January 2009
photos at bottom of page (text that refers to a photo is followed by o)
The new year started with a new addition to our family o. The day before, we had found a kitten that we instantly fell in love with. Even Mike, who is not a cat person, did not offer a peep of dissent at the question of adopting her the next day! She instantly won all of our hearts with her funny antics. She makes it difficult to concentrate and get through school, because we are all laughing so hard at her running around the boat, pouncing on things, and generally being just too cute. We were going to name her Izzy, but since we were in Zihuatanejo, Mike suggested that we combine the two, hence, Izzihua, or Izzy for short. At the same time, we were ready to leave Zihuatanejo and explore some more of Mexico. The central coast of Mexico is beautiful. There are tons of bays and river mouths for surfing and exploring. We had a lovely week slowly working our way up the coast o. For several days we were in the company of another kid boat out at Isla Grande. We had several get-togethers and kid sleepovers. Mike and Nancy got to do a couple of nice scuba dives, and then we headed further up the coast to explore more surf spots with another boat o. While we were exploring, we were also still doing school. We completed another twenty lessons and got through another series of tests. The kids are maintaining their grades so far... Fletcher consistently gets A's, and Dana gets B's. We did an overnighter to get to our next big destination and completed the testing and grading while underway. As soon as we got to Barra, we went in to town to check email. There was a message from that very day that Nancy's dad was not doing well and they were requesting her to come help. What can you say? Plans were quickly made for her to fly back to the states to see what she could do. At the same time, there were some issues to deal with in California that had been hanging over us since October. Our first morning in the anchorage was the morning of the presidential inauguration in the United States, so we took the kids in to watch it. It is the first one that they have watched and it was pretty exciting. In the anchorage there were more kid boats that we had a great time meeting and hanging out with. Dana had her first paid babysitting job and is very good at it, and she is enjoying making money. One night all the kids hung out on one boat, while all of the parents went out to dinner o. It was very nice. A couple of days later, Nancy took off in a taxi to get to the airport headed for California and Virginia o. It was an exhausting three weeks in the states for Nancy, but Mike and the kids continued to explore the coast and maintained the school schedule. They mostly divided their time between Tenacatita and Barra. Tenacatita is a beautiful bay with lots of saltwater activities o. There is surfing, snorkeling, long swims in clean water, long beach walks, kayaking, river trips, bon fires... Nancy was very jealous that they were having so much fun without her!
PHOTO JOURNAL
Please click to enlarge!
Our new addition to the family, darling Izzihua (Izzy)! Izzy's first boat ride in life jacket. Exploring the coast of Mexico, checking out surf spots, bays and lagoons.
Inauguration 2009 at the Grand Bay Hotel, Barra de Navidad, Mexico. A fun, grown-up dinner out (Nancy's new haircut). Nancy heads to the airport to help with her dad back in the states.
While mom's away, the kids will play! Fun in Barra lagoon, bon fires on the beach at Tenacatita, group river trips, Hopper dog, and fun with the new kayak.