Joy School Graduation

Audrey had a wonderful time in Joy School this year. I was lucky enough to work with a great group of moms and the kids were a lot of fun as well. There were five children participating for the first half of the year, and then the last half of the year we had four children. So, that meant we had to teach every fourth or fifth week. We had a good balance of boys and girls, so that was nice. Joy School was held on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 2 1/2 hours. Each week we focused on a letter of the alphabet. Once we got through the alphabet, we did a combination of numbers and shapes. We had already done colors the previous year. Joy School was normally held at the teacher's house. But there were a few special days where the kids went on field trips. This year they went to the zoo, Houston Museum of Natural Science in Sugar Land, a fire station, and Kroger (a local grocery store). We also had a few weeks where we focused on holidays and the kids enjoyed parties those weeks as well. 

We got together on June 5 to have a graduation ceremony and party for the kids. Jessica hosted at her house, which was great since it was definitely warm enough to swim! :) We had a quick graduation ceremony, ate some lunch, and then the kids enjoyed the pool. 

Audrey, the Graduate:

The whole crew: Audrey, Laci, Wade, and Caleb.

Throwing their caps:

 

Laci and Audrey:

 

It took Audrey a little while to warm up to the slide, but once she did she didn't give Jessica much of a break:

I found these massive cupcakes at Costco (the picture doesn't do them justice) and just couldn't pass them up. So, after playing in the pool we cut each of these cupcakes in half (we probably could have done fourths) and the kids enjoyed a cupcake.

We had so much fun this past year in Joy School! I was just thinking of the friends Audrey made and how she'll miss them this coming year. It's too bad none of them are going to the preschool she'll be attending soon. But Audrey will be able to make new friends and of course still get together with her Joy School friends as well.

First Grade Award Ceremony

Rachel's First Grade Award Ceremony was on Monday. She was so excited to have Ian, Audrey, and I there to watch her receive her awards. Rachel's done an awesome job this school year. She's learned so much. Her handwriting is amazing, she aced every single one of her spelling tests (and we never really worked on her words at home), she loves to draw, and enjoys writing as well. She's done a great job learning her math facts this year. Rachel LOVED doing science experiments in class. She got all S's on her report card throughout the year. You either get an S (satisfactory) or an N (needs improvement). Next year we start receiving letter grades. Rachel had two teachers this year. Mrs. Jha taught spelling, reading, and writing in the morning. Mrs. Blackwell taught science and math in the afternoon. Rachel favored Mrs. Blackwell, but definitely enjoyed both of her teachers. Overall I think it's been a really good year for Rachel. 

Here's some pictures at her award ceremony:

Good Writer Certificate:

Awesome Attitude Award:

Outstanding Music Student (the music teacher chose 2 students out of every class):

First Grade Completion:

Mr. Goodbar Award - For always being a good friend to classmates:

 

Rachel's class did something I thought was really cute. Each child was assigned another child in the class who they had to make an award for. Alex (a very quiet boy) was assigned Rachel. Here he is presenting Rachel her award:

 

Rachel with Mrs. Jha and Mrs. Blackwell:

One last picture of Rachel on the last day of school, June 6, 2013:

Our sweet girl is already looking forward to 2nd grade!

Mexico

We got to escape with some friends for a week, just Andy and I. It was so much fun to just be Andy and Laura again! We haven't gone on a trip by ourselves since July 2007 and we've been meaning to do something for a few years now. We celebrated our 12-year anniversary on April 28th. At the beginning of the year we were talking with our friends about wanting to go somewhere and we decided to all go somewhere together. It was really fun and nice to have friends with us. We weren't sure exactly where to go. My only criteria was a quick flight (meaning less than 4 hours), I wanted a beach, and I wanted it to be warm. Our friend, JJ, suggested Zihuatanejo. Sound familiar? Think Shawshank Redemption. We actually stayed in Ixtapa, which we determined is a bit nicer than Zihuatanejo. I really went into the trip just wanting to enjoy time away and was pleasantly surprised at how nice Ixtapa was. It was beautiful! We really enjoyed the area, the activities, and just being free of kids. Probably around 5 days into it, I started to miss them. But overall, I was fine. And even though I started to miss them, I still enjoyed the time. It was weird to travel without an infant on my lap or push a stroller through the airport or pack for several other people. We definitely enjoyed our much needed break!

