bahamas: hair braiding

Posted by Aaron and Lisa

As soon as Vivian realized that getting her hair braided was an option (lots of people around the resort had done it), she asked to do it often. We saved it for Monday as something special for her birthday.

There were several huts of women who had set up on the beach, selling jewelry and doing hair braids.

They were so patient while the women were working, but really it only took about one minute. They braided that hair so fast, I almost didn't get a chance to get my camera out and take pictures! It was crazy to watch. Each girl got two braids and they're still looking pretty good a week and half later. It was definitely a highlight of Vivian's birthday.

Now if I could only figure out how to get the beads off so I can take the braids out...

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bahamas: aquarium visit

Posted by Aaron and Lisa

There was an aquarium under one of the hotel towers of the resort! We finally found it on Monday morning when we did a little walking tour. It was pretty well done and the girls were very interested.

V carried around this identifier poster so she could match what we saw to its name on the poster. She is such a little student.

Do you see the bracelet that she made the night before?

It was difficult to take pictures because it was so dark in the aquarium, which was kind of like a tunnel underground, but the water tanks were so bright...so sorry for the strange picture settings!

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bahamas: parties

Posted by Aaron and Lisa

On Saturday and Sunday nights of our trip, Interstate Batteries put on two really awesome parties. The Saturday night party was in the grand ballroom of the hotel and was decorated to the theme of celebrating the last 60 years of battery business. The best part about the night was the live band that they had...they were very good and picked awesome songs to cover. I also enjoyed the ice cream sundae bar :)

We showed up around 7 to eat and dance. The girls stayed for an hour and a half and then Mattie took them back to the room for bed so Aaron and I could stay a little longer.

We found some tables and ate first.

My brother Joey and Tasha

Whitney, Alen, and their kids, and Sherrie

The girls did a little dancing and got some attention :)

This is a picture of the dance floor from our view when they were doing a song by Journey. It was kinda crazy!

Then, on Sunday night, they hosted an outdoor party by the pool and it was really phenomenal. There was so much detail and entertainment. We had a weird schedule that day...the girls took a nap around 5:30 or 6 pm, right before the party, so they stayed until about 10 pm to enjoy everything with us. We had so much fun that night.

This is a view of the festivities when we first walked in.

Vivian was in awe of the costumes. She had also just woken up from a dead sleep, so there was a combination of shyness and excitement.

So cool for a little girl!

Aaron is a sweet dad...he had already brought Kate to the party first, so she was warmed up to the music and dancing. Vivian, on the other hand, had a hard time getting into it even though she wanted to participate with her sister so badly, so Aaron took her up there and held her to try and help. He was standing in front of a couple thousand people with a few kids...go Aaron!

They had masks like these and instruments on the tables for everyone to use. It looks like she's not happy about wearing this, but it's actually her attempt to make a scary face. She was having a blast.

There were a few shows...one of a lady eating fire, and one of this guy doing the limbo. I thought for sure he was joking about the height of the bar in the picture below, but he did it!

Our sweet, matching girlies.

There was a very loud parade walking through the party and the girls had to have a front row view. It was another example of how fun it was to have them with us, to see the excitement of everything through their eyes.

They had a section just for kids activities, like fishing, fair games, and this beading table. They sat here for over 30 minutes, making necklaces and bracelets. By this time it was almost 10 pm and they were slowing down...but concentrated so hard on their projects.

This is a view from the front of the party looking back at the end of the night. You can see the Royal Towers in the back. What a memorable night in Atlantis!

Interstate sure knows how to throw a party :)

Here are two videos from the Saturday night party. The first is of the girls dancing with their friend Addy. I'm sorry the lighting is so poor, but maybe you can get the point with what you can see. In the second one, you have to hold out until around the 22 second mark to see some of Kate's dance moves and funny faces.

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bahamas: father's day

Posted by Aaron and Lisa

We celebrated Father's Day on our trip and enjoyed a full day together. Along with the video that we made for Aaron, the girls gave him his annual Father's Day album with a new picture added, and a speaker dock for his ipod. We opened gifts in the hotel room before we started the day.

Love Kate's face here!

Here are the pictures that are included in his album so far. They have changed so much!!

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bare

Posted by Aaron and Lisa

Did I mention that we were really busy last week after we got back from vacation? Here's a picture I took of our fridge yesterday afternoon to prove it. It was so bare that it had me laughing every time I opened it. I don't think Aaron thought it was too funny, though :) just kidding...I think he thought of it as though we were eating anything and everything we had for a few days and saving money!

It doesn't hurt you to drink water only for a few days, right?! And eat boxed pasta mixes from the pantry? Nah...

We all went together to tag team on a grocery list yesterday afternoon, so it's all stocked up now, don't worry.

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bahamas: employee dinner

Posted by Aaron and Lisa

On our last night in the Bahamas, Aaron rounded up everyone who went with us from the battery shop and their families to go out to eat. We left the resort to go to a highly recommended Italian restaurant on the island: Luciano's of Chicago. It was a romantic atmosphere and the food was amazing.

Vivian and Kate stayed back in the room with Mattie so they could sleep :) We missed them but it worked out well because there were already lots of us in the dinner party!

The Atlantis resort is in the background, on the other side of the water. It was a beautiful restaurant and a beautiful night. In fact, the weather was awesome for our entire trip and we were very thankful.

Thanks to my dad for treating us to dinner that night. We really missed him and my mom for this convention.

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