It took me a minute...but I'm back with more Turks & Caicos pix

...before I get started with more of the photos, I have a few words from our sponsor :-D. First of all, there are quite a few more photos I want to share with you. However, I have to cram and do them during the day, along with all the other "daily" stuff I am challenged to do :-). Reason being, when Mister M. gets home, he sometimes gets on his computer and being that we're on a network, when I upload photos, it slows down whatever he might be doing on his. And he doesn't like that too much :-D. SO...I'm gonna try and get these vacation pix as well as some other ones I'd like to share with you done today (in seperate posts, of course.) So, thanks for your patience.

Well, you'd better get comfy...cuz there are a BUNCH of photos to come. Enjoy....

This little guy was wandering around just outside our room, on the lawn off of our patio.
I shot this pretty boat as we waited for the Schooners Seafood Restaurant to open. We had a wonderful sunset dinner there. Sunset shots during dinner at Schooners.

Mister M's dinner at Schooners of Red Snapper w/ Mango Salsa & mixed greens. And my Mahi Mahi on top of eggplant and squash with caviar, steamed veggies & mixed greens.
Us after dinner at Schooners.Mister M. making our "family vacation sign" in the sand.Mister M. taking 2nd place in the Beaches mens dance contest :-). What a good sport. (sorry for the bad shot...night time camera issues)

Jayla posing...again! :-)

Us :).

Me and my man ;).

Oh look, it's Jayla posing for the camera again ;D.

Mister M. & Jayla chllin out in the outside lounge of the Italian Village, after a long morning of swimming ...and they're also waiting for me to return from a browse in one of the resort boutiques.

Poor Jayla zonked out waiting for me to return. She's also resting up for her next event. ...The next event, baking cookies with the Cookie Monster.

Jayla joining in on the "cent/dollar" dance.

Time for some "pool yoga" :-)THE Parade!
One of the many Elmo & Friends stage shows.

One of the isolated showers. Yep...we were sitting on the beach during a rain shower ;).
Us...again ;).
Mister M. & Jayla doing the tug-o-war in the Beaches Olympic Games.
Jerk Chicken from Arizona's Grill. YUM!!
Some beautiful scenery.









This is a REALLY bad shot. We couldn't get the camera to cooperate for the night time shots. BUT...this is little missy doing her "evening wear" runway walk in the Beaches Fashion Show. As I mentioned, she was really hamming it up for the crowd.
Here we are having dinner at Mario's Italian Restaurant after the fashion show. This was also our last night at the resort. Dinner was SO good. Small portions...but very tasty.
Jayla posing with Oscar The Grouch in the Kids Castle @ Mario's.
On our last day at the resort, we had time to walk around a little before the shuttle left for the airport. So we took the opportunity to take a few more pictures. As we were having a little sit down break to soak in the last bit of Turks & Caicos, we heard this little critter rustling around in the bushes. Jayla decided it was a girl and named it Christy the crab :-). There were a few others that she named as well. In addition to the little crabs, we saw a tiny mouse...YUCK! Jayla named him Todd, lol. I didn't take any pictures of Todd...as I said...YUCK!!
Here's a shot that Jayla took of me & Mister M. And last, but definitely not least, the infamous, out the plane window photos. So long Turks & Caicos!!!

Well, I hope ya'll enjoyed all of these photos. I enjoyed sharing them with you. Hopefully, you'll get to travel to T&C one day yourselves. These pictures do this beautiful place ZERO justice.

Thanks again for your time. Enjoy your day.

Well I'll be darn...

...I forgot to post our Turks & Caicos pictures, didn't I? Ooops...sorry bout that!

Well, ya'll ready for 'um? Here ya go.....

The relaxed stroll to our terminal after hustling through getting our tickets and security.

The impatient 1st time passenger.

HURRY...let's take off already! Do you people know how long I've been waiting for this?

WELCOME to Turks & Caicos. (This live band was SO LOUD!!!) :-)

BEAUTIFUL!!!

Our home for the next 5 days.

Pirates Island - Kids water park.

Main entrance of the Italian Village.

1/2 of Jayla. It cost too much to bring all of her, LOL :-) No, I just thought this was a really fun picture.

This is just outside the atrium & main lobby of the Caribbean Village (where we stayed). A/our pool is just on the other side.

One of the many beautiful Hibiscus flowers on the resort. The landscaping was AMAZING!

