It took me almost a week to get caught up with all of the posts recapping our vacation and Mexico, but it’s done. Check out all of the posts and pictures below.
Now, back to REGULAR blogging! Yay!
I’m working on catching up on posts recapping our vacation to Mexico, but in the meantime, I wanted to get these photos up from a little 4th of July photo shoot I did with Nora. The light was so nice in the evening, and it was beautiful out. The weather seemed even more perfect in comparison to the over-the-top humidity we had grown accustomed to in Mexico!
Here are some of my favorites with Nora in her red, white, and blue!
These days, taking photos of Nora is nearly impossible if she doesn’t have something to play with. In this case, she *insisted* on holding my keys. Every time I tried to take them away from her to snap a few shots, she cried. Oh well.
Then, her “toy” of choice was my lens cap. Whatever works, right?
After being close for a few weeks now, Nora officially learned to clap today. Now her hands make the clapping noise and everything. It is so adorable, I keep making her do it over and over again! (She claps on demand as long as you say, “Yayyy!”)
I kept noticing on vacation how long her eyelashes have gotten. Beautiful. Love her pouty little lips, too.
In other news, Nora learned another trick today, too. We went into her room to get her up from her afternoon nap to find her like this:
Sitting up in her crib! Which is certainly not how we left her. She figured out how to sit up from a lying down position, which she has never done before. She is changing so much every day!
Happy 4th of July, everyone! I hope you enjoyed your holiday.
Stay tuned for more posts from our vacation. For those who read through Google Reader or a feed, you won’t have any issues. For those who come to the blog, I’ll pin a post to the top of the page to let you know when I’ve updated below. :)
We all got to bed pretty late after the wedding, and we woke up to our last morning in Playa. As usual, we got dressed and went to Indigo Beach Club for breakfast. It was funny being out on that beach, knowing that just the night before, we had been there celebrating Kelly and Murray’s wedding.
Nora enjoyed her fresh fruit in her “throne” high chair again…
We realized that we had not yet dipped Nora’s toes into the water, so we decided to take her out to the shore after we ate.
She was NOT loving it. We will have to try again. Note to self: Book another beach vacation for next year. :)
Back at the condo, we all showered and packed up while Nora took a good nap.
Our driver came to pick us up at 11:00 a.m., and we were off to the airport. It was very busy, which we weren’t expecting–we were really glad we had given ourselves plenty of time. (You know, unlike when we were in Vegas. Ugh.)
Thankfully, Nora slept for most of the flight from Cancun to Baltimore. AND we didn’t have any further poop incidents. We got through immigration and customs without incident, and we were all STARVING so we sat down for some dinner during our layover. Despite it being late (again!), Nora was a happy girl. We took this pic of her at the gate:
Stinkin’ adorable, right? And that’s her little Mexican-made dress that I bargained for during shopping in Playa. She can wear it as a dress now (obviously), and I hope that she’ll be able to wear it as a top next year.
On our flight from Baltimore to home, we were sitting at the gate when a flight attendant announced that they would be holding a little contest. They said that the first passenger to guess correctly the combined age of all three flight attendants would get a free upgrade to business class. Michael and I joked around about it, but didn’t take it too seriously. We were seated at the back of the plane and figured we had little chance of guessing correctly. Well, she got all the way back to us, and I suddenly blurted out “91!” as she got to us. She smiled and called back to her colleagues, “I got one!” WE WON! Michael, Nora, and I got to move up to roomy business class and left my mom and grandma behind in coach. :) I gotta admit, it was pretty cushy up there, but we still would never pay for that upgrade.
We ended our trip with a little bit of luck! Now, it’s back to reality. If only we could get lucky with the sale of our home, too…
Right after the ceremony, the Indigo Beach Club brought all of us champagne out on the beach, and we all wandered around waiting to be called for our turn to take pics with the bride and groom. In the meantime, we snapped some of our own photos.
Four generations!
Nora wasn’t too sure what to make of this “sand” stuff.
Done with the sand.
Kelly and Murray hired this band to play during the ceremony and photos.
Our turn to take family photos with the bride and groom!
After the photos, everyone wandered around for a while for a cocktail hour. Nora was cranky, so I took a little walk with her on the beach to try to get her to nap.
At first, I appeared to be successful. I even ended up sitting down with her…
…but about 10 minutes later, she was awake again. Nap? Not so much.
Food? Yes, please.
Nora made lots of new friends…
The weather was so perfect. In the days leading up to the wedding, every evening around this time, it had rained. But this was beautiful. I don’t know if the humidity had dropped significantly, or it was just because we were on the beach, but it was the first time we all felt comfortable during the entire trip!
Soon, we were all seated for dinner. Nora was a good sport, even though it was late.
After dinner, Michael took Nora out on the beach and she ended up falling asleep for a long while. He relaxed out there with her, listening to the waves and enjoying the setting! Our fabulous waiter, Cristobal, actually took Michael a drink (without anyone asking him to) out on the beach. Loved him!
A gorgeous wedding for a wonderful couple. We were so happy to be able to be a part of it.
We walked over to Kelly and Murray’s hotel to meet up with them and all of the wedding guests before walking down to the beach club for the ceremony and reception. We were supposed to take family photos out at their pool area, but because their hotel was adults only, we had to wait in the lobby with Nora! It seemed like a bit of an extreme rule (seriously? we couldn’t go in for five minutes to take pics?) but they held fast and wouldn’t let us in. Plans were changed to take all family photos on the beach, so we sat in the lobby and waited until Kelly and Murray were ready. Soon enough, we caught sight of them walking out. BEAUTIFUL!
Kelly and our grandma
They hired this little rickshaw-type driver to take Kelly and her maid of honor to the beach club. The driver was cute because he decorated the whole thing with white balloons and gold ribbon. Before they left, Murray got in with Kelly for some photos.
^That one is one of my favorites!
After the pics, Kelly kicked Murray out so that her maid of honor could get in. HA!
Eventually, the driver took off with the girls in tow and then Murray led all of us down through the streets to the beach club.
While we waited for the ceremony to start, we took a few pics with Nora on the beach.
I *LOVE* this one of Nora with her daddy. *LOVE*
We grabbed prime seating, and then it all began…
My uncle walking Kelly down the aisle
Nora was a little cranky and doing her grunt/whine thing, so Michael had to take her to go stand a little bit away from everyone else so that she wouldn’t be disruptive.
I think this is when she asked if anyone had any objections, and everyone laughed. Kelly and Murray looked out at everyone, just to make sure. :)
Exchanging vows.
Murray attempted to put the rings on Kelly, but was having a little trouble…
…so Kelly took them and shoved them on herself. Everyone laughed, including them.
Then they did this part of the ceremony where they each took a white rose and went together to throw them into the ocean. Something about it symbolizing the joining of their lives, and a gift to Mother Nature.
I loved this. It was like Murray couldn’t resist giving her a kiss!
MARRIED!
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
