Paradise Pond with Grandmother & Gigi

When at Paradise pond, Maya always wants to wear the Belle dress.
This is Cinderella (Maya's friend Hannah) and Belle (Maya). What beautiful princesses!
Mason in the Spiderman dress up with Gigi.
Mason ran into his friend Dalton, so that was exciting. Thanks for taking the kids -- and thanks for the pictures Grandmother!

Maya's FIRST haircut

I made an appointment with Ms. Deena (my stylist) to get Maya's very first haircut. On the way, Maya said "Mommy, will it hurt to get my hair cut?"

I assured her it would not. Then she worried a little about Ms. Deena washing her hair in the sink. When we arrived, I told Deena she was a little concerned about the sink, so Deena was nice enough to skip the wash and she just sprayed it wet. Maya was very happy about that and was so cooperative and sweet for the whole time.




Her hair looked so much better when Deena was done, much healthier.

Mason's Swimming Graduation

This post is out of order and overdue. Mason completed his swim lessons the day Brian and I left for Mexico. Gigi went and took pictures for us. I love this stance and the serious face he is making.



I got a phone call after his 2nd lesson and the instructor said with his "ability and energy" he should be put in a more advanced class. So they moved him up for the remaining time. He did great. He can now swim the length of the pool and further, he can dive off the board, even do a flip off the side or the board.

Hidy & Mason

More Bev

I got a few additional pictures from when Aunt Bev was in town. I think they came from her camera. The first is from left, my Aunt Jennifer, then Aunt Beverly holding Truett, then me holding Eva.
Beverly kept Maya and Zoe while Gigi took Mason to tennis.
I love these pictures of the girls that Bev took!

Family Get Together

Aunt Beverly came in town for a visit. We had a pretty impromptu dinner at Gigi's. Aunt Jennifer, Chry, Mike, Oliver, & Truett also came. It was fun to see everyone. Mason especially enjoyed Truett.

Maya and Carmen share a chair and watch a movie while dinner was getting prepared.
The 2005 girls sit with La La.
Hidy, Gigi, Mason and Truett. Truett really reminded of us Mason when he was that age. They definitely look related.
Mason showed off his dive off the board. Then in the video he does his flip and then jumps thru the ring.

Truett loved the water.

We did the best we could to gather the kids for a picture before it was time to get out of the pool.

Then Gigi helped us bribe them all out of the pool with popsicles.

Baby Eva enjoyed the pool for a little bit too.

Back inside, the 2005 girls and Oliver "fixed" Milly with tools from the tool box!

She got up and moved and they contined their work on her. They are so funny with the things they come up with.

We had a lot of fun catching up with everyone.

Tennis - Mason

I took Monday off to be with the kids and run errands after being in Mexico all weekend. This meant I got to take Mason to his tennis lesson.

It was fun to see him in action!

Cancun

We took a trip back to Cancun for our 8th anniversary. This year Colette and KJ joined us. The first day we got to the hotel and checked in, grabbed some lunch and headed to the pool. We cleaned up to eat again and then headed to the theatre. It was Karoake night, and it was BAD. We had met a couple from Ohio at the pool and they were also hanging out with us. I suggested we go down to the beach and hang out. KJ and Colette had brought their IPod with speakers with them, so we took that down to the beach and had our own little private beach party. KJ was entertaining us all, and I haven't laughed that much and that hard in a long time. When we went back up to our room, my mascara was smeared all over my face.

The next morning at breakfast, KJ decided to go back to bed. He had a little bit too much fun at the beach party.

We headed to the pool. It was so hot outside. The water in the pool was pretty warm, and the later in the day it got, it was hot. To really get cooled off, you had to go get in the ocean. Our chairs were by the activity pool, and Brian volunteered Colette for the belly flop competition very early on. She was a good sport -pretty sure I was NOT going to join in that game. Then after lunch, Brian AGAIN volunteered Colette and I to take Salsa dancing lessons poolside. UMMMMMMMM, NO. We said "no" to probably 3 or 4 different people, and multiple times to some of them. However, somehow we both ended up at the poolside Salsa lessons! I was pretty embarrassed, but it did get us laughing.


After dinner the 2nd night, Brian took this picture of Collete and I. We are laughing hysterically.... Colette was trying to tell me she learned about this tip of exaggerating your arm out in photos... well, clearly we were exaggerated a little too much. While Brian was trying to take the picture, there was a family walking by pushing their stroller and looking at us like we had lost our minds.

Dinner the 3rd night with our favorite waiter, Edgar.. Brian and KJ pose with Edgar after dinner.

After dinner we headed out to do a little shopping for some souvenirs for the kids.

Last night at the beach.


We had time for a few hours of beach and pool time before we packed up and headed to the airport that last day. The water is so beautiful in Cancun.

On our shuttle back to the airport, we stopped at a traffic light right outside of this building "MAYA fair". I new Maya would like to see her name like this. Not too bad a picture considering it was taken through a window.

We had a fun trip!

Independence Day!

We headed over to Hidy & Gigi's to swim, grill, and hang out for the 4th. Gigi made a cute flag dessert, as anyone that knows her would expect. (No idea why the picture is sideways and I could not fix it)

The kids got to choose between a red, white, and blue popsicle and the flag dessert. (or as Gigi said "or both")
Eva was a doll wearing Maya's old leopard bikini. She reminded me so much of Maya in it with her chubby cheeks and dimple.

We took the kids home for a nap and then we got packed up to go to the Bedford fireworks. We piled up the wagon with chairs and Maya and were on our way to find a spot. There were SO MANY people there this year. I think especially because the 4th was on a Friday and so many would not have to work the next day.
Maya dancing to the live music, which was actually pretty enjoyable. Maya and Zoe were being very cute and sweet together in the wagon.

Nesha met us there and brought her niece, Ashley. Mason sat in Nesha's lap for part of the show.

Maya sat with me for a little bit just before the fireworks began.

Carmen and Ashley pose.. they always seem to have fun playing together.

Uh oh, Maya is getting very sleepy -- it is past bedtime.... She can't quite get comfortable in my lap, so she goes and lays on the blanket to rest.

Once the fireworks started, all the kids were entertained. Bedford has impressed me for many years with their awesome grand finale. I look forward to it. This year, I had my camera ready so I could get a little clip and share it with all of you.... AWESOME!!! You can sort of hear Mason in the background.."whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa"

The finale lit up the sky so brightly, it almost hurts your eyes...

******LET FREEDOM RING! Happy 4th of July!****