Oh My! I broke my hand running :(

So sorry for the delay in updating our blog...

I have many excuses that I could use; however, because I broke my left hand in a freak running accident on Easter Sunday...I will use that excuse as to why it has taken me so long to write an update... :(

So many new adventures to write about and pictures to post...however, because I can still only type with my one good hand and one finger on my broken hand...it will take way too long at one sitting to type the full update...so I will post little bits and pieces as I get time...

OUCH!

We have arrived back in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the Summer (We flew back on April 27th)...it has been great to see family & friends...(Dylan graduated from Michigan Tech, Logan left for 7 months to New Zealand to study abroad, Mark started a remodel project for a friend in the rental home that we are living in...ugh!, I reconnected with all of my co-workers at Witte Travel, we had get together's with both of our families...etc...)
Although we have only been back in the U.S. for 3 weeks, both Mark and I feel like we left our hearts and souls in Sayulita...
We have started counting down the days until we get back "Home" to Sayulita (we signed an 8 month lease on a different villa beginning in October)...Can't wait to get back to our simple life... :)

More on the running accident soon...

Expired Passports, family and sunsets....

Ok....so it is mostly my fault....airline tickets were booked months in advance...everyone had their passports ready to go and we were all just counting down the days...so the story goes...When my sister, Susan, niece, Danielle and mom decide to visit us in Sayulita for a week over Danielle's Spring Break from GVSU...

I talked with my sister many times prior to their date of travel, even reminding her to make sure their passports were valid and not expired...(she even got off the phone one night, went to her safe, checked her passport and saw that it was good until 2016 and thought, "we are good to go")...I may have forgot to mention to her that maybe Danielle's passport may have already expired, since passports that are issued to children that are 14 and under are only valid for 5 years, unlike adult passports which are valid for 10 years...oops....my sister only had checked her's and not Danielle's, since she knew they were both issued on the same date, she thought they both expired on the same date...I had even advised Susan to make extra copies of their passport front page, so that they would have a copy in case their passports were lost or stolen...and she never noticed the expiration date at that time either...
Fast forward to the Sun Country Airlines ticket counter at 6:00am on Friday March 1st...The poor ticket agent who has to inform passengers when their documentation does not meet requirements...as in, "Danielle's passport has expired, I can not let you on this flight...ugh!
First it is shock, then anger, then tears and then?????  Take a big breath and lets see what options we can come up with...She tried calling me...my cell phone was on silence, since it was 5:00am our time...

Anyways, to make a very long story, much shorter...this is what happened...my mom decided not to get on the plane, even though she could have, her passport was valid...but she did not want to travel alone...
The Apple Vacations representative was wonderful, she gave Susan the phone number for the Detroit passport agency and told her to call them and she could get an appointment to drive to Detroit that day and get a new passport for Danielle...then the rep secured 3 seats on the Chicago O'hare non-stop flight to Puerto Vallarta for the next day at 7:00am (Saturday), and told them they could still fly back to Lansing on the following Friday no problem...
Since my dad had dropped them off at the Lansing airport and had already gone back to Grand Ledge, they decided to take a taxi back to my parents house, picked up Susan's car, drove back to her house in Detroit (2 hours) to get Danielle's birth certificate and dropped off my mom, so she could take a nap, drove to downtown Detroit to the passport agency, waited 4 hours, got the new passport, drove back to her house, picked up my mom and a rental car from Hertz, drove 5 hours from Detroit to Chicago, dropped off the rental car, stayed in a hotel near the airport, took the shuttle to the airport, got on the 7am flight and landed in Puerto Vallarta 24 hours later than they should have..SAFE, HAPPY and READY FOR A VACATION!

Happy vacation!

Ready for some fun!

Mark and I had rented a car for the week...since they had not arrived on Friday, we used that time to go to Costco and Mega and got stocked up on groceries...It was great to have the car so that we could drive back and forth between Puerto Vallarta (Susan had reserved a 1 bedroom timeshare in Nuevo Vallarta for the week) and Sayulita...we thought that splitting our time between the two places would make the most sense...We picked them up at the airport and drove straight to the Mayan Sea Garden timeshare...and they were ready to have a cold drink and sit out by the pool...The room was very nice and in a great location...only about 25 minutes South of where we live...
It was nice that I could stay a couple of nights with them at the timeshare and then they came to our Casa in Sayulita for 2 nights to see where we live...we spent a lot of time relaxing, eating and drinking...Danielle was able to go parasailing and swimming with the dolphins...and my mom read a couple of books and relaxed...Susan and I sat in the sun and talked for hours...it was a great week...We were sad to see them go home...

