our day on the water

The weather continues to be great.  Some wind and just a touch of rain this morning ... but plenty of sun to go along with it.

We took the boat out this morning across the bay to an island where the “big waves” are.  With the wind as strong as it is, the waves were huge and the kids had a blast.

Hunter isn’t much of a beach girl ... “no beach, no beach” ... but we’re working on that.

P.S. we forgot to put Piper’s tooth under her pillow last night, so tonight’s the night.  She’s too excited!

Click here for vacation photos.

piper's tooth goes missing

This picture probably doesn’t require explanation ... BUT ... I suppose it wouldn’t be a blog if I didn’t say something.

This little guy (tooth) has been hanging on by a thread.  Taylor’s been spending some time with it each day loosening it up ... much like you stretch out your muscles.

This morning she gave it another tug, but nothing came out but blood ... Piper freaked a little, but let Taylor try some more.  Taylor freaked out when she tried the final yank ... so dad got the job!

Piper’s concerned the tooth-fairy won’t find her in Exuma, but I assured her if the tooth-fairy could find Taylor in Germany (same age by the way, on her spring break in kindergarten too), she will find Piper in Exuma.

Click here for vacation photos.

greetings from exuma ...

I’m backing up here from the beginning ... The girls get two weeks for spring break and we usually take the first week somewhere (Mexico is our favorite), and then the second week in the Exuma house (because Curt’s sister has it the first week of spring break).

This year we’ve invited our friends to the Exuma house for the second week and weren’t sure what to do for the first week.  The Maki family were going to stay at the Four Seasons on the island for the first week, so we decided to spend our week there too.

We arrived the day after Easter to rain, wind and a forecast that looked grim for the week ahead.  The photo above of Hunter was when we first arrived ... the hotel had the girls names spelled out in little sponges, along with a little stuffed animal for each of them.

The weather on our second day was “iffy” ... no sun, very windy and cold.  The sun came out for our last hour at the pool and burned us all (minus Curt & Hunter) to a crisp!

The rest of the week brought us sunshine and tons of pool time!  I’m so amazed at how far Wynter has come in her swimming skills ... this is officially the first trip we’ve taken that I can say she is an independent swimmer.  Pretty cool ...

This afternoon we moved over to the house, just in time for appetizers and dinner!  It’s so relaxing to be here.  The Dudleys & Beckers will join us tomorrow.  Odinn gets in tomorrow too (he missed his flight today), and Skye comes in mid-week.

Click here for vacation photos.

my three girls

I realize I’m missing one in this picture, but that’s basically because Taylor is just weeks shy of being a teenager, therefore too cool to wear a matching swimsuit and pose for a photo with her sisters!  (Actually, she had slept over in Kirsten’s room and hadn’t surfaced yet ... but still, I feel like she’s abandoned us ... oh, that is until she wants a massage appointment in the spa!).

So today was the first day Piper & Wynter didn’t need their sun protection shirts.  Yeah, I basically burned them the first afternoon here!  You can see in the photo that Piper’s poor face is swollen like the time she got bitten by some foreign insect we could never find.  Hunter, for some reason is the only one who hasn’t gotten burned.  Except for sunscreen freak Curt ... although I guess he’s getting the last laugh.

We’ll be heading to the Exuma house tomorrow and our friends come in on Sunday.  Skye and Odinn will be meeting us over there tomorrow.  We’re looking forward to catching up with everyone!

Click here for vacation photos.

pipers 'real' birthday

Piper is definitely my child ... she loves presents and everything ‘birthday!’

We got the best Piper grin ever when going into the girls room on her real birthday morning.  Our little six year old (who, btw, should be losing her first tooth on this trip ... very concerned the tooth fairy won’t find her here).

We had decorated our hotel room the night before with balloons and some noise makers and hats.  She was beside herself to see everything.  I forgot her birthday present at home, so we took her for a special shopping trip to the gift store ... she picked out a fresh pair of rubber flip-flops!

