expectations...

In dealing with Ivan's autism/situation/diagnosis whatever you want to call it, there are things I expected to deal with. I knew we would have mountains to climb, but I also knew there would be valley's. With all the frustrations and upsets, that Ivan would have his good days, and he would learn and grow. But when I was reading in all the books, websites etc, there was one thing I didn't think about. I was so focused on Ivan...that I forgot how it affects my OTHER kids.

Harmony, being a typical oldest child, can be pretty bossy. Well last night, the kids had put a huge bucket of legos on my bed and were busy playing. I told them all the legos had to be picked up before bed and I wouldn't help. So they had finished, when Ivan came in, and dumped them out. Harmony was screaming. "I am so tired of him doing things like that." I asked them to please re-pick them up, and I had Ivan help pick up toys downstairs and tried to keep him away from them. Then he went in and got into her polly pockets. " Can't we just put Ivan outside like we do to Astro?" she asked.

I went in and talked to her. Talked to her about how special Ivan is. How he doesn't understand things the way she does. That his thought process is not like hers. I tried to explain to her, and she agreed that it would be difficult to try to get through life like he does. I told her that Heavenly Father sent Ivan to us, because we are the right family to make him feel loved and take care of him." I just wish we could get a break from him. It's not fair. It's like everything we do is focused on Ivan, Ivan, Ivan. Ethan and Connor and I have to do everything. It's not fair." And I told her no it isn't fair. I tried to put myself in her shoes and really listen to what she was saying. I promised that I would try. I would try to get them time away, but the fact is that we are a family. We stick together.

I don't know what to do. I have a hard enough time dealing with Ivan, let alone everything else that goes along with it.

Shout out

I just wanted to wish a very Happy 11th anniversary, to one of my favorite couples! Hope you have a great day! (Sorry I don't have any pics of the two of you, it has been way too long since I have seen you!)

cylical interests

I know that it can't just be me, who finds that their interests in things kind of comes and goes?Not completely abandoned, but just set aside.

Like take scrapbooking for example. While Ben was gone, that was my WHOLE focus...ok besides those 4 little rugrats running around. But I was buying magazines and products and scrappin' for hours every day. However, with the busyness of school and life again, it has really been put on the back burner. The other night, I sat looking in front of pictures and was just completely blank about what to do with them. Total scrappers block.

When we returned from Hawaii, Ben had literally eaten in a restaurant almost every day for over a month. And he was sick of it. So I really worked hard to plan my meals, and made sure he had nice homemade dinners. Which is when I started thinking about freezer cooking again. I also have found some fab food blogs that just make my mouth water looking at them. I have had so much fun cooking and baking lately. (Trust me, my clothes are getting a little tight!) I seriously have enjoyed being in the kitchen and even made pancakes from scratch. Not the huge ol' bag of Krutsteaz mix, actually from scratch. The kids loved them ( they were pb pancakes) and ate them all that morning!!

My other interest is organizing/home making. Which right now, is kind of in 2nd place with my other hobbies/interests. Still important but, just not as fun as cooking. So I am adding some links to the side of some of my favorite sites to visit. The picture is the snack we made for family movie night, last night. It is a candied popcorn. It was so yummy! And with having reses pieces in it, I think it would be fun to use as a Halloween treat. Perfect colors right?

Our favorites so far have been banana bars, missippi mudcake, taco salad, pb choc. oreo swirl cookies...and more. (Sense the dessert theme? We might need to branch out!)

Daddy's helper

After months of listening to me complain about our entertainment center, Ben took the matter into his own hands. Literally. He designed and than built me an entertainment center. :) It has been his project for the past little while.

So yesterday, while poor Ivan was stuck with Mom and Dad at home, he got to help Ben put the wheels on. Doesn't he look like he is helping and not making it harder? :)

Woo hoo!

At a quarter to 6, three of the kids were awake. 2 were completely dressed head to toe. Ivan was just cuddling. By the time we finally got out the door I thought I was going to strangle someone! They were so excited and just going wild. Which made Astro go wild. Which made them even more wild.