First lunch of Fish Tacos and beer....

Sister love....

Ready to get some sun at the pool

Danielle loved parasailing!

The girls night out!

Chilling at our pool at our Casa!

The mountains of Puerto Vallarta

Mom and her girls...

However, the day they departed to go home, was the same day that Logan and his friend Josh arrived (their flights were within 1 hour of each other)...Logan had visited at Christmas time for two weeks and had the opportunity to come back down for a week for Spring Break and decided that sunshine and 80 degrees was much better than staying up at Michigan Tech with 3 feet of snow on the ground and single digit temps...
Since I had dropped the rental car off at the airport (when I dropped Susan, Danielle and my mom off)...it meant that Logan, Josh and I would have to take the bus back to Sayulita...no problem...30 pesos each and 50 minutes later we were at the bus stop in Sayulita....it is always an adventure taking the bus and this time was no exception...we ended up on one of the oldest school type buses without any shocks...which made the 18 Topes (speed bumps) going through the town of St. Ignacio a little more interesting...

Hungry boys after a long flight from Chicago.

Logan and Josh had a great week...lots of beach time, some hiking, exercising (I made them go for a run with me and they had to participate in my rocks class on the beach), they went on the Ally Cat Catamaran cruise (Whale watching) and were in town for the SUP Classic (Sayulita's Stand up Paddle board contest)...and even enjoyed the free beach concert from Mishka (Reggae band)...
Unfortunately, I ended up sick for most of the week with a stomach bug, so I did not get to spend as much time with them as I had hoped to...all and all I think they had a fun week and it went by quickly...before we knew it we were walking them back down the hill to the bus stop and sending them on their way to the airport...They departed Puerto Vallarta at 80 degrees and landed in Chicago at 12 degrees...(welcome back to to Winter)...

Glad to have Logan back in Mexico for a visit...

Dinner at El Itacate, our favorite restaurant in town.

Hibiscus Strawberry tea drink...so good for you! 

Strawberry Margarita for two!

Concert on the beach!

"Mishka" Reggae concert

Logan sporting a tan...

Pizza for their last dinner of the week...

Sayulita bus stop...on their way back to the Airport...

Logan telling me not to cry, he will see me in 5 weeks... :(

It always takes us a few days to get back into our normal routine of life, once our visitors leave...
Going for my run or playing tennis in the mornings, afternoon shopping for fruit, veggies and shrimp, visiting the bread truck at night in the plaza, taking afternoon strolls on the beach and a dip in the ocean, whale watching from our terrace at sunset, reading before bed...etc...Sayulita has become home to us now...and we can't imagine life any other way...
We have one more visitor for the season, Mark's oldest brother Tom will be visiting us from Seattle, next week...We are excited to show him around town and hopefully a few adventures out of town as well...

Loving Sayulita more and more everyday!

We have seen more than 100 amazing sunsets since we arrived in Sayulita...every night offers a different display of beauty, that words can not describe...sometimes, we sit on our terrace in complete silence, just watching the sun go down and listening to the sound of the pounding waves and we look at each other and smile and say "we can't believe that we get to live here"....we are truly blessed...

Sunset on Nahui Beach

Puerto Vallarta sunset

Sunset from our terrace...sky looks like fire

Sayulita sunset

Nuevo Vallarta Beach Sunset

Nahui Beach

Punta De Mita Sunset

Grand Velas Sunset

Sunset from our rooftop

Cotton Candy sunset...

Whales, Whales and more Whales....

Wow!  Have I been slacking...I can't believe that it has been a month since I posted any new adventures...and so much has happened since then...

