mexico adventure part 2

so to continue (albeit 2 months later!!! its been sitting in my draft box awaiting journalling!) we went up the road from the resort one afternoon to visit a crocodile zoo. well, it was that and much more! it was on the pricey side ($70US for the 4 of us) but we had a guide just for us, and a personal tour along with lots of animals to touch and feel.

first, a welcoming kiss from one of the parrots. notice the slightly squinshed up faces on all of us as that parrot was coming in for a smooch...





and then it was right on in to the thick of it - starting with holding crocodiles.


those were some awfully scary looking creatures - i personally think they'd make a nice pair of shoes. but these little ones were kind of cute in a don't touch me kind of way. the boys did think it was cool though.



and then on to the boa constrictors. fortunately for us, this one was just a little one, only about 2 months old.



this one seemed to quite like dh... alot... especially around his neck!


and yes, i did hold this one. amazing how much power you could feel in such a small animal!!



now, if anyone has ever seen one of these and knows what it is... please tell me! we can't remember for the life of us, but he did belong to an exotic dancer... apparently... a herbivore, he was not out for anything but some lovin'...





b was the only one that was brave enough to hold him. he was a pretty cool animal once you got past his looks! they store food in the pouches on either side of their head, similar to a hamster.


iguanas...


vine snakes...


and the cutest little turtles!! we could take a couple home in our pockets!


oh the thrill of the hunt... LOL


and just when we thought we had seen all the lizards we could, *these* were in the next enclosure that we walked through... no barriers, and less than 5 feet away. just a little bit on the intimidating side!!



and then we visited the deer. and fed them. b seemed to be the deer whisperer for the day. every time we turned around, he had more of them around him!


ok, so NOT attractive! LOL but it was quite hilarious at the time... the deer were coming up to me and sniffing for the goodies i had. so i sniffed back at them!


these were quite the funky animals, a cross between a raccoon and something else. and quite vicious the way they were fighting over their food!!


this was monica, a rescued monkey. she was quite sweet and was quite happy to eat the treats we gave her... no really good pics, all blurry as she was a twitchy little thing!

and this pretty kitty was just so cute! a cross of an ocelot and something else, she was no bigger than a housecat. no petting her though!


and a final goodbye from the parrots.


really an amazing experience when there is just not the same opportunity to touch/feel at a traditional zoo here. we did like that they also take in rescued animals, the place was spotlessly clean and all the animals were well cared for. so our money did go to a great cause. the website is http://www.crococunzoo.com. it is just south of cancun, at km 31. IMHO, a great trip for the whole family. just take bug spray, lots of it, no matter the time of day. trust me on this one!!

mexico adventures - august 2008

this is where we stayed - the ocean coral H10 just 15 minutes south of cancun, mexico. if you want hot, try mexico in august. it was amazing - about 38C plus the humidex bringing it up to close to 50C. less than a day and we were very happy with the heat!
just a bit blurry!! my dad and i
a beachside buffet was a great way to spend our second to last evening. there was a live band, and fabulous food!
always on the lookout for clamato - we found it in a little groceteria in puerto morelos
another blurry-ish one, (thanks donut for taking pictures!!) of my mom and i. the italian restaurant was the best of the bunch!
on the end of the pier in puerto morelos, mexico
las isla mall in cancun (oh yes, we were hot and cranky!!)
my mom, the donut (ds#1) and dh on the connecting walk at the H10 ocean resort just south of cancun
yes, that is exactly what you are seeing - really!! the fine sand had gotten jammed up between the mesh lining and the outer material of his shorts - so what better way to get it out than get nekkid in the ocean!!! LOLOL
just one of the huge beautiful pools at the resort!

more to come....

just for tammy...

funny how you bump into someone that you haven't seen in - what? - 18 years or so?? so, this one is for you tammy - because you'll have to snoop pretty darn deep to find more like it!!


this was our annual family photo day the weekend prior to thanksgiving. so this is us - left to right - dh, ds#1 (12 years old), ds#2 (10 years old) and myself.

the 12 of us went down to kinsmen park to do the deed... makes life interesting with all of us - my grandma is 90, all the way down to my little niece that turned 1 in may.


it was nice that the trees still had leaves, it made it much prettier than when we did this last year.

so here's some more:














boy - you'd think we had no teeth!! LOL









my sister, brother in law, and their little monkeys



my mom and dad - gotta love 'em!

then there's the whole gang - the guys vs the girls! loved these pictures, but too bad about me looking like a somewhat sad daydreamer!!

just goofing around





so there's the goods for you!

i really should get some of our trip pictures up from mexico in august. that was one amazing trip. well heck, posted one set, now i should be motivated to do the rest...

life is busy, but a good busy. ds#1 is in yet another upcoming theatre production, curling season is here again for both the boys, and halloween just a couple days away.

thanks for taking a peek!

fits and starts

not sure where to even begin - its been 2 months, and there has been alot going on.
probably best to just get at it in point form:

- my dear friend's brother passed away tragically in mid-april. trying to be there for her as much as i can. her mom is also devastated, as well as his long time girlfriend. just sad.

