Grandma Debbie

We spent this past weekend with Grandma Debbie in OKC. Her company had its yearly "picnic" at Frontier City - a local amusement park. The forecast was not favorable to a day outside, but we managed to have a great time in spite of the rain. The kids were able to walk up to any ride they wanted and not have to wait in line - the beauty of no one else wanting to be out! Ethan got to ride his first roller coaster, The Wild Kitty, which he LOVED. Owen rode several rides too, and he couldn't get enough of them. Both boys enjoyed having their older cousins to play with and having Grandma there to spoil them. I think they ate more cookies and drank more peach water (aka "Soury drink") than they have in their lifetime!

Miami, Sweet Miami

I apologize ahead of time for this entry...I am sure most of you don't care to know all these details of our trip. But as I have tried to tell people about it lately, the details are already getting fuzzy. Will I ever regain my pre-children memory!?! So, this is a selfish post in hopes that I can get all the details out before I forget everything...

A little over a week ago, Chris and I headed to Fisher Island, Florida for six days while the boys went and stayed with my parents. It was the first trip we've taken without children, and it was long over due. Chris was awarded this trip along with 20 other Cadbury employees, and it was all expense paid which made the time even sweeter! We met my parents in Tulsa to drop the boys off, and I was so very sad. I was honestly a little surprised at how hard it was to leave them, but once we arrived to the island, I quickly became okay.

Our first day there, we had a speed boat tour of the Miami coast. Afterward, they then dropped us off in South Beach that afternoon where we all ate at an incredible Cuban restaurant. We thoroughly enjoyed the food and getting to know new friends, Ron and Lisa. We then took a walk around the South Beach area and ended up on the beach. There was some seriously rich people watching...it's a different breed of people in Miami!

That evening we were picked up in limos and driven to Gianni Versace's house in Miami. It felt a tad weird going to the place where the famous designer lived and was shot/killed. When we pulled up in limos in front of his gated house (now a restaurant and hotel), people standing around the gate started taking pictures of us b/c they assumed we must be famous. If they only knew! The house was indescribable. The walls and floors were beautifully mosaiced, and the details were amazing. We ate dinner on the balcony area overlooking the pool and yard. This was my favorite evening we had.
While we were there, we had two different "excursions" planned for us. The first one was an everglades tour. It sounded like a great idea until it was scheduled on the one day that there was rain - and tornadoes. Even with our awesome yellow ponchos, we were SOAKED, and we were also completely freaked out as we sat on metal boats in the middle of the water with lightening all around. Our tour guide seemed to get a big kick out of it, though, and refused to take us back. There was talk of mutiny... We did manage to survive in spite of the pelting rain, lightening, soaking clothes and fun new hair dos. We got to see one gator, so I guess it was worth it.

The other excursion was swimming with the dolphins. We weren't allowed to bring cameras with us during it, so I wasn't able to document the fun. But we had a good time playing with dolphins in the pool.

My second favorite night was our evening spent on a yacht taking a sunset tour of the Miami coast. We had a great dinner, great drinks, and a friendly round of politics-talk with our table. The evening was finished off with dancing while the yacht dj played fun music. Throughout the night, we had to keep pinching ourselves...

The following day, after we had breakfast over looking the ocean, Chris went and played golf with several guys while I went for a massage and facial. (again, I was pinching myself!) I didn't think I could get anymore relaxed, but I managed to as I spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach reading and sleeping. Yes, it was very rough.

The final night was the awards ceremony. We first met for cocktails at Lisa and Ron's condo and reminisced on what a great trip we'd all had. We then all walked over the patio where they had cocktails and a couple there salsa dancing for us to watch. The couple also attempted to teach some of group to dance, which was entertaining. We then had an amazing dinner while we listened to Chris' "big boss" talk about each one of the award winners and their accomplishments. It was a fun evening, but it was also bittersweet b/c we all knew we were going to be going back to the "real world" the next day.

It was truly an amazing trip, and probably one that we'll never be able to come close to duplicating again. We had such great experiences, met wonderful people, and were able to enjoy the time as couple... I keep telling Chris he needs to get his numbers up so we can go again next year. :)

Easter

We had a good Easter this last weekend - complete with a Sunday church service, matching clothes for the boys, and a wonderful dinner with friends that night. I had great intentions of getting some good pictures of the boys in their clothes from Mimi, and it started out well with asking Ethan to pose (I'm not sure why this is his "go to" pose!). But when we got Owen up from his nap, thing quickly digressed. He wasn't feeling it, hence the screaming in the above picture. Oh, well...

13 Months

My "Big Top" turned 13 months this past month, and he's hit some big mile stones. He's officially walking now...I encouraged it for so long, and now I am kicking myself... He's into EVERYTHING. He loves climbing up the step stool in his bathroom and getting out his tooth brush and toothpaste, and he's constantly trying to get the gate open so he can climb up the stairs. He's had two more teeth come in, and he's also experienced life away from mom and dad for 6 whole days. (he was SO mad at me when I got back) He's added some new words to his vocab, my favorites being: Batman, Ironman, and Brown Bear (his favorite book). Of course they may not sound like the actual words to an untrained ear, but I know what he's saying. :) We have an exciting spring/summer ahead. My leisurely time of sitting at the park watching the kids play is officially over.