School year 2018-19

Adrian J is in Kindergarten and is 5 years old 

Steven J is in Seventh grade and is 12 years old

I cannot believe my oldest is mid way through his junior high years. I mean, where did the time go? It feels like it was just a couple of years ago that I was dropping him off in Kindergarten. Now I'm dropping off my youngest at Kindergarten! What is happening here!?

They both have grown so much this year. My mommy heart is extremely happy yet at the same time sad that there are no more babies in the house. Some days I sit back and just watch you boys. Watch your personalities and how much you have grown. I think back on those days when you were just a few months old and I would cradle you in my arms and rock you to sleep. Those days that you you depended on daddy and I to do everything for you and now you can do pretty much everything for yourselves. 

This past summer I came across several posts that said "we only get eighteen summers"and I started to think on how much truth there was to that. Eighteen summers, that's all we get before they run off and start making their own plans and decisions. *sigh* Lord have mercy on my momma heart as I savor in the summers that remain.

In regards to height and weight you have been having quite the growth spur the past year and a half. I don't know what you and your brother have been eating lately but if you both keep growing at the rate that you're going you will sure be a lot taller than your daddy. At five years old you are over 50lbs and are about 44 inches tall. I'm not sure where you fall in the growth chart but I remember that your pediatrician sent you for labs on your yearly check up due to the increase in weight compared to the year prior. Thankfully your labs were all normal and you just needed some vitamin D. Which brings me on noting that this was the first time you ever had to take medicine in a pill form and well it took several attempts. That was quite the experience and laugh. 

You are less of a picky eater compared to what you were at 3 years old that's for sure. You eat more types of meats now and have even tried several types of seafood. Water and milk are your go to drink of choice, you're not a soda or juice kind of boy thank God. But you definitively have a sweet tooth. Actually you have always had it. You are sucker for chocolate and candy. I hate to admit it but in the last two years you've had seven cavities (I know go ahead and judge me, but if it helps Steven Jr has had 0 cavities in 12 years. You win some and lose some I guess). 

Earlier this year you lost your two bottom teeth and they have grown in since. There has not been any signs of any loose teeth since then either. Funny story, the tooth fairy left you dollars under the pillow and you were so upset about it because you were expecting loose change instead. It took quite the while to convince you that dollars are better than loose change now all you want is dollars, no quarters allowed. That worked out well didn't it, NOT! For the next tooth you lost we put a DD gift under your pillow (because you know, we're parents of the year and we did not forget to get cash out) and well, as expected you didn't take that as well as we may have thought you would. So both of your tooth fairy experiences have not been what you have expected my sweet boy, I'm sorry for that.

Well my handsome boy I think that's it for your five years old update. I skipped your 4 years old update but we are back on track now. I pray tons of blessings over your life and I pray that God grants you a long healthy, happy, and peaceful life. I love you to the moon and back sweet Adrian. Thank you for bringing so much joy to our lives

Love Always, 

Mommy

 

I have trust issues, I have been betrayed one too many times by "friends" to the point that I keep my circle of friends very small and I reserved that title to those who truly deserve it. I thought she was one of them, maybe she is, who knows but she made a comment that bothered me and apparently it still bothers me because I'm writing about it here. 

This friend said something along the lines of "soon you'll be a nurse, you'll make nurse friends, and you will change because that's what people do, they change." For a split second I didn't understand what she meant by "you'll change" butt then I quickly remembered a doctor in my HIV Clinic experience who told me "after graduation people will say that you have changed and it's true you will change. You will change the way you think, the way you see things, and even possibly the places that you will shop at because that comes with the territory. You will lose many friends because of it and it's okay because you must change and they will never understand why you must change." Now his talk was more involved of course and he went on to explaining exactly what he meant by how I will be changing and he was right, I totally agree with him, nursing school is no joke and it forces you think differently and it trains your brain on seeing things different compared to lets say my husband who did not go through nursing school. 

