Christmas in Cancun!

The month of December just seemed to disappear somewhere. It seems alot has happened, but I'll have to dig deep in my memory bank to try & catch up with it all. I put in my last hours at Mr. Build Contracting as a bookkeeper & enjoyed the last Christmas dinner with the company as their bookkeeper. Two days after that I packed my suitcase and paint supplies and drove down to Julaine's to help re-do Tyler's bedroom. It used to be Brandi & Kendra's room with a paintable red wallpaper on the bottom half of the wall with a chair-rail type border. Julaine had that all removed so on Tuesday we spent the day (kid-free) in Tri-Cities..mostly at Home Depot getting the paint that we would need and all the supplies to install wire shelving in three closets. Wednesday we washed the walls & started painting.

By Friday we were done. The only thing left was for Julaine to go through all of the clothes and toys before putting the room back together.

Friday morning the weather/road report for Snoqualmie Pass was not looking too great so I headed for home. There was freezing fog in Grandview and by the time I made it to Easton it was snowing, blowing and compact snow and ice with traffice moving at walking pace...if at all. Apparently they closed the Pass shortly after I made it through.

The following week brought very cold weather, with a bitter northeast wind blowing through the valley. Last week of school for the kids before Christmas break. And my last week of doing bookwork for our farm. We hired someone else to take over, as I have just enrolled at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) to take some prerequisite courses, namely Biology and Algebra. My goal is to one day take the LPN course & I need these other courses in order to enroll in the nursing program.

Friday (19th) was a busy day getting last minute things done & tons of laundry. Saturday (20th) we headed for YVR (Vancouver Int'l Airport) on our way to Cancun, Mexico.

Our flight was supposed to leave at 10:25 a.m. but was delayed for 2 hours due to engine problems and de-icing. After a 5 hour & 50 minute flight we arrived in Cancun, retrieved our luggage and found our 'transfer' to bring us to our hotel.

I'm not sure how many of you have been to Mexico, but riding in their taxi's or busses is an adventure all on it's own. I think they all must be thinking they're competing in the Indy 500! Break-neck speeds, darting in and out of lanes, and then slam on the brakes mere inches before hitting the pedestrian/vehicle in front of you! We were flying down this highway when we noticed the proverbial red & blue lights flashing behind us...but our driver kept going for several minutes. He finally pulled to the side, telling us it was his 'uncle' and then he went out to talk/bargain? with the officer. Very interesting. Before long we were on our way again.

We arrived at the Oasis Viva Beach Resort at about 8 p.m. local time and were shown to our rooms #941 & #942. The ocean view was beautiful.

There were two different pools, an excellent buffet restaurant and two other restaurants that we could choose from. Since we booked the 'all inclusive' we were given plastic bracelets and could roam freely, eating where we chose. There were kayaks to use as well.

Lots of lounging around in beach chairs, reading, people watching and basically just relaxing.

And the sun went down on the first day with an enormous Mexican flag waving in the Caribbean breeze.

Sarah had her hair braided by the fastest braider I have ever watched. Incredible!! And Joel decided to get a temporary Henna tattoo. And I stress...TEMPORARY!

One of our passtimes was making sandcastles.John's masterpiece was a crocodile biting a snake. Alot of people stopped to take a picture of it. Dustin did a Mayan Ruins pyramid and I attempted to do an elephant.Sarah made use of a fallen/buried palm tree, making a lime-eyed, mossy-eyebrowed fellow out of it.

A cloudy day and a walk down the beach found this brick path and crashing waves on a pier.

On Wednesday we took a day trip to the Isle Mujeres (the Island of Women.) We had to board a ferry about 15 minutes from our hotel.

The MC, Roberto, kept things very lively and interesting.

John and I squinting into the bright Caribbean sun.

Once we reached the island we received a warm welcome from the staff in charge of all the activities.

Dustin played soccer with a group of kids for a little while.

