Vacation: Extra Bits and Pieces

I needed to do a post about all of the "other" things that we did on vacation. These are the things that we did in between the activities. As you can see for the picture above, we danced...
the men played backgammon...

grandpa tried to teach the kids how to play backgammon...

Lewis kicked every one's tail in boules, bocce or petanque, depending on what you like to call it...

and a ton of reading was done.

Vacation Part 4: D&B

One of the days that we were in Cali it was my dad's birthday. For his birthday (or was it to keep the kids busy for the day) we took everyone to Dave & Busters. Every time we go to California we end up taking the kids to D&B and they have a great time. As you can see Haley was a big winner! All of the kids won big thanks to the game cards that grandpa got them. They each got $25 to play PLUS Lewis, Cris and Grandpa also bought a couple more cards for extra fun.
After the kids all went to play the grown-ups got dessert and I was able to order my favorite little donuts. Yummy. I did save some to take home for the kids, but I enjoyed the ones that I ate!

Here is the whole group minus me. We also had one taken with me in it but Jason was making a bad face so I left that one out.

Vacation Part 3: Beach

We did actually leave the great pool at the house sometimes to venture out and do something. We took the kids to the beach one day. I LOVE the ocean, but I HATE the sand at the beach. I feel like it never really is all gone. Case in point: we still have some in the car right now. Yuck!
The girls had fun digging in the sand...

as did these guys...

We walked down to the tide pools during low tide. Adam was able to climb some rocks.

These two walked the whole way together and must have had something interesting to talk about...

Here are the rest if the group walking to the tide pools. Even though we did not spend much time at the beach the kids had a great time and I was able to get some cute pictures.

Vacation Part 2: Pool Fun

There has to be 1 naked picture of me at the pool right? Okay, actually you just can't see my suit. So the house we rented in California had a pool. This was the best decision that we ever made. The pool made the vacation. I was able to sit in the sun and relax and the kids were constantly busy and having fun. We spent most of the days just hanging at the house with the kids in the pool and me relaxing on the side.
Lewis even took some time out from playing with the kids to get a little sun. Great picture with the gas tank behind him (it was used to heat the pool).

Abi got some air...

and smelled some feet...

She also enjoyed some Popsicles with the pool guy cleaned the pool. (The kids were thrilled that someone else got to come and clean while they relaxed. I tell you what, that should be the life that we all lead.)

Jason took time to chill in the sun...

Haley looked like this most of the week. She loved those goggles!

Adam got paid to smile at the camera. Best $20 we ever spent! Really he had a ton of fun.

Here he is earning a bit of money with grandpa on his side.

The kids had a great time diving for money and nuts and blots. Whatever keeps them busy right?

Vacation Part 1: Vegas Baby!!

Don't they look happy? We left at 9am on Saturday and got to Vegas by 2pm so we could check in at The Venetian. The girls thought it was beautiful. We got a deal and stayed in a suite. I thought that was amazing.
The tub was so large that Jason decided to take a nap in it.

After the pool we changed and went to eat. We hit up the buffet at The Rio. Do not waste your money, I thought it was terrible. Ever since I went to The Bellagio in May I do not think I will ever be able to eat at any other buffet again. (After a meal Lewis and I have started saying,"That was alright, but it is no Bellagio.") After the eh dinner we went to The M&M Store to get some prizes for the kids. Jason reluctantly let me take this picture.

Haley on the other hand loved having her picture taken with the real live Peanut M&M guy.

After that we went back to the hotel and the kids went to bed. Lewis won us a little money and we were in bed by 11 because we were so tired. We still had a long week of vacation ahead of us...

More Pictures From The Going Away Party

Nice Clay...
Susan, Kendra, and a Creeper in the background...
(Plus look at that HOT Glee jacket!)

Good Friends

At the beginning of June we hosted a going away party for our friends, The Normans. It was a small intimate gathering of about 50 children and 6 adults. Oh! I mean 6 women and 50 children/men. The kids played in the yard on the zip line, trampoline, and swings. The played in the crooked playhouse and ran around getting BBs from under the deck. The men played ping pong and grilled burgers, hot dogs, and brat's. Fun was had by all. The boys (men) fired off some firecrackers under the deck and tried to scare us to death. After that we did fireworks and the kids did sparklers. Before anyone left I suggested (forced) everyone to take a picture so that Natalie and Clay could remember the fun night. Here is the funny picture: We will miss you guys! Have a great adventure!

Poker With The Peeps

Look at Mojito. He jumped into the picture at the last second.

This was in May over Memorial Day weekend.

Holy Cow!

So I guess it has been a while since I have done a proper post. Let me catch you up:

• School FINALLY ended. It feels like the year whizzed by and it was Christmas just yesterday. I am very happy to have summer break.


• I finished my reports and "work" in record time this year. I was finished with everything on the last day of school so that we could head out for vacation. (More on vacation later.)


• All of the kids got good grades and finished school without problem.


• Lewis made his numbers for the fiscal 2010-2011 year at work. Thank goodness, mama needs money to shop!

So there is the last month is a nut shell. I will post more about everything with pictures later this week (they are already done and set to go out, yes sometimes I cheat :) It is easier then sitting down each day for a post).

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far. I know that we are!

Activity Day Craft

Haley made these cute flip flops at Activity Days this evening. They are covered in balloons tied to the straps. She said the girls were even nice and that she had a good time.