Jayla enjoying her "fix it yourself" spaghetti & carrots from Guissepies Italian Restaurant.

Another pool in the Caribbean Village. This is one of the smaller pools. We think it is also the oldest & original pool of the resort.

Breathtaking...not much else to say about this shot.

The Italian Village pool.
Ding...Ding...Ding...

Please pardon the interruption. However, it now time for a 5 minute intermission. At this time, I'd like to suggest that you take a break, stand up, stretch, grab a snack and go to the potty. We'll be right back with you after these messages, LOL :-).

Ding...Ding...Ding...

May I have your attention? It is now time to take your seats so we can resume our photo viewing session. Thank you for your cooperation and attention. ;)

Us...near a beautiful fountain in the Italian Village. YES...we spent a BUNCH of time at the Italian Village.

The outside patio of Mario's Italian Restaurant.

My little bathing beauty.

The bathing beauties momma! ;)

Daddy & Jayla going for a swim.

It's hard work getting up on those floats :-).

Mr. Cool, chillin by the pool!

Jayla and Zoe.

I got the biggest kick out of these directional signs. At least we knew where we WEREN'T going before dinner ;).

Ok folks, this posting photos, especially so many, is quite the chore. I'm gonna take a break for a while and post some more later. Hopefully these will hold you over until I come back.

Stay tuned...

Turks & Caicos: May 31st - June 5th

YAY!!...not only did I make it through a ROUGH, week long vacation :-). But I also made it through the week following that vacation. (I HATE vacation laundry!)

Thank you all for your patience.

WARNING...WARNING...WARNING...WARNING

Long post...Long post...Long Post

:-D

Ok, now where do I begin? I have SO much to share. First of all, let me just start this thing off and say, Turks & Caicos is a TERRIBLE place to vacation. But I suggest you try and go anyway. Cuz how will you EVER get use to it if you don't give it a chance? :-)

I mean, who wants to have to choose which of 8 pools to sit by all day and drink a pretty (virgin) drink? ;)
Who wants to lounge on a gorgeous beach looking out over the tourquoise Caribbean Sea?
Who, in their right mind wants to have to choose which of 16 restaurants they want to dine at?
WHY, on earth, would someone want to do ANY of these things? KNOWING full well that it's ALL INCLUSIVE! Tell me! WHO?
I don't know either! LOL
But I did what I had to do for my family.
Let's begin, shall we?

Day 1: Heading to Turks & Caicos, Providenciales
~Got to airport at 7:15am (for 9:45am flight)
~New kiosks didn't recognize our Delta confirmation number. Got sent to the "international" ticket place on the other side of the airport. Only to get in a line even longer than the domestic line.
~Tried using our shiny new United States Passports to "check-in" and it worked! Got out of line, checked 2 bags and bolted through security.
~Made it to our gate and waited a mere 10 minutes before boarding. Whew! That was close!
~This was Jayla's first plane ride. She was plastered to the window almost the entire flight. TOTALLY enjoyed it.
~There's a lot of turbulance between here (Atl) and Providenciales (Provo)...FYI!
~Landed in Provo, made it through immigration and security.
~Thought it might be a problem when the ONE & ONLY baggage conveyer belt stopped revolving and we were still light one suitcase! GREAT!!!
~Did paperwork for "misplaced" luggage and got the promise that it would be delivered to us as SOON as it shows up...tomorrow!
NOTE: this is the bag with our shoes and toiletries in it. Fabulous!!
~Took the 15 minute shuttle ride to the resort and were greeted with a cool towel and an even cooler beverage. (It was H.O.T. in Provo!)
~We got to the resort before the official "check in" time, so we had to wait for our room to get ready. No problem...we took this opportunity to take in some sites at the resort. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! This place is BREATHTAKING!!
~Mr. & Mrs. Bibbs...Your room is now ready! SWEET!
~Naptime :-)
~After our naps, we went to Guiseppies for an Italian buffet. YUMMY!!!
~After dinner, we walked down to the beach, and finished our evening with a movie by the pool.

