Disastrous Day Diverted

Last night it started to rain. It rained all night with thunder and lightning. Now let me tell you the thunder has to be extremely loud to be heard over the sound of the ocean. It even woke me up a couple of times. The rain was literally torrential. It was a little reminiscent of when we were here in February. We got up and it was still raining. Dang! We thought maybe we would have to cancel our plans for the day. We had breakfast and went to see our rep about cancelling. She told us she got up at 5: oo this morning and did a rain dance and the rain would stop by 12:00. We told her we were scheduled at 11:00 for our excursion and she assured us it would be fine so we kept our plans and……………..she was so right. Her dance worked. The rains stopped and it warmed up. So we were able to keep our plans.
We went to Wet and Wild and swam with the dolphins. Wet and Wild is a water park. When we got there the first thing Art said was “wow our grandkids would love this.” And he was right. We walked all around and then we went to swim with the dolphins. The dolphin we swam with was a male named Echo. He was a thing of beauty. Art wasn’t going to do it but the lady booking our tours told him he would like it and signed him up. He was a good sport and went. We had a good time. Dolphins are absolutely amazing. After the dolphins we went and played in the park. We rented some tubes and floated the Lazy River three times. We went down one of the water slides. We had to climb A LOT of stairs to get to the top. I got more scared with each step. I repeatedly asked Art if he was sure about it and he kept saying yes it would be fun and I kept saying I wasn’t sure. I thought I was going to have a coronary before we reached the top. We made it to the top and got in a boat and the worker pushed us off. Yes I screamed. We made it to the bottom…whew. When we got out I said wow that was fun do you want to do it again? Art replied No it wasn’t that much fun. HA HA HA we could have guessed we would switch. We spent the day there. The wave pool was fun as well. We gave our tubes away to a young couple when we left. That way they wouldn’t have to rent them. It was our act of kindness today. Art ordered chips and guacamole and shrimp from room service for us to munch on after we got cleaned up. Before dinner we played Texas Holdem. We had a late dinner and are going to watch the show from our deck. That is if we can stay awake. I think I reached my food max today. I am so full I can hardly move. We need to get our rest tonight because we will be doing a lot of walking tomorrow.

Such a Relaxing Day

Today was a very relaxing day. We got up and had breakfast and then went right to the pool. I lounged in the pool and Art lounged in the shade. About mid morning I went and played Texas Holdem until lunch. After lunch I went for the much anticipated hot stone massage. It was so heavenly!!! Then I showered and got cleaned up and went for a manicure and pedicure. Art sat on the deck and read his book while I was gone. We relaxed a little in the lobby bar area and then we played Texas Holdem until dinner. We had a late dinner and now back to the room to relax. The weather was so nice this morning but by noon it was getting pretty chilly. Hope it is better weather tomorrow as we will be out with a really fun activity. Some more folks arrived today but it is still pretty empty. I am just amazed. It didn't seem this bad in February but I can see why they are suffering. I guess the only constant is things change. I am looking forward to tomorrow's activity... should be lots of fun. Stay tuned to find out where we are going and what we are doing.

Monday

The weather today was mucho better. Yesterday it was chilly and rainy but today was sunny and warmer. We had a great breakfast and then went to the Cancun Palace for our presentation. After we finished with the presentation we took a taxi to the Beach Palace. We had lunch on the roof top. They have really good lunches there and normally they give you a lot. Today I ordered a ham and cheese burger with fries. It was delicious but I hated to eat the fries after I named them. Art got a lot and I got a few. I think the cook liked him. Then we hopped on the bus and went to Walmart for sunscreen, vanilla and sunglasses for Art. Then back to our hotel to sit on the beach. There isn’t much sun left after 3:30 so we headed in about 4:00. We have met some nice couples. One of the couples we met..just let me say I think the guy could be a stand up comedian. He was really fun to visit with. Before dinner I played Texas holdem and Art watched and drank a couple bumblebees. It is a new drink he discovered. We had a great dinner. There is a man that sings with his two daughters in one of the restaurants and we just love them. A few years ago we bought one of their CDs. They go from table to table and sing for you. Art always asks them to sing his favorite. I am not sure what the name of it is but it is the same tune as “Aye Aye, Aye, Aye I am the frito bandito”. They are very talented and we so enjoy listening to them. It is pretty obvious that business is way down. We were told that tourism here is down so low that the government has given hotels a stimulus to help them out. At dinner I counted 10 tables that were occupied. Normally the restaurant is packed with a lot of waiters and staff but even the staff has been cut way back. Even with all the cut backs the service and people are so attentive and nice. Some of the staff even remembered us from February. That is fun.
Now let me just say …yes I have green eyes and I am from America.

