Puerto Vallarta Holiday

Enjoying the last evening in Mexico.

Morning surf.

Footprints in the sand.

A picture of our hotel. We were on the 7th floor, dead center.

Enjoying the cab ride to downtown Puerto Vallarta.

Our finished Mexican coffee.

Lounge lizard.

On the boardwalk in Puerto Vallarta.

Enjoying the Unamog ride.

The flash on our camera killed the spectacular sight of the alcohol that was on fire and then being poured into our glass during the making of our Mexican coffee. The presentation of our dessert drinks was a wonderful production.

This is the Unamog(?sp) that took us to the jungle for our Canopy Tour.

Enjoying the evening.

We were just amazed at how many people still use horses and burros as modes of transportation.

On the balcony.

Sunset on the beach.

Sunrise over the city.

Sunset on the beach.

Sunrise on the beach.

The living room in our suite. This room was just the best!

Jeff and Windy on the shuttle from the airport in Puerto Vallarta to the Grand Velas.

On the beach in front of the hotel.

The view from our balcony.

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We had the most wonderful time! None of this would have been possible without the help of my aunt and uncle who watched the girls for us this week. I think that it will be a while before they take on a challenge like that. But, maybe it's like childbirth-you forget just how painful it is and want to do it all over again. :P Right?

We spent our first day in Mexico walking along the beach. The beauty of all that water was mesmorizing. That evening, ADIC hosted a poolside cocktail party to welcome everyone. We were introduced to tequila poppers (very good tequila and Fresca) and there was many a hangover the next morning.

On Monday, we lounged by the pool and acquainted ourselves with Jeff's fellow co-workers.

On Tuesday, we went on the Canopy Tour. This was just the highlight of our trip. The Canopy Tour involves being hooked up to a zip line and flying through the jungle-going from platform to platform. Although Jeff says that he enjoyed it, he was a little disturbed by how close the trees were to our path. The crew that helped us was just a hilarious bunch and worked so well together.

Wednesday had us taking a cab from the hotel to downtown Puerto Vallarta. The cabride was an adventure in itself and we loved shopping and haggling with the vendors. We were able to pick up some beautiful wraps for the girls and various other trinkets for my aunt and uncle. After we were done shopping, we spent one last afternoon on the beach using the boogie boards and trying not to drink too much of the ocean.

We took one final walk on the beach Thursday morning. We collected shells and just took in the scenery.

What a trip! This is just one of the best experiences of our lives and now we can't wait to plan something like this for the girls and us.

On Vacation!

Jeff and I will be taking the honeymoon that we never had, courtesy of ADIC. We will be in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico starting on March 5 and will return just in time to take Emily out for her birthday dinner on the 9th. We will be staying at the lovely Grand Velas Resort. My aunt and uncle are coming down from Cheyenne to take care of the girls. It's been a few years since they have had to deal with youngsters this age, so let's hope we don't scare them too bad.

I'll be sure to post pictures when we return!

Self Portraits by Noelle

Bathroom Remodel

Jeff has spent the past few weekends destructing and re-constructing our powder room/laundry room. Unfortunately, I do not have any before pictures, but here are some afters:

This is our new vanity with vessel sink and faucet. The flooring is also new. There used to be a brown vanity with a counter top that extended over the toilet.

No more couter top over the toilet!

Here is another shot of the vanity to include the new light bar. We plan on repainting the medicine cabinet when we put up the trim.

We just really like the new sink! Although it is aesthetically pleasing, the installation just about drove Jeff mad. There were some integral pieces that were not included in the original set and Jeff did not find out until he had it almost put together. We were not able to find some of the missing fixtures at Lowe's (where we purchased the vanity and faucet) and we almost had to special order the missing parts. However, Jeff was able to find what he needed at Home Depot and all is well.

All that is left on our list for this room is to replace the trim, do some touch-up painting, add some trim to the mirror and un-stack the washer and dryer. Although we thought it was a great idea to stack the washer and dryer-it's just not working out. The laundry room was built for the units to go side by side and there are just too many vents and hoses in the way when they are stacked. So, Jeff will be un-stacking them and then installing a counter top over them. We also plan on putting in some cabinets to add storage.

Now we just need to get working on our landscaping, the master bedroom, the girl's bathroom...

It must come from her mother...

Emily received some good news today. The TAG (Talented and Gifted) teacher sent home a letter requesting permission to test Emily for the TAG program at her school. Her regular teacher was unsure, but thought that it was for special instruction in the both the reading/writing and math curriculums.

Emily is very excited and wants to take on this new challenge. In the fall, when I had a conference with her teacher, he showed me her standardized test results and we were blown away by her scores.

This is an excellent opportunity for her and we are so proud! This is only possible with the nurturing, hard work and dedication of her teachers-past and present.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas...

to you and yours...

from the Mulders!

Jeff's New Car

After much research, Jeff has purchased what we girls affectionately call "The Geekbox". We actually really enjoy it and Jeff is pretty keen on it. The MPG is supposed to be outstanding and this is the first manual transmission that we have owned as a couple. I will now need to learn, at the ripe age of 30, how to drive a stick. Emily really likes the car, which is good for her because this most likely will be the car she inherits when she reaches driving age.

Happy 4th Birthday, Noelle!

Today is Noelle's 4th birthday! She celebrated the special day with her playgroup friends. She had also requested a special princess cake, leading me to a new baking medium-using fondant icing. I don't think I did too bad.

Minnesota Thanksgiving Trip

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to Minnesota for Thanksgiving. The temperatures were FREEZING and it started to snow when we were leaving the Twin Cities area on our way home.

We were able to gather at my mom and dad's house with my brother and his wife. My brother smoked a turkey (he claims he was bullied into it) and I ate way too much. On Friday, we made our way down to Oakdale and visited with Jeff's family before tag-team driving all the way home.
Emily, Reese and Noelle enjoying the outdoors at Mimi's house.













The girls with Mimi.














Look at all these girls! Emily, Reese and Noelle with 5 of their cousins.

Check This Out!

Two Chinese Students

Halloween

First Snowfall of the Season

Noelle is pretending to surf while stuck inside after our first snow drop.

Here are Emily and Reese being good citizens and shoveling the neighbor's driveway after our recent snowstorm.