{May} 10 on 10: Flowers

Ok, so technically this is a 10 on 31, but at least it's still May (barely)! On May 10, I was still in lazy post-vacation mode so I totally spaced on my montlhy photo challenge. Well I was just going through my Spring 2012 folder and came across these photos from the zoo that I never shared (since I already had 4,792 photos in that post already), so for the sake of following through with the monthly challenge I wanted to share these.

All pictures are from the NC Zoo back in March (so I'm kind of cheating a little, oh well). I have no idea what any of these flowers are, except for the bamboo and cactus, which aren't even technically flowers. Ha!





















Except for the cactus (which needed more saturation) and the bamboo (my focus was not centered so I did a lomo effect to try to disguise it), all of these are SOOC (unedited). I just love looking at pretty flowers, so these pictures make me happy :)

Cruise part 2: Mayan Ruins of Tulum

Our first excursion during our cruise was to the Mayan Ruins of Tulum. Adam is really into the archeology and history of ruins like this, so it was an excursion he really wanted to do. After seeing some of the pictures, I was sold. This place was absolutely beautiful.





We had to get up early for a 30 minute ferry from Cozumel to mainland Mexico.



From there, we hopped on a bus and drove through town (can't remember which one, but it was beautiful) before we hit the highway to Tulum.



On the way, our guide talked to us about the history of Tulum and Mayan culture. We stopped for a bit to shop (and to use the baño) and we learned about obsidian and the Mayan calendar (our guide made sure to tell us that the world is not ending this year, btw).


We finally got there, and after walking a while up to the back entrance of the ruins, this is what we saw.






There was a pile of iguanas hanging out in the shade. It was strange to see them everywhere.



Our guide talked to us some more about the ruins (I wish I could remember all of what she told us, it was very interesting!) and then we got to walk around and explore.





Tulum is right on the water, situated on a cliff above a gorgeous beach with crystal clear water.





We had a little bit of time (definitely not enough!) to venture down and dip our toes in the water, which was nice because we were so hot and sweaty. We didn't have our suits on, but we didn't have enough time to swim anyway, unfortunately.







By then, not only were we roasting, we were starving! Our time was almost up, so we had to head back to the little shopping area where the bus was parked so we could grab some food before the bus left. On our way, we ran into the biggest iguana ever, so we just had to stop and take a picture. The boys couldn't believe how big he was and that I actually got to hold him. They thought it was awesome.



Then we saw these dudes, and couldn't pass up that photo op. Again, the boys thought this was awesome.



Finally, food! Our guide highly recommended Mr. Frosty's Mexican restaurant, and said they had amazing fish tacos. Since fishing is what they do there, we had to try them and they didn't disappoint. She also warned us about the salsa, that it was crazy hot. She called it "ay ay ay" salsa and one tiny dip of my fork in it lit my mouth on FIRE (granted, I'm a total wimp when it comes to spicy things). I'm just so glad she warned us because I might have needed medical intervention if I had used it like regular salsa!



Even though we had to get up early, it was extremely hot, there was a lot of travel involved, and we felt like we didn't have as much time as we would have liked to explore, it was totally worth it! Our tour guide was really great and made it educational and fun. If we ever vacation in Riviera Maya in the future, I'd totally go back.

Birthday lobster

I don't really remember growing up with too many family traditions (aside from Christmas ones). However, the one notable tradition we did have is a pretty awesome one: lobster birthday dinners.

For as long as I can remember (back to when my sister was a baby and she sucked on the lobster legs while the rest of us got the good stuff), just about every year we would get live Maine lobsters from the store and boil them up at home for a fancy birthday dinner (decked out in the super fancy plastic lobster bibs, back in the day). It was something I always looked forward to, especially since we would never get lobster at any other time of the year.

This year, my mom brought the lobster to my house, along with shrimp and crab legs. It was a seafood fest, and it was fabulous!

Get in mah belly!

Unfortunately, I don't think this will be a tradition my kids will carry on, since the only seafood they'll eat is canned tuna.

The boys have seen the live lobsters we've cooked a couple times before, but this was Lorelai's first time. I think she took her cue from Aidan, Logan, Shaun and Raina, who were all interested but still squealing in simultaneous fear and delight. I think one of the boys must have called the lobster nasty, so that's what Lorelai kept saying as she kept a safe distance from it. "That's nasty."

"Hmmm...what's this?"

"Whoa, too close! Get me away from that thing!"