Day 2:
~BEAUTIFUL day! (DUH!) ;)
~Had to go buy toothbrushes (3), toothpaste (1) and deoderant (1) at the resort...to the tune of $25.95. (Uh, hello, may I speak with Mr. Delta Airlines please? Yes, thank you, I'll hold.)
~Had a DEElicious breakfast at Reflections, one of the 16 restaurants, conveniently located in our hotel.
~Located 4 more swimming pools and took a walk on the beach.
~Back to the room to change into swimming gear, headed to OUR pool, played water volleyball (Mister M. did...I had to take pictures, lol) and bingo by the pool (I took care of this part, lol)
UPDATE ON LUGGAGE: As of 1:15pm, still nothing
~Headed to lunch at Bobby D's (50's style restaurant by the kids waterpark)
~More swimming in one of the other pools
UPDATE ON LUGGAGE: As of 5:30pm, still no luggage.
~Dinner at Schooners Seafood restaurant and sunset photos on the beach.
UPDATE ON LUGGAGE: 8:15pm, IT's HERE!!! Yay!!! Come to find out, the bag never even left Atlanta with us. And both of our bags were checked at the exact same time.
~Let me just say, thank GOD for ziploc storage bags! An entire bottle of shampoo and an entire bottle of conditioner and lotion spilled in the bag. Fortunately, the shampoo, conditioner and lotion did not completely leak out through the small holes that are now present in the bags. ARGH! Nothing like walking in your squishy shoes and bubbles are forming around your toes. Good times!!
~Went to a Reggae party at the "main stage" and Mister M. came in 2nd in the dance contest he was tricked into being in (not by me, mind you...really!)

Day 3:
~Slept in pretty late this morning. Must've been all the drinking we were doing yesterday ;).
~Jayla joined in the Cha-Cha slide and the "Cents-Dollar" dance by OUR pool.
~Viewed the sunset photos we were "tricked" into taking last night. :-) They were awesome! $129 worth of awesome! :D
~BUNCHES OF SWIMMING and drinking at the swim up bars.
~Lunch at Guissepies and ice cream cones from the resort dessert shop, Le Petite Chatteau Desserts.
~ISOLATED SHOWERS (for about 30 minutes)...perfect time for a nap (Jayla made the nap suggestion. Poor thing was exhausted from all that swimming, dancing and drinking :-D).
~Rained again about 3 hours later, hopefully the Elmo & Friends Parade won't be cancelled.
~Went to dinner at Reflections. YUMMY!!
~THE PARADE!!! Oh My GOSH!!! This parade was NOTHING like we thought it would be. When you say "Elmo & Friends" Parade, one can't help but think it's gonna be real "kiddy like", right? HARDLY!!! These islanders were JAMMIN'!!! We had THE best time with this parade. And the volume of it...HOLY CRAP!!! Talk about LOUD! The parade traveled through the grounds of the resort and ended up at the main stage with yet, another performance. There were people coming out of their villas and hotel rooms to see the parade. People were dancing and taking pictures. It was AMAZING!!! And LOUD!!! ;)
~After the stage show, we walked on the beach and then headed back to our hotel to watch a movie in the main/atrium lobby.

Day 4:
~After breakfast, we went to the Italian Village for a day of swimming.
~Had lunch at the Mario's Kids Pizzeria.
~Did a little shopping in the resort boutiques.
~2pm, Jayla had an appointment to bake cookies with The Cookie Monster :). Too cute!
~Just as we got back to our side of the resort, the skies opened up...it POURED down raining. So Jayla and daddy shot a little pool.
~After dinner, we went to the Sesame Street show at the main stage, where Jayla got on stage and danced with the characters. Then we all went to have ice cream.
~Watched another stage show then back to our hotel for a movie.

Day 5: OUR LAST FULL DAY
~After breakfast, we walked around the resort and found, yet another pool. Then saw the last part of a wedding. So pretty!
~Back to the room to change for a day of swimming. (we changed clothes a LOT)
~Mister M. & Jayla got talked into participating in the Beaches Olympic Games. (I had to take pictures, lol) It was SO hot outside!
~After the Olympics, Jayla was invited to participate in a fashion show that would be held that evening.
~Went to Arizona's for a Jerk Chicken snack. DEElish!
~More swimming.
~Had a light lunch at the pizzeria followed by ice cream.
~Jayla was invited to a "Walk about with Abby Cadabby". She was the only one and got to spend 30 minutes alone with Abby walking around the grounds of the resort.
~Jayla and I went to the boutique to pick out some outfits for her fashion show (a casual outfit, a swimsuit and "evening" wear) :-) And anything that she modeled that we wanted to purchase, we got 25% off of. No thank you! The 6 swimsuits she has are enough.
~Back to the room for a short nap and to take out Jayla's braids. In Jayla's words, she had to "WORK IT!" tonight...so the hair HAD to be done, LOL.
~6:30pm, back to the main stage to see the Elmo & Abby show then to get ready for the fashion show. I must say, my baby was ADORABLE and she WORKED IT...just like she said she would. The crowd got a real kick out of her sashaying across the stage, throwing up peace signs and blowing kisses. She's a mess! And she did great! No stage fright from this little girl...
~"Celebration dinner" at Mario's Italian Restaurant.
~Back to the room to pack up for tomorrows departure :(.

