SUNSHINE AND FRIENDS

First I want to thank the commenters on the last post.  I feel vindicated.  The clothes available to us fat broads are atrocious.  I wish I was an ambitious youngun' like the Kardashians or Kate Hudson and invent my own line of clothes.  Melissa whatshername Mcarthy..thats it, did a line of fatty clothes and some of those pics I put on that post were her designs.  Shame on her!!

So dinner with the rellies was great!  Kathy and Kerry came up and joined us and they are always the best dinner guest one could have.  They always love my food and provide interesting talk.  Plus whilst I put the finishing touches on dinner they kept the other guests busy.  I miss Bill doing that for me.

We had a great evening.  Kerry is very very well informed on the politics from the south of us.  And Dan, my cousin Dorothy's mate, was a Trumper, a polite one.  So the convo was very interesting.

Last night was the Kiwanis Quiz Night.  Kathy and Kerry make up 100 questions...ONE HUNDRED!!!!!!  Then Kiwanis organizes tables for teams of four.  And then we play.  And it is so much fun!!!  Jocelyn and I and another couple made up our team. We called it Baby and Senior Brain!  And our name came true as we came in last out of 11 teams.  Sigh.  And we thought we did so well.  But boy was it ever a fun night.  Kathy and Kerry ran the whole question part...so well.  My hats' off to them!  And the money made went to a back pack of food program to feed needy kids on weekends...kids that may not get fed over the two days.  A very satisfying worthy cause.

Today Anne is on her way up for coffee and lunch.  We have a ton to catch up on so I best get going.  The sun is out and its sparkly outside, but still really cold.  I hope it warms up soon...pretty soon it will be the longest day of the year and the days will start to get shorter again....not to be a Debbie Downer or anything!  TTYL

COUSINS AND UGLY UGLY CLOTHING

That title is a little misleading!  I just got a call from Cousin Dorothy!!  I was a wee bit worried at first.  Uncle Gordon, her dad, was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer a year and a half ago and I know he has been slowing down.  I was worried this might be not so great news but no, she and her mate will be here for dinner and the night tonight!!!  I am so excited.  I have missed Dorothy since moving from Victoria!  And Uncle Gordon is like the energizer bunny...he just keeps ticking!!!  He is still out and about every day, driving and visiting.  Amazing man!!!

So when I am finished this post I shall hop into Tank and head down to Safeway.  I have already made my list.  This truly is my fave thing to do.  First the thinking, then the list, then the shopping and then the cooking!  Shepherd's Pie tonight!

I just finished making plans for May long.  Anne and I are going to go to Cranbrook!!!  I booked us into the Super 8 for Fri. night, Sat and Sun. nights.  Her family has moved there and she would love to see where they are living, as would I.  I can't wait. Anne and I always have such a good time.  We can kill that eight hour trip no problem.  We will laugh and talk and eat the whole way!  

And instead of coming straight home, I booked us into a rustic cabin (but its down town so how rustic can it be) in Radium Hot Springs.  We are going to swim swim swim in the big hot pool!  And we are either going to go out for dinner or we are going to buy steaks and cook our own in the cabin.  We will maybe swim again the next day then head home.  What a great way to spend the holiday!

I received an email from the Fat Lady Store yesterday, the usual 'buy this crap' type.  I decided to actually take a look.  I was actually in the store yesterday but sometimes there is stuff online you can't get in the store.  But let me tell you why I was in that stupid store.

I had to go to the Scotia bank then the TD.  Now normally I park halfway between the two banks.  They aren't far apart.  I have actually considered parking at the Scotia then driving over to the TD.  But seriously, its more work getting in and out of the jeep than walking the fifty yards.

So yesterday I checked that damned stupid annoying health icon on my phone and I had not walked nearly enough steps.  So I parked way up by the fat lady store and walked to the banks and back.  The night before I parked way across the parking lot at Costco just to get those steps up.  Damn.  Tongue in a sore tooth I tell ya! So of course being parked right outside the store I went in and took a quick cruise about.  Nothing.

