1st Days

Ryan started preschool! He loves it.

 Haley started 2nd grade! She loves it.

Pain

In the recent months, some people in our lives have been experiencing some real pain. This pain has included loss, illness and heart break. When people I care about, or even hear about, are going through these types of things it immediately puts my life in perspective. I strive to live in a place of gratitude and appreciation and when I am not, these kinds of situations catapult me right back.
It is a helpless feeling when supporting someone who is going through something unfathomable to you. I often don't know what to say and instead say, "I wish I knew the words to say right now, but I don't." I have also learned not to say, "Let me know what I can do." Instead I say, "I would like to take the kids while you go get a pedicure or take a nap, when's a good time?" or, "I'm going to the grocery store and would like to pick you up a bag of groceries, send me a list."
I realize that a lot of people in pain do not ask for specific help not because they don't need it, but because they don't know what to ask for.

It's a hard and helpless feeling to witness a loved one in despair. At this moment in my life I am overwhelmingly grateful for health, a home, all 4 of my parents, my sisters and brothers in law, my friends, my children, my husband, my students, my job. Not only am I thankful for all of this but for all that it includes and entails.

I wish I could wipe away the pain that those around me have been going through. Until I have that power I will try and ease it as much as I can.

From Sandals to Shoes

The summer break is officially over. I started back to work on Wednesday and the students come on Monday. This would explain why I was wide awake with a racing brain at 5:10 this morning. This would explain why I have fallen asleep on the couch the last three nights before 10:00. My summer sleep schedule was more like 11 or 12:00-7:30 or 8:00. Quite a change.

I must say this this was THE BEST SUMMER YET. Besides our actual destination vacations, the kids and I had the best time together. We had play dates, lazy time, park adventures, library visits, beach fun (at least once a week) and lots and lots of swimming. I would say between pools, lakes and oceans that this was the summer of water.

I can't quite pin why this summer felt so much better than the rest. Perhaps it's that that kids are 4 and 7 which means schedules can be a bit flexible. Rest time can be at any point of the late afternoon instead of right at 1:00 so no one crashes and burns. Perhaps it helped that I wasn't anal about the house needing to be clean and being frustrated feeling like all I did was clean up messes. The kids are at the age when THEY are cleaning up most messes they make. Perhaps these have been my favorite stages of their lives. They are more independent and less needy.

Perhaps (and I think this is the most true) I just love their little selves. They are fun and love to be outdoors and are social. They love to play games and watch a movie and read books. I just like being around those darn kids. I find them to be awesome. Biased? Possibly.

I know I write this a lot, but I feel so blessed to have the job I have. I work full time in a profession I am passionate about, but get the benefits of being there for my kids and spending valuable time with them. What could be better? Ok...maybe a lottery win, but still...

The summer was incredible. I will never forget it.

And now it's time to start again. It's time to put away my flips flops that I wore every. single. day. and get out my shoes. Haley is starting 2nd grade and Ryan is starting pre school. Josh just started his new job within his organization. All is good at the Russell house. We are ready to start our newest adventure.

"Cousin Weekend"

Although there are more than counsins there this weekend, it's what the kids call it. We get together with our Yuba City family twice a year. We get together in Yuba City at Christmas time and here in the summer. We all look forward to the love and laughter of these weekends.

 Debbie's presentation during our inaugural summer drink contest ( we usually only have a holiday drink contest) was the best we've ever seen. She really should've won.

 Haley was thrilled that this year she was tall enough to do some of the older rides with the kids. One more year and she will be big enough for most rides. Even though she was so excited about the rides she was going on, I think she was a bit relieved that she was not big enough for the Dipper.

These are the "kids" that were in our wedding. The oldest 2 are about the start their sophomore years in college. The younger 2 are about to be juniors in high school. Say what?
This year Uncle Mike and Gayle weren't able to join us. It did not feel the same.
Already looking forward to Christmas! I WILL win the drink contest. Oh yes, the title will be mine.

More on Cancun

I need to make sure I write more about our trip before the details are lost. I want it to be recorded. :) Our travels there were very smooth. We had a delay from Houston to Cancun, but who cares? We sure didn't. We got to our resort and were greeted with cold beer at the lobby counter. Aaahhh...

 There were LOTS of iguanas everywhere. We took a lot of pictures at first and then realized they were  around every corner. Josh still took a ton of pictures and when I went to edit I could have killed him. Maybe 50 shots of these creatures!