Day 6: Heading back to Atlanta
~Luggage picked up from room at 8am.
~Shuttle leaves the resort at 11:30am for our 2:04pm flight
~Last yummy breakfast at Reflections.
~Last walk around the resort and on the beach for those last minute photos...(300 was an odd number to stop at. So we took about 50 more, lol)
~Headed to the "Departure Lounge" to verify our luggage and hop in the shuttle back to the airport.
~Get to the airport, check in, check bags, go through security then chill out for a couple hours until our flight leaves.

Paging passenger, Dawn Bibbs! Dawn Bibbs, please report to security.

Huh? Nah...they didn't just say MY name?!?!

PAGING passenger, DAWN BIBBS on flight 510 to Atlanta. Please report to security!

Seriously??

~Yep, they paged me to security in the Turks & Caicos/Provo airport.! So I go back through the security/immigration check point and over to the place where we checked in. I tell the lady that I just got paged to security. She QUICKLY hurries me through the crowd and takes me to this GIANT black woman with rubber gloves on. Uh OH!!! Who then asks me if I had anything in my suitcase that would not be able to be read by the scanner. Looking totally perplexed and caught off guard, I start thinking. Then respond, "Uh, no..." So she ushers me deeper into the bowels of this tiny little airport, (which is actually not that "deep" at all) where there are about 5 more GIANT black women all standing around my bag. Uh OH!!! So they ask me again what's in my bag and if they can search it. SURE!, I said...what have I got to hide? Anyway, she searches my bag only to find out that it was my other camera that I'd packed. WHEW!!

~I go back to my waiting family, who's asking me "What HAPPENED?!? WHAT HAPPENED???" What did you do? :-) I tell 'em and we head back to our seats in the HOT waiting area that would remind you of the county health department. NEXT!!! Next in line PLEASE!!!
~Jayla and I go into the little souvenier shop to see if we can find some last minute parting gifts. $50 later, I've got 2 tote bags. Told you, this place is expensive. But no sales taxes though.
~As I stated, it's HOT! So Mister M. goes back to the little store to buy something for us to drink. He has ZERO cash on him so he has to use the credit card. BUT...he has to spend a minimum of $15! So he buys 3 GIANT bottles of water, each to the tune of $4! A bottle of Gatorade for Jayla and a Snicker bar for us to share. We're working out a payment plan as we speak! ;) lol
~He gives Jayla her Gatorade, me a bottle of water, keeps a bottle of water for himself and hands the extra water to me to keep in my carry-on bag.
~Finally, our flight is called and we're headed back to the Atl.
~We make it safely back to Atlanta, safely through customs, and safely through the first 2 security checkpoints.

Paging passenger, Dawn Bibbs!

~Not really! :-) Well, not exactly. I didn't actually get "paged" this time. We're being ushered through security like a hurd of cattle. Trying to quickly take off our shoes, remove laptops from bags, lay carry-on bags on the belt, you know, stuff like that. When a GIANT black security woman goes over to talk another, not as giant, security woman and points at me. Of course, I turn and look behind me...only to see no one :-). The not so giant woman pulls me aside and tells me that there's something in my bag that the security camera doesn't like. Immediately I think...THE EXTRA BOTTLE of $4 water! Yep, that's what it was. So she takes it out, throws it into the tub with the other hundreds of bottles of unauthorized liquid and sends us on our way.

I'm such a trouble maker! I have terrorist written all over my face, don't I? lol

Well, that's our trip in a HUGE nutshell. It is now 2 hours later from when this post began and I'm tired and there's a storm a brewin. Therefore, I will do the photo portion of this post tomorrow. Sorry, you'll have to wait one more day for the pictures of that HORRIBLE place :-). Good night for now...

Honey, I'm home...

Hello everyone in Blogland!