I flew to Mexico with JJ and Allie. Andy flew from Mexico City because he worked there the previous week. We all landed early afternoon and went to check in at our resort. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort. Our suite was amazing! We even had our own little corner pool:

 

The bedrooms and bathrooms were closed off to the outside world, but the living area and kitchen were open. There was a roof, but no windows. I'd never stayed in anything like it. It was nice! Here are a few pictures of our view:

 

 

Ready for a week of relaxation and fun!

On Saturday we explored the resort, walked down the beach a bit, had dinner, and played games (which we continued to do pretty much every night there). On Sunday we were lazy. We slept in...so strange to both be able to do that. We hung out at the beach for awhile and then we took a taxi to Zihuatanejo to check things out there. We did a fair amount of walking and it was hot!

We didn't find any restaurants that interested us there, so we eventually headed back to Ixtapa for dinner. On Monday we enjoyed another lazy day. We borrowed the resort's bikes and took a leisurely bike ride through Ixtapa. We got into the ocean some and enjoyed the pool by the ocean as well. We had a palapa reserved for the week, but we didn't use it much. We found that we really enjoyed this view:

So, we spent a lot of time on the lounge chairs around the pool.

 

That was one of the many pools (which was probably our favorite). We also enjoyed eating lunch each day at a restaurant up near our room. The food was good and there was a pool right by the restaurant as well. So, we'd swim, we'd eat, and then we would swim some more.

 

Monday night was themed "Mexican Fiesta". So, we decided to eat at the buffet and enjoy the Mariachi band. After cleaning up for dinner, Allie and I got a good laugh when we realized we matched:

 

Andy and I down at the beach before dinner (notice my hair in the above picture and my hair 10 minutes later - it was a bit humid that night):

Andy and I at dinner:

 

Tuesday morning we got up and went on a bike tour of the Ixtapa area. I thought with all the cycling classes I do at the gym, I'd be set. I was wrong! I'm used to a controlled temperature of 68 and not having to balance a bike. We rode for about 2 hours (with some breaks) and it was a workout, but lots of fun as well. One of our first stops (we're standing on a bridge and there's gators in the water behind us):

 

Another stop (Ixtapa Island is behind us):

 

Shadow picture:

 

One last stop at the marina:

  

The rest of the day we enjoyed the beach. We had reservations at a nice restaurant with great views that evening. We then tried to crash a bit early, because we had to get up around 6 am for our deep sea fishing trip the next day. What an adventure Wednesday was! Allie and I learned that we both get sea sick. Here we are just heading out to the sea as happy as can be:

 

And here we are knocked out from Dramamine after both getting sick:

The silver lining in this is that misery loves company. At least we were both sick and the guys survived just fine. Once the lines were cast, some tuna were caught quickly after that. I was able to get up and take a picture of the first catch:

JJ caught a tuna as well and then both of them caught a second tuna, so we were at a total of 4 fish. By the time the second round of tunas were being caught I was sick and unable to take any more pictures... But after sleeping for a few hours, Allie and I were both able to recover. And luckily we didn't miss much. Although we did miss the dolphins, but then we came across them again later in the day:

Allie and I enjoying some fresh air:

 

It was decided that we weren't going to catch anything but tuna, so we headed back in. As we were headed in, we got our big catch:

 

A sailfish:

 

It was crazy how long it took to reel the sailfish in. The guys took turns and it was definitely a workout! You would watch the fishing pole curve and be amazed that it didn't break. As soon as they reeled it in close enough to the boat, the captain hit it with a mallet. It was pretty intense!

