Back to Reality!

We're BAAAaack!

14 days of relaxation, fun, sun, friends & family... it was a great trip.

The surpises went off without a hitch! The kids were THRILLED of course, and very appreciative, which was nice!

I had to buy a new camera the day before we left because I noticed that the "hinge" holding our battery into our camera was kind of dangling... so we had to make a quick decision on a camera we were hoping to wait to buy for another 6 months. I didn't like making an important decision like that with no time to really research, but I think we're happy with what we got (Olympus something I can't remember right now) and I bought it from Costco so that we could return it without any hassle, just incase. I still haven't loaded up the software for it, so for now, here are just 2 pics from the Kelowna airport... taken on our old camera while we used the video on the new one.

Our first leg in LA was great, although the weather was cool. California Adventure and Disneyland were the first 2 days... the guys broke their record on the California Screamer rollercoaster and rode it 17 times! We stayed at the Park vue Inn, which is right across the street from the main entrance (a lot of hotels tell you they are "across the street" from Disney, but this was LITERALLY right there.)

Then we did Knottsberry Farm, which the kids LOVED... they have become real rollercoaster freaks. I am good for about half a day with some Dramamine in me, and then my brain starts to hurt. I enjoyed playing with my camera and trying to get good rollercoaster shots... quite a challenge, but fun!

Saturday we headed back to LAX to "go home"... when I got the kids to look at the itinerary with me we read leaving LAX at 8:30, arriving in Cancun at 4:00... I said, "cancun... where's Cancun??" and Adam got these big eyes and said, "I think it's in MExico!!!!" So there was surprise #2, which they were pretty pumped about.

When we arrived in Cancun and made the 1 hour drive to "Puerto Aventuras" to find our Condo and cousins (still a surprise to the boys) we could not find the place and had a huge fiasco because I didn't have anything written down. I knew the name of the resort and the unit number, but when we got there we looked through the window beside the front door, there was clearly the wrong family inside! I did not know what we were going to do becasue we had no phone number, no information, no nothing. We decided to find an internet cafe to look up the condo info again on the rental website and see if i had the totally wrong info in my head. Thankfully, as I was looking for the cafe, I happen to see Joel's twin brother and the rest of the crew eating dinner at a restaurant! WHEW!! (It ended up we did have the right unit, but the window right beside the door belongs to the unit next door.)
So, I walked back to the car and said, "You know what, let's just eat here and then we'll figure it all out afterwards"... so they had a delightful reunion with their cousins and the 12 of us had a great week together! The weather was gorgeous, we did one outing to XCARET, which was really fun, and the rest of the time we hung out, they guys did a ton of snorkeling, and we enjoyed many a blender drink! The condo was huge and perfect for us to share. We were also there with another of Joel's cousins and his family, who we're also good friends with and their little guy. They found out the day before they left that they are expecting a surprise second child, so they spent most of the week sitting on the beach with a stunned look on their faces. (You know, gave up on having a second kid, got rid of all their stuff, moved on with their lives, and now are getting used to this new turn in the road!)

On our way back from Mexico we had 2 more days in LA... the guys went to 6 Flags for a day while I shopped and relaxed on my own and then we did Universal Studios on Monday and had a great time. We ended our trip with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe on monday and after an early start to the day, we were home by 3pm yesterday. Now we have Bella in tow (Cheryl's sweet dog) so the kids are delightfully preoccupied with Bella-sitting for the rest of the week.

Unfortunately, I had to pick Brodie up from school at 11am... he's got a bad headache and sick to his stomach. Apparently he told his teacher it was "from all that recycled air on the plane". They also have a pro-day on Friday, so if he's sick tomorrow he'll have missed 3 weeks of school. I guess you can still get away with that in grade 3!

Looking forward to catching up with you all...
I see I've been tagged to do a "6 weird things about you"... I'll get to it soon... first need to narrow the list down to 6... it's a looooonnnnggggg list. It would be funny to get your spouse to do that list for you!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL MY FRIENDS!
LOVE,
dawn