- dh's best friend (also our neighbour) was diagnosed with lymphoma also in april. very sad. he's on chemo now, and staying with his parents. the prognosis is fairly good, but without an mri to be done in the future (because of his size) i'm hoping that the weight loss he is experiencing now will continue. all for his health.

- my grandma came to stay over spring break - essentially giving my parents (namely mom) a break of their own to go down to palm springs. a lovely goodie came out of that stay - we finally have our dining table we've been drooling over for the last while. and amazingly enough, dh and i both agreed on it. dh finished it himself, and it is beautiful!

- work has been busy. a good, happy, productive busy. getting myself settled into a routine and rhythm for my calls. i still have a few stores that i haven't gotten to in my *huge* area that i cover, but hopefully will be all caught up by the end of june.

- speaking of work, another work trip is on the slate for the end of june. thinking we may be going to vancouver island?? not sure - my boss hasn't indicated where we'll be off to!

- and work related, but not so much, got new rubber for my benz last week. and really, it could have been worse - $760 installed with free rotation and flat repairs for the life of the tires. and given how many nails i tend to find, he'll be regretting that one i'm sure!

- i've had lots of travel days the last while, doing the southern alberta tour. nice to see some scenery, and super nice people along the way.

- golf season is underway again. gotta love it. although things are mighty soggy right now with all the rain we've had the last few days. i suppose i can't complain that much, its great for the grass and my plants. we've gone out 5 times already, and can't wait for more. here's a pic from our outing on mother's day (and the bonus was a gift cert for another free round for another day just for me!!)



- my littlest niece just turned the big 1 last weekend. got to spend time with my sis and her family to celebrate the special day. she is just such a cutie!



not to mention the handsome dude holding on to her so dearly!

- a few social things have gone on as well - made some new friends with dh's co-workers, have had dinner with them, we were invited to a birthday party, and gone bowling with everyone that participates in the social club.

- took the kikanue dog for obedience classes. she is noticeably better, but still has her "things" she does. i really need to get working with her more. also found out that our fantastic kennel lady is retiring. hoping i won't have too hard a time to find someone else to replace her.

- planning our summer holiday! we've been researching all sorts of places online, and we've got our hearts set on somewhere warm, probably mexico, and hopefully cancun. dh and i loved it there when we went on our honeymoon, and yes, even though it was 14 years ago, we realize there have been big changes, but are still looking forward to it.

i think that's about it. hopefully i won't wait quite so long to get on my blog again. thanks for taking a peek!

a life well lived

i returned today from a conference with my new job, and sadly had to attend the funeral of a dear friend of my parents.

the theme that was iterated throughout was "a life well lived" and from all the tributes presented by family and friends, he had indeed lived a great life.

it was a hard funeral to attend, for this man i really didn't know so very well. my parents have been friends with the couple for many years - i babysat their children in my teen years, their family and ours were often together through my adolescent and teen years, but since then i could probably count the number of times i've seen them since i've been married on two hands.

they and my parents had travelled to china, and most recently croatia, as well as attending many functions, dinner theatres and other events together.

i think the hardest part today was realizing that my parents are coming into that "aging" population - that they are no longer young, and that this is the beginning of losing their friends to age and/or illness. it was so sad for me to see the grief on their children's faces, knowing that some day that will be mine. and their children are not much younger than i am.

this was not an unexpected sudden death, but the timeframe for his death was very short. only 5 weeks ago he was on the beach in hawaii, and as was retold to my mom, he said to the gentleman he was with, that he felt better than he had in a long time.

2 weeks later he was given only a few weeks to live.

maybe that was because he was given a short reprieve before the suffering he went through. cancer acted swiftly in his case, and sadly there was no miracle that he could have found to save his life.

life is short.

call your mom and dad and tell them you love them. i did.

gone gone gone

isn't it funny how time just gets away from you???

life has been busy around here, and strangely enough, not alot to say about things either. (hey mer - maybe we both need some excitement!!)

starting to settle into a work routine, although the weather hadn't really been cooperating, the kids had some down time (one week they only attended school for 1 day because of the weather!!) so that had me working from home (not a bad thing!) while they were home. there's also been a big learning curve, lots of things to remember, learn and do. and hopefully within my weekly time frame. it's all good.

