First day of vacation

We decided to stay close to home this year for our vacation we always take every year before school starts. When people heard we were moving to Milwaukee, they all said " you have to go to the Dells!". Not knowing what the Dells are, we looked it up and found a great deal at Kalahari Resorts for a family of 4 two night stay in a 1 bedroom suite, with passes to the indoor and out door water park, theme park passes, free pizza and drinks, breakfast for 4 every morning, $50 to use at any restaurant ...but wait the best thing...a gc for the spa that currently Jason and I are fighting over! So we arrived around 5:30 and you can't miss it from the highway. We pull up,as a women is carrying a baby tiger cup like we hold Jackson. She was putting him up and taking him home, I guess we will see him tomorrow. Look for pics! We checked in and immediately decided we wanted to stay an extra night! Of course Jason was able to get a deal..he is such a good negotiator! ;). We checked out our room which is amazing! First room is the king suite with the bathroom and it has doors that open up to the living room, bar, fireplace, kitchen, dining room table and patio. We are on the first floor with a view of the pool, super nice. We have full maid service that comes in everyday and cleans the dishes as well as the normal stuff...so glad I don't have to do dishes on my vacation ;). We went swimming, 2 hours on the best water rides ever and the lazy river. We had our pizza and then went for ice cream...an amazing first day.

Stay tuned....

our view and patio below

 

her favorite pose right now...two fingers

enjoying their treat

The end to a perfect day

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Jackson turns 1

On October 12th last year we added someone special to our family named Jackson. Born on August 12,2011 he was ready for us to pick him up after a day at the fair. We knew after tons of research and keeping a neighbors dog that continued to find our house when he got out, that we wanted a mini schnauzer. I finally found a breeder that had 4 boys and 1 girl, so we made the long road trip out past Fort Worth to hopefully find our new baby. We walk in and this little brown puppy came up to Jason's feet and pawed him, Jason picked him up, and never put him down! He had his name Jackson, named by Camryn before we left the breeders house. After a minute of being outside, I thought he may need to use the bathroom and he instantly ran under the car, way to go Kristi! After that scare was over he sat in my lap the entire way home and a special bond was formed. I never thought I would love a dog as much as I do Jackson. He is the first one I see when I come home from work, running to me so excited I'm home! He is a very special part of our family and hope we have many birthdays to come! Happy Birthday Jackson James Duncan <3

 

 

 

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I'm Back!

I'm back! But now in Milwaukee, as most of you know. I thought since we have moved and many of my friends and family have said they are keeping up to date and following me on FB,, it's time for me to start blogging again. This way I can express myself and share more of our experiences in our new adventure in Milwaukee! We are loving it here, who would have thought after 31 years I would be a Yankee again! Although everyone here says I'm such a southern girl, really??! I hope that everyone will read this and keep up with us through our excursions in our new state and enjoy all of the pictures as much as we love sharing our lives. Stay tuned.......

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My Butt is going to Brazil

Don't I wish! I have decided enough is enough and I'm going to do Brazil Butt Lift from Beach body for the next 60 days.  I haven't blogged since August but for the next 60 days, I'm going to try to blog each day to document my journey through getting back in shape. Last year I was working out a lot even ran my first 5K until I started to have back problems that started with my neck. After many tests, MRI's and scans we found out I have scoliosis and I've had to have facet injections. Yep, I'm 38 and I didn't even know I had it. My back would always hurt when I was in market, or danced, worked out but I just thought it was because I was so active. I actually haven't been able to work out for months and have gained weight, and had too much fun at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, and gravity has taken over.  So now I have my dvd's, my coach and support group....we have done my measurements and taken my pictures. Which I must say, I secretly cried in the bathroom. Pictures don't lie!  I will share them after what I hope is a success story in 60 days.

For the next 60 days I will blog how I'm making it through the dvds and my eating habits, and my days since I work and take care of 2 kids, my husband, my cat and now our dog.

I guess I should change my blog name...

Kristi plus 3 and a cat and dog :)

Goodnight

Are we there yet????!!!!

"Are we there yet???!!" was the most asked question yesterday. It got to the point where Jason and I just said no! LOL  We left Dallas around 1:00 and at 1:20 this is what we saw in the back --------------------->

Our first stop was about after 2 hours which was good. We stopped at this big travel lodge, lots of gifts and toys for the kids to touch, of course. Very nice bathrooms which is always my worries when you travel with the little ones. After 10 minutes we were back on the road.

Along the way we started to see lots of smoke, we could barely pass through...Someone started a grass fire and it spread about half a mile down the highway. I really hope they were able to get it out.






We continued on our way. About 2 hours later Connor really had to use the bathroom, so we pulled off and Stopped at a Shell Station that smelled like Death. It was the worse smell ever, People were just out and about like no problem while Camryn and I stayed in the car trying to keep from vomitting all over the place!!

7 hours on the road and we make it to Mississippi. It was so amazing coming up to the bridge to cross the mighty Mississippi river and to see the looks on the kids faces. It felt very patriotic as you see the big flag waving on top of the bridge and it's just so masive. We stop and take pictures and right when we are looking over the river we see a train coming across. Our kids love trains and it was our luck that they got to see this and experience something like this. Just AMAZING!!  The sun was going down and Jason took some great pictures, it was glorious!



Today we are heading to Pensicola, which is about 5 hours away.

First, we are stopping at the Coca Cola museum. Yes, I know there is so much history here and battlefields, but when it's hot and you have a 7 and 5 year old...we don't want to intentionaly drive ourselves crazy! lol

I'm reading the help which is crazy since it's based around Mississippi and I'm here. Great book by the way!! If you haven't read it you definatley should!