The charter we were supposed to take got canceled due to the high winds, so we stayed at the pool all day.  I had arranged a special dinner in the pool cabanas, but because of the wind we had it moved inside the restaurant.  Piper wanted to make sure everyone would sing to her ... and they did.  Our table was decorated with balloons and she had her own birthday cake.  She takes special care when it’s time to make her birthday wish.  I only wish I knew what she was wishing for ...

The kids finished with dinner before our meals came.  Wynter slept through dinner, she wasn’t feeling well.  So Taylor, Kirsten and Emily were taking the little girls back to the room when Taylor comes running in saying Wynter was throwing up outside.  Sure enough!  She’s standing in the bushes throwing up.  She went to bed early and was okay yesterday ... only to start throwing up again tonight.  I’m not sure what’s going on with her.  I hope she gets better soon.

Despite her sister’s illness ... Piper had an awesome end to her ‘birthdays’ ... Click here for birthday photos.  And click here for vacation photos.

hunter jumps in!

I wanted to keep an update of our spring break vacation, but just haven’t had the opportunity (will do separate entry on Piper’s bday ... fabulous!).  But I wanted to do a quick update on Hunter’s new venture ... swimming!!

She donned the floaties today and was a swimming maniac.  She started out the day saying “no deep, no deep” (meaning no deep end) and finished the day with floaties on and us telling her “no deep!  no deep!” ... we couldn’t keep her out of there.

It was another treasurable moment watching Piper, Wynter and Hunter swimming together!

This picture shows (like her sisters) she has no fear!  She was jumping in the water ... no hesitations!

Click here to see vacation photos.

easter egg masterpieces

It’s the birthday queen!  This was the first of two “fake birthdays.”  Her real birthday is on Tuesday and we’ll be celebrating in the Bahamas ... swimming with sharks that day!

Piper had a movie theme party and invited her whole class.  She took careful consideration in choosing her movie, it had to be “boy friendly” ... she finally settled on Chicken Little.

Even in a blizzard, the show must go on ... 17 kids were invited and I think we ended up with maybe 12?  Scales definitely tipped to the boys ... what a difference between girls and boys ... oh my goodness!

Piper had a great time though and is in the midst of her first sleepover.  Sleep tight my little birthday girl ...

Click here for more photos of Piper’s party.

piper turns six!!

It’s the birthday queen!  This was the first of two “fake birthdays.”  Her real birthday is on Tuesday and we’ll be celebrating in the Bahamas ... swimming with sharks that day!

Piper had a movie theme party and invited her whole class.  She took careful consideration in choosing her movie, it had to be “boy friendly” ... she finally settled on Chicken Little.

Even in a blizzard, the show must go on ... 17 kids were invited and I think we ended up with maybe 12?  Scales definitely tipped to the boys ... what a difference between girls and boys ... oh my goodness!

Piper had a great time though and is in the midst of her first sleepover.  Sleep tight my little birthday girl ...

Click here for more photos of Piper’s party.

deer by the dozens

It’s like we’re living on a nature preserve and I had to share!  I know my dad will love it for sure ...

We have deer/bird feeders around the house and sure enough, like clockwork the deer come out through the woods in droves right at dinner time.  It’s beautiful to see them all coming through ... counted 17 last night.  The kids love it!

We’ve also had a friendly opossum visiting the last month or so ... his beady little eyes and long pink tail!  Hunter gets so excited to see him running around (outside) the house.

daddy & mommy take a break

For Christmas this past year, I gave Curt a long weekend away to a new resort outside of San Diego called The Grand Del Mar.

This is the weekend we decided to make a break for it.  It’s always so good for us to do this for ourselves.  The kids have a great time with Granny and we get to have a great time with each other.