However, I am sure that what my friend meant by "you'll change" is that I will think that I am better than "them" and eventually I will stop talking to them and I will surround myself by other nurses. And frankly that hurt me a lot more than she think it did and this is why, which by the way I also made it known to her.

I was born in a third world country. At one point I was homeless, alongside my mother, in said country. I came to the USA and lived in the projects for many years while being raised by a single mother of four. I had my first child at nineteen years old. I was made fun of and bullied growing up, I didn't have many friends, and I was the ESL student that couldn't pronounce words let alone use them correctly. It took me many years, trials, tribulations, and hard work to make it through nursing school.   

I don't say all this for people to have pity on me, I say this because I know what it is to have nothing and how much work it took to get where I am today and I'll be damned if I ever forget my roots. Yes maybe I will buy myself an expensive item once in a while but that doesn't mean my principles and morals have changed. If anything I love using my life experiences to encourage others to follow their dreams and fight for what they want. 

Is inevitable, I will make nurse friends but it doesn't mean my trust issues will disappear and I'll forget about those who have proven themselves trustworthy. Her comment really did bother me and like I mentioned maybe she will never realize just how much. But it's okay because my roots will never change and neither will I forget.

OMG! Y'all! I'm a Grad Nurse!

August 9, 2018

 

  Once upon a time, in the midsts of some trials, I had a wonderful stranger reach out to me and pray over me, my husband, our marriage, and our family. I remember it like it was yesterday. We were at a baseball game and I got this call by said stranger. I took the time to speak to her because I figured it was God’s way of reaching out to me. And indeed it was.

We spoke for over an hour. At one point I was standing by a tree trying to get some shade and as I looked up in front of me I had the most perfect view of my husband. In that exact moment she said, you have your trials which are making you a better woman and a better christian and although you don’t understand why things are the way they are don’t forget that you and your husband are still individual persons at the end of the day and God has a plan for him. He has his own trials and his own testimony. God has a plan for him and the things that are happening to him are happening for a reason. He is meant to go through the things that he has gone and is going through because in the long run, God will use it for good.

Her words touched me. I never looked at it that way. I never thought of our trials as individual trials. It was definitely a reality check for me. Since then I’ve been more aware of the things happening in our lives as individuals not just as a family.

I say all this because my husband is amazing. He is far from perfect but he is a dream come true. He is Humble, hard working, loving, and caring. He never stops. He’s always on the go taking care of him self whether is by eating right and working out, he’s involved with our children in all areas of their lives. And I mean like every area. I am both lucky and blessed to have him as my parenthood partner. And he’s always going the extra mile to help me out. He’s willing to cook, clean, take a day off to stay with the kids, the list goes on. But most importantly he’s always pushing me to be the best version of me possible. 

I don’t think he truly knows the blessing that he has been in my life. I want to tell the world how amazing of a man I had the privilege of marrying but I can’t brag, not in social media, not to those that wouldn’t understand or those would take it the wrong way. Instead I’ve decided to post it here so that our children and grandchildren can read about this awesome man. I have decided to be thankful to God for this precious gift. For this man that although very far from perfect is truly the most perfectly imperfect man I have ever met.

My love, I love you beyond words. I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you. Of growing old together and reminiscing on the good old days and the not so good old days. Thank you for all that you do for me, for us, for our little family. I wish tons of blessings upon you. I pray that you never loose your humbleness and that you never stop caring and trying your hardest. I pray that you reach your full potential in this journey that we call life. I love you far beyond the moon. 🌙

 

We stayed at the Bahia Principe Resort in Montego Bay for 5 nights and we booked an excursion to the Dunn's River Falls. That was really really fun! Our driver was hilarious and the hike up the river was pretty cool (and a little dangerous if I'd say so myself), nonetheless we did it and we have no regrets. 

