Christian The Lion

Okay, I'm such a girl. I sitting here watching this video crying my eyes out. Of course, James and Dylan are looking at me like I'm crazy. While checking out MSN today, I came upon this video of Christian the lion and an interview they did with one of his owners. This makes me want to go get a lion cub right now. Do cat allergies include lions? Watch the videos.

More Pics from Mexico

The previously mentioned shack. I stayed under the blue canopy for most of our stay.
Here's Dylan playing ping pong by the pool with his new friend, Raoul (not sure I spelled it right). Raoul was from California. One of the few American families we saw there.
Austin holding his coconut. He climbed a tree to get this himself. Then he walked around the resort asking workers to cut it open for him. He decided coconut milk is not all it's cracked up to be.
This is one of the other American families we met. They were from Maryland. We first met them playing in the ocean with the boogie boards. The next day they were on our snorkeling trip with us. Then we played catch together in the pool. It was nice to have people to talk to. The boys even played basketball and shuffleboard with the dad and his two sons.

More From Mexico

Here we are at the marina, waiting to board our boat, The Shamballa. We were setting off on an all day long snorkeling trip. Austin and Dylan held a parrot.
James and I enjoying the view on our way out to the snorkeling area.
James, Austin and Dylan snorkeling. I didn't stay in long. Something kept stinging me. I saw the fish and then I was done.
The second part of our snorkeling trip was being dropped off onto this secluded beach to spend the next three hours. We ate lunch in this shack, I mean restaurant, then we spent the next two and a half hours playing in the waves and sand. Okay, I spent most of it in the shade of the shack (restaurant), but the boys played in the sand. I don't think James got out of the water the whole time.

Back from Mexico

On our first full day in Mexico, James and I attended a sort of time share presentation (yes, we're suckers). The salesperson told us about a place up the beach where they release baby sea turtles into the ocean. It was ONLY an hour and a half walk. So, after dinner, off we went to see the baby sea turtles. Did we really know where we were going? No, but how hard could it be to find it in a country where they don't speak our language?
On our way we passed an area we dubbed as "crab land". There were literally 1000's of crabs. I am one to exaggerate, but really, I'm not exaggerating now. We discovered that we were in "crab land" when Dylan had to pee. Of course, we were in the middle of no where, on a beach. We told him to go up to where some shrubs were and pee. We hear him say, "Wow, there's lots of holes up here. They're really big." The next thing we see is Dylan running down the hill screaming about huge crabs. They were probably about the size of my hand. Here's one of the little guys.
We found the place where they sometimes release baby sea turtles back into the ocean. There was a photographer taking sunset pictures on the beach for a resort. He told us it was always hit or miss. There's never really a schedule for when they do it or exactly where they do it. Shouldn't have we checked into this before we set out on our three hour hike up the beach? Oh well, I got a pretty picture of Austin and Dylan during the sunset.

They were dry when we started out on our journey. Not for long.
Three long hours later, we arrive 100 feet away from our resort. By this time it was pitch black and storming off in the distance. I stopped to wait for the boys to catch up to me (I had sprinted my way ahead of them trying to get out of crab land before dark.) when I noticed a couple staring at something. It looked like a little kid digging in the sand. Upon a closer look I saw it was a sea turtle. She was laying eggs in the sand. James did not find it funny that we were only 100 ft from our hotel when we finally saw a sea turtle. Oh well, at least we walked off all those tropical drinks we had been drinking for the past two days.

Parasailing in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico

We are back from Mexico. On our last day there, Austin and Dylan went parasailing on the beach. James and I didn't do it because we ran out of cash, but the boys had a great time.

Austin went first. Our little daredevil had no hesitation. I wasn't really nervous while he was flying, but that all changed when Dylan had his turn. James put the videos and pictures together into this movie. At the end of Dylan's turn, you can hear the fear in my voice. But they both did great and loved the experience.

