Two of our greatest adventures on the whole trip took place on this boat. First up, whale watching Sunday morning. The following Tuesday we took the Buccaneer Queen out again for our snorkeling trip. It was AMAZING. The whole experience was fun, fun, fun!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
My Daughter, the vacation photographer
Delaney likes to take pictures ... she has no fear of the shutter button on our digital camera, and she burns up megabytes faster than anybody I know...
But, occasionally, she'll take a sweet photo...
The last evening we were in Cabo, she went down to the beach with me for some "adios el pescador," and we watched the sun set over the mountains while I cast into the surf one last time before heading home to the snow and cold.
Delaney has always been my fishing buddy--she's great company and she's a good little angler, too. But this night, she just wanted to take pictures. See for yourself... not bad!
Monday, February 11, 2008
My little caballeros
There was a nice man on the beach right next to our resort. Instead of paying full price, or going down to the beach to haggle myself, I sent in the big guns. I handed Cameron 200 Pesos and told him to get that dimple warmed up, and off he went. Delaney was already scheduled for big adventure so this was just a treat for the baby.
The guy took one look at Cameron and said "Climb on...and I'll take the Nina too." So off they went, down the beach at sunset. They weren't gone 30 minutes but at that point it was the highlight of their trip. Cameron in his flip-flops...now that's some real cowboy fun!
The Agony of The Feet
So you've likely by now read that Liza thinks she's a terrible vacationer and that she made a horrendous mistake the day the kids were scheduled to swim with the dolphins...
Actually, it all starts with a pair of sandals... well-worn Columbia sandals.
On Tuesday of our Cabo adventure, I got up with the sun and wandered down to the beach, fly rod in hand. I slipped off my perfectly-worn sandals and placed them carefully on the sand next to a decorative and empty 2-liter Fresca bottle--it was all I could do to not grab the empty bottle and run back to the condo with my treasure, forgoing my morning of fishing, but I opted to stick with the plan.
I fished for a bit, caught a couple of jack crevalle in the surf, and wandered back to the empty Fresca bottle only to discover my beat-up old sandals missing. My guess is that the famed Mexican Sunrise Vagrant wandered by and decided a pair of size 12 sandals--old and complete with my foot sweat--couldn't be passed up. It's OK... I got an empty Fresca bottle.
So... off to the San Jose del Cabo Mega store, where Liza sprinted in and purchased me a swank pair of flip-flops. I slipped the shoes on, and away we went.
Here's where it gets tricky... I'm not a "flip-flop" kind of guy. I've never worn 'em, don't know how to walk in 'em, and don't really care for them. So, it's no surprise that, by Thursday, my feet were pretty well shot. We spent the morning at our final timeshare presenation (Yes... $250 and a free bottle of TEQUILA!), and then went down to Cabo to the marina for some shopping, lunch and the big event with the dolphins. We wandered around the concrete sidewalk surrounding the marina for a couple of hours--Oh, my dogs were barking!
A few minutes early, we wandered into Cabo Dolphins for the kids' big day, and Liza realized we'd forgotten the certificate granting the kids' entry into the facility. Liza blames herself, but it was a mutual mistake--no biggie. We had to make a decision--we couldn't let the kids down after such build-up. So, I hustled back around the marina, on those hard, concrete sidewalks in my new sandals, climbed into the rental car, and drove 120 (kilometers per hour) the 19 miles from Cabo to San Jose, where I rushed into the condo, snatched the certificate off the counter and then drove (140 this time) back to Cabo to the dolphin joint just in time to see a porpoise tote Delaney all the way across the pool--absolutely cool.
Sadly, my feet didn't make the trip. They were dead. I got two stone bruises on the balls of both feet, followed up nicely by a matching pair of blood blisters. My feet looked like they went through a cheese grater.
Good news, though! I got to rush through LAX on Friday in a wheelchair (made it through customs in 5 minutes!).
They're a bit better now, after a few days of normal walking (seriously, what does Mexico have against friggin' carpet!?) on normal surfaces in a normal pair of shoes. My sandals? They're now play toys for the dog...
We had a great vacation... feet and all...
Blackfoot to Boise
"The best laid schemes of mice and men..." Robert Burns
I meant to take my laptop with me to Cabo.
