I can't believe it's already been more than a month since my last post. The month of February has flown by and looks like March is going to be jam packed as well.
So let me try my best to fill you in on what's been going on with the Norcia family without having a 5 page post. Well for starters Savannah LOVES school! She is adjusting beautifully and loves her teacher and the other kids, loves what she is learning, loves all the activities and loves the playground. I think the class schedule which I scanned in for you to see is a perfect mix of learning about academics, learning about God and just playing and having fun. I love getting the little daily notes and hearing about her potty attempts and sharing and how sweet she sounds when she prays and all that good stuff. What mom doesn't love to hear about how awesome their kid is right?
And I am of course loving the time I get for myself and for Mike to do what we want in the 4 hours she is at school. I have been hiking in the local mountains 2x a week with my pastors wife and another girlfriend from church and that has been awesome workout. Savannah is at such a fun age right now she is such a personality and is singing all the time and we cannot keep that kids clothes on for the life of us. Every time we turn around she is butt naked. She is very into role playing and her new thing is putting her babies in timeout and today she was teaching them gymnastics. So stinking cute!
Ahhhh Cancun...it was great. Mike and I really enjoyed ourselves putting down the mommy and daddy hats for a week and just reconnecting as husband and wife.
I can't remember the last time I laughed that much. My husband is stinking hilarious and kept me entertained the entire week. The resort we stayed in was gorgeous as were the people who stayed there. It was very "LA" and very trendy. Not really my scene but I was loving the amenities and the facilities. I kept asking Mike where all the chubby mom's with stretch marks layed out because the pool was filled with perfect people and perfect bodies. They were even filming a TV show while we were there. Turns out the next season of The Real World on MTV is set in CANCUN and the cast is staying at the ME Cancun resort. We saw the film crews and kids all weekend but it wasn't until I struck up a mommy conversation in the pool with a women who had a daughter Savvy's age did I find out what the show was. Turns out my new mommy friend worked production on the show. Crazy huh?
We certainly enjoyed the food while we were in town. What the heck right? It's vacation. So we seriously didn't have a bad meal the entire trip the food at the resort was amazing and we ate out at a few places as well and they too were A+. The favorite place by far was a restaurant called Thai. It was obviously a Thai restaurant but the ambiance was out of this world. It was situated on the lagoon with lush greens surrounding you. The dinner tables were placed randomly in these bamboo huts with palm roofs and other little tree house type rooms where you could be served on these beds it was very cool. As if the ambiance wasn't reason enough to go there the food was like nothing I have ever tasted. It was sweet and spicy and just so delicious. I am so bummed there isn't something like that out here because I would eat there all the time. So other than Thai the highlight of my trip was definitely swimming with dolphins. It's something I have always wanted to do but was very expensive here in San Diego and in Jamaica I think it was like $385 per person. In Cancun it was only $100 per person for 1 hour in the water with the dolphins so Mike booked us to go. It was everything I had hoped it would be. These animals are so smart and so sweet and so playful and strong. We splashed and swam and pet them and kissed them and made them do tricks and the best part was at the end we laid out like superman and 2 dolphins came up behind us one at each foot and used their noses to propel us across the water to the other end of the pool.
It was so much fun! I of course being competitive wanted to get the best foot push and boy did I ever. I was seriously walking on water they got me up on my feet and drove me across the pool it was so cool. We have the whole thing on video but it's too large of a file to upload. The rest of our time in Cancun was really spent laying out relaxing by the pool and walking around town. As much as I enjoyed our trip I am not sure I would go back.
There are so many other places I would love to see and Cancun was very commercialized. Mike and I never really felt like we were that far away from home. It probably didn't help that we had just been to Jamaica in October which is far and away more beautiful and cultural. But I am so glad I got to see another part of Mexico it was better than Puerto Vallarta but no match for the beaches in Jamaica. All in all it was a great trip we had a wonderful Valentines Day and celebrated 9 years since we met on Valentines Day 2000. Had some fabulous massages, great food, soaked up the sun while Cali was getting dumped on with rain. It was so relaxing and a great energizer!
While we were gone Savannah was staying with Nana (my mom) and I guess she was pretty emotional at times missing her mommy. I too missed her to pieces and even cried one morning at breakfast watching a mom with her daughter but I tried to focus on having fun with my hubby!
My mom was giving me daily updates via email which really helped me because I got to hear about all that had happened each day. When we had left she was sick so poor Nana had to deal with that on top of mommy and daddy being gone for a week. She had no problems sleeping at her house which was my biggest concern so that was really great news and she ate pretty well for Nana it was just that she missed me. She even made my mom cry at one point because she was so pathetic and sad and said "I want my mommy". Poor thing. She was just too young to realize that I was coming back and the time frame of which we would be gone. The great news is she had her first Valentines Day party at school and Nana got to come and be teachers helper.
The kids made Valentines for one another and then got to decorate their own cupcake. I guess Savannah cared more about eating the sprinkles than putting them on her cupcake but had a nice time. She made me her first card at school which you know I will treasure forever! Nana also got to take her to the mommy and me gymnastics class on Thursday's so she had a really nice time bonding with her and I am grateful for that. Who other than a grandma takes vacation time to stay at home and babysit while someone else goes out of town. We are so blessed!
In other news last weekend was our visit with Miranda and she is doing really good.
She had gone to Texas for what was supposed to be a catering job but the job fell through and they stayed for a few weeks trying to figure out if they were going to do this job or not and so idle hands are the devils playground and some of the girls got into trouble but then later felt so guilty and told on themself. It's funny because just prior to that she was telling us how she felt ready to come home and knew that she was never going to make these poor decisions again and how she was so much stronger and wiser and basically had it all together. So I was happy that she had that experience of a little freedom in Texas so that she could really see that she needs to be there and complete the program.
She realized it too and has completely embraced Teen Challenge and was so happy to get back to the house in Bakersfield and back to the work she was doing and back to church she said she really missed it. She also realized that she isn't as strong as she thought and that she has a lot of work yet to do and is committed to finishing out the program. God is so good and I am so proud of the transformation He has made in her. She literally shines with such a bright light and is so positive and happy and outgoing I love seeing her back to her old self. She has made some awesome connections there and they all really care for her like a little sister. Speaking of "little sister" Savannah didn't do so hot on the ride up and back this time. On the way up she cried 1.5 hours and on the way back she screamed 2.5 of the 3 hour car ride. We are partly to blame as we forgot her blankie and she was refusing to go to sleep without it. Bella on the other hand was a champ I actually checked her on the way back to make sure she was alive she was that good.
Mikey is doing good still living with us although you would never know it he is so polite and responsible and really takes care of himself. He spends a lot of time with his girlfriend which he has now been with for 16 months and is doing great in school as well. We are hoping he decides to play his senior year of football and/or wrestling next year but for now he is committed to working hard at school to keep his grades up and doesn't want any distractions (other than his lady) so who can argue with that.
Speaking of football Mike was asked to coach football again for Temescal High School so he asked for my blessing and with that he will be coaching the incoming Freshman for the 2009 season. He will also help out with the varsity games so hopefully Mikey will play, I think that would be really cool for both of them to go through the process together again in his last year.
Well that's it for now...more next week as I am off to Las Vegas with Karin & Jen for a 3 day girls trip!
