Out with the old crib and in with the new toddler bed...
Pretend sleeping...
The quilt aunt Christy made looks AWESOME on her new BIG GIRL bed...
Days since we became a FOREVER family!!
Tracking Sakari's days!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
February Fun video...and BIG GIRL BED!!
Out with the old crib and in with the new toddler bed...
Pretend sleeping...
The quilt aunt Christy made looks AWESOME on her new BIG GIRL bed...
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Happy Valentines Day!
We celebrated Valentine's Day with a fun photo shoot of Sakari and her cousins...ENJOY!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
I just found this blog that I wrote a couple years ago...it's long, but you may find it funny - Jake and Merica, this re-post is especially for you...
Monday, October 02, 2006
Cabo San Lucas - A week of sun and fun (kinda like surf and turf but totally different)
So here goes...I'm gonna try to let you in to partake with us on our vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico...where the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez meet at the tip of the Baja Peninsula.
Sept. 23rd: We arrived in Mexico, got our luggage, rented our car and drove 30 minutes to our resort. We stayed at the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar, a great 5 star resort. Becca's parents have a time share that allowed us to trade lcoations and spend a week at this resort right on the beach. It also has 3 pools, 2 of which are infinity pools overlooking the ocean. Ahhh, the ocean...liquid sapphire and turquoise with random diamonds sprinkled throughout...it was breathtaking! It rained a week before we arrived so the desert was alive with emerald greens and yellow and fuscia flowers were blooming, perfect timing also because it's the beginning of slow tourist season. Back to the resort, aloe vera grew everywhere along with birds of paradise and iguanas and lizards roamed - awesome! Snapping myself out of day dreaming right now...back to the blog...that night we drove into Cabo proper and found a local authentic Mexican restaurant and ate...good times, I even tasted sliced and cooked cow tongue...besides the disgusting mental picture, it tasted amazing!
Sept. 24th: I'm not sure if any of you or your families have time shares, they can be great...but anytime you use your time share they get you into more meetings and sales pitches. This time around...we got smart...the guy at the car rental place pitched us a way we could get our rental paid for as well as pocket almost $200 cash by going to another resort's presentation along with getting huge discounts on the activities we wanted to do on vacation. So, a tip for you...if this is offered to you - do it!! Because typically, the meetings are only 90 minutes...and if you think about it you get paid a crazy sum to sit through and not buy anything...but you have to schedule these meetings at the very beginning of your vacation get them over with and from them on...enjoy! So today, the 24th, we went to 2 meetings...one at the resort we stayed at and then it was on to the other presentation...both of which came with a free buffet meal. From one of the resorts, we were shown Enrique Iglesias' home and apparently Slyvester Stallone and Whoopi Goldberg have homes in that same neighborhood. Most of today was spent at resorts talking to people and getting tours but late in the afternoon we headed back to our resort and we hung out at the pool for a bit then I went for a walk on the beach. I walked and walked till I got to a spot that had some rocks...it was officially time to explore. I found all kinds of wildlife...crabs crawling all over the moss covered rocks, hundreds of snails (man, those suckers are strong...I couldn't pull them off!), sea urchins, pelicans diving into the surf for dinner....is was so incredible...partly because I felt like I deserved a tv show on Animal Planet. Ha! On the walk back, I found shells that were red and purple...which I had never seen before...on this beach there were also tons of dime-sized crabs scurrying about but turns out there are also other larger crabs that dig out burrows. I was just walking along enjoying the sand and sound of crashing waves when out of the corner of my eye I saw movement...I'm intrigued...I kept looking and decided to walk toward the movement I saw a moment before...all of a sudden I'm a few feet away and a crab (larger than my hand) takes off running side ways straight for the water. I guess I was deemed a predator. So, without thinking...I took off after it, just for fun. And it was.
