Hola Mallorca!

So, last month I told Brandon we need to get away, just the two of us, for the weekend. He started naming places we could go, and I said I don't really care, just pick it. So I found the sitters and he booked the trip!  I had no idea where we were going, but he let it slip there was a beach, haha! And then I found out for sure when we arrived at the airport. Mallorca, an island off the coast of Spain!!!  We stayed in Palma de Playa at the HM Gran Fiesta.

Our room was on the third floor, front right. Great ocean view!

We flew out Friday morning, and since it was drizzling when we landed we took a taxi straight to the Palma Aquarium. They have the largest shark tank in Europe, about 25 feet deep, and at least 5 sharks swimming about. By the time we made it through all of the fish, it leads to the garden outside and the sun was out! We ate lunch there and then finished the rest of the aquarium.



This guy kept trying to jump out

By this time, it was late enough to check in and we walked along the beach to the hotel. Changed into our shorts and walked along the beach to check out the area. There are tons of bike rental places and souvenir shops, so we figured we would rent a bike the next day and ride around. This is definitely an active island, they have what they call Active Vacations, you can rent road bikes, city bikes, four wheelers; there are tons of people running and wind surfing and sailing. It was crazy. Brandon and some friends are planning a trip back so they can ride their bikes around. I couldn't even count the number of cyclists. It's also a popular city for Germans, so our hotel staff spoke Spanish and German and very little English. EVERYONE else in the hotel was German, so people assumed we were too. Walking the beach takes forever because I like to pick up shells, so we had to move to the boardwalk.

THEN, I convinced Brandon to get a fish pedicure!!  I had no idea how hard it would be for him. It was pretty funny....

Obligatory Beach Selfie

 



The ship out there is an aircraft carrier. The USS Truman

Day 2:
When we woke up I asked Brandon if there was Hard Rock Cafe, so we could add to our glass collection. He looked it up, and since there was one 11 KM away we ate breakfast and rented bikes to go over there. 5 euro for an all day rental! And they were nice bikes, comfortable and sturdy. We found some Spanish windmills and took pictures to add to our windmill photo collection (Holland and Greece) to kill some time; ate lunch, and then rode back to the hotel. I think we got in an hour of sunbathing, we both got some sun, found some souvenirs for the kids, ate dinner, relaxed, and then went out to the beach during sunset. We had to get up at 5 am the next day to go home.
It was a quick trip but it was so much fun and so relaxing, just what we needed!

It was super windy and cold at night. The ocean was so loud but it was nice to fall asleep to!

 

 

This is a massive church. We didn't go up to it because it was on a hill and we were on bicycles.

For Sandy :)

Palma

 

Now there are only four more days until the next vacation......can't wait!!

Just a Quick Update

First and most importantly, Cody passed his final swimming test! He now has his C diploma, having made it through the whole swimming lesson process. He is even a better swimmer than his dad! 

Most of my photos ended up blurry, but here he is receiving the diploma and a hat! 

Now I just need to enroll Brice, he will probably be starting in August.

Kyle is getting better and better at walking, he does great until he realizes what he is doing, and then he falls down. Or face plants. This poor guy has fallen on his head so many times :(  Today the boys played outside and I let him play in his water table for a little bit. He loves splashing and I can't wait to get him in a pool next month! 

Friday was the first day we had to wait for the canal bridge, there was a barge going through, and Brice thought it was pretty awesome!  But he didn't like that it took so long.

 

 

 

We are eagerly awaiting our slew of Spring/Summer visitors. Vickie comes in 2 weeks and I finally get to do everything in Holland I want to do, following by Brandon's parents and then my cousin Annie and her boyfriend.  All pretty much back to back so it will be exciting!!  Oh and next weekend we are going out of town for the weekend, just me and Brandon, and I have no idea where we are going. It is somewhere that is all inclusive and as long as I don't have to do ANYTHING, it is going to be perfect. We need this alone time and I can't wait!!  



A Pirate Parrrrty

Kyle had an awesome birthday party yesterday! Him and his friends played pin the parrot on the pirate, went on a treasure hunt, ate some cake, and took some pirate portraits!

Pirate Prisoners

Kyle and Auntie Heather

Going on a treasure hunt!

Climb the fence and run to the treasure!

Digging for gold coins, jewels, stickers, and jewelry

Why are you putting on these toys down there and not letting me play with them???

Right after Brandon said "watch him so he doesn't grab the flame"  I failed at watching...he grabbed the flame.

Mmmmmm chocolate

Little Birthday Boy!

Happy 1st Birthday Kyle!  I can't believe he is a year already, the time has flown by. We are having his party on Saturday so there will be a ton more pictures then!

3 Week Update

I hate getting behind, because then I don't want to go back and update on everything, I just want to start over, but a lot has happened in the last three weeks! 

We finished Brice's birthday celebration with a party at an indoor water park. A lot of the older kids have parties there but this was our first time. It was awesome! We are definitely going to be going there more since we live a lot closer. He also opened the rest of his presents from family.
He loves dressing up! And he wanted Star Wars cupcakes. They were made by my friend Tammy.

Thank you Nana!! 

Thank you Grandpa!

Blowing out the candles. I am dumb and left them in the locker room, so we had to wait until we were done to get them out.

Brice and his friend Charlie

 

 

We went to the Zoo outside of the base the next week, apparently there are a lot of animals that eat dead baby chics.

 

Those yellow spots are the dead chics



Feeding the otters through a slit in the glass

 

We moved into our new houst last week!  And someone lost their first tooth. The other one on the bottom is very loose so that should be coming out soon too. He was so excited to get money from the tooth fairy!!

 

This is my new kitchen buffet!!  I found it at a thrift store and it is exactly what I wanted. It has so much detail, and the best part is that it was SUPER cheap.



Someone fell asleep eating, and then woke up and started eating again!


We have a lot of the house put together so I will post photos soon. Downstairs is almost done, and once we get a dresser for our room that will be done quick. I just need to finish Kyle's room and Brice's room. We set up a gazebo in the backyard yesterday that we bought on sale last year, and we have to find somewhere to buy firewood, but so far so good!  We love living in this new area and can't wait to start riding our bikes around this summer.