Last Day in Cozumel

Sheri is not feeling well today. She thinks she has a sinus infection brewing. She got some antibiotics and is staying at the hotel. I decided to go snorkeling right off the ocean by our hotel and have a self-care morning. After that, I came back to the hotel and did laps in the pool for exercise. It was raining lightly but still very pleasant. Then I went to the room for a hot shower and did a meditation session, during which I fell asleep. After that, it was about 12:30 and I thought the scuba peeps might be getting close to getting back. I headed down to the dock to hang out and watch for them and listen to my audiobook. This was my view!

Here are the divers! Shelly, Dave, Wade, and Merril. 

Also, this is a Cozumel racoon. They have a striped tail like American racoons but are slimmer.

After scuba, we ate lunch and decided to ride around the island on scooters, while Sheri slept.

And my hair gets a little big in the humidity.

The boys went spear fishing and the hotel cooked it up beautifully! It was mostly lionfish but also a lobster and a crab. It was fantastic! So good!

Beautiful Cozumel!

While the scuba peeps do their thing, Sheri and I rented scooters to buzz around the island!  

 We found a Mayan chocolate factory and we got our own private tour and tasted all the chocolates. It was flipping fantastic! We stopped at this gorgeous beach on the other side of the island.

The water is so nice here!

I had read about a bee sanctuary on the island and stopped there as well.

Mayan bees are smaller and look more like flies than bees. They make less honey and it supposed to be used medicinally instead of as a sweetener. This little man guards the entrance to the beehive. If a bee comes close, he moves out of the way and allows him entrance. 

The bees there built their hives in logs mostly.

Later in the trip, we saw on on this banana peel. If I hadn't been to the bee sanctuary, I totally would've thought it was a fly. Crazy! I'm glad we were able to go!

The scuba peeps came back. I took a nap and the boys took out the scooters. I'm sure they were going the speed limit. At least they are wearing helmets.

I'm pretty sure that's not in the rental agreement we signed.

And Dave wouldn't be Dave without trying to touch the wildlife. He caught this pigeon and tossed it into Wade's room. *shaking head*

Flying to Cozumel!

Scuba Dave invited us and the Beattys to Cozumel because he was turning 40. I stressed about whether we should go, because of 'rona and I don't like to leave the kids for long amounts of time. But, we never did anything for our 20th anniversary so we decided to do it! The kids mainly took care of themselves, with Grandmas coming over to help here and there. Lets be honest, Juliet was probably running most of the show. 

So here we go! Because of COVID, our original flight to Cozumel was rescheduled a day earlier with an overnight layover in Texas. That was a little annoying because it's one more day of figuring out what to do with the kids. Alas, we are finally on our way.

These signs are cracking me up for some reason. Instead of the "6 feet apart" rule in the States, we are supposed to stay 1.5 meters apart. 

This is the first time I've ever gotten off the plane on something other than a jetway. It was a really big ramp!

Happy 15th Birthday Jack!

Birthday brekky! Yaaaassssss! Dad took Jack to Black Bear Diner! Jack ordered an enormous breakfast and basically at the whole thing!

Later that afternoon, Jack and I had an appointment at the driver's license division to take his learner's permit test. First, I forgot all the things your supposed to have. Proof of residency, proof of identification. Merril brought over one thing. Then I realized we needed another and so Jack and I both drove home to get it. Ridiculous. *rolls eyes* It's my own fault but I should've researched what we were supposed to bring before I headed over. Okay, all the paperwork out of the way, I held my breath while he took his test! I was nervous he wasn't going to pass! All the fear was unnecessary because my son is not a dingus head (his words). He passed with a 92%! Wahoo! 

He requested an Oreo ice cream cake from Dairy Queen for his birthday! 

I was able to request the color of purple, Jack's favorite! 

Wow, I can't believe he's 15! He is growing up so much! He's inching his way closer to my height but I've still got him for a few more months. I swear he gets taller every time he comes up the stairs. 

 

Frog Hollow 2020

Frog Hollow was a little different this year. No one had an RV so Ryan built this shelter closer to the course. It was COLD!

Merril probably had the only nice-weather lap. He turned a pretty good lap time. 

This is Jack just before he left. It was cold and dark and starting to rain. Oh, my poor boy! I saw him off and then had to come back to the house. I promised to return with warm carne asada burritos. 

He didn't finish his lap. It was too cold and crappy. They cancelled the race just after. So I got back just in time to feed Jack and help tear down in the rain. I was in snow clothes so it was fine. Hopefully next year will bring nicer weather. 

Maxine's 18th Birthday Extravaganza!

How fantastic is this? My oldest kid is an adult! We've been saying she's practically an adult for month's now! I decorated her car while she was at school.

Then she surprised us all by deciding to go skydiving. We through the idea out to hear about a month ago and she said no. She really wanted to go to Canada to visit her friend, Tam. Canada isn't allowing non-essential travel so that was out. With limited options for celebrating, she decided to go skydiving. Merril's the man! Courageous enough to go with her.

She practiced how she would step out of the plane. She said the plane was pretty ghetto. At least she had a parachute in case the plane didn't make it.

She made Merril jump out first but totally jumped out of the plane herself! Well, herself and an instructor!

Sailing down. She didn't even die!

She said it was awesome! 

Videos of her free fall:

https://youtu.be/Wb0zb2Rhkz4

https://youtu.be/J-S1sfG6xyw

Then we just had regular cheesecake for blowing out candles!

Bikes and Boys

Merril's been taking Jack to ride dirt bikes. Now he's got a set of gear, to keep him safe, and look good!

They are out by Warner Valley. The new Warner Valley. I keep thinking of the Warner Valley that Merril proposed to me in but this is a different one, more in Washington Fields on the new beltway.

And I threw this in because it looks cool. 

 

Snails for the Fish Tank

The fishtank began to grow a bunch of algae. I tried to get a sucker fish to eat it but the Petco guy said a snail would probably be better. I bought two and we named them Crowley and Aziraphale (Good Omens), because one is a gold and white Inca mystery snail and the other is a black mystery snail. They are doing an amazing job cleaning the tank. The eat in a back and forth pattern. 

They have these two, raspy tongues or teeth that they use to lick the algae off the glass.

They are fun to watch. Maybe even more fun than the fish. I find it fascinating to watch them transfer from one plane to another. Hopefully we'll have less algae soon!

Halloween 2020!

To start, I waited too long to begin costumes. It is what it is. So I was scrambling to make Mark's Lego costume and Mikayla's turtle costume. To be clear, she was not a teenage mutant ninja turtle, just the regular kind. 

The back of Mikayla's costume is the cutest part.

But we'll show her smiling as well!

Here are the tricky treaters.

Juliet was preparing for a party with Nicole or at Nicole's house so I didn't get a picture of her zebra costume. She did make a delicious snack though.

After watching Mark trick-or-treat on our street, I asked him if he wanted to trade for a different costume. We have lots of costumes in the Halloween bins and he looked like he was struggling with the Lego getup. He agreed to switch. He was much more comfortable as a race car driver! 

Ah! The candy sorting! One of my favorite parts of Halloween!

Sugar highs!

Jack went to Sycamore Lane with his friends. His costume included his bike! He rode it from house to house. That kid!

I took the little kids to Sycamore Lane but the candy is better in our neighborhood. And we bobbed for apples.

It's harder than it looks and not COVID approved. Good times!