MEXICO!!

Crazy last few weeks. Josh ended up having an ear infection because the tube got plugged :( but definitely was on the mend by Friday. Just in time for G'ma and G'pa to come and stay for the week. They arrived late Friday night and were bombarded by a 3-ring binder of information including but not limited to Emergency numbers to Dr's, Pharmacy, friends, where we were staying, and directions to just about every place in our area (google instructions plus map). Seriously, how did our parents ever get buy without the internet! ha ha!

We woke up early Saturday morning to have breakfast and get on the road. Jim and I were driving to my sisters place in MN... her inlaws were going to drop us off at the airport. The drive to MN was ridiculously quiet... Jim and I jokingly recited a few of Josh's favorite movies that we have memorized from our long drives.

We met my parents and two brothers at the airport and started the vacation right away with a round of drinks. We arrived in Cancun, got through customs, and in the van to the Moon Palace. Dinner, drinks, and the disco tech completed our first night in Cancun. The next few days we relaxed near the pool with lots of fruity drinks, played water v-ball, some tennis, and did I mention relax?

Tuesday we went to the zipline park... and I chickened out along with my mom. My dad had an ear infection which disqualified him from ziplinging as it is spelled out in the waiver.... ha ha. So my brothers, Steve, and Jimbo all went bravely. I was bummed I didn't do it after I saw them do the first zipline. Ah well, maybe next time. The boys went golfing on Wednesday while us gals went to the spa for a massage. It was of course fantastic. Thursday we went to Wet'n'Wild and had a lot of fun on the "toilet bowl". That isn't what it is really called, but that is what we thought of it. The ride back was hysterical, full of entertainment by beetlejuice, the mask, zoro, superman, captain jack sparrow. Who knew they were all in Cancun and on the ferry boat with us. It was very comical... that is forsure!

The brazillian steak house was also a good laugh... the meat was hit or miss. My mom, sister, Dad, and bro Jack sat on one side, which allowed them to see our reactions to the food before they were served... let's just say that my mom didn't eat much after the appetizers were served. The frozen beef roast and the sausage (meow/woof)... the highlights.

We returned home Sunday morning really really early (12:30am) and Jim and I spent the night at Shannon/Steves. We got up early, made a stop at Joe's new house which is so so nice, and then got back on the road to WI. We couldn't wait to see Josh. And he was very excited to see us.

Josh's week was quite eventful with a trip to the doctor first thing Monday for pink eye! Then lots of playtime with g'ma and g'pa. He loves cheeseburgers apparently now! :)

A great time for all of us! Now back to reality!

Cancun Pictures

Jack - State Hockey Tournament

This week was full of excitement. On Wednesday Josh woke up with a low grade fever around 5am. I gave him tylenol and we let him sleep in until 8:00 am. He woke up smiling and laughing so I figured it was nothing. By noon I had a phone call from daycare saying he was having a rough day. By dinner time, it was a full blown fever of 103.5F.

Thursday, I stayed home with him and we cuddled on the couch and caught a few zzz's. At 11am, we tuned into my little bro Jack's first State tournament game on the internet. He was playing at the Excel Energy center. It was AWESOME to be able to watch it on the internet since we couldn't be there in person. The broadcast was like an NHL hockey game. He played very very well, but in the end his team, Hill Murray, lost. Josh and I had a great time listening and cheering them on. Although it didn't matter to Josh which team scored, he was so excited to yell GOAL as loud as he could. Fever and all.

That was definitely the most fun we had all day. And back to being miserable... his temp was around 103.5-103.9F for the rest of the week. The nurses oncall must have been so sick of me calling... because I was paranoid about his fever (seizure he had last year from a high spike in temp). But we hung in there. Over the weekend the fever broke but his nose was running, he was sneezing, and coughing. The poor little man. We laughed pretty hard though when he sneezed because it was like a rocket... ha ha! Thank goodness for small tissue packs.

Jack's team played at Mariucci Arena for the rest of the State tourney and finished well. We were able to watch the game ticker online and enjoyed all the phone calls from family attending the game giving us the updates. Gotta love MN hockey!

Only 1 more week till Mexico!!!

AWESOME MI visits AWESOME WI

This weekend we had Abby, Aaron, Izzy, and Charlotte come visit for the weekend. It was AWESOME!!! They arrived Thursday evening and so Friday they watched Josh while we went to work. When we got home we learned of a new game called, "AWESOME". Aaron stood near the couch in the family room while Josh and Izzy took turns waiting at the garbage can in the kitchen... they would hold one hand on the side of the garbage can until the count of 3 and then scream "Go" and run as fast as they could to the family room... at the step they would leap into Aaron's arms and he would spin them around yelling "Awesome" and then ultimately throw them onto the couch. It was hilarious how excited they were to show us this AWESOME new game. Friday night we listened to Jacks game via the internet. It was like listening to an NHL hockey game. It was another great win!!! They are officially in the State tournament!!

Saturday we played most of the day at home and then we went to the YMCA for Family Fun night. It was, AWESOME!. We found out that Josh is a complete daredevil. He doesn't require us to be there to catch him anymore in the ball pit... he just jumps. And we took him on the trampoline that ends near the ball pit and he gladly jumped right in... the fall the the ball pit is at least 4 feet. No fear. He just says, "1, 2, 3, AWESOME" and jumps. Hilarious. The kids played in the gym and on the jumpy blowup gyms... and they passed out on the ride home. It was great.

Sunday we decided that the best thing to do when you are faced with a severe winter storm is to drive 90 miles to Sheboygan to get to a waterpark. Not awesome. It took us 3 hours to get there, white knuckle the entire way. But we got there. And the waterpark was AWESOME. The kids had a riot... and we did too. We went straight to the waterpark that night... spent the night and went right away in the morning. Josh was a big fan of the yellow adult tube slide. He rode in front with either Jim and I and loved it. They had a little kid slide area where Izzy and Josh had the most fun. It was quite a workout for us adults!

We then attempted nap time. Which was hilarious. Josh and Izzy each had their own pack'n'play which we separated with blankets. Neither of them realized eachother were there at first. We attempted to lay down on the other side of the half wall to catch a few zzzzz's... and then we heard Izzy... "Mama... Mama...". Then Josh, "Izzy??". It was all over. We spent the next 15 minutes peering over the wall at the two of them playing peek a boo... swapping pacifiers... and blankets... Then Abby said, "Isabelle, sshh." Then Izzy and Josh took a few turns "sssshhhing" eachother. Memories I hope we will never forget!

We had one more round at the waterpark before the Kirkwood's went back home. It was a great weekend... a lot of action... a lot of memories!