Sept. 25th: This day marked the beginning of enjoying the rewards of the time share meetings...it began with a free glass bottom boat tour on the Sea of Cortez and to explore Los Arcos (the natural rock arch formation where Cortez and Pacific meet). We saw fish, pelicans and the most exciting was a whole troop of sea lions hanging out on one of the rocks...they were barking and sleeping and just hanging out. Turns out that sea lions in the wild smell just as bad as the ones at the zoo...but it was quite a cool experience. We spent the rest of the day doing a little shopping, ate at another local seafood joint (so much food!), took a nap and spent the rest of the day at the pool.
Sept. 26th: Oh...fateful day! You'll laugh, you'll cry...because you're laughing so hard.
Well, we took a 3 hour ATV tour with Salto Tours in the desert and on the beach. First, I will say I'm so glad we did this...besides getting more sun...the tour was amazing...riding through the desert, going through arroyos (washed out river beds - although some of them actually had water running through them), riding on the beach and exploring some of the nearby hills and sand dunes. Ok, here goes...I never grew up doing a whole lot of daring and dangerous things...I wish I had, but until this day I had never driven a 4 wheeler/ATV - I had ridden on the back of a couple, but not my own. So the tour began well, it took me a few minutes in the practice ride to figure out the gears, etc...and I felt semi-confident and semi-cautious leaving the home base. We drove in the desert for a few, crossed an arroyo, drove through some running water...this is getting fun...we drove around some more exploring...now, our guide says it's time to head to the beach. I'm getting more and more confident by the minute. We get to the beach and it's gorgeous...hills, rocks, trees, cactus, flowers are the backdrop for the beautiful sand and water. We get to a meeting point where our guide gives us water to drink...then tells us we have an hour and twenty minutes to drive around on our own. Half the water bottle is consumed...then the group of 6 (Becca, her parents, another married couple and myself) decide it's time to have some fun. The other couple hangs back a little longer...but the four of us take off...I'm last in line, let's ride. We take off...Becca's fam grew up doing this sort of thing so I'm pretty much left in the dust...but as the ride continues, confidence grows...and it's time to kick it from 2nd gear to 4th....and I'm now ripping down the beach trying to catch up while still enjoying the ride...I'm not an expert converter from the metric system but I feel it's safe to say I was going at least 25 miles an hour when...the ATV hits a really soft spot, I lose control of the steering...imagine and reflect with me...slow motion officially takes over at this point. I'm flying off the ATV...and flying is not a metaphor or exaggeration...I flew off and a few phrases go through my head - "Holy crap", "I'm going to die", "well, maybe not die...but I'm definitely gonna break something", "I hope no one is watching", "I hope the ATV doesn't run over me when I land" - these were just a sampling of what my brain was able to come up with as I soared...all of a sudden - SPLAT, CRUNCH, CRUMBLE! Pain, sand, embarrassment, pain, sand, embarrassment...pain, sand, embarrassment. This was the pattern. But being a guy, as soon as I landed I rolled over and jumped up like nothing happened and I wasn't even hurt...ha! It was then that I realized that I could barely breathe, the wind had been knocked out of me. The next realization is that the fam was now even farther ahead of me...and then I stood...hot, sweaty, and covered...no, not just covered but also filled with sand...oh yeah, and hurt. At this point, I began laughing out loud at myself...I started brushing off sand and chased down the ATV just as the other couple on our tour pulled up...he drove over to make sure I was ok...he saw the whole thing! What?! Where the heck was the video camera??! I wish I could see it all happen...mostly because things like that make me laugh hysterically when watching a movie...when a kid is riding a bike and he runs into something...someone is running and runs into a tree...why is that funny? Well, turns out when it happened to me...it made me laugh just about as hard...except this time, my neck, shoulders and ribs are sore. Embarrassed...no, not anymore...Acceptance...this is who I am, this is what I do from time to time, haha...and it's hilarous. This was the most dramatic of the falls...yes, there were more...1 more incident of being thrown off (thrown off...as if it was the ATV's fault :-)...and 2 more of my body going the opposite direction of the ATV and those times I kinda just flopped off...I was still getting the concept that you lean into your turns, not against them :-) And...one of those flops was caught on tape while I was doing a fishtail at the top of the sand dunes...you haul off from the beach straight up the dunes and then close to the top you make a sharp turn and lean in...this creates a fishtailing at the top and then you head straight back down the dunes. Wow...what a day...it was a blast!!! I'd do it all again in a heart beat.
