Messy, messy, messy!

Last week we took the kids for a Jeep ride to get some ice cream. I thought these were just too funny to keep to ourselves.

Brandy, just in case you were worried, we did get all the ice cream out of the carseat!

Grand Cayman

WARNING: Picture overload.

Back in January Mark received an email that indicated he'd been invited to join the "Golden Circle" in the company he works for. Apparently, the Golden Circle is for the salespeople in the company who meet their quotas for the year. This year, the salespeople were asked to nominate employees who'd helped them the most in their sales. Mark was one of them. Convergys flew us to Grand Cayman for a week to join the other recipients. We've been back for about a week and a half, but it's been an adjustment to get back to real life so I apologize for the delayed post. Because the majority of you who actually read our blog have already seen our pictures, I suppose I don't really feel that bad, but for the other 3 of you...

we stayed in this hotel...

...and spent most of our time at the beach.

The first full day, we were supposed to take a tour of the Norths Sound and visit Sting Ray Island, but it was closed all week. Instead, we enjoyed an outing in a glass-bottomed boat.

We looked at coral reefs,

and a shipwreck, and got an opportunity to snorkel afterward.

That evening, we went to dinner at The Wharf. We sat right by the Tarpon feeding frenzy.

These fish are HUGE and they eat meat. We tossed some bread out at one point and they didn't even blink (do fish blink?). However, if you dangle some meat out to them, they will do anything a fish is capable of doing to get it. Seriously, one of these splash in the water and it sounds like you threw my toddler in!

The next day we went to Georgetown and shopped. Probably the least exciting part of our trip, but the Tortuga Rum Truck was kind of fun!
We also got to go night snorkeling. Our guide took a lot of pictures and said she would give them to our trip organizer who would then get them to us. No luck on that yet, but if we ever get them, I'll be sure to share!

The last day we were supposed to go kayaking, but the seas were too rough on that side of the island, so we were treated to the Turtle Farms and Dolphin Discovery instead. This was THE BEST activity of the entire trip!

The turtles were fun, but the dolphins were certainly the highlight.
Mark "dancing" with a dolphin.

This is the "dorsal tow" two dolphins swim on either side of you while you hold on to their dorsal fin.

This is me on my way down from the "toe push". You lay on your stomach in the water and lock your knees and two dolphins come and push on your feet. They swim so fast that you push right up out of the water. WAY COOL!

Later that night was the awards banquet. The reception was held here.

This is Mark receiving his award. I know he does a good job with his work, and I am so proud of him!

Well, I've officially been on a tropical vacation and have been thoroughly spoiled. Thank you, Mark for the wonderful week. Love ya!

Close Enough

Ahh, mid 70's. Good enough for shorts and flip flops. My kids are in heaven.

...she also doesn't kill The Boy

Neesha is a wonderful mother. This is manifest every day in many different ways. Whenever The Boy has a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, which is basically every day, he'll ask for it to be cut into a specific shape. It started out as rectangles, triangles, and squares. Those were easy. One afternoon he asked for a diamond. This is harder than it sounds since you have to make sure it is presented on the plate correctly, otherwise it looks a lot like a square. Then, last month, he went through the alphabet, which was a bit more of a challenge.

Friday afternoon he asked for a car. Neesha thought about, then nodded and went to work.

Upon looking at the finished, car-shaped sandwich...

The Boy: Is that the best you can do?

mw

Happy (late) Easter

Our Easter was quite drawn out this year and we only just finished it on Sunday, so here's the rundown!

We started with an Easter Egg Hunt with cousins at the end of March.
The Queen preferred to swing.
Easter morning proved to be very entertaining.
We later enjoyed our semi-annual Conference Breakfast with Winegars (yummy crepes -- still need that recipe, Angie)!
Because Easter was over Conference weekend, The Queen didn't get to wear her Easter dress for the occasion, so we took pictures the next Sunday. She loves this dress. She gets excited to wear it and likes to twirl (it's so fun to have a girl)!
My younger brother, Josh treated them to yet another Easter Egg Hunt later that day. I still need pictures, Talena and Dad!