Cabo San Lucas - June 2010

We enjoyed a week in Cabo with Tim, Michelle, Chandler & Paige. The weather was perfect everyday! If we were not at the beach we were enjoying the pool right out our door that overlooked the ocean. Here are a few pics from our week.

Surf's Up!

The waves were pretty big all week. Luckily there are no pictures of me trying to get out after I braved the big surf!

One of the several Sand Castles that were built during the week.

Mom, Dad.....can we work here for the summer?

Paige's favorite acitivity for the week - Jet Skiing!!!

Chandler really enjoyed barganing on the beach. Here he is playing the whistle he bought on the beach.

Paige showing off her braids!

Paige taking a break from building sand castles.

Chandler and Paige having fun on one of our many shopping trips.

Chandler's favorite activity was our ATV ride.  It was almost his last activity. Luckily he slammed on the breaks just in time because it was a long way down!

The Stortz family taking the plunge.

I have been searching for a good taqueria in Cabo. Every trip down I keeping trying to find a really good one. We found out about this one from a local. It was a miracle we found it because it was no where near where we thought it was. But I got to enjoy my favorite tacos called Gringa's.  Now I just hope we can find it again!

It was a wonderful week in Paradise.  We are so happy that Tim, Michelle, Chandler and Paige wanted to hang out with Uncle Dave and Aunt Debbie.  We had a lot of fun with them and our only complaint is the week went way too fast!

April Fools!

We won't forget April 1st 2010 because that is the day Ryan sent out an email to his parents and brother and sisters announcing that he and Ashley are expecting their 1st child. Well no one believed him. Everyone thought it was an April Fool's joke. He sent it out while Ashley was on a plane to come home to visit her family. This way they both were telling their family at the same time. Turns out Ryan spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone trying to convince everyone that Ashley really is pregnant. No one could get in touch with Ashley to verify. He just couldn't believe that no one would believe him! His Mom reminded him of the story about the little boy who cried wolf.

While Ashley was in town we were able to go out to dinner with her and her parents. Grandma just couldn't resist buying her first baby outfit for Ryan & Ashley's baby.

We are very excited for Ryan and Ashley. We know that they will make great parents. We really enjoy being grandparents and in 2010 we will triple our grand kids! Ashley's due date is November 10th. We can't wait! Congrats to Ryan and Ashley!!

Easter Week with Braden

The week before Easter Jen and Nate took off on a weeks vacation. They knew it would be the last chance for them to get away alone for quite a while with the new baby due in a month! So Grandma got to come a play with Braden while they were gone. Grandpa was able to join them later in the week.

Braden loves to be outdoors. Here Braden and Grandma are playing in his play house in the backyard. Grandpa did not attempt to try and squeeze in.

Braden loves to go down the slide. Here he is ready to take off on one of his many trips to the park with Grandma.

Ready, Set, Go!!!!!

See ya later!!

Great Grandpa took Braden on the Carousel. GGP is having a blast!

We met GGM, GGP, Julie & Trent at the Train Park. Braden loved to ride the train. The whole gang got to go on a train ride with Braden.

Braden and Trent going for a 2nd ride on the train. Braden could have ridden the train all day!

Braden discovers what the Easter Bunny left him.

We discovered it was a bad idea to hide 30 plastic eggs filled with candy for a two year old. He would find one egg and then want to eat all the candy before looking for the second egg. Mom's first day back from vacation and she had a two year old on a sugar high!

The Barber Family coloring eggs.

Nate, Jen, Braden and .........?

Easter Dinner at Great Grandma's and Grandpa's house.

We loved our time with Braden. He is a very happy little boy who loves to play with trains and monster trucks. He has a huge vocabulary and whatever you say he can repeat it. But our favorite words to hear him say were "I Love You". Jen and Nate have done a great job with their first and are ready for number two. We cannot wait to come back and help her with our new baby granddaughter!

A Visit from Andrew & Brooke

It was spring break for Andrew so he and Brooke came to visit us for a few days. We forgot to take a picture of them but luckily they took our camera to the city (San Francisco) and left us this cute picture. They enjoyed the city, dancing, visiting with Brooke's sisters, playing with Abby and a wonderful dinner at Fat's with us. Their visit was too short but we were so glad they came.

Abby was very excited to have Andrew home and had fun playing with him. But now she lays in his bed with a sad face that says "I miss Andrew". We do too!

Turks & Caicos continued....

The beautiful Chalk Sound National Park which was very near our house.

Another picture of Chalk Sound.

This is the Turks & Caicos house. We slept in a different room every night!

A short 2 minute walk on this path right outside our house took you to the beautiful beach by our house. It was called Taylor Bay.

This is our retirement house. Sitting on a private island and over 30,000 square feet we would have plenty of room for visitors!

But you need the secret code to turn the bridge the right way so you can come visit us.

This is Grace Bay the most popular beach on the island. This is where most of the resorts, shopping and restaurants were.

We took a long drive down a dirt road to discover this beach.

One of the bedrooms in the house.

It's the kids room.

The view out the front of the house.

Another view from the front of the house.

Want to go diving in Provo?

Our favorite restaurant - Coco Bistro.

A view from the hill not too far from our house.

Messages carved into stones from pirates! We looked for their burried treasured but to no avail.

We only had one real sunset but it was spectacular.

30 years and she is as beautiful as ever....but who is the old man?

We had a great time in Turks & Caicos. We have been very blessed in our 30 years of marriage. We have wonderful kids who are not so much kids anymore. We love being Grandma and Grandpa and look forward to another 30 years with an ever growing family that we will always love and be proud of.

Turks & Caicos Vacation

We spent the first week of March in Turks & Caicos celebrating our 30th Anniversary and Deb's Birthday. Turks and Caicos Islands are in the Caribbean and make up a chain of 40 Islands. We stayed in Providenciales or as the locals call it "Provo". It is a British Territory that lies at the southeastern end of the Bahamas chain. The island is generally flat with the highest elevation of 250 feet. Christopher Columbus landed on these islands during his first voyage in search of the Far East in 1492. We stayed in what we thought was the most beautiful part of the island which was known as the South Dock and Chalk Sound.

The place we stayed at was on a finger of the island so we had a view of the ocean from both the back and the front of the house. The back had the view of Sapodilla Bay and the front of Taylor Bay. We were able to explore almost all of the island and found several beautiful beaches. Maybe the best way to share the experience is with some photos.

Our first day we had lunch at Da Conch Shack where they would retrieve the Conch from the Ocean and cut the meat out. You could eat the worm if you like! Then off to the kitchen. We tried Conch several different ways.

View from the Infinity Pool.

These are the steps from the back of the house down to the deck on the bay.

Our own private deck or dock on the bay right behind our house.

The cliff at the back of our house.

Deb soaking up the sun on the lower deck.