Costa Rica Part 2

One of the things I was really excited about doing in CR was ziplining.  I have heard how fun it was and I wanted to be brave and do it.  Jeff didn't think I would do it so that made me even more determined.  We found a place called The Monkey Zipline where you can glide through the rainforest like the monkeys do.  It was really pretty even though it was a dry rainforest (which I didn't realize even existed).  And it was not humid--which I totally appreciated.  We rode a little bus to the top of the "mountain".  J said it wasn't high enough to be a real mountain but me being from below sea level--it was high enough!!

 This was us on the first platform.  I was terrified and couldn't stop shaking, but I never let on that I was sure I was going to die.  I just kept going.  I was proud of myself for even attempting this and it was actually pretty fun except that I was focused on not dying the whole time!

 I have to admit I was really bad a ziplining.  Evidently I didn't trust the line and kept holding on too tight.  This would make me slow down and get stuck.  I knew what I was doing wrong, but I certainly couldn't convince my body to what it was suppose to.  My "survival instincts" kept getting in my way!  The one time I really tried to just let go and zip, I didn't stop in time and crashed into a tree.  And I took my guide with me.  It was great fun!

Jeff took to it much better.  He had  a lot of fun.  He even braved the Tarzan swing at the end.  I passed on that, not bc of the swing but bc of the rickety ladder you had to climb to get to it.  Nope, once I got back on solid ground I was good to stay there.  But I proved to myself that I could do it and now I can mark that off my bucket list!

Costa Rica Part 1

Jeff and I got to go on an awesome vacation in January.  He took a week off of work and my parents stayed with the boyz while we headed down to Costa Rica.  It took us months to decide where to go and when to go and what to do.  We finally settled on Guancaste, CR because of the resort (Marriot pts), the beach (all Jeff) and the quick travel time (3 hr direct flight).  There was a lot of stuff there to do and see but more than anything I enjoyed the time with Jeff without the hassle of travelling with kids.  I love my kids but it limits what you can do. 
Anyway, we had an amazing time.  It was the first real getaway we'd had together in YEARS.  We are already trying to decide what to do next year (for our 10 yr anniversary).  Anyone want to watch our kids????

 This is the beach outside of our hotel.  It was a beautiful resort but the shoreline was a little rocky.  Fortunately we discovered that just around the corner from where we were was a much nicer beach with great waves and no rocks.  It was about a 10 minute walk and well worth it.

 You can't really see it in the picture but this is a man surfing with his dog.  Jeff was fascinated by this.  The guy would paddle out with the puppy on board and then ride the waves back.  It was pretty fun to watch and the dog seemed to enjoy himself too.

 One night while we were there we went sea turtle hunting.  Not to kill them but to watch them lay eggs.  There is a nature preserve for the endangered leatherback turtles and you can wait there at night and see them come up to nest.  It was a really long night bc we had to ride a boat then walk about 2 miles and sit and wait in the dark until the watchers spotted a turtle.  Next we had to run down the beach to the turtle (about 1.5 away) and then we could see her come up, dig her nest out, lay her eggs and then return to the ocean.  It was super neat to watch and learn about although I did feel like I was invading the poor momma turtle's privacy a little.  But she didn't even seem to know we were there.  Well we couldn't take pictures of the turtles, but we did get some pictures of the howler monkeys up in the trees.  They were everywhere.  These happened to be hanging out right over our car!

 My husband was in HEAVEN with the waves and his boggie board.  He could have spent his whole vacation swimming out and riding the waves back.  I'm glad he had fun.  The water was much too cold for my taste though so I stuck with reading my book on the beach or soaking in the hot tub at the hotel.  It was January even if it was the tropics!

This is me with my kindle watching Jeff in the water.  We found this fun little outdoor restaurant on the beach and hung out there one afternoon.  It was a fun Italian place named after their pot bellied pig who used to play on the beach.  We were disappointed to find out the pig "Lola" died a few years ago so we wouldn't get to meet her.

December in LA

Spending Christmas Break in LA gave us the chance to do a lot of fun stuff. Here are just a few things we did.

 We built gingerbread houses with our cousins.  It drove Zach crazy that he couldn't eat his win he was done!

 We roasted marshmallows in the backyard with Daddy's help.  Actually Jeff was the only adult out there I think.  Well, thanks Jeff!  The kids loved it!!

 We visited Mike the Tiger at LSU!  We love Mike the Tiger!

 This picture is just proof that I was there.

 We danced.

And we sang in trees.  What a fun trip!

Christmas 2011

We had Christmas in LA this year. It was the first time since we've had kids that I've been able to come home for the holidays. We had a great time. It was a lot of prep work and Santa ended up having to leave some of the boys's gifts back at our house, but it was well worth the effort. Christmas is always fun with little ones, but I think it is even more fun with little ones AND their grandparents!

Snow Day in Louisiana

We went to LA for Christmas this year. Before we left, Zach asked Grandma if he could play in the snow. He was sad when he learned it didn't snow at Grandma's house, even at Christmas. Well GMA Mouse couldn't have Zakky be sad so she and Paw Paw moved heaven and earth to make his Christmas wish come true. Enter THE SNOW MACHINE!! They had snow delivered to their front yard for all the grandkids to play in. Fun was had by all.  So I wonder what Zach will ask for this year??

Joe DID NOT like the snow.  We only made him sit here long enough to take the picture.

Preschool 2011-2012

We had a wonderful year of preschool this year. I worked with several other moms and formed a preschool coop. We each took turns teaching our little ones and I really enjoyed it. Here are some pictures from some of the lessons I got to teach this year.  This first pic is Zach on the 1st day of school.  He looks very mischievious to me and that proved to be true throughout the year!  He's a sweetheart, but he certainly keeps things interesting!!

 Here is one of Zach's classmates.  We were learning about being unique (letter U) so I had them each make pancake faces with fruit, chocolate chips, yogurt and whipped cream.  We also made booklets about ourselves and learned how we are all different but that's what makes us special.

 Since I was suppose to teach the letter Y the same week as Max's class was having Western Week, I opted to have a Yeehaw Party.  We dressed like cowboys and cowgirls, roped cows, rode ponies, and yelled YEEHAW about a thousand times.  It was so much fun!

 For our community helpers unit, I got to do firefighters.  We made fire hats, rode fire trucks, and put out fires with our homemade 10 foot long firehose (toliet paper rolls and duct tape!).  So cute!!

Summer 2011 Visitors

                          We had lots of visitors this summer. Along with Anita and Britny at the beginning of summer, we had Nana, Grandma Mouse, Paw Paw, Kayla, Nick, Uncle Sam, and Uncle Bill. We love having friends and family who are willing to brave the Houston heat to spend time with us. We went to Galveston with Nick and Kayla and had a blast, then a few weeks later we took Sam and Bill to see an Astros game. It's hard not to have family close by so we get super excited when we can see them!