As long as we're delving into ancient history

McKay and I took a three day trip into Dallas last August (I know, we live in Dallas. But you can't walk leisurely around the arts district at midnight with a then three year old and one year old.) Our awesome friends took our babies for a few days, and we had an AWESOME time.

All mine

Sushi!

Ohhhh, sore feet after walking miles around downtown after dinner in four inch heels. These shoes were not made for walking.

Recovered. Why is this underlined?

This was so fun to see our city like normal, non-parent people, and also just to get away from responsibility for a few days. Thanks Dallas! Seriously, what's with the underlining?

Cousin Time!

Tyler doing his GQ photoshoot at the cemetary. Cousins! From left to right: Macey, Maddie, Annie, Noah, Adam, Jamie, Tyler Everyone except Annie, but I thought my kids were really cute here. The rest of the cousins were too, of course, but here Tyler isn't squinting and Jamie isn't chewing on anything except her hands. Mommies and Babies. Jamie mauling her brother.
Quality cousin time :) I really want to take a picture of these two in 10-15 years doing the exact same thing.

Flight #1

Our flight started off promising, if nothing else. McKay actually got bereavement leave for four days, so that was a nice surprise. I was still slightly scarred from flying alone with two kids back in October. Having two adults would help things along, or so I thought.

Anyway, Tyler and Jamie had a great time waiting to board. Tyler alerted everyone that there were in fact airplanes outside the window. Jamie munched on Tyler's breakfast while he wasn't looking.

(Happiness ends here.)

The actual flight was pretty awful. We were shoved in the last row by the bathrooms (which smelled AWFUL) and the engines (one of which completely blocked Tyler's window), and someone's dog, which was drugged and shoved under McKay's seat. It stank so bad. The flight attendents were mean and not helpful, and when Jamie went nuts being confined, they kept telling us to sit when we tried to walk her around. It was almost three hours of smelling stinky dog or stinky, hot bathroom, keeping Tyler entertained and belted in, and holding a screaming baby, all while the others passengers sighed and stared and the stewardesses scolded us for being horrible human beings.

Do not fly American Airlines!

California Trip #3: Disneyland!

Our last trip to Disneyland was just past Tyler's 2nd birthday, and it was spectacular!

This trip at 3 years old....

We still had fun. We just had to find out what Tyler wanted to do.

For example, Tyler did NOT want to:

Ride the rides.

Or get too close to Buzz or any other large characters.

However, we found he DID want to:

Chase this boy's bubble gun bubbles.

WATCH the rides. For an hour.

Run around in this water play area in California Adventure. We were here for 90 minutes!

Miss Annie Skyy loved it too, but just watching her crazy cousin get soaked.

I think Tyler's favorite part of the day was spending time with Grandpa Eatough. They watched the Pixar parade together, went on rides together (that he refused to go on with me, by the way) and ate lots and lots-

-and LOTS of kettle corn. Grandpa made sure Tyler was actually able to fall asleep clutching the remains. What a pair.

Oh, well. We are now experts on navigating Disneyland with three-year-olds.

Cruise!

Well, we're settled in here in Plano, Christmas is over, we're off from the cruise, and I (McKay) am officially in the job hunt. As most of you know, I just graduated from BYU in Advertising, and am now looking for market research or advertising work in Dallas. I would be remiss if I didn't put in a good plug here: IF YOU KNOW ANYONE IN THESE FIELDS IN THE DALLAS AREA, PLEASE LET ME KNOW :-)

Whew! That has been the story of my week, so I'll write about more fun things. We just got back from our cruise to Mexico. Whoo! Went to Progreso and Cozumel for a 5 day cruise in celebration of my graduating last month. Took a lot of pictures- here are some of the highlights.

Katie was afraid of crossing the gangplank.

Bye Galveston!

We did the elegant night, where we met the captain. He was a very odd man.

Managed not to starve.

Went to some great shows. When Katie managed to stay up late (ya know, past 7 or so), she even came with me! A full day on the boat is tiring when you're trying to grow a little baby in your tummy...

Got attacked by towel animals every day. This one kind of scared Katie.

We stopped first in Progreso, where we decided to go to the Mayan ruins of Uxmal. I could have spent all day here. They were just spectacular. We climbed the ruins till we could climb no more (and because the bus was leaving).

Me playing on the Ballcourt. They had to get a 4-9 pound ball into that hoop using only their heads, hips, and shoulders. Good thing I didn't play for real- the losers (or one of them) would be executed.

These guys were all over the place.

I can't say enough about this place or show enough pictures. How well preserved these ruins are and how detailed they are is just amazing. I was suddenly incredibly jealous of the "Book of Mormon Cruise" my parents are on, exploring some more of these sites.

In Cozumel, we rented a little 3 wheel scooter that gave us access to the whole island. Don't we look hot?

First we found a quiet little beach and did some great snorkeling on the coral there.

Then we hit the road to check out some more beaches. The whole back side of the island is just quiet, white sandy beaches.

We found this great spot of "swiss cheese" volcano rock that formed all sorts of caves and coves. The effect was really cool when the waves crash against the rock.

The water was just gorgeous all the way around the island.

Back on the boat, we unfortunately crossed through a cold front the last day approaching Galveston. I couldn't resist capturing some of the waves as we cut through the choppy water. Than goodness for Dramamine!

It was a fun trip. Nice to get away for a little bit, but it was fun to come home to Tyler, who had probably just written us off altogether. BIG thanks to Marie and David and Mom and Dad for taking care of him while we were gone.