LATELY WITH THE LINKS

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Aunt Sheri came to visit us from OKC. We took a day and went to Ham's Orchard where you can pick berries, shop for fresh fruit and veggies in their store, and get a fresh peach ice cream cone.

One lick for you--one lick for me! Brynna and Maggie sharing a peach ice cream cone from Ham's Orchard. Yum!

Friday, June 8, 2007

Cancun Days 4-6

The weather did not cooperate with us on day 4. A storm rolled in and sent all the resort guests inside. The spa filled up quickly, so we enrolled in a culinary class. The chef was great, and we had more fun than we thought we would. The food was wonderful. After the rain stopped at about 2:30, we decided to rent a car and drive to Tulum, another site with Mayan Ruins. It is on the beach and about an hour and a half from Cancun. We rented the car and made our journey through the Mexican jungle for what turned into nearly 2 hours. We got there to discover that the gates to the ruins close at 5 p.m. and that we had in fact, wasted our time. AHHHH! But the drive was an adventure. The road was two lanes but widened to three lanes each when going through the towns. Three lanes but five rows of cars, buses and scooters.

Day 5 we went to Xcarert. It is a neat place where nature and marketing meet. It is an ecological park. Think Polynesian culture center of Hawaii meets Mexican Mayan. The snorkeling there was great. Lots of bright coral and fish. We swam with dolphins which was simply amazing. That was lots of fun. We also swam down the underground river. This part of Mexico doesn't have rivers above ground. They are all underground accessible through "cenotes" (sink-holes), and caves. We swam down this river for about an hour with the only light coming in from the sink-holes above us in the ceiling of the caves. Lots of fun. There was an amazing show at the end of the night showing the history of the area. From Mayan ball games, fire games, and wars to invasion of the Spanish, to the conversion to Catholicism, to the current Mexico. It was a very good show. The music was awesome.

Magdalene--Maggie Mae

Little Miss Sass is actually what we should call her. Lately, she's been "testing her limits" or should I say "her mom and dad's limits"--Just a little here and there. She's really decided that she has an opinion on every single thing and that it's her way or the highway. I guess we can just call her "Miss Independent". No more holding her hand while walking down the sidewalk, or helping her into her stroller. She'll do it "by self". "By self" is just one of the funny little things she says. "Or not" is big in her vocabulary, too. If you ask her if she wants a snack or not, if she doesn't, she'll say "Or not". She's just so funny. Conversations are never dull and always cute.

Brynna-Bel

My heaven's--getting older every second. She's no longer a little girl. She has turned into, simply, a girl. Not little, but not too big either. We are young enough to still love Barbie--but old enough to really care what Barbie is wearing. A good thing, right?
Bel is in the 1st grade now, and love's to read. She really loves school too. She loves her teachers and her friends. Can you say Social Butterfly? Talk-talk-talk-talk. She's never been considered shy. Everyone is her best-friend, you know, even if it's the first time you've ever talked to her. I love that quality about her. She is a friend to everyone. What a good and sweet girl she is.

Caden--C Dog

I just love my little Caden. He is THE sweetest and nicest kid around--and did I mention handsome. He's now in the 5th grade--the year when things get a bit more hectic. He has more work and he's expected to be organized enough to get it all in one day, do it over the next week and then turn it in. We're still workin' on that one. Organization is not a strong point for us. He changes classes too, which is new to him. I tell you what--he absolutley LOVES science. Almost every day he comes home telling me of the experiment that they did in science lab or goes on and on about protons and neutrons and electrons. I have a hard time following because he goes into every single little detail--and he remembers every-single-detail. What a smarty-pants. He's really discovering how funny his personality is lately, too. He now know's he's funny and that he's got the gift of gab. He takes after his dad.

Greyson--G Money

You'd think I was giving this kid steroids at the rate he's growing. He's only 15, but people ask if he's 17. He's very tall for his age. He might think he acts like he's 17--but we know better. Maturity-?-it's comin' along. We'll just say we're working on it. No, really-all kidding aside--he's a really good young man. He's at the age when typical teenage angst sets in. And..we have our fair share of it. But, all in all, I think he really tries to keep a cool head when he thinks we've asked him to take out the trash one too many times. He's just at an age when we can really count on his help. He is a great helper to me. He even folds laundry (don't tell his friends).
Greyson is doing really, really well in school so far this year. He's got and extra load-basically doing two years of school in only one. We thought he'd really have to bust it and be doing work constantly to keep up. But..he hardly has any homework and he's making all A's. He has a 100% in Geometry!? I asked him if he just has never missed any question ever on anything to get that average. He replied by saying, "No--I've missed stuff, but I got a 120% on a project". Whatever--wouldn't it be great to be that smart?