Mazatlan, Mexico 2010

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to take a vacation to Mazatlan. We had such a wonderful time and enjoyed having a vacation. We were invited to go with my parents, they own a time share at Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay Resort in Mazatlan. We had been anticipating this trip for about a year now, so for it to finally have come was great. We flew down on Saturday, Feb 13th, it was a long day of traveling, but Ella did great and we were just glad to be there. My parents met us at the airport and we all were able to ride the shuttle to the resort together. My aunt and uncle and cousin were also there with us, they own a time share as well.

This is the view of the main pools

                                   
                                                         Me standing outside the resort

Marc walking on the beach the first night

Our resort was absolutely beautiful and so much fun.  Ella loved having the pool and the beach right outside.  We were up by 8am every morning and down by the pool by around 9 or 10am.  The pool was great, it had zero entry areas where we would set up our stuff for the day and then everyone could go where they wanted, but Ella always had a safe place to play in the water.  We could get lunch poolside and whatever we wanted to drink as well.  Every day there was happy hour between noon and 1pm, two-for-ones.  Ella and I would share smoothies!

One day we went to Stone Island for the day.  It is a small penisula that you can only get to by boat.  It is a beautiful beach with lots of restaurants on the beach (all with sand floors and no walls).  Here we are getting ready to head into town to catch a taxi to the taxi boats.

We rode the shuttle into town and then took a pick-up taxi over to the taxi boats.  Here are Ella and my cousin Sidney on the taxi boat.

Sidney and my Uncle paid to ride some horses for awhile on the island.  Ella didn't want to go, but she thought it would be ok to get on for a minute.

Here is a picture of all of us at the end of our day at the restaurant.  My aunt is wearing the mask that she bought while there that day!

Here is a family picture we took.

Here is a picture of my dad and Ella holding an iguana.  These guys came around with iguanas and would put them on you to take a picture with them.  They of course wanted you to give them money for it, but they would just put them on you whether you wanted them or not!  Ella loved all the sand on the beach and played for most of the day.  I had to shower her off about three times during the day.

We had a great time a the island.  We were there for about 5 hours and stayed at the same restaurant all day, eating and drinking.  Our bill for the whole day for 6 adults and 2 kids was $150!

We spent most of the week relaxing by the pool and eating good food.  One night we had dinner at the resort, it was Fiesta night!  They had an all you can eat buffet set up with amazing Mexican food and desserts.  Then there was a marachi band and dancers.  Ella enjoyed the music and watching the dancers in their costumes.  Here is a picture of one of the dances.

It only rained one day for part of the day and we spent that time in town shopping.  Otherwise the weather was beautiful and nice.  It wasn't too hot either, which was perfect.  It was a wonderful vacation and would love to go back some day soon.  Here are a few more pictures of the fun we had.

Marc and I in front of the Cathedral

Swimming on papa's back

Broken Heart

Well, today my heart is breaking. My cousin Shannon past away this morning at 1am. He had gone into the hospital last week and they determined that he had H1N1 in his lungs. They put him into a medically induced coma and his body just couldn't fight anymore. I knew this was a possibility, but I never thought this is how it would end. I am so sad for my family and our loss. Shannon was only 27 years old and he had so much to give to this world. He was such a wonderful guy and had such a great heart. I will be flying to Kansas City tomorrow night to be with my family and attend the funeral. I don't know how much heart break I can take, hopefully we'll get some good news soon.

Jerry Smith Pumpkin Patch

Today we took a day trip to Kenosha, WI to visit the pumpkin patch. Ella has been looking forward to this for awhile now, so she was very excited to actually be going. We got a little later start than we were hoping for (I was held up at the doctor), but we made it up there in time to grab a late lunch at Culver's and then head to the pumpkin patch. It was very busy today, seeing as that this was the first sunny day we have had in about 2 weeks!!! We still had a great time. They had displays set up with pumpkins painted with faces and setting on different bodies, most of them were children's characters. We also fed the farm animals for a bit and let Ella play on the playground. There was lots of room to walk, even with all the people. After a little snack of popcorn and a cookie we decided to try the corn maze. It wasn't much of a maze, we made one wrong turn, but it was still fun. Here is Ella and I in the maze.

Ella was so funny in the maze. Once we got into it she kept asking us if were reading our maps. Well, we didn't get maps for this maze (that's how easy it was!), so I gave her a piece of paper I had in my pocket and told her that was her maze. She carried it the rest of the way and kept telling us that we had to "go 15 paths to the north and 15 paths to the east". Then when we would pass the little signs that they had posted around, mostly stating fun facts, Ella would hold her map up to the sign and say "ok, we are going the right way". It was fun venturing through there with her, she really liked it.

Ella reading her "map"

After the maze we then went to pick out our pumpkins. They had some great pumpkins there! We picked out one fairly large one and then let Ella pick out a smaller one. We are hoping to carve them next weekend. It was a fun day and something different to do. It is only about 60 miles to drive up there and it's a nice change of scenery.

Here is Marc and Ella in front of the store

I figured I should throw in a couple of updates as well since I haven't written any blogs for awhile. As far as trying to get pregnant goes, we are trying again. Last month I took Clomid and some other hormones and we tried on our own and were unable to get pregnant. This month we are doing the same things, except we are going to do artificial insemination instead of trying on our own. So, we are hoping for the best, we just did the inseminations this weekend. I go back for a pregnancy test on October 30th.

