handsful

Summer is going quickly, it seems.  And, we’re busy…no surprise there.

Last week, Dylan did something he’s been DYING to do.  He went to soccer camp!

He had all the gear.  Shy of one shin guard that…well, didn’t need guarding.  Maybe the other kids should have toe guards?

It was really hot all week, and despite putting sunscreen on him everyday, he’s now sporting a mad tan.

Yes, I’m a little jealous.

I took some shots of his last day…

Her name’s Katie.  And, yes, he’s holding her hand.  He had three blond haired girls surrounding him, taking turns hugging him goodbye at the end.

The coach is the director of our area’s recreational soccer league…he said Dylan was (1) fearless and (2) had incredible balance, even compared to the “two-legged” kids.

We’re signing him up for soccer in the fall.

Last Sunday was Father’s Day, and we were blessed to have Randy’s dad and my dad here with us.  The big kids had their last local Testify choir concert that same day, so they were able to attend with us.  What made it even better is that all the kids were scheduled to do their “parts” that day (all the acting parts and solos are double-casted so they take turns with performing in concerts).

Pictures first, of course.

Father of the Year…

“Hey, jump in and hug”….boys, that’s not what I meant.

I’m pretty sure some heads got clunked here.

The big kids were at rehearsal…

Randy and his dad.  My mom took a picture of me and my dad, but I didn’t get one with my camera.  Ugh!

Soon, it was time to head to the concert.

Payton plays Mason, a highschool junior struggling with his commitment to his faith.

Payton’s about to get tagged…

Abbey is Toni, a “groupie” to the highschool bully.

And, she dances.

Marley sings with her friend Kylie, they each have solo parts in the same song.

Ethan has a solo and…

plays a drum box.  I’m told it’s called a cajone.

Randy gives the invitational message each night…and, did I mention that he also wrote the script for the play?

At the end of the concert, all the dads of the students were invited up to sing along with their theme song “Testify to Love”.

The whole crew, after the concert…see, I was there that day!

As of this morning, Randy and the bigs are on tour in Tennessee for the next 6 days.  It’s just me and the littles, which is weird!  But, we’re taking advantage of our time together to do fun stuff and I’m tackling a few projects that I never seem to get around to.

Here’s to another fun, and busy week!

 

 

 

 

 

It’s been raining here a lot lately.  It finally cleared up today, thankfully….but, we had a few solid days of rain and more rain.

I hope my garden didn’t “drown”.

One afternoon last week, the littles were tired of being cooped up.

They didn’t know I was watching them from the kitchen door.

No thunder and lightning means  playing in the rain is a-ok.

They were soaked through.

Oops.  They see me.

That can only mean one thing.  They’ll turn into hams for the camera.

See, I was right.

Then, Lainey decides to up the ante on the water fun…

They continued this for a while, dumping or throwing water on each other while giggling hysterically.

Chilled to the bone, they were done and in their warm, dry PJ’s.

Playing in the pouring rain?

Why not?

 

Well, not quite.  We were told the rope was 600 ft long.  Randy estimated maybe we were 200+ feet in the air :)

On the boat, ready to go!  I wasn’t nervous at all.

About that…I swear I DO have a fear of heights.  I don’t like being in open, high spaces…like a roof, ledge, mountain.  I mean, the wind could blow me off, right?!  But, (most) roller coasters and zip lines don’t bother me.  I like them.

However, when we went zip-lining a while back, they also had rope bridges to go across.  I was STILL connected by the ropes that would catch me  if I fell, but the possibility of missing a step and falling even for a second was overwhelming.  I hated those bridges!

I’ve realized that, as long as I feel “contained” and I don’t have much of a “free fall” feeling, it’s all good.

Connecting us to the sail…

Letting out the rope…here we go!

We were in awe of all the different colors of the ocean below…and we saw a sea turtle.  Randy kept talking about how high we were.  I told him to shut up.

What a happy, little sail.

This one gives you an idea of how far we were from the boat.  We were over the water most of the time, but in this shot we were turning and ended up right over the coast.

Then, he managed to get us hovering over our resort!  Very cool…

Those 30 minutes were over so quickly, and before we knew it they were reeling us in.

Public displays of affection…

down…

down…

A perfect landing.

