New month - new attitude.

August is here....

July has gone by so quickly I'm unsure of where it went. Between the kids and the in-laws it seems like everyday is just filled and goes by and another comes with it's challenges.

One of the funnest things I've done this summer was the week spent at the Mackinac Island Scout barracks cooking for the Boy Scouts who serve on the island. #3 is a Boy Scout and almost an Eagle Scout. #1 is an Eagle Scout but at 20 is no longer involved.

Mackinac Island is such a charming place. The path to get there includes going accrossed the huge suspension bridge that links Michigan's upper and lower penninsulas. Then there is a 30 minute ferry ride to get over to the Island.

There are no cars or golf carts allowed on the Island so the transportation is all about the horses or bikes. The horses that pulled all our luggage and food up the the Scout barracks were amazingly strong. I loved hearing the clip clop of there hooves on the cement. They often leave a mess on the road, but there are people with shovels that take care of it right away.

Mackinac Island was having their annual lilac festival the week we were there. The lilacs were beautiful and smelled even better. This view is from the Mackinac Island Fort Ramp, the downtown area is off to the right.

The Boy Scouts put the flags up at 9 AM and take them down at 6 PM. There are quite a few flags around the Island and they are all taken down at exactly the same time, after the evening cannon booms. This view is of the fort ramp, the flags are from a variety of countries. #3 is behind the flag pole. The boys also have many posts around the Island where they stand and answer questions for the tourists or give directions. Two of the Scouts pushed a handicapped person up and down the ramp so that they were able to see inside the fort. It was a very proud moment to hear they volunteered to do that. There were quite a few proud moments that week as the boys really went above and beyond what was expected of them.

My cooking partner and I spent from 6:30 AM until around 8:00 PM at the barracks cooking and preparing for the next meal. My favorite thing was making brownies, cookies & rice krispie treats. LOVE feeding those hungry teenage boys. Saturday we went home and I was exhausted. I went to bed 7 PM Saturday night, slept in until 10:30 Sunday morning and then took a nap Sunday afternoon.

This was my second year and it is my hope to go back again next year.

Florida in February

Mom and I left to Florida about 36 hours after Mic and I got back from Mexico. We flew through Atlanta, GA into Key West, FL. I had been to Key West several times but had never flew in their airport. The airport is tiny and being rennovated. There is only one belt for luggage and it's about 30 feet long as it snakes in and out of the building. You can pick up your luggage outside, how cool is that? Love these pink taxis!
We were coming back to Key West later so we got our rental car and headed to Marathon. This is part of the Seven Mile Bridge. It's such a beautiful drive and the sun was shining. The bridge pictured here is the old part that is no longer in use. The lower level is train tracks and the upper level was for cars.

Mom and I took this very seriously and made sure we had Key Lime Pie every night for dessert. We did find that we liked the Publix Key Lime Pie better. I have a receipe to make the pie with but was too lazy to make it while we were on vacation.

Papantla Flying Men

Here are the five Papantla Flying Men after they have climbed up the pole. The man in the center goes up first and keep the ropes winding around the center. The men attach the ropes to their ankles. The square starts to spin and the men leaning out and start to "fly." The fifth man in the center stays where he is and plays flute music while the others spin.

They go around and around and hold their arms and bodies still.

The Mayan people did this to promote a good harvest and fertility. If one of the men crashes to the ground it is said a natural disaster will occur. (I imagine it doesn't end well for him either.)

They go around the pole 13 times for the number of months in the Mayan calendar.

They make it down to the ground and are released by another member of their team. The guy at the top just climbs down the pole. Fascinating! Then they pick up tin cans and tell you that you owe them 40 pesos (about $3) for taking their pictures, I paid, just watching them was worth the $3.

Ruins at Tulum

The ruins at Tulum were a 45 minute drive from the resort. It was interesting to see how the Mayans lived. We had a tour guide that gave us a walking tour, he was great and explained to us how the Mayan people were like the American Indians in so much as they had their native lands taken over by the Spanish. The big building in the back was their temple.

