Vamos de vacaciones! (Parte Tres) - Tulum Day 1

After arriving late in Playa del Carmen on the 6th and then seeing the crowds of people congregating on the beach early on the 7th, we opted to forego any exploring around Playa and get an early start on the 45 minute drive to Tulum where we hoped we could enjoy some swimming and sunning with fewer crowds.

We had been warned by several people prior to our trip to be careful driving in Mexico.  Maybe these people meant in and around the larger resort areas, maybe they meant at night.  As far as things went for us, Highway 307 was great....in far better shape than our own Interstate 80 in the Sierras.

With Dave at the wheel we were in Tulum in very little time and headed out to our home for the night, Retiro Maya http://www.retiromaya.com/.  Like most of the other places of lodging along the coast in Tulum, Retiro Maya is made up of thatched-roof cabanas and the hot phrase to describe them is "Eco-Chic."  This basically means mosquito nets over the beds, rain water acting as the main source for showers, toilets, and washing, generators to keep the lights on in the evenings, and water heated by the sun.  Our cabanas were charming and cozy and the one Brian and I had boasted an amazing view from our patio as well as a partially outdoor bathroom!  Check out the little "yard" fencing in the area near the shower!

Our own little yard with open-air shower.

The cabana with patio.

A net to keep the mosquitos out.

But with the sacrifice of hot water at our fingertips came breathtaking views, white sand, turquoise water, and pure enjoyment.

Retiro Maya as seen from the beach.

Paradise....

Brian's vacation face.

The view from our patio.

It took us no time at all to change into our bathing suits and enter the salty blue water.  How refreshing to be in the surge of the waves with all of our worries forgotten.  More beach-combing, sunning, and walking along the water's edge soon led us to the agreement that after getting cleaned up a margarita was needed.
In addition to the cabanas the Retiro Maya also had a beautiful open-air bar and restaurant with a very charming staff , especially Jessica, the Italian-born hostess/waitress/barmaid.

Jessica - Retiro Maya's most charming girl.

After our time on the beach and getting cleaned up we sat down at a table with an incredible view of the sea and waited for our mango margaritas.  The laid back attitude of the area helped us relax even more.  Once our margaritas were delivered to the table I knew that I was in a very good place!

Mango Margaritas!

We all willingly took a sip....Janet was a little surprised by the strength of the tequila!

After refreshing ourselves with the margaritas we decided to wander down the road and see what dining choices we had for dinner.  We ended up at another open-air resaurant where we enjoyed beautiful and delicious food.

Almondine grouper

Tuna steaks

Steak and Seafood Brochette

With full bellies we all headed back to our cabanas to get a good night's rest before venturing out for another busy day....visiting the Mayan ruins in Tulum and then heading south into Belize.  The sound of the waves, wind, and little critters in the night all added to the experience.  Speaking of critters....Janet and Sarah discovered a huge scorpion in their shower which Roger quickly relocated outside using his ever-trusty Leatherman multi-tool to grab the intruder.

Vamos de vacaciones! (Parte Dos) - Playa del Carmen

We arrived in Playa del Carmen on Sunday, March 6th, later than we had originally hoped after the chaos at the Cancun airport.  We attempted to find our hotel, Playa Palms Beach Hotel http://www.playapalms.com/, but soon realized that there are a LOT of one-way streets in Playa.  And in the evenings, especially during the weekends, many of these one-way streets are blocked off for pedestrians only as you get closer to the beach.  We already knew that our hotel didn't have parking so once we figured out its general location our mission became finding a safe place to park our huge rental van overnight.  After turning this way and that and Dave maneuvering the beast through tiny crowded streets we glimpsed the sign for a parking garage but not in enough time to make the turn.  So, around we went again on the one-way streets until we got to the parking garage which was not only enclosed but also had a security guard on duty. 

Once we got the van parked we unloaded all of our luggage and began the walk a couple of blocks to our hotel.  Once we got there we really felt like our vacation had begun!  I had found the Playa Palms Beach Hotel through a simple search on the internet during our trip planning and was taken by the online photos and reviews from previous patrons.  And all I can say is the internet did not let me down.  The Playa Palms was gorgeous!!!!  Even though we arrived just as night was beginning to fall the view was still amazing and our rooms with private balconies were stunning!