Seriously, one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done.  Besides lying beside a pool, reading a book.

If you ever get the chance, you should try parasailing.  It’s the closest I’ll ever get to flying without a plane :)

 

Alternate title:  Longest post ever.

About this time last week, Randy and I were leaving Mexico.  Because Randy is such a gifted salesman and God greatly blessed his efforts, he had earned an all-expenses paid trip to Mexico for 4 nights.  I was incredibly excited, since I’ve never been anywhere even remotely “tropical”.  We settled on the Cancun area, and made our reservations.

Our resort was…amazing.  I want to go back today.  That would work for me.

Since we chose an adults-only resort,  I never once overheard anyone yell “MOM!!”.  Ahhh….  I love my kids!  But, having a break to concentrate on just the two of us was extremely refreshing.  All parents need time away… it makes us better parents when we take care of our marriages first.

Randy tells the kids all the time “Hey, your mom was here first”.  I love that about him.

We arrived on Monday, a few hours before our room was ready.  We toured around, ate a yummy lunch, and played backgammon while we waited.

Here are a few general pics of the place…

Randy in front of our building

Me, over by the pool, and posing with one of the many iquanas that hang out around the resort.  All the resorts in this part of Cancun (well, technically just outside Playa del Carman) are WAY off the road and bordered by thick vegetation.  The animals make themselves at home.  And, the black birds are just as good as roosters…

A shot of the beach

The view from our balcony

And, another from our front door.  See all that expanse of green?

Our room.  The inside couch and desk are directly behind me.  Then, the balcony is behind that…it had a sitting area and a bathtub.  Yes, a bathtub.  The inside tub is on the other side of the curtain behind the bed, and then the bathroom is behind that.

So, I thought a fun way to go through our vacation would be to post 10 things that we observed or learned while in Mexico.  Here we go…

1.  Making souvenirs in the shapes of private parts and, shall we say, couples “embracing” is very popular.  Forgive me for not taking pictures of those…

Weird way to start the list, huh?  Hey, it’s Mexico.

On Tuesday, we joined a group that went shopping in downtown Playa del Carmen.  There is a 25 block street called “5th Avenue” that has tons of stores and restaurants, and only foot traffic.  We were dropped off by our driver and told we had 3 hours to shop.  Heh, that’s WAY too much time, I thought to myself.  Turns out we squeezed every single second out of those three hours.

We made friends with the locals.

Randy sampled many types of tequila…I declined.

And, we watched as other people had their feet exfoliated by tiny, biting fish.

Wednesday morning…

A zoomed shot of the ocean from our balcony.  Can’t get enough of that blue.  Speaking of that…

#2  Yes, the water really is THAT blue.  In fact, it’s even more amazing in person.  So many different shades of gorgeousness.  The sand is nearly white, very fine, and there are ZERO shells.  None at all.

After another wonderful breakfast buffet (not quite the White Swan in Guangzhou, China, but nothing will ever top that), the plan was to meet the dive master for scuba lessons at the pool.  We signed up for those on Monday, and I began fretting about it right away.  I can’t go under water without holding my nose.  Cannot do it.  I hate the feeling of being under water.  What in the WORLD made me think I could try this?!?!  While we were talking to Jose’ Luis, I had some kind of cross between a panic attack and an extreme desire to run away.  I told Randy that, as much as I would like to be able to do this with him, it just wasn’t gonna happen.  Which brings me to another thing I learned…

#3  My fear of being underwater greatly trumps my fear of heights.

I know this is true because, on Tuesday we made arrangements to go parasailing on Thursday.  And, I was crazy excited about that.

So, Randy was on his own with scuba diving.  I planted myself beside the pool and took pictures.  Right along side Lisa, which was Duodi’s wife.  Duodi (doo-waddy, for those who like to be able to pronounce things they read) being the other guy taking scuba lessons.  He’s originally from Paris, but lives in Ireland where his wife is from.  I could have listened to her talk ALL DAY LONG.

Pool lesson done, now it was time for the real deal.  Diving down to the coral reef…

After waving goodbye, I went back to my chair beside the pool…read a book, grabbed lunch at the poolside grill, and had the waiter bring me a coke.  Why can’t everyday be like that?!