Cinderella

Abigail was a mini princess in Cinderella. She had a dress rehearsal and then did two performances on school nights and was extremely tired for a whole week at school. It was a fun experience that I would love to never deal with again, but alas, she loves it and we will be participating in the annual Nutcracker in December. She is signed up to be in the Gingerelle class and she is so excited. She has wanted this roll for about 4 years, and finally she has it. (For those that do not know the Gingerelles are the "Buffoons" who come out from under the man's skirt in the party scene.) Anyway we are doing one more year of ballet, hopefully just one more year...

Two hours in

And we are already bored!

Happy Birthday!!

My birthday was last Wednesday. Lewis woke me up by throwing open the curtains in our room and proclaiming, "It is a beautiful day (It was cloudy and rainy) ... Somewhere else!" Happy Birthday to me, right? I went to work, had cake, got some cute cards and then headed home all ready for a rockin' birthday. Um, no. Lewis had nothing planned so he took me to see Bridesmaids (which was totally funny, and a definite see if you can deal with language) and eat movie food for my dinner. I loved the movie but on the way home I was literally mad and sad all at once. I felt like my birthday had been glazed over and forgotten at home. Sad right? Oh well. I went on with the rest of the week working and thinking that this year was just going to suck.

Well the joke was on me! I got home from school at about 2pm on Friday. Parked the car and walked inside. There was a babysitter. I was shocked and confused. Lewis took my papers and told me that I had 3 minutes to pack. He said pack for warm weather and bring a swimsuit. I was flustered and the kids were laughing because they all knew! Adam had known for a week, and the others had known for 2 days. And they never told! So I packed a couple of outfits and a swimsuit. Lewis took my bag out to the car and I followed. There were 2 people in the car and I thought that the boys were going with us but when I got in the car it was our friends Nat and Clay!!! I was so surprised! Everyone knew where we were going except for me. The kids said goodbye and we drove off, headed south. After lots of driving I figured we were headed to VEGAS!! I love Vegas. It is hot and sunny with lots to do. What a great surprise. We stopped in Mesquite for dinner and then headed into Vegas. We stayed at The Hilton. We got in fairly late so we headed to bed early.

On Saturday Nat and I went outlet shopping while the boys enjoyed, um...well, the local gaming entertainment. We had an interesting cab ride...

After doing a little shopping we went back to the hotel and went out to the pool. At the pool there were some interesting people. Lots of guys that look like this:Yuck! There was way too much hair at that pool. To help cool us off we bought $15 drinks. What? Don't they look classy?
After I was abandoned at the pool (it was too hot for everyone else) for an hour I headed up to the room to get ready for the night. The boys had bought some tickets to a show. I was not allowed to know what show we were going to, another surprise! But I got to pick dinner. So we went to The Belaggio for the buffet. It was delicious. We had a great time waiting to be Raptured and eating sushi and small birds:

These were the best little cones with Nutella and raspberries in them. I had enough for Clay to get a set of nails:

These are our partners in crime for the weekend. I was very happy that Lewis was able to pick out the perfect people for a trip to Vegas. Thanks for coming and making my birthday a great success. (Plus I take a pretty damn good picture, right?)

So we left dinner and headed down the strip. As we walked my left foot started to hurt. I could feel my shoe cutting into my foot so I started to panic and since I was panicking inside I started sweating, which made me panic even more. It was like a vicious cycle: sweat, pain, panic, sweat, pain, panic. We finally got to Montego Bay and I ran straight for the shops to buy a new pair of shoes. As I was trying on a pair of $80 flip flops Lewis saw some band aids. I threw the flops and went for the band aids. (I waste money sometimes, but I would rather pay $4.00 for 4 band aids then $80 for flippy floppies.) Then right next to the band aids there was some deodorant! I grabbed it and made Lewis buy me that too.

Picture me in a casino bandaging up my feet and putting on deodorant. Clay was nice enough to keep my deodorant in his pocket in case I had another episode (I think at this point Clay was done with us, but kept going because we were his ride home). Once I was bandaged up and smelling fresh I was feeling much better. We were walking through the casino and I was totally not paying attention to anything until I saw this large pillar type banner hanging from the ceiling. It was for Glee Live. I suddenly knew! They had brought me to Vegas to see Glee!!!! Oh my wonderful husband who HATES Glee with all his soul, brought us to Vegas to see them LIVE!!!

Needless to say I was so excited and could barely sit in my seat! Look at this hot guy:

Oh yeah! I am talking about the one with the Mohawk! And you people all wonder why I encourage Jason to have a Mohawk. Dare I say that in real life Puck is even more HOT? They all were! It was a great show!

And at the end, in true Vegas fashion, it rained glitter! Oh I love Vegas!!

After the show Nat and I stood in line forever to get jackets. I will have to post that picture later because it is on Nat's camera.

And the best part was that the whole way home we watched Glee Season 2 in the car. Sorry Lewis, you sure are a trooper!

This was definitely the best birthday ever! Thanks to everyone who kept the secret and helped me have a great weekend.

Clay said it best,"You know how it is a gamble when you travel with other couples, and sometimes it works out and sometimes it is terrible. Well Natalie and I got lucky. We just feel bad for the Framptons." No Clay, we got lucky too. Thanks for the memories!

I may have the best husband in the world. He sacrificed his ears and eyes to make me happy.

Let's do it again next year!