Easter 2012, Part 1

What an Easter around the Westerhold house. 

Remember how I said I still hadn't bought Easter outfits?  Well, Friday I took all 3 kids to Kohl's with me and had about a 30 minute window to pick out clothes.  I was frantically running around from the little girl section, to the little boy, to the big boy just trying to find something that would match and that the kids would be able to wear again.  You know, not so dressed up that they won't have the chance to wear them again all summer.  I finally found a really cute dress and was able to quickly grab shorts and shirts for the boy.  I was in and out of Kohl's within about 25 minutes and I got 2 pairs of shorts, 2 shirts, and a dress for $54.  I was so excited.

Fast forward until Saturday night and Gracie started throwing up.  Poor girl must have had a 12 hour bug or something because she threw up every 20 minutes for about 6 hours and then every hour after that for another 6 or 8.  She was miserable and we were, too. When it was time to start getting ready for church, it was very evident that we weren't going to make it.  I felt guilty not going to church on Easter of all days BUT there was no way Grace could have made it and let's face it, Scott and I could barely hold our eyes open.

The kids woke up and were excited to get their Easter baskets.  Grace and Kanin loved the straw glasses that were in their baskets.

Caleb loved the baseball cookies. 

We decided just to let her lay around and rest until it was time to go to my sister-in-law's house.  We called and told everyone that Grace had been throwing up but that she had not had fever so they said to bring her on over for the food, egg hunt and egg dyeing.  

Earlier in the day I told everyone that even though we didn't go to church, that we were going to take some pictures.  I did not go out and buy those outfits for nothing!  I started to iron all of the outfits and, of course, this happens:

Stupid iron!  (BTW, I have a blog post about Scott's obsession with Rowenta irons that I need to writ).  I was so mad! 

1. First Gracie gets sick

2. We don't go to church

3. Now, Kanin's shirt is ruined

We were supposed to be at Debbie's around 3 and it was already noon so I hurriedly soaked the shirt in Oxyclean and tried to wash it out.

In the meantime, Scott had the idea to just put Kanin in a long-sleeved white shirt and we would roll up his sleeves.  Scott would wear the same thing so at least they would still match.  It wasn't my first choice but it was a solution until . . .

Kanin went to put on his cute orange shorts and

THEY WERE TOO SMALL!

In my hurried frenzy to buy Easter outfits in between lunch and Kanin's haircut, I had bought him a size smaller than what he actually wears. 

By this time, I just said forget it.  I was out of the picture-taking mood and really was annoyed.  I guess everyone knew how important the pictures were to me because they were all trying to toss out ideas.  Kanin had another pair of orange shorts.  While they weren't "dressy" or new, they were bright and orange.  Fine, I said.  Let's try it.

Luckily the Oxyclean DID work on his shirt but there was no fitting him into those shorts.  In the end, it didn't look too bad.

 You can tell that Grace just not feel good in these pics:

So, here is the final product.  Not my best coordinating outfit effort but I love the bright colors.



Driving In St. Louis

If you are considering visiting my fair city, here is a list of driving rules that was sent to me via email.  Funny as they are, they are also true.

If you live in St Louis you'll understand this.
If you've ever visited St. Louis you'll understand this.
If you've never been to St. Louis consider this your Visitor's Guide to Driving in St. Louis .

1. There are 75 "unofficial neighborhoods" in the City of St. Louis . St. Louisans commonly give directions--especially for restaurants--to strangers based on these neighborhoods, which aren't marked on any maps that are handed out by the tourist board, the AAA or MapQuest .

2. There are 54 school districts--on the Missouri side alone--each of which has their own school bus system with scheduled times to block traffic.

3. There are 91 official municipalities in St. Louis County . Each municipality has its own rules and regulations, and often their own police departments.

4. More importantly, most have their own snow removal contracts so it's not uncommon to drive down a road in winter and have one block plowed, the next salted, the next piled with snow and the last partially cleared by residents wanting to get out of their driveways.

5. Snow plowing is never a problem in the City of St. Louis. They plow nothing, and if the forecast calls for snow, they close everything. Except on "The Hill" (refer to #1 above) where each homeowner goes out to the street and shovels out one car-sized rectangle and then stands watch over it.

6. Any car parked longer than 4 hours in the city is considered a parts store.

7. The City of Ballwin actually proposed that drivers use connecting strip mall parking lots to get from place to place rather than drive on Manchester road to cut the traffic on Manchester. (And for good reason. There is a stoplight at every intersection on Manchester).

8. Laclede Station Road, McCausland, Lindbergh, Watson, Reavis Barracks, Fee Fee, McKnight, Airport Road, Midland, McKelvey, and Olive mysteriously change names as you cross intersections.