First of all, I must say...this is my busy season for work...(selling vacations to the tropics for all of the snow birds who live in Michigan, keeps me working long days)...so even though, I am sitting on my terrace in paradise, enjoying the view and watching the whales go by...I am still working 10 hour days...trying to make sure that all of my clients vacations are picture perfect just like mine is...

Speaking of pictures...I will not be able to add many photos (if any) in this posting, because our brand new Asus computer (only used 6 times down here) decided to crash yesterday while I was transferring approx. 600 photos from my memory card to the computer (we think the hard drive died)...that's a story for a different posting...ugh!

For now, you will just have to put up with my rambling and update in words as opposed to lots of photos...(I will add them later if I ever get them loaded to one of the other 2 computers that we have down here with us)...that is also a whole other story to tell at another time...(neither computer will let us download certain photos...)

Once the boys left to go back to Michigan from their Christmas Break...life got back to normal for Mark and I...we settled in to our Sayulita Life quite nicely...I would run each morning, Mark would go to the beach and boogie board and swim each afternoon...grocery shopping in town when we needed things...and once in a while go out for tacos or pizza (we are trying to check out all of the local taco stands to see who has the best tasting tacos in town...so many Taqueria's, so little time...We love the slower pace of life and it is so nice to just go with the flow each day...

Still LOVING Sayulita and each other!!!!!!

Then one day I ran into a woman on the street who was carrying a tennis racket...immediately, I was intrigued, since I was unaware that Sayulita had any tennis courts...as it turns out, they only have 1 tennis court for public use (and 1 owned by a private resident)...the public court has seen its days...tons of cracks, lightly painted lines (which are also 2 inches wider than normal lines) and one side of the court is 3 inches shorter than the other...oh yeah!  Did I mention that this 1 tennis court is at the top of the highest hill, but located in a bowl in the jungle (figure that one out)...crazy stuff...you have to see it to believe it...
Anyways, I asked this woman on the street where she was going and she informed me that they were looking for another woman to play mixed doubles (since the other gal in town, was now 5 months pregnant and had decided to stop playing)...as luck would have it...I would be a perfect replacement...with just one problem...I did not bring my tennis racket to Sayulita...no worries...the local tennis buff (Flip) has extra rackets and he was willing to let me borrow one...
So a tennis date was made and she would text me to let me know the details...

I love our one and only tennis court! 

About this same time, we learned that we now had a new neighbor...the Casa right next to ours (the only other Casa on our hill) now had a renter...his name is Piotr, originally from Poland and now lives in Portland OR...he would be renting the Casa for 6 weeks by himself (his wife decided to stay back in Portland and brave the cold weather)...Piotr has been coming to Sayulita for the past 6 years...renting different Casa's each year and meeting tons of people...(It seems like everyone in Sayulita knows Piotr)...and it just happens that Piotr is a very good tennis player, he brought his tennis racket with him (since he knew from past years that Sayulita had 1 tennis court)...and he has played mixed doubles with this group of people in the past...and he would love to be my new tennis partner...so we started a routine of playing tennis 2 times a week (at 8:00am for 2 1/2 hours)...on the other days...Piotr would teach a class on the beach, called Sayulita ROCKS...basically he would find very smooth rocks (all different weights) and teach his students to do stretching exercises with the rocks (think medicine ball exercises...)...he would teach the class every morning (when not playing tennis) down at the far end of the beach (1 mile walk from our Casa)...at 8:30am...it is so peaceful on that end of the beach in the morning...listening to the waves, lifting rocks, watching for whales...What a way to start the day...and the best part of all...is the class was FREE and it was a fun way to meet new people...I go for my two mile run, end up at the beach, take the Rock's class and then start my work day...(Life is Good!)

Sayulita's newest Mixed Double Partner's....

Sayulita Rocks class on the Beach!

Piotr and Mark have been come great friends...they spend a lot of time on the beach together in the afternoons, swimming, riding the waves, reading and talking about life and travel...we will be very sad to say good bye to Piotr, he will be departing Sayulita this next Monday (February 25th) to go back to Portland...although we have a feeling we will see him down here again next year...or who knows, maybe we will go visit him in Portland someday soon...

