Snow Days Catch Up*

Yes this was about two weeks ago- life happened…. :)

Anyway, I was looking through my (over a trillion) pictures I took after we made it back to Atlanta to find our house and driveway snowed in and frozen over and remembered i never posted them!

We stayed at home the next 3 days without leaving and by the time the roads were cleared it was the weekend…a long weekend (thank you MLK)….. simply bliss.

I realized that in the past 2 years Alex and I have never had a chance to really be home for long periods of time with each other because until now he hadn’t had paid vacations off with work, and even when he was in school he always took the opportunity to work on his breaks. Even when he did take off it was for us to go on a trip somewhere, not to sit around at home!

In other words it was Heaven!

(even though he was technically working from home)

I wouldn’t mind a few more snow blizzards before this summer!

Tucker was so concerned for Mill because her hair went up every time the ice cracked under her feet while she walked……

Then the poor baby feel and landed right on her belly, check out Alex’s face!

“”It’s ok Milly we know it wasn’t funny”

“See Milly even daddy slips and falls”

“….and mommy too”

Tucker hugging and kissing Milly and her daddy for falling*

Tucker loved staying cooped up all day because he got to catch up on his squirrel hunting from being gone to his gramas and grampas where there were none….

Please excuse my dirty windows…. TJ lives down there…

We had to eat Chili- of course!

…and Tucker ate snow.

Then he kissed his mama with those ice cold lips :) 

Which then made him frisky…. (?)

Milly is not sure what in the world is wrong with her brother?    Anyway we had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed our cabin fever!

I promise to get back soon with pics of the ski trip and birthdays!

A Birthday Boy in the House….

 

Can ya tell?

Lou decided to be shy…. at Midnight when it was official!!

Well the babysitters are here (mom and dad- THANK YOU!) so we’re off to Gatlinburg for Lou’s first attempt at skiing!!

Happy Friday and Happy Birthday Lou!!

I love you!

I’m Sorry Milly…

I did my best to prepare you for this day and I sure did enjoy the extra week we had together at home due to the snow storm. Let me just say I had so much fun staying home with you and being a lazy, lunch dater, shopping queen, made from scratch baker, dinner cooking housewife for 4 whole weeks!!

But….Unfortunately the time has finally come and now mommy has to go back to school and work.

I’m going to miss you and I know this is hard for you since Tucker no longer gives you the time of day, due to his serious hunting duties, but mommy has changed her schedule a bit and will be coming home before dark 3 days out of the week this semester!

(can I get a THANK GOD?!?!?)

Maybe we can leave the feeders empty on my long days so Tucker is forced to play with you while I’m gone?

  I will miss you too Tucker…. but I’m pretty positive as long as the squirrels are out you won’t even know I’m gone!!

Love you my girl and boy!

Adam Turns 30 and A Snow Storm!

   A birthday diva he was….   That’s right princess Adam turned the big  3-0 on January 1st and we all came to town for (what we thought would be one night) to celebrate his birthday this past weekend!

I can honestly say (I hope…) “I think he may have had one of the BEST nights of his life” and I couldn’t be happier for him!

  Adam and his earrings :)

*Adam’s birthday crew*

His parents, my parents and alllllll the siblings were able to make it for dinner and of course what else would the princess want after a few too many Absolute and Red Bulls…..

Going dancing of course!

So panic mode we go…. “A place in Statesboro where we can bring Adam to dance…..”

(Much harder than it sounds to say the least)

However, our decision was made easy for us when we found out Gnats Landing was the only place open and yes, he got the entire bar off their butts and showed them how to get low!!

   He was quite a hit, let’s just leave it at that!

Ohh Adam! We love you so much and are so happy we could share a great 30th birthday celebration going out with you!!

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Sunday we had promised sweet Ana  a long overdue play date and she picked a bowling date!

So after a slow moving morning- that’s exactly what we did!

Ohh how I missed the love of my life-

As soon as we got to their house to pick them up she took me up to her room to let me see all of her new dolphin statues and girly clothes!

(our favorite things to talk about:))

And in the middle of all the juicy girly talk she looked at me and said “Oh Miss Jen, I have missed you so much” and hugged me!

How did I get so lucky!?!?

Anyway the new “Club House” (bowling alley) in Statesboro was a hit and Alex and Ana both had fun!

(ohh yeah and they are both SOOOOO into cell phones now!)

By the time we got home and packed the bags in the car it was about 7:00 pm and we were hearing all about the crazy weather Atlanta was getting (which scared us a bit)!

So after very little thought- we decided to stay at mom’s until it was all cleared up- at least enough for us to make the drive back(which would be Wednesday afternoon).

This was the extent of the “ice and snow” we got in the Boro :)

What perfect timing for a snow storm because  I ended up getting sick Monday morning  and school got cancelled for the week!

…..and I am so glad we stayed because I got to (for once) be home and not rushing here there and everywhere like we usually are when we’re home!