Swans made out of towels to greet us upon arrival at the Playa Palms.

The view from our balcony when we arrived late from Cancun.

After quickly getting cleaned up, settling in to our rooms, and snapping a few photos we headed out onto the streets of Playa toward a restaurant our friends George and Irma Lebard recommended called El Fogon (the fire hearth) which was an open-air restaurant overflowing with patrons. The smells emanating from the huge grill were mouth-watering. Hours of standing in the hot, crowded immigration hall in Cancun were catching up with all of us and we were suddenly HUNGRY! After waiting for just a few minutes we were seated and ordered some Mexican cervezas and began to peruse the menu. I soon learned that the little Spanish I knew would end up being about all we had to communicate to order our dinner. The entire menu was in Spanish and I wasn't familiar with many of the phrases. Our waiter tried to speak English but he did just about as well as I did speaking Spanish. Eventually we ordered a dinner that was supposedly for five people but our waiter insisted that it would not be enough for the six of us and we should order an additional plate of food to have enough. Chalk one up for the locals....we were duped. We did not need an additional plate, in fact, we could have invited another five people to dine with us and still had leftovers. We ended up with a HUGE pile of various meats, veggies, queso, tortillas, soup, chips, and a few different salsas! It was SO MUCH FOOD! And it was SO GOOD! The cervezas started to get us more in the vacation mode as well and we all agreed that despite the earlier events of the day, we were happy to be in Mexico.

Roger and Janet happy to be enjoying a beverage before dinner.

Dave and Sarah with their Modelo cervezas.

Looking rumpled but happy after our day of traveling.

El Fogon.....a crowded street-side restaurant offering up HUGE servings of grilled foods.

A walk back to our hotel after dinner gave us a glimpse of the vast array of goods for sale on the streets. There was pottery, jewelry, clothing, you name it. We tried to bypass as much as we could knowing we would be coming back to Playa on our return trip from Belize so we opted to walk back to the hotel and get some much needed rest.

We all were up and moving relatively early the next morning and started the day with a walk along the beach in search of a hot cup of coffee. I loved the white sand beaches of Playa. Unlike sand in many other areas, the sand of the Yucatan is made of tiny particles of fossils, shells, and coral. Just sifting it through your fingers yields dozens of tiny treasures.

The view from our balcony at Playa Palms not long after sunrise.

Beach-combing....Cozumel in the background.

Playa Palms Beach Hotel looking through the garden courtyard towards the sea.

So after some beach-combing for shells for the boys and taking more photos of our gorgeous hotel we hit Highway 307 south to Tulum.  Adios, Playa! Hola Tulum!

Vamos de vacaciones! (Parte Uno)

On the morning of March 4th, Brian and the boys and I set out for Redding, CA and home to my oldest sister Pauline.  This wasn't just any trip....this was the first leg of our journey to Central America.  We were meeting my parents (Grandma and Grandpa) to pass Ben and Sam over for 11 days at their home in Happy Camp while Brian and I traveled to the Yucatan in Mexico and into Belize.  We had a short but enjoyable visit with Pauline, Howie, Olivia and Isaac, spent the night in Redding and were taken to the airport early on the 5th by my dad.

Our flight left Redding with no delays, arrived in LA, and by mid-morning we were checked into our hotel in Los Angeles just minutes from LAX where we would depart the following morning for Cancun.

We spent the afternoon and evening in LA visiting with Brian's good friend Marisa, her little girl Sylvie, Marisa's husband Steve, and Brian's other good friend Nate.  We enjoyed catching up with each other as we hadn't seen Marisa and Steve since their wedding in October 2004 and we had never met Sylvie.  We hadn't seen Nate in quite a while either.  Everyone had a great time and we had a very tasty and spicy dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant called Jitlada.  This restaurant served wonderful food and definitely earned the acclaims it's received in Gourmet magazine.

Early on the morning of the 6th we arrived at the airport to check-in and fly to Cancun.  When we got to the customer service counter we were told that we were listed as flying stand-by for the flight.  This was not what we were expecting and once we had cleared security Brian started making phonecalls to the airline to see what was going on.  Once an agent was at the gate he went through the whole story with her and she assured us that we had seats on our flights in and out of Cancun. 

