Flight Booked

I wasn't planning on booking so far ahead for Europe, but I checked Westjet, and they have a direct flight to Gatwick from Calgary for 327.91!! I was so excited, that I even spent the $20.00 to also book my seat. All of the other prices I saw were double that at least. 

Not too much else going on here. Theresa and Geoff are back, so I no longer have to eat ALL of my own cooking. Theresa caught some kind of a flu bug, so has not been feeling that great since they have been home. Geoff and I have been quietly smug that we got flu shots, so less likely to catch the flu from her.

Looking forward to the Radium trip with all the sibs, as well as Mom at the end of April. I think a good time will be had by all.

Bought a new computer, it is a two in one, so also works as a tablet, getting used to it, but may take some time. It only weighs about 1.5 kilo's, not much more than my iPad. It is a pain getting it set up, adding software but in the end it will be worth it.

Sneezle

So, I developed a cold starting yesterday while travelling home. I feel badly for the woman sitting beside me on the plane as I had no Kleenex.
I had taken today as vacation day, and think I may call in tomorrow am if still sneezing etc. But have a couple meetings I really need to go to in the afternoon. Yick.
Rest of vacation was nice, more of the same. I don't think we did anything but relax! Walked to main part of town a couple days and looked around. There are a lot of stores there with lots of things. And many North Americans.
Flight home other than snivelling was fine, Puerto Vallarta airport has lots of Sun burned people and shrieking kids. And a great pizza place! No Mexican food though? I thought was OD not to have one.
Nice to see Richard, Mom, and sebastian again!
Also good to see crocuses blooming underneath our horse chestnut tree on return, makes me think early spring is here!

Puerto Vallarta

Just had a reflexology treatment! 50 minutes!
Allison is still in there, she got 80 minutes massage.
we are having very relaxing time, Hotel is quite nice and staff are friendly, but not overly so.
\There are lots of Mexican families at this resort too, which we like. makes us feel less like wasteful North American tourists. It is a middle aged resort I think, not much partying, though there was a mariachi band last night, which was quite good.
there are several american tourists here, i like to spot them. One group of people that is obnoxious was smoking beside the pool, and the one guy had suspenders holding up his swim trunks, and a camoflage hat? they got super drunk too, and eh had to be helped out of the pool.
Went into town yesterday, waked there and back, but did not buy anything, just looked around.
A woman came up to me quite excited about my top, she was from San Francisco, and had been to Nelson and reported that people told her that they don't get arrested for smoking the marijuana.
Weather is beautiful of course, I said to Allison, what would it be like to wake up every day and know that weather will be nice? I guess that can happen in kelowna in summer, but not all year.
Food here is great, which is important.
It has taken me a while to relax, but I think I am getting there, along with several margarhitas.
My defense date is set for March 17 at 4 pm,! send good energy to me at that time!

Happy Birthday Geoff !!

Carnival!

We didn't really think when we booked this holiday that it would be Carnival time. They have a week of celebrations  and although we have been mostly hanging around the resort, last night we went out to watch the parade. It was similiar to the rodeo parade in that some floats were pulled by tractors. That was the only similarity.

Floats were beautiful, very elaborate. There were also lots of dancers, there seem to be a lot of dance schools here. Also many tuba bands. But the best part was being in the crowd with so many Mexican families, all generations happily together. We saw a few people like us but not many. We had gone for a walk in the morning along the sea wall and people had already set up chairs, tables and even tents on the sidewalk. Our tour guide the other day said 500,000 people watch the parade. He said this is the third biggest Carnival in the world, after Rio and New Orleans.

The other day we took a tour to Durango, a nice town inland where Pancho Villa was from. There is a museum dedicated to him there. The down side to that excursion was the Ugly Canadian, who, sad to say, was from Alberta. His equally obnoxious companion was from Vancouver, maybe she was not quite so bad because her voice did not carry as far.

Geoff has one more dentist visit this week. 

Alone Agan

T&G have been away for about 10 days, and will be home on Saturday. Not too much has been going on in their absence, I have seen the boys a few times and T&C took pity on me on Friday and invited me over for supper. It was nice not to have to decide what to make for supper. It is not the cooking I mind but trying to think of fast, easy, nutritious meals. Can't wait to have my cooking buddies home.

I had a nice visit with Allison, it was a quick trip, there on Saturday afternoon and home on Monday morning. Allison and I went to see the Ice Castle, though I was a little confused about which park it was in, I thought Victoria and Allison thought Hawrylak, she was right. It was not too crowded when we got there but by the time we left, a pretty big lineup to get in.

Court, Kane and Grady came over for a visit yesterday morning, Tim had to work. Court and I had coffee and visited while the boys played with Playdoh that Geoff got from the freeby store, they really enjoyed it.

The forecast today is for+9 this afternoon, so I think I will wash sheets and hang them out to dry.

At the beach

Can't really get wifi in our room but it is pretty good on the beach.

Our hotel here is nice, right on the beach. The staff is very pleasant and helpful. The first night here was very loud, there is a club next door that was thumping out the tunes so I could hear it all through earplugs. So we got a different room next day.

What I really like is that a lot of Mexican families are here on holiday, especially on the weekend because it was a long weekend here. Moms and dads, kids, grandparents. More Mexican people than not.

Geoff has been talking for years about seeing a dentist in Mexico so he did a bit of research at home and we went to consult with Dr. Sanchez on Friday, the day we got here. He needs two root canals and two new crowns, one of them replacing a crown he just had done last fall. It was abcessed and dentist said some of the old filling was left; it should have been removed. So he went back next day for the root canals and today he goes again. We figured out the cost; we will save the cost of his two-week vacation.

Dentist office is much more casual than at home.

So far have not done much but hang around here. I am having trouble relaxing. Tomorrow we go on a tour. Not sure how many more times Geoff has to go back to Dr. Sanchez.

Weather is warm but not unbearably hot.