We made it back safely from our vacation.

But needless to say, I'm BEAT! I've never experienced jetlag before...but I'm willing to bet that's what I've got right now. So as soon as I get my act together (which shouldn't take too long), I'll share the good, better and best of our trip...and maybe even a little of the "not so good...but not terrible" parts too.

However, if all you want is to see some pictures, I've already posted some on FaceBook.

Talk to you shortly!

3 days to take off...

Hello everyone!

Well, there are only 3 more days until we leave for our vacation of a life time! My baby (Jayla) is BEEside herself with excitement. I found a picture of the plane today and was able to show her where our seats will be. She has made it VERY clear that she will have a window seat...you know, to make sure the "plane flyer" knows where he's going! LOL

I am a list maker. If I don't have a list of what will be needed/required for our vacations (where ever that may be), I will, without question, leave the most important item at home. Therefore, the list has been made. I asked Mr. M. the other day to go ahead and start putting his stuff out for me so I could have them to pack. He said, "I already gave you what I want to pack!" I told him that all he'd given me was 4 shirts and his 3 swimming trunks. He said, "EXACTLY!" LOL...Men!! And Jayla, let her tell it, she's been packed now for about a month and a 1/2. She has filled her little "pully" suitcase with about 63 books! lol Guess I'd better help her out with that, huh?

Anyway, I think I've got everything we're gonna need listed. But as I'm checking stuff off, I'm seeing that I keep adding items. When does it end? One thing though, that I'm gonna make SURE I have, are my cameras. Yes, I said cameraS! My MIL told me that she wanted to buy me a camera to sorta thank me for all I do for her. I tried to talk her out of it...but she wasn't hearing it. So check out the camera she bought me yesterday...

Is that not the cutest little thing? I just love it...so far. And because it's new, I'm taking my old one as a stand-in. (this is a BIG vacation...so I can't take any chances.)

In other news, Mr. M. and I went to a party last weekend. Our good friends, V & T were celebrating their birthdays and requested that everyone wear black. We had the best time! And the food was SOOO yummy! Here's some shots from that evening.

Love you guys!!!

Also, I just have to say, FaceBook is amazing! I've been on it for a couple years and have found a bunch of people on there. I found a friend, just recently that I grew up with. She use to live across the street from me. She and I along with her sisters and brothers went to elementary and high school together. We met up for lunch this past Tuesday. She brought Jayla some flowers...how sweet is that? We came to the conclusion that it's probably been over 15 years since we've seen eachother. That's just crazy! But now we're back in touch. So cool! Love ya, Beth!

Anyway, I'm thinking this may be my last post before we leave on Sunday. However, I bought a little notepad today to do some daily journaling in while we're gone. (Yes, it was on my list!) So hopefully, I'll remember to write down all the fun we have each day.

I'll end this post with the Friday Flower Fix...you know, to hold ya'll over until I get back. ;-)

Ya'll enjoy your weekend and have a great week next week. And I'll touch base with you when we get back. Toodles!!

What a BARGAIN!!!

Ok, I don't normally do posts like this on my blog.

Alright, maybe I have done it once or twice :-).

But I just had to share this with you. Have you guys ever heard of or been to Garden Ridge? Well, it use to be one of my favorite stores. But they've changed a lot so I don't go there like I use to. ANYWAY, as you know, we'll be leaving for vacation in 11 days and I needed a nice bag/purse to carry-on. Garden Ridge has an awesome selection of bags/luggage/purses, OH MY!!!. So it was the first place I thought of. Not to mention, the prices are great. Oh, they also sell scrubs there. My daughter is in nursing school and has to wear a certain color scrubs. Well they have them at GR for $5.99 for the pants or the top. Can't beat that.

ANYHOO...I go in search of my bag today and this is what I found.
They also had it in the red color (pictured on the tag). But there was only 1 left and the zipper was kinda wonky.

Ok, so I'm looking through the THOUSANDS of bags and I find this one. Perfect! I look at the price tag (this is the good part) and I see that it was $49.99. It was marked down to $14.99. THEN I see another little orange sticker on it that has $8.00 on it. To be honest, I was sold with the $14.99! I hold onto the bag as I look a little more to make sure this one is really what I want. I make my way to the register (this is the BETTER part) only to have the lady scan it and it rings up...get this...$4.00!!! YEP! I got that bag for $4.00! I couldn't believe it.

