Photo Friday – Dolphin Adventures in Puerto Vallarta

This was a dream come true for my daughter.  She had begged for months that all she wanted to do on our next cruise was swim with a dolphin.  We were able to make it happen on our Mexican Riviera Cruise in Puerto Vallarta.  It is one of those amazing adventures for the whole family.  You can read more about how pick our port excursions in my blog post on Choosing the Right Port Excursions for your Family

The Bottom Of The Laundry Pile

Have I mentioned that I love my new washer and dryer?
Last January my dryer went out. Mind you, this was the second dryer to our original set. We were still trying to recover from Christmas spending and decided to just buy a refurbished used one. We also had a sneaking suspicion that our 15 year old washer was on it's last leg and wanted to wait to buy a new set together. Well, that day came a couple of weeks ago right in the middle of a load.  It stopped working and I was left with a washer full of soapy dirty water filled with clothes. I got out the plastic Rubbermaid garbage can, began wringing the clothes out and tossing them into the can so I could run over to my mom's to finish. I’m thankful to have a mom so close. Before Steve and I went out to buy a new set we decided on a budget of what we were willing to spend. Once we got to Home Depot I soon realized that in the washer and dryer department our budget wasn’t going to go far. There were only three models that were in our price range and they were the cheapest models available. It was kind of disappointing for me as I realized all those fancy front loaders with bells and whistles weren't in my budget. I still looked around and admired the higher end models and the cool colors they are available in. I envisioned them in my home and dreamt of what it would be like to use them. Then I checked out the price tag and almost choked!  We could go on a vacation for that money! Our family of four took a 7 day Disney Cruise to the Mexican Riviera for nearly half that much! Our upcoming 14 day Disney Cruise through the Panama Canal cost less than that! Steve and I even went to London for 6 days and paid less than that! Holy Shmoley! So, I cheerfully walked back towards the ones in our budget and chose the Maytag Centennial model.  My husband was very relieved and I am certain this decision will go a long ways in making sure my marriage last as long as the washer and dryer. After a couple of weeks of using it I am very impressed. They have so many different settings I can choose from to get my laundry done. The washer has a load sensing, water saving feature on it as well so I am using less water with each load. And the dryer! It can dry a load of laundry in 30 minutes! (Compared to the 90 minutes our previous dryer took this is amazing). Sometimes it's finished before my washer if I have it set for deep clean. I couldn't be happier,  now I can actually almost see the bottom of the laundry pile and, it's a good thing because we'll be going on vacation soon.

Photo Friday: Cabo San Lucas’s Famous Arch

Photo Friday: Cabo San Lucas

Leah making new friends or frenemies as she likes to state.

Happy Anniversary: Memories from our honeymoon in Cancun

Today is our sixteenth Wedding Anniversary. It is hard to believe it has been that long. Then again I can barely remember what it was like to be single or without kids.

Since we moved onto Christmas Tree Lane in 2002 our anniversary pretty much gets overlooked, we are busy putting up yard decorations and getting ready for the opening night on the first Saturday in December. By the end of the evening we are too exhausted to even think of celebrating. I was trying to remember some of the anniversaries we spent having a nice dinner out. Then I remembered our honeymoon in Cancun where we found this small local place that sold Steak and lobster for just $9.99. It was like hitting the jackpot. We had tried other big restaurant chains and some hotel buffets but this place beat them all. Maybe it was because we had found it on our own, or the local feel, that fact that we were on our honeymoon, or maybe just the awesome price but we went back to this place a couple of times while we were there. It was that good.

Tonight I imagine about the closest we'll get to our memories in Cancun is Taco Bell with two little kids who will chat our ears off with details of the latest Phineas and Ferb episode. And, for some unexplainable reason it will be perfect. Maybe it's just the comfort of not having to cook it myself, or the fact that I will be too tired to care, maybe it will be the goofiness that settles in with fatigue or, maybe it will be the pleasure of seeing how awesome the past 16 years have been reflected in our children and the bond of our family unit that makes this evening special and a wonderful memory in itself.