The weather isn’t great .... I realize it’s better than at home, but still 51(ish) degrees isn’t quite what we were hoping for!  We had a good workout session yesterday morning with some spa services to follow.  Some room service lunch (Curt had major order envy!!) and late afternoon we went to an outdoor mall for some shopping, dinner and a movie.  We saw Jumper, which we both enjoyed.

This morning is pretty much the same as yesterday morning and this afternoon/night we may go to Old Town San Diego for a look around and some dinner.

Tomorrow ... back to reality and our little blessings we left at home.

skiing | the end

We’re heading home today.  We had an awesome three days of sun!  Pretty much the only sun Aspen has seen at all this winter ... how blessed are we?

Yesterday was a great day (I have extremely sore calves to prove it!) ... Wynter ended up being able to ride up to the top of the mountain and we all spent the morning skiing together.  We were over at Buttermilk, instead of Snowmass.  It was just so cool to be skiing along with the girls on the big mountains.  Taylor and Ana ditched us pretty quick to go through some tree trails ...

Taylor & Ana enjoyed the day on skis and got around a lot better.  They are going to do a little boarding this morning before we leave.

Piper & Wynter both got pretty sick, some meds have them a little better this morning.  Wynter had ended up with pink eye and Piper was burning up and coughing like a seal.

We are all looking forward to going home to see our Huntie and little Pebbles!

Click here to check out the photo gallery from our trip.

skiing, day two

The girls are doing great!  I am so impressed.  They are both going down the chair lift now and we got to ski with them this afternoon on the “big hills.”

Wyntie needed a potty break, so Curt stayed with her and Piper and I (with instructor) went all the way up.  Piper was awesome!  I was actually skiing in her tracks.  What a great feeling to be doing something so fun with your child.  I remember telling her when she was two and just learning to ski that one day mom & dad would be able to ski with her.  So it was sort of surreal to have her skiing along side of me ... I was trying to soak it all in absorbing the memory.  One of those “moments” a parent tries to file away.

Taylor & Ana are plugging along on their boards.  Both are pretty sore and pretty tired.  We are skiing at Snowmass, so tomorrow, we are all going to head over to Buttermilk and spend the day there on the kid trails.  Taylor & Ana are going to ski tomorrow and give the boards (and their behinds) a break.

skiing in aspen

We arrived in Aspen yesterday, late afternoon.  Couldn’t go directly to Aspen as conditions weren’t right for landing, so we flew into Rifle.

Piper & Wynter did a great job today skiing.  Piper will be ready to try the chair lift tomorrow ... we’re looking forward to skiing with her.  They’ve both really come a long way since last year.

Taylor & Ana are snowboarding ... how are they doing?  Well, we just got back from buying them wrist guards and butt pads!

Here’s hoping the weather stays nice ... even had a tad bit of sunshine this afternoon!

and puppy makes four ...

Isn’t he the cutest thing you’ve ever seen???  We are officially a family of 12 ... 10 living in the house, 4 being canines.

We brought “Pebbles” home this morning.  No idea what came over us to get another dog, but we did and I think we are going to love him to death!

He’s been great with the other dogs and very sweet with the girls.  Taylor’s already ‘training’ him to sleep in a bed (for Piper) and the girls can’t keep their hands off him.

Wish us luck ... see photos here ...

while dad's away

The kids will play!  Daddy’s out of town for a month and the kids had a day off of school, so we decided to head out of town.

Taylor (and a friend of Taylor’s), Piper, Wynter, Hunter and I braved the cold and spent the weekend at the Blue Harbor Waterpark in Sheboygan.  The kids had a great time.  I’m amazed and Wynter’s braveness and swimming ability.  Hunter couldn’t get enough of the lazy river, while Piper & Wynter kept right up with the big girls going down the water slides.

All to come home to a house full of puking kids!  YUCK!  Hunter started throwing up about 5:00pm.  I changed her and put her right to sleep.  Then Piper started about 5:45 and continued most of the night.  Poor fragile thing.  She’s home from school today ... but both seem to be feeling much better.

Can’t wait for daddy to come home!