Super random

I was looking through my phone last night trying to delete some pictures for more storage and decided it was time for a blog post. I take more (okay a lot more) than one photo per day, so lots of them don't get put on the blog. Here goes a random post that is completely out of order!

We had a taste of spring the week before last. It was gorgeous..even had two days in a row where the weather was hovering right around 60 degrees. We had a little happy hour outside with the neighbor and Chris spent lots of time chopping away at the ice in the street trying to get the water to the proper drains. We got the bikes down, scooters out, and every other summer toy that was stashed away under the garage steps. It was short lived as it got much colder last week and then we got dumped on by 12" of snow this last Saturday night.



Speaking of this snow...I know I've mentioned it before and I'm sure people are sick of hearing about it, but I am so so fed up with the lack of snow plowing around here. It stopped snowing around 10am Sunday. Chris went out and shoveled and by noon, our driveway was dry. If only they would have plowed the streets, it would have been the same. What's actually worse is Monday morning when I pulled into the school parking lot, they hadn't cleared the lot. Cars were getting stuck dropping off kids which forced people (including myself) to drop the kids in a non drop off zone. The custodian was starting to snowplow the sidewalks around 8:20. School starts at 8:26. So snow was blowing everywhere as people were walking into school. (most parents walk their kids into school here...they have morning reading in kindergarten through 2nd grade with parents) It's not like the snow was still coming down...it had been stopped for nearly 24 hours. I don't know if it's a money thing or what, but it seems so unsafe to me that they don't plow the school parking lot and sidewalks. Okay, rant is over. Maybe we won't get any more snow and I won't speak of this again until next winter:) Below is a pic of our nice, clear driveway and all the snow still in the street.



Switching gears...we had a fun St. Patrick's Day with the kids. Chris took all three of them to swimming lessons and while they were gone I prepared a surprise green dinner for them. They thought it was pretty cool. Max (our most adventurous eater) surprised us and was not too keen on eating green mashed potatoes and drinking green milk. Eventually he chugged his milk after we gave him enough grief about it!



We bought roof top carrier for our Acadia recently. We are all ready for our visitors! Please excuse the disgustingly dirty car. They put sand on the roads here instead of salt so the cars are just a wreck all the time.



Mya and my favorite show Dancing with the Stars is back on! She loves to watch and now thinks she needs to control the remote too! Oddly enough, her favorite this season is Suzanne Somers! I'm rooting for Farmer Chris to not look like a fool each week and I'm rooting for Rumer Willis to win the mirror ball.



Last week Max and Mya had a dance variety show at school. We weren't really sure what it was all about and I didn't tell Chris with enough notice so he couldn't make it. It ended up being really neat and the kids did a great job. Mya was super nervous to dance with a boy and even lost some sleep over it! The night before the show she came downstairs well after we thought she was sleeping and said she was going to be brave the next day. She did great even though I knew she was very nervous. Max wasn't nervous at all and even participated in an extra volunteer ribbon dance. I didn't get many pictures because I was videoing with my good camera for Chris, but you can kind of get the idea.



We haven't kept up with college basketball much this winter, but once March Madness came around, we were all on board! Unfortunately all of our Iowa teams are out, but it was fun while it lasted. The kids had fun picking teams and laughing at how Ivy pronounced the teams and which ones she picked! Turns out, she has no allegiance to the great state of Iowa:(



And lastly, this awesome guy below could use some extra prayers if you are willing. He is in for a fight over the next few months with some cancer treatments. He needs all the strength he can get to fight this and if any 90 year old man can do it, this is the one. He's amazing and I know God will be watching over him through this battle. We love Grandpa Bill!

Mexico 2015

Wow! Can't believe it has been a week since we got home from our glorious trip to Mexico. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to sum it all up so I think I'll just post pictures and write captions with each one and hope that is enough! One thing to note...unfortunately all of these pictures are iphone pictures only. I brought my good camera and was hoping to really get some great shots of the kids on the beach and the crystal blue water, but when we brought it out, we quickly realized I forgot the SD card in my computer at home:( I was pretty sad and we looked a few places for one, but no luck! Lesson learned....

We flew out Saturday morning at 10:30 mountain time and arrived in Mexico at 5:45 eastern time. We took a shuttle van to our resort which was 1 1/2 hours from the Cancun airport. Max told our life story to fellow travelers in the van, but otherwise it was uneventful! We checked in, ate some dinner poolside and went to bed.

