam's Dad recently recovering from heart surgery, and our wallets recently suffering from replacing the air conditioner... the better reasoning would have been to stay home.  BUT after 9 months of anticipation, we just couldn't let it go! After hours of scouring the internet (thank you MOM) we all booked a 'last minute deal' on bookit.com  (you know the commercial... "right booking now") we hit the "bookit" button and said ADIOS to our dollars. What good is money right? "Can't take it with you when you die" they say.  Let's just not live by that theory everyday.  A little planning for the future never hurt anybody.
So, we excitedly packed our bags (I saved us on the baggage fees by cramming everything into 1 ginormous checked bag, and 4 carry ons. We eeeked by as it was under the 50 pound mark by a few ounces.)  We picked up my Mom and Dad on the way, and were off to the airport.  Our flights there were filled with excitement and anticipation for the vacation. NonaJane was a bit antsy, but manageable.  Jack was perfect and even took a nap.  

Airplane fun

We landed in Cancun without a hitch until the security team decided that I needed to be pulled aside for an extra search (apparently my 50 pound bag brought on some suspicions).  The rest of the family was escorted thru the frosted sliding glass doors while I was held behind.  Mom, Dad, Adam and the kids lined up on the other side with their noses pressed against the glass to watch them search my bag. I remember thinking how cute and funny they all looked, perhaps I should take a picture... but then my daydreaming was interrupted by ear piercing shrieks and the sound of my son's arm being plastered between two pieces of glass.  The automatic door had opened to let someone thru, and did not stop when it started to slide over my son who had not seen it coming.  Luckily Adam, who stays calm and acts fast, grabbed the door and preyed Jack free.  The security guards were so flustered and shocked (either by My Mom's earth shattering scream or by the sight of Jack's little 3 year old arm flattened between the glass) that they let me go without searching my bag.  So we calmed ourselves, gathered our luggage and headed for the doors.  Hoping this would be the only bad part of our trip.
We were met by our van (which we also reserved on bookit.com) and safely taken to our resort (they even had the car seat we requested!)  Unfortunately when we arrived it was too dark to see anything... we ate dinner at the buffet and were taken to our rooms. Although the rooms looked  lovely, Mom and Dad's air conditioner was not working. Mom was less than pleased and after an hour of haggling with the front desk and the repair man, we were moved down the hall to side by side rooms (with fully functioning air conditioners).  We still had no idea what our view would be, or where the ocean was.  When we woke up in the morning, we were greeted by this!

The view from our balcony

Sunday was a partly cloudy but lovely day.  We enjoyed the pools, the ocean, and the buffets.  We watched the weather report and were pleased to see that there was only a "30%" chance of rain the rest of the week! The picture had a happy looking sun with a few clouds scattered here and there. We all had positive attitudes about the scattered showers, and kept taking inventory of our sunscreen and hats. Besides, everyone that worked there kept assuring us that it would be "sunny tomorrow" (with thick spanish accents).  Well apparently the weather channel, and everyone who worked there were in cahoots to keep the guests happy and calm.  Because a "30%" chance of rain really meant "pouring buckets for the next 2 and a 1/2 days." It was a TROPICAL DEPRESSION.

Dad, Me, and NonaJane in the rain

The wind blew the canvas right off of the umbrella!

I will admit that I had to get pretty frustrated and ticked off about the rain before I was able to move on. I even made my mom look to see if a tropical depression was enough to claim our travel insurance and head the hell home!  It wasn't.  SO, time to suck it up and play in the rain!
We caught a taxi and headed over to Playa Del Carman to do some shopping.  

Me and Jack shopping, Adam in the background

Perhaps we had some bad karma, because the sun came out as soon as we got there, just to ensure that it would be hotter than haiti while we perused the shops.  We did get some really cool souvenirs including a hammock, a sombrero, and hand made bracelets with the kids name in them (we had him do 'JACK' first, then blindsided him with 'NONAJANE'). 