Sarah and I went on a bike tour around the tip of the island. We stopped briefly at this lighthouse & climbed to the top to take some pictures.

Later, back at the beach all the kids took a siesta.

'Just me 'n my dad'. John & Dustin.

A Spanish speaking woman approached John on the ferry ride back to our resort, talking and gesturing something about 'nina' and making a camera motion. After some confusion we figured it out; she wanted a picture of Sarah with her son! Sarah was quite embarrased by the whole thing! lol.

Arena Cross Nov 14 & 15/08

Hanging out by the trailer.

Mechanics at Work.

Mike the Medic patching up Daniel Feyter.

Tom, Dan, Mike & Dustin by the trailer.

Dustin (#29) in the race.

Dustin (29) going over the top and into the corner. Geyla, one of the medics is in the front with the reflector jacket.

Mike (79) and Dan (158) out of the gates and racing to see who gets 'The HoleShot.'

Thanksgiving 2008

Chris and Julaine.

Me and my bestest bud, nephew Jon!

Ashley & Sarah had lots of good laughs & time to catch up on things.

Sometimes a picture is just too cute for words!!

My niece, Kendra, with her doll. Cherubic cheeks :-)

Chris, Rod, my dad & Ken enjoying an awesome meal. At least 4 different pies, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, & a variety of salads. Mmmm. Makes me hungry just thinking about it!

For Thanksgiving we went to my brother Ken's house. As usual he and his wife went all out and decorated their garage for the occasion. There was 38 of us this year, and of course lots and lots of food. We all made a 'Memory' or 'Thankful' picture page to put on the wall, and then into a book.

Arena Cross November 2008

Well, Arena Cross is done again. Maybe life will get back to normal now...if that's possible around here! After two weekends, and 5 guys riding/racing we are greatful to say there were no injuries. Some bumps and sore muscles and maybe wounded pride, but no broken bones or stitches. Dustin placed 5th on the 15th. Nephew Dan placed 3rd a time or two, Tom took 1st in one race, and I think Mike also placed in the top 5.
Friday the 14th I did the Mom thing and took pictures instead. Saturday the 15th I didn't even show up! Shame, huh? But we had an anniversary party to go to in the afternoon and I had to catch up at home. Unfortunately I need to spend more time studying my camera to figure out the settings for action shots combined with a speed flash. I was very disappointed with my pictures, but I'll post some anyway.

And The Wall Came Tumbling Down!

I woke up to a clear blue sky this morning. Well, ok..when I got up the first time it was pretty dark outside. 4:38 a.m. and Anthony Westeringh was at the door to pick up Joel & the camper. They wanted to get a VERY early start as they had to get through Vancouver before rush hour and all the way up to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal. This week they are working way out at Bowen Island. I'm embarassed to say I'm not really sure where that is. But they were unable to find a motel out there so they took the camper. The job? I think I heard them mention something about hand-framing a roof on a very large house. Eric from Epic Truss had asked Anthony if they could do it as this home owner was unable to find anyone else. Anthony said it worked great as they have a week of 'in-between-time' as they wait for another crew to do their thing at Muxlow's. (Two miles from here, where they've been building a couple barns.)

Speaking of those barns, last week Monday Joel called and said 'Mom, if you have a minute...grab your camera and come over here. We just lost a wall...8' high by 340' long!'

Another crew had set up the walls. The concrete truck came, set his jacks down to brace up the truck to extend his boom and with the vibration of that and the pressure from the jacks on the ground near the wall bracing....the wall collapsed in dominoe style! The walls were being pumped full of concrete at the time and Joel & Anthony were standing on the wall when it started to buckle. Fortunately they were able to jump clear! But what a mess! The next day, the clean up process began. Time to clean up and start over!

Oh, What a Mess!

