Sickly Ryker

Ryker was dead asleep on the couch one night when he sat straight up and started whimpering. This is never a good sign, because that's what he does when he is sick. He ran into the bathroom and threw up before he could get the toilet seat up. It was lovely. Then he did his favorite thing when he's not feeling well, take a bath.

  He's had some questionable illnesses, but this one was definitely legit.

 He laid around for two days and barely ate. Everything tasted wrong to him.

 He slept a lot. 

 Finally he woke up one day and wanted breakfast. That was a good sign. He started eating a lot of crappy cereal and went off to school like nothing happened.

 It was a good thing, too. He almost missed Chayo's birthday party with a delicious blueberry birthday cake.

 Winter is still miserable, and the dry, cold air is killing our skin. Rock decided to put a little lotion on his hands.

DeAndra the Birthday Girl

DeAndra had the unexpected request to eat at a hibachi grill in Wenatchee for her birthday. 

 Mom and Dad decided to join in the fun. The kids were leery, because they had never been to a place like this before.

 Jens was especially on guard, she didn't trust our chef. Maybe for good reason, he sprayed sake into DeA's mouth to celebrate her birthday. DeA realized what it was and tried to close her mouth, but ended up with sake in her hair.

 The chef found an easy target in Ryker. He sprayed fake teriyaki sauce at him, launched carrots at him, and called him Justin Bieber.

 Jens warmed up to the party when she realized how good the food was.

 We all had a fun party.

 They brought out a giant mask and sang happy birthday. Good thing we can't see DeA's reaction.

It was quite the fun birthday for DeA.

Winter Won't Quit, and Ryker's B-Day!

We've been adjusting back to real life, but the winter continues to be brutal. Rock deals with the cold and darkness by cuddling with Leo.

 Jens has coped by coming to the gym with me.

 It can't be wrong if no one knows what you are doing.

 Gots to get the cardio in.

  Seasonal Affective Disorder is real, and it knocks Rock out cold.

 Ryker celebrated his big #9 birthday. He celebrated with a Reese's Pieces pancake...

 topped with Reese's peanut butter whipped cream and syrup. You'd think Papa Dale was in charge of this breakfast, but it was actually DeA leading the diabetes train.

 He chose La Brisa nachos for dinner.

 He certainly felt like king for a day.

Fiesta!!

  

 We took advantage of the sombrero to sing happy birthday to DeA, too. In case you can't tell, the birthday boy got to film the song.

He requested homemade donuts in place of a birthday cake.

Keeping DeA Happy

 Jens is always the queen of fashion. She has style. 

 Aleasha is Rock's primary teacher and does a great job with the kids. She built him a birthday cake!

 Rock is only 11, but he's already acting like a teenager.

 DeA is going to miss Leo puppy. He doesn't know it yet, but he will enjoy his alone time.  

 DeA and I are going to Puerto Vallarta while the kids are in Orlando with Grandma and Grandma. We drove over some ugly, snow-covered passes to an ugly, snow-covered Seattle. It was quite the journey to get there. We anxiously ate breakfast the next morning, wondering if our flights would leave.

 Thankfully both flights left after delays. Our flight was delayed an hour, while the other flight was delayed close to four hours. The important thing is we both left the snow for warmer weather. 

 It's quite the experience to leave 25* and snowy and walk out to 80* and sunny. It made DeA pretty happy.

 The view from the room also made her happy.

  The hotel had a pretty good buffet breakfast, but one plate was more than meals at any other place around us. It did make DeA happy, so...

 We walked around the marina every day, and every day Jim Croky was there.

 The sunsets and the beach were pretty special. That made her happy.

 DeA's definition of relaxing on vacation is different that most other people's definition. 

 It was great, we did a whole lot of nothing. We did swim in the kid's pool (not knowing that it was the kid's pool), and we walked a lot. Like 30,000 steps in a day a lot. It was a lot of fun.

 One night we walked all over looking for a tres leches cake. We finally found one, and it received the thumbs up from DeA for making her happy.  

 I don't have a lot of exciting pictures from the trip, mostly because we did a lot of nothing. The food is always the important part to a good trip, and we found some delicious places. Here is a Brazilian churrascurria with 10 types of meat. DeA tapped out after four, I made it through eight rounds. 

 Another night was spent looking for fried ice cream. It was good, but not quite as good as La Brisa. Still, it made her happy. 

 The sandy beach was a nice place to lay, get some sun, and watch the whales breach in the distance. That really made her happy. 

 More food!

 It's very nice to take a nap next to the crashing waves.  

 DeA ordered what she thought was a small combination plate. It wasn't very small.

  She tried her very best, but didn't come close to finishing it. 

 She made sure to tell Jim Croky goodbye on our last night. He seemed pretty moved by the gesture. 

 Our flight left in the early afternoon. It was nice to have time to eat a relaxing breakfast with a strawberry milkshake. That made me happy.  

The only problem with a great trip like this is it makes it harder to come back to real life. DeA is handling it well, she only looks at Puerto Vallarta real estate listings five or six times a day. Her dream is to buy a condo down there that she would have to travel down and check on monthly. She tells me it would make her happy.