"Though she be tiny...she is fierce"

The person that said that (was it shakespear??) got it spot on with Lola Belle.
She is tiny and FIERCE. The girl knows what she wants (usually Daddy, "blabee", or Elsa)

 Once in a kids life they should wake up to balloons in their room. We have chosen that to be age 3 or maybe it was 4 with the other two. Anyway, she woke up and screamed out to us saying "how did these balloons get here". Cute.

 Holding her three little fingers up...Cute, cute!

 And the two of them together (with EZ, not pictured) Cute, Cute, Cute!

 She ran out of her room and saw her cake. It was kind of a magical moment to see her face when she looked at it. That cake!! Gr...but I love making cakes and personalizing them for just that moment.

 And then it was on to gifts. She loved them all.

 Let's get a closer look at that cake.

 The traditional shirt I make them. This one was a no brainer. She calls it her Elsa shirt.

 We had a lot of visitors this weekend due to the birthday, but Brad also had surgery and we needed some help with the kids and company for me.

 This is one of my favorite pictures of them. So spontaneous and fun.

And lastly, we played a few arcade games for tickets with equates to cheap prizes. Well, we discovered that I am a bit of a whiz at this jump game they had. I earned the jackpot score and the tickets kept spewing out. it was kind of embarassing/rewarding. The kids gave the rest of their tokens to me so I could earn them more tickets. That is how Lola was able to purchase that fancy crown and wand which she has either worn or held for the past 3 days.
Happy birthday, sweetest Lola Belle.

CANCUN!!!!!

This post is dedicated to CANCUN. How we miss you Cancun. It was such an anticipated trip for so long and now it is such a happy memory. It was perfect in every way. I may not have been able to say that, had we been stuck in Cancun. Turns out you need to keep those immigration papers for your whole trip and don't lose 'em or throw 'em away. Good thing we met this nice couple who rescued us with money that we "promised" to mail to them (which we did BTW). We had to buy new immigration papers which cost one millions pesos. (okay just 60 US$) Turns out you can at least buy your way back into your own country. It proved to be a tense few hours at the airport but we finally made it back home. Enjoy the pictures.

VIEW FROM OUR HOTEL

 VIEW OF BRAD EATING ONE OF MANY TACOS. THE FOOD REALLY WAS GOOD THERE. REAL MEXICAN FOOD. LOVED IT. THE GUAC WAS IN A CLASS OF ITS OWN.

 CHICHEN-ITZA LIVED UP TO EVERY EXPECTATION I HAD.

 SWIMMING IN AN UNDERGROUND SINK HOLE. THE FISH WERE NIBBLING AT OUR TOES. UNREAL!

 WHO KNEW THAT IGUANAS MAKE MEXICO HOME. KIND OF LIKE OUR SQUIRRELS IN THE US (OR MAYBE JUST THE SQUIRRELS IN ILLINOIS.)

 HERE BRAD IS TRYING TO CATCH ONE.

 I JUST WANTED TO TOUCH ONE.

 WE PARASAILED. WHO WOULDN'T PARASAIL?

 THE RUINS OF TULUM.

 AGAIN, I COMMITTED TO THE PINK RASH GUARD FOR THE ENTIRE DAY. IT IS HOT IN MEXICO!

 SNORKELING. WE SAW 2 HUGE SEA TURTLES. SUCH A HIGHLIGHT OF THE TRIP.

 HERE WE ARE AT A TURTLE FARM.

 CAREFREE. IT WAS SO FUN TO BE WITH JUST MY BRAD.

 ALL TANNED UP AND READY TO GO HOME.

 THESE LITTLE IGUANAS WERE WAITING FOR US.

AND THAT WAS MY BRIEF SUMMARY OF CANCUN. YOU MUST GO!!