Independence Day

We had a fabulous 4th and enjoyed the long weekend at our cabin.  Aaron and I are slowly getting used to owning a boat (driving/docking/etc) and took full advantage of the beautiful weather to spend it on the water.  Our friends we met in England, the Sattlers, came in from Ohio to visit and it was a fun weekend.  We also had the pleasure of meeting up with the Goodriches who we were stationed with 15 years ago at the AF Academy.  They live in Florida but Chris' family has a cabin north of ours.  Small World!  It was a fun reunion!!  Reminiscing with both of my girlfriends, the friendships are what I miss most from my time in the military.  I have made some fabulous friends here in Green Bay, but it was fun being newly married in the Air Force and making friends as a couple.  Up to that point, our friends started either as "Aaron's" or "mine".  Especially in England, our friends became like family because we all leaned on each other for support.  Jean and I had our first babies together.
The kids were so excited to see them and kept asking all morning "How many minutes until they get here!"  When it was about a 30 minutes prior to their arrival, they camped out by the front door.

We spent the day hanging out at our house and relaxing.  They were excited to be out of the car!

The following day, we drove up to the cabin.  The kids had fun tubing, playing games, roasting marshmallows, riding bikes, boating, swimming, etc.  We were all exhausted by bedtime!  We even took in the parade in Three Lakes.  I love me some 'ole fashinoned fourth of July fun!

The kids loved the sand bar on the chain! It is about 2-3 feet deep and allows the kids to play catch and other water sports!

I call her the dragonfly whisperer!

The dads took turns on tube with the little ones!

Chris and Meredith met us at the parade with their two girls!  I haven't seen them since we left the AF Academy in 2003!  

Happy 7th Birthday Elsa

I look at her now and feel that she is definitely moving from my little girl to a young lady.  Although it tugs at my heart a little, I am in awe of the person she is becoming.  We had fun looking through pictures together when she was born and of our time in England.  In some ways, it seems like yesterday.  In other ways, an eternity.  It was fun listening to and answering the gazillion questions she had.  Fortunately one was not "how did i get in your belly?"

When I was growing up, our birthday tradition was breakfast in bed.  I would sit with excitement in bed, listening to my mom cook me my favorite breakfast and then my family walking upstairs singing happy birthday.  We have carried over this tradition to our family.  Elsa decided she wanted carmel rolls, so caramel rolls it was!  For her present, she got a kayak and is pretty excited to use it up at the cabin!

 Chet even wanted breakfast in bed, so we included him!

On her actually birthday, we went to the Hudsons!  She received lots of birthday love (and sugar) from our friends and enjoyed "swimming" in their hot tub!

We celebrated her birthday with friends the following weekend.  She wanted to have a Saint party where everyone dressed as their favorite saint.  She selected to be St. Agnes!  I absolutely love the heart she has for Jesus and Catholicism!

 Enjoying a nice lunch with fellow saints :)

 Annie insisted on giving her 7 birthday spankings!

 Here is a photo of the group!  Chet had his bestie over to play.

Right after lunch, a storm blew in.  It was rather quite unexpected and a large tree branch flew past the house.  I immediately gathered the kids in the basement for a movie while our severe thunderstorm warning was in effect!!  We are no short of drama at our house!!

Favorite Color: Magenta

Favorite Movie: Frozen

Favorite Book: Every book  (she has become quite the avid reader!)

Favorite Food: Nectarines

What she wants to be when she grows up: Interior Decorator or a Veterinarian or a nun

What annoys her:  Chet

What makes her happy: spending time with my family

Favorite TV show: Lion Guard

Favorite season: Summer (because we can go swimming)

Favorite sport/activity: soccer and dance

What she likes to do in her free time:  play with my friends and family

My new master bedroom

When I turned 40 in December, Aaron had the idea of getting me a nice ring/bracelet with the intent of it being an heirloom I could pass on to Elsa.  We looked at various jewlers and, although there were a lot of beautiful pieces that I would have loved to have, my practical self voiced her opinion.  You see, we have had the same bedroom furniture since we got married.  And, that was the same set Aaron had in college.  And, it was the same set handed down to him from his Uncle.  This set has been through at least 15 moves.  Everytime I open one of the drawers, wood shavings come off the track and litter my clothes with wonderful splinters.  So, I asked for a new bedroom set!  I had our interior decorator come over and she came up with a plan!  And, It just got installed last week.  I haven't wanted to leave since!