However, they did get off to their first day of school. They were very excited. Harmony had a lot of kids in her class that she knew (including her best friend). Ethan had a handful and Connor had a handful. So it was nice for them to know some of the kids. I didn't know the 2 older kids' teachers but Connor has Ethan's teacher from last year. Nice.

Ivan had a rough start to the morning, " I not go school, I play dominos." He wanted to go to the bus stop with the kids but wasn't happy that he couldn't get on. We took him on the Mommy & Daddy bus. He looked so teeny tiny next to all the big kids!And yes I cried when I dropped him off. Ben was like, "Marie you are such a girl." Ivan went right into his class and gave high 5's and went straight to the cars. We came back a little early and watched as he listened to a story about fire trucks. The teacher asked, "Ivan who drives a fire truck?" His answer, "I do." I can't wait to see what else he learns!

And what did Ben and I do with our free time? Go back to bed...not quite. We went to the gym and worked out. Good times!

ready for school?

**new backpacks? check
**school supplies? check
**new shoes? check
**new socks?check
**new underwear? check
**all shots up to date? check
**bus passes? check
**new uniforms? check
** food to make lunches? check

Sounds good right? All prepared until..." Hi Mrs. Turner. I just wanted to let you know that Ivan will be able to begin his services on Wed. Not the next week as we orginally thought." Jaw drops, and hits the floor. I knew that he would be going to school, but I didn't think quite yet. Now today I have to prepare for my BABY to go off to school. So I am going to go and find him a backpack and get it packed with his "school supplies"...diapers, wipes, extra outfit. Not as fun as new markers, crayons etc. but...

What a huge step! I thought I was ready, but now I am not so sure! :( I am going to miss my little buddy. It's a good thing Ben took this week off because I know there will be a lot of tears!

oops

I forgot, I am supposed to let everyone know that Harm updated her blog!If you don't have her address, it is on my list on the side.

Cheetah-licious

Awhile back, we recieved a post card from the Guam Girl scouts letting us know about a sleepover, and a movie "premier". The premier was the Cheetah Girls One World. Apparently Disney and the Girl Scout association partnered together, to bring an event to all the girl scouts in the world.

The event was only open to the first 50 who called. Well I was the number one caller! Each girl was also allowed to bring a friend if they wanted. So Harmony invited her friend Sydney to go with her.

I was a little hesitant to let her go because 1)it was a Sat-Sunday ( meaning she would be way tired for church 2) I knew because of her lack of sleep, would she be ready for a back to school schedule?

Of course I wouldn't let her miss out though! They got to watch the movie, some local Indian brought them bangles, bindis( not sure of sp)made them traditional food, they also got tattoos, posters, and magnets from Disney.

They had a great time but didn't go to bed until after midnight. She was exaughsted on Sunday and threw a fit during primary. She is currently up in her room because, "I can't do anything right and no one cares about my feelings." Can you say tired?

I am glad she had fun though. I think she really learned a lot!

10 more days...

until I wave goodbye to my 20's. I can't believe it. I really can't. Somedays I feel really young. I am cool. I have an ipod, I know what Twighlight is, and who Jordin Sparks is. I have sung the songs to Camp Rock and know when High School Musical 3 comes out. When Ben and I were getting ready to board our flight back to Guam, we were talking to a woman and she asked us how many kids we had. When I told her 4 she was like "no way, you are too young to have that many kids." Of course Ben made a comment that I was almost 30 when the woman said, " I thought you were in your early 20's!" Nice huh? Or the guard who came to our door and asked if he could "talk to your parent". See still young. But then there are those times , that I start to feel my age like...

