Apartheid - The Sharpeville Massacre

I for one have never heard of the Sharpeville Massacre...until Gabi and Madison showed us their National History Day Project that won first place at St. Mary's this school year.  A trip to Indianapolis today to show this project at the state level was in order.  Unfortunately, the girls did not place in the top two out of eleven total (to qualify for Nationals) but they received all good marks from their judges.  I must say I was quite impressed with their final project today...



I was very proud of these two!!! 

Slumber

I have been in a rut lately since getting home from Puerto Vallarta.  Maybe it's because we have just seen such little sunshine lately.  The rain and cloudy skies has been somewhat overwhelming.  I am so glad I was able to take Maizy on a walk today on my 3 mile route I used to run.  I felt like I was reconnecting somehow to life.  The sun is shining, people are mowing their yards, it's warmer (60 some degrees) and just somehow finally feels like it is going to turn a corner.  SO GLAD.  I am so ready for camping, planting my garden and flowers, sitting outside, barbecuing, fires outside, and believe it or not, yardwork.  Yep, I am ready to be OUTSIDE.  I started to think about our trip to Puerto Vallarta as I went on a walk and all the notables I don't want to forget...
***Our 1 hour massage on the beach in a tent next to the ocean (Bay Breze)
***Watching Gabi play volleyball with her daddy on the beach
***Seeing dolphins and a whale in their element in the wild
***Walking along the ocean looking for seashells, smelling the salty warm air, taking it all in
***Seeing old Puerto Vallarta city
***Our Outdoor Adventure...ziplining and rappelling
***Our walk to Mega for some aloe vera for our sunburns we acquired the first day
***The look of pure bliss on Gabi's face walking into the hotel's lobby
***Relaxing poolside not knowing what time it was EVER
***Our dinners each night together
***Hearing the ocean outside each morning as we contemplated our biggest question while there...which bathing suit to wear
I already want to go back!!!
We have been keeping somewhat busy though, through all the dreary weather.  Ben brought home the boat to be cleaned up and ready for Spring fishing so that forced him to clean up our garage and put all our Spring furniture out.  Finally purchased a new grill.  Found a car for Tyler ('99 Saturn) to use and made good on our word - a car the summer before his junior year.  So, we have been busy trying to get that in good condition for him when he comes home to get it.  Gabi has been busy with her National History Day project documentary...getting it ready for presentation this weekend in Indianapolis.  She has also been busy on her trampoline that daddy finally put up.  Every dry moment she has been home she has been on that thing.  Literally.  She in convinced that she is ready to be a part of something bigger in the cheerleading world.  Competition.  So we are exploring that.  Closely.  It's exciting and we have seen that this is truly Gabi's niche.  I'm sure there will be much more to come on that. 
And, I have completed some Pinterest projects as of lately.  I can honestly say I love Pinterest.  So MANY cool projects.  And the recipes.  What did we ever do without internet???? LOL

And Instagram...LOVE Instagram.  Found a bunch of pics the other day of our complete family around the same age to compare who looks like who and had to post it on Instagram...

Yep, I am slowly coming back to life...after this yucky slumber I have been in.  Spring is finally here I believe.

Last Day in Puerto Vallarta

We created some great memories in Puerto Vallarta.  Some good family time with just the three of us.  We got to see dolphins off the coast from our hotel, a whale and dolphins in the open on our way to Outdoor Adventure and we got to do some pretty cool stuff while there.  Awesome memories and somewhere we would absolutely not hesitate to go back to.  In the 80s and sunny most of the time!!!  Lows in the upper 60s at night...such anteasebfor for summer to arrive!
We definitely hated to say adios to this place.

Gabi's reaction to "we have to start packing up to leave..."

Savoring the Moments

Tuesday was our last full day and we wanted to just soak it all in.  Gabi actually met another girl her age, Lexi.  In fact, her dad came over to us to make an effort, noticing that his daughter and Gabi both looked a bit bored sitting by the pool (since she finished her book she brought).  It worked out well so Gabi had someone her age to talk to.  The girls talked about parasailing but the winds were too strong that day.
We just took in every last bit of our vacation.  The resort...the sights, the sounds, the smells.  We didn't want to leave.