I meant to take the power cord (duh.)
I meant to shoot video clips throughout the trip and put movies on the blog.
I meant to do lots of things....
What I DID, was forget the power cord, leave the computer in the trunk, shoot videos but not edit them, drink Pina Colada's and sit by the ocean.
I think I actually made the right vacation decision.
But here is the first little movie from our trip. I don't think this really shows you the drama of the drive, but at least it gives you a hint.
Peace,
I meant to take my laptop with me to Cabo.
I meant to take the power cord (duh.)
I meant to shoot video clips throughout the trip and put movies on the blog.
I meant to do lots of things....
What I DID, was forget the power cord, leave the computer in the trunk, shoot videos but not edit them, drink Pina Colada's and sit by the ocean.
I think I actually made the right vacation decision.
But here is the first little movie from our trip. I don't think this really shows you the drama of the drive, but at least it gives you a hint.
Peace,
Safely Home
I know we did a poor job of updating the vacation blog daily, but it was due to a lack of technology, not desire I promise! I will work on movies, and slideshows and more evidence of fun this week. For now you'll have to settle for these gorgeous pictures, of my beautiful babies, having the time of their lives!
The dolphin swim was ridiculously expensive! But through the magic of Time Share we had breakfast and got Delaney in for free. We were told Cameron was too young and would have to wait until he was at least 8 so we promised him a different adventure and he seemed fine with the idea. But the more Delaney talked about how excited she was...the more Cameron thought he might really LIKE to swim with the dophins. Still, we couldn't find a way around the age restriction.
When we arrived at Cabo Dolphins to make Delaney's reservation we were told that Cameron WAS old enough for something called the Dolphin encounter. But they only do that at 3:00 every afternoon. We had to wait 2 days to get him on the list. I made a deal with the time share people again, and got his ticket for $50 (instead of the $165 it would have been)
I thought they would burst waiting the 2 days until they could get in the water. Delaney was up first at 1:30 and Cameron would have his turn at 3:00. (I'm leaving out a big hunk of story here that Chris will want to tell you. Yep...I'm a bonehead!) NOW the Cabo Dolphin people tell us Cameron is NOT old enough and that he has to have a paying adult along with him. I asked how much for the paying adult and a very nive woman behind the counter told me $165!!! Yipes! I must have looked like I was going to throw up because just then a different woman said we could do it for $85. I happily handed her the money and took CHRIS his wetsuit.
That part of the story that I'm leaving out where I'm a bonehead and don't behave very well on vacation...that was enough to get Chris a trip into the dolphin tank to share the joy with his son. It was better that way. I think the 3 of them had the most possible fun and I loved just watching them.
Delaney was out and dry and raving about what a wonderful experience it was. She got to lie on a boogie board and the dolphin pushed her around the ring at top speed. She held up a pole and a dolphin flipped over the top of it. She said it was magic!
In the interim, Cameron has gotten nervous LOL and doesn't think he wants to go. Chris essentially just scooped him up, plopped him in the water and said "here comes the dolphin - better get ready!" As soon as Cameron put his hands on the dolphins back, his face just lit up! He LOVED it! I wasn't sure we would be able to get him OUT of the water.
You can't take any of your own photos - they get you on the pictures, but they are worth it don't you think? I will smile everytime I look at them. Hope you do too.
Peace,
Monday, February 4, 2008
Hola Mi Amigos/Amigas
We went snorkeling today.
It was cold.
It was windy.
Cameron was scared out of his mind.
I got stung by a jellyfish on my (we'll call it upper thigh)
The wind blew some more.
There were only 8 people on the big giant boat we took out to the bay. The same boat they filmed much of Cutthroat Island on. (cool huh?)
We were in the water maybe 20 minutes of a 3 hour tour.
AND WE HAD A FABULOUS TIME!!!
We were sitting on te bow of the boat, with or wet cold, jellyfish stung kids, sipping orange juice and singing Jimmy Buffet songs. It is impossible to not stop and appreciate how good your life is at that moment.
It was cold.
It was windy.
Cameron was scared out of his mind.
I got stung by a jellyfish on my (we'll call it upper thigh)
The wind blew some more.
There were only 8 people on the big giant boat we took out to the bay. The same boat they filmed much of Cutthroat Island on. (cool huh?)