**falling asleep before 8:30
**complaining about the noise level in the house
**finding my favorite movies. ..in the classics, same goes with music
**when I tried to explain to my 15 year old neighbor who Keanu Reeves is,and she had no idea what Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure was.
** when one of the guys that Ben works with is only 22
**that when the kids find out I watched some of the shows they like, when I was little, and they exclaim, "wow it must be really old."
** When they tell me that people are really old, like 25
** or when Ethan tells me that I am almost old enough to be a Grandma
**telling the kids that the Jonas' brothers pants are too tight and them telling me that, that is "what is cool Mom"

I know, I know, 30 isn't that OLD, but I swear it was just yesterday that I was graduating from high school. Time really flew by. I almost have a child in the "double digits".

Ben says I just need to embrace my 30's...yeah we will see!

Worldless Wednesday (with a few words)

How I keep the peace around here...

something missing?

It has been a long time since the tooth fairy made a visit at our house. I had been kind of concerned that the boys had yet to lose any teeth. I mean kids younger than them have lost not only one, but many teeth . While Connor's seem to be pretty firm in his mouth, Ethan finally felt that little wiggle. He wiggled and wiggled and ate apples so that he could lose his tooth. Every morning he would let me know that,"it is still wiggling!" Finally last night I reached in and messed with it for a little bit,and it just popped right out. A perfect little white tooth. That kid has seriously nice teeth. So now Ethan is the proud owner of a jack o lantern smile and a $1 from the tooth fairy. Isn't that smile adorable?!

freezer cooking update

(My hair looks awful in this pic. I know)
Thanks for everyone's ideas and tips! Since school is still a little over a week away, I have been trying to get a ton of stuff in the freezer. Harmony is loving it too and has been helping me do a lot of baking. While the baking is fun, I would rather have the main dishes. Know what I mean?

So I have a couple of pans of enchiladas, southwest crockpot stew, 1 portion containers of chicken (great idea Mary! I went out and bought 2 right away!)cookies, muffins. See what I mean about the main dishes?

I have alot more to do but I am having a lot of fun with it.

I know I have a lot more to do to get ready for the school year but am on my way. Wish me luck!

the luau that wasn't...

Ever since the birthday issue of American Girl magazine arrived in our mailbox, Harmony has wanted a luau on the beach. And living on an island, doesn't make sense? The perfect place right? Well maybe not during the rainy season...

The kids and I had been inside cleaning all morning. Ben made a Home Depot run, and as he was coming inside he said, "you do realize that it has been raining all day don't you?" I was like uh no I hadn't. I went out to pick up the cake and there were black clouds over our house.My short little drive to the commissary it started to pour again. And it didn't stop.

There was no way we could have it at the beach, and so I hurried home and called all the parents and told them we were going to have the party at our house. Luckily, I remembered almost everyone and so no one was driving around looking for us!

She had a lot of kids come and they ran around like crazy. She was absolutely spoiled rotten. We didn't have to many activities planned because the beach was supposed to be the entertainment! However, we did decorate flowers, and left Disney Channel on.

It was a lot of fun and the party actually flew by. So now we are not on birthday duty again until Febuary! Phew!

forts & identity crisis

The other day it was pouring down rain. So the kids were all stuck in the house. Connor and Ivan sat in this little fort for a good part of the day. It was cute because Connor was very patient and loving with him. I hate it when they take the cushions off of the couch but...

As for the identity crisis, these are the kinds of comments I keep hearing from Ivan...

"I not Ivan, I a cowboy!"
" I thirsty." me- "I thought you were Ivan!" "No I not Ivan I thirsty!"

"I don't want to be the big brother anymore!"

Poor Ethan. It is not easy to be the "man of the house when Daddy is gone." He has to help carry in groceries, take out the garbage, hold doors, put dvd's in, help with video games, change batteries and more. He usually does such a great job but...

Last night, Connor comes to me with big crocodile tears in his big blue eyes. I asked him what was wrong and he said, " I want to give Ivan my Elmo blanket." ( Little explanation, this is the blanket he has carried with him and comforted him since he was tiny). I asked him why and he said, " well Ethan told me that if I didn't let him have the bottom bunk, he was going to tell all of his friends that I have an Elmo blanket. I don't want to be embarrased."