The details/breakdown:

The resort grounds was beautiful. We ended upgrading to an ocean view room which was awesome. The pool was pretty big and the beach was separated by sections but available to all resort guests. Every day we picked a different section to hang out in and we would normally start the day by going to the beach after breakfast and ending the day in the pool area. The beach water was so clear and warm, it was definitely the Caribbean :) The entertainment team was not like in previous resorts we've stayed at. I don't remember them doing any day activities, yet again the pool was so big and sort of wrapped around the resort that we were probably in the "quiet side of it". The nightly entertainment was pretty cool. I personally found that some of the male staff were inappropriate. One guy in particular kept us waiting forever for drinks, he took shots himself and had his own drink that he was sipping on while he made other drinks, and he would smack other girls booty (female staff) as they walked by him. My hubby and I just looked at each other, grabbed our drinks and moved to another section. Whoever he thought he was, I found his actions and behavior to be inappropriate. Friendlyness of the staff in Jamaica was definitely not the same as in Mexico. Jamaica reminded me a lot of the Dominican Republic in many ways.

The food was good. Very similar to what we are used to eating but with different spices. I have no complains about the food but also nothing that sticks out as being amazingly good. We did have Jamaican pattys and that was good, at least the one from the resort was. Oh and the curry chicken was pretty good. We ate it almost every day for lunch. The drinks were pretty good too. I'm not a big drinker so I was fine with the first good drink I had. 

On our third day in Jamaica we traveled to Ocho Rios with this hilarious driver to climb up the Dunns River Falls. After arriving to our departure location we got on a boat that took us out to sea to snorkel. What an amazing experience. Now that water was super cold and although I as a little afraid of jumping in I ended up just joining the hubby. I've done snorkeling in Costa Rica which was my first time and a terrifying experience, as well as in DR on our Isla Saona excursion which we stopped in a natural pool to snorkel and the water there was waist deep and super clear. That was awesome.

Anyways, snorkeling in Jamaica was cool and I'm glad I decided to do it. YOLO. We then got back on the boat and ended up at the Falls. Ok, so this water was beyond cold, it was freezing. I don't think I'd make it all the way up by water but eventually my body got used to the water temperature. I loved all the pictures we were able to snap on our way up. On the way down we used the walk way. The stafff here also take pictures of you going up the Fall and try selling you a DVD at the end. We're suckers so we bought it lol.

On or ay back to the resort the boat had a party going on with Jamaican punch and pattys. The music was good. This was when reality hit. At least for me. There were a lot of young people in the boat, young like in their early/mid 20s and they were having the time of heir lives but I just kept on thinking "I can't dance like that, I can't behave like that. I'm a married woman and mother of two. This behavior is inappropriate for a woman my age", or is it? That thought really lingered in my head for quite awhile. Hubby and I did enjoy the boat ride back but in our own way. 

Two more days in the resort before ending this getaway which consisted of more beach, pool, and eating. Every day we ended up sitting next o this other couple from Boston, unintentionally, and on our second to last day there we had lunch with them and hung out on the biggest part of the beach section. They were pretty cool, I wish we would had exchanged info to keep in touch. They were really funny.

At last, Jamaican was quite the experience . I liked it but I didn't love it like I thought I would. Will we ever go back? yea sure, maybe sometime in the future but is not like I'm already planning our next trip there. My favorite part of this trip was spending time with the hubs and making great memories. 

It was a birthday for the record for sure. Just like we planned it :)

Hello 30s.

 

We got picked up bright and early and we made our way to Tulum. First on the list was a tour of the Tulum Mayan Ruins. Is funny because while in school History was never an interest for me. Although it was indeed interesting, to me it was beyond boring. Now that I'm an adult though I love learning about early civilizations and historical sites so this was pretty neat to experience. At first I didn't care much for checking out the ruins, I was interested in seeing Xichen Itza instead but that was out of the list this time around, however once there things got interesting. Our tour guide was super funny and he explained everything so well. He walked us around and told us about the ruins and then we had an hour to walk around, take pictures, and enjoy the area. I loved that we got there super early so we were part of the early crowd. On our way out that placed was jammed packed. There were so many tourists. Apparently it is the third most visited archeological site in Mexico (I read that in a google search).  It rained a little but the sun was still out so it was somewhat refreshing.