We’re Baaaaaack.

We’re baaaaaack. Wow we sure had to get up early….4:00 a.m. But it was worth it. MK and Miss R picked us up and we were on the way to the airport by 5:30 a.m. Thanks so much for doing that for us MK. The flights were good. We flew to Phoenix and from there to Cancun. On the flight to Phoenix two soldiers who were traveling together got on the plane. One was seated across and up one from us and the other in the back of the plane. A man who was in first class went up to the one soldier by us and told him he would like to trade seats. He wanted him to have his seat in first class. The soldier looked at him kinda funny and then asked the man if it was OK to give it to the soldier who worked for him. The man agreed. The soldier who went from sitting in the back to sitting in first class just grinned from ear to ear and was thrilled. I was so impressed by the events of kindness.
We were late taking off from Cancun. They had to rearrange the luggage to distribute the weight. Art said someone packed too much and we looked out the window to see our suitcase on the cart to be redistributed. Opps….must have been the extra shoes I packed. Anyway we were about 40 minutes late. I told Art they could make the time up in the air and I am not sure he believed me but we did. We got in on time. I was dreading customs as it took forever when we were here in February but we got through and had our luggage in about 30 minutes. Woohooo!!! We got to the hotel and met with our rep and planned out the week. Our plan to sit on the beach and veg out……….well ………that was a good thought but we managed to fill the week. We have a lot of fun things planned for the week. I am really excited. And the best part is I get to pal around with Art all week. Ahhhh life is so sweet.
We had a nice steak dinner and now we are in our room listening to the ocean eating chips and guacamole and shrimp cocktail. The feeding frenzy has begun. It will be early to bed for us.

I Love Halloween

I love Halloween!!! It has to be my most favorite holidays. As far back as I can remember I loved it. When I was little, I knew two ladies Charlotte Brace and Margaret Wood. They were best friends and crazy fun. On Halloween, they would dress up as witches. They made the best looking witches ever! They looked the part perfectly. They were awesome ladies. On the outside they looked witchy but on the inside they where the most beautiful women. I can't think of one primary Halloween activity they missed. Charlotte taught me how to bob for apples and not gag thinking how my face was dunked in water everyone had basically spit in while they were trying to get an apple for themselves. It was always best to volunteer to go first.

I loved trick or treating. I always had homemade costumes. One year (I think I was 10 years old) I went as a movie star. I wore a formal that my sister gave me and because it was snowy and cold I wore my moms really nice fur (yes real fur) coat. (What was my mom thinking?) I was toasty warm. My mom has since given me that treasured coat and I never look at that coat without thinking how my mom let me wear it dragging through the snow getting candy and all she said when I got home was she was worried I would get cold.

Another year my best friend and I went as Siamese twins. Her sister made the costume for us and we were basically sewn in and stuck in it. We had four arms, three legs and two heads. The worst part is half way through my friend had to go to the bathroom and we couldn't fit through the bathroom door much less be detached for her to go so we had to run all the way back to her house with our three legs. We were laughing so hard that we fell down and rolled half way down the street and lost most of our loot. We were laughing too hard to care about the loot.

As a mom, my favorite was taking my kids trick or treating. I looked foward to it every year. I was so sad when they were too old for me to go with them. Art and I have spent many Halloweens together but I will always remember our first. He went trick or treating with us and then back to the house for hot cider and eating candy. We had such a great time. I remember every moment of that evening.

I just love Halloween.

Thinking Back

For some crazy reason for the past few days I have been thinking about being a little kid. Maybe it is because I recently spent sometime with my grandkids and they always asked me to tell them stories when I was a kid and that caused me to reflect back or because my dear friend that I have known since I was 2 is turning 50 this week and I have been thinking about times we spent together. For whatever the reason, I am really grateful for MOST of the memories. I have laughed and cried (sometimes laughing til I cried) during my stroll down memory lane. While thinking about one instance, it would remind my of another. It has reminded me that one thing is certain, I had fun, crazy, and wonderful friends. I hope when they reminisce, they think as fondly of me as I do them. I think maybe just maybe I will start posting some of the memories..........not that anyone would care but me.............and maybe the grandkids but it would fun for me.

Felt My Pain

Today Miss R was here and she noticed one of my necklaces was broken. I am keeping it to make into a different necklace. Anyway here is the conversation.

Miss R: Grandma is your necklace broken?
Me: Yes it is
Miss R: (with a sad face) Bummer!

It just cracked me up.