Costa Rica: Rio Celeste

 We drove way out of our way to visit the Rio Celeste's famous teal waters.  Unfortunately it was overcast & raining on us so the waters didn't look as teal as they could have with the sun.  On the way back, the sun came out & it was tempting to turn back and revisit the waterfall, but I was exhausted from hiking in the thick humidity!  The trail was really cool with lots of variety and thick jungle.

Cancun Favorites

 After spending 3 weeks in Cancun, here is everyone's Top Moments!

Vic:

1- Swimming with Dolphins

2- Unlimited Food at 2nd hotel

3- Jungala Swim Park

Nancy:

1- Fancy Dinners at 1st hotel

2- Snorkeling w/ turtles at Akumal

3- Hotel Pools- hanging in my tube w/ a pina colada!

Tommy:

1-Swimming with the Turtles

2- Time with Miller cousins

3-Cliff Climbing at Xel-Ha

Whitney:

1- Winning free drinks at hotel bingo

2- Jungala Swim park

3-Swimming with dolphins

Tucker:

1-Jungala Swim Park

2- Swimming with turtles

3-Swimming with dolphins

Vic's 40th Birthday!

Vic told me he wanted a BIG celebration for his 40th birthday party.  I started throwing out big ideas like renting out comedy clubs, hotel ballrooms, condos, etc. and he didn't like the price tag that came with them so he settled for a weekend in Island Park with his parents and brother's family.  We had an action packed weekend with travel to West Yellowstone, snow play, and lots of games.  On his actual birthday, he worked until 7pm!!

New Year's Eve

After the holidays, we drove up to the cabin for a week.  We were there for New Year's Eve so we entered the holiday snow fest sculpture contest just so we could get a small prize and was surprised when we won 3rd place!  We earned 2 new sleds for our penguin making effort!

 This is the first year that we've let the kids stay up until midnight so they could see the firework show at Lakeside Lodge.  They loved it and had more energy than Vic and I at midnight!

December Happenings

December was a very busy month!  We came back from St. Louis, got ready for Christmas, had Vic's parents & brother Josh over for a weekend, had Tommy's birthday weekend, partied w/ the Wheelers, did Christmas treats for neighbors, a few Christmas activities around town, and got ready for Jason & Katie's visit.  For Jason's birthday party, we had 5 out of 6 of us kids there, both my mom and dad, and my Aunt Pam & cousin.  It was a few hours of bliss for me.  It brought back memories of what holidays were like when I was a kid.  Some people were watching movies, kids were running all over, some were napping on the couch, and the rest of us were playing games.  It was a wonderful end to the holidays.