Family Pictures

Today we went to Sears to have family pictures made. We spent a pretty penny making sure everyone got their portraits. Considering we haven't had a family picture made since Dylan wore diapers, I think it was okay to splurge. Here's the family picture we picked out for everyone.

I love this one of the boys and James. It looks like a normal day at home.

Me and My Honey Bunny

James said I looked annoyed in this one, but I love it!

My sweet boys. Notice Austin is looking at the photographer and Dylan is looking at James. Of course, James was doing all kinds of crazy things to make them laugh. I think the photographer felt sorry for me. She kept saying I needed a little girl. Ahhh, wouldn't that be lovely?

I passed!

Well, today I went to take my state and National exam to be a real estate agent. I wasn't really nervous on the way there. I had been taking practice tests all weekend and did well on them. I really felt prepared, until I walked in the building. After checking in, I sat down, waiting to get started. Three other guys walked in who had already taken the test before and failed. Suddenly I had butterflies in my stomach. They talked a little about how hard the test was. Oh I wanted to throw up.

Then I sat down at the computer to get started. After answering the first three questions, I wanted to start calculating how many questions I thought I was missing, but no I had to focus. By the end I thought for sure I had failed. When I clicked the "quit" button I closed my eyes as if I expected the screen to turn red and say, "YOU FAILED YOU BIG LOSER!" I nervously walked out to collect my scores from the proctor. He handed me the first piece of paper out of the printer and said, "These are the instructions for applying for your licence. They only give you these if you pass." It took a second for it to register what he was saying. Once my brain caught up with my ears, I did a quiet little jump. (Others were still testing) What a relief!!!

Of course, I had to call James and tell him the news. When I got home, Dylan greeted me at the door to say congratulations. What a sweet boy. I'm so excited to get started. It's still weeks down the road before I really get started, but I think I just jumped the biggest hurdle.

Where have I been?

I checked out the blog today to go visit my friend Sabrina's blog when I noticed the date of the last post. Oh my gosh, where have I been? Of course, I have been working on an online real estate course for about two weeks now, so I guess I do have an excuse not to be blogging like a mad woman. But I haven't been a terrible mother, ignoring my children. I have taken a couple of days here and there to have fun with them.

The other day we went to the water park. Dylan had been putting on the guilt trip a little bit about doing nothing fun. So, I turned off the computer and off we went. It was a cloudy day and very windy. I was freezing. How can someone be freezing on an 80 degree day? I don't know how, but I was. So, I laid out on the chair, with my shirt still on. Austin and Dylan went in the pool. After about thirty minutes they came out shivering with blue lips. They were whining about wanting to leave. I was thinking, I just paid nearly $20 for us to be here. We are staying, get back in the pool. Over the PA system came a saving voice: "A balloon animal maker will be down by the kiddie pool. If you'd like a balloon animal get in line. Oh yeah, it's absolutely free." The boys decided to get in line. They proceeded to wait about an hour and a half! But the wait was worth it. They were so patient. Lots of kids ended up giving up and getting out of line, but not Austin and Dylan. The balloon animals were amazing! The guy was stationed right next to my chair, so I got to watch him make the animals. He was very talented. Austin got a Road Runner and Dylan got a monkey on a banana tree.

Right as the boys got their balloon animals, the clouds parted and out came the sun. I babysat the balloon animals while the boys went down the water slides and played some more in the pool. I even ended up getting a little too much sun on my face. I didn't think I needed my floppy hat on such a cloudy day. Oh well, lesson learned. It ended up being a great day after all.

James and the boys are in Kentucky this weekend. I'm staying home to study for my state/National real estate test. I finished my first real estate course. I'm taking the test on Monday. Then I'll have another short course to take. My plan is to be finished before we leave for Mexico on the 14th. I want to have guilt free fun while I'm there. Oh well, I guess I'll get back to work. Just wanted to let everyone know we are still alive and having a great summer.