jueves, el 31 de enero de 2013

Good morning fotos from Max...with some toothpaste showing!! Oh padre!

Buenos noches!!

What a super day!! Up early as per usual and the boys had a big breakfast and then made one for madre to eat in bed!!

Then we finished packing up and hit the road for Mojon. Managed to get there by 1030pm and Max, who was already into his 4^th hours of the day, ran to the playa for some fun con madre.

Me? Set up the palapa and then prowl the playa. I had a meet con Roman at noon and we managed to spend some good time reviewing our costings.

The issue? I was looking for answers to why our casa in the first set of plans was $400,000 pesos less then the latest set, even though I thought they were similar designs.

Looks like we have an extra 37 m2 of concreto in the latest design. That comes from adding a meter to the big bedroom, making the house a rectangle vs having one side on an angle and then there are some walls added on the roof for the terrace.

Throw in $70,000 for some roof top palapas and we have the answers. Now we need the solutions.

So we deleted the walls on the side of the roof that houses the solar panels. We deleted the rooftop palapas and will get those requoted later and we also lowered the walls on the roof where the terrace is located.

Another item that seems to have a high cost and needs some research into alternative options, is the staircase. It is currently quoted at maybe $70,000 pesos and we want to see what the cost would be for a spiral staircase (metal and wood) vs a full concreto one.

So Roman has his marching orders and we are looking for some new numbers in a week or so. Stay tuned.

Back to the familia and they were prowling the playa. Max decided to hang out with me under the palapa and madre caught some good boogey board olas.

The tide was coming in, bringing us some good waves, so I took my turn on the board. Max laughs when he sees us zoom by…I am sure he will be on a board in the not to far future.

Best to head home before Max gets too tired and once home we had some alberca time and then it was all about la cena and setting up for the PM rutina.

A one siesta day and Max held out until tina time…where he started biting madre again. Ouch…and we do not know why he does this. Maybe it is because he is tired?

A FT with Oma..until we lost the connection. Max did not fall asleep as fast as the last few nights, but we are having great success with Max being “ok” with being in his cuna.

I have been able to put Max into his cuna, while in a semi-awake state, and he manages to toss and turn and then fall asleep. Success!!

So at 910pm, the lil’guy is asleep, madre is in the oficina and I have one ojo on the tube, one on the lil’guy and one on the blog.

Talking about Bex’s work, click HERE to see some of her finished product.

  

This is from a repeat client and for her first contract, Bex did the drawing and filmed her hand moving. For this last project, she drew the drawings and then sent the client a picture of her hand with the pen.

The client has a program that allowed him to put her hand into motion…saving US a ton of time and work!!

Fotos for the day.

Paid a few pesos to get the lot de-rooted. No matter what we do with Mojon, we will have a clear lot!!

A few more sets of turtle tracks and the left overs of a nest.

Not sure if the eggs hatched, or if the local perros are eating them...doph.

Busy day at the playa!! That little blue speck in the middle of the foto is Max chasing his pelota.

Madre y Max. He is getting VERY comfortable in the oceano and runs right in. Low tide today so he had lots of playa to walk on.

Look who loves sitting in the oceano as the waves come rolling in.

And who is starting to practice swimming?

Free...free at last.

Hey, is that Roman?

After the Whisperer had done his magic, he passed the lil'sleeping beauty to his madre.

This is the Brit's old house. They are long gone and sold it to a rich Americano. He visited a few times, had heath issues and left the place deserted. It has since started to fall down and has been ransacked. It is an eye sore...but really...who has that kind of money to let the casa go to waste?

The tracks of a pescadero, fisherman.

Mañana? Busy morning as Max and I will have our desayunos and then hit the road when our condo cleaner comes in.

First off, pay the Telmex bill. Then onto the banco in Santa Cruz to collect our pesos from the landlord. And then a pit stop at Che., looking for leche fresco and any other scores.

Then it will be a siesta and when the boys wake up…off to look for this water parque.

Before I forget, Feliz Cumpleaños to both mi amiga Rosa who now a days finds herself in DF, and to mi sobrino Sean.

Have a great viernes.

Marco, Bexico y Max

miercoles, el 30 de enero de 2013

Buenos noches!!

920pm here in Huatulco and it is a warm one tonight!! We have managed to use less a/c in the lil’guys room by bringing in a little fan and pointing it into his cuna. That and the ceiling ventilador and it seems fine. But tonight we have used the a/c a few tomes just to ensure he is comfortable.

I wonder what it is like to be a niño who is used to wearing shorts and t shirts all day long and sleeps with NO blankets of any sort. And f you try to cover him, he kicks the sheet or blanket off!!

How did the day go? Nothing out of the norm. We seem to be on the one nap schedule…great for padre y Max but madre is missing her afternoon siesta con the lil’man!!

No walk this morning, but we had a fun Che run. Max seems to understand the word Che and recognizes the tienda. And the peeps there always recognize him!!

Scores? No cheddar still….but how about animal shaped pieces of pavo (turkey) for the lil’guy!!

Madre and the lil’guy did another playa run while I was at el gimnasio and when I came home I found them prowling around a very quiet alberca. It seems that this year not as many Canucks have made their way south. Oh well!!

I did manage to get some $$ out of the HSBC ATM and will pay the condo HOA fees mañana. The owner has already sent us the $$ and I will pick it up mañana at a banco in Santa Cruz.

