The 4th of July Weekend in Photographs

Almost a week late, but since I was having too much fun to take my own photos I was dependent on waiting for my dad to send his. Plus,  he has a way better camera than me anyway. And picnik refuses to work for me, probably because my home computer is awful and my laptop hasn’t turned on in over a month so I’ve been attempting to create something in Picasa. Bear with me as I figure out this whole photo editing/ photo sharing spiel.

Saturday July 2, 2011

In the morning after some vigorous googling I found a very nearby waterpark we went to while we waited for my parents to arrive.

Bear taking a photo of my mom, and quite a good photo of Babi taken by Bear. When my parents arrived we grilled like we do pretty much year round when they come. We also made smores on the fire and Bear showed his bakugans to everyone all the time. Athens was tired of laying on the floor and decided to join my mom on the lounger.

Sunday July 3, 2011

We spent the day at The H’s Uncle’s cabin in Wisconsin. Bear like me had a hard time being out of the water so we pretty much spent our entire time swimming, going down the slide, paddle boating, going on a boat ride, fishing, trying to catch minnows in our net, etc. The H and I also played volleyball against my parents, but sadly lost 2-1. They also had an amazing golden retriever that just wouldn’t quit and we threw the frisbee to her all day long. The only downside is I walked away with no fewer than 83 mosquito bites.

Monday July 4, 2011

Sadly this was the day my parents left and since Bella was too young I went unaccompanied to my work’s annual fireworks event, which was probably the best its ever been this year. But we brought my parents back to the pool we were at on Saturday and had lunch in Hudson before they left for their long drive back to Chicago.

Memorial Day Weekend Recap

As usual I have completely forgotten to take pictures even though I meant to and I think at one point I may even have had the camera in my hand.

The weekend’s weather was iffy. They had predicted rain and thunderstorms all weekend, just as it had been the previous three weekends but luckily the sun actually came out. In May, who would have thunk it.  We finally got our pool set up (that I had convinced the H to buy last year, somewhat against his better judgement). However, once we started to try and fill it with water discovered that it must have a hole in it because water was pooling up on the ground cover and not so much inside the pool. Which was just great considering how much we have spent on the pool, the ground cover, the PH up, the PH down, algeicide, thermometer, skimmer, etc. Pools are expensive apparently (I believe the H had said that, but I shushed him), and so having only gotten one vague summer’s worth of pooling isn’t good. Especially since I was pregnant last summer and wasn’t on top of cleaning the pool and obviously the H without my guidance wasn’t either so the chemicals were always off or the pool was cold so really we probably swam in it less than 10 times. But shh, this was a good idea, I promise.

So there’s that.

On Monday we had our annual Memorial Day BBQ, which went shockingly without any problems. I had even showered before the event started. I can’t remember the last time I hadn’t either forgone a shower or been showering when hosting an event. The house was clean, even the basement! And because it had said rain everything was set up on the table inside, but since we had sunshine we were able to eat inside but do all of our socializing outside. It was like the gods were shining down on me. All except 2 guests who were supposed to come made it, so we had a big group of 15.5 people (Bella being the half). Bear LOVED the attention. He also kept saying barbequeque which was adorable so I never corrected his second que.

We had so much food (and still do) however. I must remember not to over buy, but I always rather have too much food than not enough. We had three kinds of potato salad, chips, bbq chips, tortilla chips, 2 kinds of salsa, fruit salad (that I never actually put out despite making it one handed while holding Bella, I’m trying out for Top Chef Mommy Edition), watermelon, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, grilled veggies, lemonade, iced tea, sangria and buns a galore. People were told to bring their own meat and beer. The latter they left a lot of at my house. So clearly, I’ll need to have a party soon because the H doesn’t drink beer and I can’t drink all that Coors on my own.

Also, since it was ungodly humid we opened Bear’s birthday gift this awesome geyser sprinkler thing.  Which was awesome, I only wish more of the adults had participated in this instead of looking at us running through the sprinkler like we’re a bunch of lunatics. The plus side of having children is that you’re able to do all the fun spontaneous lunatic things with a perfect excuse! Unfortunately, the H was one of those adults look at us like we were crazy, his loss in my opinion.

I had gotten a maxi dress at Old Navy that weekend and worn it which was so comfortable. I have no idea why I was refusing this trend so much. It covers my fat! And I don’t have to shave my legs! Win! Win! I will most definitely be buying another one soon.

I know @zwjohnson took lots of photos at the event, so I’m hoping he shares because otherwise I have nothing  but my memories and I’m fairly convinced my memory is going down the tube so I won’t have that for long.

What was I talking about again?

 

Mexico – Day 8

(A Belated Post)

Woke up surprisingly un-hungover considering the debauchery of the previous night. Even though we were unpacked I managed to pack us in a subhuman rate so I could get the most of my pool/beach time before the 10:30 AM pick up for the airport.

The H declined to go swimming with me siting his lobster body as his reasoning (it was our last day! An unfit excuse in my opinion!) so I made him be my paparazzi for the morning.

First it was a final swim in the private pool.

