Stir it Up

It’s been awhile since the last post and while I have plenty to say I have a lot far more pictures to share. Suffice to say we’ve had a busy few weeks but I’ll share a quick few words to summarize the past couple months for the Wright clan: work insanity, Easter, petting zoo, pinata, PopPop, MiMi, TeeTee, Jamaica, wedding, friends, SCUBA, cliffs, beaches, Red Stripe, Appleton, Ting, nap.

Mason update: The answer to every question is either “outside” or “yeah”. Outside is also completely relative to where he is. Ask him if he wants to go outside and he’ll respond “yeah”. Once you’re outside ask him where he wants to go. He’ll run to the door and say “outside”. We’re working on it… His vocabulary is actually expanding very quickly these days and he’s begun to repeat more complex words recently. So watch what you say in his presence 😉 He really enjoys hollering out commands at the dogs, especially when playing fetch with Bella and his new pool is his favorite spot to cool off and/or make a mess in the afternoons. He’s also a big fan of reading his growing collection of books and spending time with his brother whenever he can.

Ben update: He’s 18.5lbs and 26.5 inches of pure strength. That puts him in the 75th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height. I don’t know what that is supposed to tell me other than I guess he’s a chunk! I’m pretty sure his grip is stronger than mine which is a good sign for closing business deals in the future. If you can’t convince them with logic and reasoning then just crush their hand with your powerful grip, Ben! He’s also rolling over and starting to sit up a little more on his own as well as eating “mushies” (if you know what that means then thanks for sticking with us for the past couple years). All in all, he’s growing up very quickly and we’ll be really happy when he’s consistently sleeping through the night.

Mason decided to take his first bath together with his brother. He just forgot to take off his clothes.

This dude was just pure awesome.

Mason really enjoyed the petting zoo at the church’s Easter celebration, even with the huge mass of kids that stormed in each time the gates opened. He got to hold a rabbit and pet ducks, goats, geese, sheep and other furry creatures.

The Easter egg hunt was a bit anti-climatic. I had to recycle the same couple of empty eggs since they just let everyone in at the same time and the eggs were gone in 2 minutes. But Mason had fun with his new hat on.

We are not afraid to embarrass ourselves to make our kids happy. Although, Mason looks anything but happy in this picture.

We spent the actual day of Easter camped out at the Leers and Bella took her time to collect the eggs in the front yard.

Look Ma- I got an egg!

What Easter would be complete without a pinata? Mason really enjoyed hitting this thing but when we finally broke it wide open and the head was left dangling by a string Bella did not like the sight. Sorry Bella.

Easter Bunny Ben!

Luckily this didn’t turn into a decision I regretted. Mason dragged Ben around the yard for a good 10 minutes and Ben actually seemed to enjoy it. One gets tired while the other goes for a ride. Sweet!

Chillin on the play mat.

Ryan and Leslie were in town for the first weekend in May and Evan came up for a night. Good times.

Ben enjoyed the cool afternoon air.

After forcing a teary-eyed Mason onto the pony he ended up riding like a champ and laughing the whole time. A note to any pony ride operators: when the parents say “go ahead and start walking” please listen. The moment the horse actually started moving Mason was happy, but sitting still made him want to jump off like the animal was a burning building.

Mason decided to get himself dressed with some of his old pants. Two legs in one pant-leg. That’s actually harder than doing it the right way. Good work duder.

A morning with the boys.

After one cancelled flight, 4 hours of negotiating with American and Delta airlines and 10 hours of travel that included a crazy cab ride we realized why we had come to Jamaica (aside from the wedding, of course). This was the view from our balcony in the cliffs of Negril and I strongly recommend staying in the cliffs if you visit. The beach is nice but the ocean near our resort was calm, deep blue, and so peaceful. I want to go back right now.

Mark the groom

One sweaty face and one goofy face please.

The Rogers made it down as well. Looking good peeps.

And this is what relaxed looks like.

The Hudson crew of Wanders and Hopkins were there for the celebration as well. John’s dance moves left me wondering if he actually has joints in ankles and knees. His stanky-leg was very impressive.

Rich and Lisa came in from Atlanta. They got a special surprise on their return when Kylie started walking right when they came in. Now that’s a good return gift.

Hopkins and I worked the euchre table like it was high-school all over again. No cheating this time around though…

We walked up to Rick’s Cafe one afternoon to jump off the high cliffs. This one was about 70 feet.

That platform is about 100 feet up and if you believe that’s me, then that’s me.

The Red Kellys. Sunscreen, ladies… sunscreen.

It’s official! Mazeltov!

Looking good ladies.

The bridge at the hotel had no rails and Kelly and I took the plunge together.

Good shot, Kel.

Waiting for our food at the “best jerk chicken on the island”. It was pretty damn tasty but when I’m that close to the ocean I have a hard time not eating seafood at every meal, so the curried conch was my dish of choice. No regrets.

I was going to buy a similar hat but I was convinced all my buddies would just make fun of me. Apparently we were all too drunk to care or we’re just nicer to each other now because Tim escaped the week without scrutiny. Next time…

The dog’s name was Ben and when we heard we instantly missed the boys. Then we went and took a nap to remind us how good we had it for a week.

Pretty island flowers

Pretty island lady beneath those flowers

The crew chillin in the cove. We did a lot of swimming and snorkeling while we were there and saw a lot of cool fish. We also tried to chase down a couple of dolphins that swam past the point. Not sure what we would have done if we actually caught up to them but there was no chance of that happening.

Last sunset in the cliffs

I dove each day while we were down on the beach and it was great. We saw turtles, eels, dolphins, and even a shark. I think I’m hooked!

This photo is a little eerie but I love it. The flowers around the resort were amazing.

Beach sunset on our final night in paradise

I love this picture and the bond fire with music in the background was the perfect way to finish up the trip. We both said that we could have done this every night we were there. Maybe next time…

Goodbye Jamaica!

One last thing that isn’t obvious in the pictures is that my parents and sister were back in Texas watching the boys while Kelly and I escaped for a week to the island. We owe them a huge thanks for all the help and giving us the peace of mind that the boys were well taken care of. Hopefully this has given them more reason to move down to Austin but if not we’ll have to settle for the quarterly visits they’ve been making. Thanks again! We truly do have an amazing family!