Sometimes things just don't go as planned....I need to get more structured in my bloggy posts but oh well...well here it is...almost a month from the sunny Mexico trip to the first falling of flakes for the season...hum...so much for global warming cuz it is only December and we are getting snow...we have gotten more snow in the last two years than we have gotten in the 18 years we have lived in Washington :) I had heard it was supposed to be a dry winter which to me meant no snow fall like we had last year that was on the ground for over three weeks...that is really abnormal for where we are...we can get snow but it falls and then disappears quickly...last year there was tons on the ground for quite a while...last night we got about an inch where we are...more in other parts of the city...but even an inch in enough for the dogs to get a really big kick out of playing in it

Ok...on to pictures...my there are lots today :)

Even before the snow we had gotten record breaking cold temps...enough to freeze the dog's outside water....they have a couple of water buckets outside...Pippin knocked over one of the ice sculptures and Dave put the other water bucket's ice on top of the knocked over one and then snow fell on top of the heap making an ice sculpture...wonder how long it will be before the entire thing melts?


Gracie

Last nights snow fall play time

Cody and his first snow experience

Flying like the wind...they normally do this when first let out in the morning but today the snow made it extra fun to fly

Cody and Lucy jumping on the deck...wish I had gotten more of them flying than the snow on the ground..oh well..next time

Cody

Gracie

Lucy

Annie

Bailey

Man do they love to run in this stuff

Bailey, Gracie, Cody and Annie enjoying playing in the snow

Cody drying off by the stove

Craft time

Being the good grandma that I am thot I would have the g'daughters over for some crafting time to make some presents for their cousins.....it escalated to different things when I told my girls about it but...oh well...

Madison working on a flower in front of the space heater while the propane stove cranked out heat also

Two of the flowers we made together

Then the other project came into being so had the all the girlies over to make presents

Funny to hear them talking to each other while they worked
Torrey and Madison

Madison

Emma

Danica brought over her bucket of buttons for a project...now there are some major buttons in here...need to take a picture of how deep the bucket is that is holding all these buttons...man a crafter's delight

Mexico---last day

AAAAAHHHHH!!!! I am finally home from me week's vacation..how is it we are always so excited to go and so thrilled to come home...I am such a homebody that I wasn't looking forward to this trip...I knew it would be beautiful and that there would times of running and times of rest....but for my own reasons I went to this week in Mazatlan with a friend...Beauty abounded all around...and I became a real sucker for silver jewelry...me who wears a watch and one ring bought a ring, necklace, earrings and two bracelets...and still wanted to get more...???? Not sure where that bug bit me but it did..and hard :)
Ok..on to the last pics...the view of this place is amazing...this pic is from atop the underwater bar...the water actually goes over the bar (you can see the bar and the waterfall in another post)

this pic was in the restaurant where we ate breakfast every morning...very pretty landscaping and it was incredible the amount of work and workers you saw keeping the place up

I have posted pics in another day's post about the guy who climbed the trees and macheted the palm branches and coconuts off...these were taken from the little deck of the room as he was right there...can you imagine climbing a tree with these ropes as the only thing keeping you up on the tree???
Check out the machete in his back pants pocket? ha!

this is the stuff the guy was chopping off....and this isn't even all of it from the one tree

I think the flamingos were hiding from the guys in their area....they were way over away from the falling branches and coconuts

then after the coconuts were on the ground they would machete them and give them to the guests who were wanting tastes of coconut milk and meat

i watched the guy throw his machete toward the next tree he was going to work on...this thing is no little knife...and he hacks tree parts with it at an amazing angle...this guy has got to be really strong

lois and I :) figured we needed one picture of the two of us together

and so ends my pictures of my mexican trip....still can't believe i went but really glad to be home :)
Adios (that means goodbye in spanish :)

Mexico--day 6

Sometimes it is hard to believe how fast and how slow time can move....I miss being with my family on this holiday but realize that this holiday comes around every year so will be ok...this is the first thanksgiving that I have ever been away from family...ever!!! I sit here in Mexico listening to the sounds of laughter in the pool and realize that not all people stay home for the holidays...amazing to me how many people bring their families to a spot like I am sitting at right now to celebrate........also in the background is the sounds of some smooth jazz at the restaurant where an elegant thanksgiving buffet is being offered......way too much food :)

