Cabo Trip- 10 year anniversary!

In June Ryan and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary!  Wow how time flies!  Who would have thought or imagined our life as it is now.  Living in Kansas (I never would have guessed that one!), 2 wonderful beautiful healthy kids, me staying home, Ryan in a job he always wanted, etc.  We have been blessed beyond measure! 

 We planned a trip with our friends Kyle and Brandie as their 10 year anniversary was in May.  Another couple joined us as well (Brett and Natalie) and we all had a great time.  Traveling with friends was fun and I am glad we did this!  We decided on Cabo after many months of deliberating and going back and forth.  Kyle, Brandie, Brett and Natalie had all been there the year before to this exact resort and loved it so much they wanted to go back again.  It was actually Brett and Natalie's 3rd time to go!  Wow- when something is not broken, why fix it they thought!  Ryan and I liked it as well.  It was super nice, right on the beach, good food, great drinks, all ocean front rooms.  What more could you want?  The service was outstanding, rooms were beautiful and the property was just overall super nice.  It was a secrets all-inclusive resort and they do a nice job! 

 We booked for 6 nights, 7 days and it was super relaxing.  Pretty much every day was spent by the pool overlooking the crashing waves from our infinity pool.  The thing with Cabo is that you cannot swim in the ocean there.  Not a huge deal for us as we are not huge swim in the ocean people.  I loved the constant sound of the crashing waves.  That is something that never gets old!  We would go to breakfast and then straight to the pool for a day full of relaxing.  6 full days of that was quite nice!  It was a great break from every-day life.  The servers waited on us hand and foot.  We ordered every fruity drink you could imagine and they had REALLY good pool food!  Nachos that were to die for, fresh ceviche, chicken tacos.  Yumm.  Makes me hungry every time I think about it!  They had awesome guacamole and the chicken there was actually one of my favorite things.  Random!  I never order chicken at a restaurant (as a meal, I would order chicken fajitas or something), but this chicken was super good!.  We were talking to the resort food and beverage manager one night (he stopped to see how everything was) and I asked him about the chicken.  He said they get it local and it is free-range Mexican chicken!  Whatever it was, it was yummy!

One thing that I just absolutely loved about our resort was they have a photographer on site to do beach pictures.  At first I thought, yea, that is probably super expensive and I didn't really think about it or look in to it too much.  But then then they came around the pool one day asking people to sign up, giving out info, etc and it was FREE!  You do have to buy any pictures that you want but they are only $15 each.  Score!!  I thought this was a great idea!  Pictures on the beach for our 10 year anniversary.  I had to drag Ryan a bit, but in the end I know he's glad we did them.  :)  We bought a few and here they are!

Love the waves crashing behind us! 

So, I thought that was really cool that they offered this service!  As I told Ryan, When else would we get pictures taken on the beach?  It would take a lot of planning that is for sure! Here are some of the pictures I took.  Don't worry- I narrowed it down a ton!! 

The room.  It was very nicely furnished and nice bathroom, etc. 

Our view from our room.  This NEVER gets old!  The waves were soooo loud too.  Very strong undertow in Cabo (hence the no swimming in the ocean rule).  You could hear the waves crashing even with the doors closed. 

More balcony views

The other way...

A view below our room of one of the pools and lounge areas

Walk on the beach one morning

My view for about 95% of the trip!  This is up at the infinity pool.  It looked like you were in the ocean! 

Lunch!  Fresh ceviche was to die for!  And the chips and guac.  Okay, I'll stop now!

close up of the ceviche. 

Relaxed. 

One night we went to "The Office" which is the famous Cabo restaurant on the beach.  Super fun atmosphere and of course Ryan had to have a tequila "pour" by Rambo.  Whistle blowing, head shake and all.  :) 

Back at the resort they would make us Mexican coffee.  YUMMMMMMMMM

Brandie and I on by the pool

Natalie, me and Brandie

I assure you there are many more pics, but I just tried to get the highlights.  I mean its only August and I'm JUST NOW posting about it.  What can I say....its been a busy summer!  School starts this week- AHHHHH! 