Anyway back to the fat lady email.  I went through the clothing in their catalogue and I was shocked and appalled at their clothes.  You know I shouldn't be.  Fat women have very little choice in their off the rack wardrobe, but jeez!  To prove my point I have included some of the stuff below.  I stole their pics!  Now you tell me...would you wear that crap? 

Anyhoo....gotta bounce....tons to do today!  TTYL

SERIOUSLY!  SHOW YOUR STOMACH?  LIKE WHO WANTS TO SEE YOUR STRETCH MARKED GUT!  AND THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS UGLY CRAP.  SHE IS BEAUTIFUL AND COULD LOOK AMAZING WITH THE RIGHT CLOTHES.  AND WHO WEARS SEE THROUGH SHORTY NYLONS WITH A SKIRT?!!  OMG!!!

UGLY UGLY UGLY

OH MUMMY!!!   HELP!!!

DINOSAUR PANTS

UGLIEST SHIRT EVER

NO MAYBE THIS ONE IS UGLIER

OH GOD!  THERE ARE NO WORDS

WARM AND FUZZY

I had the best time at Kevin's!  Actually this whole past week has been a wonderful time with my kids!

There is something special about spending time with your grandchildren and now that they are older its so much more interesting.  I may get an argument from Gramma's of younger ones LOL!! but myself, I love them even more as they get older.  Its so much fun to tease them and play games and cook for them.  I went to Fenton's very first baseball game, reluctantly.  I am not really one to watch kid sports but felt obliged.  And I ended up screaming and yelling  (good stuff) louder than anyone.  I couldn't help it!  I would happily go to every one of his games if I could!!

I did lots of cooking whilst there, which I love love love!  Apparently Tandy doesn't like ham, which happens to be Kevin's fave.  Consequently they never have it.  So I bought a bone in, old schooly, ham.  I made roasted ham, scalloped potatoes and coleslaw.  OMG!!  Even Tandy liked it!  Kevin was in heaven!

The night before I made a massive big east indian dinner...subjitt, dahl and curried pork.  So yummy!  The night before that I made a huge vat of mac and cheese and bbq'ed chicken.  Mmmmmm..... And the last thing I did the day I left was make a pot of pea soup with the ham bone.  I love to cook!

Another thing we did before I left was I made each one of them go shopping on amazon.ca for something.  That way over the next two weeks a present will arrive for each of them...including Kevin and Tandy.  What fun that was!!!  Kevin got a board game, Tandy got a fantastic book on muscles, Fenton got a Minecraft puzzle game and Elise got a Lego Disney Princess Castle.    It was a very fun kitchen table shopping trip!

The trip home was lovely.  That road over the top to Merritt is a good one for introspection.  There is barely any traffic and you truly are out in the middle of nowhere high up and alone.  I love it.  I went through some pretty heavy snowfall but nothing awful.

  One lovely thing that happened as I cruised along.  I saw movement in a patch of pure white snow just on the other side of the fence that ran along the highway.  As I drew closer I saw that it was a magnificent huge beautiful silver tipped grey wolf.  I stopped the car and he was no more than about 70 feet or less from me.  He quickly sat up straight, perked up his beautiful huge pointy ears and stared right into my eyes.  His huge bushy tail wagged a bit.  I left before he was tempted to run off.  So exciting!

I took the low road home from Merritt...not a soul on the road.  What a beautiful drive that is.  And it goes right to my house...well almost.  The trip was exactly two hours, door to door.

I have decided to retire my slr camera...for now.  Its so so heavy to lug around.  I am taking an online course on how to better use my iphone 6plus camera.  And its working.  I have been pretty happy with the pics I have taken.  I will still haul out old Nikon when it warrants but I think it will be less and less.  That camera is getting old too.  And you know that saying, "The best camera is the one you have with you."

