Sunflower Visit

This past weekend we made a trip to my hometown and childhood home in Kansas to visit my mom and stepdad. It was a much needed trip. We had a great time and got to see our three wild boy cousins (my brother's kiddos). So here is a quick wrap up in pictures.

Made it to Kansas!

Fished

Fed the fish with Aunt Brandy

Took naps in the wagon

Caught some tiny fish

Chased frogs

Still fishing...(my Patrick has immense patience and sat out there waiting for fish to bite for hours)

Took our animals for a tractor ride

Wore mommy's 1980's era dance legwarmers--so sparkly!

Played dress up in mommy's prom dress and one of mommy's old dance costumes.
Wore mommy's old cheerleading jacket

What a fun weekend! I have some funny pics of my nephews dressed up in sequined party dresses, but I'll save them the embarrassment of a public viewing. Let's just say they were cute!

Also, when I got home my rockin' husband had remodeled our bathroom!! Not even joking. It looks great!!! He's so awesome and did it exactly like I described to him.

Have a great Monday!

Snakey Snacks

If you are ever on a road trip.

And you're just bored out of your mind.

And your mom and dad won't stop so you can get snacks.

Try eating a snake.

It'll help pass the time.

And take the edge off your hunger.

Skywatch Friday--Day on the Beach

I promise, this is the last beach sky pic I'm doing for Skywatch Friday.

This is during the day--a thunderstorm off in the distance. The cool thing that is not captured in this photo, is that this storm produced a water spout about 15-20 minutes later. I wasn't moving towards us, so all we did is watch and continue to work on our tans (which have since faded).

Skywatch Friday on a Monday

I'm a couple days late...but here's another Skywatch Friday...um, Monday...photo for you.

This is similar to the other except on this evening there were no clouds and we got to watch the sun descend into the ocean. It was beautiful. And I love the silhouette of the little boy fishing at the ocean's edge.

Oh, how I miss the beach.

Skywatch Friday--Cape San Blas

I've been admiring Yogi's Skywatch photos for awhile, but I've never been inspired to do a Skywatch Friday until today. I have a couple nice sunsets from our vacation, so today you get #1. Hopefully it will help you drift off to sleep, or rather, start your day off relaxed.

See more at Skywatch and Yogi.

Beach-o-sauraus

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know that dinosaurs have invaded our lives. They are everywhere...dollhouses, backyards, beds, bathtubs. You never know when an allosaurus is going to pop up and get ya!

Well, guess who showed up on the beach...

The tiger tried to attack them to get them to go away. But it didn't work.
These were sandosauruses...they weren't going anywhere.
So we just embraced them and welcomed them to our vacation.

Crab Arms

Today you get a vacation video! This is Josie after she caught a "crab arm."

"It's gonna snap us!"

(Sorry it's poor quality and starts out sideways...)

The Real Reason I've Been MIA

Ok, so you know I've been MIA. But, really, what's going on?

Here...let me give you a hint.

Trust me, there will be many more days of this type of photo for your enjoyment (or annoyance).

Also, on a quick side note...I had pretty much decided to quit blogging this weekend, multiple reasons. But then sweet Dawn, told me I've been missed. Me...missed. Someone noticed (or were you just being nice, Dawn?). Anyway, I'll keep this going for a little while longer and really think about whether I want to stay in the blog world. But you've got me for at least another week or two or three.

Our Trip to the U.S. Open/Monterey

As I said in my last post, WM and I recently went to California to go to the U.S. Open (won by an Irishman, thankyouverymuch!) and I told you I'd do a post on it. So to keep you from being bored to tears, I'll just give you a few pics from our trip. First off, please note there are no photos from Pebble Beach, that's because cell phones and cameras aren't allowed on the golf course during the tournament, so I can't show the the breathtaking views from Pebble or how close I got to A LOT of the golfers--including (barf) Tiger Woods--whom I wanted to flick his ear as he walked by and mumble "jerk" under my breath, but I used my manners and smiled and did a polite nod. WM and I found a great spot to stand and were about 1' from the players as they made their way to the #3 tee box. Seriously, we were close enough I could have given each one a swat on the bottom as they passed by. But I didn't.