Ok..on to the pics of the day....
Will start out with one that actually happened yesterday but didn't get the picture posted till today :)
This is Marta, Diego and Jose Ignatius...friends of the lady I came down with. Marta works at the resort as a concierge and does a great job at it...imagine handling that many people and their agendas and doing it with a smile on your face all the time....Anyway Marta invited us to her house for dinner...I expected a Mexican dish and was surprised by the amazing cooking of this busy woman. She started our dinner off with some type of squash soup...she told me the name but in my old age I can't remember what it was but the soup was AMAZING! Could it be the fact that it had a tremendous amount of butter and cream in it? Topped with garlic croutons???? NUM! Then for the main course she made Fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp....again...NUM!!!! I must have put on at least 50 pounds just eating the delicious dinner. And the conversation of the evening was very nice also. I have a new friend in Matzalan, Mexico :)

The pics of the day are somewhat similar but kinda cool....They had a bad storm here and it damaged a bunch of trees so today was tree trimming day :) It was amazing to see this man scale the trees and machete chop the dead fronds ...and the coconuts too :)

yep...those coconuts are falling from the tree...hit the ground with a splat and broke apart all over the grass where the flamingos are...no flamingos were hurt in the process :)

Coming back to the room after breakfast the guy was again in the trees and you could see him really clearly from the balcony so more pics :)

some of the carnage from the machete ...you can see the scattered coconuts

then they were breaking open the coconuts and giving them to people...went down there to get a piece and they were between trees...some lady came over with her coconut to have them break it apart so you could get the meat out and gave me a piece...num

the last pic is of sunset....doesn't do it justice but you get some of the colors...again...wish I had my good camera to get a really stunning pic ...but oh well :(

Happy Thanksgiving to all

Mexico--day 5

So today was sorta way out of my comfort zone...first we went to a massage parlor...reminded me of a place closer to a brothel..but then what do i know of brothels? nothing!!!! as i was laying their in my birthday suit with just a small towel covering me thot...hum..if they take my purse and clothes i will be in a world of hurt.......fortunately they did neither but i had a really nice relaxing massage :) she didn't speak english and i didn't speak spanish but we got the idea of what the other person was trying to say? all along she was probably thinking...."crazy american"
then after that experience i was supposed to find my way to the jewelry store where i had left a ring to get fixed...but thankfully lois listened to me when i said if we took the same palmonia cart and then dropped me off at the store i could get back ok...her idea was to take two separate carts but when i saw we had to go right by where i needed to go convinced her to just take one and drop me off...how simple life can be sometimes??? then i took my very own palmonia cart back to the resort :) so proud of myself :)

so now for some pics for today....

the underwater bar at our resort...you can see the seats in the water :)

always like these pictures of lined up chairs :)

the outside of the resort...at the entrance

they keep this place so clean...this guy was washing windows in the restaurant while we ate breakfast...wanna take some of these guys home with me to keep my place clean :)

pueblo bonito :) ha...like you couldn't read that huh?

outside the resort...front gate

the lobby of where we are staying

ok..just to say i was here i took a quick pic of me at breakfast

fisherman monument...oldest statue in the city...wish i could have gotten a closer picture but this was taken driving by in a palmonia cart

the stop lights are sideways instead of up and down like we are used to :)

Mexico--day 4

ok...so you know you are in a different country when....
you hand them a larger bill of their denomination and they can't break it.......so some one else buys your drink for you....then you go to the front desk to get change from that larger bill and they can't change it for you either cuz they have no money ???? never in the states :)

Today we went to another resort...well owned by the same people but different atmosphere all together...
the pool in this place is humongous and there is a place to belly up to the bar...I guess we have one here too so will need to get a pic of the one here...maybe tomorrow....you can see the seats in the water where you can sit while you drink your margaritas and sun bathe

more flamingos..these are the traditional pink ones at the other resort

and the white ones...who would have thunk there were two different colors of flamingos??? not me thot they were all pink

this was cool...it is a huge candelabra??? this is all candle wax that has dripped and then they just put new candles on top when the old ones burn out

this other resort is much more greek in its style...this was a cool fountain in the lobby

koi??? this one was huge....must have shoved everyone else out of the way to get his food...wish i could have some how had a comparison as to how much bigger he was than everyone else in the pond...