I had a heart to heart with Ethan, although I am also going to have Ben do it also. I think it is different to hear it come from Dad also.

Anyway I explained to him that as the big brother, it is his responsibility to protect and watch out for his little brothers. That we don't tease them or try to embarass them in front of our friends. We talked for a little while when he declared, " I don't want to be the big brother anymore!" I realize it is hard for him to be in that position, but he is such a natural protector that I know he will be fine. But right now...it's not easy being the oldest boy!

Shout Outs

My cards are sitting on my desk, filled out and ready to be addressed. So since they are late, I just want to say

Happy 9th Anniversary to Amy and Edson! And....

Happy 29th birthday to my "little" brother Tom!

Hope your days are great and the cards will get there eventually! :)

"If you know one child with autism...

then you know one child with autsim." I have had quite a few people ask me lately, how Ivan is doing. The fact is, every day with Ivan is a completely different day.

When we got home from Hawaii, he ran into my arms and let me hold him. He talked and talked. I loved listening to him actually talk to me. Not just recite something, or repeat back. But talking. His behavior was very good, unlike the older ones. It was amazing. And I got this glimpse of what life could be like.

This week has been a completely different story. He went in to the clinic to get a ppd and flipped out when a girl sat in his chair. He ran circles at the school and refused to leave. He is throwing everything. He is hitting. He is very rough with Astro. He keeps trying to take off to go to the park. He threw a fit today when we took him to the clinic to have his ppd checked again. He didn't want to go back to the exam room. Then he threw a fit when they didn't. Then it was a fit about going back to the school. Only to go in and run circles again. Then it was a fit about going to the commissary. I took him to the movies, he usually does well, he threw a fit the whole time. Running in the aisles, taking the other kids' snacks, screaming.

The pictures from above are of our family night on Monday. We took Astro out to the dog park on base. Ivan spent the first little while with his face pressed up against the fence. Not looking at us. Not playing with us.

I am exaughsted at night after dealing with him. It is a daily struggle. But then he says something to me, that makes my day. Like, " we need get batties for the wii. Thas so awesome." Yeah he said awesome. The other day we drove past Navfac and he says, "Daddy thats where you work". I love hearing him talk like a big boy.

The gluten free diet...thank you so much to all who have sent us food. He definatley has things he likes and ones that he doesn't. So far it is hit and miss with what he will eat. I am trying to introduce him to different things, but if he won't eat it, I don't force it.

As for school, he has a home visit during the first week of school. Then he will go in and he will get an evaluation and his IEP. From there they will determine how much help he needs. It also determines the amount of time he is in school. It made me cry when I over heard a secratary (not a special ed teacher) say that the spec ed teacher would have her hands full, after watching me try to get him out of the school.I regret that I didn't say anything to her, but next time I will. I read about a lady who has a bumper sticker on her car that says, "My child has autism, what the hell is the matter with yours?"(Sorry for the language, it was a direct quote.) But I have decided I need one and will just tatoo it to my forehead.

I have gone on and on. This topic is so...touchy. For lack of a better word. Every day is different,and we just keep on keeping on.

homemakin'

A long time ago, I went to a homemaking meeting ( back when it was still called that)and one of the topics was freezer cooking. I wasn't sure exactly what they were talking about but I was totally interested in it. Once the girl started I was sold. I was already to implement this new way of cooking into my life. If you have never heard of freezer cooking, it just means making double or triple of a recipe and freezing them, to pull it out later. Some do it all on one day, some do one day of main dishes and another day of say cookies or breads. It sounded right up my alley...except for one small thing. Or a couple...
1) we were poor starving college students, we could barely afford rent let alone a membership to Costco

2) Ben was gone at school a lot

3) We only had Harmony...and she wasn't even eating baby food yet.

So I decided not to do it. The kids didn't really start eating all that much until we were living in Norfolk. I didn't do it then either because they had double coupon stores and my freezer and pantry were constantly stocked. (Those were the good ol' days huh Angie?)

