Punta Cana - dia uno

We just arrived back home after a long but quick trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for my older brother's wedding.
We had a blast! It was seriously one of the best vacations I have ever had...I think what made it this way is for a few reasons.

1) We had never been there before and I prefer going to new places.
2) Our family and friends were there..I am a 'the more the merrier' kind of girl, so for me this is a big bonus! Plus, Daniel and I still had plenty of time to do our own thing!
3) I like beach/warm weather vacations over the cold/snow, so for me..YEA!! I also prefer vacations where I can relax if I want to and not have to 'see it all' or 'do it all'.
Anyway, I love my 3 babies, but we didn't want to take them with us..so thankfully Daniel's mom and stepdad watched them for us. They had something planned for every second of every day and I knew they were having fun so I really didn't worry about them. It was hard not talking to them but it was so great seeing them Monday morning!!
OK, now onto the good stuff.. {out of the plane we saw some beautiful places}

Our flight left really early Wednesday morning so we ended up staying near the airport with my parents who were on our same flight. We met up in Miami at 9am with Dr. Jay and Tara and JP and Stacie. Mojitos, beer & blood Marys started our morning off during the layover and we ended our final meal in the USA at Nathan's. After arriving in the DR, we quickly got through customs to the beat of drums and singing and got on our bus to the resort. The Hard Rock resort was gigantic! There were trolleys to take you wherever you wanted to go and a 'river' that ran through the middle of it. I think there were 12 pools, a casino and countless restaurants. It was all-inclusive with room service whenever we wanted!

So we arrived in our room (it was awesome with a huge jacuzzi), immediately changed clothes and headed to the soon to be wedded couple's suite to make a plan! We got our koozies (one of our favorite parts of a wedding), made a drink and started dancing immediately! Eventually, we ended up at Los Gallos for dinner, local serenading and more drinks!

Then continued on to the casino for some roulette and craps. I am SO bad at remembering the rules at casinos (no phones, pictures, drinks at the table). I always forget and get in trouble..(you can have drinks at the table, but not on the table). I think we did ok that night, maybe broke even, maybe not. One of my complaints was that the casino was not all inclusive..so as soon as you walk in, if you aren't playing, you pay for drinks. It blew my mind.
From the casino we ended up at the Moon Bar. It was this swanky club/bar/discoteca with big lounge couches and a wall of speakers on the dance floor. So yeah, there was dancing and we did that for a long while.

It was lots of fun! This night there was about 20 people there, previously mentioned people and Jimmy & Patricia, Chuck & Pepper, Miles, Nut, Zach, Barry, J-Hall, Rick & Kelly, Ashley & Garrick, Natalie and Susan.
The Mamajuana made an appearance (the DR's specialty shot concoction - kindof nasty stuff but it's so bad it's good, does that make any sense?) I found this definition from google - Mama Juana is a drink from the Dominican Republic that is concocted by allowing rum, red wine, and honey to soak in a bottle with tree bark and herbs. Reading that out loud to Daniel made us both gag a little bit.

We ended our night in the top building at some restaurant eating a bacon burger. Then D and I headed to our room. Well, apparently on the way there I sprained my ankle (it still hurts today, lovely!) but don't you worry, that didn't stop us from checking out the beach!

I think it was raining but I don't really know, it just looks like it from our pictures.

OK, that concludes Dia Uno in DR! The rest of the dias will have less words and more pics..promise!

day at the museum

While in SA on our visit a few weeks back we used our Groupon at McKenna Children's Museum in New Braunfels. It was wonderful and such a great place for my aged kids! We spent all day there and easily could have stayed a few more hours..I will definitely go back there sometime soon!

Anna and Lisa rode with us there and it was fun seeing the girls get so excited about seeing eachother. The Webbs also joined us for the day..We always love pretending Kendall is our baby.. and HB has lots of cute clothes handed down from Mason! We miss going to lunch and having playdates with them!

While we were there they played trains, doctor, shopped in 'HEB', went camping, saw alligators be fed mice and lots of other fun things.

really, this is the best pic I got of them...there was just too much to look at and play with!

They dressed as bats and 'flew' off the rocks! It was a really cute idea! It made me want to make one of those for a costume for a future Batman!

HB drove the ambulance and loved turning on the lights and siren. He would get so tickled at himself when he heard it go off!

Anna checked out her customers at the HEB store..that would have been my favorite part of the museum hands down back in the day! I always wanted to be a check-out girl and bag groceries! (I know, I was quite the dreamer!)

Snake Farm made an appearance at the museum..lucky us!..and we got to see snakes, iguanas and turtles up close and personal!

The snake handler's daughter was there and walked the python around for all the kids to pet..it was a great way for them to feel comfortable with it!

HB loves to play hide and seek! He finds his hiding spots all over the place! He always has a sweet smile when he is found!

HB found this giant toothbrush in the teeth and health section..gross!

E also did a check of her body fluids/fat levels and we were happy to see she is HEALTHY!!

Emmaline found the face painting area and proceeded to paint everyone's face, both cheeks. It was really cute and I was impressed with her art. They even had a booklet to pick out what you wanted to have painted. Great idea for a party!