Woke up to see that our room (the cheapest option...we almost upgraded before seeing our room but wisely decided against it) had the most amazing view! We looked out at the dolphins in the lagoon and each day saw them swimming, jumping, playing with each other. I'm so so happy we went with this option! Our first day we spent figuring the place out, swimming, playing in the sand, letting the kids discover the ocean for the first time and eating as much guacamole as we possibly could!

The kids were in heaven at this resort. They quickly figured out that they could basically get whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted! It was so relaxing and nice for Chris and me to just be able to say "yes" to most everything. The resort (Dreams Puerto Aventuras) had so much to do for kids. I would recommend going with kids, but I would highly recommend not going to this resort if you do not have kids with you. Mya loved the kids club so much that we had to drag her away in order to spend time with her! They were so wonderful with kids and kept them busy with doing all sorts of things from hair/nails/face painting/crafts to movies on the beach to fancy kid dinners. Max wasn't as thrilled about the kids club as Mya and Ivy, but he did go a couple of times.


watching Rio 2 on the beach!



We bought Max some snorkle gear for his birthday and he loved it! It took him a couple of days to get used to it, but he figured it out and even did some snorkeling in the ocean a couple of times.


All three kids did this crazy bungee jump thing on the trampoline. Max and Mya did it multiple times. They were doing flips and all sorts of crazy things on there!





Lots of ping pong was played while we waited for our nachos from that restaurant you see in the background. Tough life we had:)


Max had fun looking for little creatures in the ocean and he got a little hermit crab one day!


Every afternoon, the entertainment staff would put on some sort of activity around the pool. Max LOVED participating in these. One of these was a pool noodle fight on a surf board. He won his first 3 rounds and eventually lost to this girl in the final. He won Bingo and got 2nd in giant darts. Some other games were water soccer (shown below...they were spraying the kids with the hose as they ran around in this giant inflatable soccer field) and Angry Birds which was super fun for the kids and their parents:)






If there were such a thing as a "most popular contest" at the resort, this little girl below would have won for sure. Everyone knew who she was...she would just go up to random people and ask if they would play with her. I think there were no less than 3 people (grandparent age) who asked if they could take her home with them!


At least one of my kids (and usually more than one) had a drink like this in their hands at all times. The only downside of that was having to take Ivy to the bathroom every 2.5 seconds it seemed. Their favorites were strawberry mangos and chocolate shakes. The waiters/waitresses were so good with kids.



This trampoline had lots of bird poop on it or else I think the kids would have enjoyed it more! I broke the rules and got up on there one afternoon, but quickly got whistled down by the lifeguard. I didn't see what the big deal was!!


We met a really nice family from Toronto that had two boys (10 and 7) so Max was in heaven and we really enjoyed hanging out with them by the pool and at dinner one night.



Chris took a short little scuba diving lesson in the pool one morning. He said it was way harder than it looks!


Had to get one of these pictures of Mya..:)


We only ventured off of the resort once and it was just to walk around the marina area. We had some gelato, saw the manatees and bought souviniers.



All in all, a great trip!

February one-photo-a-day

Here's what we were up to in February!



Day 32: Our first Superbowl in Canada! I wasn't really sure if it was a popular event around here so I took the safe route and invited my friend Andi (from Minnesota) and her family over for a little party! We made some awesome, unhealthy appetizers for the game. Doesn't get any more American than that:)
Day 33: Mya was the star student this week! She was so so excited about it and was thrilled to be first for everything and the teacher's helper all week.
Day 34: My mom texted me one night and asked if I had received the package she sent. She wanted to make sure before she threw away her confirmation number. Well, I didn't even though the post office said it had been delivered to my mailbox! I was so mad. I waited a few days and made a bunch of phone calls and ended up just putting this note on my mailbox. (yes, I know neighbor is spelled wrong, but I had to spell it the Candian way!) Turns out...the mailman put it in the wrong spot so he moved it and when I went to check the mail a few hours later, it was there! I was thrilled.
Day 35: Went to Target to check it out...they were packing up inventory. The big liquidation sale was set to start the next day. It was a huge disappointment though...10% off is barely worth the trip over! The line was around the building to get in that first morning. Guessing there were some unhappy shoppers when they got inside!


Day 36: Nothing like a mid-day bubble bath! Sometimes I don't know what to do with Ivy so I just throw her in the tub and she loves it:)
Day 37: Ivy and Mya love to watch Strawberry Shortcake so Max is often foreced to watch it with them. They made this oreo ice cream dessert on the show so he asked if he could do it all by himself and he did! I helped a little with getting it out of the oven and cutting it, but otherwise he did it all.
Day 38: It was freezing this day...chloe did not waste any time when she went outside. She came sprinting back to the house as soon as she was done doing her business!
Day 39: Chris and the kids started building an awesome snow tunnel. When the kids got bored, I went out and "supervised" Chris so he didn't die:) Kids hardly spent any time out there playing with it though so I don't know if we'll be doing that again!