 This view of us is RIGHT outside where our room was. Every morning I woke up and opened the curtain to this sight. It was beautiful. The room itself was stunning. Marble everything, including a huge Jacuzzi in the middle of the room.
The resort was HUGE! 3 sections and 3-4 buildings per section. There were 14 restaurants on the resort and we didn't make it to all of them. At any given time you could have fresh guacamole, hot tortillas, or homemade salsa. Delicious.
One thing we all laughed a lot about was Spanish. All of us can speak just a bit of the language...except Josh, who can speak a lot. Every time we were approached, the person would look at me and say, "Hablas Espanol, verdad?" No, I don't. I know I look like a do, but I don't. Then I'd direct the person to Josh. The locals loved this Jewish guy speaking Spanish to them. Very entertaining. :)

I sang karaoke. I NEVER sing and there I am. Brie and I sang some Lady Gaga after several double margaritas. We sounded awful, but laughed through the whole thing. We had some fun dancers join us on stage. It was one night I wore flip flops instead of wedges. I had no plans of getting on stage that night. As you can see, Brie is a foot taller than me with her long legs. Too funny. Fabulous memory.

 As you saw in my last post, we spent a lot of time in the water. We gave equal time to pools and the ocean. It was honestly the most beautiful water I have ever been in. As you can see, Josh liked playing in the waves. I liked going beyond the wave break and just floating in the salt water. The water was easily 85 degrees. Hello heaven!

We went off the resort 4 of the 7 days. One day was to go to Tulum to see the Mayan ruins and one of the top 10 beaches in the world. Pics of that were in my last post. The Mayans were a fascinating civilization and I kept wishing that I taught that unit in 6th grade. I learned so much.
We swam at the beach and almost missed our bus back. All of us were in the water and none of us wanted to check the time. Brie lost in a odds, evens hand contest.
Losing time was one of the stand outs of the trip. With kids, you never really lose track of time like we did on vacation. Having no concept of the time was really freeing.
Another day we went to Xcaret- basically a theme park with water everywhere. It's on the ocean so you can do a snorkel excursion (which we did) and a fresh water river you can float down, swimming with the dolphins, a beach, animals, etc. We didn't really know what it was, and if we did, I don't think we would have chosen it. Everyone recommended it. If the kids were there, it would've been perfect. Glad we saw it but I could've skipped it.
Another 2 days we took a trip out to the adult only resort on the main stretch of beach. It was connected to our resort so we enjoyed all of the all inclusive benefits. We enjoyed the infinity pool and warm ocean water, and the serenity. One thing I realized is that I really am just as relaxed if other kids are around or not. If I am "off duty" I simply don't care.

 One morning Josh and Graham went deep sea fishing. They caught a bunch and brought some back to the resort. The chef at one restaurant cooked it up for us. It was grilled and flavored to perfection! The boys sent the rest of the fish home for the fishermen's families.

 One other activity the boys did without the girls was golfing. Brie and I enjoyed massages and facials at the spa. Did I mention that a $1500 resort credit was offered at the time we booked? Yes. So we did most of the extras for free. It was awesome! All over the resort there were signs for "cocodrillos." The guys saw one on the golf course and got a shot. Cool!

 This is funny. One of my mom friends at Capri was talking about wanting to do something for their 15th anniversary. I told her about our trip that was coming up and told her to check it out. She and her husband booked and it happened that our last night there, was their arrival night. We enjoyed some margaritas and dance floor time. So crazy to be hanging in Mexico!

We had such a memorable time with Graham and Brie. They were so easy to be with. All of us had the same attitude- to do what we want, whether together or separate. We laughed so much and created some amazing memories.
I don't want to forget:
- when I slipped and fell on the floor after exiting the Jacuzzi ( a total Muppet fall that I laughed about then and still laugh about)
- all of us drinking Pepto from "travelers tummy"
- Banana Monkeys and Blue Hawaiians- our favorite poolside cocktails
- ordering everything off the cocktail menu one at a time
- the heat and humidity and my hair being wild
- the incredibly gracious staff and everyone saying, "my pleasure"
- being in the water. All. The. Time.
- being INCREDIBLY RELAXED

On our last day we were ready to get back to our kids. The travels were a mess. We almost had to stay the night in Houston and I knew I wouldn't handle that well, so we ended up getting in SFO, instead of San Jose, and renting a car to get home late that night. We were so happy to be home in the morning with the kids! Our little alarm clocks were back.

Josh and I had so much fun together. We were reminded, yet again, why we chose to exchange vows 10 years ago. We relived the day and all that it meant to us. I feel fortunate that our parents took our kids (who had a blast that week) so we could have this memorable trip. Our wedding day was the best day of my life. It was the beginning of the greatest adventure. I love us.

Cheers to 10.