Christmas vacation

Christmas was a bit different this year -- one of my brothers called me a few months ago to invite me to come with his family and our parents to Mazatlan for the week before Christmas! So, on December 17th I met up with them in the Denver airport and we all went to Mexico. 75-80 degree days, lots of sun, a beach and pools. Oh, and lots and lots of pico de gallo. I think I consumed half a gallon of it, which will surprise those of you who know I don't care for either salsa or raw onions. Normally, I avoid raw onions because I taste them for hours after consumption, but I didn't have that problem in Mexico. Weird, eh? I even ate fresh jalapeno slices on my nachos.

We tracked the memorable things that happened each day -- here is a recap:

Day 1: Aunt Holly surprised the nephews at the airport -- until I showed up, they didn't know I was coming along.

Day 2: I discovered a pet in the shower -- a small lizard. On the 27th floor. How did he get there?

Day 3: While we were eating lunch poolside, a coconut catapulted out of a palm tree and landed on my brother's chaise lounge - and broke a piece off the frame. Glad it wasn't his head.

Day 4: We taught the boys to play poker (and my brother taught me to play Texas Hold'em)

Day 5: My brother and his family played tennis and then in the tide pools. I was a good girl and worked out in the gym while they played tennis.

Day 6: Fishing and Marine wildlife sightings -- we went out on a boat for a few hours and saw a couple of whales, lots of dolphins, sting rays, and sea lions. Didn't catch much.

Day 7: Spied an iguana walking along a wall by the pool. Swam in a very cold pool -- the water was colder than the ocean waves.

The boys and I played in the surf three times - it was cold, but not as cold as California ocean. We played in the pool pretty much every day.

My phone had no connection at all, and the only wireless connection for my iPod was in the lobby or by the pool. It was great to be by the pool while reading email and Facebook accounts of all the snow that fell in Utah last week. Best of all was being completely disconnected from all stress and busyness. We were truly "unplugged". It isn't often that I come home from a vacation and feel rested and relaxed, but I sure did this time. It was very nice to not feel like I needed a vacation to recover from my vacation.

Upon our return, I stayed a few days in Colorado to visit my other brother and his family and to celebrate Mom's birthday. That felt more like Christmas!

Thanks to the Harvey clan for making my Christmas wonderful! I love you all!

Home again!

I've just returned from a lovely visit with most of my family (we were missing the Texas branch). As mentioned in my previous post, I played games with the nieces and nephews, and even one brother and one sister-in-law.

The favorite games this year were Pictureka and Lego Creator (which I think is now out of print, but Amazon has some used ones). My brother got a Monty Python version of Fluxx for Christmas, which we tried out at a Saturday game night. It was VERY entertaining! Fluxx is a card game where the rules and the requirements for winning are constantly changing (i.e. in flux). One of the rules was that you could play an extra card if you spoke with an outrageous accent during your turn. My brother and his wife embraced this rule with gusto, as did their 12-year old. I love it that we can all cut loose and be silly together.

Tonight I introduced some neighbors to Pictureka, and it was well-received. If you live in my area and want to try it out with your family, invite me for a game night! :-) The age range is 6 and up, and it can easily be played as teams or individuals. We had 7 people playing as individuals tonight and it did not seem to take too long to complete. It gets faster as the players become more familiar with the tiles that form the game board, yet remains challenging.

My 7-year old nephew will now be referred to as "Gameboy" in future posts! (I haven't settled on a name for his older brother quite yet.) Gameboy and I tackled several games while I was home, starting with Pictureka and Lego Creator. The others were Racko , Battleship, Stone Soup , Blockus, SkipBo, and a Mario game on his new Nintendo DS. (He and I played the same game on the DS and traded the unit back and forth each time one of us lost a life.)

Good times!