Day 40: I leave notes for the kids in their lunches sometimes and on this day Mya wrote me back:) She is getting really confused with all of the "ou" in Canada as you can see with the way she spelled "lounch"! I also love the way spelled "dotter":)
Day 41: Ivy and I went swimsuit shopping and also came home with this hat!
Day 42: Today was the 100th day of school! They had a big celebration in grade 1 and Mya loved every minute of it!
Day 43: Every once in awhile, the kids will all still go running when Chris gets home! a


Day 44: I guess I'm happy she washes her hands....
Day 45: Our sitter offered to watch our kids for Valentines Day! It was nice to get out for the evening and enjoy some conversation without being interrupted 100 times.
Day 46: I took Max and Mya to Beauty and the Beast at the University. Our neighbors came with us and we had such a nice day. Brunch at a hotel and then the show. It was fun to get dressed up and Max looked pretty sharp if you ask me:)
Day 47: So fun to see the Hotel Julien featured on the bachelor!


Day 48: I saw an article posted on facebook that Chris Harrison (host of the Bachelor) wrote so I clicked on it and was so happy to see what he wrote about the people of Dubuque and of Iowa. "You'll be hard pressed to find better people than the ones in Iowa." #truth
Day 49: Oops...totally missed a day!
Day 50: Mya was proud of herself for washing off the table and setting it all by herself.
Day 51: Matching slippers from Grandma Pat! Ivy got them first and I whined enough that she got me a pair too:)


Day 52: Mya's first gymnastics competition. A superhero fun meet!
Day 53: I don't do selfies very often, but thought this one was pretty cute.
Day 54: I've seen some crazy weather differences between back home and in Edmonton, but this one took the cake. Can't believe what a mild winter we've had here and how cold it has been back home! Now watch, our March/April will be brutal!
Day 55: 4 days until Mexico! Time for Senora Hoden to work her magic on these kids:)



Day 56: Gymnastics shenanigans from Max and Ivy. I love the way Ivy is looking at Max in this pic:)
Day 57: Ivy's latest obsession in painting. I swear it get it out every single day!
Day 58: These crazies had a ton of fun on the "red rollercoaster" at the West Edmonton Mall. They knew exactly where the camera was each time they went by:) Mya wasn't quite tall enough to go solo so bless his heart, Chris had to go with every time! We celebrated Max's birthday with our neighbor girl Avery who turned 8 on the same day as Max!
Day 59: We made it to Mexico! Had some fruity drinks in the lobby while we were waiting to check in:)

Max's birthday with the dolphins!

Well, this kid hit the jackpot as far as birthdays go this year! We celebrated by swimming with dolphins on a gorgeous 85 degree day in Mexico:) Here are some pictures of the day. Sorry there are a ton of pictures! My thoughts on dolphins in captivity at the bottom.




Here the dolphins were singing Happy Birthday:)


I'm conflicted on this whole dolphin thing...I knew we were staying at a resort with dolphins and I knew that I wanted to give the kids this opportunity. However, it was tough to wrap my head around it because it's hard to see these wild animals in captivity. But...after doing this, I have a new outlook. While I think that their natural habitat is best, I did see the importance of this type of thing. We could tell Max, Mya and Ivy until we're blue in the face that they shouldn't litter plastic, plastic bags, etc. because it could hurt the animals of the ocean. However...it probably wouldn't really MEAN anything to them until they saw first hand what could happen. The trainers showed the kids how dolphins breathe. They saw the blow hole with their own eyes from less than a foot away. If we put plastic into the ocean, it could get caught on their blow hole and they will die. They have no other way to breathe and they can't remove it. They also talked about turtles and how turtles eat jelly fish and often get confused and think a plastic bag is a jelly fish and try to eat it. It gets caught around them and they could also die. I know it had a big impact on me and it for sure had a big impact on the kids. These dolphins had names (Eros and Charlie) and the kids fell in love. Who knows...maybe one day they will become billionaires and give all of their money to dolphin education or whatever. I just think there's definitely value in educating the young (and the old) through this type of thing.

All in all, it was an experience of a lifetime. Please enjoy the pictures as much as humanly possible. I paid $160 for them. Don't get me started on that...when a Mexican camera man starts to tell me about his 3 kids at home who he needs to feed I pretty much melted.

That night we ate sushi for Max's birthday dinner (his choice) and they brought out a special cake and sang happy birthday to him. It was definitely a birthday to remember!