Day 1 in Zihuatanejo!

Monica was our fearless leader through the market this morning for our cooking class!  Here she is with the fresh fish that was caught this morning.  The mexicans eat so fresh ... i am really going to miss the food next week....

Cutting the fish for ceviche .....

Finished product!!

Beach time .... that is mom and dad on the far left .....



Wine class that evening ..... one wine was lovely, the other smelt like a farm.

Dinner out ... pizza and tacos on every corner, full....and this restaurant, empty!  Turns out this was a 5 star restaurant and we had the best meal!!

Our handsome dinner date ....

Walking home .... long, and wonderful day in Zihua!

#blessed

Arriving in Zihuatanejo!!

Such an early flight!!  Every hour you wake up not wanting to miss your wake up time.  At the airport by 4:05am, checked all the way through by 4:17am. 

My row mate and I each won the lottery when the initial couple moved seats due to allergies of some nearby pets that were traveling.  On a very full flight, we had rows to ourselves!!  So we napped, stretched out and probably should have felt bad at how squished everyone else was in their rows.

Mom was waiting 10 minutes with her camera up to catch me coming out of the terminal.

TOGETHER AGAIN ..... Let the fun begin!

It all began as it should have: with the best fish taco and mojito I have ever had .... it was a solid bench mark to strive for, for the rest of the week.  So far, (it is currently sunday, and we are many fish tacos and mojitos into the week, and nothing compares...yet ;-)

Walk back to their apartment via the new boardwalk along the water ....

Heading to Mexico .... alone

 If I am honest, I have been sad getting ready to go on this trip by myself. I really don’t like being separated from my boys. But mom and dad have been sending me pictures of places they have been visiting and loving where they are right now, and they are excited to show them all to me. Now that I am laying in bed, in a nice cosy hotel room, awaiting my early shuttle, and the day is behind me now, I’m starting to feel a little bit excited.    Here is Elliot, sitting on my fully packed suitcase full of goodies for mom and dad. 

 And not to be one to be left out, here is mittens, enjoying all the smells that came with that suitcase that Jolene gave me. She has two cats, and I’m sure mittens knows that. 

 Nicole has been away in Mexico herself. Can you tell? She took me out for lunch today for my birthday. We went for pho .... I love pho. 

Trent stopped by after hockey to drop off a really cute birthday card from him and Jenny with a very generous Starbucks card in it.  Best family.  And  I don’t have a picture of Niki, but my sweet friend washed and dried my hair today so that I can travel without feeling that yucky feeling. 

 The day at work was so busy and full of so many deadlines, it was a day I would typically love because I love to be busy, but today was pretty nuts. Just as I was signing off, one of my agencies called me for a conference call for a crisis they were experiencing. I think I dealt with it well, everyone seemed content with my answers about what to do next.   It’s a little unnerving not to be there to see how it will turn out, but I will get over it. Catherine gave me a ride to the bus station, it was then that I realized I had left my moms expensive flip-flops at my desk. I saw that Shannon was nearby on Find Friends, and that sweet woman swung by my office and brought them to me. My mom will be thrilled. 

 Darlene picked me up at  downtown, and we went for dinner at one of our favourite Wood fired pizzeria‘s. My cup always feels full after a visit with her.   Her boys have winter formal this weekend, and she forgot that I was coming tonight, and had invited her boys friends over to learn how to dance. So she put me up in a hotel close to the airport. 

She’s a great mom. I watch her closely as she has always just been a few steps ahead navigating life with boys.  

Day with Laura ...

The text started with "How about a birthday lunch?" and somehow ended with meet you at Stoney Hill for a hike! lol   Not sure how it happened, but there we were ... meeting at 11am for a hike.

It was a great hike, beautiful, not too hard, and just awesome to be outside with my SIL.....afterwards we headed to the farmers market for her favorite tacos at this taco truck - I loved that she was feeding me tacos a couple days before I was leaving for Mexico .... it was like a little preview!! We ate outside in the sun while Bosun drooled while he watched us .....

Afterwards, we hit up the bakery stand and ate pain de chocolate (not the best idea, but so yummy) ... but as we were sitting there eating (again), in the cold, we both agreed that a hottub would be awesome ... so we went to thrift and each picked out a suit and headed to the pool for a really relaxing soak and sauna ... we are both very much heat seekers .... while we were there, Shannon sent me a picture of my boy having a great time at the youth retreat!

