Friday, May 13, 2011

Updates! :-)

Ok, so seeing all your new posts inspired me....lol! I'm jumping on the blog updating bandwagon too. ;-)

Where to begin...

Well, my last post was in February, and I had written about how Russ and I just booked a trip to Cancun. So I guess my updates will start there :-)

We went to Cancun from April 7-10...this was pretty much an early birthday present for me, since my bday was April 13th (the big 3-1.) We stayed at Live Aqua and it was sooooo relaxing there! It's a very zen-like spa type atmosphere there. As soon as you walk in the lobby, there are beautiful water features and the scent of eucalyptus in the air. It's an all-inclusive resort and isn't considered adults only but we didn't see many kids there at all, just a few people with babies. We stayed on the 5th floor in an "Aqua Club" room and had access to the Aqua Lounge which is located on the same floor. They have snacks out throughout the day and various liquor tastings each day. Russ and I aren't big drinkers at all (I think we still have liquor from our wedding in2005!), but we definitely enjoyed the tequila tasting our last night there!! They had about 20 or so different bottles of tequila out that night...fun stuff, I'll just say that!

The beach was B-E-A-UTIFUL!! Absolutely gorgeous clear turquoise water. Each morning we woke up and ordered room service breakfast and enjoyed that breathtaking view. We'd spend a few hours at the beach/pool areas then head out for some shopping, etc... Unfortunately my husband had the attitude that "I'm already tan so I don't need sunscreen"--- yeah, he ended up paying for that after the first day at the beach. Aloe was his best friend for the rest of the trip. I made sure I got pictures of that.

Aside from shopping (the mall was right across the street from the resort--awesome!), we took a late-night boat ride through the lagoon and out into the ocean a little and got to see the resorts in the hotel zone all lit up-- absolutely gorgeous. The boat owner and his captain tried finding the croc named "Ponchito" that hides out in a certain part of the lagoon, but he wouldn't make an appearance for us. I can't say I was disappointed about that!

We made sure to check out the local Hooters restaurant too, one evening...LOL. ONLY because they were the only place close to our resort where we could watch the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game. The Pens won in overtime, and we got to watch a beautiful sunset over the Nichupte Lagoon in the process. :-) Great night.

Anyway, it was SO great to get away for a few days. Russ's mom and her husband watched the kids the first few nights, then my parents had them the last few nights. They all stayed at our house so it was great not having to take the dogs to the kennel, plus the kids got to stay in a familiar environment. Not that they aren't at our parents' houses all the time, but we figured they'd be missing us so it was better that they got to at least sleep in their own rooms at night. Aly's very much into a routine, so it seemed to work out better that way. I'll be sure and post some pics of the trip very soon!!


In other news--

My baby boy Will is turning ONE on May 22nd!! This year has FLOWN!! I can't believe it's been a year since I was blessed with my son! He's already cutting his 7th tooth, and has been *trying* to walk for the past few weeks. He'd take about 5 or so steps then plop down on his butt. Today, he was walking all over the place, so I think he's got it down now. He still looks like he's had a few too many to drink when he walks, but he can go longer distances now. He gets a huge grin on his face-- so proud of himself. Of course, now I can't keep track of him. This is when I really start to miss the days where I'd put him in one spot and know he wasn't going to move from that spot.*sigh* lol

OH-- another huge update. In mid-February, Russ and I saw a few homes we wanted to look at on realtor.com. Two in particular really looked like they had what we wanted. (I wasn't getting my hopes up though-- we'd been looking on and off for four or so years with no luck.) Well, on Feb 13th we looked at 2 houses about 5 minutes from where we live now... the first home had a great lot, great neighborhood, but crappy layout. The second home, well---- was IT. We just knew. Great neighborhood, big flat backyard, lots of space. Seriously, we weren't halfway through the house and my husband was talking about making an offer! We put an offer on the house right after we looked at it... got a counteroffer which was still more than what we wanted to pay, but we couldn't pass it up... so we accepted their counteroffer and are now new homeowners (again!)

The house is a 5 bedroom 2 3/4 bath with about 3000 sq feet. Lots of room for the kiddos. I'm excited they they'll actually have a designated playroom now, since every room in our current house seems like a playroom!! The kitchen is big, we have a formal dining room now, plus we have a spare bedroom again! Just can't wait to move in. Yeah.... not in the house yet. :-( Closing took awhile... we didn't close til the end of March. The house really hadn't been updated much since it was built (yeah, wait til I post pics-- it was interesting), so renovations have been going on for over a month now. At this point, everything we needed to do in order to move in is done except for countertops. We are still waiting for kitchen and bathroom countertops to be installed, which isn't happening until the 18th (hopefully a little before that.) Our moving date is set for the 27th, so the next few weeks are gonna be busy!! Aside from packing for college, I really haven't gone through the moving process before. Moving in our current house with Russ was such a gradual process-- a few things here,a few things there-- that it wasn't a big ordeal. This is gonna be interesting, being that we have 7 years of stuff accumulated in this house. We've already thrown out or donated a lot of stuff, but there's still so much to do! I'm nervous and excited at the same time. This will be a great change for us though. It'll just be great knowing that's the house we're in for the long term. I'll keep you updated... I have lots of before and after pics I'll post soon too.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! :-)

4 comments:

RecoveringCoffeeholic said...

Your vacation sounds AMAZING!!!!

Congrats on the new house! How awesome!

Rusti said...

sooooo happy for you guys that you had such a fantastic time!

wait - ONE YEAR OLD?? where did the time go??? it's crazy! and he's adorable :)

ow exciting about the new house!! arer you planning to start moving things slowly bit by bit and do it yourselves, or are you going to hire movers?? (I know it's not far, but with two young kids - it would be quicker and less to deal with yourselves!) I hope whenever we move again we hire movers! we never have, and we always get so stressed out and cranky (I despise packing/moving/unpacking!! it doesn't help that I'm a packrat!) :) either way - good luck to you and CONGRATS!!

Betsy said...

Thanks ladies :-)

Yes, we're hiring movers-- I don't think we could do it just by ourselves. I don't have much time without the kids! I think we'll take a few things to the house each trip we make there, but the movers will do it all, basically. :-)

Anonymous said...

Can't wait to see pics of the house! That's really exciting. You guys have been busy.

Happy birthday to your little man!

-Kristin