Afer four and a half hours we arrived in Cancun to high clouds and temperatures in the low 80's.  When our plane landed the pilot came on the intercom telling us that there wasn't a gate available for us at that time and we would be dropped on the tarmac, loaded onto buses and taken to immigration and customs.  This should have been a red flag....no gates available?  too many planes in at once?  As our buses pulled in at a back entrance to the immigration hall we entered to see at least two thousand people waiting in long snaking lines to get through immigration.  It soon became apparent that entering through a back entrance was only making a bad situation worse as passengers from later flights who deplaned through the gates were getting ahead of all of the shuttle bus flights despite our own snaking lines and patience.  After about two hours of waiting, and seeing no efforts on behalf of the Cancun airport staff to keep people organized and calm, they finally opened more counters but failed to recognize the existing lines and let the nearest people come through immigration.  This caused a loud uproar and lines began to collapse as frustrated people began to push their way forward.  By this time Brian and I had become helpers to two families from Canada who were each traveling with three children.  We did our best to help them move all of the kid gear - suitcases, booster seats, etc. - but when the lines collapsed we did what instinct told us to do, surround the kids and keep them safe from the masses of pushing spring-breakers.  As Brian put it, you know things were bad and emotions were running high when the moms immediately turned to the obnoxious college kids and told them off without censoring their language.

To cut a long and tiring story short, soon after the lines collapsed I left our little group to go use the restroom and saw Brian's parents waiting in line closer to the center of the building.  At that point I couldn't keep the tears back as I ran to them and hugged them.  They quickly told me to go find Brian and join them in line.  At that point we knew that Brian's Uncle Roger and Aunt Janet were somewhere in the chaos and hoped we would all be able to meet up once things settled down.  After another two hours and the help of a very nice husband and wife from Philladelphia who helped us hold our place in the masses of pushing people we made it to the immigration counter where the Mexican official barely even looked at the photos in our passports as he stamped them and motioned us through.  As Brian and his dad went off to find our luggage in the mountains of bags that had been piling up for hours, Dave received a text message from Roger and Janet saying they were outside waiting for us.  Funny that they were the last of our group to arrive in Mexico but the first to make it through customs.

Even more amazing was that a representative from the rental car company had waited around for us for hours and was there to take us to the rental car agency and get us on the road south to Playa del Carmen. 

As we made our way out of Cancun we had a hard time not talking about the ordeal we had just experienced but also vowed to let it go and get on with our vacation!  Vamos a la Playa!

Oh My Goodness!

Has it really been nearly two weeks since my last post?  I'm so sorry to anyone who actually reads my posts.

We have been busy with our normal schedule around here....
Monday - Preschool for Ben, TCF for Mommy and Sam, and the office for Daddy; then after dinner yoga for Mommy while Daddy puts the boys to bed.
Tuesday - errand day....enough said.
Wednesday - Preschool for Ben, Mary comes to take Sam for a bit, Mommy and Sam head off to TCF, Mary picks Ben up from school, Daddy goes to the office; yoga for Mommy after dinner, bedtime for the boys.
Thursday - Mary spends the day with the boys while Mommy goes to the kitchen for her "Meals By Maggie" day, and Daddy (you guessed it) goes to the office.
Friday - Ben to Preschool, Daddy to the office, Mommy and Sam do errands and go to playgroup; Music class in the afternoon.
Saturday - TCF for Sam with either Mommy and Daddy and we do whatever needs to be done.
Sunday - Church and home chores.

That's pretty much the story every week.  Obviously we are into a routine and things are going well or I would have posted something much more interesting.

