viernes, el 31 de agosto de 2012

Max, all quilted up. Thanks Oma!!

Buenos noches all!!

810pm and madre is working on round 1 with Max…fingers crossed!! Naaah…he has been really good at night. Normally it has been 30 minutes con madre, then the Whisperer goes in for 10 minutes or so, sets up the camera and is done…until he stirs.

Our day? Tranquilo…hello, it is Huatulco!!

Max and I were up at the crack of dawn and followed the usual rutina. We had a nice walk and even un-slinged on the parque benches as they have been repainted.

And before we headed home for our siesta, we went to the kinder school. There, Max hung onto the bars of the exterior wall, staring at all the lil’people playing on the equipment. 830am the bell rings and all these kids scattered, Max loosened his grip, and we were off.

Short nap and due to the fact that madre had a late night, Max y padre headed off for round 2 of our morning.

Round 2? How about Max y padre headed to playa Santa Cruz for some crawling in the sand and some bobbing in the oceano? Followed by a stop at Che!!

Madre took the lil’surfer to playa Chahue yesterday, and I agree with her…lots of work when you are by yourself. Packing the needs, lugging them and Max, loading the camioneta, unloading the camioneta, getting Max ready, watching that he does not eat sand or get swept away by a rogue wave, getting him changed and then getting him home.

And throw in a stop at Che!!! Phew. Not hating (at all!!)…just stating.

We had a great time at the playa, no eating of the sand, just some sampling…oh Max!!

Thrilled that he is over his fears of the playa y olas!! We only spent 20 minutes on the beach, as I was worried about sun exposure. He wears sunscreen (thanks to mi hermano), a full sleeve rash guard, a hat and shorts, but the sun still hits the back of his neck and legs and sometimes on the small of his back when the rash guard rises. And with this Mexican sun…quick sunburns on the lil’red headed hombre.

920pm UPDATE…small storm outside…no TV signal. Might have to pick up a book!! Ja ja ja

Hey, take a look at THIS video…but only if you like nail biting nervousness.

  

And you thought it was going to be a video of Max being swept away by a wave!! Ja ja ja

After the playa, Max and I hit up Che and two weeks in a row…scored on real leche!! Other then that, not much new there. It is a funny town as when Che is out of wet wipes for Max, most tiendas in town are also out of stock as well.

Grabbed some pollo milanesa and some ground up chorizo…hola to Bubba’s quesadillas!!

I was pushing the limit on Max’s 2^nd nap and a tank up, and made it home just in time!! No need to cause a melt down and both Bex and I have tried hard to be proactive with these types of things with Max…and we think it has paid off huge.

Anyway, madre took over and I headed out to el gimnasio. Nothing new there, but did spend 45 minutes with my student. Today’s lessons were the verbs to prefer, to clean and to like. That and what the words I, you, he, she, them and we mean.

Slow process as she is smart enough to learn the words, but struggles with pronunciation…yo tambien…me too!!

Hilarious, as I would ask her to write a word in español, but she couldn’t understand me. So I would write the word and she would laugh at how I pronounced it.

Oh…she IS a twin…gemela. When I walked by the camioneta/escuela on the way to el gimnasio, I thought I saw my student and asked if she had studied her ingles. She said “otra”…other, meaning her sister, and then I confirmed they were twins and she was the oldest by seconds.

I talked to Un Ojo Bob and told him to follow up and we will see how the homework is next week. Stay tuned.

Headed to buy some verdura for the pico de gallo and quesadillas and then home. Madre took the lil’napster to the pool and I prepped for la cena and the night rutina.

And that pretty much wraps up the day.

Lean day on fotos. Ya ya, I know.

Well used truck for sale.

The sign on the grill reminds me that Mexico came up with that symbol for pesos, before it was used for dollars. 

Here is a picture of a Safari, also known as The Thing. Looks like the tamarindo is happy. Hmmmm?

Dos trikes loading up on hielo at the Vitel factoria.

Talking about pollo. Nahhh, this is a gallo, rooster....but still in someone's front yard.

Wow…is it sábado mañana? No weekend plans…except for the race on Sunday night.

Misc…meeting with Roman mid next week…welcome to Mexican time. For anyone who has built here in Mexico, delays are not uncommon. Stay tuned.

Ok mis amigos, buen fin de semana!!

Marco, Bexico y Max

jueves, el 30 de agosto de 2012

Hola mis amigos!!

All good in Huatulco. A WARM day and after some light showers, a warm evening.

11pm and I am hitting the sack. All is great, Max is asleep and Bex is hard at work.

Check back mañana!!

