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,