Outdoor Adventure

We looked online a bunch at things to do in Puerto Vallarta and we came across something we have done before in Tennessee and sort of wanted to try again...ziplining.  Outdoor Adventures offered this and much more.  Since we wanted to spend as much time as we could at the resort soaking up sun and relaxing we figured on tour would be good enough.  Tyler and Abby actually did the snorkeling at Marietas Island and saw whales on their way out.  We were hoping to catch something like that too.  Our adventure began with a boat ride over to Puerto Vallarta.  Would you believe that we actually did catch a whale jumping at a distance.  Ben and Gabi had the awesome opportunity to see it and we did see many dolphins along the way. 

We then transferred to unimogs - big open trucks where a group of us (12) hopped in.  We met a nice family from Michigan.  In fact, it worked out great for Gabi.  They had all boys and one girl, age 12.  Her name was Joslyn and she is a competitive dancer.  Soooo, if you know Gabi at all, she had much to talk about with her.  They exchanged social info and hopefully they stay in touch.  It was quite the ride going up into the mountain.  It reminded us alot of North Carolina actually except with palm trees and lots of tropical plants.  We passed many houses and it brought back memories of my missions trip in Mexico as a teenager.  Lots of poverty.  Open houses, laundry hanging, chickens in the yard, no grass.  Pretty dirty.  But it gave Gabi lots of insight as to how some people actually live.  We drove a good 2-3 miles to a station where we put on ziplining gear and got on mules for the remainder of the way up to the ziplines.  It was awesome!  We were blessed with a cloudier day on this day and we were so glad since we were sunburned by this point. 

The ziplining was exciting!!!  Much more exciting here than in Tennessee and I have to say my fear of heights played right into the enormity of it all.  But I conquered my fear and actually had fun!  We did some rappelling and a free fall zip line in between waterfalls.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  It really felt jungle like at its best.  We also got to do some upside down ziplining at the end and took on two waterslides!  Yes, we were soaked to the bone but we were told ahead of time to prepare for this.  It was an absolute blast and we would recommend this tour to anyone going!!!  Great time and awesome experience for the price. 

Our unimogs took us back to the boat and our ride across the ocean was in the dark.  We actually came across some organism I had no idea existed until then...Bioluminescent Dinoflagellates.  It was so neat to see, and the kids were in awe! I wish I would have gotten a video of it but just didn't think of it at the time. 
Our tour started at 1:30 pm and we did not get back to our resort until 8:45 pm.  We were beat.  We ate at 9:00 pm at Guacamole and turned in for the night.  A fun, fun day.

 

Easter Day

Sunday at the resort was extremely busy as we had heard it would be.  Many of the locals travel to hotels to vacation over this period.  Combine that with many Spring Break families...it made for busy ness.  We actually were able to eat at all the restaraunts.  We had to pull the wait to see if there are any cancellations for the Steakhouse, but it panned out.  We ate there on Friday night and I think it was probably our favorite.  You can't beat a nice steak and a whole lobster (cut in half).  Gabi was certainly excited.
Krystal was also a nice place to eat with a variety to choose from and we certainly won't forget Kyoto where we had to eat the whole meal with chopsticks.  Needless to say, it took us a while to eat.  And you just can't be an authentic Mexican restaurant in Mexico...Guacamole gave us the true experience.

 We actually dressed up on Easter Sunday for dinner at Krystal.

 

 

 

Ben and Gabi tried their hand at some beach volleyball while we were there also, meeting some pretty nice people.  They met Wendy (with her sister, Debbie and niece, 'Show Show') tried to organize teams a few mornings.  This is also where we met a former state Senator and now judge, Ron Grensky from Oregon.  All super nice people and they had alot of fun.  We actually sat with Wendy, Debbie and Show Show (along with Sandy, Lexi and Dave who we met our last day) our last night and played some Catch Phrase.  It was a good time.