 

We then caught 2 more tuna, which we just released. As we were heading back to Zihuatanejo, we took some more pictures:

Once we got back to the port, it was pretty exciting once again. All the locals wanted to see what we had caught and get tips from helping us get out of the boat and whatnot. They tied the sailfish up for us and we got our pictures taken once again.

Here we are with the crew, which was a father/son combo. We found out that the son had lived in Madera, CA while he was a teenager and graduated from Madera High School. Not too far from where I went to high school... It's a small world! We ended up just giving the sailfish and 2 tunas to the crew. The man from the resort took the other 2 tunas back to the resort. So, we didn't eat any of the fish we caught, but that's okay... Allie and I definitely took it easy on eating the rest of that day, anyway.

 

I have to include various pictures of the creatures we came across on this trip. These parrots lived on the resort and greeted us every morning by saying "Hola" numerous times:

 

There were also turtles that were kept on the resort:

 

Gators, which they fed every afternoon around 3 pm:

 

And iguanas, which also got fed every afternoon:

 

Here's a picture of a pelican who really wanted to be our friend when we went snorkeling:

 

Thursday morning we walked into Ixtapa and did a little bit of shopping. After shopping we enjoyed a day at the pool and beach.

The guys went parasailing, here's Andy in the air high above the resort:

Coming down:

Andy's landing wasn't all that graceful. He ended up in the water. It wasn't his fault. He did exactly what the guys told him to, but the wind had other plans. It made for some excitement and confirmed that I didn't want to do it because I was concerned about the whole landing process. But Andy survived:

 

Late Thursday afternoon Allie and I each got treated to a massage. It was very nice! That evening Andy and I tried out a new restaurant on the resort that was pretty much on the beach. There were some nice views:

 

After dinner we walked along the beach for a bit and took some pictures. It was a very humid night, so the pictures didn't come out that well, but oh well!

 

And then we headed back to play games (this is how pretty much every night ended):

Friday morning we took a taxi to a beach where we caught a boat taxi to take us to Ixtapa Island for snorkeling. Allie and I were a bit worried about getting on a boat, but luckily this boat ride went much better and obviously we weren't on the boat for that long. We did some snorkeling. We weren't too impressed, though. The water was pretty murky, Oh well though, we still had fun! Ready to go out and snorkel:

Taking a break from snorkeling and getting warm in the sun (the water was also chilly):

 

Andy and I on the water taxi on the way back:

 

Allie and I with the island behind us:

 

We then headed back to the resort to get some lunch. After lunch, Allie suggested pool hopping, so I joined her. I don't remember how many pools we swam in, but we definitely climbed a lot of stairs. After pool hopping the guys went with us down to the beach to enjoy the ocean one more time. We actually took some pictures this time. I was more than willing to be the photographer. I've decided that I'm kind of a chicken when it comes to the ocean. I've been in a fair amount of oceans, but this one just seemed rough. So, I got some pictures of the brave 3:

 

And then JJ took over the camera and I headed out for a few minutes:

That's Andy, Me (you can see my hands), and Allie:

 

A fun shot of Andy:

Later that afternoon Allie and I walked down the beach to another hotel to get pedicures. We had decided to use their salon, because at our resort we couldn't do pedicures at the same time. Well, it was quite the interesting experience! I don't think I'll ever bother getting a pedicure in Mexico. We weren't in comfortable salon chairs, they were more like dining chairs. And then they just had those home spa kits to put our feet in. Kind of odd. But our toes did look good! We then finished up Friday by dining at the same restaurant we ate at on Tuesday. Here's a few pictures of the view we got to enjoy that evening:

The next morning, the inevitable came, our day to return home. Before heading to the airport we killed some time playing games down by the beach. Don't we look so relaxed and happy?

Such a good trip! If I could justify the expense, I'd have us go on one every year. It was so nice to just be us and to have friends as well. We had a really good time! I think our next big trip will probably be in a few years, probably to celebrate our 15th. In the meantime, we'll enjoy the memories...