Family Fun

We were blessed to finish out 2017 and begin 2018 surrounded by family. We got to spend a few days with my side of the family before Christmas and then headed down to South Padre Island on Christmas Day to spend a week with Jeff's side of the family. We had so much fun and made so many wonderful memories!

Crazy Cousins

So thankful to have these two beautiful ladies in my life!

Shooting lessons and target practice with an expert

Cousins and best friends

South Padre House

We played lots of Trivial Pursuit

These crazies thought it was warm enough to get in the water!

So much beach fun!

This little lady loved the beach and
wanted to be out with the big kids!

It really doesn't get any better than this!

Max and Slade really bonded!

Celebrating Mimi and Grandpa's anniversary at Dirty Al's

The breakfast chefs at our house were amazing!

Victoria and Clay were so proud of their pancakes,
which they made with their very own pancake makers.

It was necessary to sit in the hot tub after a cold day at the beach.

A cold beach picnic

Uncle Alan was a good sport and let the kids bury him in the sand.

New Year's Eve on the beach commemorated in shells

New Year's Head Gear

Playing Mexican Train while waiting on midnight

Ready for the countdown

New Year's Day breakfast at Yummies Bistro

The Polar Bear Club

The Buckhorn Museum in San Antonio

Grandpa bought everyone a round of root beer at the Buckhorn,
since it claims to be the place that pioneered the idea during Prohibition.

Celebrating 40

I turned 40 on Friday, and I did it right! My sweet hubby surprised me with a trip to the new Palafitos (overwater bungalows) in the Mexican Riviera. (He also surprised himself by accidentally revealing the gift to me months before he intended to!) We arrived at the resort on Wednesday around noon and instantly began to be treated like royalty. We had some lunch in the overwater restaurant and then took a walk around the resort, before settling into our amazing palafito. We spent the next few days lounging on our patio, alternating between the large lounge chair and the private pool, and eating large quantities of delicious food. On my birthday, the staff went all out to make sure my day was special. They put a sign on the door, decorated the bed when they did the turn-down service, delivered a beautiful dessert to the room, and even filled up our jacuzzi. It was such a special trip and a wonderful way to enter a new decade!

El Dorado Maroma Resort

Our beautiful palafito

Everything we ate was beautiful as well as delicious!

I certainly did feel special on my birthday!

*I am celebrating turning 40 all year long with a Year of Firsts. I am keeping a separate blog for documenting that journey, if you want to check it out.*

Salt Lake City

We spent the afternoon and evening in Salt Lake City and had a great time. We started with lunch at Crown Burger, which is credited with being the originator of the must-eat food for Utah, the pastrami burger, from our list of what to eat in every state. Then, we walked over to Temple Square and took a look at the impressive Mormon Tabernacle. After that, we drove out to Antelope Island for a close up view (and smell!) of the Great Salt Lake and Garr Ranch. Finally, we headed back into the city, to the Olympic training center, for our curling lesson, which was such a blast! They didn't ask is to join the Olympic team on the spot, but we're expecting a call just any time.

Home of the original pastrami burger

The Mormon Tabernacle

The Great Salt Lake

The black line along the edge of the water
is brine flies, which is one of the few species
that can survive in the lake. They flew up in a
wave as we approached the water
and effectively kept us away.

Bison are frequent visitors to the salt
flats left when the water evaporates.

This chair at Garr Ranch made
my big girl look small.

Horses at Garr Ranch

Looking across the lake toward the city

Ready to deliver the stone

The art of curling

Curling is Jeff's all-time favorite
winter Olympic sport, so he was
thrilled to have the opportunity
to attend a lesson at Utah's Oval,
using actual Olympic stones.

Demonstrating the
 "Super Man" technique.

Jeff delivers while the boys sweep

Ready for the Olympics

Vancouver

Yesterday morning, we hopped up bright and early so we could make our way across the Canadian border and meet up with the guy we hired to drive our van to Alaska for us while we cruise up there. Since our Airbnb place wasn't going to be ready until around 3:00, we needed an entertaining place to spend the day where having all our belongings with us wouldn't be a problem. We settled on Stanley Park. It was a beautiful day, and the park offered playgrounds, grassy areas, basketball courts, gymnastic rings, a hollowed out tree hideout, beach access, a lovely walking path, restrooms, and picnic tables. It was pretty much a perfect place for us, and we ended up staying until about 7:00 (which was slightly longer than we intended because, frustratingly, Vancouver doesn't have Uber, which we didn't know ahead of time, so we had to track down a cab company that could carry all of us and all our stuff, plus took credit cards. And, when we did finally find one, we had to wait 40 minutes for them to show up. We've gotten so spoiled using Uber that this seemed like a hardship. In truth, everyone was happy hanging out at the park, so it wasn't really too much of an issue.) We did finally make it to our lovely little Airbnb, which reminded us of several places we stayed in Europe. We dropped off our stuff and then walked down to a very authentic Italian restaurant, further reminding us of good times in Europe.

Today has been more about taking care of business, as we needed to pick up a few necessities and get our laundry done before embarking on our Alaskan cruise tomorrow. We did have a wonderful breakfast at Knight and Day and then grabbed some sushi for dinner.

The homeless Watts arrive at Stanley Park

I found the beach for the first time on our trip,
and even though it was colder than a proper
beach trip should be, I soaked it up!

This kid and his amazing strength!

Searching for treasures

Clay spent hours hiding out in this tree

Best hideout ever!

One of two awesome playgrounds

I was bundled almost head to toe, and I never once thought about sunscreen. But the day left me with a lovely
 souvenir on the only exposed parts of my body.
You can't imagine how attractive it is.

Mountain view from our Airbnb