Mexico PHOTO DUMP!....Part Dos

Better late than never!  Here are some more pictures from our Mexico trip with our lovely friends.

On the beach near our house

Nate, posing for GQ

Mia and Mommy watching the waves

Monkey Mia swinging in our arms

Family pic, awwww

She knows she is cute...that might be a problem in the future :)

Yet again, she knows she's cute and uses it as much as she can

Mia/Daddy time

Awwww!

These weird ass rodent things were everywhere.  We all spent some time trying to figure out what they were and I don't think we ever found out.  Regardless, they are ugly, have no tails and don't seem to have a purpose...very similar to squirrels in MN :)

I swear, I should have stolen one of the wooden tiger statue things. Mia played with these everyday and made a "rrrawwwwrrrr" sound for the tigers.  She would feed them, make sure they had water and taunt Annie with the tigers each day.

So cute!

Jack asses ruined our photo

What good looking neighbors.  We should allow Edina Realty to use this pic to help them sell houses on our street. :)

Try outs for the circus

Oh, nothing special...just our Mexican villa for the week...no big deal :)

Love her!

Oh Mia, I love you so much!

Lovin me some kisses

High five for the hottest family on the beach!

This trip was so wonderful and a great get away for a while.  Thank you Erin and Ben for inviting s on this trip, we had a blast!  Nate and I have always placed a lot of value on traveling and we have done a great job of making it a point to travel almost every year...I hope we can continue to do this as long as we are able.  We have so much to be thankful for...

Just Sayin'

We survived our first B&B

I have always been cautious of B&B's.  Why on earth would you want to get away on a seemingly romantic trip just to be forced to share a bathroom or even eat breakfast next to people in their 60's?  Yeah, yeah, I know that it is not at all what B&B's are like...but that had always been my assumption.  Even WORSE....I have some close friends that cashed in on a one night stay at a B&B following their wedding.  Nice, right?  NOPE.  They had an option of renting a room with a CAT.  They are (were) cat lovers and reviewed several options of cats they could choose from and settled on one who was said to be friendly and liked to cuddle.  Said cat turned out to get into garbage, eat some nasty shit and ended up puking all over their room.  FUN!  They contemplated leaving and driving an hour to get home in the middle of the night but I think they settled on swooshing the cat into the hallway and getting the hell outta there as soon as the sun came up.  Needless to say, I have been weary of B&B's.

Alas, we found a B&B we absolutely loved and would recommend to anyone as it was recommended to us.  This past weekend, Nate and I decided to dump Mia for the day and night and head into Osceola, WI to stay at http://www.stcroixriverinn.com/.  It was lovely.  We stayed in the Osceola room which featured an amazing view of the river, lush bathrobes, an en suite fireplace and massive hydromassage tub with bath salts.  Moreover, there was a complementary glass of wine and snacks at 5:30pm which I could not pass up since it was "free".  Beverages and scones were severed to your private room 30 min before breakfast and then breakfast was served, also in your own room.  We DID meet one couple, but they were young and acceptable to talk to :)  They were from the cities and have traveled a lot so we certainly had lots to talk about.  Here are a couple phone pics we captured:

Here is the glorious tub

Here is the glorious bed...post "turn down service"

The main goal of this one day getaway was for Nate and I to simply relax and enjoy time together as a couple without Mia.  Don't get us wrong, we absolutely are in love with Mia...but we hadn't had a date night/overnight in a while where it was just us.  We started the journey driving to Osceola listening to NPR "Wait wait don't tell me" program.  I never realized how little I knew about current events other than what is streaming on the yahoo page or referenced during commercial breaks.  We then decided to stop at an absolutely cute little coffee shop in town and started reading the book The Five Languages of Love. Don't laugh, it's a good book so far :)  I actually recommend this book and some of it's concepts to many of my clients and although "self help books" should be taken with a grain a salt, there are some valuable tools to consider.  If nothing else, taking time to read a book together can absolutely spark some interesting conversations and allow an opportunity to just connect and enjoy our limited time together.  Without reading the whole book just yet, we believe Nate's primary language of love to be through Words of Affirmation.  With that: Nate, thank you so much for the wonderful get away and for taking care of the reservations, along with the babysitter for Mia. I appreciate all you do for our family and am so proud of the man you have become.

Ewww...enough with that sappiness :)  

Just Sayin'  

Mexico PHOTO DUMP!....Part Uno

First off, I want to offer my apologies for not blogging lately.  I have been SUPER busy at work and find myself preferring to spend time eating, sleeping, watching tv, hanging with friends or being an awesome mom...as opposed to writing a blog.  Sorry!  To make up for it...here is a "photo dump" of the first few days we spent in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico with our friends and their 1 year old.  Also, when you require more information about our trip this past month, please refer to our friend's blog for hugely detailed and comprehensive posts regarding our trip :)

Mia in her chair and the living room in the background

Our own private pool just one "back yard" away from the beach access.  I would say 70% of our vacation was spent near this pool and on our "porch"

Walking to the beach from our house...only photo we could get with Mia wearing her sun glasses as opposed to chewing on them or throwing them in the sand

Mia and I walking along the beach our first day in Mexico.  Notice the LACK of vendors and people...yeah, you're jealous :)

After putting sand all over her body, in her hair, on her face and up her diaper, she then decides to try and eat it too.

Needed to take a shower to at least ATTEMPT to get the sand off of Mia. 

When Mia has wet hair, I have a habit of either making it into a big Mohawk or doing something similar to this picture...which makes her look very similar to Nick Nolte's mug shot:

Running toward the waves...which did not last long before she got a bit scared

Annie: "Ha!!! I got her snack up!!!"

Mia: "Don't care...I got your water"

Awesome brunch spot which was perfect for kids and families: open early, great food, lots to look at (turtles, fish, colors, masks, etc.)

Nick Nolte and Annie laughing about their devilish plans

Learning how to give fish kisses...she did this ALL day and we have rarely seen it since

snuggling with me during a cool down session in the shade

still practicing...

Um, FAVORITE outfit with her cute little sun hat should only wore on HER terms...what a cutie

Yeah, still favorite pic of Mia and I

Snuggling it up with daddy, ahhhh.

Too funny! I think this is when she noticed my drink was empty and there was nothing in it for her :)

pretending to go night night

"Oh dad, you are so silly!"

Peek-a-boo!

One of the only pictures taken on our "date night"...we got severely rained on and Nate ended up covering his camera in two layers of plastic "to go" bags from the restaurant.



I have been thinking lately (again) about how fortunate Nate and I are to have such a wonderful life, daughter, friends and family members.  I had a client come in recently, and after celebrating her 15th wedding anniversary, was told by her husband that he no longer loves her and is in a "deep friendship" with someone else.  Moreover, it sounds as if he tends to always find fault and the bad out of everything in life.  When we are feeling stuck, overwhelmed, vulnerable, fearful, depressed or angry it is so easy for us to find things that "prove us right" about our current shit.   It is easy to get caught up in job stress, worries, doubts and complaints but I have so much to be thankful for and happy about.  Mexico was absolutely a relaxing trip and I hope to share more photos with you in the near future.  Stay tuned...

Just sayin'