Annie

Well, it's not official yet, but this is Annie Greding!!  Everyone was shocked/excited that Mike finally said "yes" to all the dog requests.  (I hope he doesn't regret it.)  So far, she's great!

We brought her home yesterday.  She is a rescue dog, and we are "fostering" her for a week or so, to see if she is a good fit for our family.  She is a super well mannered and well behaved dog.  The kids are all absolutely in LOVE with her.  Dylan and Emily especially, won't leave her alone.  She is a beagle/dachsund mix, and they think she is between 1 and 2 years old.  We've only heard her bark once (at the neighbors dog), and she slept in the laundry room all night, alone, and didn't pee until I got up this morning and let her out.  I was wondering if she would have issues being in a new place, but she is such a good dog!   And she is so loving and cuddly.  Whoever had her last I'm sure took good care of her.  I hope some little Mexican family isn't all heart broken their family pet vanished.

  

Que dice?!?  Una familia Mexican??  Por que would you say that?  Well here's a fun fact: Annie is Mexican!  The lady that runs the rescue, has a shelter here and  in Mexico, so she brings dogs back from there every so often.  Annie was found wandering around a grocery store, and someone brought her to the Mexican shelter.  I suspect she might be trained, because she is so well mannered, but probably in Spanish, and based on the above exclamations, we all know how fluent I am in that language.  We'll have to re-train her in English.  

I also took her on a little walk this morning, which I want to do every morning, and I think I'm the one that got walked!  She was so excited! Her little tongue was hanging out the side of her mouth, and she wanted to run and explore.  I jogged a little, and ran, and sprinted in short bursts, but I got tired a lot quicker than she did, and I think she was getting annoyed with me.  She kept pulling the leash to try and make me run again.  I was totally hotand tired when we got back.  I might need to use a bike some days.  I probably would've been ok if I had run at a steady pace.  At least it will force me to get up and going every morning.  Extra bonus to having  a dog.  The kids will take her on her afternoon walk when they get home from school.

I had always thought that when and if we got a dog, it would be a puppy that we could train to our liking, but getting an adult dog, might have been better for us.  We've already passed two major hurdles in the last 18 hours we've had her...she's gone to the bathroom outside and marked her territory, and she slept all night without crying, barking, or pee-ing (yay!).  Two things I KNOW would've taken a lot more time with a puppy.   The next obstacle will be today when we are at church and she's alone for 3 hours. I think we'll put her in the backyard and hope she doesn't get into trouble.  The last hurdle will be to get her to go into a crate, and then I'll feel like everything will be good with her.  She wasn't too thrilled about it last night.  I think she might be scared because it's too much like being at the shelter in "dog jail".  Hopefully today we'll make a little more progress.  I don't think she was ever crate trained, so that might be a big obstacle.

The people that had put house before us had dogs, so we already had a doggie door in the laundry room that leads to the backyard.  Silly goofball Emily was testing it out.  That's Dylan's hand behind her.  He was screaming at her to move because it was his turn.  He loves all the dog stuff.  Last night, he climbed in the dog crate , tasted Annie's dog food, and drank out of the dog water bowl...no hands...just with his tongue,  like he saw Annie doing.  It grosses me out, but it's kind of cute at the same time.  I'm sure Dylan will enjoy all these stories 

when he's older.

Annie came to see what Emily was doing.

Last night, Annie found herself a spot on one of the rugs, and Dylan layed next to her and petted her.  It was really sweet.  Later in the evening, Hallie and Emily were laying with her, and Emily was singing songs to help her go to sleep.  The kids are convinced that it was "destiny" we saw her yesterday, and she's meant to be our dog.  I don't know if I would have the heart to take this dog back, even if I wanted to!

Cancun 09 Part 4-photo shoot

Thursday

Today we decided to enjoy the pool and the beach, which was just fine with everyone.  We were done going places.   In the morning, the kids painted t-shirts. They have shirts from every year. It's fun to see what they paint-it's always right in line with their personality that year.

Spencer painted "Gary" from SpongeBob.  Why? I don't know.  Neither did he.

Lightning McQueen, of course.  I love the handprint.

Emmy LOVES horses.  All her Christmas presents were horse themed, and she still loves 'em.

Two dolphins- on the bottom Hallie wrote in bubble letters "Best Friends Stick Together".  Ok.

