Hurry Up 2013!!!!

The next 12 hours can't go by fast enough!  Out of all my 53 years  2012 has to be the most turbulent year ever, and not in a good way.... so I can't wait to see the clock strike 12!  It seems like we had more than our share of struggles this past year......my dad passed away, we lost best friends due to some petty misunderstandings.....and too many other serious things that I just can't share.  I know I have things to be grateful for as well, but sometimes it's hard to see the sunshine for the clouds.

That's why I'm hoping that the dawn of 2013 will be a new beginning for our entire family......

Happy New Year Everyone!

May 2013 be the year of happiness, health and love!

The First Christmas......

The First Christmas......without my Dad.  I can't remember a Christmas without my Dad because it has never happened before now.  No matter if I lived hundreds of miles away, Christmas Eve was always with Mom and Dad.  So, in all my 53 years, this was a first.  Was it tough?  Yes.  Did we make it through?  Yes.  Do I wish with all my heart that he was here with us?  Oh yes.  No matter what we did, we felt the loss of his presence.  But it made us all remember the funny things that Dad would do or say and there was a lot of 'Remember how Dad liked to .........'.  We all have so many wonderful memories of Dad and how can we not be grateful for every one of them and how lucky we were to share so many special times together.  I've been blessed with a beautiful family and I treasure every moment with all of them.

Dad and Mom  Christmas 2011

Over the past month or so, the family has had many discussions about how Christmas should be this year.  Our Christmas Eve is full of Danish tradition and happily, there has been very little change since I was a child.  But there was no way that this year could possibly be the same.  In the end, we decided that the best thing we could do for our family was to keep things as much the same as possible, because we love our traditions and Dad loved them too.  Luckily for us, we had a special gift this year....a little sweetheart called Amaya, Jason's girlfriend's little daughter.  She brightened Christmas Eve for all of us, just like a star.  Thank you Melissa and Amaya, for coming into our lives!

Christmas Eve began......Melissa and Jason getting ready for turkey

Our first course is risengrød....a rice and milk 'pudding' that 'cooks' in the duvet all day.  Served with butter and cinnamon sugar.  My favourite!

The family....ready to begin the feast.  We were joined by Vince's mother this year too....

We were too busy enjoying the wonderful food to take pictures!.....a huge free range turkey that was absolutely delicious....potatoes, carrots, stuffing, sweet red cabbage and Danish sugar potatoes...and of course, gravy and fresh cranberry sauce.  Yum yum!

Once dinner is finished, the kids are sent to the den to watch 'Bluetoes'...luckily Mom still had a VHS machine!  The girls finished cleaning up the kitchen and Vince pulled the tree out into the center of the room and began putting the candles on it...yes, REAL candles!  It is the most beautiful thing!

Presents are placed under the tree and then 'Santa' stomps his feet and says 'Ho Ho Ho' and the kids come running.  We all join hands, music begins and we 'dance' around the tree.  It's a mixture of Danish and Canadian carols.  We sing, we walk and we run...it's a workout!  We are all reminded of how Dad would squeeze our hands tight while we danced.

The grown-ups were pooped but Amaya loved dancing around the tree and didn't want to stop!  The boys were like that when they were little too.  Even with all the shiny presents waiting to be opened, they just wanted to 'dance more'.  Little moments like that are what make special memories....

Amaya kept us all laughing all evening.  I think this is her 'oh no, not another picture' face!

She had a lot of fun opening all her presents, but the tissue paper was beyond entertaining for all of us!

So, although there were tears and sadness, we had another beautiful, special Christmas.  We all missed Dad but we all felt him there with us as well.  He is always in our hearts, every day of the year.

Merry Christmas Daddy!

Isla, Isla, Isla....

Now that I've finished telling you all about Mérida and Uxmal, it's time to move on to the main event.....Isla Mujeres, Mexico!  Our favourite little island in the middle of perfect blue waters and puffy white clouds...

It has become our 'home away from home' for the past 10 years....a holiday that we look forward to every year.  Having that amazing one-month holiday on Isla is what helps make the other 11 months of the year go by quickly!  There's just something about this little island that gets under your skin and into your blood.....and no, I don't mean a parasite!  On top of the island being perfect for us, we have also been so lucky to find the perfect place to stay.

