Adventure in Mexico 2018

I already wrote a post about my feelings after traveling with family, so this one will be a more light-hearted look at our Mexico 2018 Adventure!

When I looked back at all of the photos, I knew right away that I was going to have a hard time narrowing them down and deciding which to include here. So I turned on my scrapbooker's brain and asked myself: "what story can you tell in 20 photos?" It wasn't easy after that, but it was slightly less daunting!

So, here is my story!

The resort was lovely. I managed to wake up early enough to catch one sunrise!

Sunset on the beach, a favourite time and place to just be.

Surprising no one, we spent almost every waking minute we weren't eating in the pool. Surprising everyone, Lucas fell in love with snorkeling. Auntie brought the guys' gear down with her one day, and he was hooked! He didn't join us in the ocean (photos to come in a future post), but he got many hours in staring at the bottom of the pool.

Some of us made a choice to head into Playa del Carmen for a few hours one afternoon. We left my parents and Evan in the pool, called a taxi, and headed in to town, which was a 10 minute ride away. "Fifth Avenue" is super touristy, but we were there to be tourists, and the boys only got a little anxious when the locals kept calling us "Canadians" or asking us if we remembered them from the resort. The restaurant we stopped at for lunch was top rate, and our server showed Jacob a neat trick with his pop!

There was a theatre at the resort, but we didn't go to many shows. "Mexican Michael Jackson" was a must see, and even if some of the costumes are corny, it is always a treat to experience this music "live".

I love bugs and animals and was super excited at all the fun creatures we encountered! The bug in the first photo was paraded around the pool on my arm. I offered to show him off to any kid or adult who wanted to see. This wasn't the only bug I let crawl all over me! The next photo is me trying to save my sister's milkshake from a hungry and curious coati. I didn't have any good luck, and there is other photographic proof that 4 coati snouts can fit in a plastic cup at the same time.

There are signs literally everywhere advising folks not to feed the animals, but of course no one pays them any attention. All of the animals we saw - coatis, raccoons, cats, monkeys, peacocks - were not afraid of people, and many would come right up to you. Especially if it appeared you had food. The raccoon in the photo above really wanted whatever might have been on this plate!

And to cap it all off, here is a little video compilation of some videos I snagged over the week. I could have watched that group of monkeys swing from tree to tree all day...

FURTHER READING
My first Adventure in Mexico post deals with the important - and sometimes difficult - theme of traveling with family.
And here is the mini album we made down there.

xo

In Edmonton We Go Tobogganing

In Canada we use a lot of First Nations and Inuit words for things, and they just sort of become part of the lexicon...and confuse folks from other countries. Which is why in Edmonton where I'm from we call sledding "tobogganing". I looked up the official Wikipedia entry for "toboggan" and found the following:

It goes on to read: "In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people (often children) down a hill or other slope for recreation." And that, my Friends, is the type of toboggan we're chatting about today.

Lucas & I "crashed" a reunion between the McGarveys and some school friends at a local hill after school one day. There were four Moms (Amy and her PTA buddies), one Dad (Sean), and 10-ish kids. These photos were taken from about 4:00 to 5:00 pm. It gives you an idea of when - and how fast - the sun goes down up here in December!

We've had some weather this December, let me tell you. Snow, wind, rain, warm, cold, colder. Which makes for some dang treacherous conditions on the hill. That is, it was sheer ice. The kids figured out within 0.7 seconds that it was more fun to slide down directly on their bums - or bellies - and forgo the sleds altogether. The adults got in on the action as well, but we prefer to stick to the sleds as we take longer to recover from injury now!

The highlight of the hill was the jump someone had created probably closer to the beginning of the season as it was super sturdy...and also icy as heck. The kids started out by sliding down one at a time on their sleds, then on their bodies, and then once the littlest kids left it was a free-for-all dog pile at the bottom. We only lost one kid to an injury, so that's pretty good!

Now, this is a pretty basic neighbourhood hill, and while there are loads of amazing hills in Edmonton (check our "Further Reading" below), sometimes sticking close to home is the best.