9. Gravois Road, Spoede and Chouteau can only be pronounced by St. Louis natives. (Highway 40 is pronounced as "farty".)

10. A St. Louisan from South County has never been to North County and vise versa. West County just has everything delivered.

11. No native St. Louisan knows that Lindbergh runs from South County to North County. And if you tell them, they will not believe you.

12. Lindbergh belongs to every neighborhood except Kirkwood, who had the nerve to creatively change the name to Kirkwood Road.

(Which may be the reason for number 11.)

13. There are 2 interchanges to exit from Highway 40 onto Clayton Road and 2 for Big Bend. Stay alert, people!

14. If you need directions to O'Fallon, make sure to specify Illinois or Missouri. This is also true for Troy, Maryville , St. Charles, Springfield, and Columbia .

15. The Page Avenue extension and Airport expansion projects took over 20 years to get approved. St. Louisans lost track of how many political figures claimed them as their own ideas.

16. St. Louisans were aghast when the federal government required them to redo the highway signs to indicate that the federal highways went to cities in other states instead of local municipalities.

17. Drivers are starting to cut their OWN plates rather than go through the Missouri Department of Motor Vehicles to get new tags. You can also purchase tags from dealers behind Quick Shops in the city. They are cheaper, the clerks are nicer, and the service is faster.

18. Lambert Field and St. Louis International Airport really are the same place. The East Terminal, however, is a different place.

19. Highway 270 is our daily version of the NASCAR circuit.

20. You can go all four directions on Highway 270: North and South in West County , East and West in South County, and East and West in North County . Confused? So are St. Louis drivers.

21. The outer belt is Highway 270 which turns into Highway 255 in South County . The inner belt is Highway 170. Highway 370 is an outer-outer belt. Highway 40 is the same as Interstate 64 (but only through the middle part of St. Louis). If you are listening to traffic reports and they are calling it 64, the traffic jam is in Illinois. If they are calling it 40, the traffic jam is in Missouri .

22. The morning rush hour is from 6:00 to 10:00 AM. The evening rush hour is from 3:00 to 7:00 PM. Friday's rush hour starts Thursday morning.

23. Never ever try to cross a bridge in St. Louis during rush hour unless you have a sack lunch and a port-a-potty in the car.

24. "Yield" signs are for decoration only. No native St. Louisan will ever grasp the concept. (Actually, the drivers who are supposed to yield will not, and the drivers who are not supposed to yield will wait politely for the ones who are supposed to yield, so it all works out.)

25. If someone actually has their turn signal on, it is probably a factory defect, or has been on for the last 17 miles.

26. Construction on Highways 40, 64, 70, 255, 270, 44, 55 and 170 is a way of life, and a permanent form of entertainment.

27. All blue-haired old ladies in Cadillac's driving on Olive west of 270 have the right of way.

28. If it snows or rains, stay home!!!!!!!!!!!!

29. It is called a rolling stop at any stop sign intersection. Only native St. Louisans can do it just right.

30. In West County, 20 cars will go through a yellow light. Longest yellow lights I have ever seen. If you slow or stop on a yellow light, you will get rear-ended or someone will angrily sound their horn at you.

I've Dropped the Ball

Ok, people, I cannot believe this . . . Easter is 4, count them 4, days away and I DO NOT HAVE EASTER OUTFITS YET!

I don't know what has gotten in to me this year.  I feel like it kind of just snuck up on me.  I think it is because I've been doing this part-time merchandising job and then doing all of my travel agent training and I have just dropped the ball.  What am I going to do?

I have no idea.

The hard part isn't finding something for Gracie to wear but to find something for the boys to match Grace so usually I work in reverse order and just buy the boys their stuff first and then Grace's and then mine and Scott's. 

On top of all of this, I don't have Easter basket stuff, either.

Bad Mommy! 



What I'm Loving Wednesday

I haven't particpated in a few weeks in a What I'm Loving Wednesday with Jamie, so here goes . . .

{1} I'm loving . . . that today is the season open for the St. Louis Cardinals!  I'm hoping that in about 5 months, I'll be celebrating another night like this:

{2} I'm loving . . . that the St. Louis Blues clinched the Central Division and will be in the playoffs!  Scott and I are hoping that our first home game will be on April 13 so we can do a Cardinal Opening Day/Blues Playoff Game Double Header!

{3} I'm loving . . . that Kanin did so well at his first practice baseball game. 

{4} I'm loving . . . that I am only 4lbs away from my original goal weight!

{5} I'm loving . . . that so many of my friends and family have reached out to me to allow me to help plan their vacations.  I think this job was meant for me!



Big News at Disney World

Big Changes at Disney World!  


