A scarf movement

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, I'm sure you have heard of the "One for one" slogan from Tom's shoes.

Well, my rock star friend who initiated and was the driving force behind our Cambodia project, just started her own business that has a very similar movement.  How many people do you personally know who followed their dreams and started their own business before the age of thirty?  And whose business model is making an impact in a needy community???

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You guys, I am so incredibly proud of her.  After traveling to Cambodia, it became her dream to not only go back, but to give back.  From Krama Wheel's facebook site:

"For each scarf you purchase:
*one weaver is paid fairly, treated respectfully, & better able to support her family.
*one local seamstress is paid to sew a school uniform.
*one child gets a uniform so he or she can attend school.

We deepen the impact by re-investing in the country's future.  You are at the core of our movement.  When you wrap yourself in one of our scarves, you wrap a child in a sense of hope and self-worth.

It empowers.  It impacts.  It cycles."

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Again, seriously so proud.  I had the honor of attending Krama Wheel's private pre-launch party this evening and got to check out the beautiful scarves first hand!

Not only are these scarves well made and beautiful, but each purchase helps three people in need.  Can you say the same for most of things you buy?

Christmas is not too far away ... do yourself a favor and check out Krama Wheel's merchandise and help out a good cause!  To make things even sweeter, you can get free shipping for the whole week!

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You can follow Krama Wheel on twitter, facebook, or just simply go directly to the website.

Cancún

Right after we moved into our house, R and I left G with the babysitter and my parents to head off to Cancún for five days of child free bliss.

It.was.awesome.  Since having a child, one of the many things I've added to my list of, "Things I can fully understand now," is how there is a huge difference between a trip and a vacation.  A trip is something that you take with the kids, and while it is enjoyable in its own right and you make long lasting memories, it is very different from a vacation.  A vacation is what you take sans niños.  You can actually relax on the plane without wrangling your toddler and, overall, there are zero expectations.  Lounge by the pool, swim at the beach, read a book in your room (lame, I know, but it's also my kind of relaxation) ... the choices are endless and I love it!

Don't get me wrong -- I cherish the trips just as much as I enjoy the vacations.  I can't wait for camping trips, trips to Yosemite and Jackson Hole, or until G is old enough to fully appreciate Disney.  I even look forward to traveling overseas with the kids (future tense since they definitely need to be old enough to appreciate that)!  Looking back, I am so grateful for all of the sacrifices my parents made for my family.  With four kids, life wasn't easy financially, but we had many family trips and my parents rarely went on vacations just the two of them.

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Back to Cancún...

We went at a perfect time because most people were dealing with back-to-school with their own kids and not vacationing.  It was the start of the slow season but still great weather.  R booked us at the Excellence Playa Mujeres.  We were greeted with cold towelettes and glasses of champagne upon our arrival.  That level of service extended throughout our stay.  I loved that it was adults only (without my baby in tow, it was nice to be away from all kids).  They had tons of pools, plenty of free entertainment (we kayaked, played tennis, and went to one of their evening shows), and as an all-inclusive, lots of cuisine (mostly good) and drinks.

Our room was gorgeous, which is why I didn't mind staying in and reading at times.  :)  We had a two-story rooftop terrace suite that was actually affordable compared to lesser rooms at other resorts.  It wasn't the créme de la créme of the resort, but it certainly was luxurious to us!

Last day before we left before the airport -- I obviously wouldn't dress like this while lounging poolside.

The day before we left to head back to reality, we decided to venture outside of our little isle of paradise.  The hotel had plenty of options for local excursions, but we were quick to decide on Xplor, a natural adventure park that offers zip lines, cave swimming, raft rides, and amphibious vehicle rides (kind of like an ATV, but not as exciting).

First of all, I don't do heights.  At all.  As in, I don't even go up to the attic because I don't like the ladder.  Ha!  R was crazy excited about the zip lines, and after hearing that Xplor has the tallest zip lines in Latin America, I promised him that I would *think* about doing them with him.  Gulp.

We got up bright and early and headed out.  I seriously had butterflies in my stomach just thinking about those dang zip lines, that is how big of a wimp I am when it comes to heights.  Once we arrived and signed our lives away the required waiver, we were given a helmet that we had to wear at all times.  Safety first, right?

What did R want to do first?  Zip lines, of course!  They have two different courses, one significantly shorter (height wise) overall.  I put on my big girl pants and decided to go for it.  You only live once!  Thankfully, they didn't have tall, rickety wooden ladders leading up to the platforms like I had envisioned.  They were either spiraling walk ways or spiraling stair cases inside a tower (my least favorite were these, go figure).  Each course had seven different runs.  The shorter course had a water slide at one point that took you to the next run and had two different runs where you landed in water.

I was sooooo nervous on the very first run, but luckily for me, I was buckled in with R.  Unlike most zip line courses, Xplor uses two pulleys instead of one, so it makes you feel even more secure (or so I am told).  The scariest part was getting on the platform and getting ready to take off.  I will confess, it's pretty much impossible to fall off the platform because they hook you to the guides before you are hooked to the wire and you are not standing on the ledge.  With each run, I gained more confidence and after our first course was completed, I decided to go on the "scary" course with R and continue the day's theme of adventure.

Serious face!  I promise I was having fun!

Coming in for a landing over the fake croc.  :)

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Those are real jaguars that you fly over ... so cool!  But sad for the jaguars.

