Cancun!

Finally A Post!! Ryan and I went to Cancun a few weeks ago and had a blast! We were able to go on vacation for the first time without kids, (whoo hooo!) thanks to my wonderful sisters Katie and Falycia, who flew in from across the country to take care of our three boys for a whole week. Thanks Guys! We got to stay in an allinclusive resort for most of the time and then for the last few days we stayed at the Westin in the Cancun Hotel zone which was beautiful. We spent most of our time just relaxing and soaking in the sun. We did take a day trip to a place called Xel-Ha, that had some awesome snorkling, and we also took a ferry to Isla Mujeres one day. A little island not far from Cancun that had some fun sightseeing. We had a great time. Here are a few of the pics in no real particular order.

 Ryan on the dock

 This is a cool picture that Ryan took at night. It is the few from our westin Hotel room. Looking out over the pool and then the ocean.

 Same view during the day. It really was beautiful.

 The pool went right up to the beach.

 One of the many little cabanas on the beach that we spent time relaxing/napping in. Ahh life without kids...we hardly knew what to do with ourselves!

just chillin' on the dock

The pelicans were all over the place. It was fun to watched them soar over the ocean and then dive down to try to catch their lunch from the water. This one was struttin his stuff for us. He really seemed like he was enjoying being photographed. We were able to get right up close to him and he just watched us and spread his wings out as if saying "here look at me!"

On the beach in February. Couldn't be happier.

I have come to realize that all Hastings have this amazing jumping ability. Ryan, just like his sisters, can get some serious air! It is so fun to capture with our new camera. This only took one take. He's a natural!

So pretty much the funnest part of the whole trip for Ryan was building Sand castles in the rain. It did rain quite a bit in the afternoons while we were there, and one day during a pretty good downpour, when most of the tourist were running for cover and the beach was quickly being deserted, we Seattleites decided it was the perfect time for sand caste building. Ryan was pretty proud of how his masterpiece withstood the floods. fun fun! (and why didn't we bring our kids you ask....... I'm sure anyone who saw us was wondering that same thing.

Chillin' in the cabana

Here is the Snorkling place we went too, unfortunately I don't have a great picture of the actual park, but here is Ryan signing "The Hastings were here" in Spanish. It was really fun being in Mexico and being able to talk and joke around with everyone seeing as how we both speak Spanish.

This is our room at the resort.

Some random pics of the resort.

The "all inclusive" part was pretty cool. We definitely never went hungry! They had 6 different restaurants there at the resort and they were all pretty good. This was one of the appetizers at the Italian place that Ryan really liked. It was Cantalope with Ham and bacon and some other crazy stuff. Sounds weird (and looked weird) but I guess it tasted pretty good!

This was the litte moped we rented when we went to Isla Mujeres. It was a really fun way to get around the Island!

Snorkling. We saw Sting rays, turtles, and tons of really beautiful fish. So fun!

Choose the RIght

Ryan's parents got the boys some cute CTR shirts for christmas which I have finally managed to snap a few pictures of. The boys were excited to all be matching.

Yeah for CTR!

Austin doesn't cooperate too well with pictures but even he has one.

Here he is. Whats that he's eating you ask? Is it Saltine cracker? or dirt? I think the correct answer is a little of both.

Sweatshirts too!

"Brandon.. look at the camera.. Say cheese"

There you go. too bad no one else is looking now.

Love the shirts and sweatshirts. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Best Buds

Carter and Brandon have been playing so great together lately, it has really been awesome. I just had to post these pictures of them telling each other "secrets." All day they were whispering things in each others' ears and then they would laugh and laugh. They haven't always played together this way, so I am so grateful for the stage they are at right now, and I am going to enjoy it while it lasts! It makes me think that through all the really tough things that come along with having young kids so close together, moments like this make it all worth it! I love that they will always have each other as friends!

Just had to post this cute one of Austin. This one is nothing but trouble! He does love being outside though.

Weekend Getaway!

Last month I was lucky enough to escape for the weekend with my mother and three sister in-laws. We had a great time hanging out in San Franscisco for the weekend and got to do all sorts of fun stuff like bike the golden gate bridge, tour Sanfrancisco in GO-carts, eat at all sorts of delicious restraunts, and just plain relax and have fun! Here are some of the highlights

Biking the Golden Gate Bridge

Eating ice cream at ghirardelli chocolate factory. (can't get much better than that!)

We even did a little gardening. :)

My Sisters!

A really yummy fondu dinner at a little place called "Melt"

Scenic stops while touring San Fransico in our go carts!

So Fun!

You will notice that I am absent from this jumping picture. All my sister in-laws have some awsome cheerleading skills genetically ingrained within them I think. I somehow didn't come with those same abilities. Thus I managed to ruin every jumping picutre I was in, because I barely got off the ground!

"Let's Pick A Topic"

Let's pick a topic, is a phrase that is commonly heard in the Hastings household. I guess it started a few years back when the boys started to get really silly at the dinner table. (......breakfast, lunch, dinner, any meal really) I am one to definitely tolerate a little silliness but not at the table while trying to eat. And no matter what I tried nothing seemed to deter them when they got going. So I came up with this idea, "Let's pick a topic". Basically the kids get to ask about whatever they want, and I tell them all I know about that subject. They usually pick something like beetles, spiders, ants, or other insects. Germs are also a favorite. But today at lunch Brandon chose babies. "Ya where do babies come from?" Carter says. I was not prepared to be addressing this subject so early, but luckily my boys are still very easily appeased with my simple answer that babies start out as just small cells and then grow and get bigger in mommies tummies. Then Carter moved on to the topic of playdough. "How do they make playdough?" he asked. I was very surprised by his question because we make playdough together at least ever couple of months. (it is still one of his favorite things to keep him entertained.) So I ask him what he thinks it's made of.. "hmmm Rubber?" "Don't you remember making playdough Carter?" I ask. Then he says "oh yeah, I know!" "Food Coloring!" I guess that must be the most memorable part. :)

IBALLE

Carter has been really into writting lately and trying to spell different words. He and Brandon were both asking me how to spell some words the other day so I went ahead and wrote a few for them on their white board. Then he said ok, I got one for you mom, and he wrote down ....IBALLE... for the life of me I could not figure out what he was trying to spell untill he explained to me, "you see, there is a silent 'E' at the end mom so the 'I' says its name." Then it clicked..oh... EYEBALL!! I shouted and then just laughed and laughed. Unfortunately Carter thought I was laughing at him because he spelled it wrong, and the sweet little guy just burst into tears. I felt so horrible. I had to take a picture though, to remember the moment. I thought it was so cute. It turned out really hard to see though because our pen was running out of ink.