Cabo 2011-Two Weeks!!!

Wow- What a Trip. 

I must admit I have felt a little overwhelmed by making this post. What to do with over 1200 photos that I took? How do I tell the story of what a great time we had? Two weeks is a lot to cover. And I am sure you all do not want all the details. But I don't want to forget them either. And since I am no good at keeping a journal, this is the closest I get. 

Here are some of the highlights of the great time we had. 

I will try and cover the Who- What- When & Where at least. 

Who:

Gary -Vincent-Andrew-Myself! My parents Joy and Jerry also joined us for a fun 10 days! 

What:

Vacation to Sunny Mexico! 

When:  

Beginning of July 2011

Two weeks were perfect. Lots of time to do activities and hang out at the pool and relax. 

Where:

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It is at the tip of Baja California. The Very, very tip! 

The Beach

Grandma brought some small kites and the kids had a fun time flying them. They got very high. Andrews took out all the string and Batman went flying out to sea!  We watched him fly away for a long way over the ocean. So sorry for littering. We did not do it on purpose. Grandpa was happy with his chipping wedge on the beach. Lots of area for practicing his golf skills. :-) 

ATV Riding

in the dessert and then to the Pacific Ocean

We had a great time riding thru a dry river bed and followed it to the Ocean. It led us thru a small cattle ranch that was fun. The bulls and cows did not mind us at all. They just looked at us like we were normal everyday visitors. I guess we were in a way. Lots of old dried up cattle bones along the way. They have not had rain for over two years in this area. But I think they did get some the next day for a couple of hours. Grandpa did great riding on his ATV. Andrew rode with me. He is not stupid. He saw how the other boys drove and decided to stay with me for the whole trip. Gary had a close call on his ATV. He was doing doughnuts and had it tip over. I was very happy that no bones were broken. One boy in our group did break his ankle at the end of the trip doing the same thing. They never learn...

A Day at La Paz. 

We drove for about 3 hours to visit the capital of the area. We did get stopped by some armed patrol military men. They did not speak english, so I was glad we had Vincent with us. They had us all get out and they searched the car. Yeah no drugs were found. It helps that there was none with us. I so wanted to take a photo. I had my little camera in my hand even. But I did not want to push my luck with Mexican Military Police. They did not look to friendly. 

We found some beautiful beaches that were not too crowded at all. 

Puerto Balandra is a huge cove about a mile across. You can walk the whole way across even. The deepest part was about chest deep. Not a lot of coral in the cove. So not too many fish. But warm and fun to swim in. Lots of people were kayaking across. 

Telecote was the second beach we went to. What a nice set up it had. It had hardly any tourists there. We were late in the day, so I think what few there were they had left by then. I had suggested we drive to a beach and the car got stuck in the sand. All my fault of course. A nice man helped dig us out. We then went for a short snorkel cruise with him. It was great. We swam with some huge sea lions. It was a little freaky if you asked me. They would swim so close to you they would brush up against your legs unexpectedly. Unfortunetly by then my underwater camera had broken. Lots of fun. It would be nice to go and spend the night in the area to really enjoy the beaches and the town.

Time Share Heaven

We are very lucky to have a few time shares. They let us vacation in style. We also love that they have kitchens and great eating areas. This trip we stayed in two places. 

First we stayed at Playa Grande. Great place with fun pools for the kids. Lots of activities to do with the staff. Very fun atmosphere. We did not stay in our normal room this time. As we switched around the dates. We stayed in a great two bedroom right on the Ocean. Loved it. 

Second we stayed at a brand new place called Grand Solomar. They are still not done building the resort yet. We bought it last year before they had the first phase finished. It was a gamble, but it looked great from what we could tell then. We were right. Very high end and fabulous. All the room look out to the ocean. The pools were very nice. All with those fancy infinity edges looking out over the ocean. It really was top notch. We all felt very spoiled. We had a huge two bedroom with a hide-a-bed for Vincent. 

Pool Time

We had a great small pool right out side of our building. We could look out to it from out porch. We met some very nice people at the pool. Couples from Texas and Georgia and California were our favorites.  We all got along great. Later in the week a few ladies joined us and made some waves that the pool was for adults only. Well no signs were up yet. Everything is so new. But by the end of the week they had them up and the boys had to stop going to this pool. Always a few bad apples in the group. But we only had a few days left and the other pools were awesome also. 

The Beach

Our timeshares are on the Pacific Ocean side of Cabo. The beaches in our area are not safe to swim in. It is even against the Mexican law to swim in them. Every year a couple of people die from the strong currents and rip tides. This year the surfers were coming to our beach. They were fun to watch. But hard to keep telling your kids, you can watch but you can not join them. Just too scary for me. Also the hotel security would not let the patrons go. Eventually the Marine Police came and made them all leave. 

Dolphin Discovery

This was our first time doing this adventure. 25 minutes away in the Marina Puerto Los Cabos is a great new Dolphin pen. In is located in the ocean water and not in a tank like some of the Dolphin places. I was not crazy about supporting dolphins in that environment. I am hoping that this pen in the ocean is a better environment. We had an awesome time. You can tell all of the people who work there really loved the animals.  I will do this again for sure. So fun! 

http://www.dolphindiscovery.com/los_cabos/los-cabos-location-overview.asp

We had a great great trip.  

Zip Lining and snorkeling were lots of fun. No accidents with Jelly fish this year. Yeah!  I was a little nervous and wore a long sleeve swim shirt a couple of times, just in case. 

I am so glad my Mom and Dad were able to join us on this trip. We have been going here for many years.  I would often wish my Mom and Dad were here to enjoy watching the waves with me. I got my wish this year. I am so glad they loved the waves as much as I thought they would. My Dad would sit on the porch and eat his breakfast every morning and watch the waves. They were really fabulous. Gary was not too happy with all the noise the waves made at night. He tried earplugs for a couple of nights even. It was really loud. 