Bubba

miercoles, el 29 de agosto de 2012

So many requests for another foto of one of the cliff divers of Acapulco...so we had to oblige.

As you can see from this next foto...it is ALL about the speedo!

Buenos noches!!

Hola mis amigos!! A late night here in Huatulco. 830pm and Max has just hit the bedroom for a tanque up and the mandatory 30 minutes of patrolling the bed. Doph.

Why are we late? A 430pm nap started on time, but someone did not want to sleep until 5pm. And once we were asleep…hello to a one hour chest nap!!

So up at 6pm and that just put us behind for the night rutina. No crisis…we will catch up!!

And last night? Another late night due to our dining out, but Max was asleep at 915pm and slept until 330am…and then would not fall asleep again. Huh? He leche’d up and then I took on the 30 minute project of getting him back asleep. Maybe it was due to being in a different bed?

But what was the payback for all that work? How about a 4 hour sleep with the lil’hijo sleeping in the crutch of my arm? Score!!!

But getting up at 8a (holy sleeping in Batman), meant madre missed the “free” portion of her massage…hydrotherapy. But we called down and confirmed she would still be on time for the 9am massage, and that she was.

First though, hello to the desayunos buffet!!

The madre went off for her 80 minutes of massaging, and Max and I finished our breakfast.

Hmmmm...grilled cheese!!

And once that was done, up to the room to check the panale, say hello to our little friend and then off to patrol the lobby of the hotel.

Uniform check.

No grilled cheese in teeth? Check.

Padre...I am ready. Naa naa naa naa naa naa naa naa...Max Van!!

Doph...gotta pee.

If I was Superman...I could fly over this darn ledge!!

Cha ching...$40 pesos!!

This is Lalo #2...he used to work with Lalo #1 at Gabriels. Max is not sure about this brown fella...but hey, it is $10 pesos!!

Ugh...coffee breath?

Nap time came at 10am and madre was due back by 1030am…perfect. That and checkout was 11am, so it was good timing.

The nap lasted 45 minutes and when madre came back to the room, all massaged up, I twisted her rubber arm to take one more jacuzzi before we had to check out and head back to our hard lives at Condos Pacifico. Ja ja ja

A couple more tid bitts (heex3) from ayer? While walking the playa we are approached by some hombres selling items. We said no to both, and one of the guys decided to pick up Max and say hola. A super friendly beach hombre. The otra hombre came over and told Bex and I that he recognized us as the couple who walk around the centro with Max strapped to our chests!! Small town!!

And right after that, Max almost ended up on Gilligan’s Island. Doph. So he had crawled on the sand and had headed towards del mar, but this is NO tranquilo playa, so we were not letting him get too close. Just close enough that a small wave could lap up to him, or maybe just past him. This allows him to experience the olas and not become timido.

Good news? He was not timido, even though he definitely gave us the “what the F?” look.

Bad news? The wave lapped up to him and then past him and kept going…with him in the wave.

We are thinking all the pool training came in helpful here…for him. For us? It was the scene from Rocky…the one where he is chasing the chicken. I finally caught Max and he was a-ok. Let’s just say the padres learned ANOTHER parenting lesson.

Did I tell you about Max and cookie CUTTER? Ja ja ja

Last fotos from the hotel.

Dr Jeykll?

Mr Hyde?

View from the balcony.

Back to today.

We checked out, all was good and for the three of us, all inclusive (free samples of Negra Modelo? Ja ja ja) and the massage…only $4362 pesos. The most outrageous item? The internet charge was $200 for the day. At the condo we pay $400 for the month!! Doph.

Pit stop at Che to get that out of the way. No scores, but some good eats for dinner. At Che we bumped into Hector, m amigo from el gimnasio.

I have not seen him for 6 plus weeks and asked por que. He told me he had been busy on his rancho.

Down the next aisle and we bump into Sally, Hector’s wife. We say hola and she admires Max, and then I ask her why Hector hasn’t been at el gimnasio.

Let’s just say I asked one question and with one answer, Sally answered my question and the question as to what happened to Jhanhet, the gal who used to work at el gimnasio, but just stopped coming to work. Oh Hector.

Headed home and I have some sad news to report. One of our eco-friendly shopping bags had its handles break. We bought these bags at the Dominion store (that brand no longer exists) in Toronto, over 5 years ago!!

Every now and then we see Che selling reusable bags and will score some when they are available next.

Once home, Bex rounded up Max for some pool time, and then a siesta, while I unpacked and alos put away the loot from Che. Next up…el gimnasio.

Frigging hot day, but still managed an hour at the cook shack…aka El Gimnasio. Then it was time to see if my student was ready for me.

