Cancun overall

 

Dan took us on the best beach vacation to Cancun! The only hang-up was that Alex couldn't go with us. Boo! Our first spring break without him. He is currently planning his 'pity trip'. 

When you go on vacation with the annoying brother. ;)

The beaches were beautiful!

We spent 2 days visiting the shore. Both days Ryan spent a large majority of the time digging pits.

A 2 seater!

Ryan getting buried in the sand in the background.

It was actually pretty difficult to get him out. He twisted his knee on one of his escapes.

We stayed at the Residence Inn by Marriott. Dan got a free upgrade so we stayed in a 2 room suite. The hotel had 2 rooftop pools.

Our first excursion led us to the Aquarium. Dan and the kids went on an AquaTrek, where you wear a helmet and go under water inside an aquarium. There was no warning sign saying 'WATER IS COLD' but the kids with their <15 BMI's were freezing! *see additional post with pics from inside the tank 

Ryan taking selfies instead of pics of his cool parents. :)

Sole fish. Weird.

Our second excursion took us to a Zipline place. We did not purchase these pictures, so we have nothing of our flights. But it was very fun and a beautiful day.

They took us to a cenote, watering hole. I was afraid of cold water, so I did not participate. But Ryan and Dan had a great time.

We were blessed to have an interpreter with us to teach us the Mexican ways! Here we are exploring the panaderia. 

Sibling bonding time.

This was a deep pit!

The gimp ramp ran into an 'under construction' wall.

Xel-Ha nature and water park.

No squirrels here, just iguanas.

Ryan and Macey wanted to do the dolphin excursion. I was nominated to join them. *see additional post with pics

The other excursion that Dan volunteered for was motorized snorkeling.

View from the hotel.

We went to the mall food court for dinner one night. KFC, PIzza Hut and a taco shop. Sopes, yum!

The weather turned on Sunday so our snorkel trip turned into a freezing, rough boat ride to a party island.

On Isla Mujares we went on a golf cart tour.

Ryan picked a coconut for Macey. 

She learned that she does NOT like fresh coconut water. She later learned she does not like unsweetened a.k.a. natural coconut. Live and learn!

There was spiderman decor all over Cancun. Macey joked that they must really love Tom Holland (the girls in our family prefer Tom Holland, the boys Toby Macguire.)

Ryan made it one week without Panda, but thankfully the airport was able to supply this (pricey) need!

Feb start

 

Sometimes I find Sullivan when he has bitten off more than he can chew.

"Mom, can I go roller skating with Carli?" "Who's taking you." "Can you?" Uh, okay. Wow, roller rinks are exactly how I remember them. 

I helped them put their skates on, but went and sat in my car for 2 hours!

"Why are you making us go to the store?" "Because we need food." Turns out she found a love match in the chip aisle so it was a successful trip!

Spork! This is Macey's bearded dragon. But he is a family affair since he is a baby. He needs regular baths and to be fed LIVE insects twice a day!

When I came back from Miami, Lucy decided she would just plop herself right on top of my pillows. I suspect dad was letting her snuggle them while I was gone...

Napping on the footrest? Weird, but OK.

Ice days! We got an inch of ice and an inch of snow (it was in the 70's 2 days before).

A great reason to build my Christmas puzzle.

And to put Lucy in her sweater.

And to make sugar cookies.

And to stack snowballs.

But not to wear shorts to de-ice your car!

Food purchased to encourage Ryna to eat breakfast!

Our RS made this quilt to give to our Stake Pres. He is battling cancer right now. We had ward members write encouraging messages on fabric. This turned out really nice. He was very appreciative of our efforts.

Here is Bella clothed. Now for the next project...

Macey taught her friend to ride a bike last month. Her friend spends a lot of time at our house. I force them outside everyday so they expanded what activities they could do outside!

Dan and Alex are in training mode. Here they both ran a 10K. Alex is training for a marathon in April and Dan is training for the half.

Notice the snow on the ground. This has literally been the weirdest winter for weather. It was gorgeous on Friday, 70's. Sat at 8 am it is snowing. 

It is super bowl time. Lucy decided she might get some snacks if she snuggled up and begged. I'm pretty sure it didn't work, but you do that.

I made cake balls. What I learned: You shouldn't start to make them at 7pm and you should spend more time making them round so that they are cute.

Spork, are you looking for a way out???

Miami South Beach

 

My favorite doctor in the land: Dr Kristina Bennett! We went to Miami for a girls trip to celebrate her amazing accomplishment. She graduated in Dec and passed her boards in early Jan.

Arepas! So delicious. This is a Venezuelan inspired meal. I first had arepas in Aruba.

We stayed at a really nice hotel with a roof top pool. We were just 5 min walk from the beach. The few days we were in Miami we never ventured more than a mile away from the hotel. We ate when we wanted and stayed up as late as we wanted!

It was January so it wasn't a hot beach vacation, but it was in the high 70's. We only got rained on twice. And I did get sunburned so the sun was out enough to keep our spirits up!

2022 random start

 

Dan got me a NYT games subscription for Christmas. We play Spelling Bee together. On this day I made a perfect score by getting all the words from the scrambled set!

Macey got money/gift cards for Christmas to buy a new pet. She decided on a bearded dragon. This is Spork! He is just a baby at 3 months old. 

Spork required moving of furniture and clearing shelves. time to sort out some books!

This is a mug rug! It is a coaster for coffee mugs. I made this for Felicity and Jo made her special mug in her Cricut mug press. 

Macey painted this at YW activity.

I went to see the eye doctor since I was having trouble seeing with my old glasses. He said that because I'm old and needed bi-focals. Sigh. Jo and I went to Warby Parker to pick out some new frames for my old lady eyes.

Reece and I worked super hard on this puppy. 

I rushed to get uniforms fitted for the All-Region band kids one week. We went back to finish up the kids, but so many were sick it was futile. Then so many were sick (including the directors) that the concert was cancelled. And then so many were sick that volunteers were banned from campus. Another concert season affected by Covid! Fingers crossed this is the end of the covid surges!

I'm not sure why Alex is pouting, but it was really fun having him home for the holidays!

Covid hospital surges in Collin County.

Lucy is everyone's favorite toy!