#4 Having extremely kind and gracious people wait on you 24/7 isn’t a bad gig…we made the most of it. 

He brought along a waterproof camera and got a few good shots…this one was taken by the dive master.  He looks pretty comfortable to me!

 

He made it back safely, as you can see.  He loved it, but at the same time said it was one of the hardest things he’s ever done.  Both physically (his ears gave him fits with the pressure…he ended up having to go to the doctor once we were home) and mentally.  Forcing yourself to go down a rope, hand by hand, to a point that you can’t even see was very difficult.  But, once he was down there, he  really enjoyed it.  And, he’s already talking about wanting to do it again.

That afternoon, Randy played some volleyball while I sat in a lounge chair and read my book.

Turns out this trip made me realize what an adventurous and EXCITING woman I am.

A not-so-good shot of the pool at night.

Thursday was our last day…sniff.  We packed it full with breakfast room service, and then headed to the lobby to meet our group going to the Mayan ruins in Tulum.  They are amazing, and the view of the ocean is breathtaking, but…

#5  The heat in Tulum in the summertime would make hell seem downright chilly.  It’s true.  Air conditioning is both appreciated and needed in Mexico.  At least for us spoiled Americans.

Randy talking to one of the couples we met.  They were on their honeymoon, just like 99.9% of the rest of the couples.

#6  We played the game “Find the Honeymooners” a lot.  A dead give-away?  The guys who couldn’t stop spinning their rings.  And, the smiles on the girls.  

Entering the ruins…

That’s the foundation of a kitchen of one of the Mayan houses.  And, that’s me walking by, hiding under my hat.

Their main temple.  We weren’t allowed to go up any of the steps, but it was incredible just to be there, stepping on the same grounds that the Mayans did.

At the end of our guided tour, we were given some free time…which included walking down to the small beach area off the cliffs.  The view was amazing…

Randy jumped in (see him with his hands up?), while I watched our things on the tiny beach area.  This brings me to…

#7  Women from other countries can’t afford bathing suits that actually cover their bodies.  Someone should take up a collection…

Our parasailing appt was at 2:15, and we cut it a bit close.  We were dropped back at the hotel with about 30 minutes to drop off things at the room, change clothes, grab a snack, and head to the lobby.  We jumped in the van with another group headed out for various activities.

Swings surrounding outside bars are quite common here…this was our spot to hang out while we waited for the parasailing boat to return from the previous group’s outing.  The boat was FULL, and we were told that each couple gets about 12 minutes in the air.

Somehow, we were the ONLY couple with our group, so they let us have 30 minutes :)

The last group coming in…see the sail with the teeny-tiny white boat it’s attached to?

The rest of the parasailing pics were taken by a photographer on the boat, and since there are quite a few, I’ll post them separately on the next post.  This one is already too long!

After our adventure, we were taken back to the resort and went straight back to the beach to take some pictures.  In fact, any time we had free time during our stay, we were usually at the beach.  I loved swimming in that water, and that’s saying a lot.  Ya’ll know I’m not usually much of a beach girl!

These last couple were taken by a honeymooning couple from Argentina.  They were in the middle of a 3 week trip, their next stop being Miami.  Must be nice…

Our last night…we propped up the camera on the balcony.

On the way to dinner, there was a market set up.  The vendors are die-hard about making a sale…thankfully, Randy can handle them.

#8 Randy and I made a great team…if one of us couldn’t understand what someone said, the other usually could.  Tag team translation!

However, this definitely caught our attention and we were sucked right in…I’ve seen spray paint painters online, and was so excited that there was one at the resort!  He told us he was taught to do this by his grandfather.  The fire helps to speed-dry it.

We brought this one home.

We nabbed someone to take our picture, right outside the main building.  We were heading up to the Italian restaurant again…it was our favorite.

#9 Eating at 5 star restaurants every night, without ever having to consider prices or be handed a bill?  Yeah, we liked that.  

The next morning, we headed out about 10am for the airport.  The nice driver took our picture in front of the main entrance.  I know it looks a little weird, the lens was foggy from the heat!

This will be a vacation that I’ll never forget…it was just perfect.

#10 Spending time alone with my husband is wonderful, magical, and definitely mandatory.  And, if you ever get the chance to visit this area…just do it.