Mexico the 3rd and A Goodbye

Every year, for the last 3 years I get to hop on a 7am flight out of SeaTac

with a quick bounce threw San Francisco and a beautiful landing

in Puerto Vallarta with these two beautiful ladies and my mom.

This year my mom came early with two of her her amazing friends and scored us an awesome room.

Love this tradition 

Me and Molly

The view from our deck was breathtaking every night.

Storms would roll in with these beautiful blue grey clouds and

a lightning show.

Last year was amazing when we got to release one day old turtles to the ocean.

This year we took it to the next level

Around one in the morning we went down to the beach to see if any mamma turtles where laying eggs

It was dark, quiet and  beautiful.

Some of the hotels along the beach have protective hatcheries and staff that watch the beaches at night.

They spend all night collecting freshly laid eggs and moving them to a safe home in the hatchery.

A month or so later the little baby turtle break threw the sand, get gently collected and released to the ocean at sunset.

The person working that night was extremely kind enough to let us  hold a one minute old turtle and humored us when we asked him a thousand questions.

 His hand with a egg found that night.

While we where walking home in a I can't believe it daze we saw him stop on the beach and start stomping around.

We crouched down all sneaky style in the dark and watched...

Within minutes he flashed his flashlight at us and we ran over.

Eggs! 

Beautiful, warm, soft eggs.

The mamma had come, laid her eggs and then quickly returned back the safety of the ocean.

Beautiful eggs, 110 of them.

Miles away at home my little family was having to deal with something much different.

While I was celebrating the amazing process of a new little turtle starting its journey,

My husband and kids where having to say goodbye to our very loved Birdie who passed away while I was gone.

The same amazing bird that walked down the sidewalk 5 years ago and adopted us.

The same bird that loved our dog, yelled at Doug and adored me and my kiddos.

She even went for a road trip this year with us to Montana. 

A year ago we found out she had a tumor and the vet thought she only had weeks.

She showed us how strong a little creature can be a made it over a year.

They said goodbye and tucked her away in a safe place until I got home.

When I got home we decorated  heart shaped rocks for her.

Laid them in the perfect hole we dug for her.

Placed her on them and said our goodbyes.

The kiddos did great.

We where all very sad but it was the perfect closure to an awesome bird.

and......I'm back....

This poor, little ole' blog has been lonely....

No worries...I'm back.

I spent the last week with these lovely ladies in Mexico.

No kids. No husbands.

Just great friends, family, conversations, drinks, sleep, sun and no place to be but poolside. 

And releasing baby Tortuga's into the Pacific ocean.

Yes! It was amazing!

These little cuties are collected when they are still in their soft white shell and transferred to a safe location. 

There they spend 45 days give or take a day.

The evening that we watched the above turtles hatch, we helped release 300 little Tortuga's to be free in the Pacific. 

So cool!

Go, Go Go!

Don't laugh too hard...

I was super excited and the picture was taken with a iPhone.

Once home I had to figure out how to be a mom and a wife again.

It was hard...

For 5 days I always had somebody saying "Whatever you want."

Now I know what it is like to be one of my kiddos.

Thank God she she waited until the day I came home to do this.

She is such an amazing little 4 1/2 year old. 

Tuesday she told us that she didn't want training wheels on her "princess bike."

By Wednesday she was riding around the skate park like an old pro.

Amazing...

I love my vacations but I love being home with my family even more.

Now off to bed...

getting back into the swing of things

Tonight was such a beautiful night. After a very long day the kiddos got to burn off some energy and run around all crazy and kid like in the back yard. only one of them had more then underwear on. And I have finally accepted the fact that kids love to be naked. And honestly I would to if I wasn't having to chase around all of the jiggling that would happen if  I also ran around naked. I also think my neighbors would be bummed out. We are already a very loud family. negative clothing might throw them over the edge.
So on this beautiful fall evening my Little's got to dip their toes in some much needed to be mowed grass, for probably one of the last times before the rain that never stops starts. And I think we  have another toe walker. Although I can't tell if she is naturally one or she is just copying her big sister.