As for the missing $$ from ayer, it did not show up in my account last night, so I called TD again today.

New guy on the phone and he seems to think the money will be replaced in less then 3 days. I am banking on the 50 that it took last time. Stay tuned.

Great dinner…lomo con oven roasted papas and I have already prepped the meatballs para mañana.

Max was a trooper again and other then biting his madre, he handled his one nap day very well. What is up with him biting his madre during tina time?

Fotos

Silverio works at the gate and while madre was prepping the bici for the ride to the playa, he and Max had a chat en español.

And then they all spotted me. Silverio has 3 of his own niños and is a truly nice hombre.

This is how it is done in Huatulco. Need some welding? Just pull up and it will be taken care of on the spot.

This hombre is poco loco!!

So happy our secadora is working or else this could have been us!! ja ja ja

Crazy looking scorpion/gecko on the exterior wall of the condo.

Newest Max trick? He hides in the closet and all we see are these little fingers poking through the lattice. This is the same closet he was scared of a few weeks ago…until we removed the yoga mat and showed him all was good.

Ok, have a great jueves!!

Marco, Bexico y Max

martes, el 29 de enero de 2013

That was the lil'man as we headed out for our AM walk.

Buenos noches!!

Great news!! Our dryer is working again. It went kaput at 7pm but by 8pm it was back up and running. Por que? Who knows but I am not going to question it as having a washer and dryer in the condo is a great time saver!!

Bad news? I went to the bank and the ATM would not give me any $$. But I got home and found out that the ATM gremlins took $10,000 pesos out of my account!!

I have called TD but they cannot start their investigation until mañana…but they promise to have it all resolved within 55 business days!! Doph. But the good news is in 3 years, this has only happened once before and I did get the $$ back.

As for the rest of our day? A pretty good sleep last night!! Max slept all the way to 1pm, was then given a little hug and then he was asleep until 4am. And then he was WIDE awake until 5am and we both slept until 7am.

Not sure what is up at 4am. Dry panale, a leche tank up, some singing, a hug…nothing worked. But at 5am Max stopped his own singing and was asleep. A little restless for the 2 hours, but asleep.

Another great desayunos and a fun AM walk. Fotos to follow.

Not the longest siesta, but still up after noon!! Madre took over and we managed to stretch the lil’guys day until 7pm with only one siesta.

Madre y Max hit the playa again and of course, they had a great time.

I was off to el gimnasio and by the time I came home, the family was back and it was decided to make it a one nap day. 

I set us up for the PM rutina while the gang went out for a veggie run and then we had a quick dinner, a FT con Oma y Opa and then in for leche.

Now, leche and getting settled normally takes Max from 30 minutes up to over an hour. Hoy? Today was 15 minutes!! Lights out!!

He has had one stir, needed an hola from padre and is back asleep. Phew!!

840pm and madre is hard at work in the oficina, Max is dreaming about bicis and I have command of the TV, the lap top and the lil’guys camera monitor!!

Some fotos.

First stop on the walk? The tienda de bici and Max has found the bike he likes.

And based on the smile, he has also figured out the horn. We spent 15 minutes in this tienda!!

Water meter covers...and every building has one!! Lucky padre!!

And of course, the telefono.

Max looking up an area code...or is that the bandera de Canada?

Padre...a little privacy please. I have a niña on the phone!!

A barrel full of paint means it is time to paint the curbs of Huatulco!! 

Mañana? No sé yet. Maybe I call in sick at the gym and go to the playa with the familia? Or better yet, we suss out this new waterslide that is supposedly 10 minutes out of town?

Have a great miercoles!!

Marco, Bexico y Max

lunes, el 28 de enero de 2013

Hola mis amigos!!

Short and sweet. Max had a really good night in the sleep department and the boys were up at 7am and had a good AM rutina. Wow did he pack away a ton of breakfast!!

A great nap and then madre took over. The two of them had a fun day but went to playa Santa Cruz instead of Chahue and it just wasn’t the same for the lil’guy.

I hit the gym, bringing the camioneta with me so it could get a well deserved wash. $50 pesos and and hour later…ta da.

Pit stop at Che on the way home…no scores unless you call Polish sausage a score!! Ja ja ja

Some sun at the pool and then set up for the PM rutina while Max y madre went for a stroll.

A good dinner, an easy tina time and you are caught up.

Misc

I need to get the truck looked at…it is sucking back the gasoline. Yikes.

Getting our 2011 taxes completed!! If you live abroad, Rev Canada does not allow you to file online. Nice.

No word from the lab in DF. Nice. Will have to call them mañana.

No word from Roman. Nice. Will email him tonight.

Padre’s health is almost back to normal…madre has caught a bug…flu?

Max LOVES speaking. When he says na na for banana, he smiles ear to ear with pride. It is amazing to see the communication barrier coming down and seeing him express himself.

Madre has done some great work spending time looking at his picture book and picking out words for us to teach Max. We have decided to focus on the words in español as while we are living here, that makes more sense.

So he currently knows a lot of words en español, and is saying na na for banana and some other grunt for agua!!

But…he also knows how to say beep beep, as in the car horn!!

Light on fotos.

Picking out a little something something for madre!!

Max stopped to do up his laces and check his chinos!! 

Feliz Cumpleaños to Samuel!!

Mañana? We will see what the day brings.

Hasta mañana.

Marco, Bexico y Max