Actually I have never enjoyed being “stuck” at home and sick so much and Alex got to work from home due to the weather so we pretty much considered it a vacation by default :)

And what else do ya do when your stuck indoors? Make home made chocolate chip (and pecan) cookies with your mama!

Recipe included!!

  and a hint* it makes way more than 2 dozen (even after eating handfuls of the batter!)

So today we finally traveled back to Atlanta and it was quite an adventure…. we literally almost got hit by sheets of ice flying off the roofs of 18 wheelers on I-16!

Luckily, we made it home safely and the main roads were cleared, just not the small roads and our driveway is under about 5 inches of pure ice!

Thank goodness we decided to stay at moms until the worst was over because I definitely didn’t leave enough groceries in the house to get us through the week if we had traveled back to Atlanta Sunday night and been stranded at the house!

Poor Milly (whose diet has been prolonged another week along with her moms- were on KSU’s schedule) she keeps wondering why the ice shatters with each step she takes…..

Happy cabin fever days to you!

Remembering Mexico….

So I made a goal for myself to blog our Mexico trip over Christmas break…. As of this past Monday “my break ended” BUT thanks to a large snow storm that left us “stuck” in Statesboro and caused my school to be cancelled…. I was given the chance to redeem myself and give you….. Mexico!

This past August Alex and I were finally able to go on a long awaited trip we have always wanted to take….... to the Mayan Riviera!

Not by ourselves though, we were lucky enough to team up with Andy and Rachel!

(sorry about the blur, later that day i found a smudge on my camera- guess that’s what happens when you give it to random people to take your pics)

Picture above needs no caption it just happens to be my favorite :)

We flew into Cancun and after doing our best at haggling with the taxi drivers (good job Rachel) drove over an hour to Mayan Riviera to finally find the Hotel Catalonia- our all inclusive heaven for the next week!

We were super good at eating drinking and lounging on the beach!

  

The water was so clear and the fish were so “friendly”…..

Especially when you steal bread from the restaurants to bring out their to feed them with…. OR when some foreign guys decided to do it for you/at you :)   Sharing is caring…..

They took your drink order from wherever they could find you and had lunch buffets set up on the beach under open air pavilions- Damn people make it so convenient to eat all day!

I had read about a marina (with dolphins) being walking distance and within the rims of the gated community our resort was in  so we decided to check it out!

While we were walking around we got coupons for a free margarita at a local pub*

Lucky we thought!!

No, the MOST disgusting margarita we have ever had…. and of course ya can’t leave without “buying something”…. everyone knows that rule… so a few bottled waters and we were out!

Our hotel also offered a shuttle to Playa del Carmen (about 15 minutes away) so we spent an afternoon there but half way through our shopping adventure it started down pouring like crazy!!

  Alex and I had been to Playa Del Carmen once before on a cruise a few years back and it was fun to see the different things we remembered!

Anyway, the rain rolled in as quickly as it rolled out and as any good tourist, we made sure not to let it slow us down from getting souvenirs and a true Mexican beer :) 

That night we decided to hit up the well talked about Hibachi restaurant on the resort (yes, we ate Japanese in Mexico) and we all experimented with their Saki- cold saki! It was my first and LAST attempt for Saki I do believe but the bar tender kept us busy with other favorites!

The resort kept us busy even after dinner, there was always something going on, a beach party was held one night, the bars were open till 2 am every night and our last night there they actually brought the street vendors to us!

One of our most exciting/scary/freezing cold days was out on an adventure where we swam in caves, cenotes and snorkeled out to see huge coral reefs! By far: best day!

I had decided the one thing I wanted to do while in Mexico was swim in a cenote (which is a cave underground) and Alex wanted to see coral reefs so this trip seemed to have it all!

(This is where the ladies lived who cooked home made meals for us during the trip to the caves- amazing!)

We had the best tour guide and at the end of it they fed us an amazing authentic lunch and then took us to their private property (or little piece of heaven) where they had hammocks, zip lines over the water, and a huge diving area that you climbed to the top of only to jump off!

I may never forget the intensity of how cold the cave water really was, i honestly thought I would just let the others have fun while I watched, but eventually I “caved” and jumped in!

We spent our last night at the Mexican restaurant  in our resort which was gorgeously decorated with huge chandeliers!

The drinks at the night time restaurants were especially yummy and Andy taught me the love of a Caprese at night while Rachel got me hooked on Mohitos and Bahama Mama’s during the day!

Ohh Mexico, why do you have to be a vacation and not just a way of life for me?

Although I think it’s for the best,  drinking and eating like that is best in moderation ;)

Lastly, I can’t forget Andy and his bad luck on the trip….

Let’s just say his bad luck was pretty rough and continued until we touched foot in Atlanta….

Literally, this picture was taken just before we landed back in Atlanta where Andy and Rachel again got shafted on their seats (compared to ours) and this time sat between a man eating fish in front of them and the bathrooms right behind them !

mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm!

Here’s an album with more pictures- just click the play button :)

Where shall we go next year???????