Mexico Vacation Day 1

I will start off these series of posts with my usual vacation disclaimer.  There will be a lot of pictures. A lot. This blog is my scrapbook and therefore I fill it up with lots of cute pictures and memories. OK, you have been warned. :)

So about 3 1/2 years ago Marc won an award from his company.  He was selected as one of 10 engineers throughout the entire company and named Engineer of the Year.  It was quite a huge honor and we enjoyed a weekend trip to headquarters in NYC that winter. Part of his award was a stock award, and he couldn't touch it for 3 years.  That's the way his company keeps employees around.  They lock up money in stock for 3 years and you can have it if you are still at the company 3 years later. So anyway, Marc wanted to do something fun with this money, and he had enough frequent flyer points for us all to fly to Mexico for practically free. Early this year we started looking at places to go on vacation and we ended up with Cancun, Mexico.  Marc and I have been twice before, and it's a fairly cheap option compared to other locations. Because we were flying on points we had some less than ideal flight times, but that was totally okay to fly for free.  We arrived in our room about 10PM (11PM body clock time), so of course we ordered room service pizza. We were on vacation at an all-inclusive resort after all.

The next day was beautiful and the girls couldn't wait to get swimming.

 

The girls found some friends and we stopped by several times a day to say hi. 

After breakfast the girls took a quick walk on the beach.

And then it was time for swimming! Our resort was in a great location.  The water was super calm and super shallow.  This allowed the girls to play without us being worried about the undertow.

 

 

 After a late night and a morning playing hard in the sun, this girl crashed and took an hour nap on the beach. That was pretty awesome.

 

After Brooke's nap we headed to the pool. The girls played hard all afternoon too.

 Back to our turtle friends.  Kayla quickly discovered that if she splashed her fingers in the water the turtles would swim over. I never saw anyone feeding them, but they seemed to be trained to come to people for some reason.

 This was the view from our room. Breathtaking.

The girls fell asleep quickly and slept hard. It was a perfect day in paradise.

"Once Upon a Time"

Our May activities concluded with the children's musical at church. Brooke was so excited to sing on stage with her choir. She found us quickly in the audience.

 

Kayla had a couple of parts in the musical this year.  She was a child of the old woman who lived in a shoe.

She was also a shoe-be-doo-wap girl and had a dance to perform during a song. She had fun preparing for these to parts, but it sure was a lot of extra practices! 

Macy waiting to sing.

Both girls in one shot on the big screen. What are the chances?!?

The girls had a great time singing and performing, but now it is officially summer break!

Celebrating Macy

We started off the birthday morning with cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I'd love to have made her homemade rolls, but that just wasn't happening this year.

After a relaxing morning opening presents and playing around we took the birthday girl to lunch at the American Girl bistro. We have never dined here and she was super excited.

She has been wanting to get Grace's ears pierced for a while, so Kayla chose to give that to Macy as her birthday present. Macy was thrilled.

Both Grace and Kate joined us for lunch.

That evening we had steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, and fruit as requested by the birthday girl.  Family came over to help celebrate our special Macy. 

Cousins. They love each other so much. What a great day celebrating a great girl.

Happy Birthday Macy!

The long awaited day has arrived.  Macy is now 8 years old. She has been counting down the days since Kayla's birthday 6 weeks ago.  Excited is such a mild adjective to describe the anticipation of being eight.

Some of your favorites:

books: Magic Tree House

games: CrossWise

song: Frozen soundtrack

color: green

food: mashed potatoes, Chick-fil-A

drink: sweet tea

sweet: candy

friend: Katelyn

clothing: long dresses

Macy you are such a special little girl.  You love to read, create, plan, and play. There isn't much that your sisters can't talk you into doing with them.  You love to be outside and the pool would be your choice of summer activities, no matter how cold the water is. :)

You are soft-spoken and sometimes it's hard to figure out what is going on in that pretty little head of yours. You are tough and sensitive all rolled into one little girl.  It takes you a while to make a close friendship, but once you do you love your friends fiercely.

Traveling is one of your favorite things to do, and coming home from vacation is one of your least favorite things. I'm not sure how our return home from Mexico this summer will go, but I'm so excited to have this experience with you.

Reading is a favorite afternoon and bedtime activity. You love reading and there are always books spread across your room. It's not unusual for Mommy and Daddy to come in your room at night and to find you asleep with a book on your chest.

Macy,
You are such a ray of sunshine in our lives.  You love life and love being with your family. You have quite the sense of humor and your wit often catches us off guard.  We can read your feelings through your eyes and the sparkle of happiness in those baby blues is unmistakable. You love fiercely, are extremely loyal, and I couldn't be more thankful to be your mother. Thank you for the smile and laughter you bring to our family. I can't wait to see what this next year hold for you sweet girl.
Love,
Mommy

Dance Recitals

We enjoyed another evening of dance recitals this weekend.  Macy chose tap and jazz while Brooke chose ballet and tap. They did such a great job on their performances.  Sweet Brooke was front and center for her dances.

 Now if we can just get them to smile next year while they are dancing. Such concentration!

 

Tour of the World

Kayla has been working on a big project at the end of 4th grade.  She had to research a country, write a report, create a box of pictures and information, and decorate a table. She has worked so hard and learned so much.  We were so thankful that her Uncle Chris and Aunt Amanda were in Kenya when she first chose this country so they were able to send her some amazing things, including a few snacks which made preparing a food super easy on this mama. :)

She taught her class about Kenya too!

The whole class did such an amazing job. They worked so hard and learned so much. What a great experience this was for her!