Come to find out they are having a sale on all of their luggage and it's all 1/2 off the (orange) ticket price. The lady even showed me the sales flyer indicating the sale. Obviously this one guy knew about it. As he purchased 3 pieces of luggage, one being almost as tall as Jayla and 3 times as wide as she is. He got that thing for $15.00!!!

Anyway...I just had to share that with you. You may now carry on with your day! :-)

I got me a cold!!!

Hello everyone out there in blogland! WARNING: CUTIE PIE ALERT!!! This post is "Jayla picture heavy!" ;-)

Oh my goodness, I don't know where to start this post today. I have a few things to share with you. Well, I'm a list kinda person, so maybe that's what I should do...

1. I forgot to share Jayla's 1st grade Spring picture with you. However, before I show it to you, I have to vent :-). In the Fall when the kids take pictures, you have to pay for the package in advance and PRAY that your childs class is photographed BEFORE the infamous spaghetti & meat sauce lunch, lol. We did alright in the Fall...no worries there. But in the Spring, they just sent you the package of pictures and you pay for what you want and send the rest back. Not a bad deal, huh? Well, for the past couple of years they have sent home the form for you to fill out with your childs information on it and you get to choose one of several background colors or in this years case, one of several poses. COOL!!! I chose the pose I wanted and had THE outfit picked out for Jayla - you know, the one that would show the best in the pose that I picked. Well tell me how come when we get the pictures back, it's NOT the pose I selected?!?!? Sure, it's a cute picture, but it's NOT the pose I chose. I asked Jayla about it and she said that the "picture guy" didn't even look at the form I sent with her. He just told her to go sit down and smile. So anyway, long story short, I called the photography company and lodged my complaint. ONLY to find out that I'm not the only parent to complain (this year), however, there's nothing they can do about it. Isn't it my luck that they don't do picture retakes in the Spring? There's no time! ARGH!!! Anyway, I showed them...I sent the entire package back...after I scanned one of the photos. I HAD to have a Spring picture of my daughter. But I refused to pay for something that wasn't what I wanted. Oh well, here's the picture. Her hair looked a little crazy...but she's still a cutie! ;)

2. While we're on the subject of pictures, we got our soccer pictures back a week or so after the school pictures. Now THESE, I'm happy with.

3. Last Friday the had what's called an "Author's Tea" at Jayla's school. They kids had to write a short story and they had to read it to an audience. The topic for Jayla's class was "Sea Animals". So each child had to pick a sea animal to write about. Jayla chose the Sea Lion. She says they're "really cute and really interesting!" :). For about a week, she had to practice reading her story and she did really well. There were a few words she had trouble with. But come time for the Tea, she was READY. She was so excited to be able to wear her favorite dress to school and read in front of me, grandma and the other parents. Here's her story...

It's so amazing to see how much the kids have learned over this past school year. They ALL did a wonderful job. After all the stories were read, we had cookies and, of course, tea :-). It was so cute watching all the kids running around getting eachothers autographs in their story booklets.

4. If you read my last post, you'll see that this past weekend we were in Columbus, Ga for the Georgia State Soccer Championship. Well, this is about the 5th or 6th time our U14 boys have been to this tournament. However, they've never made it to the finals. WELL...this time, things were different. Not only did they win all 3 of the games they played, but they made it to the finals on Sunday...AND WON!!! The U14 Stingrays are not only the #1 U14 team in our league, but now, the Georgia State Champions!!! WOOO HOOO!!!

As some of you may be aware, Mister M. not only coaches Jayla's U8 girls team and the U14 boys team (both affectionately named the Stingrays). But he also coaches a U16 boys team, called Barcelona. Yes...that's THREE teams! Barcelona also went to the State Championship this past weekend. So you can imagine what a busy weekend we all had keeping up with over 30 teenaged boys! Talk about FUN!!! The hotel we stayed in was also temporary lodging for a few other soccer teams as well as some softball and basketball teams. Again, talk about FUN!!! lol

Anyway, this is first time Barcelona has been to the State Championships, as this is only their 2nd season together. But they played their HYNIES off! They also made it to the finals. However, in the last 2 minutes of the final game, the opposing team scored. Which made us #2. ARGH!!! But still, being #2 in the STATE ain't too shabby! YAY BARCA!!!