Did I mention she has a hermana that looks freakishly similar? No, they are not gemelos, twins…just very much alike.

I realized my student was not there and started helping the other sister with math. (X-5)(X-3) kinda stuff.

And then my student arrived and no, no tareas was done. Hmmmm. But we went over a bunch of words and some she knew right away and some she had no idea about, but is super eager to learn.

I asked her for one word in español that we would translate and then practice. What word did she pick? Carretilla…wheelbarrow. Huh? Well we did the exercise and then I told her for next time, let’s pick some words she really wants to learn.

45 minutes later and I was on my way. She would have liked me to spend 45 minutes practicing mañana, but I have been clear that this will happen only a few times a week.

Headed home and that is when the 430pm siesta story started…so you are all caught up.

Bex is LOADED with work and had some short deadlines…go go go. Feast or famine with projects for her, so we like the work and it just means we need to work our schedules. Best part about the work is that she actually likes the projects she is working on. Tough to have a project that you can accomplish, but just don’t enjoy spending your time on it.

Some around town fotos.

Fresh piña y uva for sale.

To get into the engine department, sometimes you just have to roll up the sleeves and kick off the flip flops.

If you see one of these camions... 

You are bound to see these peeps.

And it was hot out today!!

I finally figured out what they do in this tienda.

They sell a few shoes, but their main business is to clean shoes. $100 pesos to get your tenis cleaned.

Mañana? No sé…stay tuned.

Hasta mañana!!

Marco, Bexico y Max

martes, el 28 de agosto de 2012

Liking my European style speedo?

Buenos noches!!

1015pm and Max is asleep, I am updating the blog under a light in the foyer of the hotel room, and Bexico? She is on the patio…in the jacuzzi!! 

Feliz cumpleaños Bexico!!

Early start to the birthday, we arrived at the hotel for 11am and into our room for noon. Nice hotel, they call it 5 stars…more like 4, but not hating, just stating.

Low season so not all the restaurantes are open all day…we found that out the hard way as the buffet was open for comida, but cerrado para la cena. So off to the Seaside Grill, where it was noche chino…Chinese food night.

Let’s just say this resort does not have a Chinese Chef on staff!! Ja ja ja

The pork wontons were good...they do not know how to make a chocolate cake for postre!! At lunch…oh so yummy chocolate Tim Bitt’s were had.

Hot day…no fan where we had la cena…drenched and it was 730-8pm!! Lunch was inside and we had a super friendly mesero who I am sure appreciated the $50 peso tip…hey, he had a highchair and vicinity to clean up!!

Lots of work to make it to a hotel for one day, but worth it so Bex could chill-lax…and thank you to all that reached out and wished her a Happy Birthday!!

Here are some fotos, and then it is time to hit the sack. I did my best to eat and drink my fill…and I am full and pooped!! Ja ja ja

Max has a new amigo.

And is VERY happy to see him.

Mañana? Back to the grind of reality!! Ja ja ja

I will need a few hours in the gym for sure!! Che is on the list and I heard from Roman and it looks like this weekend or early next week for the final Mojon prices. Waiting on some casual peeps to supply some quotes…guys like the palapa hombre and the such.

Have a great miercoles.

Marco, Bexico y Max

lunes, el 27 de agosto de 2012

Buenos noches!!

730pm and I have 30 minutes until I go in and close the deal with Max…so time to start the updates.

Not sure when you will be reading this…or when I will be able to post this, as the net is down. We were in the middle of a FT with mis padres and we lost the connection.

So a few hours later and we have not seen any change. Doph…as at 10pm, Bex has a business Skype with her Aussie clients. She will have to venture out and hit the internet café and see if she can Skype from there, or at least send them an email letting them know about the issue.

And another domino with the outage? It looks like we might be in for a big storm tonite…hoping it can hold off until Bex has made her run to the café.

And another domino? Bex works through an online company, they post her resume per se and clients that have work can either post the job, or can see an artist they like and ask them to do work for them.

When paid hourly, the best way to go, Bex actually clocks in on the web and the client gets screen shots, showing the progress of the project and confirming Bex is getting paid for hours worked.

With out the net…no clocking in. She will have to email her clients (I think she has 4 on the go right now) and confirm they are ok if she proceeds with their projects, without clocking in.

If she doesn’t get approval and does work anyway, the client can come back and dispute the hours…no fun.

So, Viva la Mexico…and the internet. It has actually been a lot better this year…knock on wood.

Hey…825pm UPDATE

Max is asleep and the internet is back!!

OK, some deets from ayer, yesterday.

It was a tranquilo día as there was no race and no el gimnasio. So it was another Family Day!!

