Mexico: Wedding Slideshow

Aaron and Ann

Being in Mexico last week to see Aaron and Ann get married was a lot different than I ever expected. As most things are with Aaron, I figured this event would be pretty laid back - they would get married, we'd celebrate, and that would be that. But, to my surprise, it was much more. Seeing Aaron, my big brother, getting married was kind of unbelievable, especially when I think back to who he was when we were growing up together . . .

I would say Aaron and I had a pretty typical brother/sister relationship, which was pure hatred for each other. Alright, that might be a bit over the top, but we definitely had some issues. Take for instance the time we were home alone together and I did, or said something to make him really mad. I don't remember what it was exactly, but I do remember squeezing myself in between the toilet and the wall to protect myself and screaming my head off while Aaron hovered above me with his arm cocked and fists clenched, ready to strike at any time. Lucky for me, my death curling screams paid off as our neighbor across the cul-de-sac heard them and decided to check to make sure everything was okay - thank god for nosy neighbors, or that could have been a long day. Or, the time he "accidentally" slammed my finger in the door, riping off my middle fingernail. Accident my ass, I had to sit in class for the next few weeks giving the bird to my teacher as my finger healed - not exactly fun. And just so everyone knows, he didn't only shower me with his love, no, he made sure Ash got a taste of his kindness too. One day when we were home alone (there seems to be a common theme here; leave kids home alone and bad things will happen) he decided Ash needed to be tortured so he put his mind to work and came up with the idea to hang her over the railing by her feet. I'm guessing she was probably 5 or 6 at that time so you can imagine how scared she was. Knowing I could never make him put her down, I did the best I could, and made sure to stand below her so if he did drop her, I would be there to catch her. Yup, those are the memories I have of our childhood together - lots of kicking, punching (from Aaron), and screaming (from me) - talk about fond memories. By Junior High, we had both matured so there were no more fist fights, or screams at the top of my lungs, but we would still pick on each other. There was the occasional flick on the head, or poke on the arm, but mostly we stuck to name calling. That got us threw most of High School, and by the time Aaron graduated, we were even able to hang out in the same social circle. With high school behind both of us, I think we finally found our stride. College seemed to make it much easier to like each other. Maybe it was the distance. or maybe we just decided to grow up and give it a try. Whatever it was, college was good to us. We both made efforts to watch each other's sporting events whenever possible, got together during most of the holidays (and actually enjoyed it), and even made special trips just to hangout - it was a whole new Aaron, and I liked it. After college, Aaron's job took him to Wisconsin so hanging out got a lot more difficult to do. But, with email, occasional phone calls, and even a few trips to Wisconsin, we managed to stay in each other's good graces. After a couple long years in Wisconsin, Aaron finally got transferred back to Minnesota. It was during this time that I really started to like having him around again. We talked a lot more, especially during the weekends when he shacked up at our house during his homeless period, but even after he got his own place and settled in. It was just nice to have him around again. Then he met Ann. Talk about a huge change. All of a sudden Aaron got nervous, excited, and happy, and it was all because of Ann. I remember the first time we met her. I happened to be coaching basketball at the time and he had come to watch one of our tournaments (talk about brotherly devotion because, let's be honest, 8th grade girl's basketball isn't all that fun to watch). The tournament was close to his place so he invited us (Trav, Ash, and myself) to his place and mentioned that maybe we could all go out and meet his new "friend." Are you kidding me, of course we'll be there, and yes, we want to meet this girl. Anyway, the time came, and we finally met Ann, and after all the awkward introductions and occasional glances over my shoulder to check her out, we (Trav, Ash, and I) all loved her. By the time Aaron had met Ann's brother (that same night), I think all of his nerves were gone, and he finally kicked back and relaxed. After dating Ann for what seemed like forever, out came the excited Aaron. There I am sitting at home one day and I hear my phone ringing. I pick it up and it's Aaron. I'm pretty sure he didn't even say hello, just, "we're getting married!" Yea, it's about time. Then the best part came last week in Mexico when Aaron was the happiest I've ever seen him. Sure I've seen him happy in the past after victories in sporting events, or when he bought his first house, but none of that compares to the happiness I saw in him on Feb 16 when he and Ann were pronounced husband and wife on a beach in Mexico. He was so happy, so happy I don't even know how to describe it except to say that he had a huge smile on his face the entire day and night. Now, I know for the most part, Aaron is who he is because of my parents (and his two wonderful sisters), but from the day he met Ann, she has had a huge impact on who he is. And for the rest of his life, she will there with him as he becomes a great husband, a better son, brother, uncle and friend, and someday a father to their kids and I can't wait to see it all happen.

There is so much good to come for both of them and I wish them the best with all of it. Thanks for letting me (and everyone else who ventured to Mexico) share in your special time and let's get ready to have some fun on Saturday!!

Things I learned in Mexico

When I thought of all the things we would do in Mexico, learning was not something that came to mind, but after having been there for a week, I did in fact learn some fun, quite interesting stuff.

