Hola Mexico!

My best friend in the whole wide world just dragged me and 30 others to Mexico to witness her and her hubby tie the knot!! I was so excited when she asked me to be the Maid of Honor I high fived her, something we'd never done before, ever!

Having 4 kids, it's nearly impossible to sneak away with only my husband so I was looking forward to this trip! The last time we'd snuck away we were down 2 kids and left to go to the island for the weekend (our honeymoon; HA!) I was determined to go, and determined to have a fabulous (drunken) time!

My hubby on the other hand was apprehensive to go. He was afraid his nerves would get the best of him and it didn't help that he doesn't like to travel (even in the car). I was so proud when he got on the plane and so excited that he didn't have a complaint. It was a relief to be at the airport early (and beat all the check in and security lines), I think that helped his nerves a lot. It was definitely something we both needed and I'm so glad that we went!

(Amy had hired a travel agent to help us along the way, since there was many of us booking it just made sense. Heather went above and beyond her travel agent duties (as a long time bride and groom family friend she also came to Mexico, helped with the wedding and was the designated photographer!!). If you have a travelling bug and need some advice I highly recommend her. In fact, she's helping us plan our next family adventure! If you want to check out her website you can click here. AND if you tell her Amanda Sanderson Photography sent you I'm sure she'll gladly get you the best deals around! She ended up saving us $600 each for this trip AND we were upgraded to the hoity toity hotel.. a BIG bonus if you ask me!!)

We had to be at the airport at 6am. That meant a 5am start for my husband and I. Even though we were extremely tired I was able to get some pretty amazing shots of the sun rising and the fog lifting off the tarmac.

  

 Goodbye BC. HELLO beautiful warm, sunny Mexico!

 

On one of the days my husband and I decided to jump on the collectiva (a taxi bus that takes you almost anywhere for $2.50 USD). I was surprised how many people could actually cram into the collectiva as it didn't look much bigger than the mini van I drive at home. The driver plus the 11 other passengers and then my husband and I were off to see 5th avenue; A fairly new string of stores that had been put together to up the ante in Mexico. Although there were a lot of "mom and pop" type of stores, there were many that resembled the local Canadian dollar stores and there were even a few big box companies. I, for one, was surprised to see a Subway, a Starbucks and a Dairy Queen. The one that didn't surprise me as much was the McDonald's.. that shit is EVERYWHERE!! The store owners sit outside of the stores and try to call you in. A few times even played on our ignorance and said things like "remember me, I helped you out at the hotel" Soon my husband and I caught on and started only looking where we felt the prices were right... and a little bargaining in Mexico turned out to be a bit fun!

Playa del Carmen was an eye opener for sure. Even though at times I felt bombarded by the very friendly locals, I also felt safe being able to see the Mexican Policia on every corner hanging onto their machine guns. And the marble penis sculptures in every store also gave me quite the giggle... this 'touch at your own risk' sign next to them had me in stitches!!

 

My mum might be shocked to read this, since she grew up in Trinidad, but she never took me there, I never knew banana's grew upside down!! The way that they're shaped I always assumed they grew the other way! ha ha ha! Thanks mOm!

Right smack dab in the middle of our fabulous trip we got hit with the news that a stage 2 hurricane was heading our way. Staff moved quickly to take down all outside fixtures, tie up all lights and fans and stock the mini bars. My friends wedding was moved to two days earlier and we were all told that we might be on lock down as soon as 1pm (thankfully NOT on the new wedding day!). Lucky for us the hurricane was down graded to a level 1 and then downgraded again to a tropical storm. Minus the heavy rain and the fairly big swells of the ocean, it was really nothing to worry about. And now my friend Amy has a crazy memorable story to tell about the time she got married....

Angie

I took these photo's a little while ago, but I came across them today and thought I should share a few..

The Reifel Bird Sanctuary

I can not go to the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary enough. It's so peaceful and feeding the birds is great for kids AND mum. I go so often, my friends make fun of me. Being a family of 6 this is the perfect outing for us, the kids run around until they drop and it's light on the wallet, only costing us a whopping $14 (the wee ones are free ~ 2 and under) and if you don't have an unlimited supply of bird feed at your house, they also sell little bags for $0.50 each.

There are so many pathways that wind around and cross, you could go there a dozen times and your experience can be different each time. We try to anyway... Here are a few of my fav's from our last trip...

The views are absolutely breathtaking from anywhere on the property

Sandhill Cranes are pretty aggressive birds. We came across a little crane family of 3 and had to share the pathway. The family coming from the other direction put on quite the production (screaming and all) as they passed the birds so I was worried that they had stressed them and they would try to bite off our faces... Lucky for us the mum and dad Sandhill Cranes were distracted by their young so we passed without any troubles and I even hung back for a minute or two to snap a few photo's.

I heart cows. This is something EVERYONE knows about me; so you can imagine my excitement when I discovered the bird sanctuary neighbors were hanging out just a few feet away. I wanted to stay forever. My husband on the other hand was honking the horn and yelling for me to come back. I couldn't blame him though, the kids had enough and meltdowns were upon us.

We had a fabulous time as we always do, and I'm sure we'll be back at least one more time before the snow covers the ground.

Summer is full of...

Summer is FULL of surprises. If you've been following along, we had to leave our only planned camping trip in a hurry due to some unforeseen nose bleeds. We were feeling a little guilty and wanted to make it up to the kids. Lucky for us my dad has a cabin up at Sulphurous lake. We haven't been up there in quite sometime, so we thought we'd give it a go...

We stopped off at the side of the road at an unmarked rest stop to have a stretch and a bite to eat. The view was incredible. While I was basking in the sun and taking in the beautiful site of the mountains (all while feeding four hungry babe's and making sure they weren't running out into the highway) my husband did a little exploring... as you can see in the picture below, he's off in the distance.. not too long later, he was holding up bones of some kind. Rib bones, pelvic bones, long bones and short bones. He said they were scattered everywhere. I packed up the kids and prayed he didn't come across some sort of satanic burial grounds. After a little persuasion I convinced him to leave...

After the long five hour drive to the cabin, I was exhausted so I plopped down on the couch only to be taken in by the calmness of the lake staring up from below...

(the brand new fire pit that nearly touches the lake)

Hailey getting ready to roast some marshmallow's

 The sun was beaming down on us every day and we couldn't ask for anything better.

This was my sons first boat ride. He kicked and scream for the first five minutes until he realized he could reach down and touch the water. After that he was as calm as a clam.

You'll see lots of pictures of him. He's mum's right hand man (and attached at the hip)

This was hilarious. Grandad's idea of 'tubing', only he doesn't have a power boat but a putt putt. The girls thought it was pretty amazing to be towed away from the shallows behind a boat, even if they were going less than 5km/h. Ha ha!!

Just as he did last time, my husband surprised my with a bouquet of wild weeds. He tied them up to the rear view mirror and waited until I noticed them (which wasn't until after a lot of throat clearing and maybe even a clue!!) He really knows how to turn on the charm!

All in all, the kids were really happy that we had a chance to go and spend time with their Grandad. His cabin has been in renovation mode for quite sometime, so we're glad we could come up and see all the improvements. Fire beside the lake is pretty cool.