And, speaking of which....that iphone is now with me every inch of the way.  Now that I am measuring my steps (shovel list to the power of infinity but I can't help it) it is with me all the time.  There is no point in taking my pic today.  After the last week on the road, well, you know.  Next week.

So I arrived home to a wonderfully clean house.  The boys had gotten my mail and sorted it out for me.  Apparently they were here just before I got home...jam session downstairs.  Now I must be off to somewhere for fresh food.  Trying to decide where to go.  All for now...TTYL

LEFT TO RIGHT,LOREN, TANDY'S AUNT, FENTON, JOANNE (TANDY'S MOM) TANDY, KEVIN AND ELISE

I FINALLY GOT A PIC OF FENTON WHERE HE ISN'T MAKING A GOOFY FACE, THEN I NOTICED HIS SISTER IN THE BACKGROUND....SIGH

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HE LOOKED LIKE

AND I THOUGHT I HAD THE PERFECT PIC OF ELISE...TIL I SAW THE SNOT  HANGING OUT OF HER NOSE...SIGH

MAYBE THIS EXPLAINS IT ALL

CRISPY GREEN BEANS AND TEMPURA PRAWNS

Well that title only means one thing in our house.  Noodle House on Lonsdale!!!! There is a rumour going around that the Noodle house is closing down!  Noooooooo!!!!!  So I decided I needed to go there at least one more time. Let me tell you about it!

Firstly April, Myles and I went to his grandmother's senior residence, an absolutely beautiful place, for Easter brunch.  The chef there spent his previous career at The Fairmont!  And let me tell you the food was spectacular.  I tried really hard not to eat too too much because I knew I was meeting Jess at the Noodle House for a three o'clock snack.

The food...oh the food!  There was Caesar salad, asparagus, roasted veggies, roasted potatoes, mushroom ravioli (the best I have ever tasted), halibut in a to die for butternut lemon puree, eggs Benedict, ham carvery and a whole desert table, with pumpkin pie, creme brule, cookies, cakes, squares, panna cotta, and on and on and on.  Oh goodness it was amazing food!

We spent an hour or two upstairs with Bakka.  She was such a hoot....what a saucy sense of humour she has!  We laughed and laughed.  Sometime I will tell you about the tumeric taste test we did!

Then I drove straight to the Noodle House.  Egad! I didn't want to just sit there with Jess.  I needed to order something, anything!  So I got what used to be Bill's and my fave thing...tempuraed green beans and prawns tempura.  And guess what?  I ate them all...jeez!  On top of all that awesome brunch food...and they were delicious!  Way to eat healthy...not.

The next day I packed up and April and I met Aryn and Bradley and Clare and Tish at the Rusty Gull for lunch.  What a lovely time we had!  Its always so so good to see the two of them.  We caught up on all the news and spent a lovely time with them.  After Clare and Tish left, the kids and I visited for a little longer.  We had a good laugh or two...which you will see why at the bottom of this post!  

From there I toodled over to Cookie's.  I had not seen her since last Sept.!!!  We had a fantastic visit!  Brian came home and, bless his heart if he didn't make dinner, serve us dinner and washed all the dishes after dinner!!!  What a guy!  I left :( the next morning for Penticton.

I had a great trip up.  But I had to decide whether to go the Princeton, Keremeos way or up the Coquihalla and over the top.  And when I got to the decision intersection, I was in the wrong lane to go to Princeton so headed up the Coquihalla.  It was a lovely peaceful trip.  There were very few cars on the road and almost no one heading over the top to Kelowna.  And...I had music all the way!

So now I am here at Kevin's.  The kids are great, growing so fast and so so interesting.  These guys do a very clever thing.  There is no tv in their life, never has been.  But they do get an ipad for games once a week.  They each have assigned chores and each chore has an amount of ipad minutes attached.  Sweeping the kitchen is five minutes, unloading the dishwasher is five minutes, cleaning their room is 20 minutes and lots of little two minute ones.  Fenton told me that he does at least enough chores to get up to an hour before he cashes in!  This system works like a charm!!!!  Today he earned twenty minutes by doing laundry!

