We're here!

Princess and I arrived in Cancun yesterday afternoon. We were exhausted after waking up at 4:30am to catch the 5:30 shuttle to the airport. It was, of course, amazing to see the Lizard King again. I love how we fall right back into "us" again.

The view from the condo. Isn't it beautiful?!

We went shopping for supplies today. Besides food for the next couple of weeks, I wanted to buy some baking soda for doing laundry. After finding the Spanish words for baking soda in the dictionary, slaughtering the pronunciation and finally showing the store employee the dictionary, she led me to the location. I'm guessing they don't use baking soda the way I do. It's my all purpose cleaner, my laundry booster, I use it to exfoliate, and so many other uses. I buy the giant Costco bag. Costco Cancun didn't have it. I bought enough for maybe 2 loads of laundry.  

LK cooked dinner tonight. Shrimp & Chorizo with peppers, onions and cilantro with sour cream (which was different than US sour cream), salsa & steamed corn tortillas on the side. It was so good!! Yes Freckle, white cabinets like yours, but these ones are shiny white! Ooh! I know you're jealous. ;)

We finished the day with a rousing game of "Guess What I Am!", one of our favorites.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring...

Random Thoughts

We leave for Mexico in TWO DAYS!!! Laundry is done and we are almost totally packed. I can't believe that we're going on vacation again. This is so unlike us. Jamaica in September, Disney World in December and now Cancun. It's crazy! This is the last vacation for a while. I foresee the next vacation being a staycation.

We can't wait to see the Lizard King. It still overwhelms me sometimes how much I love him. Being apart for so long is the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

I wandered away from unschooling for a while. It was immensely helpful in showing me that unschooling is the right path for us. With my whole heart and soul, I truly believe in unschooling. It is an amazing thing. I am grateful to my friends in real life and my bloggy friends who have helped me to find my way back to unschooling.

I want to know why some family relationships are so difficult. (I'm not talking about LK or Princess.) I also want to know why I trust relationships too soon and divulge my safe place, rendering it not so safe anymore. Then I wonder if I just shouldn't care and then deal with the repercussions.

I just discovered "Heroes", the TV series from back in 2006, on Netflix on Demand and am totally addicted.

We break ground on our new house the Monday after we return from Mexico. Princess wants to be an architect when she grows up. She and I will be setting up chairs to watch the process and progress.

I recently discovered that I am an introverted extrovert. Now I have to figure out how to find my balance. It is something that I have been struggling with lately.
When we were in Florida, I thought I would blog everyday but we were exhausted. I plan to blog from Mexico, but we'll see what happens. I don't know that I'll be reading everyone's blog everyday. I know you all will understand my absence. Right?

EA Active, Princess Pajama Edition

Princess has started the EA Active workout. She loves it! I hope that my working out will be an inspiration to her. My real hope is that she will develop a love of working out/fitness, something I never have. Look at her, she's so intense!

Wardrobe Wednesday - Time to Accessorize

This is Princess' second watch, the first watch was digital and this one is way cuter. It may not be pink, but it does have Princesses on it.

Princess is such a ham! I wanted to point out her necklace in this photo. It's an amber necklace, used to help teething pain. No, you don't chew on it! The oils from the amber release into your skin and provide healing benefits. Princess is getting her 6 year molars AND has her first loose tooth!

And how can a Princess go to Cancun without a proper pedicure?! It just isn't done.

Now that Princess is properly accessorized, let's get going! Head on over to Heathen Family Revival to check out what their cool kid is wearing. They've always got some entertaining things happening over there.

The Wagon and The Killer Bra

Yup. I fell off the EA Workout wagon. Princess got sick, then I got sick and it got really easy to not work out. In the past this would lead to years of not working out. Enter Freckle, my very dear friend, who kicked my butt (literally) and got me back to working out.

Since it had been about three weeks since I worked out, I scrapped my 30 day challenge and started over. This time I decided to kick it up a notch and moved up from easy to medium. Medium, for me, is tough. My butt hurts. My calves hurt. It's awesome.

Enter the killer bra. There is some running involved in the 30 day challenge workouts. During my last workout the underwire in my bra started stabbing me right between my boobs. I swear, it was going for my heart.While running, I tried shoving my t-shirt under my bra. It kept coming out. I shoved it back in, but it just wouldn't stay. The wire kept stabbing me over and over. In the shower I discovered that the freaking thing actually drew blood! I'm not sure, but I think a sports bra may be in order.

Princess Lessons

We went to Staples, my all time favorite store, to buy some packing tape and big fat markers. I can't just walk out of Staples without wandering around. You see, I have this office supply addiction. I can't help myself. So we're wandering around and we found a box of chalk...a simple 99 cent box of chalk. Who knew this would lead to so much fun?!

Princess decided she wanted to play school. She was the teacher and I was the student. (I have no idea where she gets this stuff!) She gave me math problems. I got them all right!! Then she taught me about patterns.

I learned the order of things.

Then we played an architect game. Princess drew things step by step and I was to copy her. She wants to be an architect when she grows up. She drew a house first, then this tall building.

I copied her house, but at some point I turned my paper and my roof ended up on the side of the house. I had no idea I did this until Princess asked me why I put the roof there.

I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.

OMSI

The Freckle and Shady family at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

We played and explored.

We watched an informative, but scary dinosaur movie.

(Please excuse the crappy photos. I forgot my camera...again. Thank goodness for cell phones!)

Barbie & Tchaikovsky

Bet you never thought you'd hear those two names in the same sentence. ; )

Did you know that Barbie could inspire a love of classical music? Princess has just about every Barbie movie ever made. One of her favorites (okay, it's Barbie, they're all her favorites) is Barbie in the Nutcracker. Through this movie, Princess has developed a love for Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker music. At the last Scholastic warehouse sale, Princess and I found Nutcracker: The Music Game for the bargain price of $5.

Princess is having a blast working her way through the game, while enjoying the beautiful Nutcracker music. Me? I have to say that I'm having fun with it, too. My favorite part of the game is figuring out which instruments are used in each piece. The box says it's for ages 4-104. The 6 year old and the 45 year old both love it!

Percussion

Princess wants a real drum kit. For some reason the pots, pans and other miscellaneous items just aren't cutting it anymore.

Afghanistan in Pictures

Some bloggy friends asked for more photos from Afghanistan. These are in no particular order.

LK having a baaad day...by the way, everything there is made out of plywood. Nice desk, huh?

Some Bosnian guys who work for LK

Locals working

mail helo

Transport via helicopter for contractors is the only and safest way.

Walls around the FOB are thick.

Building a snowman

Offices...yes everything is plywood and tents.