The Before:

The dresser with the wood shavings.  Olaf is photo bombing the picture.

We haven't had a headboard for over 10 years.

We had our old living room armoire in here and an old chair we bought in England

And….the AFTER!!!!

Mimi did a floor to ceiling upholstered headboard

I love the turquoise nightstands!  Lots of storage space for books!

She picked out very traditional dresser and chest of drawers.

And, initially I just had selected the headboard, dressers, rug, night stands, and lamps.  When she delivered it she brought a bunch of accent pieces (the large print, bench, baskets, chair, etc).  I LOVED IT ALL!!  Let me tell you, I am so glad I have an interior decorator!  Most of these things I would have never picked out, but I love how they all go together!  The only other thing we need to do here is get a new window (neither of the windows open) and new blinds (they have been broken since we moved in!).

Turks and Caicos

We just returned from our first family destination vacation and we had a blast!!!  I had booked this trip in November of 2014 at a Beaches resort and it was perfect for our family!  We also traveled with two other families and are all ready planning our next vacation together.  I really enjoyed 24/7 bonding with the kids and hubby!  Work has been crazy the past year since we are down one partner so this was the perfect break we needed!

I think the kids were most excited about the plane ride!  I joked that we could have just scheduled a flight somewhere and come right back :)  This was Chet's first plane ride (and Elsa's 20th+) so when we boarded the plane, I asked if he could look in the cockpit.  The pilot told him to come in and even moved his seat out of the way so he could sit down!  He thought that was pretty cool!

They cracked me up with how interested they were in safety instructions!!

The weather the first few days was not great because of the big snowstorm on the east coast.  But, the kids were excited to swim despite the pouring rain!  I wish I would have taken a picture of us moms huddled under our umbrellas and wrapped in towels, watching the kids swim!

Swimming in the rain…but, on a positive note, they practically had the pools to themselves!!!

The Beaches resort is all inclusive and caters to young kids!  They have sesame street characters out and about.  It took Chet 6 days to warm up to the characters, but by the last day he was excited to see them!

We only booked one excursion and it was amazing!  They took us via catamaran to a reef to snorkel for the first part.  This was Elsa's first time snorkeling and it was a bit wavy and she got a little freaked out.  I think the part that scared her the most was that it was much deeper than the country club pool!  She tried though and I was so proud of her for trying!  Then, from there, they took us to a remote beach for more fun!  Elsa found a crab and we had to dodge iguanas on the sand!

The pool area at the hotel was great!  The kids loved sitting at the bar and ordering Virgin Strawberry Margaritas!  

We alternated spending time at the beach and the pool.  All water activities (hydrobikes, kayaks, windsails, etc) are all included.  Due to the previously mentioned storm on the east coast, the water was wavy, so most of the week we couldn't use the water equipment.  But, we did get out kayaking once.
The kids loved building sand castles and sand tunnels, wave jumping, and looking for sea shells.  Elsa also did snorkeling on the beach with Aaron since it was calmer waters!

We did the oceanfront rooms and it was definitely worth the added cost.  The view was amazing and provided a little break from the sun.  Elsa enjoyed doing her school work out there!

There were so many dining options…we were never hungry!!  The only trouble was that our kids were so exhausted by the time dinner was over, they usually fell asleep!  My only recommendation for this resort would be that they have golf carts offering transportation to guests since the resort is so large and spread out.  We got our workout in just carrying the sleeping kids back to the rooms!  This was the scene most nights after dinner.

We ate at a Hibachi style restaurant as a group one night.  Elsa had fun trying to catch food in her mouth.

Ice Cream was this kid's favorite afternoon snack!

Mario's had these great kid tables and the adults could sit nearby and enjoy conversation!

We ate at Arizona's a few times due to loving one of the servers, Reno.  He was amazing with our kids and the kids loved the food! I don't know why the woman in the background is wearing a down jacket…It wasn't that cold!

Barefoot by the Sea had amazing fish tacos and a great casual dining option for lunch.

The kids keep asking when the next trip is!   I guess that is a good sign that it was full of fun!!