5. Now about this cold...it was FREEZING in our hotel room - let's start with that! Then it was forcasted to rain all weekend. It drizzled a little and rained Saturday evening. So that was great to be able to get those games played. Being that our first games on Saturday and Sunday started at 8am, it was a little chilly outside. But the rain held off...UNTIL Barcelona's final game. About 20 minutes into the game, the sky opened up. So needless to say, we got caught in the downpour. Fortunately, we all had our umbrellas (well, except for the additional giant umbrellas that were conveniently located in the back of the van). Anyway, we got SOAKED!!! (because all I had was the little, Jayla sized umbrella.) They will only stop a tournament game if it starts lightning. SO...that's where I (think) I got my cold from.

Alrighty, I think that's all I have for now. I'm still a little tired from the busy weekend and this congestion isn't letting up. In fact, it's worse when I sit down in one spot.

Ya'll have a great rest of the week and I'll talk to you soon.

Oh, one more thing...after spending a little over $500 we FINALLY received our passports for our upcoming trip to Turks & Caicos. YIPPY!!!

See ya!

Another busy weekend on the way...

Hey ya'll!

This is gonna be a quick post as I've gotta go pack.

NO, it's not time for our vacation. It's SOCCER TOURNEY time! We are headed to Columbus, Ga this afternoon for the Georgia State Championship. We've been to this tourney before. But THIS time it's gonna be a little different. As this time we're taking both our U14 and U16 teams. So that's about 30 something teenaged boys. Not to mention the little girls in tow. But honestly, I'm looking forward to it...not the chaos I'm SURE will be caused :-). But just the fun with the kids and watching some good ole soccer.

Anyhoo, I'll have more to post next week. Fun stuff! However, I will leave you with the Friday Flower Fix. Hope you enjoy it.

Ya'll have a great weekend and I'll talk to you soon.

GO STINGRAYS!!!

GO BARCELONA!!

Happy Friday! Happy Weekend! Happy Mother's Day!

HAPPY - HAPPY - HAPPY!!!

~

Alright, alright...enough of all the happiness :-). I'm TIRED!!!

~

This has been a crazy week.

~On Monday, Mister M. worked from home, so that's always fun :-).

~On Tuesday - Cinco De Mayo - absolutely nothing exciting happened. Oh, other than Jayla starting her swimming lessons. That girl is a MESS! She has been wanting to take swimming lessons for quite some time now. But I wanted her to be comfortable in the water first. The instructor having to deal with a child who's scared of the water was a bit much for me...and I'm sure more work for them. SO, now that she will, without a second thought, jump off a freakin cliff into the water, I thought she was ready for lessons :-).

I mean, it kinda looks like she's having fun, huh? :-) And what's so great is, there are only 3 kids in her class. 2 boys that look to be about 8 or 9. Love that the class is so small.

~On Wednesday (Sixo De Mayo...lol), me and Mister M's mom spent the day together...at the eye doctors (oh joy!). Then we stopped by the mall where she picked up a few things and even bought me a big floppy hat for our vacation :-D. Thanks Mom!

~Then Thursday, was fieldtrip day. Sadly, the 1st grade classes only went on 1 field trip this year. And this was it. We went to the Chattahoochee Nature Center. I'm not much of an outdoorsy type (ok, I'm not outdoorsy at ALL). So it was quite the shocker to see me out there. Anyway, we wound up having a really nice day. Although it did get quite muggy and humid out. Oh and the mud was kind of an issue too. But all in all a good day. JAYLA on the other hand, about had a coniption! As we were finishing up our little tour of nature, a "dinosaur", aka, lizard, walked across our path. Before I knew it, the girl had practically CLIMBED up me! And that SCREAM!!!!! Makes my ears ring just typing it. THEN...yes, there's more. After the dinosaur fiasco, the "naturalist" who was giving us the tour, steps away for a minute to go get her little "friend" to show us. She comes back out with a 3 - 4 foot Eastern King Snake! (impressive huh, I remembered what it was called). Ya'll, I thought the girl was gonna start hyperventilating on me! She was BEEside herself! Alright, for the record, I don't do "dinosaurs" or snakes either. So I could kinda relate with the ole girl :-). But DOGGONE!! Anyway, after PROMISING her that she/we didn't have to touch or go near the snake, she was fine...kinda! Sheesh, what a day!

