Cancun, Mexico

I have about 12 things I wanted to blog about before I got to Cancun but now I'm too excited and I'm going to jump right to my Cancun post and blog about the other things later...okydoky?

For weeks we had been checking out the weather forcasts for Cancun and much to our dismay the forcast was rainy and stormy the entire 10 days we were to be there. But once we got there the weather was PERFECT!! It could seriously not have been any better. It was sunny with a nice breeze that made laying outside all day very comfortable.
Our resort was lovely as could be, with an awesome beach, plenty of places to layout in the sun or shade, massive pools, and tasty food! This resort comes highly recommended by me! When we first got there, we were greeted by this:Everyone thought we were on our honeymoon! Giant baby bump and all!

One of the first things we did when we got there was take "before" pictures of our suntanless selves. We took "after" pics on our last day...can you see a difference?? Don't you just love Kiel's convict face?? :)
After sitting through a time share thing (and me dragging Kiel out before he signed on the deal) we got 2 for 1 tickets to an all-inclusive day trip to Tulum and Xel-ha- SUPER fun!!
Tulum was a village-y place that had a bunch of little temples and ruins. The sun was h-o-t that day and we got a little toasty!

After Tulum, we spent the rest of the day at Xel-ha where we watched these cute dolphins do tricks, snorkled, went on a nature hike, tubed the Caribbean, ate ourselves sick, and tried not to touch the killer crabs!

(The resemblance of this picture to a giant seal laying on the beach is uncanny)

My first virgin strawberry daiquiri experience...mmm!

Kiel got a little carried away with the parrot pictures, no?
Another day we did the Isle de Mujeres trip. That was tons of fun too...it was all-inclusive as well so there was a boat load of drunk people for entertainment, shopping, kayaking, snorkling, lounging in hammocks with a good book, and lunch.
Oh, and a shark.

We did a lot of walking around the shops, reading on the beach, playing cards in our room when we'd had enough sun, seeking out cheap yummy tacos and horchata and flan, and swimming.
Some of the other particularly fun things we did were water aerobics hosted by our resort, water volleyball also hosted by the resort, I got a spa manicure that consisted of getting my nails done, a massage, and chocolate wrap-thats right, my arms and back was smoothered in real chocolate...I wanted to eat myself! and a 4 hour walk on the beach that was a result of miscalculated distance. Here are some random pictures comprising the rest of our stay.

Us having fun with some shop murals

Kiel doing the Mosquito Dance down the mosquito walkway. Guaranteed to get 10 bites or more in under 10 seconds

The entryway to our resort

These 3 foot iguanas were everywhere! You had to be careful not to step on them!

Cancun was amazing. Being alone with Kiel doing whatever the heck we wanted for 10 days was amazing. We made lots of memories that will be fun to look back on when we go on 2 month streaks of not seeing each other in law school. But at the end of the day we really missed our little man and couldn't wait to see this face-

Picture Fest

I just found my camera charger and was finally able to download the last of our pictures from Japan. There's alot but I know my family would like to see them...Enjoy!

The view of Tokyo from our hotel

Kiel the Samarai

My birthday dinner and the best meal I ate in Japan!

The day we left...I miss you Yukarisan!

At an aquarium...

Look how fat he used to be! I miss that baby fat!

The whole Igarashi family

Kiel taught the lady on the right...she is one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met!

Yes, those are Japanese flipflops

The takaido drums...one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. I'll post a video of it.

So these are pretty long videos but they do get better as they go! Sorry the quality isn't awesome...I was using our small camera and sometimes it catches the wind...The first two videos are at the Takaido festival and the last one is at the Matsumoto Bon Bon festival.

For all my fellow pregger ladies

Thanks to the weather waiting to freeze me at first contact, I have spent way too much time and money trying to find a good work out video that I can do in the warmth of my apt. I have tried the neon workout spandex 80's video (seriously, who can take that seriously??), some crazy turban-and-dress-wearing yoga lady, yadayadayada.
I finally found one that works!
It works out every part of you and contains yoga, palates, and aerobic exercises...just a little of each.
She's not too fast and she's not too slow.
She's not boring but she doesn't talk to much.
She's wearing normal workout clothes!
All these add up to a great workout session that can be tailored to any fitness level unless you're my neighbor that ran 20 miles a day until she went into labor. So if you've also been trying to find a good prenatal workout video to keep that weight gain minimal, this one comes recommended by me.
I bought mine at Barnes and Noble for $25 but it comes with two DVD's- a prenatal and postnatal workout DVD.
The workout is 40 minutes with a 20 minute partner session that you can do with your hubby, preggo friend...
Maybe you recognize her husband from Desperate Housewives??

If you have any other prenatal workout ideas/tips I'd love to hear them...working out can get so monotonous, especially when you still put on the lbs!

A big hello from our little Angel (...lets be honest...he's two)

Waa haa -my new favorite word.

I have had some amazingly busy busy weeks! Behind and ahead of me... A few weeks ago my aunt called late one night and said she needed someone to drive to AZ with her the next morning early. Could I say PICK ME fast enough???! So I packed and got a few hours of sleep and then Caleb and I were off to Arizona to enjoy family, food, and the wonderful sun that is partial to AZ during these winter months. My unplanned vacay did not disappoint! I had babysitters galore, plenty of Pico tutorials {Joe Pico is our family's personal chef. That's right. He happens to adore us for some strange reason and comes over just about every day to make us some of his professional culinary delights}, sun tanning, and lots of time with my mommy.

Which brings me to this, can I please just brag about how amazing my mom is for just one minute?? SHE IS AMAZING!! My mom is a profesh cake decorator and has made lots of wedding cakes but never with fondant. My cousin found himself a winner and they tied the knot while I was there and the bride wanted this cute fondant cake so my mom said no problem! She learned and practiced how to make fondant cuteness. If any of you have tried to work with fondant you know it can be very difficult because it dries and cracks and is just not easy to create into cuteness. But everyone and most importantly the bride LOVED the result...
isn't it so so cute?? Isn't my mom just so amazing?!?!
Don't you just LOVE her?!?!?!

(forgive the cell phone pics)
You have no idea the work that went into this bow...We made it home to spend a lovely Easter with Kiel and Willmores. Call us procrastinators, bad parents, or just plain losers, but we didn't do anything real special. We decided we better get a little basket and eggs for Caleb at about 9:30 the night before so we drove to Macey's, bought a $1 basket and 88 cent eggs and filled them with the free smarties they give you at check out. We also swung by DI and found a few still-readable Thomas the Train books and sing along movies for 50 cents.
Can I tell you how much Caleb loved his {pathetic} Easter basket?? He went straight for the choo choo books and then discovered the eggs had smarties and fruit loops in them and about when to heaven. Yeah...we're pretty awesome parents. Awesomely frugal. Oh well, Caleb didn't notice.

So the plan is tour all Washington has to offer next week {we are checkin out UofWA as our most likely law school choice} and maybe we'll swing by Forks?? Anyone want me to drop off a lust letter to Edward while I'm there?? Seriously though, Edward?? When there's Jacob?? Nuf said.

And then we'll come back and enjoy relaxing and repacking for 6 days.
And then we are off to CANCUN!!! The oh so long awaited vacation is almost here and I can hardly wait!! I have some swim suits {thank YOU to all who gave me great maternity swim suit suggestions!}, wraps, sunscreen, passport and sunglasses... do I need anything else? Maybe I'll take an outfit or two...

I'll let you know how the blur of April goes! Hopefully with some fun, sunkissed photos to boot.