I'M BAA-AA-CK:)

Wow, it seems like it's been forever since I've written anything on here, it hasn't been obviously but it's been a whirlwind couple weeks since I last posted anything.  To be honest, I even forgot to post the last post but since it was such an epic fail in the kitchen I'm ok with that...lol. 

So, back to my whirlwind...it all started when Aaron made the decision to resign from his position in Guelph in order to work with his brother and dad which is a super bonus since he'll be home more, won't have to work shifts and generally will be a much happier person:)  The past few years due to his work schedule Aaron hasn't been able to go on any of our family vacations so my wonderful, amazing, fantastic husband decided we were going to go on a trip...of course in the midst of planning/packing all this is Easter weekend with multiple family dinners (of course one was at our place) and Aaron's Aunt Sheri (who lives in Bermuda) was coming down for a visit.  We managed to somehow pull this all off and even better was the fact that I didn't have a clue where we were going, just that I needed to pack for warm weather...lol.

Happy Easter
(Easter 2012)

So, on Easter Monday after packing us all up after having Easter Dinner here the day before with about 15 people we dropped the kids off with my parents and headed to the airport. I knew we were going to the Domincan at the point but didn't have a clue where...I also didn't know that a couple of our friends were coming with us either until we showed up at their place where I thought we were dropping off my truck but clued in when we started loading their luggage...hahaha.  It wasn't until we were on the plane and I was filling out our customs forms that Aaron had to let the cat out of the bag and I found out we were staying at the Hard Rock Resort & Casino in Punta Cana....yaaaay:)

I'm not going to bore you with the whole story of our vacation but I have to tell you that for someone like me who loves to eat, a lot of times resort vacations are lacking in that area....guess what...the Hard Rock didn't, it ROCKED MY WORLD...the food was awesome, beyond awesome and that just made me so happy.  Another great perk, the resort gave us credits to use towards various things on the resort as part of our package so while the guys went golfing, us girls hit the spa for massages and facials...I was in seventh heaven!!

Anyways, I just have to share some of our pics so for your viewing pleasure I present to you.....Aaron & Carrie's Hard Rock Vacation:)

Enjoying some refreshments at the Swim Up bar:)

Our Awesome Dinner Poolside at the Bongo Pool

Getting Behind the Grill with Chef Wellington at Zen

Our Amazing Dinner at Zen, Teppenyaki Style:)

Check out this video of Chef Wellington entertaining us...so much fun!!

Hard Rock just wouldn't be Hard Rock with out some Rock & Roll memorabilia:)

Some Kiss Memorabilia

My Reason for taking Pics of Kiss Memorabilia
(Halloween 2011)

If you can't tell, we had an awesome time:)  I would recommend this resort to ANYONE, even though it's a Casino Resort they had AMAZING stuff for kids, an arcade, a kids club and their own pool with HUGE waterslides, the bucket that dumps water on you and the umbrella sprinklers. 

Back to Reality

We're home, safe and sound:)  What a great time we had, it's always nice to take some time away but it's back to the grindstone now:( 

Waking up Sunday morning I wondered why I felt so crowded until I got out of bed and realized that January takes up more room in a bed then I do...take a look at how much room Mom gets...

 

 

Poor Lauren woke up feeling very under the weather which sucked because we were heading out tubing at Horseshoe:(  She was a trooper though and hung out at the fire & watched January while the rest of us hit the slopes.  I managed to get some great video...the one from when Mom and I went down is by far the best...lol. 

 

Mom and Me

 

Connor and Me 

Ty trying to pretend I'm not videoing this...lol

 

 

We all had a blast, especially Connor...he was a little daredevil on that tube:)

 

 

Even though January couldn't go down the hill with us,
she got in a little tubing action too:)

 

 

I finally got a chance to get the pics off my camera too:)

 

 

Swimming outside in the middle of winter...yes we did!!

 

 

 If you can't tell, we had a blast:) 

 





Like Mother, Like Daughter:(

I have a confession to make...January and I ended up in the big bed last night.  The reason isn't so great though...there's a beautiful electric fire place in the living room and January somehow burned her fingers.  I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree seeing as how I did a number on one of my fingers last week.  She didn't cry when it happened, she just started wringing her hands and I was wondering why and looked and noticed she had burned her fingers:(  Needless to say, once we started to make a big deal about it she started making a big deal about it...she was not a happy camper for a bit.  Anyways, her and I ended up sleeping in the big bed once we got her settled down for the night. 

 

 

My poor little girl is taking it
like a champ today, even
with blistered fingers.

 

January did end up in the big tub last night though...lol. 

We hit the pool and hot tub this morning, they actually have a pool that you can swim under a plastic wall and swim in a pool outside...in the middle of winter...how cool is that!! I have pics but they're on my regular camera so I can't download them yet:(

We headed out for lunch and ended up eating at a place called Loobies, great place to eat.  We really enjoyed our meal and the hot tubbing and swimming must've tuckered January right out because she slept through the entire meal. 

We had to hit the grocery store after to pick up what we needed for our Mexican Fiesta tonight.  I've never seen a sign like this, so Lauren and I had some fun with it:)

 



Careful Lauren, you don't want to end up on your you know what...lol



















Ya, I know we're kind of dorky:)

 

 

We just finished up our Mexican Feast...are we all stuffed!!  We had Fajitas and Tacos with both hard shell corn tortillas and flour tortillas. 

 

I have some Epicure Masa Harina, which is corn flour for corn tortillas, I'm going to try it to make my own corn tortillas at home and then try out frying them to make hard shells because those are my favorite:)













I'm happy to say that even Ty, the pickiest eater of them all, left the table happy.  Of course a Mexican Feast wouldn't be complete without some Margarita's:)

 

On the Road Again:)

So, we've finally arrived at our destination:) Mom, Connor, January and I left Mom's house at 2:30pm and arrived at 8:00pm after 1 stop for food. Of course we hit traffic, of course we ran into some snowy/icy conditions but both my kids were pretty darn good for such a long road trip. 

We're staying at the Carriage Hills Resort at Horseshoe Valley and it's pretty nice:) I can guarantee you I will be sitting in this beautiful tub at some point this weekend!!

 

I will also be lying down like a starfish in this bed, actually, the good daughter/sister that I am, my mom is staying in the one in our suite, my brother and Lauren get the other one in the attached studio and I'll be sleeping on a pullout couch with January...lol, this better get me some bonus points!!

 

We're going to be hitting the slopes tomorrow, so it's probably going to be an early night but check out this view from the front of our suite looking at the poolhouse:)

Stay tuned for tomorrow nights Mexican Fiesta...I'm super pumped for some tacos!!