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Thursday afternoon, as if the nature walk wasn't enough, Jayla had her 2nd swimming lesson. I'll tell ya, it's amazing what a difference 2 days makes. This girl was almost in fish mode yesterday. It was amazing. She just LOVES to learn new things and just absorbs EVERYthing! So yesterdays lesson was quite a treat to watch.

And NOW...for the coup de gras (sorry if I spelled that incorrectly). GUESS what Jayla got to do before her lesson was over? Check this video out...

...oh, and this one too.

Needless to say, she is LOVING her swim lessons. We still have 4 more lessons to go and once it's over, she'll receive a Level 1 Swimming Certificate. She's so excited.

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Ok, well, I think that's about it for me today. But before I go, I'd like to wish all the lovely women out there a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY this weekend. And since I can't get these to all of you individually...he's some flowers for ya (aka, Flower Fix)

Toodles!

The gig is up...oh, and Happy Friday too :-)

Good morning everyone! Happy Uno de Mayo!!
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I know, I know...you're all shocked that, not only am I posting before 8:00am EST. But that I'm actually posting on a Friday. Well, stranger things have happened ;).
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First things first, did ya'll have a good week? As always, mine has been a blur. But a good week nonetheless. Nothing really extraordinary happened...just a good week. The weather was gorgeous and I was actually very productive.
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Oh, one thing I did have to do this week was take my van by the Nissan dealer so they could look at my funky rear-view mirror. I can't even explain to you what's wrong with it. But it just looks weird. Come to find out, I have a "self-tinting" mirror. And the self-tinting liquid thingy has ruptured or something. So now my mirror looks like one of those vertical lava lamps from back in the day, with the water stuff in it. Know what I'm talking about? Well, needless to say, it's kinda difficult to use now, as "there may appear to be multiples of the same object."
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ANYWAY, Nissan wants to charge us $250 to replace the mirror. However, they have advised me that "this is normal." WHATEVAH!!
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All I'm sayin is, don't ya'll be surprised if ya'll see a navy blue Nissan Quest with several strips of duct tape wrapped around the windshield holding on a "normal" rear-view mirror. Consider yourselves warned! :-)
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OK...while we're on the subject of loveliness, lol, how bout some flowers? On a Friday, even!

Drumroll please.....

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ALRIGHTY...you guys have been SOOO patient over the past several months. And now...yes, NOW...it's time to share my little secret.

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As I mentioned, this little secret may only be ubber special to ME. But special nonetheless. How bout a little history before I go on.

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20 years and a little over 3 months ago, I married the man of my dreams. Due to us being in our early 20's, and so BROKE that we didn't have busfare to go pick up a million dollars if it was offered to us...we weren't able to have a big wedding. In fact, there were less than 15 people at our wedding and our car broke down. But that's another post within itself. :-)

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Anyway, we got married an hour later than originally planned :-) and my new sister in law drove us to our reception (because the car broke down, remember?). We had the reception at my mothers new house where about 15 more people showed up. My step-father was our "photographer" and the 35mm photos that he took for us have served their purpose...to prove Mister M. and I really had a "wedding".

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Fast forwarding to 2008...some DEAR friends of ours own a photography company and offered to do a "wedding" shoot for us. They are wanting to do more weddings/engagements and thought we were a good couple to add to their portfolio. So about a year ago, we put the plan in motion. As you may remember, Mister M. purchased me a new ring. And being that I wasn't going to get the ring until our anniversary in December, we chose to wait to do the shoot until we got our new rings....you know, to show off some BLING! :-) Well, we all know how cold it can be in December, so we decided to wait until the spring to do the shoot.

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Faster forwarding to 2009...So this past Easter Sunday was the day. And I'm convinced that along with me and Mister M., God was also ready to get this done and overwith :-). He provided us with a GORGEOUS Easter Sunday and the shoot went off without a hitch and the day was amazing!

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Allow me to give you a sneak preview of the 400+ photos that were taken that day. Oh, and for the record, this is the only photo we've seen too. So as soon as we receive the rest of them, I'll share.

SO...that's my secret! Not sure it's what you guys thought it would be. But again, this was/is VERY special to me. As I mentioned, we didn't have a big wedding and we really didn't want that. But the main thing I did want was to have professional/formal portraits done. And now, 20+ years later, we have them. And I couldn't be happier! I was almost in tears when I saw this last night. Cynthia & Lisa, you guys ROCK!!!

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Well, that's it for now. Thank you all for your time and I'll be talkin to ya later. Have a great weekend. Toodles!!