Time out...all this typing has made me hungry...let's see what can I find...ah yes, a cinnamom roll and cup of coffee...
Speaking of food...this night we made a reservation at one of the resorts restaurants...Pitahayas. It is a 5 diamond, 5 star restaurant. The food was really good...but really expensive. Thankfully, since we sat through a presentation...we had $200 worth of certificates to use...we still spent $70 of our own money on top of that...but it was a cool experience. We sat outside overlooking the beach at sunset. The meal started with a complimentary bowl of the chef's clam chowder...it was spicy, rich and incredible. We got the appetizer sampler...also good. I ordered the Seafood Trilogy...which was half a lobster tail in a vanilla bean sauce (sound gross, that's why I ordered it...it was great), blackened fish with mango and papaya relish (best fish I have ever, ever had - wow) and sauteed shrimp in wasabi butter. The presentation was great and food pretty darn good. We had dessert and coffee...ours dessert wasn't great...and the overall consensus from the fam was that it was good, but not worth almost $300. I think I enjoyed my food the most. But this is the story of Cabo...food is very expensive almost whereever you go...even groceries are a little pricey...but Cabo is worth spending a little more to get to experience it. Most of the time, you actually don't even feel like you are in a different country...it's a beautiful, comfortable piece of paradise.
Sept. 27th: Becca and I went tandem parasailing...also a lot of fun, it's so peaceful up in the air like that being pulled around by a boat...we were a good 300 feet up in the air. I have been parasailing once before and loved it...I'm not a huge fan of heights, in fact, I hate them...but I tell you parasailing is incredible, if you haven't done it...you should. The rest of the afternoon involved pool time...and that evening we went on a dinner cruise, Cabo Rey. It was incredible...a sunset dinner cruise, the views were awesome, food was incredible...the steak was so tender we cut it with a butter knife, there was also entertainment. Sure, there was some cheese...that's to be expected, but there were these 2 different sets of Argentenian dancers that were incredible...I have no idea how they did what they did...it was really entertaining. We saw a blue marlin jump out of the water as well as a mantaray...it was a good evening.
Sept. 28th: We rented waverunners (jet skis) and spent an hour zipping around the ocean...and exploring Los Arcos area once again. We came upon a sea lion playing in the water just about 20-30 feet away from us. I had also never driven my own wave runner before...but thankful, there were no spills - just fun, sun and spraying water.
Sept. 29th: Snorkeling day...we drove over to the Santa Maria Beach, we are told this is the best place to snorkel in this area. I've been once before in Puerto Vallarta, but the water was rough and mirky...not a great experience. This time the water was calm, but the whole goggles, breathing tube and flippers made me a bit claustrophobic. The flippers were too tight and there was sand in them...first time out there was miserable...but I went out a couple other times and got to see some incredible fish close up and got several underwater pictures. Unfortunately, the waves made Becca feel sea sick and she hung out on the beach (it was a hot day) and ended up getting exhausted by the heat. She felt better later on that day once she got to cool off at the resort. Becca's mom had brought some frozen peas for us to feed to the fish (I would have never thought of that), but I took the peas out there and ended up having a feeding frenzy happening all around me...and a bunch of others came to watch all the fish eat peas. overall, it was a pretty cool experience (although, since it's a popular place many boats brought tons of people there to snorkel , it was a little crowded)...snorkeling is not my favorite activity but I'm glad I did it...plus, I got more sun...I did turn pretty dark, one of my most important accomplishments of the trip :-)
We packed the rest of the evening and flew home the next day....