We were in the water maybe 20 minutes of a 3 hour tour.
AND WE HAD A FABULOUS TIME!!!
We were sitting on te bow of the boat, with or wet cold, jellyfish stung kids, sipping orange juice and singing Jimmy Buffet songs. It is impossible to not stop and appreciate how good your life is at that moment.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Weather is here ... wish you were beautiful...
Hola!
Two o'clock in the morning here in dark Cabo (yes, the sun sets in paradise), and we're wide awake, mostly because we went to bed at 7, which is mostly because the Pina Colado/Margarita happy hour was from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., and we took full advantage of it!
Liza updated you on most of the first full day at the southern tip of Baja, but she left out one important detail... Cameron is afraid of deep water.
We were at the time share tour (just say no, and you'll still get $200 off your rental car!), and the resort sports a rooftop pool, complete with a water slide. Cameron sees the water slide, and says, "Can I go down that?" Heck, we're on vacation... "You bet," I said. "Let me go down to the bottom." I vaguely remember hearing Rosio (Roh-see-oh) ask Liza, "Can he swim?"
For the record, Cameron can "swim," although he looks like one of those special kids in therapy when he does--his hips go all over the place, kind of an underwater Macarena. But, technically, he can swim.
So I'm sauntering down the stairs, and I hear this panicked gasp, and a watery scream, and I start sprinting down the stairs. There, flailing helplessly in the water, is my son. He apparently forgot he could swim.
Two older women were sitting in lounge chairs across the pool, and they were slowly standing up to go rescue The Chief--one was almost vertical in her walker--when I arrived, hopped in (yes, fully clothed) and pulled my son out of harm's way.
That's right... I saved his life. And got my wallet wet.
The rest of the day was just great--we swam until our skin pruned, had lunch (quesadillas in the condo) and, as mentioned above, enjoyed happy hour.
I did get up at the crack of dawn Saturday and walk down to the beach, fly rod in hand. I made few clumsy casts--not a fan of the weighted shooting head, but that's the way it's done down here--and got one hit. I set the hook and lost my entire leader. Not sure how I managed that, but I'm guessing the critter was pretty toothy!
We'll keep trying to post photos, but just getting this far with the blogger has been a challenge. Stay tuned... if you don't hear from us, know we're having a blast. Whale watching today, and then wave runners! More boogie boarding this afternoon... still have sand in my ... uh... ears.
Love to all...
Two o'clock in the morning here in dark Cabo (yes, the sun sets in paradise), and we're wide awake, mostly because we went to bed at 7, which is mostly because the Pina Colado/Margarita happy hour was from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., and we took full advantage of it!
Liza updated you on most of the first full day at the southern tip of Baja, but she left out one important detail... Cameron is afraid of deep water.
We were at the time share tour (just say no, and you'll still get $200 off your rental car!), and the resort sports a rooftop pool, complete with a water slide. Cameron sees the water slide, and says, "Can I go down that?" Heck, we're on vacation... "You bet," I said. "Let me go down to the bottom." I vaguely remember hearing Rosio (Roh-see-oh) ask Liza, "Can he swim?"
For the record, Cameron can "swim," although he looks like one of those special kids in therapy when he does--his hips go all over the place, kind of an underwater Macarena. But, technically, he can swim.
So I'm sauntering down the stairs, and I hear this panicked gasp, and a watery scream, and I start sprinting down the stairs. There, flailing helplessly in the water, is my son. He apparently forgot he could swim.
Two older women were sitting in lounge chairs across the pool, and they were slowly standing up to go rescue The Chief--one was almost vertical in her walker--when I arrived, hopped in (yes, fully clothed) and pulled my son out of harm's way.
That's right... I saved his life. And got my wallet wet.
The rest of the day was just great--we swam until our skin pruned, had lunch (quesadillas in the condo) and, as mentioned above, enjoyed happy hour.
I did get up at the crack of dawn Saturday and walk down to the beach, fly rod in hand. I made few clumsy casts--not a fan of the weighted shooting head, but that's the way it's done down here--and got one hit. I set the hook and lost my entire leader. Not sure how I managed that, but I'm guessing the critter was pretty toothy!