we just came home this afternoon from a well-deserved break to great falls, montana. although its not too far from home (4 1/2 hours), we shopped 'til we dropped with the dollar being as good as it is right now. i found some wonderful deals on clothing - both for work and play, and the kids were somewhat spoiled as well. b's big deal of the weekend was a new set of golf clubs for this spring. he's very pumped, and was already asking j if he'd come out to the field with him as soon as the snow melts to practice his drives. silly guy :) i'm thinking we just have to get out to the golf dome one weekend here for him to try them out. j was in his glory picking out some fun new things for himself, as well as some (gigantic) size 13 golf shoes. like i said, deals were in the air this weekend!!

tomorrow is a busy day getting back in the groove. on my must do list is an oil change for the 'benz. and a deal there as well. found oil for cheap in the states. now this may not sound like a big deal, but given that it takes 8 litres of synthetic, and retail here is about $10 a litre, my $4.50/L i paid to pick it up in the states was a godsend. my dad had forewarned me about the $150 oil changes, but this has now sealed the deal so to speak for taking a trip away!! mind you, it only needs an oil change done every 15,000 km, (or 6 months) compared to the 6 - 8 week cycle i needed before in the van, its really not any more of an expense. but heck, save a dollar here and there when i can!

the other must do on my list is training for the upcoming provincial election. that's coming up in 2 weeks. that's tomorrow afternoon.

and then off to obedience school with the kikanue dog. we had our first class last week, and had a great time. she did very well - even my kennel lady (she also does the classes) was quite impressed. kikanue can be a real handful, but she did very well. hopefully this will get us off in a better direction than things have been going with her. its not that she's a bad dog, she's just a mismanaged dog with too many ideas about being the alpha in the house. she thinks she's the boss, and that doesn't go over well with me, who IS the alpha (LOL). because we really don't have much of a background for her, it can just be plain difficult living with her. hopefully this will help.

other than that, i think that's about it...

over and out...

and enjoy the tunes! (sorry its probably now stuck in your head!!!)

so. um. yeah.

more than a month. wow. well, there are reasons. maybe not huge earth shattering ones, but reasons nonetheless.

so, here goes:

1. sometimes there's just nothing interesting to say. which is most days. so there's that.

2. christmas and all that goes with. concerts, parties, people in and out of our house a number of evenings (that i LOVE). and then christmas itself. which was great. family commitments, that sort of thing.

3. oh yeah. the small matter of a disgusting cold that hung around prior, during and after the christmas season. took a good 3-ish weeks to be rid of. snot. nothing i really need to have.

4. a transition to my new position (heck, that rhymes! LOL) i'm now officially a territory manager for cadbury-schweppes. and loving it. hello clamato!! LOADS of perks. gotta love it!

so i think that's it. so really, its not so much how many excuses, its the quality. really.

so yeah, back to the whole christmas thing. we had our friends/neighbours in a couple of evenings in december. oh, and new year's eve too. we had a great time. heaps of great stuff to eat, drink and be merry.

christmas day was spent at my sister's in the city. and you know, i'm really so over the having everyone out here for christmas. seriously. i don't have a mess to clean up, and its all good in the long run.

presents were not about quantity this year. i did get the one thing i desperately wanted - tanning minutes. it may sound somewhat dorky, - its not really even about the tan for me. i just get so freaking cold in the winter time, going and laying in that hot bed for 10 minutes and i'm a much happier person for it. i feel much better too. its different than sitting in the tub in scalding hot water... my bones get warm too.

we did also get nintendo ds systems for all 4 of us. that was the "big stuff" and we've been having an absolute riot with them. we have games that we all play together, which is just plain fun. two of our neighbours also got them, so we have had them all going at the same time and had a grand time playing racing games together.

dh also got me the most amazing-est, cooshie-est bathtub pillow i have ever seen. that just plain rocks. love it.

and as i already mentioned, seriously loving my new job. loads of perks (our beer fridge is stuffed full of clamato, water, welch's juice, fiji water - amazing!) and great co-workers. i have a huge territory to cover, generally we're visiting stores about once a quarter, so i'm hoping to get out to at least do an initial visit with all my stores in the next few weeks. from there, i'll just play it by ear. i'm hoping to get some headway made in some accounts that the other sales rep just has not had time to do. so while i don't have distinct goals yet, i know what i personally want to accomplish as well.

hoping to get my "home office" set up in a way that is conducive to working from home some days as well. looking for another desk or table so that one will be a work desk, and the other for crafting. will have to see what i come up with! will also need to get the spare bed out of my office too to make some room. a good de-junking is desperately needed!

i think that's it for now - the big stuff anyways...

ttfn!

its all because i washed it...

really. i should know better.

i thought, heck, the getaway vehicle could really use a wash, so i sucked it up and paid the $8.50 for a super duper wash when i got gas this afternoon.

and now its all nice and shiny. sitting in the garage. warm and toasty.