...now here we are in Vegas for another day before we fly home tomorrow...it was a great vacation, but we are ready to go home...it's been a fun 2 weeks...with the exception of the fact that seemed like at least once a day I heard some version of "My Heart Will Go On" somewhere in the background...a different version and variation, one of them being a clock chime...Celine wants her song back...stop using it, people!
Cabo San Lucas - A week of sun and fun (kinda like surf and turf but totally different)
So here goes...I'm gonna try to let you in to partake with us on our vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico...where the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez meet at the tip of the Baja Peninsula.
Sept. 23rd: We arrived in Mexico, got our luggage, rented our car and drove 30 minutes to our resort. We stayed at the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar, a great 5 star resort. Becca's parents have a time share that allowed us to trade lcoations and spend a week at this resort right on the beach. It also has 3 pools, 2 of which are infinity pools overlooking the ocean. Ahhh, the ocean...liquid sapphire and turquoise with random diamonds sprinkled throughout...it was breathtaking! It rained a week before we arrived so the desert was alive with emerald greens and yellow and fuscia flowers were blooming, perfect timing also because it's the beginning of slow tourist season. Back to the resort, aloe vera grew everywhere along with birds of paradise and iguanas and lizards roamed - awesome! Snapping myself out of day dreaming right now...back to the blog...that night we drove into Cabo proper and found a local authentic Mexican restaurant and ate...good times, I even tasted sliced and cooked cow tongue...besides the disgusting mental picture, it tasted amazing!
Sept. 24th: I'm not sure if any of you or your families have time shares, they can be great...but anytime you use your time share they get you into more meetings and sales pitches. This time around...we got smart...the guy at the car rental place pitched us a way we could get our rental paid for as well as pocket almost $200 cash by going to another resort's presentation along with getting huge discounts on the activities we wanted to do on vacation. So, a tip for you...if this is offered to you - do it!! Because typically, the meetings are only 90 minutes...and if you think about it you get paid a crazy sum to sit through and not buy anything...but you have to schedule these meetings at the very beginning of your vacation get them over with and from them on...enjoy! So today, the 24th, we went to 2 meetings...one at the resort we stayed at and then it was on to the other presentation...both of which came with a free buffet meal. From one of the resorts, we were shown Enrique Iglesias' home and apparently Slyvester Stallone and Whoopi Goldberg have homes in that same neighborhood. Most of today was spent at resorts talking to people and getting tours but late in the afternoon we headed back to our resort and we hung out at the pool for a bit then I went for a walk on the beach. I walked and walked till I got to a spot that had some rocks...it was officially time to explore. I found all kinds of wildlife...crabs crawling all over the moss covered rocks, hundreds of snails (man, those suckers are strong...I couldn't pull them off!), sea urchins, pelicans diving into the surf for dinner....is was so incredible...partly because I felt like I deserved a tv show on Animal Planet. Ha! On the walk back, I found shells that were red and purple...which I had never seen before...on this beach there were also tons of dime-sized crabs scurrying about but turns out there are also other larger crabs that dig out burrows. I was just walking along enjoying the sand and sound of crashing waves when out of the corner of my eye I saw movement...I'm intrigued...I kept looking and decided to walk toward the movement I saw a moment before...all of a sudden I'm a few feet away and a crab (larger than my hand) takes off running side ways straight for the water. I guess I was deemed a predator. So, without thinking...I took off after it, just for fun. And it was.
Sept. 25th: This day marked the beginning of enjoying the rewards of the time share meetings...it began with a free glass bottom boat tour on the Sea of Cortez and to explore Los Arcos (the natural rock arch formation where Cortez and Pacific meet). We saw fish, pelicans and the most exciting was a whole troop of sea lions hanging out on one of the rocks...they were barking and sleeping and just hanging out. Turns out that sea lions in the wild smell just as bad as the ones at the zoo...but it was quite a cool experience. We spent the rest of the day doing a little shopping, ate at another local seafood joint (so much food!), took a nap and spent the rest of the day at the pool.