All in all I wish it never had to end. 

I wish I could bring everyone I love to this great place. 

One of the things I love about this place is that I am with my family and the sun shines everyday!  We need that coming from the Northwest. Very very badly. 

My goal is next time I visit I will know a little more spanish. :-) 

I love my Daddy!

Thank You Dad!  

You have been a great Father. I feel very lucky to be your Daughter!

One of our family traditions was that when you turned 13 you got to go on a special date with Dad. At least all the girls did. Not sure what the boys did. It was very exciting. As a child of a large family (9) we did not get to go out very often. Snoqualmie Falls Lodge was a very fancy restaurant. They were known to have a great breakfast. I remember it was "Honey in the sky"  or something like that.  We had window seats and could see the falls perfectly. It was a very special day for me. I was also old enough to get my ears pierced. :-) 

 As of father of 9 you did a great job. 

Recently Dad has become a camera bug. He loves to take photos! I love that also as you know. This is a typical photo of my Dad now. Camera and his water with him. If he had a golf club nearby the photo would be complete. 

Thank you for being such a great Grandpa to my boys. When they were little they loved to follow him around and try and fix things with him. My boys love to be with Grandpa. Thank you for loving my boys! 

The boys are very excited to see Grandpa and Grandma at Cabo in a couple of weeks. 

Love you Dad! See you soon! 

xxooxox

Andrew Graduates from Elementary School!!!

Andrew is now a 6th grader!

He is out of Elementary school. Kind of sad. It is a great time of life. 

No more Recess and having a single teacher for all your subjects.  

The school put on a short Graduation ceremony for the kids. They have 3, 5th grade classes at his school. They picked two kids from each class to give a speech. Andrew's two good friends were picked. James and Sujeri. They did a great job. Then the teachers had the kids pick 3 words to describe their classmates with. They used the 3 words in the ceremony when calling up the kids to graduate.

It was fun to see the different personalities represented. I tried to upload a video, but it did not work. Uhg... Andrews words to describe him were: Funny, Calm and a Four Square Expert.

They also had one of the students sing. The back up music did not work, so she sang with out it. She did great. I think her name is Daisy. They also had a slide show for the kids. Highlights of the year and then of course baby pictures and photos of them today.  Very cute, the kids loved it. Lots of fun music and some of them even danced during the show. Andrew did his belly roll for the crowd also. He got a big laugh out of that. :-) Silly boy, he said it was so appropriate as they were playing a Shakira song.

After the ceremony they had a little cake set up for the kids. As the kids left the gym the parents set up a archway for them to run thru. They loved it. Huge smiles on the kids faces!  

Andrew loved his teacher!  She was great! Miss Ottesen. I do agree with him. She was a Super teacher. Andrew really improved this year. She really helped support him and help him grow. She will be getting married very soon. We are all very happy for her. Thank you! 

Unexpected Conference Call!!! Ugh!!!

Wells Fargo, Largest Reverse Mortgage Lender to Exit Retail 

Business [Update]

http://reversemortgagedaily.com/2011/06/16/wells-fargo-largest-reverse-mortgage-lender-to-exit-retail-business/

Well it is official....I am out of a job! So sad! 

I have loved working my job for over 4 years. I have met the most amazing people! And have really helped out so many people and their families. Such a shame that this service will not be available too much longer. I can take applications up to the end of June. Then I will be working to be sure they close.

Everyone was very surprised and shocked that this happened! I am very grateful that Gary's job is secure and going well. I am also grateful that I was able to do this great job for so long. It really has been awesome.  I will really miss this job. It was very rewarding.

My team mates of RMC's have been super fantastic! We all worked together so well. Every one shared their knowledge and wanted to see each other succeed!  We would often get together and share ideas. If I ever needed anything I was always confident that some one would answer my email or give me a call.  From my Area manager to my co-workers we really worked as a team.  Senior's well being was always our top concern.  Seeing the relief come to their life was really some thing else.

I think I will plan on taking the summer off and spend time with the kids.  I will be looking around for my next awesome job. I think it will be hard to find something as rewarding and fun as this job has been.   Being a flexible sales person has been nice also. I was really able to make my own hours and be their for my kids. I am super grateful for that. Being a Mom is the most important job ever. I was lucky to be available to them when ever they needed me on a moments notice.

Thank you Wells Fargo!  

It was great working for you! 

Seattle Center Field Trip

Friday was a fun day with Andrew and some of his class mates. All of the kids who volunteered for leadership positions like- Patrol or Recycle collectors or other school groups got to go for a trip to Seattle Center for a Reward.  I quickly volunteered for this trip. It was so nice to be with a group of kids who are responsible and respectful of others.  They really were the cream of the crop! We had no problems with kids. No worrying about what they were going to do.

They had a photography scavenger hunt set up for the kids. We literally ran all over the Center looking for places from the clues that they were given. It was very good exercise for the chaperones! We were all out of breath at the end. 

The weather held out and it did not rain!  It would have been nice to be sunny, but it was not too bad. 

The kids were so excited to get to the fountain!  We all ate lunch around it and then the kids were let loose in the water!  A lot of then had swim suits on under cloths and had towels ready. A little crazy, but they loved it. I don't think any of them stayed dry. It was fun to watch! 

Kind of sad that Andrew is in 5th grade now. No more field trips like this. Middle school does not do a lot of  Field trips. 

It had been Years since I had been up in the Space Needle. It was fun to see the sights and see how the kids enjoyed it. It is a pretty expensive thing to do as a family. I would say that over half the kids had never been up to the top before. And it will probably be a long time before they go again. It was a great Reward for them all. 

Good job Lake Hills PTSA!