G loved playing on this train table..she was quite the engineer with it all!

My Mad Scientist! He sat here for forever and played with the microscope..I loved watching his feet swing back and forth..(it's like a sign of excitement, like when a dog wags his tail!)

G was loving the nursery they had..it was so real and she had to climb into the baby cradle things..she loves to be the baby!

Finally, my boy in the nursery rocker! He is a drooling machine..getting lots of teeth right now, I think he has about 12 poking through.
And to think we never made it outside to the water features and foam pits! Next time when the wind isn't so cold!

randomness in pictures

Why does my baby look like he's a big boy and not a baby? I love those chubby fingers and curly blonde hair..even if he does need a haircut!

Someone is getting way too big for the baby swings! The girls love when I run underneath them and give them a big push!

Tired little girls who pedaled all the way to the bridge! Their cheeks were so red people were asking us later on at the store, "Is it really that hot outside?" I made them pedal all the way back to the car too and let's just say that G was "not lovin' it"!

My little biker babes! G goes so fast then instead of pushing back on her pedal to slow down, she drags her feet on the ground...I see that going poorly for her at some point!

Daddy brought us balloons, flowers and chocolate covered strawberries for Valentine's Day! They were thrilled with the balloons, shredded the flowers in the playroom and I ate all the strawberries! It was a win for all of us!

We made this and some yummy dinner for Daddy to show our love!

And I walked into HB's room the other day and saw my sweeties having a tea party. They love his room the most it seems and have been playing pretty well together lately. So tea for three is how it goes around here!

randomness

I have spent this rainy day packing for our upcoming trip next week. I am really wanting to have this magical tan but with all the rain here I don't see it happening..bummer! My cute dresses would look a lot cuter with a tan bod!
I was packing the girls' clothes and Emmaline picked out a mismatched top and pants. I told her those didn't really go together well.. She replied, "Well, Mom, you won't have to see me wear them when they clash!" It was histerical to me..but she understands the idea of matching clothes! And it was true..I will be on the beach and won't care a bit if she is matching or not!
Georgia is so meticulous with things and loves to fold her clothes (only when she is packing, not on a regular basis)!
We had a lunch date with Daddy at Chick-Fil-A along with the rest of the Valley. It was nice to have another set of hands..Georgia was mad at me because she had lost her privelege of icecream and jammed her straw through her cup. The lemonade went everywhere and Daniel was thrilled he had made it to lunch with us! HA! Then Hayes squeezed his juice box all over the table and onto Daddy's work pants. Then Emmaline HAD to GO NOW!!! YEA for fun days!!
We finally went to the play area and G says pointing, "Hey Mom, they are speaking Spanish. Why are they speaking Spanish?" I'm sure the madre thought that was nice..who knows..but I tried to explain that was our new norm (in other words, of course).
Hayes has had crazy hair lately and I am trying to decide if I should cut it or not. I love when it gets all curly. LOVE.
He is now saying 'NO' while he flails his arms, also 'GO' and 'TUCK' (truck).
Looking forward to a relaxing weekend at home, a visit from Granddad Sam on Saturday and a possible Girls' Night Out thingy.. Then Emmaline has her Kindergarten assessment Monday morning. We hit the road on Tuesday...WHEW..I have got some work to do!

Love is in the air!

This is the best I could do of these crazy kids! I just wish I had 1 picture of them all 3 looking at the camera with their eyes open! Oh well, maybe for Easter!

If one was looking at the ground, one was walking around to a different spot on the tree or yelling "Happy Valentines Day"!

These love bugs are really enjoying each other these days..of course they still get to each other on occasion but you can tell they are loving all the time they have together! I think they are teaming up on me, now that I think about it...

And this Eligible Bachelor is MY Valentine! He is sweet as sugar and slightly attached to his Momma. I love it but am tired by the end of the day from all the dragging around on me he does. I'm just not sure if he is more attached to me or his paci?! Time will tell on that one! Here is a picture from our Valentine Party we hosted today..We met new friends and made crafts, painted and decorated cookies and marshmallows!! There were 3 moms and 6 kids who attended. It was a fun day! The girls told Daddy about their new friends that came over..so I call that a success!!

Hope your day is wonderful and special!! love from us!!

My Funny Valentines

We went to library storytime today! It is something we have been attending since E was little, in all the places we have lived. It is fun and free and passes the time away! Of course, it's educational so that helps! Hayes and Georgie love glue...craft time at the library is a little crazy..between the scissors, crayons and glue (both bottle and sticks) the kids go nuts! Emmaline is the only one who really creates anything, where G glues it all together and then cuts it into tiny pieces. Hayes just runs around in circles with a crayon and glue stick, then I'll catch him ever so often rubbing it on his face! He will color for a few scribbles then slips it in his mouth for a taste, must not be that bad since he does it each time. Georgia is so cute with her books..she picks some out and gets very attached to them. She wants to sleep with them and have us read them, then she wants to read to us. She'll say, "Mom, what happened here?...Oh, yeah..." and continue on 'reading us the story'! My sticky little sweethearts!!