We'll keep trying to post photos, but just getting this far with the blogger has been a challenge. Stay tuned... if you don't hear from us, know we're having a blast. Whale watching today, and then wave runners! More boogie boarding this afternoon... still have sand in my ... uh... ears.
Love to all...
Saturday, February 2, 2008
From the lobby
Because of the lack of internet I am writing to you from the hotel lobby. Chris and the babies are upstairs with a new deck of cards and a package of Oreos. We may be on vacation, but we're still Us. We like to be home and ready for bed "relatively" early.
I'm having trouble transfering the pictures because I'm on a public computer. But as soon as I have more time online I'll get you some.
Cameron really wanted to try the horseback riding down the beach so I gave him 200 pesos and sent him in (dimple blazing so to speak!) The guy got one look at that handsome boy and said "I'll take the nina too." So off my babies went on horses down the beach in Mexico at sunset. (sigh) They had a great time and the night is complete.
Delaney and Chris took the boogie board down the beach and they are sunburned and scraped up, but still smiling. Cameron is still reeling from unlimited pool time and the horses. Whales in the morning - and I will do my BEST to get some dang pictures on here.
Uh Oh...I think they are waiting for me to play Go-Fish and share some Oreos.
Love,
I'm having trouble transfering the pictures because I'm on a public computer. But as soon as I have more time online I'll get you some.
Cameron really wanted to try the horseback riding down the beach so I gave him 200 pesos and sent him in (dimple blazing so to speak!) The guy got one look at that handsome boy and said "I'll take the nina too." So off my babies went on horses down the beach in Mexico at sunset. (sigh) They had a great time and the night is complete.
Delaney and Chris took the boogie board down the beach and they are sunburned and scraped up, but still smiling. Cameron is still reeling from unlimited pool time and the horses. Whales in the morning - and I will do my BEST to get some dang pictures on here.
Uh Oh...I think they are waiting for me to play Go-Fish and share some Oreos.
Love,
Hello My Friends
Oh My Gosh! I'm sorry we haven't updated more quickly. And I can't guarantee you'll hear much from us the rest of the week. We seem to be having a hard time getting a signal out here (isn't that AWESOME?) Being away from "it all" is really more fun that I thought.
I'll try to give you as much information as quickly as possible.
First of all it took us 9 and half hours to make the 3 and half trip to the airport in the BLIZZARD. I hope you guys are hanging in there. I'l be nervous about our drive home, but I'm not going to worry about that until 2:00 Friday when we get on the first plane.
We arrived in Mexico without much further incident. Customs was funny and weird. We were the last people to get on the plane in LA because they had to keep checking and re-checking our passports (???) and then in Mexico Chris almost didn't get in...he was last in line and all the customs computers went down as soon as they got to him. Just his luck! We were there for awhile, but it wasn't too bad. Here's an important international travel tip, you CANNOT video tape your husband and children getting their first stamps in their passports. Apparently that is against the rules. LOL
The resort is beautiful. Our bed is HORRIBLE. It's like sleeping on a slab. But as Lisha said "Who sleeps on vacation?"
When we got to the airport we went to the desk to get our rental car. It's a funny/scary place where people are AGGRESSIVELY trying to get your money. The guy at Thrifty was pissed at Chris because he had already booked with Advantage. This is when we met "Victor." Victor gave us the Hook Up! (don't laugh yet) All we had to do was go to a free breakfast at a new resort down the beach and we would get $200 off our car rental, a Mexican Serape, AND a bottle of Tequila! Off we went this morning ready to say No, No, No and we had a great time. We ate a wonderful breakfast with fresh squeezed orange juice and lots of french toast. I think Cameron ate a whole pig - that kid can pack away the bacon. We were also given the option to stay at this beautiful new resort and swim in their 5 pools. Lovely, lovely morning.
AND (Gretchen...you'll love this) I managed to book us another tour of another resort and get us a half day fishing trip for 4 on our own private 23 foot boot AND a canopy zip line tour for Delaney and 1 adult. We are having a GREAT time!
I'm surprised at how much fun I'm having. I got a little weird at the hotel this morning. Should I be on the beach instead of by the pool? How much money had I spent already and was I going to be able to stretch it out for a whole week? Was everyone having enough FUN and what
was the next thing on the agenda? Is a Pina Colada a breakfast food? And then I just stopped, took a deep breath, picked up my murder mystery and stopped stressing. It won't be the last time I have to check myself, but I'm doing pretty well so far.