Mark & Piotr at Antonia's Kitchen

Mark & Piotr 

Right after Piotr arrived in Mid-January at the Casa next door, we had more visitors arrive from Grand Rapids...Ben & Michelle Newhof (Mark's Nephew and wife) flew down to stay with us for 9 nights...What a blast it was having them stay with us...they are a much younger couple than us, with tons of energy...they kept us on the go...something fun to do each day...they tried every beach vendor food on the beach and every taco stand in town...they tried surfing, stand up paddle boarding, boogie boarding and more...We are pretty sure they enjoyed their vacation in Sayulita and we sure loved having them stay with us...(will post some photo's if I can ever get them downloaded...)

Although I had to work many days when there were here with us...Mark was able to show them around the village and experience some new adventures too...we rented a car for 2 days...that was an adventure in itself...all 4 of us took the bus to the airport...then the Thrifty car rental shuttle from the airport to the car rental office and we rented a Volkswagon Jetta...I was voted to be the driver...so I signed the papers, got in the drivers seat and pulled out of the car rental agency on hwy 200...heading North to Sayulita...its a pretty straight forward drive from that part of Puerto Vallarta...and since we had taken the bus many times that way back to Sayulita...I felt pretty comfortable with the driving (although I had not driven a car in 3 months, it felt a little foreign, thank goodness they drive on the right side of the road, or that could have made it more interesting)...even the jungle road (which is 17km)...with lots of hills and really sharp curves, was a piece of cake...the true test was driving down our road (which still resembles a riverbed from rainy season) and getting up our driveway and hill (which is starting to wash away)... I had to drive very slowly and hope that we did not bottom out the car on a rock, or hit a pot hole that would ruin the tires...ugh!  Somehow I managed to make it up to the Casa safely and with no casualties to the car...
We decided to drive to Punta Mita the next day, to show Ben & Michelle the town and a couple of other area beaches...after a little sightseeing, we settled in on Nahui beach (which is approx 20 minutes South of Sayulita) and by far one of the most beautiful swimming and walking beaches in this area...the water is more turquoise blue and the sand is more white than brown...the beach stretches for 3 miles and is pretty quiet...great for swimming and boogie boarding and most of all...watching the whales up close (right from the beach, only 200 hundred yards away)...the beach faces the Bay of Banderas, where thousands of Whales have migrated for the Winter (from as far North as Alaska)...they hang out in the Bay of Banderas, mothers have their calves and they play until April, and then head back North for the Summer...What an amazing sight to see...Humpback Whales jumping out of the water and flipping their tails back and forth, making huge splashes in the water...They sure are beautiful creatures...
This was one of our favorite days at the Beach...and we were so glad that we could share that with Ben and Michelle...
The next day we drove Ben and Michelle to the airport for their flight back to Chicago, and because we had the car rental for another couple of hours, we decided yo drive to Costco on the other side of Puerto Vallarta (only to find out that our Costco membership had expired 2 days prior...so we renewed our membership in Mexico...which will apparently work in Grand Rapids as well)...we stocked up on a few supplies (only the ones that we could stuff into our back packs, since we would be taking the bus back to Sayulita after dropping the car rental back off at Thrifty)...What a great bus ride home...always lots of adventures when you take the bus... :)

It was back to the slow pace of life, living down here has become so normal, that it is easy to just wake up and live...we still can't believe how lucky and blessed we are to live here...We love our new friends, the quirky little things that happen on a daily basis, the fresh fruits and veggies, the tacos, the fish & shrimp, the weather, the Whales (did I mention that we see tons of whales each day) and so much more...It is difficult to imagine living anywhere else right now...