Now being over here, my kids are really starting to eat. A bowl of cereal for breakfast is just not going to cut it. They are constantly eating. Plus, our lives are a lot crazier. With Girl Scouts, church callings/functions, wardroom functions, birthdays, and everything else that we are bombarded with. So I decided that now is the time.

I made what I thought was an enormous meatloaf, only to have the kids completely chow it down. There went my plan to put half in the freezer. However today I am on a roll. 2 pans of banana bars, one loaf of banana bread, white choc. chip macadamian nut cookie dough. Go me!!

Does anyone else do this? If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them! All I know is what I have been reading.

Happy 9 on the 9th

No I didn't forget. I would never forget Harmony's birthday. Although I teased her enough that she thought I did. On Friday evening, Miss Thing guessed what her gift was. Her Dad confirmed that her guess was right...and the next thing I knew it was out of the box and not one picture was snapped!!

So Harmony is now the proud owner of a pink DS...and she hasn't put it down since! Connor cried because he is the only one who doesn't have one.Poor thing!

Harmony is having a big laua birthday party at the beach. She is excited and so far she has quite a few friends coming. So I will be snapping a lot more pictures then.

I can't believe that I am old enough to have a 9 year old. Where did the time go?

The horrible no good very bad week

That is how I am feeling today. I have had so much go on this week, and none of it is good. I am tryingto get myself out of the funk that I am in, and so far it hasn't worked. I hate feeling like this. It really has been a horrible, no good, very bad week. :(

What do you get...

when you let the boys unload the dishwasher without supervision? This....

punishment

I think my kids are punishing me for leaving them. There behavior is awful. They are fighting, hitting, kicking, disobeying all my rules, making messes, pouting. Ugh! I am going to hurt one of them soon I swear. Welcome home!

are we done yet? Day 4 &5

I promise. Last post about our vacation. Even I am getting tired of posting about it! :)

So the 4th day was literally the best of the whole vacation. The conference was over, I got through to the Moss's (about the whole wrong day thing), no cell phones were ringing, no social engagements...it was just us. We were free to do what we wanted, and we did!

We slept in, no 7am breakfasts, and decided to go and get our tickets to the Polynesian Culture Center (or PCC). There is an office called ITT where we can get discounted tickets for military.

So we headed out to the base, that is near Pearl Harbor. We drove by the Arizona memorial and Pearl Harbor but we decided not to go. We had already packed in a lot and so if we ever go back, we will hit those two places.

Anyway, we got our tickets ( $17 discount on both, woohoo!) and than went inside their exchange and commissary. Holy cow! Their NEX was 3 stories and their commissary was ginormous. It made me very, very jealous! We picked up lunch and than started our drive out to the PCC. We stopped at a little rest stop on the water too eat lunch. Very peaceful.

I had heard two things about the PCC 1)it's very expensive 2) but it's worth the money. And I would have to say amen to both. However, it feels a lot better paying that money, when you know it is going to help pay someone's tuition instead of just going to some big company.

Anyway, we bought tickets that came with the night show, IMAX and a luau. First we went to all the different villages.I learned to weave with bannana leaves. The kids do this at school all the time but I had never tried it. We stopped and watched shows and watched a parade floating down the river. Each country that is represented their had dancers. Very neat to watch.

We took a tour and went over to BYU-Hawaii campus. I wanted to hit the bookstore and we found some great books and other fun stuff. We missed our tram back but a nice man let us in the back gate instead of making us walk all the way around. It helps to not look very intimidating!

It was almost time for our luau. Yummy food. I think Harm would have been upset to see the pig so it was probably good she wasn't there! We were sitting next to two elderly couples and they thought we were newlyweds. hah! We got our pictures taken and than did a little shopping before the night show.

If you have never seen a BYU dance production, well you are just missing out. It was very neat to watch. They didn't allow flash photography so that didn't make it easy. Instead I found myself recording a lot of it. I will put some of our fav videos on later.

