Here are four of my favorite shots (click on them to enlarge). At the bottom is a link to the slideshow on Flickr, to see more.

Perfect

She's Ready!

Chris and Scottie

Pretty girls!

Cheese!

Check out the full slideshow

In our search for the elusive house we did stumble upon an Irish bar called Kelley’s, and Kelley was from CO! What a small world. Even better was that Kelley’s was only a few blocks from our goal. So a quick tequila and we were off. We did find the house exactly where I remembered it to be across from putt-putt and the pharmacy, with the crazy pharmacy character still out front waving at people.

The door we were searching for!

On our way back to meet our friends we stopped at a local hole-in-the-wall (literally) and ate a scrumptious lunch of carne asada tacos and chicken tostadas–Mexicon style, not an Americanized version. All for $5!

After lunch we all meet back up, hopped in our taxi, and made our way to the beach. We ended up at a really nice resort-style place with a great pool, tons of beach chairs (that we didn’t have to pay for–even better), and a nice open-air bar. Unfortunately, the water was so rough and the waves were so big that we couldn’t do any snorkeling. This was a big bummer for the kids. I, however, chose to take advantage of the massage table. I can now say from experience that there is not much that can compare to a massage on the beach, with the sound of the surf, a nice breeze, and Mexican music playing in the background. H-E-A-V-E-N!

There’s so much more I could write about, but then this post would go on for days. So, here’s a little more of the good and the bad:

This was great too

• Mojitos and moonlight while chatting with the nice couple from Minneapolis, on the Serenity deck.
• The comedians were, well, funny.
• Shrimp, shrimp, and more shrimp. Fresh shrimp every dinner. YUM!
• Fruity umbrella drinks–rum, fruit, and umbrellas.

Not so much

• I lost my favorite pair of sunglasses.
• The water was so rough. Next time I have to have one of those little patches behind my ear.
• Grand Cayman. Sure, it was nice hanging with everyone at the beach for a few hours but the shopping was overrated and the prices were inflated.
• The casino sucked. No energy, no enthusiasm, and it took my money.
• The price of all those fruity umbrella drinks. You definitely pay for the rum, the fruit, and the umbrellas.

All in all, it was a great way to spend Chris’s 40th birthday. Thank you Dave and Ivonne, for inviting us to cruise with you and for footing part of the bill.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

I would like to say that I took Ferris’s advice, and looked around once in a while over the holiday season. That, however, would be a big, FAT lie. There was simply too much to do. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the holidays—I enjoyed them very much. I was just very busy which is really ironic, since I had 12 days off. ((That doesn’t include the other 3+ days I had off earlier in the month )) Let’s see where all the time went.

First stop, Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving, even if Chris did try to add his thumb to the stuffing. If you don’t take anything away from this post, take this away: iPod, cleaver, onions, 80s dance moves—they do not go together! Injury aside, it was a blessed day with FL family, and we all ate way too much (sans Johnson thumb).

Zachary and Jonah ham it up for the camera

Once November came to a close we rushed right in to December, and the arrival of mom. Things just weren’t working out in Denver. Mom’s friend passed away earlier in the year forcing her to move, and putting her out of a job at the same time. In this economy it’s tough to look for work and mom ran out of options. So we asked her to come back to FL, either for an extended visit or for the long haul, if we can manage not to kill each other.

Work was as busy as always with fun projects and interesting clients, both with eCollege and freelance. While December is usually a slower work month, since I had to take all of my vacation and personal time or lose it, I only worked 14 days. That would explain my workload, lol! Add to that a Christmas program, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s and Jonah’s birthday, and you’ve got “Wham! Bam! Thank you, Ma’am!” I can tell you this, it’s not easy playing mommy, Santa, Web Goddess, wife, daughter, and dominatrix, uh, wife. ((Wait, I said wife already, didn’t I?))