In the evening, we had a family photo shoot.  I was again reminded about the mishap with my lens, and saddened.  We got some nice pictures, but nothing great, in my opinion.  And, the cheapy camera did some weird things with the focus and color.  Some pictures are even hazy looking.  Curse you, faulty box and marble floor!  

During our photo shoot there were some people collecting  awesome looking shells the waves had brought in.  Naturally, the kids saw them and wanted to do that instead of pictures, but I wouldn't let them.  Mean Mommy wanted pictures! They managed to quickly gather a few, anyway.   It's just so rare to have everyone clean, presentable, and cooperative, and I couldn't waste the precious time.  Some of my favs:

Cancun 09-Part 3

Wednesday

Today we took a VIP tour to Playa del Carmen and then to a new property that our timeshare company is developing.  First, we stopped in Playa del Carmen, and had breakfast and then got some "free time" to walk around and do some shopping.  The main shopping street is called 5th Avenue.  Kind of funny, just like New York (like I know-someday I want to go to New York).

There were interesting stores, restaurants, and street vendors.  I wish we had more time there.

The only one to buy anything was Hallie.  She got a turquoise necklace.

The new timeshare propery was really nice.  We were SO tempted to buy a unit there for a different time of year, but after a 24 hour deliberation, decided not to do it. 

 

Everything was new and pretty, and there were fun little things all over the place like hammocks, and a kids playground.

 In the rooms there were big flat screens in every room, the second bedroom had a mini kitchen, and the master had a jacuzzi out on the balcony.  

Also, the way it is built, the beach is secluded.  Like your own private island.  It was a very enjoyable day.  Maybe sometime we can trade out the week of the one we own and stay there for Spring Break.  Yeeessss, I think we will.

Cancun 09-Part 2

Tuesday

Today we went to Tulum.  We hired an LDS tour guide that Mike had met last year.  His name was Mosiah.  He told us he was 3rd generation LDS and all of his 8 siblings also had Book of Mormon names.  His youngest brother is named Lemuel (tee hee).

He and his family live in Playa del Carmen. He showed us their church building, and next to it is a "Corona" beer factory.  He told us there are about 400,000 people in Playa del Carmen, and only 70 members in his branch!  He's been the Stake President there 3 times!  He also works at the temple in Chetumal (?) I think that's where it is, can't remember.  I didn't even know there was a temple there.  One more thing he does,  is he takes the missionaries on a tour of all the archaeological sites when they first get there.  It gives them a better sense of where the people are coming from and they get to see a lot of cool places!  It would be totally fun to be called to a mission in Cancun!  That part of it would be fun, anyway.

Mike with Mosiah

We learned a lot of  interesting things from him.  One interesting thing, was that the Mayan people were given that name after the Spaniards invaded.  The Spaniards would ask the people questions in spanish, and they would answer "maya" (pronounced 'maja')"- which means "I don't understand you" and so they Spaniards named them them the "Mayan".  Of course, we know their original name was the "Lamanites", and later the "Itzas".  That's where Chichen Itza gets it's name.  It means "at the mouth of the well of the Itza's".  The "well" part probably because of all the cenotes there.

We also learned that "chicle" is a Mayan word and not Spanish.  In Mayan "chi" means "mouth" and "icle" means "to chew".  Mosiah showed us gum trees all over the jungle.  The people used the sap to chew and clean their teeth, and also like a "glue"when they made things.

Mosiah gave us hibiscus flowers before we went in.  Iguanas eat them.  Hallie fed this one hers.  The people also used the hibiscus flowers for food.  I tasted some hibiscus juice at breakfast one day.  It was ok.  It kind of tasted like sweet watermelon/chamomille tea.

This thing had stairs that went into the ground.  Most tour guides say it was a sort of hot tub the Mayans used for relaxation, but Mosiah told us it is actually a baptismal font.

These are the original handprints of someone.  They are called the  "powerful hands" and represent the laying on of hands or power of the priesthood.

Over looking the ocean on a scary cliff.

The beach in Tulum.  It is much prettier in real life than it looks in this picture.

Tuesday Night

Tonight we ate dinner at a restaurant named "Hacienda Sisal".  There was a Mexican buffet, and entertainment.  First there were mariachis, then a "Caribbean" show with a bunch of different dance numbers.  Everyone loved it!  Emily and Dylan were in a trance at the mariachis, but then fell asleep for the dancing.

 Here's the whole fam right outside the restaurant.

Dylan LOVED the mariachis, he clapped after every song, and hardly ate his dinner.

