Science Friday

A recipe for a fun learning science class: an abandoned building, four boats with homeschooled kids aboard, and the internet.

The lesson was about bats. Eight students ranging from four to eleven years, five boys and three girls, participated. Creativity shone with colorful bat pictures and charades of bat facts. A short video related more facts and a quiz reaffirmed them. The finale was a trip to the abandoned building to visit hundreds of sleeping bats. The kids loved it!

Ira Flato would be proud.

Christmas in the Midwest

A huge snowstorm was predicted to hit the midwest over Christmas and we all worried that family wouldn't be able to travel home for the holidays. But predictions aren't always reality and what snow arrived was dense and mixed with rain, creating more mess than trouble. Everyone who was expected made it for Christmas Eve at Grandma Boo's house and we celebrated in family-fun fashion. (Click here for photo gallery of Xmas.)

Upon our return to the boat in Paradise Village (Nuevo Vallarta, MX), our good friends, the Millars, had taken up residency on our boat and welcomed us home. We spent a few crazy days with them, including a trip to Yalapa and zip lines in the jungle.

Now it's time for a change of scenery! Eric, Bear and friend, Andy, motored overnight to Barra de Navidad on Monday. Andy's wife, Liz, and I are going to drive down. Ah, Barra, one of our favorite places in the world! Note: Bear stood his first night watch on this trip!

Christmas Wrap Up

As the year bubbles to a close, many events spring up to make this a busy and exciting time!

Last night was the Christmas concert at Bear's school. Each grade performed a song and danced, dressed in full school uniform with Santa hat and scarf added for accent. The performances ranged from preschoolers wandering around the stage barely remembering what they were there for to a chorus of middle school girls who could really belt out the songs. Bear's second grade sang "It Must Be Santa" and the choreographed dance was well done. In my humble opinion, they stole the show!

San Sebastian with Philo and Fowlers

With our friends from Minnesota visiting, Mary and Dick Fowler, we drove an hour and a half inland to a mountain pueblo called San Sebastian. A local ex-pat who runs a bar/restaurant in La Cruz set up an overnight party with music, food and local accomodations. Philo is well-known for gathering talented musicians, employing the local people to help and having a dedicated following. We joined them this year and were not disappointed!

Kat and Clay Visit

Eric's daughter, Katherine (Kat) and her boyfriend, Clay, were able to squeeze in a week's vacation between raft guiding in South Carolina and ski jobs in Utah. We had a fabulous time showing them our worlds here. We have the best of both: Bucerias and the local Mexican communities versus Oso Blanco in a resort marina and cruising in the bay.

Guadalahara

We spent a long weekend in Guadalahara, the second biggest city in Mexico (about 3 million people). We stayed near the center of the city where the tourist sites are: the Cathedral, the Teatro Degallado, the market, plazas, etc. Friday night we attended the Mexican Philharmonic Orchestra at the theater. They were spectacular! Even Bear was astounded at the glorious production (even though he fell asleep in the second set because it was 9:30pm). Saturday we took the open-air double-decker bus tours around the city and into the neighboring town of Tlacapaque. Shopping in Tlacapaque was fun and interesting - and the prices were much lower than in Vallarta. If I were to furnish a house here, it would be worth the trip to shop there. It was funny how many items we bought that we didn't know we "needed"!

Jumping for Joy!

My Spanish teacher, Wendy, is also a photographer. She did a sunset photoshoot of us and our freinds from 4-PACK. We had a great time doing it and got some really fun photos! Go to the Shutterfly site (see links at left) to view more photos.