Sept. 26th: Oh...fateful day! You'll laugh, you'll cry...because you're laughing so hard.
Well, we took a 3 hour ATV tour with Salto Tours in the desert and on the beach. First, I will say I'm so glad we did this...besides getting more sun...the tour was amazing...riding through the desert, going through arroyos (washed out river beds - although some of them actually had water running through them), riding on the beach and exploring some of the nearby hills and sand dunes. Ok, here goes...I never grew up doing a whole lot of daring and dangerous things...I wish I had, but until this day I had never driven a 4 wheeler/ATV - I had ridden on the back of a couple, but not my own. So the tour began well, it took me a few minutes in the practice ride to figure out the gears, etc...and I felt semi-confident and semi-cautious leaving the home base. We drove in the desert for a few, crossed an arroyo, drove through some running water...this is getting fun...we drove around some more exploring...now, our guide says it's time to head to the beach. I'm getting more and more confident by the minute. We get to the beach and it's gorgeous...hills, rocks, trees, cactus, flowers are the backdrop for the beautiful sand and water. We get to a meeting point where our guide gives us water to drink...then tells us we have an hour and twenty minutes to drive around on our own. Half the water bottle is consumed...then the group of 6 (Becca, her parents, another married couple and myself) decide it's time to have some fun. The other couple hangs back a little longer...but the four of us take off...I'm last in line, let's ride. We take off...Becca's fam grew up doing this sort of thing so I'm pretty much left in the dust...but as the ride continues, confidence grows...and it's time to kick it from 2nd gear to 4th....and I'm now ripping down the beach trying to catch up while still enjoying the ride...I'm not an expert converter from the metric system but I feel it's safe to say I was going at least 25 miles an hour when...the ATV hits a really soft spot, I lose control of the steering...imagine and reflect with me...slow motion officially takes over at this point. I'm flying off the ATV...and flying is not a metaphor or exaggeration...I flew off and a few phrases go through my head - "Holy crap", "I'm going to die", "well, maybe not die...but I'm definitely gonna break something", "I hope no one is watching", "I hope the ATV doesn't run over me when I land" - these were just a sampling of what my brain was able to come up with as I soared...all of a sudden - SPLAT, CRUNCH, CRUMBLE! Pain, sand, embarrassment, pain, sand, embarrassment...pain, sand, embarrassment. This was the pattern. But being a guy, as soon as I landed I rolled over and jumped up like nothing happened and I wasn't even hurt...ha! It was then that I realized that I could barely breathe, the wind had been knocked out of me. The next realization is that the fam was now even farther ahead of me...and then I stood...hot, sweaty, and covered...no, not just covered but also filled with sand...oh yeah, and hurt. At this point, I began laughing out loud at myself...I started brushing off sand and chased down the ATV just as the other couple on our tour pulled up...he drove over to make sure I was ok...he saw the whole thing! What?! Where the heck was the video camera??! I wish I could see it all happen...mostly because things like that make me laugh hysterically when watching a movie...when a kid is riding a bike and he runs into something...someone is running and runs into a tree...why is that funny? Well, turns out when it happened to me...it made me laugh just about as hard...except this time, my neck, shoulders and ribs are sore. Embarrassed...no, not anymore...Acceptance...this is who I am, this is what I do from time to time, haha...and it's hilarous. This was the most dramatic of the falls...yes, there were more...1 more incident of being thrown off (thrown off...as if it was the ATV's fault :-)...and 2 more of my body going the opposite direction of the ATV and those times I kinda just flopped off...I was still getting the concept that you lean into your turns, not against them :-) And...one of those flops was caught on tape while I was doing a fishtail at the top of the sand dunes...you haul off from the beach straight up the dunes and then close to the top you make a sharp turn and lean in...this creates a fishtailing at the top and then you head straight back down the dunes. Wow...what a day...it was a blast!!! I'd do it all again in a heart beat.