Max and I had our morning walk and we were interested in the kiosko…bandstand, in the zocalo.

There were 15 niños sitting on mats and with 5 maestros assisting, they were taking turns reading pages from a book and then answering questions about what had been read.

It looked like a government program as the maestros were wearing playeras that stated reading is free. Exciting to see as I know education is an area of opportunity in Mexico. Maybe I should go sit in the group and learn something!!

Later in the day, it was off to playa Santa Cruz. What was going to be a walk, turned into some playing in the arena and a dip in the ocean.

As we got to the playa, Max was antsy and did not like the olas, even though the waves were VERY small. So we sat with him in the sand and let him hold the umbrella, which seemed to calm his nerves.

Then we shimmied closer to the water and Max went to one hand on the umbrella and one in the sand.

Closer to the olas and we were down to no hands on the umbrella and the next thing we knew, he was headed towards the water…with a big smile on his face.

It was sunny out so it wasn’t a long beach day, but the boys went into the ocean to wash away some sand, and the lil’swimmer enjoyed the warm water and the bobbing up and down.

And when it was time to go, we found a table in the shade and put a new panale on Max. Due to the original plan of only going for a walk, this panale was one that madre had to go buy at a corner store. Yes, they sell solo diapers here!!

And as we were leaving the playa, we walked by INM and who was there on a domingo, in her street clothes? Our friendly inmigracion agent!! She unlocked the door, said hola to Max and we were on our way.

La cena por domingo? Mi padres favorito…lomo cerdo!! And Opa, it was sooo tender!!

OK, onto lunes.

We were up early again, 630am, so that meant that we could not be at INM first thing as it would overlap with Max’s primero siesta.

So we went about our rutina and grabbed our 30 minute nap at 930am. When we awoke, time to grab madre and after we all gathered ourselves (hello..tea for madre!!), off we went to INM.

And since it is on playa Santa Cruz, we packed for some beach time!!

INM went off without a hitch. Our friendly agent frisked Max…naaaah. She did hold Max while Bex and I went about signing papers and getting thumb printed. Our new document was exactly what they wanted and 15 or so minutes later, off we went…legal for another year!!

And how did Max react to the ocean today? Timido? Nope!!! We were prepared to have a replay of ayer, but when we put him down in the sand, he scooted off and headed straight for the oceano!!

It was high tide so most of the playa was wet, packed sand…perfect for the lil’crawler!! He scooted back and forth across the beach, stopping only for a face plant (oops) and to eat some sand…oh Max!!

So, suffice it to say, he loves the playa!! Next step? The bigger olas at Mojon!!

After the playa, off for a dip con madre and then we changed him up, waved adios to our INM amigas, and headed home.

More good news regarding the playa? Ayer, after the dip in the oceano, we took off Max’s ropa…and forgot to pack them for the trip home. Today, they were sitting on the same ledge we had left them on!! Ta da!!

Big difference in beach population today vs ayer. Ayer the playa y del mar was packed with families, as it is most domingos. Hoy, not a soul to be seen.

The rest of our day was casual and followed our rutina. Madre had some good nap action followed by comida, some JJ and her exercise rutina.

Me? El gimnasio and some running around for la cena as well as a regalo for someone’s cumpleaños!!

I also pit stopped in to chat up Un Ojo Bob as I had not gotten the homework I had requested from his daughter. She was not there, but when I came back from el gimnasio, she showed me her ingles/español libro and we chatted.

No tareas yet, so I gave her padre the gears. The plan is to pick the work up on miercoles, review it and sit down with her on jueves o viernes. Stay tuned.

So, what is the big plan for mañana? I had to run the idea by the birthday gal, as I needed to know if she would like it, and if it would work with the pequeño hombre.

Ok, if it is sunny, we are going to check into Dreams, the all inclusive resort in Tangolunda, 10 minutes from our condo. It is loooow season, so we have a great deal for a room, all the pools, all the restaurantes, all the virgin margaritas the birthday girl can drink, the oceano, and most important….a bathtub!!!

Should be super fun with the only question being what to do once Max is asleep for the night. Snuggle up and watch a DVD on the lap top?

1015pm UPDATE

Why do niños sleep with their butts in the air? It isn’t mentioned in any book we read!!

Here are the playa fotos.

Bex has finished her Skype and the clients love her preliminary work!! Full steam ahead with a 7 de septiembre deadline!!

Feliz cumpleaños to Bex and a great martes to all!!

Bubba, Bexico y Max

domingo, el 26 de agosto de 2012

Feliz cumpleaños to Jackson!!! And we all hope his padre is feeling better soon!!