Photos taken at Daly Grove Elementary School, Edmonton
Monday, December 17, 2018

FURTHER READING
The wikipedia article for toboggan is amusing, but incomplete and suffering from the erasure of Indigenous culture and history.
If your're looking for some tobogganing opportunities in the Edmonton area, here is Raising Edmonton's list of best hills.
And here is the list of City-operated hills

Adventure in Mexico

Last week Dan, Lucas & I joined my family for an Adventure in Mexico! We stayed at an all-inclusive resort - Sandos Caracol - for a week, ate lots of food, and got in a tonne of pool time.

Overall, it was a good trip and so refreshing to get away, but traveling with family is hard. There are nine people that have to decide when and where to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, which pool to go to, whether or not to go into town, how to get there and when....and on and on.

That combined with all the different personalities, and things got a bit stressful for me.

I found that it really helped having rooms in separate buildings, so we could each go back to our own spaces at the end of the day. And any moment that was available to hang back from the group, swim to a different part of the pool, or literally take a different path, I took advantage of it.

I love my family, and while in hindsight this vacation was significant for me in allowing me some distance from my everyday life-stressors, it did bring up some anxieties. And it has me looking at my time and who I choose to spend my time with differently.

I don't yet know what this means now that I am back home, but I do cherish and respect the lessons learned and the thoughts I am now sitting with.

And traveling always puts in mind the desire to travel more, so I am excited to put the next plans in place!

Where should I go next?
What are your experiences traveling with family?

FURTHER READING
Recent vacations with my parents (as an adult) include Disney World with my dad & stepmom in 2015. I posted some scrapbooking layouts and thoughts here and here from that trip.

And this summer we headed to Jasper with the Mexico group. I haven't scrapbooked that trip yet, as the emotions from it are still fresh, but you can see some photos here, and read my thoughts on an important friendship.

These Boys

Do you believe in soul mates? People who enter you lives and give you so much...open you up to new things...connect with you in a way you never thought possible.

The friendship and connection between these three boys...it has "soul mate" written all over it.

I thought that when I became a Mom that would be the pinnacle of love I would feel for another person. But I was wrong.

My nephews are so precious to me. I mean, they came from one of my Most Favourite Humans...with anything Amy makes I am 100% a Number 1 Fan.

It continues to blow me away how much I love them...and how much they love each other. This friendship will persist, even when separated by half of the world.

Photos taken in Jasper National Park, Alberta
July 2018

xo

Tell A Story: I Love Long Weekends

The Easter long weekend is a fun one! Even though we aren't religious, we still celebrate in our own secular "search for chocolate eggs and then eat them" way.

Grandparents + Facebook is always adorable.

Lucas wanted some quiet time with his new book, and Jacob wanted to play. So I presented a compromise and it seemed to work!

Sunday Catan! This is our go-to answer to "I don't know what I want to do today."

Tech Support Fail...there is supposed to be a VIDEO here. If you don't see one, well, that sucks. Not sure what's going on here!

My Dad is always trying to get me in front of the camera instead of behind it, but he's not the greatest with technology. So he took approximately 10 1-second videos of this game of Monkey in the Middle. He thought he was getting photos, so he kept hitting the button over and over again. He didn't ask until the very last "picture" why the white button kept alternating between a red square and a red circle!

Dan & I spent Friday moving with his stuff into the new place with the help of his family, which was exhausting, but also exciting!

xo

F-Word Scrapbooking

Hi there! I love Fall. But it is not Fall yet. So don't go getting excited and telling me how much it FEELS LIKE FALL, or GEE I LOVE THAT IT'S FALL NOW. I will cut you.

Remember that I love Fall. But I also love our fleeting, golden summers. And I'm going to squeeze every last dying glimmer out of this month.

Since the start of Fall signals my birthday, I do celebrate the shit out of fall  so don't get your knickers in a knot. Like I am. Apparently. Shuttup.

Anyhoo, I scrapbooked some photos taken last FALL because Nadine made me. Kind of. Whatever. Just feast your eyeballs. 

(I scrapbook on my bedroom floor when it is clean. My bedroom is giant, so I can really spread out. Love those old wood floors.)