About this time it hit me...Mark's birthday was only 9 days away and I had nothing planned for him...so I decided to have a surprise birthday party for him...only there were a few obstacles...1) Who would I invited? 2) Where would I have the party? 3) how could I keep it a surprise? 4) What would I do for food and a birthday cake...? (Seriously, what was I thinking?, how could I pull this off?)
Not to worry...This is Mexico...an it all fell right into place and was meant to be...we have met such amazing people down here and everyone that I contacted about joining me for Mark's special day, was happy to be a part of the surprise...Thanks to Storm and Courtney for letting me use the rooftop of their Pub...(open air space, a small bar, with tables and chairs, big screen TV, showing epic surfing videos, rock and roll music playing in the back ground, a fire pit with seating and a bean bag toss for entertainment...) a great place for a small party...and the menu that Storm and Courtney came up with (appetizers and snacks) was perfect...
Thank you to Sandrita for the delicious birthday cup cakes and for Mark's cake (German Chocolate...his favorite cake)...and we even refrained from the Mexican tradition of smashing his face in the cake...(I think he was happy about that)...
The surprise worked perfectly...Mark thought we were meeting Marv and Mary (His cousins, who live down here and own a hotel in town) for a quick birthday drink...and then he thought I was taking him out to a Romantic Dinner in Town (at one of the more expensive restaurants, although he did not know which one)...so we walked up the steps to the rooftop bar expecting to see Marv & Mary...and there were 15 people there waiting to yell SURPRISE and Happy Birthday....He was totally shocked...and honored that so many of our new friends in Sayulita would come to a birthday party for him...It was a great evening...one I think Mark will remember for a long time... (Thank you Sayulita Friends for making us feel so welcomed and for hanging out with us for the night...you all know who you are...)

Sandrit's famous German Chocolate Cupcakes...yum!

The guys at Mark's birthday party...

The girls at Mark's birthday party...

Piotr, Marv, Mary & Mark...

Things settled back down after Mark's surprise birthday party...and a few days later we had more visitors...this time one of my best friends, Olivia, her husband Eric and their two children Callie (10 years) and Cole (7 1/2 years)...they flew in from San Diego (they live in Carlsbad CA)...the kids had a short mid-Winter break...so they could only stay for 3 nights (Thur-Sun - Feb 14-17)...they rented a car from Thrifty (same Volkswagon Jetta that we had rented earlier) and drove from the Airport to Sayulita...they followed my directions perfectly and made very good time on the jungle road...we met them near the bus stop...they parked their car and then we walked in to town to have dinner at our all time favorite taco stand (El Itacate)...we had ice cream and churros for dessert....what fun we had with them over the weekend...we packed a lot of adventures in those 2 1/2 days...spent time on Sayulita's Fisherman's beach...rented a surf board, played in the water with the boogie boards, went shopping, drove to Nahui beach for a day, saw the best Whale show ever, ate beach vendor food (shrimp and mahi on a stick), bought Olivia's birthday gift on the beach (Coconut mask's to add to her collection), went to the Sayulita Day's carnival, threw rocks at beer bottles, went swimming in our pool, played the Mexican game called Loteria, just to name a few....It was Callie & Cole's first visit to Mexico and I think they had a good time...(we sure did, it was great fun having them all stay with us, hope they come back for a visit again soon)...

Once again, it is quiet and life is back to normal...the ebb and flow of visitors and quiet time is perfect...we are gearing up for another visitor soon...Marv (Mark's cousin) will be staying with us for 3 days this next week (Sun-Wed)...(Mary is back in the United States taking care of some business) and Marv rented out his apartment at the Hotel for 3 days and needs a place to stay (Welcome to Casa Newhof...)...so it will be great fun for Mark and him to hang out together...and then on Friday...My Mom, Sister Susan and Niece Danielle will be flying to Puerto Vallarta, staying a their timeshare in Nuevo Vallarta for the week...we will split our time between their condo and Sayulita (I will be back on the Mexican Hwy renting a car...watch out people)...I can't wait to see them and show them around Sayulita...
They fly home on March 8th...and then another visitor...this time Logan will be back in town (for his College Spring Break) along with his friend Josh...they arrive on March 8th and will stay a week...more fun and adventures to share....

Mark & Marv 

That is the thing about moving somewhere that is warm and sunny in the Winter...you get lots of visitors...which we LOVE...so happy that people wanted to visit us and spend time with us...and most of all it is great fun to share this special place that we now call home...We love Sayulita and we hope that all that visit us, love it too!

Until next time...and I hope to have some new photos posted soon...
Stay warm our friends and family in the North...we send our love, warmth and sunshine to you!

2013 brings many new adventures...

Well... I haven't been very diligent in writing lately and for good reason...or at least I will use "my boys" as a good excuse...