Click on the link to check this out:

Disney World Renamed


:)

Travel Review: Grimaldi's in Fashion Show Mall-Las Vegas

I have been to Las Vegas more times than I can count but this past trip we ventured down to the Fashion Show Mall, about a 20 minute walk from Harrah's, to have lunch at Grimaldi's Pizzeria. I am always looking for new places to eat in Vegas so I was excited to try it out.  I can assure you that this place will be on my list to go to again and again.

These pizzas are made in a coal-fired brick oven that gives a smokey flavor to the crispy crust.  The service was great and the pizza was outstanding.  


The one bad side to this place is that it is in the middle of the mall and not the easiest place to get to but it was well worth the walk.


My friend and I split a sun-dried tomato, pesto and garlic pizza with a carafe of their house red wine.  I HIGHLY recommend it.

We loved this place and will definitely go back.

Travel Review: Excellence Riviera Cancun

I realized this week, since my new job, that I never posted the reviews that I have written on Trip Advisor to the blog.  Here is a review that I wrote back in October on the Excellence Riviera Cancun.  

We got back from our 5 night/6 day stay at the Excellence Riviera Cancun 10/24/11 and we had a great time! Before leaving on this trip, I did a lot of research and read a lot of reviews on ERC. This review is a true and accurate description of our stay. I hope it helps you make your decision. We were a party of 4. My husband and I stayed in a Jr Suite Pool View and our niece and her husband stayed in an Excellence Club Swim-Up room. I know this is lengthy but I really wanted to be thorough so that you could make an informed decision.

If you go in the month of October, expect cooler temperature both during the day and at night. I took several shawls and wraps with me and I needed them every night. The cooler temps along with the wind made it a little chilly.

SERVICE. We felt that the staff was prepared to do anything to make our stay perfect.
(Pro) On our first night at the resort we really wanted to watch the World Series game so the entertainment staff pulled a TV out in the open air theater and we were able to watch the game while listening to the mariachi band, a server bringing us drinks, and the ocean out in front of us. It was amazing.
(Pro) Waiters were around at all times whether at the beach or around the pool to ensure that the guests were comfortable and always had a cocktail in hand.
(Pro) Service was also really good at the restaurants.
(Pro) We never felt like it was expected to tip but quickly realized that just giving 20 pesos (equivalent to about 1.50) when the waiter brought our drinks, ensured that they came to us more often.
(Pro) Salvadore at the Sol bar was so much fun!
(Con) At one point we were hanging around the swim-up bar and it was nearly impossible for my husband to get drinks. He finally called me over to help get service. This annoyed him and he decided just to get all of his drinks from that point on at the Sol bar.
(Con) The iron in our room stopped working and we called down for another. After 30 minutes of waiting, we decided to just leave and use the iron in the room of our traveling companions. We never received the iron.

PROPERTY
(Pro) The grounds, foliage, and water features were beautiful and well maintained.
(Pro) Clean. This property was very clean and workers were constantly ensuring that empty glasses were picked up, no trash on property, and everyone was always cleaning.
(Con) There seemed to be a lot of maintenance going on. The water feature in front of our hall wasn't working, the female restroom located by the Lobster House had one stall that was flooded the entire stay and one of the sinks didn't work. There were never any hand towels in it and on the last day it was completely dark, I had to have my husband hold the door open with his foot just so I could see inside.
(Con) There was no heated pool. There really needed to be a heated pool. The temperature never went above 85 during the day and got down as cool as 70 at night and the water was freezing. Once the sun started setting around 4:30-5:00, the pools were completely empty. We would have loved to been able to get back in the pool at night after dinner.
(Con) There is no hot tub on the property. A couples/adults-only resort screams for at least one hot tub and preferrably quite a few.

BEACH
(Pro) The beach was beautiful. I read a lot of reviews complaining about it being rocky and full of seaweed and I just can't figure out what they were complaining about. I was on the beach and in the ocean every, single day without shoes. Soft sand and beautiful ocean.
(Pro) There are plenty of beach chairs, beds, and palapas.
(Con) It may take a bit longer to get a drink out on the beach (but we went off-season so I'm not sure if they had a depleted staff during this timeframe).

POOL
(Pro) The pools are all crystal clear and very, very clean.
(Pro) There are literally pools all through the property.
(Con) There are no heated pools and the pools do get cold.
(Con) People get out really early and "claim" their spots so it can be difficult to get chairs in the main pool.
(Con) The main pool on the property is the only pool that has access to the swim-up bar and to the Sol Bar. We would have taken advantage of some of the smaller pools so that we could have chairs together but there would have been no bar service.
(Con) There were not enough floats. People hoarded them and really the only way to get a float was to snatch one in the morning and then keep it in your room until you wanted to use it.