Gah I love this layout!!! Nadine gave me a pack of die-cuts, and I was like what the actual fuck am I going to do with these? She also gave me some copper sticker words and I was like YASSSS! They make a nice combination. My Mom & step-Dad's last name is Good. Makes for some perfect titles.

Also, that paper looks like a cozy sweater and I can definitely get behind that.

Mini Album!
I forgot how damn fun and EASY it is to make a mini album by taping old cards and envelopes together. These photos are all from my Grannie & Pa's 60th Anniversary Party last September. We had a nice dinner at the Faculty Club on the U of A campus, and then my photographer friend Sarah took all of our photos. It was ridiculous, and she is my hero. I am going to let the pages speak for themselves.

I just realized that this last photo shows FIVE GENERATIONS of my Grannie's family. Holy. Shit. Balls.

That's getting put on a damn wall or something.

p.s. on Fridays we say Fuck.

July Long Adventure

Last weekend me, Delilah, and the boys headed out to Kootenay Plains on the David Thompson Highway for a long weekend camping adventure! Happy Canada Day!

Kootenay Plains is a group campground site that is literally right on the highway, but a lot of the campsites are tucked beside a rocky outcropping (a cliff? a mountain fingerling? I am not up on my geology terms...) so it is quiet and lovely. I mean, look at that view!

Gran bought the boys some dollar store bow & arrows, which all broke immediately. But with a little duct tape, Gran had them all back in commission. Note: this was the most fun thing the entire weekend. Below, you can see Evan in his power pose.

Day two, we decided on the Siffleur Falls hike, which is literally immediately across the highway from us. There are some really steep sections, but the boys were champs! Eventually you hit the gorge, with the river running below. Again, spectacular views both above and below.

My parents! It's been a really long time since we went camping together, so this was a big treat for everyone.

Relaxing with some G&Ts outside the cookhouse. BFF was in Red Deer for work all week, so it was completely amazing to have him come out with us! Also, he is the only one who knows how to set up the tarps...so....

We got one of the campsites that is nestled up against the rocks at the back of the campsite. Popular with rock climbers, BFF, Dad, Lucas & I attempted a skinny little goat path and made it to the top! You can see our cook shelter tucked in the trees at the bottom of the photo.

My boys! They had so much fun this weekend, playing Catan (so many games of Catan were played!), colouring (Evan was carrying this colouring book + a pink felt around for most of Saturday afternoon), chasing each other, making a fort out of the firewood, climbing rocks, and wrestling with Grandpa.

It was my sister's birthday on Saturday, so Evan & I spent some time picking wildflowers to make her a little bouquet! He presented it to her so perfectly, and there were only a few bugs on it.

Amy brought her own cake because she is the smartest person I know.

We actually were invited to be part of a larger group, connected via a friend of my Dad's. Kam (& his wife Jan) are avid mountain climbers, world travelers, volunteers, and just genuinely nice and smart people. I mean, Kam is "something else", but at least 92% awesome. We spent our last night sitting around the campfire with Dad, Kam and their friend Tyler telling dirty jokes.

Other info about this area...
- The closest town is Nordegg, and they have gas and most services. Next closest is Rocky Mountain House, which is larger, with more services. It's a good place to stop for a quick snack or rest on the way down. Saskatchewan Crossing and access to the National Parks is about 20km away. It's nice drive in to Lake Louise or up the Icefields Parkway if you are so inclined.
- This entire stretch is dark sky rated. We had a couple of cloudy nights (and also I was too tired to stay up past 11pm), but the star viewing is supposed to be very amazing here!
- It is BEAR COUNTRY PEOPLE! You have to be really careful with food storage, garbage, etc. Walk in groups, walk loudly, carry bear spray, that kind of thing. That being said I think it's been many years since anyone has reported a bear sighting in the campground.
- There are a lot of informal camping sites along the highway. In fact, you could pretty much pull over anywhere and set up for the night. And a lot of people do. The big lake (reservoir) just to the north of Koontenay Plains (Abraham Lake) is the most beautiful colour of turquoise, and there are always loads of people with their trailers and tents set up on its shore.


BFF & I are already talking about coming back in the fall...