Well tonight is Burger 55 nite!  Yippeee!!!  Again not good for my Monday stats but boy I tell ya I love the corn dogs in this place.  They are hand dipped and a foot long!  what more could one want!  TTYL

MAKING COFFEE FOR US...SUCH A POSER!

PROUD OF THE TABLE AND FOOD WE DID

THESE ARE THE BEAUTIFUL CAKES ETHNE MADE

THE WAY NOT TO MAKE COFFEE

THE TURKEY AND HAM I WON!!!

THE BEAUTIFUL SHOWER GIRL

JESS AND I HAVING A CUP OF CHAI

BRADLEY, APRIL AND ARYN...YOU SHOULD SEE THE OTHER PIC I TOOK...UGLY UGLY GIRLS

A WOMAN WITH A LITTLE MAN GROWING OUT OF HER HEAD WALKS INTO A BAR.......

COOK CLEAN COOK CLEAN COOK CLEAN

I have been here at April's for a couple of days now.  We have been buried under baby shower doings.... cakes, krispie squares (pink ones no less), chicken salad, beet salad, pink devilled eggs, fudge, spinach dip, tomato basil sticks, filled baby bottles with candy, numbering baby food jars, getting games ready and on and on.  It has been so much fun.  April's friend Eithne was here making the cake, the beautiful cake.  I will post pics tomorrow!

We just, we being Myles, April and I, have discovered that if you tap the 'health' key on your iphone it will tell you how many steps you took today, if you climbed stairs and how many kilometres you went.  Like I want to know.  But like sticking your tongue in a sore tooth, I know I am going to start looking and start taking extra walks to boost the old steps counter.  Sigh.  But what a cool little app that is!

Well after many phone calls with Monte, it sounds like he might have things a little under control.  His doctor has ordered mri's and cat scans, ekg's etc...It looks like this doctor is serious about getting to the bottom of things.  Unfortunately he can only get along okay if he is taking anti anxiety pills, which he hates and doesn't want.  He just wants to be normal.

Well its late, my old bones are tired, my old head is befuddled and my stomach is big.  My Monday pictures are falling behind.  May will be better for when I am home.  In the meantime, I will post two pics....what I am aspiring for.  I apologize that its Mamma June, but really I am aspiring to do what she did!  TTYL

Add caption

MUNCHAUSEN SYNDROME

Well I am heading to Vancouver today.  I am really looking forward to seeing April and Myles again...its been a while.  And I plan on having lunch tomorrow with a friend.  On Saturday April is hosting Jess's baby shower.  Sunday is brunch with Myles's grandmother at her beautiful senior home.  They do a beautiful brunch each holiday.

And then...Lunch with Clare and Tish!!!!!  Aryn and Bradley and possibly April will be there too.  It has been way too long since we saw them and I can't wait. Its a little bit like seeing Bill again.

Monte, bless him, is back in the hospital in Port Alberni.  I mentioned Munchausen in the title...if I suffered Munchausen (by proxy I think) I would be in heaven.  I could try to get all kinds of attention at his expense but alas!  I do not.  I just want him to be well enough to cope.  He phoned me around five this morning so distressed he could hardly function.  For the past week all his symptoms had flooded back..maybe even worse.  He can't speak properly, he can't walk properly, he has seizures (or pseudo seizures...we aren't sure) and we still have no diagnosis and really no hope of one.  

The minute he hits the emergency they jump to the conclusion he is a drug addict or just hopelessly crazy. And boy they treat him accordingly.  After impatiently getting cross with him they send him home.  They take a blood test immediately and find out he is NOT on any drugs and never has been, other than prescribed ones.  And he can't function on his own.  He has lost his driver's license, he can't work, he can't even get food into his house.  I am at a total loss as to what should happen now.  I have a feeling he needs to get into a different hospital, either Nanaimo or Victoria.  He has good history with them.  He needs to see a psychiatrist I think.  I don't know what to do.  In this country/province you can't 'just see' a psychiatrist.  Its like getting into fort knox.