After it was all done, I wanted to go and see the temple. Obviously it would be closed, but I just wanted to see it. We haven't been/seen a temple since we were in San Diego over a year ago. I went and snapped some pictures and than we were on our way back to the hotel.

Ben is tough and so he made us pack that night. OK he did most of the packing but he is good about fitting things in. It is a good thing we did it though because we didn't wake up until 9 the next day. We had planned to check out by 10.Oops.

We returned some stuff to Old Navy and headed to the airport. Our flight was delayed by an hour but no other problems. It's a long flight but without kids it seems much shorter. :)

I was sad about leaving Hawaii but ready to see the kids. So that is it. That was our trip in a not so small nutshell!

bored yet?

Luckily for all my loyal readers, day three was not that exciting! :) I am not even sure I took any pictures! We had the conference in the morning. The spouses (there was one husband) went to go listen to topics on IT and a presentation from the detailer. I think a lot of us took the opportunity to voice some complaints & concerns! After going over time, we had lunch and than Cindy and I went off to do more shopping.

This time we hit Old Navy, and Borders. Later there was a social hour at Tiki's. For those of us who don't drink, these social hours are not that exciting! So we made a quick exit, and headed to...Wal Mart. Yep we went back. (Becky I packed an extra suit case and Ben packed very light. Plus he is very good at stuffing bags!) And that was it. I started to not feel very well and by the end of the night I was still not feeling great. So I crashed!

Day 4: Last day of the conference! We had a chance to speak to an admiral (Ben said I can't be specific)and his wife about the challenges of being Navy spouses. The rest of the subjects weren't really of interest to me. Things like finding work and family stress etc.

After lunch and classes, I put the privacy please sign on the door and slept! Ben came back when he was done and we decided to go walk along the beach. It is such a packed beach. Tons of people out. So many surfers, that it was just fun to watch.

We came back and got ready to go to our friends, the Segalla's house for dinner. We had a great time catching up and spending time with them. They have 2 girls and I think Ben enjoyed "going back in time" a little. Harmony is just too old!

It was on this night that I realized that...I had given the Moss's (friends watching the kids) the wrong return date! The whole being a day behind thing threw me for a loop. Ben was the one that realized my mistake. I had told them Saturday but it was actually Sunday. I felt awful, ecspecially when I got the answering machine!

Vacation Day 2

Ok, so back to the vacation....

The conference started bright and early Tuesday morning. We didn't sleep very well at all, so being down to breakfast by 7 was not easy! I felt bad as people would come and talk to me and all I could do was yawn! :)

After a quick breakfast, with the yummiest pineapple ever, the conference began. The first day the spouses & military members met together. My friend Cindy has been gone all summer, so it was fun to catch up. The husbands didn't want us sitting next to each other because they figured we would just ignore them! But they let us sit by each other anyway. There were some very interesting speakers although I noticed Ben designing an entertainment center for us! So he couldn't have been too interested!

After lunch and a funny get to know you activity, the guys were heading back to the conference. When they were done, they were heading up to Diamond Head for PT (physical training). The wives were invited to go on the hike...but we decided to go shopping instead!!

We put the top down ( how fun was that) and went straight to Wal Mart. I was so giddy! I will not even tell you how much money I spent. Suffice it to say...it was a lot. I was so happy with all my good deals that the cashier told me she had never seen anyone so happy to shop at Wal Mart. So I had to explain to her I hadn't been there for over a year!

The trunk space in the car was not great, so we went to drop off our bags. The guys were just headed out to Diamond Head when we got there. So Cindy and I decided to stroll down the street by our hotel, and go into all the little shops. We loved going in and out and seeing all the crafts, jewlery, knick knacks etc. I dropped a pretty penny walking around there!

We went into a little market where the vendors were all trying to get us to buy things! We stayed strong and didn't although some things were very tempting! By this time the guys were back so we walked back to the hotel.

Ben was totally crashed out! They had run to Diamond Head, then hiked, and then ran back. Needless to say he was tired. After a little while we, along with Cindy and her husband Kirk, went to Cheesecake Factory.