FOOD
(Pro) We thought the food at all of the restaurants was really, really good.
-My favorite was Agave (Mexican). The ceviche was delicious as was the Tampiquena.
-The Mahi Mahi at The Grill was a big hit.
-The Lobster House was great, too.
(Con)
-We tried for 3 days to eat at the Hibachi in Spice and could never get a reservation.
(Con)
-We really wished that there would have been a quick service, walk-up kind of food place on the property. Since, understandably, none of the restaurants wanted guests to come in wet swimsuits to eat, it would have been nice to just have a snack shop with hamburgers, hotdogs, etc to walk up and grab and continue on with swimming, etc. Also, a snack shop would have been great when we weren't particularly hungry but just would have liked a snack.
(Neutral)
-The breakfast buffet was ok.

ROOM
We had a Pool View and our niece and her husband had an Excellence Club Swim-Up room. There was no difference in the size, bed, decor of these two rooms. They were exactly the same. The 2 differences were: #1 The Swim-Up room is located on the pool and has a hammock and outdoor tub along with a couple of private tanning chairs. #2 The Excellence Club rooms offer liquor bottles in the room such as Jose Cuervo and Jim Beam. The Excellence Club rooms also have a couple of extra beer solutions in their refrigerator as opposed to only Corona in the "regular" rooms. Those are the only 2 differences in the rooms.
(Pro) Upon arrival, the towel animals, champagne, and fresh fruit were so inviting and really made it special.
(Pro) The evening turn-down service was great. I loved that they laid the mints on our bed and turned relaxing music on.
(Pro) On each side of the bed there are LED lights that they turned on it to set "the mood" during turn down service.
(Pro) Each night we received an itinerary for the next day's events.
(Pro) Robes and slippers are provided.
(Pro) The jetted tub is big enough for two and has hot water. They also offer incense for a relaxing bath.
(Pro) The toiletries offered are in-depth (sewing kit, female personal hygiene items, comb, toothbrush) and the shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotions are larger than the normal hotel-sized toiletries.
(Con) Our air conditioning was broken and we could not turn it down. We had it set on 80F and still needed extra blankets at night.

ROOM SERVICE
(Pro) The room service staff always created an atmosphere by setting the table and introducing the food.
(Con) The room service menu was limited and took at least 45 minutes no matter what time of day you ordered.
(Con) I was very excited about the special breakfast in bed for our anniversary . . . DON'T BE. The first day we arrived I scheduled this breakfast and was asked if I wanted the continental breakfast and I said sure (I had no idea what it involved). Basically, it was 5 pieces of fruit, a basket of bread, a mimosa and coffee. We actually ended up getting dressed and going over to the buffet for breakfast. If you want a romantic, anniversary breakfast in bed just order straight from the room service menu, don't expect much in the special breakfast.

ENTERTAINMENT/NIGHTLIFE
(Pro) The Romantic night singer is AMAZING!! Definitely our favorite entertainer of the week.
(Pro) The Reggae band that played poolside was awesome. It was, by far, our favorite part of daytime entertainment.
(Con) For us, we weren't in to the "games" they played poolside such as movie trivia/music trivia. We would have loved to have more live entertainment or more upbeat music played during the afternoon.
(Con) This was a big con for my husband. After dinner, there really is not a lot of nightlife going on. There is entertainment provided both in the form of bands and entertainments shows BUT all of the entertainment is over by 11:30 and then there is nothing. My husband would have loved if there was a late night bar. They do have the Allegria bar but there is never anybody in there. We checked 2 or 3 times and there wasn't even a bartender. We would have loved even just a sports bar that had a few tv's or just something for those nights when you just aren't ready to turn in.

PUERTO MORELOS
Puerto Morelos is only about a 35 minute walk down the beach (go past 2 piers and look for the lighthouse) and go into town. We had such a good time shopping and eating at the little restaurants. Plus, it was great to break up being at the resort all day. Do it!

Overall, this was a really lovely resort. We had a great time and we would definitely go back again. Remember, during this review, I was trying to be as specific as possible so that you could get a true and accurate description. I truly believe that there is no way you could go to ERC and have a bad time but these are just a few of the nitpicky things that may make a difference for you.

TIPS:
-Take a wireless router. We were able to tap into the WiFi from the room. It was awesome to be able to have internet in our room.
-Schedule your scuba/snorkeling at the beginning of your trip because they do not offer these excursions every day.
-If you want something, ask for it. They will go out of their way to accomodate you.
-If you like a certain kind of alcohol or brand name, then ask when you go to the bar or you will receive rail liquor.

Excellence Club Swim-Up Room #7051 was incredible


If you'd like to see a video of what a Junio Suite Pool View looks like, check out my link that I posted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf3ZHvKQe6M