Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama

Isn't vacation great??? I love almost everything about it...almost. Coming home is always such a drag because their is so much to catch up on (hence the reason I am just now writing about our trip...11 days after we got home).

Here's the scoop:

We left SLC at 12:50 AM on May 8th, and flew over night to Ft. Lauderdale. When we landed we went straight to the port, and borded our ship. Kai's favorite part about the ship was eating...of course!


Kai and I spent a lot of time in the pool. This is a picture of us the first day.

Kai discovered "ice" on the ship, and he and Leila had a great time playing with it.

On dress up night, the little guy was dressed to the nines...sports coat and all...he was the talk of the ship. :)

MEXICO:

Our first stop was in Cozumel, Darin and I were here on our honeymoon, so it was fun to go back and see some of the same places we visited right after we got married. Kai loved swimming in the ocean, and kept pushing Darin and I away, so he could "swim" on his own.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my two guys...doing what they do best...eating!

Darin and Kai played together for hours and hours everyday, in the pool, in the play room, and in the dining room. They were attached at the hip the whole trip.

COSTA RICA:

I can't even begin to describe how beautiful Cost Rica is. We visited a Bannana Plantation, toured the rain forest, and rode a boat through the canals of Tortuga. We loved the people, the fruit, the iguanas, the sloths, the monkeys, the "blue" crabs, and even the 103 degree weather with 110% humidity (well, maybe not the humidity).

PANAMA CANAL:

Next stop was the Panama Canal, and we loved watching the locks open and shut allowing HUGE ships to pass through the canal. It was amazing to me to watch the intricacies and details of this process.

PANAMA CITY:

We spent a day in Panama City, and loved seeing so many incredible buildings and beautiful architecture. I will tell you one thing I could have done without...the heat/humidity. It was only 2-3 degrees warmer in Panama City than it was when we were in Costa Rica, but it felt like a 20-30 degrees warmer. You could literally swing your arm and see the moisture in the air move.

We also visited the ruins of "Old Panama City". It was really fantastic to see such incredible ruins and since Kai picked up walking on the trip, he loved stumbling around checking out the old ruins.

Kai and Leila loved being together, and on the second dress up night, they snuck off to a corner of the dining room to play alone.

Finally our last day at sea was lots of laying out, napping, reading, and playing...best of all we loved spending 9 days with each other.

Like I said, I love almost everything about vacation...minus the coming home part.

Mothers Day Surprise

Kai gave me the sweetest mother's day surprise ever...

When I showed up on Thursday afternoon to pick him up at his "class" (aka daycare), he was waiting with a wrapped package in his outstreched arms. He handed me a gift that he made in class. His teachers created ceramic plates and pressed his hands in it to make the cutest little hand prints. He painted over them himself. It was adorable. The best part was after I opened the package, he kept taking it from me and "re-giving" it to me approximately 20 times before I tricked him into getting in his car seat and leaving. What can I say, the kid loves Mothers day.

3 Days of Birthday Fun!!!

How did this guy...

Turn into this guy...

In just ONE year??? I sure don't know, but here is how we celebrated...

Day one: We started the day off at his one year check up. Both Darin and I were certain that although he has been in the 8th percentile for weight since he was born, he was definitely going to topple the charts, and come in somewhere around 70th or 80th percentile at his one year. Boy, were we disappointed. Only 20th percentile (still, quite a bit higher than 8).

Next, Kai and I headed to the swimming pool for some birthday splashing. He LOVED the water, and cried when I had to pull him out for lunch and a nap.

The crying didn't last long, because soon enough we were off to his "school" (daycare) to share some cupcakes with his friends. When we arrived, his teachers had decorated the door and made him a special birthday hat.

Kai LOVES his teachers, and loved sharing cupcakes with them.

He wasn't so sure about sharing his cupcakes with me, since he yanked the frosting right off of my cupcake and shoved it in his mouth before I even knew he had it.

After sharing cupcakes at his school, we picked up Darin from work and headed to Kai's birthday dinner...the waitress brought him his own special "appetizer" plate. He loved it!

Day Two: We invited Kai's 3 best friends to join us at the zoo for some animal watching and cake eating.

My friend Joelle (also the mother of Kai's friend Natalie) made us this amazing cupcakes/cake, complete with zoo animals and edible grass. She brought it over to our house the night before, and suggested that I tell everyone that I made it...I laughed, as I explained that NO ONE would believe me. It looked amazing, and tasted even better. Thanks Joelle!

These are Kai's 3 friends...notice they are all ladies, which he affectionately referred to as his "entourage" all day. :)

He sure loved eating his cake!

His friends were so nice, and brought him really fun gifts...I'm not sure if he liked the presents or the wrapping paper more?!?

We spent a couple of hours looking at the animals, and Kai found out at the end, that this is the first of many zoo trips this year...he got a zoo membership for his birthday...YAY!

Day Three: Several family members mailed or dropped off presents before Kai's actual Birthday, so I set up this display to be enjoyed by all for a few days before Kai actually got to open his presents. (we don't really use our kitchen for anything else, so it became a great display area). Every time Kai was near the gifts, he was freaking out with anticipation (I think I enjoyed this more than he did).

Sunday night, we had a family party with Darin's Grandma, and his brother Brian, Kristy, Briana, Garrett and Ethan. We had dinner, cake and icecream, presents, and Briana even read Kai stories before he went to sleep.

Briana and Garrett were super great at helping Kai open his presents...he was a little too slow for them.

Brian and Kristy even spent some time trying to help Kai learn how to walk (he is SOOOOO close).

What a great FIRST birthday...Thank you EVERYONE!!!

P.S. next year, we will be celebrating his 2nd birtday with ONE party. :)

Kai's First Hair Cut

SO...I knew we should get Kai a haircut eventually, but he has so little hair, I didn't want to take away from this precious commodity. However, after we took him in for his first haircut this past week, I realized we should have gone a long time ago for two reasons. One, he looked a little crazy pre-haircut, (see BEFORE picture below). Second, it might be the most fun thing we have ever done...If you have never been to "Cookie Cutter" with your little one, you are missing out. You walk in and the first thing you do is choose a cartoon for your child to watch on their own personal DVD player. Next, you choose a seat (rocket, airplane, horse, mini-car), and then if that weren't enough...you get a balloon and a sucker at the end...WHO KNEW GETTING YOUR HAIRCUT COULD BE SO MUCH FUN!?!

BEFORE

AFTER

Kai keeps asking when he can go again. :)

P.S. Today is Kai's First Birthday (pictures to come later), however I wanted to mention that it turns out Birthdays rock when you are planning them for a little one...I am pretty jazzed that this is the first of many to come.

Spring Fun!

Between Doggies, Swings, Slides, kindermusic, and a visit from Grandma Judy and Grandpa Chuck, Kai couldn't possibly have a better spring.

Tooth

Kai's bottom right tooth started seeping it's way out of his gum a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn't very visible until this week. It's amazing to me that he has eaten everything in site for the past few months without teeth??? He LOVES food. Just think how much he will love food with teeth...HELLO Steak, Apples, Candy and other scrumptious goodies that you need teeth to eat.