Adam's not a fan, either. I remember the first time he came over to my mom's house for lobster. I don't think he realized we got live lobsters and liked to carry them around the house before we boiled them (I do realize that's probably weird). I walked into the living room with one to show him, and he was not happy about it at all. I think he did actually try it, but not before he had my mom remove the tail and claws so he didn't have to see the head and body chilling there on his plate. He's never eaten lobster since. ☺

My dog wasn't even phased by the lobster I was dangling in his face. Adam on the other hand...not happy about it.

I think this was my 19th birthday? Maybe 20th?

A special thanks to my mom for bringing the lobster and crab legs (and spaghetti for Adam and the kids), and my sister for bringing the shrimp (which is the only shellfish Adam will eat). And a very special thanks to my sister's boyfriend for not wanting to eat his lobster. Yay, more for me!

Lorelai and Aunt Jillian, chillin' after dinner

And of course I had to include these super sweet picture of Lorelai and Raina playing so nicely together. It was so nice having her there to play with Lorelai because it freed me up (somewhat) to hang out and eat.



They are just so stinkin' cute together!

 

iPhone photo dump {week 17}

 

Highlights:

• The boys had their last tennis lesson last Saturday. They both really improved their skills, but Logan was glad for it to be over because he started to get bored with it. I think Adam's going to start taking them out to practice on their own more regularly now though. 
• Last weekend Adam and I made a Mediterranean pizza and it was amazing. Party in my mouth, for real. 
• Lorelai's summer clothes are so friggin' cute. Love!
• We've had a few dance parties this week. Lorelai and Daddy danced :)
• Lorelai's been in a much better mood in the evenings this week, yay! (She's still really clingy to me though.)
• We've got a family of bunnies in our back yard. I think they live under our deck and they come out all the time to eat our grass. The kids love looking for them every night. Me, I'm kind of worried they're going to get eaten by the snakes.
• My birthday! 
• Some work friends took me out for sushi on Thursday.
• Logan made me an awesome pop up card at school, and when he gave it to me, he was so proud, it totally made me cry. Logan and Aidan also played the guitar and sang me a song for my present, which was awesome. Again, they were so proud of themselves. (Logan is really into the guitar lately, we'll probably need to look into lessons for him.)

Lowlights:

• Speaking of my birthday, Aidan was in a terrible mood on Friday morning and refused to wish me a happy birthday at first. Logan called him out on it so they got into a fight and Aidan got sent to his room. Luckily, Lorelai was more than willing to cheer him up, so we had do over and it was all good.
• And speaking of snakes, I had a nightmare about them the other night. Since I hate snakes (a lot), it was very disturbing. Those types of dreams where you wake up, heart pounding, with the heebie-jeebies SUCK!

It was a pretty great week! How was yours?

Linking up with a good life.

32 and owning it

Today's my birthday. For some reason, in my mind I'm only turning 27. In reality...I'm 32. But this time, no jokes from me about how I'm 29 again. No freaking out that I'm "thirtysomething." Cause I've been here for a couple of years now, and it's not so bad, now that I've gotten used to it :)



Really, I'm just so thankful for the wonderful year I had, hopeful for the year ahead, and very grateful for all of the sweet birthday wishes I've gotten from friends, family and even strangers.



It's been a great day! I got some big birthday hugs from all of my sweeties this morning then got decked out in a new top and painted nails, and headed to work for a meeting, feeling pretty darn good.



I took the rest of the day off for a lunch and movie date with Adam, with some power shopping thrown in on the side. We went to the mall and ate a Five Guys burger and fries, then saw the Avengers, which we thought was really good.



Had it not been for the meeting in the morning, I would have taken the whole day off and had more time to shop. But we had about 45 minutes for some quick stops in Forever 21 where I picked up a couple of new bracelets, Sephora where I got a free lip duo birthday gift and face lotion, Bath & Body works where we got some new hand soaps and a new lotion, Victoria's Secret (free panty coupon, holla!), and Urban Outfitters where I got another bracelet and some earrings to match my F21 bracelet. Whew! I guess it was a good thing we didn't have more time to shop ;)

Then we picked up the kids and headed to Chick-fil-a for dinner and play time.



And we get to celebrate even more tomorrow with my mom and sister. One word: Lobster! YUM.

Cheers to 32 years!



PS: I'm so excited I got some good pictures of me and this kids today!! Happy birthday to me!

PPS: Is it weird that when I went back through and read this after I hit publish, I sang "32 and owning it" to the tune of "Sexy and I Know It?"