Hallie and Spencer clapped and cheered till the end.  Spencer was even bouncing and dancing in his chair.  It was SO fun!  It totally made me want to sign up for Latin dancing.  It would be such a good workout!

The outfits were a little PG-13, but that's their culture.  Think sparkly bikini tops and thong bottoms with ruffles, and headpieces.  When we were leaving, I asked Hallie if she would want to do dancing like that, and she says "Ya, if I didn't have to wear those clothes...they were too 'showy'."  It was cute. 

And we all had a favorite dancer.   He was a little femmy blonde latin boy.  He was the best one by far.  I mostly only watched him because he was so entertaining.  He would totally win Mexico Dancing with Stars, if there was such a thing.  We went on stage afterward and got a few pictures with the dancers. 

  That's our fave next to Hallie.

Femmy boy tried to lift me up, but I quickly shot him down since I was wearing a dress-I didn't want to flash my awesome underwear to the whole audience!!

Cancun 09-Part 1

Wow! I really need to get all my Cancun pictures on here before I forget everything! Today we start Part 1- Saturday, Sunday, Monday.

Saturday

Today is the day.  We woke up early, and headed to the airport like 2 hours early, because Mike was paranoid we wouldn't make the 1-hour luggage cut-off (it almost happened to us last year when we went to Cabo, but ticket lady was nice and "let it slide.")  

We got checked in quickly, with no problem, and headed up to find our gate and get a delicious airport fast-food breakfast.  After we eat at hyper speed, we find our gate.  Mike checks the marquee or whatever it is at the gate check-in desk, and we find out that the flight is delayed 30 minutes.  We think, "Annoying, but oh well."  A little time passes, and Mike goes to check on things, the plane is now delayed 50 minutes, and it could be longer.  I'm starting to get really annoyed and nervous about the 4 hour flight with the kids after being in the airport for so long. We finally left around 11am-we were supposed to leave at 9am.  

When we were on the flight, everything was good.  The kids behaved, sleept, and watched movies.  Halfway through the flight,  the flight attendant came to take everyone's order for lunch (ripoff $7 for cheese, crackers, and grapes) and just as we get ours, they announce that there is no more food.  They haven't anticipated a full flight.  Don't they know how many people will be on the plane before they are mid-air? We were lucky, but a lot of other people on the airplane didn't get anything, including Amber, who we brought to help with the kids (since my parents couldln't go).  We couldn't believe it.  

Then, when they passed out the customs forms just before we landed, there weren't enough of those, either!  RETARDED!  So we had to get our forms from a Mexican airport worker as we got off the plane and fill them out standing in the hallway that goes to customs.  At least half our plane was doing that.  And,of course, the customs lines were enormous.  We were SO relieved to find our ride still there waiting for us when we got outside to take us to our timeshare condo.  (Except when we discovered our missing video camera!  GGGRRR!)

Sunday/Monday

We just relaxed on these days.  The beach and the pool were great!  The weather was really nice, too.  Cancun is always warm in March, but also windy.  This time, it was just breezy and beautiful!  

I love this bathing suit!

Mike, Spencer, Hallie, and Amber went parasailing.  They asked me if I wanted to do it, but I said no way.  They all said that it was fun but not as exciting as the ride on the waverunner out to the boat.  

Amber & Hallie

Mike & Spencer

The guy taking Spencer and Mike jumped a wave on the way out, and they got some air.  (Obviously, I was a little late taking the picture)

The kids also got their picture taken with a disgusting giant iguana on the beach.  Emily wouldn't touch it.  Like mother, like daughter.  

These pictures look fake, like someone photoshopped them into a tropical background, but that's just how pretty Cancun is!

The last activity was pottery painting.  Spencer painted a rainbow bunny with long eyelashes. At first he was going to do it and give it to one of his goofy friends for a joke, but he ended up actually liking it.  He's getting to the age when retarded things are super funny and cool.

Hallie painted a seahorse-beautifully, of course.

Emily painted Spiderman, no surprise there.

Dylan painted a solid red cactus, but he said it was a tree.  Little Arizona boy.

(On a side note: Earlier in the day, I had checked out the pottery place to see what there was to paint and I saw  a "Lightning McQueen" from the movie "Cars".  That's Dylan's favorite car from his favorite movie.  When we got there, it was gone.  He was sad.  I think he chose red for the cactus because it was the color of "McQueen")