We had to leave everything in our bus and just bring walking/water shoes and our bathing suits. They provided everything else from towels, to water, and even the pictures. I was a little annoyed by that but it was honestly a great investment. 

We started rappelling into the cave. Let me just note that I'm the biggest scary cat ever yet somehow I manage to put myself in situations that I would have never even dreamed of. They set you all up with "rappelling gear" and give you a few minutes talk on how it's done and then they ask who wants to go first. I was terrified but you do it in couples so that was nice. You also go at your own speed since you control it with your left hand and then towards the bottom you just let go completely to make a splash into the water and so the picture has a dramatic effect. It was pretty cool. We swam through the  cave till we reached our first zip lining area. I believe there were 5. Or maybe 7. I remember 2 being at the end, after lunch. 

The zip lining was pretty cool too. I had tried zip lining in Costa Rica back in 2010 and somewhere else too but I don't recall where. I was terrified and there's actually a video where you see the tour guide messing with me and just as he lets me go he says "oh wait wait" but I'm already going so my heart drops to my bottom and all I hear is laughter. Not cool, not cool. It was funny to have that on video. 

From there we ended up in a underwater cave where we got snorkeling gears and got to swim through to the other side. That was the coolest experience ever! So I just Google searched  it to see if I find this place and it's actually called Cenote Sac Actun. Guys, I totally recommend you checking out this Cenote if you are ever in Mexico. I can't swim. Well not too good anyways and the whole time I stayed next to the tour guide and my hubby because let me tell you, the view into the water was beyond breathtaking yet at the same time I was pooping myself. Specially when it got dark. I remember at one point I panicked and hubby must have noticed because he got next to me and told me to relax. To stop and take deep breaths. How can I explain this. I honestly don't think I can. This is the longest underwater cave in Mexico, I remember hubby pointing out a sign about it being on National Geographic. They had that sign on site. This experience was just too amazing to ever put into words. Is one of those things were you just have to experience it for yourself. And we didn't even get pictures of that part of the excursion. So it is definitely something that I will forever be thankful to have had experienced. 

More zip lining and then lunch. This food was authentic Mayan food and it was AMAZING! hubby and I repeated servings twice. Oh and the Tamarindo juice, Dios Que Riqueza! It was really good. 

After lunch we had some free time to check out souvenirs on site and the tour guide gave us the option to finish the zip lining or walk it back but of course we all chose to zip line. We then stopped for margaritas and to "shop" for our photos. I have to say that I was impressed with their system. They really persuaded you well for giving in to buying the pictures. Not like you had a choice since you didn't have a camera of your own. Nonetheless it was worth it. 

We made it to back to the resort. Showered, dinner, show, and bed. 

The weather was pretty decent on our last day in the resort. we hung out at the beach after breakfast for a few hours and wondered away from the resort on the beach side to see what else was around  then we came back to the pool area. It was a very low key last day there. We talked bout how much we loved Mexico and we jut knew we would be returning within the year to bring our boys. we missed them so much! But it was a much needed getaway to rekindle our love :)

On December 2016 we took a 5 days getaway to Mexico to celebrate Hubby's 30th birthday. We wanted to do something memorable and that we enjoyed. We love traveling and it was fitting that we decided on trips instead of big parties for our big transition into the third decade of our lives. We stayed at the beautiful Grand Sunset Princess Resort and although the weather wasn't what we had hoped for we made it work.

We landed in Cancun Airport and we were taken to enterprise were we had reserved a car for the next 5 days. After getting situated there we got in our rental and drove about 40 minutes to the resort. It was a smooth drive. I wasn't sure what to expect and I'm not going to lie I was somewhat scared since we did not know anything about Mexico but hubby's confidence had me a little more at ease. He's a truck driver so he's very good at getting around places plus there's just something about him that makes me feel protected. Could it be his size/appearance? who know. Bottom line, getting around The Riviera Maya was not difficult at all. It also helped that we knew the language but even if we wouldn't have I think it was fairly easy to get around.