So stay tuned!  Isla Mujeres and 'Isladise' coming up!

Uxmal and the Jungle.....

During our Mérida visit we took a day tour to Uxmal.  I would have to say that this was probably one of the highlights of our many holidays to Mexico.  We used the service of William Lawson....

Lawson's Driving.....

William offers a 'private driver' service, taking you anywhere you want to go at the pace you want to go for a very reasonable hourly rate.  We hired William to take us to Uxmal with no set agenda.

Bright and early at 7am, William picked us up at Casa Pocito and whisked us away on our adventure.   And boy!  Was it an adventure!!  William, originally from BC, Canada, has lived in Mérida for 25 years and is very knowledgeable about the area and its history.

It was a beautiful sunny, not-a-cloud-in-the-sky kind of day.  It was going to be HOT!  On our way to Uxmal, William asked if we'd like to stop and see the view once we reached the top of a hill.  Yes, a hill!  There aren't many of them in the Yucatan, so we quickly agreed.

It's difficult to see in the photo, but you can actually see Uxmal in the distance.....it's that white spec in the top centre area.  Don't worry, there will be lots of photos of it to come!

We enjoyed the view and met an acquaintance of William's at the nearby curio shop.  Pedro is amazingly talented, extremely nice and very passionate about the history of the Mayan culture.  We did a bit of shopping.....some carved gourds...

We enjoyed the view of flora and fauna and then Pedro offered to take us on a bit of a walk to show us some of the many historical findings in the nearby jungle....

It's about 8:30am, getting a bit warm already and the sun is beating down, but hey, we're game for anything so off we go.  Little did we know that our little trek would turn into 3 hours of crawling and climbing through jungle and rocks and into dry cenotes.  Even though I think I nearly died along the way from heat exhaustion, it was amazing!!!!  In fact, Uxmal kind of paled in comparison to this adventure.  It turns out that we were the first guinea pigs, oops, I mean, tourists, to go on this 'tour'.  It wasn't even an official tour yet.  We are truly honoured that Pedro spent the time to show us his world and all the work that he had done to prepare the area for a 'tour'.  He is so proud of his culture and heritage.  Here are a few photos from our jungle trek....

'Air plants'

Pedro showing us the village of Muna in the distance...

It's hard to tell, but there is a very deep dry cenote that Pedro is pointing out to us.  The boys climbed down a ladder and explored....

Brian and Vince at the bottom of the cenote...

It really was an amazing adventure.  It was completely unplanned but it was the highlight of our day!
William wrote about our day here......  William Lawson's Blog.....our jungle adventure

And William now has this tour as an option for booking.....appropriately called the 'Indiana Jones Tour'!    William Lawson's Indiana Jones Tour

Saying a fond farewell to Pedro, we continued on our way to Uxmal.  We were on such a 'jungle high', that I'm not sure if anything could have impressed us, but yes, Uxmal did impress us.  Having seen both Chichen Itza and Tulum, I knew what to expect, but it was so much more.  For one thing, there were hardly any people there!  Such a nice change from the masses that frequent the other ruins.  And we were truly impressed with the site.  Majestic, yet simple.  If only we could snap our fingers and see what it actually looked like in its heyday.

The Ball Court

This is where I had my mini breakdown....I climbed up these steps no problem.  I didn't know we would have to go back down them.  I was hit with severe vertigo and just couldn't do it.  Brenda finally came up and helped me and I ended up going down backwards!  I'm such a wuss!

I thought this structure was amazing....looked more like something from Thailand or Cambodia....

Notice the vulture....he followed Vince and Brian as they climbed to the top of another pyramid....

We definitely enjoyed our visit to Uxmal.  It certainly makes you wonder.....how did they build these structures?

Feeling exhausted and exhilarated, we fall into William's car and relax for the drive back to Mérida.  William has one more surprise for us though.....stopping at an abandoned henequen plantation.  For more information on henequen.....  Henequen

There ends our day of adventure!  We can't thank William Lawson enough for this memorable highlight of our holiday!