Progreso

I have so many pictures and so many things to say about our trip, that it's hard to narrow it down.  We took a cruise out of Galveston to Mexico and the Western Carribean.  We went out of Galveston because we went to visit Sally (my awesome sister) and her family in San Antonio.   More about that in another post.

Our first stop on the cruise was the port of Progreso.  We only had about 7 hours before we had to be back on the ship.  We spent about half of it at the mayan ruins.  We hired a tour guide to show us around the grounds.  We learned a lot of interesting things there and really enjoyed it.  Then we spent the rest of our time in port at the beach.

The girls had their hair braided by a Mexican woman on the beach

The boys had fun in the ocean.  The snorkleing wasn't very good in Progreso, but they had fun trying.

Dzibilchaltun

This is one of the ancient mayan ruins we visited in the yucatan peninsula. It was about a 30 minute drive from our port in Progreso, Mexico. We took a taxi there and our driver waited while we toured the ruins and then took us back to the beach.

It was so interesting to see the ruins of a civilization that lived there in 500 b.c.

This was part of their marketplace

This is the Temple of the 7 Dolls

(Harold is trying hard to look like a true tourist)

The 2 ladies sitting in front of us thought they were clever pretending to be part of our family

This is the Ceynote, a natural waterhole, on the grounds of the ruins.

There were tons of fish in there, some of which would come up and nibble on your feet when you stepped in the water. (I didn't stay in very long for that reason)

Shout Hoo-Ray

One year older and wiser, too. Happy Birthday *clap* to you.

And so ends another birthday extravaganza.

She really, really, really, really, really

wanted a sleepover this year.

I agreed. (Not sure why.)

She invited 4 friends and 1 sister.

1 throw up (went home), 2 dramas (with crying), 1 movie, ToNs oF JuNk FoOd,

17 episodes of Hannah Montana, lots of giggles and good times, not much sleep.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Who's the sweetest sister of them all?  SALLY!  Check this out.  I saw some mirrors that I thought were cute on another blog that I read sometimes.  I commented on that blog that I liked them.  Sally, who also reads that blog sometimes, noticed my comment.  She went and bought the exact mirrors at Ikea and then modge podged them with cute crafty paper and gave them to me for Christmas.  Didn't she do a great job?

Once a Monkey, Always a Monkey

Remember this post from over a year ago?  Today I put Little Guy in his room for some "Quiet Time", which actually should be called some "Make As Much Noise As You Can Time."  When the all the jumping, shouting, singing, banging noises stopped, I went to check on him.  As all mothers know, it's usually a sign that he's gotten into something.  I found him sleeping peacefully inside his dresser.  Notice the empty top shelf?  Yeah, those clothes have been nicely scattered all around his room.

Nice People Rock

So the day wasn't going so well. My first mistake was trying to take a grumpy 3 year old to the grocery store. He cried through most of the shopping trip because he was collecting the coupons that come zooming out of those little coupon holder thingys in the aisles and when he threw them all on the ground (on purpose), I didn't stop to pick them all up for him and give them back. He thought that was pretty much the end of the world.

Then when I went to put the groceries in the back of the suburban, I forgot that my dear husband had packed four tons of Goodwill Donations back there. (We cleaned out the playroom...hooray for that) So that when I opened the hatch, everything came crashing down, with bags bursting open. I had to chase down little run away toys and random things rolling around the parking lot. Very frustrating.

Then, on the way home, Little Guy was yip yip yapping to me about something or other and he wasn't happy. He likes to argue with me about everything when we are driving. It makes me crazy. I think I've blogged about this recently. He asks a question and then argues with me about the answer. Or he bosses me about how to drive and what to do and where to go and how fast. We were in the middle of one of those "conversations" when we were taking an exit that curves around and then comes to a stop light.

There was a car in front of me and the light had just turned green. I turned around to respond to Little Guy for a split second. In that time the car in front of me, rather than turning right at the green light, decided to stop and I ended up ramming into her back end. It wasn't hard, just a little more than a tap, but it was enough to really freak Little Guy out. I rolled down my window as the lady was getting out of her car. I called to her as she was walking up to my vehicle and told her I was so sorry (I know attorneys tell you not to ever admit fault, but it was obviously my fault and I felt bad.) She came up and took my hand in hers and looked me in the eye and told me it was just fine and to have a nice day. Then she got back in her car and drove away.

And after that, I did have a nice day. Don't nice people rock?

Daily Riddle

What do you get when you leave two of these...

alone upstairs

with one of these accidentally left in the hallway?

.

.

.

(We thought it was a little too quiet upstairs, if you know what I mean)

Oh Christmas Tree

Only 11 more days until Christmas and we finally got our tree strung with lights

Hopefully some day soon we'll get some ornaments on it

Kinda funny, but not really...

This is the door sign I found hanging on our teenage son's bedroom door.  It's a gift he received when his second sister was born and he was 7 years old.  It used to say "No Girls Allowed" but he's obviously changed it to suit his more "mature" personality.  [Lest anyone (especially him!) think we condone this and allow hot girls into his bedroom, the sign has been removed from his door]

Nurse Carolyn

My Mom and Dad are leaving to go back home. Their 5 days off at the temple are over and their duty calls. I'm so sad. I have LOVED having them here and my Mom has been such a big help with the kids, the laundry, the cooking, the dishes, the vacuuming, the driving, and she even cleaned my toilets! Like a good nurse, she made sure I took my pain pills and got enough sleep, and she watched me like a hawk so that I didn't lift or bend.

Thanks so much for your help--I couldn't have done it without you! In fact, I'm not sure how I'm going to do it the next 5 weeks without you. I LOVE YOU.