Speaking of interesting.....we are leaving town on Thursday to go on vacation!
We will meet Grandma and Grandpa in Redding at Auntie Pauline and Uncle Howie's on Thursday.  On Friday Brian and I will be dropped off at the Redding Airport to fly to Los Angeles.  The boys will make the trek with G&G to Happy Camp for 11 entire days!!!! 
Brian and I will then depart LA on Saturday morning and fly into Cancun, Mexico, where we will meet his parents and Aunt Janet and Uncle Roger.  From Cancun we will drive about 40 miles to Playa del Carmen where we will stay a night right by the beach.  After some activities around Playa we will head a bit further south to Tulum, Mexico, to stay in some beachside cabanas and explore the ancient Mayan ruins.  From Tulum we head even further south into Belize where we will be staying in a small village in the Orange Walk District.  We'll be in Belize for about five days and hope to see more ruins, do some snorkeling, try out the food of Belize and even get a cooking lesson, see a performance by Mayan dancers, and most importantly....RELAX!
Once our time is up in Belize we'll head back north to Mexico again and come back to the states and the boys.
Once we're home and settled again you can expect some serious blogging and photos!
Adios y hasta luego!

My Funny Valentine

Our little family started planning early for Valentine's Day this year. It all started with the Valentine's Day party listed on Ben's preschool calendar.  Because Ben is always anxious to do arts and crafts projects we decided to visit Michael's Craft Store on a visit to Reno to get the necessary supplies.  Some blank cards with envelopes, construction paper, glue, and googly eyes turned into these cards in which we also enclosed stickers for each of Ben's classmates.

Since Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday this year all the boys dressed in red shirts to attend church and other activities later on in the day.

We also decided to make Valentine cookies to share with our friends.

Our Valentine's Day evening was incredibly fun for all of us.  The boys were invited to the Ferrall family home for dinner, crafts, and fun while Brian and I had an evening for ourselves.  We were lucky to have been previously given a gift card to the Hyatt so we opted to attend the special Valentine's Day dinner at the Lone Eagle Grille right on the lake. 

The four course menu was superb with Brian having the Baked Fanny Bay Oysters with Wilted Arugula, and Dungeness Crabmeat, Blood Orange Sauce Maltaise with Caviar & Red Salad with Marinated Root Vegetables, Black Truffle Vinaigrette & Sautéed Dover Sole with Artichoke Hearts, Pearl Potatoes and Pine Nuts &  Chocolate Cake Marquise with Sauce Anglaise and Frozen Apricot Parfait with Raspberry Sauce. 

I enjoyed Smoked Duck Breast Napoleon with Caramelized Apples, Walnuts and Parmesan Tuiles & Red Salad with Marinated Root Vegetables, Black Truffle Vinaigrette & Mesquite Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Wild Mushroom Hash, Madeira Sauce & Chocolate Cake Marquise with Sauce Anglaise and Frozen Apricot Parfait with Raspberry Sauce.

When we arrived to pick up the boys they had made their own pizzas for dinner, made Valentine's Day photo frames, built a fort, played the keyboard, and generally wreaked havoc with their buddies.  It ended up being an incredibly late night for all of us but at least we had the next day, President's Day, off from work and school.

A huge thank you  to our dear friends Marci for the gift card, and Bill and Kristen for the opportunity to have a kid-free evening!

Heavy Duty

One of the great things about having a family in our community is the incredibly strong support network of moms.  Our local MOMS (Mothers Offering Mothers Support) group is always planning activities for kids in town and our own playgroups meet often too.  Sam's playgroup in particular has a standing meeting time of 10:00 on Friday mornings for the kids to play and the moms to visit.  Each week a different family hosts at their home and we all have a great time.
Last Friday we were lucky to have playgroup at Sam's buddy Eric's home.  This playgroup was even more special than others because Eric's parents, Matt and Janna, own a snow removal/demolition company and made sure one of their loaders was parked in the driveway for the kids to see. 
Sam was the first of his playmates to go up the ladder and sit on Matt's lap to "drive" the loader.  He was reluctant to come down when his turn was over. 
The day was also special because Matt and Janna offered to pick Ben up from preschool while they were picking up their daughter, Ashley, so he could come back to the house and see the loader too.  Ben was more excited about riding in Ashley's booster seat in Matt's big truck than he was about seeing the loader....go figure.  He did stand by the blade because it was so BIG.

Cookie Monster

It's been quite some time since I've made any posts and unfortunately, nearly as long since I've taken any photos.  My last post for Sue's birthday showed just the cookie creations we gave to her but did not include our other masterpieces.  Here is a sampling of pastry chef Ben in action.

A lollipop cookie.

"Painting" the cookies.

Ben's works of art.

Mommy's works of art.