Casa por fin

Home At Last...after a wonderful week of family vacation in Mazatlan. Seven days of pool-swimming, beach-combing, sun-soaking bliss. It's been a bit crazy since our return, with plenty of laundry to wash, two classmate birthday parties and groceries to restock but we are quickly getting back into the groove of things.

The girls now have their first trip on their passports and Emma is already asking when we are going on our next vacation. Sounds like she shares her mommy's passion for travels. In addition to the swimming, we also had adventures with the resident iguanas which we spotted at the pool cafe on our first day there. Emma enjoyed watching from afar, while Camryn (in true Cam spirit) was full charge ahead. We spent the rest of the week spotting iguanas in the islands of the pools and way up in the palm trees. What a special treat for the girls!

Our time spent visiting with friends - Molly, Pete, Nicholas and Rachel - was wonderful as well. Emma and Nicholas loved doing cannonballs into the pool and seeing who could swim fastest, while Camryn and Rachel lounged in the shallow end of the pool in their donuts. Brian and I were fortunate to get away for an evening to have a nice dinner in town (thanks Molly & Pete!). Speaking of dinner - we also ate lots of yummy food throughout the week. Fresh guacamole was always on hand - yum!

We came home with plenty of seashells to make into necklaces for the girls. Does anyone know how some shells come out with perfectly round holes in the tips? They are great for stringing, which we'll be doing soon. Oh - and we also spotted some mermaids on the beach. As I've written before, Emma adores Little Mermaid. She kept asking me if we were going to see her on the beach. We didn't see Ariel, but Daddy sculpted mermaid tails for the girls - close enough.

Emma got her hair braided, and was so excited for all of her girl friends to see it at the birthday party today. Some of the moms asked how I got her to sit still for that long while I did her hair. I only wish I were that talented! Camryn got two tiny little braids in the back since her hair is not quite long enough yet...but she insisted on having something done to it since her big sis did.

One of the best parts of the trip was being able to finish two books. I finally got through The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. It's a quick read, I just couldn't find the time to sit down with it at home. When I finished, I had Brian read it since it has historical references all through it. He's the history buff, so it was fun to discuss after he was finished, which took less than a day. Then I got sucked into A Thousand Splendid Suns. After reading and loving The Kite Runner by Hosseini (can't wait for the movie), I just knew this one would be as great - and it exceeded my expectations. Tears were shed and I was sad for the book to end but couldn't put it down at the same time. Really looking forward to book club discussion on this one.

Here are a few more pictures from our vacation, but check out the many more I've posted to our November album.