A funny side story..while at the library one of the stories read was about underwear on animals and it was a peek-a-boo book to learn colors...so the librarian announce the title and Emmaline says, "OOOH Mom, it's about underwear...you have on pink ones and I'm wearing purple! EEEEK!" {She gets so excited about things and can't contain herself} So each time the kids were asked to guess the color she would say, "You're wearing pink, I bet it's pink!" or "I love purple best; I hope it's purple!!" She was loud when she said all this. It was great! I am sure my face was pink (like my undies ;))

Rammer Jammer...!!

Roll Tide Roll!!

So it has been a long time coming..I am sure my memory is fuzzy, but I am going to attempt a post on my long weekend in New Orleans when the Alabama Crimson Tide beat those LSU Tigers. Daniel was so sweet to offer to let me go without him and he would 'take one for the team' and keep the kids home. SCORE!! Lucky for him his mom came to rescue him and help out..he even got to head to Bushwoods (our favorite local neighborhood bar) to cheer on the Tide too!
He dropped me off on Saturday afternoon at the airport and told me where to find the coldest beer. I said I wouldn't be drinking anything that early (it was gonna be a looonnnggg night and weekend), but lo and behold I perservered through the airport security and found myself belly-up at his suggested spot.

And he was right, it was ice cold beer!!
It didn't slow down from there, but isn't that what 'vacations' are for?!
I made friends on the connection flight and got some free drinks on the plane and we heard lots of 'Tiger Bait' taunts. It was all fun and games!

I arrived just in the nick of time to miss the Saints football traffic and hop in the car headed straight for Bourbon Street. We had a fun little suite around the corner and a seat at the Bourbon Cowboy! The atmosphere was great as the Saints played and the night was a blast with dancing and lots of good drinks.
We ended the night in a BIG way..Harrah's casino was calling our names so we treked over and took out some cash. My history at this particular casino leaves much to be desired and usually leave me broke so I was skeptimystical (HA, that's what my dad says) but once again I perservered and played roulette and I am happy to report I made some decent cash!

Now compared to Rachel's winnings it was small but I'll take $450 anyday of the week!!
We ended up back at the suite at some awful hour and I may have run into the wall and busted my nose open. There may have been blood. It may have been really sore the next morning but luckily no bruising. But that whole scenario sounds ridiculous..let's pretend it was a dream!
The next morning we had brunch reservations at Antoine's with endless mimosas, shrimp and grits and other N'awlins specialties. We celebrated my mom's birthday with a "Party in a Box" including fun trinkets, cupcakes, and a pretty charm necklace.

{I sewed these bottle holders for the game!}
My Aunt Jennie came up to meet us and we ended up drinking Hurricanes and Vodka tonics at noon on Sunday on Bourbon.

The weather was amazing for January and we spent all day outside enjoying it!

The other bar we frequented was the Beach..(the same bar we got kicked out of when HB was 2 months old). It was fun and they had a crazy DJ that did contests and such. That evening we attended a Bama Peprally at the Rusty Nail and then headed to an event for Bama fans. We thought the big event was where we would meet Mark Ingram and other former players but it was a kid-friendly milk and cookies event..Bummer!
The next day we woke up early, got a good breakfast and ready for the game. Made our way back to the Bourbon Cowboy and the Beach for some pre-game fun! I can't even really remember what we did all afternoon, but the atmosphere was so different that day! It was all of a sudden extremely crowded and the streets were full of rivalries. There were some friendly and not so friendly taunting going on. Yells of Roll Tide and LSU were fighting to be heard over the other. It was lots of fun and the excitement was building throughout the day. Finally it was game time! We were ready to yell "We just beat the hell outta you!" as is customary when the Tide beat an opponent..
We headed to the stadium to 'get' some tickets. My dad and brother have hilarious stories of scalping tickets. Some which involve running down guys through neighborhoods for selling them counterfeit tickets. Either way we always get into games, even ones that are 'sold out', so we knew it would be fine.
Michael and Rachel got tickets first, then me and Dad got some good ones. Wally got one from his neighbor and Larry just walked in behind some VIPs..for free!

We ate some great food inside the game..alligator sausage and jumbalaya. It was one of the best meals we had the whole trip..we even got seconds!
The game was amazing, so exciting and one of the most fun experiences I have ever had! I am so thankful I got to spend it with my dad. I know some people say it was boring, but not if you were a Bama fan! It was great seeing those LSU Tigers walk out so defeated and seeing their players give up.

After the game we headed to Bourbon to celebrate some more, we bought Championship hats and t-shirts and chanted on the balconies!

It was a fun night for sure! We ended up getting our customary cheese fries covered in gravy at the bar next to our hotel. It was yum! That night I only got about 4 hours of sleep as my flight was early..I got to the airport at 8 which I thought was on time, but turns out I missed it..once again I perservered and caught the next one on standby. I made it home in time for Emmaline's birthday party! It was a unforgettable experience that I will never forget!! Ohhh... writing this makes me miss football season...sadness!

Roll Tide Roll!!