So, tomorrow morning we head out on the big boat to see the whales. I have NEVER seen a whale before and I couldn't be more excited. I'll let you know what happens when the pirates come on board. The kids are going to FLIP! Then we have a couple hours on the wave runners. That should be big fun too.
There is a big Superbowl party here at the resort. We might come down and check it out or we might be busy having adventures.
Oh, here are some pictures of the kids in ther surf. We can't swim right here on our beach because the undertow is dangerous. It drops off 70 feet immediately. That's what lets the whales come right up next to the shore to say hello. We are about to walk down the beach to a place that is safer. The kids bought a boogie board and are going to go try it out.
I'd like to say I'm missing you...but I'm in my bathing suit, ON THE BEACH, my kids are swimming in the pool, the waves are roaring in, Aaron is bringing us chips and salsa and later I'm going to use my hard core negotiating skills to get Cameron a horse back ride down the beach at sunset for free.
Peace and love,
I'll try to give you as much information as quickly as possible.
First of all it took us 9 and half hours to make the 3 and half trip to the airport in the BLIZZARD. I hope you guys are hanging in there. I'l be nervous about our drive home, but I'm not going to worry about that until 2:00 Friday when we get on the first plane.
We arrived in Mexico without much further incident. Customs was funny and weird. We were the last people to get on the plane in LA because they had to keep checking and re-checking our passports (???) and then in Mexico Chris almost didn't get in...he was last in line and all the customs computers went down as soon as they got to him. Just his luck! We were there for awhile, but it wasn't too bad. Here's an important international travel tip, you CANNOT video tape your husband and children getting their first stamps in their passports. Apparently that is against the rules. LOL
The resort is beautiful. Our bed is HORRIBLE. It's like sleeping on a slab. But as Lisha said "Who sleeps on vacation?"
When we got to the airport we went to the desk to get our rental car. It's a funny/scary place where people are AGGRESSIVELY trying to get your money. The guy at Thrifty was pissed at Chris because he had already booked with Advantage. This is when we met "Victor." Victor gave us the Hook Up! (don't laugh yet) All we had to do was go to a free breakfast at a new resort down the beach and we would get $200 off our car rental, a Mexican Serape, AND a bottle of Tequila! Off we went this morning ready to say No, No, No and we had a great time. We ate a wonderful breakfast with fresh squeezed orange juice and lots of french toast. I think Cameron ate a whole pig - that kid can pack away the bacon. We were also given the option to stay at this beautiful new resort and swim in their 5 pools. Lovely, lovely morning.
AND (Gretchen...you'll love this) I managed to book us another tour of another resort and get us a half day fishing trip for 4 on our own private 23 foot boot AND a canopy zip line tour for Delaney and 1 adult. We are having a GREAT time!
I'm surprised at how much fun I'm having. I got a little weird at the hotel this morning. Should I be on the beach instead of by the pool? How much money had I spent already and was I going to be able to stretch it out for a whole week? Was everyone having enough FUN and what
was the next thing on the agenda? Is a Pina Colada a breakfast food? And then I just stopped, took a deep breath, picked up my murder mystery and stopped stressing. It won't be the last time I have to check myself, but I'm doing pretty well so far.
So, tomorrow morning we head out on the big boat to see the whales. I have NEVER seen a whale before and I couldn't be more excited. I'll let you know what happens when the pirates come on board. The kids are going to FLIP! Then we have a couple hours on the wave runners. That should be big fun too.
There is a big Superbowl party here at the resort. We might come down and check it out or we might be busy having adventures.
Oh, here are some pictures of the kids in ther surf. We can't swim right here on our beach because the undertow is dangerous. It drops off 70 feet immediately. That's what lets the whales come right up next to the shore to say hello. We are about to walk down the beach to a place that is safer. The kids bought a boogie board and are going to go try it out.
I'd like to say I'm missing you...but I'm in my bathing suit, ON THE BEACH, my kids are swimming in the pool, the waves are roaring in, Aaron is bringing us chips and salsa and later I'm going to use my hard core negotiating skills to get Cameron a horse back ride down the beach at sunset for free.
Peace and love,
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