Jack enjoying his souvenirs

While we were there, we also were offered a catamaran excursion from Cancun to La Isles Mujeres for the entire family for $100.  My Dad has always told me "If it sounds too good to be true, than it IS."  Well, I think I was so frustrated by the rain that my judgement had been clouded. But for some reason I had a gut feeling to go with it.  The man "Poncho" told us that if we came with him to tour another resort, that he would give us a free taxi ride back to our own resort (that would save us $30 bucks right there) as well as the family excursion for $100 ( a savings of several hundred).    So what would any sane person do while in Mexico with their young innocent children of 1 and 3 years?  We went with PONCHO.

small Mayan ruin at the resort we toured

Poncho took us to a very nice Van, the nicest one we had been in the whole trip.  The Taxi driver was very polite, and was driving with more care than any of our other drivers had done.  We were all starting to settle in, feeling relaxed, when I noticed the flashing lights of a police car behind us.  Our driver attempted to ignore him for a mile or so, before being forced to pull to the side.  My parents and Adam looked ghastly.  My Mom started telling us her plans to run from the taxi and take refuge in the nearby restaurant.  My Dad started fuming that this was all part of a scam. The taxi driver and the cop started arguing in Spanish... and time SLOWLY ticked on.  Turned out that the cop was corrupt, and was looking to be paid off.  The taxi driver refused to pay him and the cop ended up writing him a ticket for speeding at 140 km/hr.  We know for a fact our driver was not speeding, and this made me feel so terrible for him.  He was very polite upon re-entering the taxi, and took us safely to our destination.  He also gave me a new sense of pride and appreciation for the United States of America.
The resort we toured ended up being beautiful.  They had some Mayan ruins on their property, as well as some exotic birds, tropical fish, and lush jungle.  They of course tried to get us to buy into their club membership (and it really was a pretty good deal!) but we politely declined.  They provided us the free taxi to our resort and informed us that a shuttle would pick us up at 8 am to take us to the catamaran.

Jack and NonaJane in our room, posing with our towel elephant

They provided us with a very nice crib for NonaJane

Wednesday morning we woke up bright and early, grabbed a buffet breakfast and hiked ourselves to the resort gait.  When we got there a taxi was waiting! We piled in and couldn't believe it! They really were taking us to the catamaran even though we didn't buy the membership :)  We got a 1/2 mile down the road when our conversation with the driver and escort became jumbled.  After some confusion, we realized they were meant to pickup a different family! They whipped around and dumped us out on the curb at our resort.  My hopes were dashed. It was 8:05, and I had given up that our shuttle would come.   Low and behold, about 8:10 a shuttle pulled in. The driver hopped out and yelled out "Schwatken?"  HAHA! We were off.
WHO knew, it sounded too good to be true, was probably the stupidest thing I've ever done, and yet it worked out!

Mema, Papa, and Jack (napping) on the catamaran

NonaJane having a melt down on the catamaran

posing for a photo before heading back to Cancun

The marina at La Isla Mujeres

The beautiful turquoise waters

Thursday was Adam's BIRTHDAY.  It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day! We spent the whole day at the pool and the beach.  My Dad and I started to get an upset stomach late in the afternoon which we blamed on sun and too much alchohol.  I went to bed early, and Adam headed out to the sports bar to see the opening season Denver Broncos game.  He ended up having a wonderful evening with people from Great Britain, Scotland, and Washington D.C.  They stayed out till 3 AM, and treated him to a wonderful birthday celebration (easy to do at an all inclusive bar!)

NonaJane enjoying a non-alchoholic Mango Tango

a non-blurry photo of NonaJane running!

Friday morning we had our last hooray at the beach and pools before catching our shuttle back to the airport.  The end of a trip is always bitter sweet.  We were all anxious to get back to the safety of the United States, but were wishing we could stay to enjoy another beautiful sunny day in the Riviera Maya.

Papa, Adam, Jack and I waiting for the shuttle back to the airport

Overall, Adam and I are so thankful that we were able to take this trip with our children and my parents. My Mom and Dad mean the world to me, and getting to share these adventures and experiences with them is irreplaceable.  My parents really have ended up being my closest friends, my counselors, my 'go-to' people, and they continue to make me feel safe, loved, and special everyday. I don't think a day went by on the trip that Adam or I didn't say "Thank goodness my parents came with us!" Maybe some of these memories were not FUN in the making, but I think they may end up being the MOST memorable in the long run.
The only thing that could have made it better... the REST of our family there with us!