WHILE ITS SNOWING LIKE CRAZY OUTSIDE.

really. i should know better.

go figure. the second i take it out, its going to be even more dirty than before i washed it. just my typical luck. it looks pretty though. if nothing else.

went to heritage park yesterday for brunch and a wander of their 12 days of christmas displays, went with the whole darn fan-damily. so that included, my parents, grandma, sis, brother-in-law, their 3 munchkins, and us. and it was darn cold out. left the house early here to drop off dh's car to get the oil changed at the dealership first. and it was a BALMY minus freaking 25!!! my bones just don't do well in that.

so we bee-lined for the admission booth, scooted through the gates, ran down the hill to stand under the heater they have there, then ran the rest of the way down to the main street. ducked into what is the ice cream store in the summer to warm up before making our way the rest of the way to the hotel for our brunch. it was wonderful - homestyle, hearty, and filled us up for the rest of the afternoon. fresh bakery items, hash browns, eggs, bacon, sausage and french toast, pancakes and waffles. yum.

afterwards, it had warmed up sufficiently to wander around for a bit. took a look at the crafts and goodies they had on sale for christmas, the little ones threw snow around, went through a maze, and generally had a nice little walk. no, no pics, didn't feel like lugging the camera around in the cold, not to mention, i'm sure it would have just fogged up anyways.

from there, we went in search of tile to complete the downstairs bathroom. our plumber will be in next saturday to hook everything up. the kids are happy (as am i) and we won't have to go upstairs to piddle when we're watching tv! what a bonus!! LOL

friends and neighbours over last night for a pre-christmas visit. it was great - lots of laughter, the guys even got into a hockey game for a bit, wonderful munchie finger foods, and it was an easy clean up this morning.

and now its just late enough that i better get my buns in bed - off to the city again tomorrow. maybe even some success with getting christmas presents together!!

blizzardy blah!

oh the weather outside is frightful....

most definitely! had a quick roadtrip to vulcan, a small center about an hour south to do a sales call for one of the reps this morning. at this moment in time i am VERY glad i headed out at a decent time this morning, and that i'm back home now. it is snowing quite a bit, and on the way home it was white-out conditions in a number of places.

the downside at this moment is that i do have to go back in to the city for my final dental appointment to get the crown finished on one of my molars. i'm not much looking forward to the drive in a couple hours. we'll see what its like at that point.

i took my camera with me this morning on my way out, if only to stop at some point and take a few pics of the amazing hoarfrost that is hanging around on everything right now. but with the blowing snow, and the frigid temps, it just didn't happen. i think the worst thing about our weather right now is the lack of sunshine. if you can count on one thing, it is the crazy amount of sun we get, even in winter. but we've had cloud for pretty much the last week, and that sure gets alot of people down. i was hoping that there would be some blue sky this morning to get some great pictures. but it wasn't to be. oh well!

work has been super slow still. i'm going out about 2 days a week, but even at that, its only for a half day or so at a time. it sounds all good to get paid for not going anywhere, but at the same time, there's not alot of extra to go towards christmas shopping then either. and that kind of sucks too. who knows. none of us girls are getting much of anything by way of work right now, so at least i can say its not just me.

hope you're having a sun-shiny day! and if you are, could you please send some this way too??

it's all about being 12

tomorrow that is. my big guy is turning 12 - and he's quite excited about it all. he's one amazing kid and i am proud to call him my son. and because i wouldn't be a mom without embarrassing him to death - this is a goodie of him a few weeks ago when we were hanging out at my sister's house.
poor child. good thing he doesn't read my blog. or so i hope LOL

but seriously, this is a pic that shows off who he really is...
he's just a big teddy bear - gentle, sensitive, and loving. he's already got great practice with the little ones, and that is one amazing feat to get a young guy to tote around a baby (even a cousin!) for any length of time! good on ya man :) and happy birthday!

so another goodie from our visit with my sister - the b-man reading to the twin monkeys. he thought it was just great to have an audience all to himself. he read them stories while they both listened intently to him!
the cool thing was that b-man was reading them some of his favorites from when he was their age. they are by laura numeroff - and there are a few of them. i can't say which is the best of the bunch, but they are sure great for little ones at the pre-reading age. they can easily memorize the books, and then that eventually leads to them learning to read those words! very cool remembering those things about my own kids.

and a couple of housekeeping notes - the big guy has been working with the theatre group again in another production here. its a pantomime - basically a comedy that involves audience participation. the whole crew was out to see it over the weekend, including nana, poppa, mimi, auntie lisa, and auntie jenny who came up from cranbrook especially to see him.

also a big shout out to my buddy sam in georgia - have missed you guy! so happy to have heard from you today!

hope you're all staying warm - its mighty chilly here!