::florida part 2::

Too bad about the nude sunbathing--but I sure do love the beach, so I guess it's ok. Here are a few views of our first hotel area from out on the beach. It was very picturesque.

Old people everywhere of course, even in bikinis. Yikes.

The next one shows you the big main building of the hotel--it looks kind of like some sort of polynesian lounge.

We were up high in a room in the tower on the left. We had an awesome view from our little balcony!

Can you believe how many huge high rise hotels there were along the beach?

The shells were so fun--I've never seen a place with so many shells. From something we read it looks like the shells are on the beach in piles during certain times in winter. By summer the tides have washed them all away. How crazy is that?
I picked up some awesome ones and brought them home to share with Max. He could hear the ocean in most of them.


After the conference was over we headed up the coast about a hour or so to another little island. This one was much quieter and less fancy. There were also more old people there somehow. The beach was not as fun there--tiny teeny waves--but the most fun part about it was that Kris and I had a couple of days with no work, no conference, nothing. We just got to hand out and have fun.
We rode beach cruisers to lunch (and ate with droves of old people dressed in the colors of sherbet).

We took walks. We chatted. We sat in the sun. We played tennis.

(We play tennis badly, but it's fun.)
It was just so nice. We were glad to go home to our boys, but so sad that our couple of fun days were over.
Thanks SO much to Kathy for coming and taking care of our guys. I didn't have to worry about them being safe and happy. I knew they were in the best hands they could be. We LOVE you Kathy!!!

And really, who can complain about coming home to this:



What a great week. And I got to come home on my birthday to a party. Awesome.

::florida part 1::

So there was a great looking conference for pedodontists and orthodontists in Florida. We got a flyer for it a good while back and Kris thought it looked amazing--and that the location looked hard to beat. He enlisted his ever willing mom to come and watch the boys and we got to head out together for a long weekend of work and fun.
It was so nice. We've hardly been out since the baby was born, and haven't been off together overnight for years. After I got through the initial confusion of why flying was so darn easy, and figured out what I was supposed to do with myself without somebody to spank or kiss every two seconds it was great and very refreshing.
And Kathy kept me posted with pictures like this:

and this:

So I didn't feel TOO far away.

We were in Marco Island, FL. Not really so much an isolated island, but just one of the many many little pockets of land right off the west coast of Florida. The hotel was beautiful. It was right on the beach and though these weren't the kind of big waves you might be used to from CA beaches, they were nice. The air was fresh and there were shells everywhere.


The beach--a view from one of the patios of the tall (8 story I think) hotel.

Yes, the pool was amazing. I did keep wishing the kids were there to swim in it. It was the perfect toddler and kid pool. It had a hugely long set of steps that a kid could play on without blocking everybody's entry & exit from the pool. Perfect. We might just have to go back!

This is a face somebody made and left in the sand. I captured it for Max.

The following is one of my favorite sights--wish I would've had my nice camera instead of my phone at that moment.

These guys just look so serious. It makes you wonder what very important and life changing event is happening in seagull world.

And finally (for part 1) a Florida beach sunset. You know how it is when you're at the beach and the sun is setting? For a while it seems like everything is the same light blue/yellow bright blazing color. That's when the sun is almost to the horizon, but not quite. But when it finally reaches the edge of the world, that's when you start to realize again that there's a difference in color between sea and sand. And that's when the sky puts on it's show.

It's when the orange goes away that you see all the other amazing colors--waiting their turn.


(It looks like we're in jail because we're at the hotel restaurant and they have some sort of seagull deterring netting up over us.)
I can't say that this particular sunset had anything on some of the amazing ones we get out in NM, but it was pretty nice. And being at the beach makes everything smell, taste and look just a little better anyway.

::climber::

My little guy could turn into a bit of a scary climber.

He's always trying to climb up on the couch, and anything else that seems accessible.

I'm probably exaggerating a bit though. He's not like some kids, truly climbing on everything. Sandy's so easy going you really don't have to worry too much about him. He's mellow and measured. So the climbing is happening, but not at too extreme of a level.

But when he gets up on something he's SUPER psyched. Like the couch. He bounces and chortles and looks like he's going to pitch off straight backwards.

And yes, he got too enraptured by Sesame Street and fell off the box at some point. Before that though, when I tried to push him bottom onto the box more he looked at me like I was SO RUDE.

Babies are ridiculous.

::my birthday 2::

So on my birthday Kris and I were flying back from Florida. We went for a big pediatric dental/orthodontic conference and Kris mom was sweet enough to come and watch our boys. We had a great trip together, first time in forever we were all alone. I barely knew what to do with myself the first few days!

Anyway, we flew home the morning of my birthday. It was a long flight, but kidless it was so easy! We watched a grown up movie, we read books, I took a nap. It was amazing. It made me remember that flying isn't ALL that bad after all.

We got home after lunch and came home to a very festive lovely house.



It was so cute. And we found out that Sandy LOVES love LOVES balloons. He sat and played with the balloon that was tied to his chair for ever. When he got done it was all covered with peanut butter and jelly smears, ewww.



And we had to wake poor Sandy up from his nap. He was sleeping so solid that it took me a few tries to wake him (unusual for our little light sleeper!) and when he woke he was so cranky that he wasn't even excited to see me! But he warmed up after a while.

Grandma helped Max pick out a gift for me--he got me a heart shaped pillow (cute!) and a little countertop fountain. He was so excited and proud of it--what a darling.

Look at Sandy's face! What is Kris doing there in the background?



It was a great birthday. Kris had some lovely gifts that he had bought for me early and they were waiting, and Kathy did so much to make me feel special. What a lovely day, after a nice and relaxing week. I'm pretty lucky I have to say!

::happy birthday to me::

Here's what I came home to today for my birthday: (Kris and I were on a business trip--more about that later).


Kris's mom was here taking care of our boys, and she helped Max (and we all know what that means) set up for my birthday. It turned out so cute!


More later, but now I've got to go and get some sleep after all the revelry!

::::

This is the kind of thing that happens when a young boy basically lives in a dental office.

I thought this pile was so hilarious when I found it. Silly boy.

::new room::

The boys, especially the baby, spend so much time at the office with us. Up until now the setup hasn't been perfect for that situation. We had a rather small office for Kris and then a break room in the back for the whole staff to use.
When Sandy would take a nap, he would do it in Kris's office and Kris couldn't got in or make phone calls. If we accidentally left something important in there it was either get it and wake the baby or else do without. Max didn't really have anyplace to hang, he'd just go around bugging all the employees, stealing my chair in my front office and doing all sorts of obnoxious stuff.

Anyway, it wasn't perfect, so we decided to try to do something about it.
We had a back bathroom for the staff & us and also two other bathrooms for the patients. We decided to make the patients use one unisex bathroom and turn the one right next to Kris's office into some useable space for us.

It took a week or so for the contractor to do it, right before Christmas. The space turned out so nice!

We moved Kris into the bathroom space and made the other into a hangout space for the boys. We have a computer for Max to play educational games on, something to watch Sesame Street on, a place for Sandy to sleep, a little crummy couch and a bunch of toys!

I can even work in there at the desk while the guys noodle around. It's really perfect.

And Kris was a sweetheart to take the smaller space. He likes having an office he can use anytime he wants.
We have a sliding pocket door between the two rooms so they can be separate or one big space.

We love it!

::waiting for max's race to start::

Just found a couple of cute pictures that we didn't post when reporting on the race. I like them, so they get their own little spot here.
I just have to say it again, the weather was SO NICE there! We were so lucky.




That's it for tonight!