Christmas day was a beautiful day...not only was the weather wonderful (Sunny & 83 degrees), Dylan, Logan and Andy (Wendell) all arrived on time in Puerto Vallarta...Their Delta flight had left on time from Detroit @ 6:00am (changed in Atlanta) and arrived in Puerto Vallarta as scheduled at 1:15pm...Mark and I took the bus from Sayulita to the airport (approx 45 minutes)...only 25 pesos per person one way...and were waiting outside of customs when they walked out...Of course, I started crying and gave them all a great big bear hug, so happy to see them...they were tired from traveling, but happy to be in Mexico...

Mark waiting outside the Airport

Minutes after the two biggest bear hugs ever!!!!!

Andy's suit case strapped to the roof of the taxi cab...

 If you walk across the pedestrian bridge at the airport to the other side of the highway, the taxi's are half the price to get back to Sayulita (approx. 300 pesos)...so we rolled their luggage to the other side, only to find out that the taxi's on that side of the highway can only accommodate 4 people and luggage...and there were 5 of us...so after a quick discussion it was determined that Dylan, Logan and I (and the suit cases) would take the taxi back to Sayulita and Mark and Andy would take the city bus...(Andy was up for the adventure and liked being right in the culture)...and he liked the price of only 25 pesos... :)
We arrived long before the bus and were able to use the neighbor's golf cart to get the luggage up our hill to the casa...The boys were hungry, so they changed into shorts and we grabbed the beach gear and headed to the first beach restaurant that we could find...Their first introduction to "fish & Shrimp tacos"...and they loved them!

Day one...fresh off the plane...

Shrimp Tacos at La Terrazola Beach Restaurant

Mahi fish tacos....

So the adventures began...Andy would be with us for 8 nights and the boys would stay for 15 nights...for the most part the weather cooperated, warm and sunny, good beginner's surf, lots of whale sightings and clear starry nights...
It was a blast having them here in our new "home" town...we had so much fun showing them the village & plaza, introducing them to our new friends, recommending our favorite restaurants, going for hikes, spending time on the beach, shopping at the markets and spending some quiet evenings at the casa reading...

Andy & Mark finally arrive in Sayulita on the bus from the Airport

Christmas dinner at one of the only restaurants in town...Wood fire Pizzas...

The beach vendors sell everything on the beach...cups full of Pineapple, Coconut and Watermelon...

Andy and his boys.....

Me and my Boys!!!!!

Just another day beach day!

Mark and Andy try stand up paddle boarding on Fisherman's Beach

Going out for a night on the town...New Year's Eve

Dinner at Mary's

Going for a jungle hike to Playa Carricitos 

Looking for Iguana's in the trees.....

Nature's Beauty

Playa Carricitos

Ready for a rest from hiking...

Resting...

A great day of hiking to a secluded beach

We even broke down one night and watched a college bowl game via live streaming on Dylan's laptop...

It rained all day on New Year's day and was a little cooler temperature (70 degrees) The locals tell us that that is very unusual for this time of year...it was Andy's last day in Sayulita and he and Mark decided to walk down our hill to town in the pouring rain to bring back dinner...they only found 2 restaurants open (since most of the restaurants are either open air or are located actually on the streets without a rooftop)...Our favorite Italian Restaurant to the rescue...The pizza and pasta tasted great!

Playing games during the rain storm...

Mark and Andy brave the elements to bring back dinner... our Hero's....

On the day that Andy flew back to Michigan, Dylan's College friend, Karl flew in from Minneapolis...so it worked well that Dylan, Logan and Andy took the bus to the airport...(I had to get caught up on some work and Mark wasn't feeling well)...They met Karl's flight at 10:30am, and then they had a little time to sit and chat before Andy had to fly out...the three boys took the bus back to Sayulita...Karl would stay until January 9th, like Dylan and Logan and they would all fly home on the same date...

Both Dylan and Karl are in training for Track (they are on Michigan Tech's track team, Dylan runs the 800m and Karl runs the 1600m)...they had to rise early every morning and plan out their run...many days they would run between 6-9 miles before having a big breakfast and heading to the beach for the rest of the day to surf, stand up paddle board, boogie board or read...