Christmas did seem to come and go, but it wasn’t a total blur. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve at Nana’s house. It was nice having so much family, mom included. Christmas morning brought another flurry of gifts, including a full-size telescope for Zachary and a plethora of Star Wars ships, figures, and clothing for Jonah. The gift that stole the show, however, was Rock Band 2. In a word, it ROCKS!!  ((Is that why it’s called ROCK Band?)) I don’t know who loves it more, Chris and I, or Zachary. We have had so much fun playing it. I even received the The Beatles version as a gift and it is awesome! Now that vacation has passed it’s been tough putting Rock Band on the back burner. I think we’re bummed out more than The Goose.

After Christmas we had Jonah’s birthday. I thought the stores had run out of Star Wars items, but if they did it’s because we bought everything. He won’t run out of Star Wars things until he’s an adult and by then he can sell them for a profit. It was awesome watching Jonah run around the house playing with the Millenium Falcon and Yoda. At 3 he actually flies them around and plays with them. Is that odd? Of course not!

Jonah blows out his candles

And there you have it. A flurry of activity in six short weeks. Or six long weeks, depending on how you look at it.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s. I hope that 2010 is happy, prosperous, fulfilling and fun. I hope that all my family and friends get everything they deserve in this new year, and in many new years to come.

I will apologize in advance for the “Blair Witch Project” filming of Zachary’s program. I was wearing heels and standing in the back. The result is not as smooth as I would like. Click on the play button to start (if you dare).

Jonah’s program was great for several reasons. First, I brought my tripod. Second, it was nice and short. His is the youngest class so they went first, meaning the boys were in bed on time. Of course, the entertainment value of Jonah’s program lies in the fact that there’s really not much too it except a bunch of 2-year olds crying and looking cute. Jonah was pretty funny. He was okay until he saw us. Then he would point to us and start to cry. Then he’d try and shake is shaker. Then he’d point and cry. Vicious circle.

I do have the October slideshow ready, LOL!

(TIP: if you want to see a pic’s details, just click on it.)

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

I know my fans are dying for more. Okay, I know my kid’s fans are dying for more:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Hang on for a busy December!

Thanks to Tina Turner, I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked to. Guess I’d better ask Santa to put a bigger compact flash card in my stocking.

The next few weeks went by in a Flurry. First we all enjoyed a nice weekend with Nana for her birthday (I’m not at liberty to say which one). We had dinner at Kobe, of course! Cory came down from Miami and we had a great time.

Next we had to start gearing up for Santa, and some time off. Work kept me on my toes, right up until my vacation. Nothing like working against a few deadlines while trying to play Santa at the same time. We got it done though. There was the visit to the mall for some shopping and to see Santa, which actually went pretty well. Jonah wasn’t too fussy and Zachary always has a smile ready for the camera! Nicole, Rick and the girls met us at the mall and we had a nice dinner at the Orlando Ale House. What made it even nicer is that it was paid for with the garage sale money we made earlier in the day!

The week before Christmas we went to Zachary’s school for the Christmas program. It was a great night–not too cool and everyone was in the holiday spirit. Zach’s class sang the Dreidel song, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Of course Zachary was the cutest, loudest performer The next night it was the cookie exchange at Uncle Dave and Aunt Ivonne’s. Christmas eve was spent wrapping…wrapping up last minute shopping as well as wrapping up gifts! Everything was done on time, and Santa was ready to stuff the stockings.

Christmas day started early (of course) with a sick baby and an excited pre-schooler. Jonah was cranky and stuffy all morning and spent his time sitting in Daddy’s lap. Zachary patiently handed out presents to everyone and even took turns opening. Of course, we all opened one gift to his three, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be. 2 1/2 hours later, we were ready to head over to Nana’s house to have breakfast and open more gifts. Unfortunately, Chris started feeling sick so after breakfast we went home and Chris and Jonah went down for naps. When everyone was awake, it was back to Uncle Dave’s for dinner where there were 35+ people assembled for the feast. The food was awesome and it was great to be surrounded by so much family. My one regret was that my brother couldn’t be there with us.

Now we’re on the verge of a new year. We’re working on resolutions to be a stronger family and better people. We hope that 2008 will bring joy and prosperity to everyone we hold dear and that the new year will be even better than the year that is passing.

Happy New Year to you all!!!