Christmas is here!

Christmas is near

Santa Picture December 2011

Thanksgiving

This year the holidays seemed to arrive quicker than usual, especially when we arrived back from mexico less than one week before thanksgiving! But we were able to transition from margharitas on the beach to baileys and coffee by the fire easily enough I suppose :) It was a wonderful turkey day spent with great food and family, and a time to reflect on all that we are thankful for.

 

The Elf on the Shelf arrived at our house shortly after Thanksgiving.  The girls named him Twinkles and are looking forward to having him around all month :)

Isla Mujeres Part 1... Paradise!

We were so excited to take a family vacation together with the girls, we decided to try somewhere new this time, a little island off the coast of Cancun Mexico called Isla Mujeres. We loved it so much we are planning on going back as soon as we can!

Our first morning on Isla we headed straight for the beach.  We stayed in the Nautibeach Condos on Playa Norte (North Beach).  The girls were a little cautious at first but it didn't take long for them to be covered in sand from head to toe! Here is their first time walking up to the ocean in Mexico, or Eximo if you ask Sophie :)

Oh yeah!

Can't beat this view!
We got to spend some time basking in the sun with the girls playing so good on the beach.

James and Sophia made a stop at the swing bar to get some drinks. The girls loved all of the fruity drinks on Isla!

Bella wanted to pose for pictures after we got cleaned up for dinner.  No rental car on this island, we walked everywhere except for the one day we rented a golf cart to check out the south side of the island.

Our first night we went to dinner at a seafood place on the beach.  With our toes in the sand watching the sunset over Cancun we had cervesas, seafood stuffed fish and garlic grilled fish (Isla's specialty), yum!

One thing I will definitely miss about Isla is the girls being able to play in the sand at most restaurants, it gave us much more than our normal 10 minutes of peace and quiet! Sophie liked to look at the boats, this was our first sunset on Isla Mujeres

On Sunday James was determined to watch the bronco game somewhere, so we explored the north part of the island, checking out the beaches and looking for a place that would play the Bronco game

The cloudy morning was kind of nice with nobody else on the beach!

This was our first time seeing the amazing carribean ocean, the color of the water is so pretty

Finally we ended up at Jax, a place with ocean views, great fish tacos and football playing on the tv, whew!

There was an iguana having lunch with us

The clouds cleared up for an afternoon beach session, we stayed for sunset

Hidalgo is the main street with restaurants and shops, there is usually live music in the evenings along the avenue, great atmosphere!

They really really wanted pictures of the monkey icecream shop, their favorite place on the island!

Another day at the beach!

 Spent the whole day Monday at the beach until we got cleaned up for tacos!
The girls kept us entertained by making silly faces :)

 Bella calls this her "angry eyes!"

 Yum! Steak tacos from Taqueria Medina

Nighty Night girls!