We made it home

We made it home to Sandpoint Saturday afternoon. We were welcomed by a gorgeous Pacific Northwest day. Lots of sunshine, mild temps, and people who speak English!! The airline travel back and forth this trip really takes it out of me. I tend to lose my patience very quickly as things aren't run they way I think they should be. Thankfully we made all of our flights and everything was on time. The kids were great and that made things a lot easier.

There are a few more pictures from our time there. These are from Russ and Allison as our camera is broken. There are a couple pictures from the lagoon we went to called Ventanilla. We saw crocodiles and many birds.

There are also a couple pictures of Luke and Russ surfing. The guys did really well surfing while we were down there. I never did try it myself, I guess I am just too chicken. There are lots more surf photos and as I have time to pick out the best ones I will post them.

Glad to be back home...

Broken Camera

We went to the beach this weekend (imagine that) and a big wave came up and knocked Mae into the water. Luke was right by her but had the camera in his hands. He picked her up but in the process, got the camera wet. So.....I think we might be out of photos for the rest of the trip. I took our video camera with us on another trip yesterday but I don't know how to get the videos off and onto the blog. Maybe another time.

Anyway, when we were at the beach we found a little hidden passage in some rocks that led you around a corner an to another beach without people on it. Some friends told us it existed but it was fun to try it on our own.

Sunday, we went to another lagoon and this one had wild crocodiles in the water. We went with a guide who spoke English and he pointed out all the birds and spotted the crocodiles for us. It started to pour down rain right when we got in the boat. It rained heavily for about ten minutes and then let up. By that time we were all drenched!! We still had fun.

Only four more days until we pack up the bags. Wow...there are mixed feelings. On one hand it will be great to get back and see all the people we miss but I do like the relaxed living down here.

Hopefully I will be able to put some pictures up soon....Oh, one other update. The kids have Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. Nothing serious but we did have to take them to the doctor.

Random Stuff

I was doing so good last week on the blogging but now I have run out of fresh material. That doesn't mean I need Mae to go and do something!!

I thought this one of Gavin in the shopping cart was just too cute to leave out. The surf boards on the car is pretty great too. And, mom making a sand castle for...herself it turned out. No one wanted to play with it.

Last weekend we went to a neighboring town of Huatulco. We stayed Saturday night and had a good time. We mostly went to the beach and played. We rented a sit on top device for Soren to go out snorkeling with us. It had a Plexiglas window in the bottom so he could see the fish. He had a great time. Luke saw an octopus.

We took the bus home for an authentic Mexican experience. There are times when I lose all patience with this culture. I just take a deep breath. Well, we'll see what tomorrow brings. Only ten more days until we pack it all up!!!

My Parents are Exhausted

Somtimes I feel like my daughter can't come up with anything new, she has done it all. How could she possibly do anything else? I have come to realize that I will be saying that for the rest of my life.

I saw a shirt a couple months ago that simply said "My parents are exhausted." I know that my daughter needs to wear that shirt. I am exhausted sometimes. Now that she has learned how to crawl out of the crib, there is a whole new world of challenges for her. No longer can you just put her in there when you need a couple moments to relax.

I put her down for her afternoon nap. She got up once so went to check on her after a half hour or so. To my surprise, she had gotten to the 44 pack of diapers (which only had 43 left) and took every last one out in her crib. Argggg....

Needless to say, I am looking forward to coming back home so I can have her play at her friends houses'. Watch out.....I may be calling you!

On the other hand, Soren and I have been having a good time while Mae is napping. The French Open is on TV right now. We sit together on the couch and I try to explain the game to him. Hopefully he will enjoying playing too.

Laguna

There were too many stories on this trip to include a photo of each one. It's so hard to pair it down. We went to Laguna Maltipec last Saturday. We started out in the bug, which is alway a good time. I forgot to mention that when Nick and Kris were here we all went to the beach in the bug. That was nine people. Six in the back and three up front!! I tried to get a picture but as you can imagine, it's hard to keep that many people in the car for just a picture.

Anyway, we found the turn off to the lagoon where we saw an old tractor with about five people on it and a horse trailing behind it on a rope. Interesting. Then we came across this lone burro tired up to a fence. I just love the machete.

We drove until to road dead ended at a stream. There were a couple row boats there so we figured this must be it. We heard someone whistle and soon enough a young lady arrived in her row boat to take us across the stream to the beaches. After we got out of the boat, a very sweet woman welcomed us and invited us to sit down. She mentioned she had refreshments and food. We took her up on a couple of Cokes. We wandered down to the beach and her dog Polvo (Dust in English) followed us. What a crazy dog. He could smell the crabs in the sand and would starting digging when he smelled one. Once he found the little buggers, he would chase them out and bite it just enough to wound it. On to the next one. Soren enjoyed playing with the dead crabs.

Next, it was lunch time. What was on the menu, fish. That was about it. Did I mention there was no running water or electricity at this place? So we had a couple of fish and some quesadillas. The food was actually really good and there was tons of it.

Her son took us on a boat cruise of the lagoon. There were many birds and plants that were so interesting. He pointed out a flock of birds sitting high up in the trees and said they were hospital babies. It took a little while to get the translation meant storks!

This was defintely not a spot mentioned in the guide books. We all enjoyed seeing the place but agreed we wouldn't want to live that way forever.

Dolphins

We had an opportunity to go out on a boat this past weekend and see dolphins. We headed out early in the morning to the beach by our house and our guide picked us up. We loaded up on the boat and started looking for them. Within about 5 minutes there were three dolphins right around our boat. They would come up out of the water a little bit. All the kids were in awe (okay, the parents too) at seeing them.

We kept heading out into the ocean to find more. Our guide stood up on the side of the boat to look for them. He spotted them and off we went. Once we caught up to them there were about 50 or so together. We happily motored our boat in the middle of all the them. We saw some jump all the way out and saw at least one do a back flip!

After a while Luke and Russ tried to get in and see them with the snorkel gear. You really have to be in the right place at the right time and we just weren't. We got a funny picture of them in the water looking totally lost.

We saw a couple turtles and our guide jumped out of the water and caught one so we could get a close up view on it. Russ and I jumped in to get a better look. At this point in the trip I was fairly sea sick. I guess I thought maybe the jump in the water would make me feel better. Well, once I got back in the boat, things got worse. The fish got a little taste Honey Bunches of Oats and coffee!

We cruised the local beaches after that and headed back home. I was ready to be on some stable ground. The kids just loved seeing the dolphins. Their faces were priceless.

Nick and Kris

Our friends Nick and Kris (they weren't friends before they came down but that much time so close to another person really has blossomed into something special) came down to visit us last week. We had a great time with them here. We actually felt like we were on vacation for a couple of days.

Thankfully they had a safe trip down here and back with only a couple issues with an alternator. After they left we all felt like going back home. Then we checked the weather forecast for Sandpoint and decided it wasn't quite time yet!! The sun still feels pretty good down here. See you soon enough.