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The highest run - eeeeek!

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One of the runs that takes you through the waterfall into a water landing.

I LOVE R's facial expressions on this one!

Hahaha!  I had to include this one - don't know why I look so pissed off!

The rest of the day was spent trying out the other three activities and then going through both zip line courses again!  The amphibious vehicles would have been more fun if you didn't have to slow down and wait on other cars ahead of you.  Each activity had two different runs, but we didn't complete both runs on any activity except for the zip lines.  The cave swimming was our second favorite, but it would have been more enjoyable without the required life jacket and my heavy tennis shoes.

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All in all, it was a great day and so fun!  I am really glad I conquered my fear and went for it.  Now maybe I will consider going up into the attic.  ;)

I was happy to come back home to my sweet boy and was ready to finally settle into our new home.  Since my stomach is all kinds of jacked up, I came home with the lovely Montezuma's revenge (starting at the airport on the way home, nonetheless) that lasted for nine days!  The same thing happened last time we went to Mexico and on both occasions, it was only me that had stomach issues even though we ate the same things.  That doesn't stop us from planning our next vacation though!  

All opinions of the Excellence Playa Mujeres and Xplor are  my own and are only expressed for my recollection.  I was not compensated in any way for this post.

Wednesday Love

I'm linking up with Jamie from This Kind of Love for this week's, "What I'm Loving Wednesday."

I'm loving this announcement from Apple today.

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Love this little sneak peek... iPhone 5, come to mama!

I'm loving the fact that I'm thisclose to finishing G's second year memory book.  I've poured many hours into creating it on Shutterfly and am very happy with the result!  Yay for being caught up!

I'm loving our new house.  It's finally starting to feel like home ... now if we can only get a certain two year old to sleep in his own bed!  I'm also loving our sweet older neighbors who brought over some cookies and welcomed us to the neighborhood.  It's always the little things that matter most, right?

I'm loving these cute playrooms that I've seen on pinterest.  G basically owns our entire upstairs ... his room (that he is currently not sleeping in), his big boy room (that will be our guest room until the day comes when we have another baby, who will hopefully sleep in his/her own room), and the playroom.  Spoiled much?

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I love the globes on top of this shelf from Ikea - I think a trip to Ikea is in my near future!

And finally, I'm loving the feeling and inspiration of working out again.  My dad, little sis, and I all started crossfit together, and I'm really enjoying it so far.  Must.get.back.in.shape!

Hope you all had a fabulous Wednesday!  Trip recap up next!

First day of school

This past week G moved up from the teddy bear class to the koala room.  We are very fortunate because one of his beloved teachers switched classes with the kids.  Even though he's going through a bit of separation anxiety right now, he loves school and I am so thankful for the wonderful care and attention the teachers give.

The fabulous Ms. Elaine

Celebrating with some ice cream.  He insists on using his OWN spoon!

G's second birthday party!

Before I post about our trip, I want to backtrack and make note of G's birthday party ... and stay in sequence for my OCD tendencies.

As I've mentioned before, we decided to do a joint party with some of our good friends.  Their littlest is only eight days older than G, so it worked out perfectly!  We split the duties and financial costs, which was also a huge perk, and we saved most of the crowd from having to attend two parties back-to-back.

It is hard to have a summer birthday party outside in Texas when it's usually 100+ degrees.  Unless it is a pool party or something involving water, outside is nixed automatically.  Our friends suggested The Little Gym because their daughter had really enjoyed taking classes there.  We were members of Gymboree for a long time and had also tried out other similar gym type places, but The Little Gym was a new experience for us.  I would highly recommend having a birthday party there, or even joining!

We brought our own decorations (because we had a theme and wanted to), but they did all of the set up and clean up.  That alone was a huge burden lifted and allowed me to actually enjoy myself and the party!  We had an hour of structured gym play, a half hour for food and cake (G's favorite part, of course!), and then we paid extra for another half hour of free gym play.

And now for picture overload!!

Zac, G's older cousin by two weeks! 

Sweet O, the birthday girl!

Birthday boy!  Shirt specially made by Lindsey Barnes

I LOVE this picture of Woods.  He was in G's infant class at school when I went back to work teaching full-time. 

Kai, one of G's playgroup buds.

Bethany Grace, my sister's oldest.  G adores her!

He was obsessed with these red bars and played on them for most of the party.

Little O and her mama with matching sock monkey ears that she brought.  :)

SO thankful for these girls!  They all came even though none of them have little ones {yet!}.

Guess who was happy when it was finally time to eat?!?  Hehe.  

Banana cookie thank you gifts.  Little sign by Luvalexa and cookie label by Memorable Moments Studio.

Sock monkey personalized tattoos by Sew Woman.

Personalized print by Divine Mrs. Em Designs

Personalized print by Divine Mrs. Em Designs

"Hmmmm..."

He was the last one at the table - STILL eating!  Haha!

Typical me... who said kids are the only ones who can have fun?!?

As you can tell from the picture above, it was substantially less stressful than his first birthday party.  :)  I often need to remind myself that less is best ... I tend to go a little overboard on décor once I start looking at etsy and pinterest.  While all of that is cute, it is just "stuff," that quite honestly, often gets overlooked at parties anyway.

I am grateful for all of our wonderful friends and family that helped make G's party so memorable and for my amazing photographer/best friend that captured the photos.