I am all packed up.  Tank is right full of stuff.  I was going to leave fairly early this morning and maybe do some necessary shopping in Van.  But I am going to wait until I hear from Port Alberni.  I think it might be a good sign that its been at least two hours this time.  They haven't just booted him out right away.  My stomach is in knots.  TTYL

PS:  I just looked out the window and its F***ING SNOWING....

SO FUTURISTIC AND EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!

I have to make a quick little post here!!!  I am so excited!!

As you know I do not have a doctor anymore.  And the only way to see a doctor is to go to a clinic super early and stand in line and hope you get an appointment for later that day. If they fill up before you get to the head of the lineup you have to start all over again the next morning.

Or, as I am going to do, drive to Vancouver and see one there.

But...I decided to try the online doctors.  Yesterday I was at Kathy's for coffee and I mentioned this to her.  She grabbed her lappy and before you could say bob's your uncle, (or in my case dead step father) she had me signed up and ready to go.  When I got home I signed on and talked to one of the administrators and had an appointment for this morning.

And I just got off the video conference with an awesome good looking young practitioner who asked me a bunch of questions and renewed my prescriptions for the next three months!!!!!!!!!!!  OMG!!!!!   I felt like I was in Adolph Huxley's world!  Seriously!!!  I really feel like I am now in the future I used to imagine when I couldn't sleep in the night when I was a kid.  And no lineups!!!  Just had to share this.  TTYL

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

I am going to start this post by answering some questions 'Camper Canada' asked at the end of my last post.  She/he posed some interesting questions.

Yes, the room was dated.  The only downside to that was that the minute we arrived we were harassed to upgrade.  An upgrade involved a better view and an upgraded room.  Also I can't help but feel that the bed would have been much more comfortable too...my bed was old, lumpy and hard!  

As for whether I would go back...I would have to say no.  Not because of the room, but because the whole place is dated and just simply too big.  I maybe wouldn't have been so aware of this except Cookie and I stayed in a beautiful smaller place last year.  The food in this last place was better, but the grounds were so much easier and prettier where we stayed last year.  And I think I have made the decision I won't be going back to Mexico at all.  Its not really my kind of activity (or inactivity LOL!)  Don't get me wrong,  I had a wonderful time and I don't regret it for a second.  The group I was with more than made up for any shortfall there may have been!

And Camper also asked if I had ever resolved my condo sale in Maui.  And the short answer is NO!!!!  Just before I left for Mexico I got a fourth letter from the IRS...telling me that my form I keep sending in to apply for a tax number...something you have to have to have if you want to get  the left over money they kept to cover american capital gains,  was yet again rejected because of a wrongly ticked box.  Only this time I have to not only send in another filled out W7 form but all the other stuff too, true copy of my passport (thank God they sent it back so I can use it again, it took two months to get that sucker from the Canadian Passport office) my 2015 tax papers and other stuff.   Jesus H!!!!  I think if I sent in my first born it wouldn't help.  It is so so tempting to just walk away and let them have at it.  But unfortunately I have to pay capital gains here in Canada too so I need the leftovers to help pay for that.  They kept about forty thousand dollars, not chump change.

And I have a really big beef with Canada.  I get why we pay capital gains.  We use the roads and the infrastructure etc...where the property is and the property taxes don't cover this completely apparently, so okay, capital gains supplements that.  So why the hell does Canada deserve one freaking dime of foreign capital gains?  They have NO right to it. My ownership of foreign property didn't cost this stupid country one dime. Makes me mad.