The blogger is taking the night off.

All is GREAT....fun time at playa....will tell you all about it mañana.

It was a rough night...not sure if the lil'guy has a cold or more dientes, but he was up almost every hour. Doph. Madre had him 130am-730am in the otra recamara and I took over after that. Poor guy.

945pm and he has already stirred twice, thus I am hitting the sack soon.

Hope you had a great weekend.

Marco, Bexico y Max

sábado, el 25 de agosto de 2012

Hey padre...A is for apple, B is for boobie?

Booooobies.

A little privacy please.

Breakfast ready yet?

Hola!!

930pm and 77 laps left in the Nascar race in Bristol!!

It was a great day with the lil’hombre!!

Up earlier then normal…and only a shorty nap, but madre made up for that with 2 loooooong siestas with the lil’guy later in the day.

Took a day off from el gimnasio…familia día, and it allows me to rest up some tight shoulders. Ouch.

So family day means we all went out for a walk…and grabbed some frozen yogurt for madre y Max, and some mint helado for Bubba!!

On our earlier walk, Max and I spent some 25 minutes plus at Gabriels, saying hola to the team and letting him stretch his legs by cruising some jewelry displays!!

Carlos has a son with Downs, and has seen Max before at the alberca and at the tienda. He loves to pat Max on the head and always says “bebe” when he sees him.

The niño is probably 13 years old or so, doesn’t speak much, but based on what I saw, communicates well with Carlos. When he saw Max standing on his own, he made sure his padre heard him say that I needed to keep an eye on Max so he didn’t fall.

All was well until Max drooled on him and then tried to grab a clump of hair!! Ja ja ja

So, a tranquilo day again, mix of sun and clouds and perfect cloud cover for a late dip in the alberca for the familia.

Good eats para la cena, muslo pollo, and then a late start to the rutina due to the late nap…Max’s, not mine!! Ja ja ja

But Max was asleep very fast…30 minutes might be a new record for us. Talking about records, what is the record for number of attempted head stands before a níno falls asleep? Max’s number is around 15. Ja ja ja

Funny story behind these fotos.

Max is laying over my lap and is wailing away on the Mac. When he figured out how to open it, it turned on and the screen saver, which is a foto of him, appeared. Big smile when he saw that and then started trying to touch every key. 

His favorite is to lean on a key and just listen to it make noise.

When the computer started sliding to the edge of the bed, I had to move it and Max got hyped up like I was taking away M&Ms from his madre!! The niño loves the Mac!! 

Mañana? Familia domingo!! Real milk on cereal…nice!!

Have a great Sunday.

Marco, Bexico y Max

viernes, el 24 de agosto de 2012

Hola!!

Here are the very first fotos of Max standing on his own!!

Max wanted to know why padre was taking a siesta!!

I love the lil'hombre in his grey shorts and with his buddha hanging out!!

Other then the excitement of seeing our lil'hombre standing on his own, viernes was muy tranquilo….very quiet!!

Up early and we were greeted by a very damp morning. We had a night of lluvia y rayos and until 11am or so, it was wet and grey outside.

So Max and I hung around the sala, ate some desayunos and after 2.5 hours, it was nap time. And it was a good one!! 70 minutes after he closed his eyes, I opened mine!! Ja ja ja

And by that time, madre was up and took over and spent the day con our hijo. They had a good walk and came back with a new jugete…another one!! This one is a good teether.

Me? El gimnasio and then 20 minutes chatting up Amy y Victor, who were making a delivery to the tiangus. Funny guys and they enjoy learning more about what life is like outside the walls of Mexico.

I promised them some chelas and a hockey game on TV…if the NHL has a season this year. I am busy filling up my schedule for the 3 days mi familia is away in Ontario. Ja ja ja

A pit stop at Papaloapan to grab some molida res and then headed home, just in time to help get the lil’hombre dressed so we could all go on an exciting trip to Che!!

No scores….except real leche!! But it has a 4 day shelf life….chug a lug!!

Crazy nap schedule for the lil’guy and by the time he awoke from nap #3, it was close to his supper time and he did not enjoy the short time at the pool. Madre brought him back upstairs and just like madre, was a-ok after being fed!!

Nice to have not one, but two FTs with Victoria BC. Mi hermana was there, so she managed to see the lil’cutie and since Max had not seen his Oma for a few día, we dialed her up while he was chilling in the tina.

Happy to report that he fell asleep fairly easy, and has only needed some mid-sleep reassurances twice so far. Doph. It only takes a minute or so and then he is lights out again.

Have a great weekend!!

Marco, Bexico y Max