This is a view from the temple, the big building to the right was a public building. Many of the people lived in the surrounding wooded areas and would come to this area to trade and socialize.

The water color here was unbelievably pretty. There were about four different shades of blue and turquoise. The little building in this picture was built for the god of the sea.

Huh? Apparantely the Mayan people also had ATM's!

Next up, the Mayan's idea of a swing set/maypole/merry-go-round.

Paradisus

Paradisus is decorated in an Aztec style. The buildings are all thatched roof and there are no walls in the main buildings. They do have fabric panels that can come down if it rains. It did rain one day for about 15 minutes.

There were many of these around the grounds, all different. I really liked this ones poncho and jewlery.

This was one of the seating areas for one of the restaurants. The walkway in the background went all the way out to the pool. All of the main areas were surrounded by water. We wondered how many people fall into the water after having a few. Paradisus is an all-inclusive resort and there were people that didn't seem to recognize when they had enough.

These little huts were great because when we were ready for some sun you could pull them from under the huts. We were glad there was plenty of shade as the sun was really hot. I really like the way the grass shows which way the breeze is going. The sand is fine white sand and there was a machine that looked like a lawnmower that came through several times a day picking up the seaweed. I expected to fine seashells, but there weren't any.

The swim up pool bar was really fun. I took this picture about 7 AM in the morning before walking on the beach. Later in the day it was much busier.

The cement chairs under the pavillion were great fun, we got drinks from the bar and then went and sat on one of those. On the right are more cement chairs which is also where the bar is. On Saturday night there was a wedding reception in the white dome in the background, the wedding had been on the beach at sunset.
I took this picture near the white wedding dome. Here is another row of the cement chairs in the pool. They were so fun and they were really warm from the sun so when you sat on them you had to wet them down but the warmth from them felt wonderful.

Next up....a request for a picture of Kate's hair do. She won't put it on Facebook but I think she looks really cute. She is going to be in Thoroughally Modern Millie next week, as Lucille who is Millie's friend. All the "modern" girls got their hair bobbed, so cute!

Mexico

This is the airport in Cancun, Mexico. The airport looks like it's out of the 70's. They have three luggage belts, but strangely they only use one. There was so much luggage on the belt that they announced that they won't be putting any more luggage on until people start taking some off. The resourceful American started rearranging the luggage so there were empty spots on the belt and they started it back up. Mic and Steve went in and fought the crowd while Lizi and I stood talking.
Once we got our luggage we went over to stand in the customs line. This was a pretty efficient system, they just looked at our passports and asked where we were staying. While on the airplane we were asked to fill out immigration forms, which we did. They wanted to know if you were carrying any firearms, illegal substances or more than $10,000. Then in BIG letter that said were to declare if we had any fresh fruits or plants we were not going to be allowed to bring them into Mexico. I guess the other stuff was negotiable.

We started peeling off our layers of clothes as it was about 80 degrees in the airport and about 85 degrees outside. That's when Mic told me I wasan't allowed to complain about being hot.

When we got on the bus we saw this;
The sign below it said that if the bus entered water or caught on fire to use it to break the window. The bus only had two speeds, fast and slamming on the brakes. The drive took the speed bumps so quickly that you came right out of your seat. It only took about 30 minutes and we arrived at Paradisus.

Up next, a tour of Paradisus.....Until later

Teenager no more!

It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years and this baby turned into a man. Mic and I spent the day in Kalamazoo taking Jack to lunch and a trip to Meijer for groceries. He's such a wonderful young man, I'm really lucky to have had him in my life. He's always brought such joy and fun.

This is me 20 years ago February 28. The really fun part is that Mom and I were in Florida over that time period and we stayed in the same house we stayed in for that visit. Thanks Jo! It's weird to think that it was only two weeks later that I had him. All 9 lbs. 6 oz. of him.
Here's to the next 20 years!
(Tomarrow I start blogging my travel adventures). Until later, Karen