Then it was off to the beach. Since it was a cloudy and windy day the waves were HUGE. Probably the biggest they had been yet, the H was clearly missing out!

And then I decided to get a little cutesy.

Then we rushed back to our hotel room so I could shower and change before the hotel transport could pick up our luggage (the resort is that big that you need a car to take you back to the lobby, at least if you’re carrying luggage. We walked everyday all around).

Then it was our final breakfast at La Marche where I sneakily made sandwiches and snacks into some ziploc bags for the airport ride.

Then the car came to pick us up.

When we arrived at the airport we realized we were on the same flight as the WI people we met in line at the Lobster Pot Thursday night, so that was quite amusing. I also realize, I don’t really understand what Duty Free means because everything seemed pretty expensive to me. I did enjoy how they market their cigarettes though:

I also really enjoyed the security line:

And then sadly at 1:25 our United Airlines plane left for Chicago. We arrived in Minnesota at around 9:25 PM after a long day of travel. We arrived to sub zero weather and snow, leaving 85 and sunny was the worst thing ever.

Definitely working on the H to move to a warmer climate, this winter thing doesn’t cut it for me anymore!

Mexico – Day 7

We contemplated doing an excursion today being our last day, but in the end money (and my desire to take a picture with a monkey) prevented us from doing so. Though I have to say I regret not going snorkeling with Turtles or doing Explorer (ziplines, cenotes, etc).

Instead we spent the morning at the main pool where we hadn’t been yet since that’s where the monkey man said he would be. I managed to find him and both the H and got pictures with a spider monkey. It was the cutest/coolest thing. He had such soft hands and feet! The monkey guy came around again when I was in my suit and without sunglasses so he must not have realized I had already done a photo so I did another one. This time the monkey fondled me and grabbed my boob (and squeezed!) 3 times!

Afterwards we went to the beach for our final swim =( ! I became a lobster like the H, my entire front side is crisp leaving an uneven line down my side where my normal slightly tan backside is.

Then I had my spa appointment! It started out with a steam room, then sauna, then shower and then an hour aromatherapy massage. It was absolutely amazing despite my extremely sunburned skin. Ah, I can’t even explain it! I’ve only had a massage once before in Cancun (4 years ago) and I fell asleep during it so I don’t feel like it counts.

We went to dinner at Ginger, even though we’ve been there before, but I really wanted to do the hibachi grill at the expense of not trying all the restaurants. (We never went to Tamansari, the Indonesian restaurant).

The H got picked to try and spin this egg and crack it in half. He was also one of two people that was able to catch a shrimp in his mouth. It was quite impressive.

We ate with 8 French Canadians, and I ate both my sushi and the H’s, then shrimp bisque, then this fried rice thing and then the main course of shrimp, beef and vegetables. I thought I was going to explode. I in fact, had to go home and change out of my now immensely tight shirt and lay down at the expense of going to another Casino night. Which really sucked because the H was really looking forward all day to it. I offered that he go with out me which he refused, and when I felt better an hour later to go, but he still wasn’t willing. Probably because his lobster body was hurting him. He fell asleep while we watched Indecent Proposal (btw for one million dollars, I’d sleep with pretty much anyone).

I woke up the H and we went down to see the Las Vegas show. Which I’m glad we did because it was my favorite show to date.

What I have neglected to mention was that during all the shows the women are almost always wearing thong bottoms, which I have to say really enhances the viewing pleasure.

Then things got a little rowdy. I convinced the H since it was the last night we needed to take a tequila shot. Then I made him dance with me to the live Imperial Band. Then he had more rum and cokes and I had more tequila sunrises. We also reunited again with all of the people we were pretending to know: The Captain and his wife, Casino Couple, Nasty Couple, Polish Couple, Russian Couple. Sadly never saw the Faux Asian’s again. (He looks Asian at night, white during the day, its very confusing!)

Our rowdiness turned into deciding to make use of our free champagne this way:

And yes, I’m wearing my winning Sombrero.

Obviously what all drunk people need is room service:

Those buffalo wings were SO SPICY. They essentially made my mouth feel like the rest of my body.

These are how many matches it takes a drunk person to light a cigarette:

And then we fell asleep.

Mexico – Day 6

Morning was greeted with another wild animal by La Marche, I think this one is some sort of anteater/rabbit thing.

Apres breakfast it was off to beaching and pooling again. The H burned himself into the same shade as the lobster’s we ate the night before.

Before dinner, I took a hot bubble bath and then sat on the balcony with my book and tea. Is this the relaxing the H has been talking about?

We went to dinner at La Hacienda, which has been my favorite to date. Who can refuse guacamole (my absolute favorite thing!)! There was also a mariachi band. I ordered the seafood combo that was just so amazing I had to take a picture of it.

After dinner was the fire show, which was ridiculously awesome. I couldn’t get my camera to take that great of a picture of it, but here’s the best I’ve got:

Then it was the Mayan Show, which probably was great, but I was so unbelievably drowsy I kept closing my eyes during the soothing Mayan music. They had people in authentic wartime ritual costume, and it was amazing costumes, but just soooo sleepy!