Christmas/Puerta Vallarta

Merry Christmas!!!! Thank you for all the Christmas cards we received, and the well wishes. It has been an exciting month for us. I have been busy as always teaching school, and managing the house. It is amazing how much time it takes to do laundry and keep this place clean. We had a month of school programs and activities, some parties for the holidays, and we spent 5 days at the beach in Puerta Vallarta. Tough life I know.


School is out for Christmas break, and we don't have to go back until Jan 7th. Joe found a great "last minute" deal at an all-inclusive in Puerta Vallarta, so we drove over there on the 18th, and returned on the 23rd. It was a 4 1/2 hour drive. It was beautiful. The kids loved the pool and we had a great time. The hotel itself was older, but we didn't mind. The food was great. We watched CNN every morning, and giggled when we saw all the snow. I don't miss the snow at all.

While we were in Puerta Vallarta, we visited a Mexican Zoo. The place was AWESOME. You purchase a bag of miscellaneous animal food when you enter for $50 pesos. Then, you walk a paved path through the entire zoo. As you go, you see the different animals, and you can feed them. Peanuts, carrots, bread, etc. We got to feed a Giraffe, and it was great. You could touch him if you wanted. We also fed monkeys which took the peanuts right out of our hands, and Zebras and camels also. They even had a baby tiger, and a baby jaguar that you could hold and get pictures of. It was the coolest zoo I have ever seen. I would go back anytime.

Whenever you go outside here, it feels somewhere between 70-80. It is like a beautiful spring day in Colorado when you take a deep breath and just smile. FABULOUS!!!! It hasn't rained since September, and it is sunny EVERY DAY. We spent this morning opening gifts from Santa. It took Alexandra about 2 seconds to rip the paper off her two gifts. She also got a bike. Along with the doll and the stroller, her life is now complete. For now anyway. Alan got a truck and a trike. Alexandra couldn't wait to see what Alan had received, so she also had to help him rip the paper off his presents. Joe and I carried their bikes to the plaza for the kids to ride, and both of them have already crashed. It was a nice morning. The weather is perfect as always, and it is a quiet day in Mexico.