The grass in our backyard is insane right now. Doug wants a 100% green backyard sooooooo badly. the only way to achieve that is to not let our sweet black dog go near the backyard. His pee is toxic. And yes we have tried all of the magic tricks out there. we have resorted to walking him next to our house at the park. Thank god he has the bladder of a elephant and only needs to go pee every 12 hours. Because me + 3 kids + needing to be at the bus stop by 8:47 = sad dog left inside needing to pee. But...he is an incredible dog and rarely comes down stairs before 9am.

Because we have sacrifice the convenience of opening my back door we have an awesome back yard! One that can be frolicked in barefoot without any worries of  giant dog poo piles and pee spots.  We'll see how long it last. I can ususally do things for about a month before I tap out.

Fall is here and showing her pretty face everywhere. I love fall. This year not so much. We had about 3 weeks of summer and I want more. My gardened produced 4 tomatoes and one squash...Really summer...That's the best you could do? What kind of crap is Winter going to bring. 1000 feet of snow and 6 months of rain? Awesome... Maybe this is the year that a car will slide down our hill and crash into our living room. That would make a good blog post. Stay tuned....

Anyway...I spent 5 awesome days in Mexico with my sister, mom, amazing friend and my moms best friend. I got back last Monday and still haven't made it to the store. When I made dinner tonight, which was not one of my shining star moments I realized my 3 kids are very different. But as a mom we just know. It is chiseled in us. Without thinking we know what our babes like. Here is my 3 examples. I love this. I love that each of my kiddos is an individual. They eat the same food but just differently. I totally respect this. As a kid my food could not touch and I would have been devastated if my mom would have made me eat food that had co-mingled. Now as an adult my food is always co-mingling, Closer the better. We all outgrow our kid shit. Not all of it. But most of it. I love figuring out my kiddos little quirts and I can't wait to make fun of them when they are older.

can you guess which plate is for Emilie?



My littlest is growing up too fast. I left for those 5 days and came back to a Molly that knows what she wants but can't say it. She wants to do whatever her sister is doing. Which means sitting at the table like a big kid.

And wearing her moms favorite cashmere ballet sweater. (no I am not a ballerina. I just pretend to be one.)

Remember how earlier I said I went to Mexico for 5 days. This is where my ass sat for those five days. And that is not an exaggeration. Other then I sat over there and over there. We just chased the best seats. That was about the most we moved. I have never felt so relaxed. It was exactly what my pneumonia filled left lung needed. 1000% humidity and alcohol. We were at an all inclusive resort. which means the moment you arrive they hand you a Margarita, you eat 20 hours aday and they tell you more then 30 times aday "what ever you want" I love this place. It was my first vacation that I was not ready to leave. Beautiful place, amazing people and amazing friends. Thank god I am going back in December. I think even with my kids I will love Puerto Vallarta.  I wore my magical what ever you want bracelet home hoping that its magical powers would also work at home. But what they don't tell you when you leave is that once you leave those magical powers are transferred back to the original owners. Our kids...They are truly the only folks that live the all inclusive lifestyle almost 24/7. No wonder they are so frik-in happy all of the time and relaxed.

 Lazy river that connects the pools. I never did get around to swimming threw it. Oh well... We did try one day but got side tracked by the aqua bar.

Me and my sister all shinny and enjoying the humidity.

View from our first dinner table.

View from down town

Looking north toward the hotel and marina

View from our third dinner table. I know...Awesome!

One of our new friends that hung out at the pool. I can't wait to watch the kiddos check them out.

Even though vacation was awesome its nice to be home.

What am I saying....I could have easily stayed 5 more days. whenever I leave my kiddos I always tell them  that when I get back I will be an even better mommy. Calmer, rested, ext.

Can you imaging how amazing I would have been after 10 days.

Oh well...Back to reality.

And back to blogging. I've neglected my beloved blog so much. I originally started it to showcase my kiddos for my family. Now I think it is more of place for me to organize my thoughts. these last 5 weeks I have been so sick that sitting at the computer was too much. Now I am healthy and ready to get back at it. It has been so much fun getting to know other bloggers and reading about your lives and learning so many amazing things.

thank you for all of the sweet comments and advice. this has been such a fun 9 months.