Welcome to Sayulita Karl

Getting some ice cream after dinner, it was a little chilly that evening

Logan took advantage of of his down time from College to read several books, relax in the pool and spending time at the beach every day to relax and soak up the sun...He also was able to meet up with his friend Ari (that he met when he studied in Costa Rica last December)...Her family happens to have a beach house in Punta De Mita (which is the next town South of Sayulita)...She was staying at her house for a week, on her break from College and Logan and her made arrangements for her to drive to Sayulita to have lunch and then Logan was able to go back to her house and spend the rest of the day hanging out with her.  She also invited the Logan, Dylan and Karl back to her house a few days later to hang out and enjoy their last day in Mexico...

Logan hanging out in our pool at the Casa

Logan & Ari....

One of the highlights of their visit was taking a day trip, sailing on the Ally Cat Catamaran (http://www.allycatcharters.com/ out to the Marietas Islands in the Bay of Banderas... to snorkel, kayak, stand up paddle board and best of all, to get up really close to the Whales...It was a beautiful sunny day and for the most part the waves were small, at least to begin with...(that was a good thing for me, since I get seasick walking...thankfully, Debi from the Ally Cat had a wonder drug for seasickness...it does not make you drowsy, you can drink a beer with it and it makes you feel mellow...and apparently you can only buy this medicine in Mexico)...

We loaded up in vans in Sayulita, drove 15 minutes to the Marina in La Cruz and boarded the Ally Cat around 10:30am...let the sailing begin...they served a wonderful continental breakfast, open bar, fresh cooked lunch and lots of fun music...we spotted many whales on our way to the Marietas Islands...Captain Noah would detour and take us as close to the whales as he could, so that we would be able to view them up close...it was an amazing sight to see...we also had dolphins swimming along side our catamaran...

Ready for a day of sailing....

"ALLY CAT"

Yummy breakfast!

All about comfort...comfy pillows too!

Once at the Marietas Islands, the boys would jump off the boat and go snorkeling over to the island beach and caves...they had a blast...I was able to get off the boat and take a kayak around the area as well...It was a perfect day and tons of fun...

Dylan & Karl helping put up the sails...

Life is Good!

My camera could not capture the moment...

I gave up trying to photograph them and just watched in awe...

The caves at the Marietas Islands

Look at those cute snorkeler's

The Caves...

A beautiful day for a kayak 

Three very hungry boys...snorkeling is hard work!

Logan on Whale look out!

Dylan and Karl riding off the back of the catamaran on the way home

PERFECT DAY!!!!

Dylan had way too much fun!

The two weeks with the boys just flew by... I was thankful that I was not too busy with lots of work, so that I could spend a lot of time with them...It was great to watch them discover and explore our village...and to see them relax and take time to chill before heading back to school...Lots of great adventures and memories...We took the bus back to the airport and said our good byes...of course, I left them with great big bear hugs and crying...(Just as I had greeted them 15 days before)...I don't think you ever get use to saying good bye to your kids, especially when you know that you won't see them again for a while...(Next time we will see each other will be for Dylan's graduation from Michigan Tech on May 4th)...

Last dinner in Sayulita...at our favorite Italian Restaurant...

Mark saying good bye to the boys...

Last morning at the Casa...

Travel day breakfast at the "Tropical House"

Waiting at the bus stop for our bus to the airport...

Saying good bye at the airport  :(

I miss them a ton already and they just left a week ago...back to Michigan Tech, where 2 feet of snow was waiting for them and the temps were in the single digits (with minus below wind chill factors)...Logan will play Broomball, Dylan will train for track season & nordic skiing...and they both will enjoy all of the Winter sports that the Upper Peninsula has to offer...(Winter Camping, Ice Climbing, XC skiing, Snowboarding, Snow shoeing...etc)...They have just started a new semester of classes (Dylan's last semester as an undergrad)...and Logan will be heading off to New Zealand soon for study abroad...Their time in College has just flown by...

Mark and I are so happy to be spending the Winter in warmer climes...although, once in a while I miss cross country skiing on the golf course and Mark misses playing Hockey with the guys in our old neighborhood...However, we don't miss it enough to fly back to Michigan quite yet... :)

Sayulita sunset the night the boys flew back to Michigan...