Mexico Vacation 2009

After almost a year of waiting and planning, it was finally time to head to Cancun for Scott and Sherry's wedding.  The kids did nothing but swim and swim.  They spent about 5-6 hours a day in the pool.  Collin was already a fish - he didn't need a life jacket the whole week.  Ella within days was swimming across the pool all by herself with no life jacket, and even Madelyn got in on the action.  We divided our time between swimming in the pool and the "hot pool" and playing in the sand at the beach.  I'll post some pictures from the wedding soon!!

Matt and the girls sitting on the edge of the "hot pool" as the kids called it.

We ate dinner at a Japanese restaurant where they cooked the food in front of you - all as part of a show.  The kids were really scared at first, but by the end they loved it.  All they talked about was the "fire man" and begged to eat there again all week.  We did give in and enjoyed one more meal there at the end of the week.  Who knew a 5 and 3 year old would love tepen-yaki!

Collin taking after his mommy and soaking up some sun.

We went out on a boat from Puerto Muerelos and gave the kids a chance to try real snorkeling.  They were so excited to go, but once we got out there they were a little more skeptical.  They both gave it a try, but then decided they didn't want to use the snorkels.  I thought it would work okay for them to just hold their breath and look down then lift their heads to breathe....but because it was so windy, the water was pretty rough and every time they put their head up for a breath they got a mouth full of salt water instead.  They did great, they were real troopers - they tried it for 10 minutes or so.  One of the scuba guys dragged Ella around on a life ring and she looked down and saw some fish.  Collin latched on to me and tried to see some fish too, but after a while they were both done and just wanted to get back on the boat.  I was proud of them for trying - especially considering how rough the water was.  The rest of us finished out the 2 snorkel sites, with some pretty good snorkeling.

After snorkeling we headed to the beach, and Madelyn got her first taste of the beach - and I mean literally.  She would sit in the sand and intentionally eat hand fulls of sand - it must taste terrible, I don't know why she kept eating it.  She also just wandered and wandered - it was like she was the definition of chaos, just wandering with no direction or meaning and certainly no fear of being away from anybody that she knew.  She loved the beach - but if it was any indication, it's going to be a busy summer chasing her around!

One evening we let the kids play in the "hot pool" after dark.  After watching Scott's nieces and nephew jump off the edge into the pool, Collin and Ella decided to give it a try.  Collin stood up and without hesitation jumped.  I wasn't sure if Ella would do it, but she didn't even get all the way to standing before she jumped in - she literally didn't even look down, she just climbed up and plummeted over the edge.  They got yelled at by a worker so they had to stop.  The rest of the week I kept trying to get them to jump just once more so I could take some pictures.  Collin being the rule follower that he is, couldn't be convinced until the last day.

Neither of the girls had any problem taking a siesta on the beach!!

Collin and Ella finally got to have a "fancy drink" from the swim up bar on the last day.

Madelyn had no fear at all of the water.  In the kiddie pool she would walk around until she fell and then when you picked her up from underwater, she would literally come up with a smile on her face.  She wanted to do it again and again.

Some video of Madelyn at the beach!  Collin does not hesitate to cover her in sand.

Easter 2009

Easter 2009 was a lot of fun this year.  The kids started out by painting their eggs with little paint rollers - it worked really good, and the eggs turned out really pretty.

Easter morning Collin and Ella were so excited to see if the Easter bunny had come.  Collin came in our room early and while he was going to wake Ella up so they could go down together, mom and dad had a little scare.  Since the "Easter Bunny" had come sometime in the night, the Easter baskets FULL of chocolate had been sitting out on the floor all night.  We had been dog-sitting Bailee, who has full roam of the main level.  It suddenly occurred to us that chocolate can be deadly for dogs - allergies or something.  I was so afraid the kids were going to go down and instead of finding a basket of treats, they were going to find a dead dog laying by their baskets covered in chocolate.  Lucky for us, Bailee is a good girl and kept her distance!

Madelyn was very excited to find some goldfish and other crackers in her eggs.

All dressed up and ready for church.

Time for the annual Treasure Hunt!  The kids really had fun this year.  They were old enough to actually figure the clues out.  They took turns with every other clue, figuring it out and then running around the house to find the next hidden egg.  

it was warm enough that we could actually do some of the clues outside this year.

Madelyn got a bubble machine at the end of the treasure hunt.  She absolutely loved it.  She ran all over trying to catch all the bubbles.

After the excitement from the treasure hunt wore off, and with the ham cooking in the crock pot, we decided to head off for a bike ride with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Terry.  We biked 1 1/2 miles down to Frog Hollow park and the kids played for awhile before we biked back.  

Who's Babysitting Who??

We are dog-sitting Bailee while my parents are in Mexico.  Today Collin had a friend Ella over to play.  I am not joking when I say they spent an hour playing "doctor" to Bailee.  She was diagnosed with a broken toenail, growing whiskers, in need of a hair cut to prevent eye problems, black lips, and a twisted stomach from eating sharp things.  However Collin did assure me that the broken toenail was not because she was sick, but because when dogs get old, some parts just fall off!  Mom and Dad the bill will be in the mail - be warned she did have to stay overnight one night!  Scott & Sherry notice the new magnifying glass in use. 

 

April Fools Day!

Collin had a blast with April Fools Day.  I didn't really think he would get it, so I had kind of forgot about it.  He came home from school talking all about April Fools Day.  He even tricked daddy.  He called and in a surprisingly convincing voice told Matt that he fell at school and got a broken bone.  Matt totally bought the whole thing...it was great, although a little scary how good of a liar Collin is.  Later after putting Collin to bed I played a little trick on him.  After waiting about 10 minutes (Collin wasn't even asleep yet) I went back in his room...

mom-"Wake up sleepy head, it's morning"

Collin-"What??"

mom-"Aren't you going to get up"  Ella has already eaten breakfast."

Collin-"She has?"

That's all it took and Collin was totally convinced.  He jumped out of bed with a big grin on his face, ready to start the day!  It was hilarious.  "April Fools" I say....he thought it was so funny that I tricked him..."Good one mom", he said.  Then he said, "but for April Fools you shouldn't do tricks like that because if you don't tell people that it's April Fools they might stay up way too late and be tired the next day."  I asked him if he really thought it was morning...."yeah, I thought the light in the hallway was the sun coming through the window!"  We snuggled back into bed and had a good laugh together...what a great way to end the day!

Playing at the hotel in ND

We had a lot of fun in ND celebrating great grandmas 90th birthday.  All 9 of great grandmas kids were there, most of the grandkids and a lot of little kids.  It was fun to see the 4th generation of "Fetters" all running around together.  The kids also had a blast playing at the hotel.  They played mini-golf, tried their new snorkeling gear, and swam and swam and swam - they really are fish.

READY FOR MEXICO!!