The other major thing that has happened in our house is that we had to get rid of one of our cats, Mona. We have always had problems with Mona, she would potty on the floor frequently and she also had chronic upper respiratory problems. For the last month or so she had started peeing on the floor multiple times a day, every day. I had finally had enough and decided to bring her into the vet. I have had her into the vet many times throughout the last couple of years and there is nothing physically wrong with her, she just has behavior issues. So, Marc and I had decided that it was time to put her to sleep. I was having a very hard time with the decision, but I knew it was the right thing for us to do. I brought her in and was very emotional and had a good discussion with the vet. She wanted to make sure that I was aware of all my options and I was. So, she said if I wanted to put her down that was fine, we had exhausted our options (within reason). Although she offered me one last option, I could give up ownership of Mona and the vet would see if anyone at the vet office would be interested in taking her. If so, great, if not then she would be put to sleep. So, that was a good option for me seeing that Mona is the sweetest cat ever. I told the vet I didn't need to know what happened to her, so I can just assume the best! So, we have had a few hard weeks around here, but nothing major, just emotional.

Mona

Still not Pregnant

I went to the doctor yesterday for my pregnancy test and unfortunately it was negative. They did a blood test so I had to wait until about 3pm to get the results. It is frustrating that we are not pregnant, but we'll try again. My hopes are still high and maybe next month is our time. I'll keep you all updated.

Just some family updates

Since I haven't been very consistent in updating my blog I thought I should do a quick update of things happening. With Ella turning 3 in September I was able to sign her up for preschool through the park district. She started on September 22 and absolutely loves it! She gets to go with her best friend Emma. Her teachers name is Miss Jenny and she goes Tues and Thursdays from 10:30-noon. It's not too long, but enough time for me to run a couple of quick errands! She is having so much fun so far.

Here is her and Emma walking in on the first day.

That same week she also started her gymnastics class, through the park district as well. She gets to go into class without me and I actually don't get to watch or anything! They shut the door, so that the kids can stay focused and listen to the teacher. I get to see what she has learned on the last day of class. She is loving it and really likes her teacher Ms. Kelly.

Here she is on her first day (in front of the Gatorade machine)

Other happenings in our family is that we are trying to have another baby. For those of you who don't know, Marc and I have been trying to get pregnant since July 2008, so for about 14 months now. We decided to see a fertility specialist and I had my first appointment on September 8th. So, we went through a cycle of fertility treatments, medications and hormones, nothing too major. I will go to the doctor on Monday to see if we are pregnant! If not, we'll try again. Hopefully, I'll have some great news soon!!!!

I'm going to try and keep up better with my blog. I enjoy writing it, I just haven't been getting to it.

Look Who's Three!!!!

That's right, Ella celebrated her third birthday last weekend (Sept 27th). I really can't believe that she is three years old. She is such a fun little girl, so full of life and imagination. She has really been celebrating her birthday for the whole month of Sept, but her birthday party was last Saturday. We had a "My little pony" theme and she was so excited. We thought we were going to have 7 kids at the party, but the morning of the party two families called and said the kids had fevers and weren't going to be able to come, bummer :( So, it ended up being Ella, her friends Ella and Brady (sisters) and her cousin Johnathon. We were also lucky to have Marc's brothers, John and Adam come over and their girlfriends and our neighbors Jamie and April. Ella didn't mind that there weren't many kids, Ella and Brady are two of her best friends so she had a blast.

I made her a "My little pony" cake! It turned out pretty well, not the best, but Ella loved it.

We had the party on our rooftop deck, so we could have more space to play. I found a "my little pony" pinata at Party City. It was a pull string one, I didn't think that a baseball bat and three year olds would be good together. The girls loved pulling the strings off! Here they are trying to get it open.

There were even a couple rounds of ring around the rosie played!

Instead of giving out goody bags I made stick horses for the kids. They turned out so cute and the girls thought they were pretty cool. Johnathon didn't care much for them, he is getting a little too old! But Ella and Brady got to take theirs home with them and Ella has been playing with hers all week. Here is Ella riding on her "Pinkie Pie". Notice her birthday shirt too! I ordered an iron on transfer that had her name on it and just put it on a white shirt. She thought that was really cool and wore it two days in a row.

After her friends went home we let her open all her presents, she was so excited. She loved everything she got. Her big present from Marc and I was a playhouse tent for her room, it is really cool. Here she is trying it out.

Her real birthday was the next day, Sunday. I made her cinnamon rolls for breakfast and put a candle in it for her. She was really into the candles this year.

After we all got ready we took Ella to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs at the theater down the street. She loves going to the movies and having popcorn! The movie was cute and Ella enjoyed it and spending time with Mommy and Daddy.

We finished off the day by taking her out for pizza for dinner. I think that she had a great birthday this year. I had a lot of fun planning her party and making sure she had a very special day. I love her so much and love the little girl she has become (most of the time!). I have to say that she challenges me on a daily basis and sometimes this attitude is more than I can handle, but overall she is very fun.

Allergy update

I just realized that I never posted an update about Ella and the possible allergies. We saw a specialist while we were in MN and he was very helpful and answered all my questions. Basically he said that he doesn't believe Ella has any allergies! There is a 50-60% false positive rate with the blood allergy tests. He said that in children they almost never test for food allergies unless they show a reaction to food. Good news for us, but a very stressful couple of weeks. Glad that we saw the specialist and got some expert advice.