Till later, God Bless!

Crazy Busy

So, it's been quite some time since I've posted...over 4 months to be exact. I last posted on March 30th and 10 days later our house was hit with a massive storm. To this day we believe we were hit with the downwind of a tornado. Living in the country and 30 minutes from Oklahoma we are use to storms, but we never experienced anything like this before. Over $20,000 of damages, and all of the repairs were just complete.  Then about 10 days after the storm, I found out that I have skin cancer, well had skin cancer.....

To find out that I'm part of the "C" family was very emotional. My dermatologist said "Kristi, if you are going to get cancer, this is the best kind to have"...hmmmm ok?! I guess. I went in for surgery and that  was the result good and he got it all and had to take out over 4 inches wide and 1"deep.....All I can say is to please make sure you continue to apply sunscreen as you would your child. I'd much rather have this scar then the other, but it was very painful and took 8 weeks to heal. Thank goodness my doctor is a plastic surgeon too :)

That same week I started in a new area, a.n.a women's casual instead of Juniors. Such a great move! I love my new team, and I'm learning so much and being challenged every day :)

So now....time for vacation! We are leaving tomorrow for Destin Flordia. Taking our family trip before school starts. We will be blogging and will include a section of just pictures we have taken along the way ;)
We are taking our time, leaving tomorrow and driving to Vicksburg, Mississippi first and staying the night. Then driving Saturday to Pensicola and will arrive in Destin on Sunday...soooooo excited!!

Until tomorrow...Good night and God Bless!

Mexico from my perspective; Day 4

Day four...well this day was even better than the 3rd. As I said in my last blog, Jason and I booked an excursion to get off of the resort. We booked the excursion to an island called Las Caletas. Which was discovered by the director John Hudson and had said this was the most beautiful place on earth. We had to get up early and eat breakfast before taking a taxi to Vallerta Adventures by 8am. The boat was scheduled to take off at 8:30 for an hour ride. The Vallerta Adventures was really nice and the kids got to watch the dolphins, which they loved!  There was a baby and once the kids went to the window where the tanks were at the dolphins (probably 10 of them) came out of no where. It was great!  Camryn kept asking if she could go pet them :)  We took a double Decker boat to Puerta Vallerta to pick up more people which was about a 20minute ride. The boat ride was really nice, the kids love being on boats. Birds were following the boat the entire ride which was pretty cool. After picking up about 50 more people we were on our way to Las Calitas. Once we arrived on the island, we went to the bathrooms, found the lockers and went to the beach. The sand was lighter, not as dark as neuvo where our resort was and the water was more blue. Camryn instantly tried to find shells and rocks, lol and Connor jumped the waves. Connor really wanted to zip line so we headed to the Canopy which was the kids area and he got suited up. Camryn didn't want to do it so we just watched. Connor had such a great time, there was a smile on his face the entire time. He got to do 2 zip lines and a line that went across a suspended bridge. After Connor went Camryn decided she wanted to go, unfortunately there were only 2 times to go and Connor went on the second. However, there was another couple there that had 3 boys and they really wanted to go as well, so Camryn was in luck because the girls allowed them all to go and Connor to go again! The girls that worked there were amazing, so sweet and great with kids!When Camryn got up there she got a little scared so the main girl rode the zip line with her, it was so sweet! The second time Connor did the Monkey which is riding the zip line upside down, he is a pro now. After this we went to have lunch and the tables were set up on the beach, it was so nice. Of course, my stomach started to hurt again. I started to have pains on Friday which I had hoped was from the food I was eating, not because it was Mexico but because I haven't been eating the way I was in Mexico. Which I knew wasn't really the case because I know what Kidney stone pains feel like and this was them.
After lunch we went to visit the Monkeys and the Parrots. The kids wouldn't even get close to either but Jason and I held the Monkey. We not only had to take our glasses off we had to hide them when we held the monkey. The Monkey was so soft and just sat on our shoulders.
We finished the trip on the beach just jumping waves, burying our feet in the sand and collecting rocks and waves. Camryn picked up 2 big rocks which she ends up trying to sneak through customs, but we will get to that on the 6th day.
It was time to leave at 3 and we loaded back on the boat and Camryn instantly fell asleep in my lap. On the ride back the guys on the boat decide to have a kids dance off, which Connor was in. He LOVED it. There were about 15 kids, and he was among 3 other kids that were awesome and of course they were all 5-6 years old. He had so much fun and when they were done, everyone was a winner and got a  free drink from the bar which of course was Squirt with red soda, YUMMY! he was happy :) The rest of the ride was nice and relaxing in fact everyone on the boat was quite, lol.
We got back to the hotel and got ready for dinner, which tonight was at the Italian restaurant. The dinner was amazing, the best one so far. Jason and I had Chicken Marsalas with Risotto and the kids had Fettuccine Alfredo. Desert was delicious, they made the kids there own ice cream..see the pictures below.
After dinner we bought some more souvenirs and went back to the room and went directly to bed, it was a long and fun day!

The baby dolphin with her momma

The kids watching the dolphins

On a boat!

The bird that followed the boat for most of the ride

The island

so clear

Puerta Vallerta

This look is priceless, one of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Camryn getting ready, so cute

so pretty

Eating lunch on the beach

Little Monkey

Walking the beach with my baby boy

The sand was so soft..Camryn finding more shells

Pretty girl, on the ride back

Handsome boy relaxing

My view

Yummy desert, made just for him

and for her too :)

end of an awesome day