Last day of Kindergarten...sniff...sniff

Addyson's last day of Kindergarten was bitter-sweet!  I was soooo proud of her for all that she had accomplished with her first full year of school and then of course sad that our year of half-day school and care-free mornings was over, not to mention that my BABY is now a first grader!  Next, she'll be off to college!  :(  Boo-Hoo!  Addyson did great in Kindergarten.  School is still a breeze for her and I hope it always continues to be that way!  Here is a conversation we had towards the last day of school"

Me:  Addyson, did you learn a lot in Kindergarten this year?
Addyson:  (in a sarcastic 13 year old voice)  Mom, Kindergarten has just been an extension of preschool.  Numbers, letters, sight words.  Yea, I already knew all of that. 
Me:  Well okay miss smarty pants!  Do you wish school was harder?
Addyson:  YES!!!! 

In all reality, I would say that her writing greatly improved during Kindergarten but pretty much most academic stuff she already knew really well, but she for sure did improve in all areas.  She is a great reader and has gotten a lot better at her spelling.  She sounds words out very well and really improved in her math skills.  I hope she will be challenged more in future years, which I am SURE she will! 

Since we were in the afternoon Kindergarten class this year, we got together with her class several times throughout the year for morning play dates, lunch at the park before school, etc.  On the last day of school we all met at a brunch place for the kids to eat before school.  Here is the only pic I got...should have gotten one of all of them!

 Addyson and Ellie walking into school the last day!  It was SUPER windy that day!  If you'll notice....Addyson wanted to wear the same shirt she wore to school on the first day of school! 

Wind blown!

Kate, Ellie and Addyson- last day of Kindergarten

Addyson and her teacher, Mrs. Price.  We LOVED her.  Such a sweet lady! 

Out of order, but Addyson on the first day of Kindergarten.  She still has lots of teeth here!  I also love the way Ben is looking up at her in this picture.  He loves her so much!

Walking into school first day of Kindergarten!

After school that day we got ice cream and went to Chuck E Cheese.  Lots Overkill  of celebrations!

I also started bought the Dr. Seuss book, "Oh the Places You'll Go" book and had her teacher sign it.  I'll have each teacher sign it and give it to her at her HS Graduation.  

Addyson has lost 8 teeth as of May or so (can't remember when she lost her last one) which is BY FAR the most out of any Kindergartner.  The majority of the kids have lost one tooth or none and a few have lost 2 or 3.  8?????  I can't explain it!  The Dentist said kids lose them at different times and that it is not unusual one way or the other.  She just looks so old and grown up with permanent teeth in!  

Another thing about Addyson that I never really thought of is really how advanced she is in all areas, not just school.  She has been riding her bike without training wheels since she was 4, swimming without a floatie for 2 years and things like that.  Most other kids her age (up here) are not doing those things (some are, but not all). I don't know if we just started those things with her early (which is possible) or what, but she has been doing most things like that for a while now. 


We are so proud of our Addyson Tate and love her to pieces!  Now, on to enjoying our fun summer!! 

Memorial Day visit!

By Memorial Day this year it had FINALLY warmed up a little.  Long-timers up here say this was the coldest spring and winter since 1915 or 1950.  I can't remember what the person said!  Ha!  Either way- it was a cold one!  By the end of May all my flowers had started to bloom and things were looking spring like! 

These turned out to be beautiful pink peonies! 

This year my sister, LeeAnn, her husband Stewart and their 2 kids, Hallie and Lauren, all visited us for Memorial Day.  It was the first time they were able to come visit since we have moved here so I was super excited for them to come up!  The night before they got here, Addyson had her first trampoline accident (of course) and bonked her tooth really bad into the neighbor girls head.  Ouch.  This put a little damper on trampoline activity for the weekend because I was paranoid she would hit it again and injure it further.  We took her in to the dentist on Tuesday and it ended up healing itself just fine.  Thank goodness because it was a permanent tooth!  That stresses me out!! 

The McKinney's got here LATE Friday night (about 12:30) and so the kids were excited to see each other on Saturday morning! 

Playing on the swings.  You can see how green it is here! 

Sweet little cousins!  Minus Lauren!

On Saturday evening our neighborhood had a summer kick-off party.  We had a fun time swimming!

Well, Lauren wasn't really having it here!  I think the water was a bit cold for her! 

Love this picture of Ben telling Lauren something important!

These girls swam all day!

Sunday the guys went fishing and LeeAnn and I took the girls to DeAnna Rose.  We had a fun morning there! 

We had a fun weekend.  The only bad part was that they had to leave so soon!  I hope they will come back and visit again soon.  Oh, and notice I did not get ONE picture of me and my sister together.  :(