Bath Boy

Riley has been reveling in baths lately so after one of his hour longs soaks I whipped out my camera and caught some priceless shots of the sneakiness, happiness and plain cuteness in his eyes...

love, love, LOVE!

Spring has Sprung?

How very weird to finally be able to take a walk after months of being stuck running from a warm vehicle to the inside before your nostrils freeze up!  We finally broke free and braved the wet walkways of the Mississippi trails behind our house on Sunday.  It was so refreshing and Riley had a blast holding onto to Deuce's leash from his stroller.  (Don't worry Daddy had ahold of the leash also! : )  We ran into lots of muddy water puddles that the snow has created but we only had to don sweatshirts and mittens!  Riley looked like he was headed into Siberia though since he has had a cough and runny nose the last few days.  Luckily he has been sleeping wonderfully with his seal sound-alike cough.  We enjoyed a very relaxed and sunny weekend shopping for our trip, eating out as a family and finally retiring to an early bedtime on Sunday.  A 'no plans' weekend was just what our minds and bodies needed!  We are really hoping that we come back from Mexico with no more snow on the grounds!

Here's my little cover model soaking up the sun that the living room windows were allowing to pour in this weekend!  So happy, so warm and such great natural light!

 A little Saturday morning monkeying around with my boys...

Here's to our final long week of work before we head out!  

Babies, more babies and busy toddlers.

How many babies can you fit into one weekend...try 6! (3 weeks old, 4 weeks old, 3 months old, 10 months old, 14 months old and my 20 month old).  Phew, now I know why I am so tired today.

Saturday we spent the day with Gramma T and I made a nice chicken dinner with all the fixings for us plus Rach, Sorin and the newly 9 lb Leah.  I had to wake Riley up from his nap to bring Daddy some more business cards at the NSC in Blaine (although you should never wake a sleeping child it was good to hear how busy and excited Daddy was at his home show).  By 6 o'clock Riley was so tired that all he could do was run in circles.  When he is tired he is only able to repeat one syllable which is "da" so we heard "da" for nearly 2 hours straight.  He also digressed about 8 months by having a baby in such close proximity to him.  We heard Da when he wanted Leah's bottle, Da when he picked up her pink Soothie, Da when he was upset to see her in his baby bouncer and Da when she was in her carseat to leave and he waved goodbye to her and wouldn't let her go.

She however was a quiet, peaceful little lady and we thoroughly enjoyed Sorin changing her diaper, feeding her and strapping her in to her carseat. (This was the man who really didn't want anything to do with kids a few years ago : )

Saturday night we took advantage of our overnight sitter and met up with friends for a 30th b-day party in Blaine.  The Dad's proved to be very tired and us ladies drank free until 11:00, enjoyed (rather responsibly) at least 3 Chuck Norris shots and danced our hearts out as we headed onto the dance floor numerous times.  I got puked on when I reached under the stall in the bathroom and asked for TP and we had fun considering the edgy, slinky, tight outfits that walked through the doors sometimes hardly covering the person they were walking in with!  It was a classic night!  

Sunday funday was the gold medal Men's Hockey game...ya betcha.

Riley and I stopped over to enjoy the new babies in the group along with the more mature ones.  Riley is still struggling with sharing and wants to get me involved in his toy hoarding by handing them to me and expecting me to play keep away from the other kids.  After a few outbursts we grew tired of the "refereeing" and went home to greet our hard working husband and Dad who has now worked like 11 days in a row.  He had a very productive day and has now got an appointment packed week.  

Here's my favorite boys enjoying some hugs and snuggles after a long day!

Those big brown eyes melt me every time although I could go sans nuk at this point!

Sandy shore lines and sunsets...

We are dreaming of fun in the sun and all of a sudden it is only 16 days away...


Which reminds us of how lucky we have been to enjoy so many islands, beaches and sunsets in paradise together.


I will try to remember where we have been.
Nassua, Great Stirrup Cay, Roatan, Grand Cayman, Belize, Cozumel, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, San Juan, Miami and Vegas X 2.  


Our first trip together was the winter of 2003 and I paid for it all by myself as a surprise for Derrick.  I was still a baby at 20 years old and remember being somewhat frightened at leaving the state without my parents.  We had to sit through a time share seminar but enjoyed a 3 day cruise and 4 days in Miami with Derrick's cousins Andre and Michelle.  We sang "A1A Beachfront Ave" as we drove along the ocean and in fact on the A1A beachfront ave that Vanilla Ice made so popular.  We laid on the beach, stared at the Atlantis Hotel that has a $20,000 dollar suite per night and we snorkeled (okay just Derrick actually snorkeled, I got super scared couldn't breathe and had to retreat back to the boat after just 5 minutes.)  That was the first year that Derrick caught the travel bug. 


2005 brought us on a December cruise with my family.


2006 found us in Vegas for what was a most memorable trip with friends, Celine Dion and plenty of gambling.


2007 was yet another cruise in January (by ourselves this time)...a sort of make-up honeymoon which was blissful.


2008 we headed back to Vegas (I was pregnant and ate like a piggy, peed like every five minutes and could hardly keep my eyes open for the Cirque show at the beautiful Bellagio.) and we felt Riley kick for the first time on the plane.  


2009 we really felt it in our bones, a sort of groaning for warm weather, sand, and the ocean.  We stayed home though with our 6 month old son and took cover from the weather by snuggling, loving and oogling all winter long.  


2010...in a fast approaching 16 days we will be heading to Playa Del Carmen to stay at the Occidental Resort to enjoy 7 glorious days in the sun.  Nothing more exciting then Ben and Katie getting married on the beach, while I snap pictures and snag a tan.  We can hardly wait to show Riley the beaches, the ocean, the sea turtles and dolphins...that is-God willing we make it through the 5 hour flight at 6:21 a.m. with our 20 month old!  


Here's a few vacay pictures from years past to tide us over until we can once again enjoy the feel of sand between our toes!

This was one of our favorite spots!

Sunset over Miami as we pull out of the port.   breathtakingly stunning!

St Maarten...

Ahhh, I am feeling relaxed already! 

 P.S. I have been snorkeling at least a handful of times since that first fateful trip and I love it!