Time out...all this typing has made me hungry...let's see what can I find...ah yes, a cinnamom roll and cup of coffee...
Speaking of food...this night we made a reservation at one of the resorts restaurants...Pitahayas. It is a 5 diamond, 5 star restaurant. The food was really good...but really expensive. Thankfully, since we sat through a presentation...we had $200 worth of certificates to use...we still spent $70 of our own money on top of that...but it was a cool experience. We sat outside overlooking the beach at sunset. The meal started with a complimentary bowl of the chef's clam chowder...it was spicy, rich and incredible. We got the appetizer sampler...also good. I ordered the Seafood Trilogy...which was half a lobster tail in a vanilla bean sauce (sound gross, that's why I ordered it...it was great), blackened fish with mango and papaya relish (best fish I have ever, ever had - wow) and sauteed shrimp in wasabi butter. The presentation was great and food pretty darn good. We had dessert and coffee...ours dessert wasn't great...and the overall consensus from the fam was that it was good, but not worth almost $300. I think I enjoyed my food the most. But this is the story of Cabo...food is very expensive almost whereever you go...even groceries are a little pricey...but Cabo is worth spending a little more to get to experience it. Most of the time, you actually don't even feel like you are in a different country...it's a beautiful, comfortable piece of paradise.
Sept. 27th: Becca and I went tandem parasailing...also a lot of fun, it's so peaceful up in the air like that being pulled around by a boat...we were a good 300 feet up in the air. I have been parasailing once before and loved it...I'm not a huge fan of heights, in fact, I hate them...but I tell you parasailing is incredible, if you haven't done it...you should. The rest of the afternoon involved pool time...and that evening we went on a dinner cruise, Cabo Rey. It was incredible...a sunset dinner cruise, the views were awesome, food was incredible...the steak was so tender we cut it with a butter knife, there was also entertainment. Sure, there was some cheese...that's to be expected, but there were these 2 different sets of Argentenian dancers that were incredible...I have no idea how they did what they did...it was really entertaining. We saw a blue marlin jump out of the water as well as a mantaray...it was a good evening.
Sept. 28th: We rented waverunners (jet skis) and spent an hour zipping around the ocean...and exploring Los Arcos area once again. We came upon a sea lion playing in the water just about 20-30 feet away from us. I had also never driven my own wave runner before...but thankful, there were no spills - just fun, sun and spraying water.
Sept. 29th: Snorkeling day...we drove over to the Santa Maria Beach, we are told this is the best place to snorkel in this area. I've been once before in Puerto Vallarta, but the water was rough and mirky...not a great experience. This time the water was calm, but the whole goggles, breathing tube and flippers made me a bit claustrophobic. The flippers were too tight and there was sand in them...first time out there was miserable...but I went out a couple other times and got to see some incredible fish close up and got several underwater pictures. Unfortunately, the waves made Becca feel sea sick and she hung out on the beach (it was a hot day) and ended up getting exhausted by the heat. She felt better later on that day once she got to cool off at the resort. Becca's mom had brought some frozen peas for us to feed to the fish (I would have never thought of that), but I took the peas out there and ended up having a feeding frenzy happening all around me...and a bunch of others came to watch all the fish eat peas. overall, it was a pretty cool experience (although, since it's a popular place many boats brought tons of people there to snorkel , it was a little crowded)...snorkeling is not my favorite activity but I'm glad I did it...plus, I got more sun...I did turn pretty dark, one of my most important accomplishments of the trip :-)
We packed the rest of the evening and flew home the next day....
...now here we are in Vegas for another day before we fly home tomorrow...it was a great vacation, but we are ready to go home...it's been a fun 2 weeks...with the exception of the fact that seemed like at least once a day I heard some version of "My Heart Will Go On" somewhere in the background...a different version and variation, one of them being a clock chime...Celine wants her song back...stop using it, people!
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