Puerto Vallart Part 2: Zip Lining

Monday began with breakfast in the marina. We thought we were plenty early, but the service was so freaking slow that we ended up rushing to try and find a taxi. We saw Francisco sitting outside the marina in a Toyota that was meant for six total passengers, but he was willing to cram all seven of us, plus himself. We were 10 minutes from the tour office, but he got us there in five minutes.They had us ride in a jungle truck through the crazy PV downtown and narrow highway. It was totally safe.The Canopy Tour place was full of fun and funny employees. They put us through a training presentation, we posed for a picture, and then we hiked half a mile in the Mexican heat to get to the first line.Jens was definitely not excited to zip line. She cried before it was her turn, but the guides were so good with her.

You can even see her trying not to smile in this video.

She did great and by the end was really enjoying herself.Mama Zista was not nearly as scared as Jens.

DeA understood how Jens felt, she cried the first time that she went zip lining, too. This time was different, she was going upside down.

Papa Dave was all about everything, except going upside down.

They made me go upside down a few times, I think they liked picking on me.

Ryker and Rock were so excited for zip lining, so if they were scared they hid it so that Papa Dave didn't tease them.

They had this awesome patio restaurant with delicious mango smoothies and pizza (for Ryker and Papa Dave) and quesadillas

They had a little animal sanctuary with a giant yellow snake

They had a Froot Loops bird

Even bird hating DeA wanted to hold Sam

She wasn't completely sure about Sam, but she still held him.

They had four little mondeys in two different cages. They let us go inside with a tiny bowl of fruit juice for them to drink.

There were two waterslides right by the restaurant. The kids were excited to slide into the water, especially while since they they were hot and dusty.

I was also hot and dusty

They drove us back in the jungle truck

Ryker kept trying to work Papa Dave for bets and rewards for things like jumping in the water.

Puerto Vallarta

DeA and I tend to take a week vacation together, kind of to remind her why she married me. She must be getting bored with me, because last year she repeatedly said that the kids should come on our next trip. We flew out of Seattle on Saturday morning, and drove over Friday night after work. It wasn't quite a smooth day, with DeA doing her sick Ryker impersonation in the tub from 5am until 9ish. Dad helped get her and the kids into town and we dropped off Leo Puppy at a friend's for the week. Ryker celebrated the impending trip to Mexico by having an authentic Jack In the Box taco.

It was an early morning to get to the airport. The shuttle was very quiet with half-awake kids staring into space.

Jens loved to watch the cotton candy sunrise at our gate.

Flying with Alaska is still a chore, the flight attendants are constantly circling and looking for an excuse to yell at someone for having their mask slightly below her nose.

The boys had their own row and filled it with their Switches and food.

We made it to PV without problem and met up with Mama Zista and Papa Dave. We went to dinner at a taco place, Ryker asked the waiter if they had anything beside Mexican food. He then confidently ordered a medium-rare NY strip steak. I asked why he didn't order an enchilada or burrito, he said "I can get that at La Brisa". Jens ordered a lemonade that looked fancy.

A passing mariachi band saw our group of gringos and sang us a song before we could say "no tengo dinero"

Medium-rare, just the way he likes his Mexican steaks.

We were all pretty worn out after that traveling.

Ryker could not walk past the poor little girl or the guy without legs and not buy something from them. He has a big heart in that little chest of his. 

We intended on going to church on Sunday, or at least I did, but DeA and the kids seemed to think that if they drug their feet that they wouldn't have to go. It worked.

Jens spent almost an hour getting her hair braided so that she didn't have to worry about it all week.

Schookums and Rock sat and supported her, Ryker tried to get Rock to drink his fizzy lemonade.

Ryker and I sat at the beach bar with some drunk Bengals fans and hoped that the Chiefs would pull their heads out. Spoiler alert: They didn't. 

The finished braided product.

Ah, yeah, a Mexican cheeseburger. Just cheese, ketchup, and mayonaise. 

Fajita flambe!

 

January Slog

I've always felt like January is a month that is just...there. Christmas is over, and we are two months away from spring. At least we have hockey to keep us excited. Rock had his annual Apple Cup Tournament and played well.

Rock and Ryker were begging for poutine, so Rissa, Hampa and I hooked them up with homemade fries and gravy.

We had the fryer out, so Grandma 

Rock's tournament was Saturday, Sunday and Monday. He played Saturday, and his team lost one and tied another. That put them in last place in their pool and it looked like they were going to play early on Monday morning. That was good news, because I had purchased Kraken tickets in November for the kids for Christmas before I knew that there was a tournament on that Monday. Because the Kraken have sucked for 10 games in a row, the tickets were not selling even when listed below market value. DeA thought that it would make for a fun, albeit crazy busy, day to go to Rock's game, then immediately drive to Seattle and come home after the Kraken lost. We booked a hotel in Wenatchee for Sunday night in preparation for the early morning and took the kids down. Right as we pulled into the hotel, I got a text from Rock's team that there were two upsets on Sunday and his team now played at 10:45. We didn't need the hotel and we definitely were not going to make it to the Kraken. Rock was bummed, Ryker was devasted and Jens was fine. I gave the tickets away to an old mission companion and he thanked me by sending me a bunch of XBox points that made the boys happy.

Rock played well in his game but the rest of his team played like they were not excited to win third place. They lost by a few goals, but we had giant pancakes for lunch and the kids were happy. My buddy texted me pics of his little boys enjoying the Kraken's overtime shootout win, but I thought that I should keep the game results away from Ryker and Rock. Right before bed, Ryker asked how the Kraken game went, and I lied and said that I didn't know. He looked it up anyway and was absolutely ticked when he saw the way that they had won. He told Rock "I had to miss an overtime shootout game to watch you lose!!" It took him way to long too calm down and go to sleep. Anyway, here's a pic of Rock at breakfast at the hotel.

Ryker plays every Wednesday at 5:15. I take work off early about every other week to make it to his games. They do 3 minute shifts, and the first 5 players off the ice get to start the next shift, so he sprints toward the bench with about 5 or 10 seconds left in his shift to be the first one off.

He scored his first goal this year on a tap-in put-back. He celebrated with a large Hot and Ready and Gatorade.

Leo Baby knows how to say my name, so I rewarded him with a giant cotton candy.

The school asked me to do the starting lineups for the basketball games. Jens wanted to come with me and watch the girls game.

She is mostly quiet, but asks questions like "why don't they try and put it in the basket every time?" or "what is that clock for?".

She came upstairs with me to help me do the lineups.

I think it's great for her to watch girls basketball, because then she can use those skills on the court.