On another note, the last few days have been pleasant and relaxing.  I had dinner down at Kathy's two nights ago.  Baby Stirling is still in the crying stage and so hard on Mom and Dad.  Babies under three months are either criers or they are not.  He tends to be!  But later they put him in the swing and he was wide awake, looking around, for the longest time, perfectly happy!  I left a little early.  I had to get home to clean the house in preparation for Alice, the housekeeper, coming the next day!

Yesterday afternoon Graeme came over with all the ingredients for a gnocchi making lesson.  And gnocchi he made!  It isn't difficult but he had to get the consistency just right which can be tricky.  And then he proceeded to make the most delicious tomato sauce.

  Its funny, the week before I had taped a show called Lydia.  She is an Italian cook on PBS and shows us how to make different Italian dishes.  And one of them was gnocchi.  Graeme and I watched the episode together and picked up a few tips...that he used!  For example, she added bits of water that the gnocchi had been boiled in to the sauce and it was miraculous what that did!

And that gnocchi was beyond delicious!  The little pillows of yumminess simply melted in your mouth amidst the most delicious tomatoey sagey sauce.

Today is pack stuff day.  I have a lot of stuff to get together to take to Vancouver next week.  I have Christmas presents, baby shower stuff (Jess's), pots and pans to use at April's for cooking stuff for the shower, a book for Aryn, camera stuff, easter stuff for the grand children etc.......  I don't want to forget anything.  I have a ton of laundry too.  (shovel list)  I hate doing laundry.  So I best bounce and get to it!!!  TTYL

THE INFAMOUS LAZY RIVER THAT SNAKES THROUGH THE PROPERTY...TUBING

JAPANESE RESTAURANT WHERE THEY COOK IN FRONT OF YOU...THAT CHICKEN IS THE RICE

AND THERE'S THE HAPPY BUNCH!!  

SUE...THE LOVELY LADY THAT ORGANIZED IT ALL

I TAKE THE LOVELY PART BACK!

CEASAR BAR

WHERE IS TOTO?

The last day started with a lovely breakfast by the pool.  We had until 2 before we would board a bus for the two hour trip to Cancun.  The rest of the crew then went to the beach for a last hour.  I decided to go and finish packing and get the checkout procedure over with.

We boarded a very hot bus at two.  It was 39 degrees out and humid.  The poor bus a/c couldn't keep up.  But a few of the crew brought cold beers and started handing them out.  I took one that time!

The transat plane was full to the max.  Kathy had done the seat selections and had scored front seats for her and Kerry and row four for me.  I sat beside a fairly chunky young woman and her husband.  And she was truly beyond terrified of flying.  I felt bad for her.  She was like a frozen statue!  Later, she did tell me that she had been in a plane crash, a sea plane up in Prince Rupert one year ago!  I was pretty impressed with her courage.

About four hours into the flight the captain came on to tell us that there was a problem with the oil level in the right engine and we would be making an emergency landing in Kansas City.  Achh jeez! The poor girl beside me almost died.  It still took another hour about to get there and land.

We sat on the plane for about two hours until they fixed the problem.  It was fun...everybody talking and making jokes and complaining about the temp in the plane etc.  Finally we were on our way.

The drive home was uneventful and we finally pulled into my driveway around six in the morning.  I opened a bunch of mail, drank a V8 and went to bed.  About nine Graeme showed up with Tank.  A very muddy dirty Tank I must say.  He went off roading up in Bach and Monte told him to leave the dirt on the jeep...that I would like that!  And he was right!  Clean jeeps are for sissies!  

