Summer Odds and Ends

Brent and I fixed the big hole in our wall from a water leak. After about six months of having on open hole, we painted the wall and had someone install baseboard. It’s amazing how nice a house looks without …

July

Brent and I went to Aruba for July 4th. After going to the Caribbean for Spring Break, I think we caught tropical fever. We didn’t book our hotel until we had boarding passes in hand, having learned from previous experience. This led us to finding the cutest hotel. A nice ex-pat couple renovated a house into having 4 separate rooms each with a kitchen including a fridge and a stove. They even supplies coolers, beach chairs, and scuba gear. It wasn’t on the beach, but the central location allowed us to visit beaches all over the island.

They had a beautiful central courtyard with swimming pool.

As well as al fresco dining options. We made breakfast every morning and ate outside. It was so interesting buying groceries from an island that mixed Dutch culture with South American proximity. This basically meant lots of good cheese and tropical juices at a not so discount price. 

I don’t remember the names of the beaches that we visited, but they were very pretty. One interesting fact about Aruba is that the sand does not get hot. What an excellent perk. The first day we went scuba diving. I was a little nervous because I don’t like getting my head under water. However, once I tried it, I loved it! It was amazing to see such beautiful plant and sea life. I had no idea it was there all that time. One pair of goggles kept fogging up so we took turns with the good pair.

I unfortunately lost the mouthpiece on the good pair, so we spent some time searching in Aruba for a replacement. Luckily, we found one quite easily rather than having to buy our hosts a new scuba mask.

We also checked out the local lighthouse. 

The next day, Brent scheduled a tour around Aruba on a Harley. Ironically, the owner of our hotel was part of the motorcycle club. He didn’t lead our tour, but we didn’t have to worry about returning the bike to a special location.

Our tour led us around the island viewing a variety of sights. I had envisioned Aruba as a tropical island, but it’s really quite dry on the interior. It reminded me of Arizona with beautiful beaches.

After our tour, we had the bike for a few hours to drive around the island. We stopped by the hotel and grabbed our scuba gear to head back to the top of the island. We tried one spot but it wasn’t that great, so we went back to a previous beach. It really was a fantastic sight to see fish, coral and sea urchins. I am not the best in water but I felt proud that I had tried something new. At one point, I was adjusting my mask since it was fogging pretty badly, and the waves came in a little stronger than I had expected. I panicked and kicked down trying to find some footing. I found footing all right in the form of a sea urchin. Fortunately, I was wearing water shoes so the spines didn’t embed themselves completely in my foot. Brent had to carry me out of the water due to the pain shooting up my leg. He then carried me to the bike and returned me back to the hotel. It wasn’t bad enough to go to a hospital, but I couldn’t wear shoes without them pressing deeply on wounds on my feet.

On our last day, we went to a beach early in the morning, enjoyed delicious juices, and swam in the waves.

Overall, it was a lovely get away. We even saw a lizard at the airport.

June Smattering

I blame horrible morning sickness for the tardiness of this post. However, in spirit of making the blog my scrapbook by the of the year, I must continue on.

Golf

When we lived in Arizona, Brent kept his golf clubs on our 2nd story balcony. I was always a little leery of this arrangement but Brent didn’t seem concerned about them being stolen because of the height of the balcony. His golf clubs stayed safe on our balcony until the week prior to our move to Texas. How ironic. However, thanks to renter’s insurance, we were able to replace them. Brent owned a superfluous amount of golf clubs in my opinion. How many does someone really need? Brent listened to reason when replacing the clubs and used some of the money to buy me some golf clubs so I could join him on the green (goodbye date nights of Costco and Netflix). While we have only used them on the driving range, I am truly terrible. It is fun to do something together outside of the house.

National Air and Space Museum

One of Brent’s favorite museums is the National Air and Space Museum in Dulles. We found the perfect weekend to fly out and take some nephews and a niece to explore.

It is a pretty awesome museum. I think my favorite part was seeing the space shuttle. My sister-in-law said it was pretty amazing watching them fly it in on the back of an airplane. Afterwards, we went to Jurassic World 3D at the Imax, which pretty much scared the daylights out of me. It would have been a perfect weekend except for that whole mechanical problem canceling our flight home.

Little Brother Not So Little

My little brother is not so little anymore. He decided to become all grownup and graduate from law school. I am so proud of him and his accomplishments. When we lived in Cheyenne together, I remember him studying diligently for …

Charleston

My little sister moved to Charleston, which made me so excited as I have always wanted to visit Charleston. I have heard wonderful things about the city, and it’s one of my husband’s favorite cities. I was terrible at taking pictures this summer. I only took a few pictures at some of the places I visited. So while I did lots of cool things in Charleston, I don’t have much to show for it.

My sister and I explored the historic downtown and enjoyed the humidity. I was able to see her adorable apartment and reunite with my favorite dog in the whole world. We had lots of choices for activities which made it hard to choose our itinerary. After much debate, we decided to spend the afternoon at the beach because the beach is always and good idea.

We saw starfish, jellyfish, and dolphins. It was pretty epic.

I was thrilled to see a starfish so I picked it up and carried it all the way to my bag to snap a picture.  Literally, five steps away from my bag, his little arm fell off. I freaked out a little bit thinking I had killed him. Then I realized the starfish are pretty amazing and their arms can regenerate. I still feel pretty badly though.

We had a great time except for some swooping birds that threatened to poop on us and some rowdy dogs off their leashes. We made dinner and took a delicious walk around her neighborhood. It was unfortunately a super quick trip, and I had to fly out early the next morning. This visit only showed me a glimpse of Charleston, and I hope to go back again soon.

Memorial Day in Mexico

There’s no better way to celebrate veterans in American then traveling to Mexico. Brent has wanted to take me to his mission for sometime; however, it is difficult to travel there as the only direct flight from Texas leaves at …

Goodbye Grandpa

I have put off writing this post for several reasons: 1. I do not want to write it even though I know I should. 2. The end of the school year was crazy. 3. Summer vacation is much more enjoyable …

March Mashup

I’m slacker but I have photos that must be shared or at least documented. EGG ROLLS Brent’s mom has a special egg roll recipe. Before dating Brent, his sister made these delicious delights for me and I thought maybe I …

Spring Break – Part Two – St. Kitts

From NYC, we flew to St. Kitts via Miami. I hate sitting in the airport during layovers, so we looked into taking public transit into the city. It was pretty easy and quick to do. Brent found a cute little …

Spring Break – Part One – NYC

I forgot to add these two pictures on my last post. I didn’t sit by Brent on our first flight from Dallas to SLC, but he was in front of me. I took a surreptitious shot on the flight over. …