Saturday night fun

Today Neil and Hannah and I went for our last long run before the big race next week. It was cold out, but it was a really nice day! Afterwards we all went to Geraldine's for a little breakfast/lunch. Abe was a big fan of the tomato soup.

Then this evening we had an early dinner (since we skipped breakfast we were hungry). Then we popped some popcorn and successfully lit our first fire in our fireplace (last year we couldn't get it lit).

We played Farkle. Abe actually beat us both.
For some reason Abe liked to lick our heads for good luck when it was our turns to roll the dice.

Reindeer!

On Tuesday Abe's school took a little trip to see the reindeer at Swanson's nursery. Having lived in a town where reindeer are penned as pets in people's yards, it actually exceeded my expectations. Abe was most impressed by the donkey and camel. There were also 2 reindeer. We saw them sleeping, and for some reason Abe asked if they'd brushed their teeth. I told him that I didn't think they had, but it was okay, because they didn't eat any sugar. Well, that really made an impression on him. Now when he tells people about the reindeer and how they don't brush their teeth.

Curly and Moe were the names of the camel and donkey.
We had circle time in the hay next to this little sleigh they had set up.

There was a pretty cool model train set up that all the kids enjoyed watching.

"Shhhhtays in Mexicoooooooo!"

If you get the song reference in the title, way to go.

Here are a few more pictures of our trip in Mexico. One thing I will miss down there is how warm it was. It was HOT!!!! Even if you were relatively cool in town, by the time you hiked up back the hill to our house, you would be soaking wet and on fire. Good thing the pool was there to cool down every time.

Hannah found some hikes we could do around town, so one day the kids (i.e. everyone minus the grandparents and Abe) tried one. It was just a hike on the same hill that we were staying on. And by 'hike', we just walked up a really steep road. But the view was pretty nice, which was similar to the one from our house.
Grandpa Clave brought his iPad with him, which meant lots of Angry Birds and some can game.
At la playa de muerto we helped Abe make a sand castle. I think we had more fun than he did.
Ole!!! Abe and Emily sporting some local flair poolside. Abe sure looked good in his sombrero (and 100 SPF flame suit).
This is the scorpion spider Calvin was writing about. After playing games one night Jacob and Jenilyn went down to their room, and a few minutes later they were back up with us. Jacob said he saw the biggest spider of his life, with really long legs and huge body. Then everyone decided to go try and kill the sucker, but I missed all of the fun because I was getting Abe back to bed. But I could hear Hannah scream a few times all the way from downstairs.
Abe and Jenilyn at the main beach of Sayulita.
Abe and Emily holding hands.
We had an umbrella at the house that we could use to give us shade. Here Abe is with his new friend Nick, helping him burry the umbrella so it won't fall over.
Here we are at La Playa de Muerto. I think it's called that because we walked through a graveyard to get to the beach. We set up in the shade so we could cool off after playing in the ocean.
Abe getting down an dirty in the sand.

We'll post some more pictures when we get around to it.

Casa del Cielo (House of the Sky)

Adios. This was taken by our driver to the Airport. He knocks on the door and says its time to go. We said we didn't expect him for another hour. It turns out that our time was off by an hour the entire week.

Marrietta Island, an uninhabited national park.

Humpback Whale

We stayed at this place about 25 years ago.

What a life, eat, play and sleep.

Abe's new amigo.

Beach Bum.

Boogie Boarding

Our Daily Churro's that only cost a few pesos

We liked to eat loco

Play del Los Muretas, a small beach used mainly by Mexicans

Snapper at Captain Cooks.

Salud

Jacob & Jennilyn's night to cook. I was banned from the grill.

Chicken Mole, Chile Relleno, Cammarones (shrimp), rice, beans & flan prepared by our housekeepers, Alma & her daughter in law Sonia.

Abe's new outfit.

Hey look, there's a Baby Ruth in the pool.

Our house was at the top of the hill, although it was only a short walk into town & to the beach. There was a big open living space with a nice kitchen. There was no exterior wall, only the open arches. It never gets cold there. Abe really liked skinny dipping in the pool making blueberry soup. Although he did have a couple of "accidents" in the pool (hopefully the people who are staying after us do not follow this blog). We had another bit of excitement one night. Jacob found a huge spider in his room. We think it was a scorpion. Emily can post a picture of it. Most of our time was spent going to the beach, eating and napping. One day we took a bus into Puerto Vallarta. Another day the kids took a snorkeling trip where they say humpback whales & dolphins. We booked the trip from a guy on the beach at a fraction of the cost of one of the organized tours. Everyone had a good time, despite the little mishap with the grill.

The Mexican Burning Man

We're having a great time on our trip so far. The casa de cielo where we're staying is a short walk to town. This morning we hung out at the beach. The water is nice and warm, and Abe loved playing in the sand. Tonight for dinner we were going to have BBQ chicken...

Clave was getting the grill ready outside when we all heard Hannah scream bloody murder. Then we heard a loud splash. We all came running to find a fire on the ground and Clave running around in the pool. Clave 's face and chest caught on fire. I had to pour water over the fire on the ground, it spread into the inside of the house because the lighter fluid spilled. And jenilyn used her nursing skills to treat poor Clave. He has a few black spots on his face and is missing his eyebrows and eye lashes. And he is all swollen. Hopefully the rest of our trip will be less exciting.

UPDATE:

I went to Harborview today, which has the top burn unit around. They said it is healing nicely. The scarring is hard to predict, but they thought my face should be as pretty as it was.