Friday, April 24, 2009

Grandchild number nine arrived!

Our newest family member arrived safely yesterday! Beckham La Grande Thurston, born to Ky and Clay. What a sweet boy he is! Here is Beckham with his big brother, Kresimir, and Dad! More to come later!



Sunday, April 12, 2009

Sunny Mexico

This blog and the one that follows are very confusing because I think in terms of the first picture being first and the last one last. But, that's not the way it works. These pictures were all taken when Ron and I went to Puerta Villarta, Mexico for a week to stay with our friends, Loren and Rae Nebeker. The blog will make more sense as you go along ( I hope). In the above picture, see if you can see the giant iguana that spied on us everyday when we parked to go to the beach. It is on the left laying in the shadow.
Loren and I enjoyed the ocean, but Ron and Rae refused to go in the water. The water was really warm and it was fun to play in the waves. I made Loren promise to help me up if a wave washed me over, and in his attempt to do so, he fell, too! It was fun and relaxing.

This little old lady sat with her loom and weaved beautiful tapistries when she wasn't making beaded jewelry. We asked permission to take her picture. Most of the shops are in the open air and in very tiny spaces. We didn't buy anything, but it was fun to look.


The streets in PV are all very narrow and usually have cars parked on both sides of the street with 2-way traffic. If you are driving and someone is coming the other way, you have to figure a way to get out of the way--which may involving backing up and parking on the street! In the background of this picture was a beautiful Catholic Cathedral, which we walked through.



This is a picture of a typical residential area. The tiny shops are on the street and some of the luckier and richer people live above. Many of the people in the area around PV live in tiny, delapadated shacks!




We had fun trying a different restaurant every night. This one was right on the ocean and the food was very good. A Mexican band entertained while we ate. Ron, of course, had fish. I had Filet Migon--which was the size of a small roast and very delicious. It came sitting on a pile of mashed potatoes and was served with green beans.





This was interesting--at the Mega store, the men in the background have a hugh slab of bread dough. They cut off a hunk of bread, shape it and pop it in the oven. When it is done, it goes into a hugh barrel on the shopping floor (about 4 feet in diameter) If you want to buy bread, you get a tray (lower left in picture) and a large tong. You go to the barrel, pick out your bread, take it to the counter to have it weighed and bagged. The breads may look different, but they all taste the same because they are all made from the same dough. They have racks and racks of pasteries and breads in the open--nothing is covered. The same process is used to buy cakes, cookies, donuts, etc.








Here we are at the waterfront shopping area in beautiful Puerta Villarta, where we spent a week with our friends, Loren and Rae Nebeker.

Sunny Mexico

Our friends, Loren and Rae Nebeker, invited us to spend a week with them at their condo in Puerta Villarta, Mexico (actually 20 miles from PV). So, we left Mar 30 and came back April 6. When we left, it was snowing, so it was so nice to go where it was sunny and 85 degrees! It was a week after Kris' s wedding and reception in Boise and a week before the reception in La Grande. It was nice to relax for a week! In the above picture, we are in a little area on the beach at PV.
Right outside their condo door was a gorgeous pool. Not many people were using their condos when we arrived, so Loren and I took advantage and enjoyed the pool Ron and Rae wouldn't join us--their loss!

This is the view from the roof of the condo--a nice place to enjoy the sun and play a game or have dinner outdoors. They were about 6 blocks from the public beach.


This is the view of the other condos from the table right outside their door. They had a floor condo and always had this view of the pool.



Here we are at the beach enjoying the sun and the perfect weather.