The rain we've had the last two weeks is ... well...let's just say I'm hoping we're getting our winter's worth all in these two weeks! Wow! Huge puddles in fields; lakes that used to be corn fields. Yesterday on a Bellingham radio station they said there were flood warnings for Whatcom & Skagit County.
It's been dark & dreary; starting to wear on our Alberta racers. 'Does it ALWAYS rain this much in BC? Ugh!!'
Yesterday afternoon the wind started picking up speed and by this morning it was quite gusty. (Maybe all my leaves will blow away??? Sure would save me a pile of raking!) Since the wind is from the south-west it is quite balmy, around 50 F.
I started fall cleaning my office. What a good feeling...but a little discouraging to find out what a sloppy packrat I've become! So therapeutic to be filling my 2nd garbage bag! lol

I can see I'm falling behind on my diary. November 5 the ArenaCross crew arrived. Dan, Mike & Tom Indenbosch drove over from Alberta for the motorbike racing Nov. 7 & 8, and Nov. 14 15. The next morning their friend, Daniel Feyter and his girlfriend Jacinta Leeuwenbergh flew in to Abbotsford. All the guys are staying in the cabin at the other place. Jacinta slept in the spare room here. Thursday night, Nov.6, they went to Heritage Park (where the races are held) and did a few practice runs. Friday everyone was there bright and early. We borrowed Uncle Dick's huge trailer to haul the bikes there and the guys were able to get a spot inside the barn to park the trailer for the race days. Dustin was also able to rent a tent from Big Top PowerSports (his home away from home!!) and had that set up in front of the trailer as a type of advertising.
I wasn't able to get many pictures as I was a medic out on the track all day Friday and again Saturday night from 7-11. Hopefully this coming weekend I'll be able to get some good shots.
The races went quite well the 7th & 8th. Dustin got 2nd place Saturday night and was quite happy about that!
Daniel and Jacinta flew home again on Monday morning.
In the middle of all this, John flew out to Alberta on the 6th to the 12th to check on the Alberta projects and to be there for his mom's 75th birthday.

Zach at Rest...or on Guard?

Zach, our black lab/rottweiller sitting on my straw bales on the front porch. Not sure if she's resting or guarding the place. She doesn't like the camera so I had to take this shot through the office window.

The Fall Winds and Rain

The fall winds and rain have arrived. It rained alot the last few days, the weather cooled and with the wind...the big maple leaves started dropping rapidly. It has been a gorgeous fall; the leaves and the colors have lasted longer than other recent years.

An Abandoned Homestead

If these walls could talk, I wonder what stories they would have.

The old barn, dried out and leaning in the southern Alberta breeze.

An old shed, too tired to stand. I wonder how many people went throught that doorway?

I went to Alberta October 22-28 to visit Dawn and just had to stop at this deserted homestead near Granum. It was just me and some pigeons.

I've been told my blogging needs a little work. Since essay writing was not my strong point in high school, this could be a real challenge. However, since Julaine told me I could use this as a diary and actually print the pages, perhaps I can bumble my way through this.
The morning started off a little different than last week since the time changed. It was actually starting to get light out at 6:15. By 6:30 I figured I really should just get up and get those lunches made & get Joel off to work. Dustin also gave last minute instructions last night that he needed pictures printed from his Agriculture Field Trip. Thanks for that, Dustin! Just what I needed when my expensive 'this is going to be a handy printer/fax/copier' is too complicated to figure out when it comes to just simply printing a picture on photo paper! So this morning I had to pull up the pictures, save them on a CD, go to the kids' computer, upload the pics and print them on my old trusty Canon printer. Somethings are just better left alone. The kids weren't even out the door and the phone began to ring. 'Do this, do that' was already pouring in! All I want is a cup of coffee in peace! lol
I talked to Julaine for a bit again this morning, checking to see how she's feeling with her gigantic kidney stone and a truck load of pain. She's home from the hospital and waiting to see a urologist to get this thing taken care of (hopefully sooner than later.)

A new day; a new week; another try at blogging!