The resort was beautiful and pretty big! There were 3 parts to it. At one point we got lost and ended up in the family resort which was also beautiful and looked very kid friendly. The food was amazing at every location and at any time of day but my favorite was the coffee. I don't know what kind of coffee they used but we drank cup after cup after cup. Hubby loved their liquor selection. He kept saying they had top shelf liquor, whatever that means. I like my wine, Corona, and Patron. One thing I did not like was the juices they used to mix drinks. Throughout our entire stay there was not one drink I repeated or enjoyed as much as hubby. I just couldn't get pass the after taste. It wasn't till our last day that I decided to drink wine (I didn't drink any before because wine and sun does not go well with me) but boy was their wine good :) Ooo and their burgers, OMG their burgers. I was hooked! Mexican burgers are way better than American burgers for sure or at least the burgers at this resort were. Night entertainment was really good. They had the best shows and live bands every night. That did not disappoint at all. The pool was good but again, the first couple of days it was hard to enjoy it because the weather was not as good so we did a lot of lounging and relaxing. The beach I did not like much. Very rocky. I only went in once and the next time we walked a couple of miles to the right of the resort and ended up at a beautiful beach which was good for swimming. We would definitely come again to this resort.

The weather on our second day was rainy and gloomy early in the morning so we decided to check out the excursions they had available. Since it was late morning already and the sun was coming out we opted for driving ourselves to Tulum and going to Xel-Ha Park. Actually the guy recommended it more than Xcaret since Xcaret was more kid friendly and it was only us two. We booked another excursion for the following day and drove to Tulum on our own. That drive took about 45-50mins from the resort and again it as a smooth drive. Only one turn and it was to get into the park itself. We loved it there. Everything there was pretty much water activities and food and drinks (even alcoholic beverages) were included in the entrance fee which I found it to be super cheap. We did the jungle trail by bike which led us to the river tour and snorkeling, cliff jump, zip-lining over the water, we checked out the garden, and the manatees cove. There was so much to do but we only had about 5 hours and the sun was beaming. It was the perfect day to be there for sure but our faces were burnt. I wonder if it was because we were on a different location. Again the food here was out of this world. They had lots of restaurants to choose from and we opted for authentic Mexican food. I can't even describe how good the food was. And the drinks... Hay Dios, Delicious! The Best Tamarind Margarita. This was something we agreed to do with the boys one day. They will both love it so much. 

On our way back to the resort we stopped at La Quinta Ave. I had read about it on my search for things to do/places to visit in Playa del Carmen and it was also recommended by the guy who we booked our excursion with. He said that's something we must do and it was about ten minutes from the resort so it was convenient to make a stop on our way back from Tulum and so we did.

So what is La Quinta? You can say is like a boardwalk except that it runs parallel to the shore "Playa Del Carmen" and it has tons of restaurants, shopping stores, hotels, bars, and so on. We ended up buying all of our souvenirs here and a little tip, if you ever go to Mexico is better to buy things using their money. They give you better prices, as we were told by the locals. Something about them not getting good exchange rates when they change dollars to Mexican pesos so they charge more if you pay in dollars to make their profit. Walking around La Quinta was a little intimidating, especially because it was getting darker and later in the evening. There are lots of locals and some people walk right next to you and offer you weed, cigars "massages", etc but they don't disrespect and if you ignore them they leave you alone. Now if you start asking them question expect them to try to hustle you. Unfortunately we didn't get to walk it all. I think I read somewhere that the whole thing is 4 miles long and I think we walked a mile, if that. We were just tired from all the sun and swimming earlier. We had planned to return again and maybe eat lunch or a snack but with 4 full days total there was just no room to fit it in again. I would totally do it again though, I'd like to experience it and go to the actual beach. Maybe even go for a getaway and instead of staying in a resort staying in a hotel along La Quinta Ave. That would be fun!

We headed back to our resort, showered , had dinner and went to enjoy the live band for the night.

These were only two days into our trip and we were loving the culture. Next post will be on our Tulum group excursion and our last day in the resort.