Hard to tell from the photo, but this little gnome has snow falling behind him ....

Turning 44!

Woke up this morning to many of my Winnipeg friends/family starting the charge!!  I loved that Graham and Yaw were within minutes of eachother .... 

A very sweet post on Jolene’s Instagram ^^

Chris was busy working on finishing my birthday sweater ... complete with thumb holes!! 

Because he knows thumb holes are a favorite of mine ....

We had a pretty low key morning and then headed out for some running around and lunch at my favorite Pho place and then to meet the Williams at the Thetis Island ferry to get over to Pioneer Pacific camp to get a head start before the rest of Isaacs youth group arrived that evening.  Here is a quick snap of one of my favorite moments of the day - Isaac showing me where he and his friends would sleep that weekend.  He was part of the scouting team (he and Ben) who would pick the cabin they would all stay in!  It was a beautiful short walk away from the main lodge .... he took me the long way!

It was a cute little cabin ....

He claimed this top bunk that had the best view of the skylight and stars at night.  It would also give me nightmares on Saturday night when I feared he would fall out of it!!  (He didn't)

Reid loves Isaac .... he is his little shadow ... here they are making soup for our dinner!

And Shannon making a beautiful charcuterie board of yummy meats and cheeses....

Phil and Chris getting a head start on the dozens of cookies they were going make for the kids that weekend ... don't be fooled....Chris jumped up to look busy (he was mainly keeping Phil company while he baked)

I guess these two are helping too?

As are these 2??  That glass jug was FULL and heavy with water .... it didn't look like a good situation ....

Here we all are, eating again ...

Both families love food and fires .... we are a good match ....

Just a quick shot before Elliot, Chris and I would leave them all so they could run a great weekend for a bunch of youth kids!  While we were driving onto the ferry, the youth were all disembarking ... so it was fun to see them all and tell them to have a good time!!  When we left, Isaac and Ben were making a bonfire that would be ready when they all arrived!

On the ferry, and i took a quick picture of my birthday sweater from Chris and birthday necklace from Laura ... she said this necklace and its colored screamed my name.

Arrived home to some very beautiful flowers from my sweet sister!!  She was shocked to hear that I was on another island ... so she scrambled to find someone to take the flowers off my deck and get them inside before they froze lol....the Zalinkos were happy to help ;-)

Isaac made me a Christmas Tree for my birthday!  I love it ...

It was a good day .... a few ups and downs to a long day .... but lots of love.

Last day being 43 .....

The evening is being spent with these two crazies watching the muppets.  Yanin would be proud ....

Such nice boys .... the third man of the family has been knitting “something” all-night.  I’ve been warned not to enter his room.   

Today we spent on some maintenance- the gym;

Lashes and hair and this lovely lady bought us birthday cake to share to celebrate our birthdays !!!

Folks sent me a pre-picture of where I’ll be in a week. I normally hate these pictures of others. :-)

It’s been a great day.   Came home and brea and her mom came and we cleaned the house so it was a struggle to keep it clean tonight with these kids at home but I think I’ll get to wake up to a clean house tommorow!  Also - elliot gave me my birthday card early:

I asked him how he knew I didn’t put him on Craigslist and just had no takers?  He nodded knowingly.  

Elliot’s idea about pizza and world inventions.

Walking with Amanda the other night, she was relating a story she heard from Alex about a conversation they had with Elliot at youth group last Friday.  

They were discussing inventions that could change the world and this was one of Elliot’s grand ideas:

“I think we should make a pizza with poison on it but the anecdote would be located in the crust!”

This apparently would get rid of all the weirdos in the world who don’t eat pizza crusts.  

Elliot and Mittens

She tolerates him during the day. But in the middle of the night when I come to check on the boys, there she is, standing guard at his feet on the top bunk.  

Isaac passes along the Pokémon cards

Josh Williams had a birthday and wanted Pokémon cards - so in Isaac fashion, he got his binder out and decided to wrap them all individually and give them to him for his birthday lol

Also in true Isaac fashion, he saw someone on tv blowing into a conch and thought that was a cool sound!!  So he went and got the one I brought back from the Bahamas and broke part of it to get his trumpet piece into it.  Sigh

UPDATE***