Anyway, Pebble was beautiful...here's a stock photo of #7...

The view from our hotel room of Monterey Bay (we stayed in Monterey).
Sunset at Carmel-by-the-Sea. Beautiful (my photo doesn't give it justice).
Half Moon Bay.
Lighthouse at Half Moon Bay.
Jeff Clark's Surf Shop (if you don't know who Jeff Clark is, Google him, I won't explain here).
Mavericks (a famous surf spot--dang it, that would be coooooold water to surf in).
These cool dinosaur sculptures we saw along the roadside.
WM fighting a spinosaurus. My Patrick flipped his lid when he saw this pic (remember, he's a preschool paleontologist).
Entrance to Stanford University. Beautiful, go there if you're in Palo Alto, Ca.
I don't know. This was on my camera when I downloaded the photos from our trip. She's wack!
We had a wonderful time. My only complain was that it was really quite chilly out there. The warmest it got was our first day there...a whopping 65°, most of the time it was in the mid to upper 50's. It was beautiful though. If you haven't been to the Monterey Bay area, you should go (though I hear the best weather is in Sept/Oct).

What Would You Rather Do? Wednesday-Ocean View

This is going to be super quick...as you know we (that being WM and I) just got back from a long weekend away. (It was great...a post is coming soon on it). But for now I've got piles of laundry to continue doing, a house that needs my attention, a book to finish before my book club get together and three kids to take to the pool for a couple hours. So, here's a quickie one for ya....

What Would You Rather Do?

Visit the west coast (Pacific ocean)

or

Visit the east coast (Atlantic ocean).

Those are your only two choices, don't tell me you'd rather go to Fiji or Bora Bora or Thailand--that's not what I asked. You have two choices...the Pacific coast of the U.S. or the Atlantic coast of the U.S.

Let's hear it!

What Would You Rather Do? Wednesday-Florida or No?

Today, instead of doing a What Would You Rather Do Wednesday, I'm just doing a What Would You Do...or basically...what are your thoughts. Please, I really need some advice on this. Here it is, let me give you a little background...

We are planning a trip to Florida (Destin/Seaside) this summer. But, unless you live in the crawl space of a 1930's home, you've heard of a little thing called the BP Oil Spill out in the gulf. The mess is showing up on the shores and marshes. I'm not super thrilled about playing in a slimy ocean...if it is. So my question today is...

Would you go to the Gulf Coast of Florida for vacation or do you think the ocean will just be gross.

Yogi--I really want your opinion on this...I kind of have the feeling you might know a little about it!

Thanks, friends!

Adventures in Mexican Relaxation

I've been meaning to do a post on our recent (3 weeks ago) trip to Mexico. But I just can't organize my thoughts to tell all about it. So here's a very abbreviated version.

Went for 5 days to Maya Riveria, about 20 minutes south of Playa del Carmen. Great resort-I'd recommend it and if you go there--take advantage of the spa services. WM golfed in Playa one day and said it was great, too. It's called Adventura Spa Palace. We went to Cozumel back in February and I wasn't real impressed with it, but I really liked this place and it gave me a different attitude towards vacationing to Mexico (even though I still prefer Polynesian destinations).

Here you go:

Our room with a (sort of) view. That jungly looking area below had a sweat-lodge in the midst of it.

The big pool.

The littler pool (this makes it look really tiny...it wrapped around that fountain and expanded on the back side).

The indoor pool.

Where we laid out most of the time.

The back patio.

Pretty flowers everywhere in many colors.

Pretty floral arrangement that was delivered to our room the night before we left.

Weird looking berry/nut things on trees (anyone know what those are?).

Wildlife. These were everywhere in all sizes. This one was probably in the mid-size range. We saw little bitty ones and WM had to wait for a pretty big one to get off the 18th tee box while golfing.

WM feeding El Gato.

The view over to Cozumel (you can barely see the cruise ships docked over there).

And if you're feeling a little flabby from all the food, fun and drinks...you can always run into Playa del Carmen and work it off at a Pole Dancing class.

Gracias--buenas dias!