Mexico Ziplineing and Repelling!

From the last post, you all know that Todd and I recently came back from Mexico. We had such a great time spending time with the family and enjoying the beach. Sadly, our camera broke right before the trip so we are going to have to wait to get our pictures because we need to use pictures that others took. We did buy some pictures from one of the coolest things we did during the week. We went on a zipline, repelling "outdoor adventure" as it was called. Todd and I did this once before on our honeymoon, but seeing Todd's mom and dad and all the family during all these activities together made it completely new and definitely worthwhile. It was such a fun and memorable experience. Here are some of the highlights.


After a boat ride and a 4x4 through a humble little village and up the mountain, we rode donkey's the rest of the way up.

Then we started down the ziplines!


Todd being superman.


Trying to zipline upside down.


Repelling down a waterfall and ziplining into the water. We tried to see who could make the biggest splash.


The last zipline was set side by side so you could race somebody. The guides pulled Todd and I even further up then normal and then they shoved us down the zipline. As you can see, I clearly won.


A group shot of everybody!

The Best Aiport Sign Ever

So this last week, my family and I had a fantastic adult only vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We had an amazing time, but I'll get more into the details of our trip later. For now, I wanted to let everyone know about the coolest airport sign I've ever seen. There were several of the same signs hanging from the airport ceiling. Both sides were dominated by a large picture: one side of kids playing in a tree in a park and the other side of a couple in wedding attire twirling around happily on a beach during sunset. Above and below these touching pictures were these words:

Above the pics:

"What would you do for true love?"

Below the pics:

"I'd would conquer great teats!"
(Yes, the sentence contains grammatical errors and it was "teats," not "feats.")

Then, in loud, bold lettering:

"Do it!"
"The Airport Mall"

This sign gave me flashbacks of my time in China when I would see signs and advertisements all over in English that made absolutely no sense. I think the creators of this one decided to blend the romance from diamond commercials with the energy from Nike commercials. It almost worked out.

Easter Pics

As they say, better late than never. Here are some pics from our amazing Easter in Suffield, CT.

Here is Makenzaroonie, Jared, Karinny, and Trev, looking sharp.


Sarena, striking a pose while making a succulent feast.


Our amazing feast. Great job, Sarena!


Myself, helping the kids learn self defense and to build strength.

Camping at Elizabeth Furnance

This past weekend, we went camping with Kenny and Nichole. Ken, being the outdoors expert that he is, picked out an amazing place for our adventure: Elizabeth Furnace in George Washington National Forest. We had a great time. Here are some pics about it.

Heather setting up our tent.


This is the lord of the fire, Ken. He used the ancient Indian technique of an automatic lighter. That's how they train him on his search and rescue team.


The ladies, taking it easy.


Hiking up to Meneka Peak. It was a nice hike in a pretty forest, but the "peak" was pretty anticlimatic. No lookout, no majestic view, not even a sign. In fact, we didn't even realize that we had reached the top until the trail started to head downward. Oh well, it still couldn't rob us of our sense of accomplishment.














I was reminded on this camping trip of why I love the West so much; no ticks! We ended up killing and picking off at least 4-5 ticks throughout the trip. When we got home, we had to kill a few more. Nasty little things, ticks.

Heather and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Two weekends ago, Heather and I had a rough weekend. We had previously spent about a week and a half using most of our free time looking for couches online and in stores all around the area. When we finally decided on a set and went to buy them, the store said that they had just sold out the day before and the company had discontinued them. Well, Murphy's Law wasn't done with us yet. It was just getting started.
That same day, we borrowed a truck and went down to IKEA to see if we could find any furniture we liked. IKEA is about an hour away, so it was not a small drive. We got there and spent about an hour looking around with my sister Alyson and her two kids, Treyton and Jaycie. We didn't find anything, and to make matters better, it was pouring -- and I mean pouring -- rain outside as we tried to leave. I picked up Treyton and began running to the cars. Heather picked up Jaycie and did the same. We had to descend a small but steep grassy hill to get to the cars. I made it just fine. When I turned around to see how the others were doing, I turned just in time to see Heather slip on the wet grass into a nice muddy puddle with Jaycie in her arms. So now, Heather is drenched, muddy, and thoroughly depressed about not finding any furniture. I have never seen her so sad. I even tried to sing her out of her funk, but she would have none of it.
When we got home, she was feeling marginally better on the thought that she could soak away her worries in a nice hot bath. Unfortunately, when she started filling up the tub, she realized that we don't have a tub hole stopper, so that bath wasn't happening.
Eventually, she was able to get past all that ... kind of. That night, we dropped off my friend's truck and picked up my car. I didn't realize it was going to rain that day, and it had been a hot day, so my windows were partially rolled down. The rain had come in and made the passenger seat all wet. So Heather, in her newly dried off clothes, sat on a wet seat and got wet all over again.
And that was Heather's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Alyson and company in DC

Alyson and the kids came and visited us over Memorial Day weekend. She was a very gracious guest and allowed us to take her furniture shopping all Friday. On Saturday, we went down to DC and toured the American Indian Smithsonian museum. It was a huge disappointment. The exhibits were a total let-down. The best part about the museum was the architecture itself. Oh well, we still had a good time of it.
It was Trey's and Jayci's first time riding a train.



Just look how excited Jayci is to ride the metro! What an adorable face that is.


Trey and I had a great time "surfing" the metro.












After DC, we went to a nearby park. We had a wonderful time. Trey & Jayci made a bunch of little friends. In fact, Alyson and I started to play home run derby with a wiffle ball and bat that I had brought. After a few minutes, all of Trey's little friends came and joined us for a little game. It was fun; I haven't played like that in a while.