Today I am going to have to get dressed and go buy food.  I am hungry and I need healthy stuff..no more bologna sammiches.  I also have to take a picture of fat me and post it.  Every monday!  I am going to also post the first pics of the place in Mexico.  For the next couple of posts I am going to post some pics.  TTYL

KATHY TOOK THIS PIC...THATS A LONG SHOT OF PART OF SIRENIS

ONE PART OF THE LOBBY

WALKING OFF TO A DINNER SPOT

HALF MY ROOM

OTHER HALF...HEY COOKIE!   AT LEAST THEY HAD A BATHROOM DOOR

AN INTEGRAL PART OF A TRIP TO MEXICO...I DON'T LIKE MARTINIS BUT ITS WORTH IT FOR THE OLIVES

FLYING GORILLAS AND MONKEY BALLS

So here I sit in my room in Mexico.  This place is so different than the one I was in last year with Cookie.  And to be brutally honest, I am not sure what to think.  Some of it is amazing and some of it is downright creepy.

Many times while I sit in the lobby or in the dining areas or even at the pool, movies about closed religious compounds come to mind.

Everybody is scurrying around, going somewhere.  Where?  Who knows!?  They disappear going that way, they disappear going back the other way and around corners, and up stairs and through doorways.  All through the trees and grassy areas outside my window are pathways, with people scuttling along, going this way and that way.  Its creepy.

The food is pretty good...hit and miss.  The miss part is, for example, a lovely mound of potato salad, mmmm, one of my faves.  So you take lots. But it turns out to not be quite right, almost, but not quite.  The potatoes are not fully cooked and kind of hard.  The mayonnaise doesn’t taste exactly like ours.  There is chopped up strange chewy things mixed in.  Not quite right.  The seafood salad with the fake crab (I love that fake crab, its actually pollack, stuff) looks amazing.  But no.  That fake crab is a trick.  It tastes like pickled sardines.  Blech!

But when they get it right, its really right.  Their fish, calamari, smoked salmon, and tuna are to die for.  Unfortunately by the time you figure out whats good, its time to go home.!

Smoking.  You know you are amongst a ton of Europeans by the many that smoke.  Its like a step back in time, all these people walking around smoking.  The outside eating areas are kind of ruined by the smokers.  And its unfortunate when you snag awesome beach chairs, right beside smokers.

  One day, this has nothing to do with smoking, we were in our chairs and in front of us was a young couple.  She was kind of chunky and so was he.  I noticed them because they were right in front of us and she was laying on her stomach on the chair and smoking.  When she sat up she did not have a top on and bazooms stuck straight out, staring at us.  Yup...definitely European!

And the drinking....on lordy lordy!!!  Do we ever drink!  And from what I can tell they don’t water down the drinks.  The cocktail menu has thirty eight drinks on it, but you can ask for anything and they will make it for you!  After the first day of drinking a crazy amount of different drinks, like flying gorilla, congo bongo, monkey balls etc....I finally switched to diet coke with lime and was much happier!  The cervaza was a little too skunky for me!

But the best best best of all?  The seventeen other people we came here with.  What an amazing awesome bunch of people they are.  I have had some heavy duty amazing conversations with some of them and I have laughed til I got charlie horses in my rib cage.  A few of them are so damned funny!  We all do our own thing, or go to the beach together, during the day and then meet for happy hour before going for dinner.  And every night there is a show of some sort put on by the most talented crew of dancers and singers.  They are truly top notch.

Also, so exciting, I was sitting in one of the  lobbies this morning reading.  Suddenly I heard a very familiar voice calling to his youngest little one who was taking off, hell bent for election.  I looked up and sure enough it was Sheldon, a chef who has been on Top Chef twice and is from Maui!  We have been to his restaurants and Aryn has even met him in person!  I love the guy.  I smiled at him and he took the time to look back and give me one of his famous awesome smiles!

I am home now.  And we had a crazy long day yesterday and today.  We started travelling at 12 noon home time and drove into the driveway at six the next morning.  The trip involved a lot of bus beer and an emergency landing in a strange US city.  I shall tell that story tomorrow and include some pics.  TTYL

PS:  I haven't forgotten about the accountability thing.  Tomorrow is Monday...the magic 'change things' day!  So if I wake up enough I shall run to the store and get healthy food and I will pick an outfit and take the pics and post them at the end of the entry.