The line was insanely long! I lost track of how long we stayed in it. We got some mean looks from Japanese people for saving spots on a bench. We finally got in though and ate. I had the Macadamian nut cheesecake, and holy cow Alishia, thanks for the recommendation!! It was soooo good. We were going to buy a whole one but they were all out of the size I wanted! Too bad. I am totally craving it now. Anyone know how to make one?

After eating we headed back to the hotel and decided to go and relax in the hot tub. It was really full, so we just went and swam in the pool for a little bit.

Ben is going to email his pics from Diamond Head and then I will post those.

We had planned to go and get a few things done today. But we are still worn out so the kids and I decided on a nice quiet day at home!

Agh!

I am taking just a short break from my vacation re-cap to say that I am FRUSTRATED!

Now all you Navy wives who are reading this, will be nodding your heads saying been there, done that!

I honestly love being in the Navy. I do. It can be a fun life and we have been able to see so much, courtesy of the Navy. But there is one thing that bugs me...our decisions are not necessarily ours.

I can't go in to the full details, but we are waiting to hear from someone else, what our next move will be. Do we have a say? No...not really. I know what I want. Ben knows what we want. Does the Commander care? Hmmm...probably a little bit. But his job is to look at how the Navy will benefit...not the Turners.

So we are on pins and needles waiting around. Trying not to get anxious for one thing, only to be let down. Maybe it is the control issue. I want to be in control and make my own decisions. Unfortunatley...it doesn't work that way. So I am left to feel very...FRUSTRATED!

Day 1

OK, so I must still be on Hawaii time...because I am worn out. I have been doing laundry, cleaned the fridge, gone grocery shopping and emptied suitcases. So I worn myself out! I have a lot of friends & family who have been/are on vacation and are trying not to bore their readers with their vacations. But as this is my blog and serves as my journal...you have to deal with it. Although you can skip it if you want, I'll never know! :)

I dropped the kids off on Monday afternoon and went shopping! I had ordered clothes and they didn't make it in time. Ben came home from work and we got to go out to eat by ourselves. We enjoyed Chinese food without the kids running around the food court. Gotta love that! It was just the beginning of our taste of freedom!

The next morning we started out at 3:30 in the morning. I know, I know! Way too early! We were on the plane for a good 7 hours. It went by pretty fast though! The food wasn't bad either. By the time we got off, we were sooo tired. But it was only like 6:00. My first stop was the bathroom. Don't you love the sign? Ben was teasing me about taking a pic of a bathroom sign but I thought it was cute.

We went to pick up our rental car and I just sat with our luggage. We were walking to the car and as we walked past sports cars, I kept saying, "oh is this ours?" So Ben pulls up to a red convertible mustang and says how about this one? I just laughed...until he unlocked it. The car we had reserved had all been rented and so would we "settle" for this one at the same price? You betcha!!

We got a little lost finding our hotel but it was fun to drive around and look at all the shops and sites. The weather was PERFECT! No humidity, no sweat dripping down my back. So nice.

After finding the hotel and checking in, we decided to go and get dinner. We went to this cute little (expensive) restaraunt called Tiki's. They had tiki's all over the walls and tables. It was cute. I had guava glazed ribs that were totally delish! We also tried this banana butter. It was so yummy. (Julie or Wendy do you know what I am talking about?) After eating we were tired though! I did buy a few little things that night but...

So that is about it for day 1. Watch out for more updates!

I'm home...and I'm tired

My house looks like a tornado went through it! With around 9 (or more) bags that need to be unpacked, gifts that are everywhere, kids who don't want Mom to leave their sight, kids who are talking their Mom's ear off, no groceries, and a to do list that is a mile long...well I guess the vacation is officially over!

We had such an amazing time and I can't wait to sit and blog about it. Unfortunatley, the above mentioned items need to be taken care of! So for now I am going to work on that and I will try to update later this evening. I am posting just a couple of pics though....