For starters, I might be double-jointed, and I might also be French. So the first night in Mexico was a little crazy (I only remember portions of it), but I do clearly remember dancing the night away and at some point one of the ladies dancing in our group asked me if I was double-jointed. Now I know some of my dance moves look tricky and only a trained professional such as myself could pull them off, but I never thought they made me look double-jointed. Apparently this lady didn't see Miguel (aka Mike) busting our his break-dancing moves, because if she did, she would have definitely guessed he was the double-jointed one what with the crazy stuff he was doing. Anyway, sometime during that same night, someone also mentioned within Miguel's earshot that they thought I was French. Now I'm not sure what a French person looks or acts like, but apparently I fit the bill that night. Having already forgotten about the French comment, I was a bit surprised when a few days later I went to have my massage on the beach and the masseuse says to me, "I not speak French." I just smiled and said "okay" but what I was really thinking was good, because I don't either. I may have to have mom and dad double check our family tree just to make sure we're not really French, or maybe I'm not really their kid and my French parents are out there somewhere - who knows.

Lesson #2 If you are a tall women walking around a resort in Mexico, expect many, many people to make comments about your height. So there I am walking along the beach one day and we pass a group of people thinking nothing of it. Then we stop literally 10 feet away from them and I can hear them saying, "I bet she is at least 6 feet tall", "no way, she is taller than that", and it goes on and on like that all the while I'm standing right there. Or there was the day I went to the bar (which happened frequently on this trip) and the guy next to me stares me up and down a couple of times before saying like an idiot, "you're tall." Gee, thanks, I hadn't noticed. I could always count on at least 4-5 comments a day that I could actually hear, god only knows how many other people were thinking the same thing but had the good sense not to say it out loud (or at least not when I was standing right there).

And finally, and probably most important, lesson #3 People at a resort in Mexico will fart frequently and in very public settings so watch out. I'm walking back from the "you're tall" idiot at the bar towards the beach. As I'm entering the beach on the little walkway, there is a guy about 3 feet ahead of me who all of sudden does a little tilt and leg lift and lets a big fart fly right into my mouth - seriously, I literally ate this man's fart. Talk about a bad trip to the bar, maybe someone was trying to tell me something. Anyway, I continue walking, all the while trying to spit this man's fart out of my mouth, back towards everyone else sitting in their beach chairs. When I get back and tell mom the story of the farting man, she comes up with a counter attack plan. Since we were all getting ready to head to lunch and would walk right past the farter (I watched him to see where he was sitting), she suggests that we should save all the gas we had and let 'em rip right in front of him. It was a great plan especially because he was sitting close to the exit of the beach which made for an easy get-away, but when the time came to perform, none of us had it in us to push one out on the guy. Lucky for him, but he should be warned, if I ever run into him again in this lifetime, trust me, he won't get lucky twice.

In other news, Ryan is having his first play date with one of his classmates, Lindsay, tomorrow. He is going to her house to play and is very excited about it. I'll be sure to write all about it later.

Mexico Slideshow: Part I

What can I say, but Mexico was great! It was everything I could have ever imagined and more. Getting off the plane in Mexico and onto a bus filled with beer is always a good way to start a vacation. We arrived at our hotel, wait, our Palace (the resort was called the Barcelo Palace), around 4pm on Wednesday night and were well on our way to an evening of fun. When we got to our room, we grabbed our swimsuits and headed to the beach - had to check out the white sand and aqua blue water right away! After the immediate shock of seeing such a beautiful place - the lobby view was amazing, the rooms were unbelievable, and the beach, well, I think that speaks for itself, we were able to calm down and settle in for a long evening of drinking, dancing, and good times. The night was long, the sleep was short, but we were up and at 'em bright and early the next morning - why is it so much easier to crawl out of bed in Mexico vs back in MN? Anyway, the rest of the days in Mexico pretty much went like this . . . wake up around 6:30 - 7:00am (yes, that is right, bright and early everyday), go for an early morning walk, stop at one of the breakfast buffets and grab a bite to eat, head back to the room to get swimsuits on, have fun on the beach, go get lunch from the snack bar, head back to the beach, get showered up for the night, eat and drink at one of the restaurants, go to sleep - not too shabby if you ask me. We did do some other stuff as well - kayaking, snorkeling, and were able to see some cool fish and some sea turtles - but for the most part, we just kicked back and relaxed. Here is a quick slide show from our time in Mexico. You'll notice there are no pictures of the wedding (the main reason we were in Mexico in the first place) - there will be a separate show for that as I took way too many pictures to try and squeeze it all into one.

We're back . . . and we're sad

No time to write right now - too much stuff to catch up on so here is a little glimpse of what Mexico was like . . . I took way more pictures so there will be a slide show or two in the very near future, but for now, these will have to do. Adios Mexico!

For Ryan and Lauren

Before we left for Mexico, I talked Trav into making a quick video for the kids so they could see us in person while we are gone. They will probably be having too much fun to notice that we are even missing, but I still wanted to make it for them. So here it is, a quick hello for the kiddies from mom and dad who are probably having massages on the beach right now! We love you two very much and can't wait to see you when we get home!



One more thing, Ryan, remind Grandma Connie to give you your Valentine's gift - we hope you like it.

Leaving on a jet plane

Today is the big day, in fact, when this post actually gets onto the blog, we'll probably already be in the air on our way to some fun and sun in Mexico. I hope everyone back in MN is staying warm!