Long vacation post

I alway feel the need to explain our vacations...

Yes, it seems like we go on a lot of tropical vacations compared to other people.

We do.

And I feel kind of weird about it.

But Frank needs them and he works really hard to make sure he gets a vacation.

We usually go twice a year.

This year though, I talked him into going to Bear Lake instead.

He still talks about that vacation and how it wasn't much of a vacation.

So last week, we went back to Cancun.

Wasn't I just complaining about our money pit house?

Why, yes, I was!

Since this vacation was planned (and hotel and plane tickets purchased) before we bought the house,

we were already locked in.

We had to make it work on a very small budget.

We managed to make this our cheapest vacation ever...

and we still had fun.

I will never live down the Bear Lake debacle though.

Here is a run down of what we did on vacation:

Day One

Arrived fairly late in the day (maybe 3 or 4? I can't remember)

Pick up rental car 

(Frank was very proud to get a rental for a week for only $23...yep for the whole week!)

Grocery shop

Part of the plan for a cheap vacation was to eat in the room as much as possible.  So we stocked up on breakfast and lunch foods.

Check in to hotel.

We then went and sat on the beach for a bit.

Here is a view from our room with a nice "welcome" written in the sand.

Day Two

We arrived on Saturday so our first whole day was a Sunday.

We try to go to church on Sundays and not spend money or eat out.

So, we got up and got dressed in our church clothes

and headed out to church.

Frank in his white shirt and tie...a picture he sent to his mom

We've been to church in Cancun before but it's been awhile.

And, well, we got lost.

We drove around for over an hour and finally gave up and came back to the hotel.

We spent the rest of the day just lounging on the beach and reading.

The typical toes/beach picture.

That's Frank headed into the ocean.

Day Three

We decided to go back to a little beach that we found on our last trip...

it is north of all of the hotels and is more of a locals beach.

We drove up and found it easily (whew!)

but the little restaurant that was there is now only open on weekends.

So that was a bummer because we had only brought a little bit of food

and had no chairs or anything like that.

Last time we were able to "rent" a table and chairs with an umbrella as long as we bought lunch there.

But we set up our camp under some shade and had a nice day there.

Just like last time there were a few local families there but overall very few people.

There is a lagoon there and it had a bunch of pink flamingoes!

We waded out to get close to them...and I swear it felt like we were close

but the pictures are sure far away! haha

We got close enough to make them nervous and they started leaving, so we backed off.

One of our favorite dishes in Mexico is called a Molcajete.

It's a cheese/meat dish served in a big stone bowl.

It's amazing.

The hotel we had stayed at on previous visits was nearby and we knew they had this favorite dish of ours... so we stopped in for lunch and were excited to get a molcajete!

Sadly, they had changed their menu and no longer served it.

So sad!

We ate lunch there anyway and headed back to our hotel.

On the way back, we got pulled over for speeding.

Which is a story in and of itself.

We survived that experience and our lives and marriage are still intact.

Dinner was ritz crackers, cheese and meat from the grocery store.

We live it up!

As usual, we were tired early...and instead of enjoying the night life of Cancun we went to sleep.

But, hey, it's our vacation so we can do it the way we want.

Day Four

We thought maybe we would splurge a little and go on a tour to some Mayan ruins

but after calling the tour company we decided it just wasn't worth the cost.

So we spent the morning on our hotel beach.

Around lunch time we decided to give it another try on finding a molcajete.

We took our kids to Isla Mujeres (a small island near Cancun) years ago (before we moved to Boston) and the hotel we were in there had a great little restaurant with a really delicious molcajete on the menu.

So we decided to drive to the ferry and go to Isla Mujeres.

It started raining pretty heavily and the road actually had quite a bit of water.

We thought it was sorta fun and took pictures to send to Frank's parents.

Well, that was just the beginning!

It rained!

And the streets became more and more flooded.

Cars started stalling from the water.

People were pushing their cars and motorcycles along and walking in knee deep water at times.

It was crazy.

Our 5 mile trip to the ferry took a good long time and we were just hoping our car wouldn't stall.

We made it eventually and took the ferry to Isla Mujeres.

It kept raining.

We rented a little golf cart to drive while we were there

and, even though it had a roof, we were completely drenched in no time!

Here we are after we ran from our golf cart to the hotel entrance.

We straggled into the hotel which had been renamed and completely remodeled!

And, you guessed it, the restaurant did not serve molcajete.

We left without eating and drove around a bit before choosing a little road side place to eat.

It was tasty but not what we had hoped for.

And we were so wet.

Back to the ferry and back home to still flooded streets, slow traffic and a near empty tank of gas.

I complained of being too hot the whole vacation but we were both quite chilled after being wet for hours and then riding home on an air conditioned ferry.

Good times.

Day Five

On Wednesday we decided to have another relax-on-the-hotel-beach day.

We did some investigating and found a restaurant in downtown Cancun that supposedly served great molcajete.

Yes, this became the theme of the vacation.

Find some molcajete!

We went to this very nice place and they did, indeed, have an entire page of their menu

for various types of molcajete.

I got a chicken one and Frank got shrimp.

The food was so gorgeous.

Frank's bean soup:

Guacamole, freshly made at the table side:

My molcajete:

I hate to say it but...it wasn't quite right.

Good meat and a nice hot stone bowl...

but the spices were different and there was no cheese!

Just a dip that tasted a lot like italian dressing.

So sad.

Day Six

We got up early and drove to Coba, which is the site of some very cool mayan ruins.

We decided to just be our own tour guides!

We had been there once before but it was when Frank was still recovering and he was pretty weak and tired so we didn't see the whole thing.

This time we spent the whole day and saw everything.

We walked a lot!

Coba is in the jungle and it was really hot and so humid.

I do not sweat a lot generally but I felt like my clothes were totally wet.

It was disgusting.

You can still climb the temple in Coba

so that is one reason we love it there.

We made it to the top!

A gorgeous view

(and my thighs were a bit sore the next day)

See how wet we look?

 gross

But, don't get me wrong, we had a great time.

We were just gross.

Day Seven

Friday was our last full day in Cancun so we threw caution to the wind a bit.

You see, I really do not go in the sun.

This is one reason that these tropical vacations don't make a lot of sense for me.

I wear spf 50 sunscreen and sit in the shade the whole time.

The. Whole. Time.

I get a skin reaction when I get in the sun and it gives me a terrible, itchy rash.

So I am very careful.

If I get the rash early on it really ruins the whole week.

But on the last day I actually went out into the ocean for a significant period. 

I was probably out there for a couple of hours overall.

The rest of the time I did my usual and stayed in the shade...

but both Frank and I got a bit sunburned

and my rash made a grand entrance!

That's ok...headed home to my medication tomorrow.

Here we are sitting in the restaurant for our final meal.

Day Eight

Saturday morning we slept in and then packed up to go home.

We had a bit of an eventful time filling the rental car with gas before returning it

(Another story...no cash and credit cards not working after we had already gotten the gas!)

but we worked it out and were on our way back home.

Real life awaits.

Money Pit revisited

Here are the things going on at our little rental house right now:

New windows went in yesterday.

They look very nice and actually open and close!

Now I need to do a fair amount of touch up painting.

New sewer pipe got installed today.

Yes, we had a blockage and had to have the sewer pipe scoped only to discover that it was collapsed and we would have to replace it.

sigh.

New carpet goes into the basement next week.

Frank is installing a new heater for the basement.

Yes, it will be a much better place to live with heat...

He has framed in the spot for it and drilled a big hole in the wall for the vent.

Me looking down at Frank from outside the house

The bathroom is being framed and dry wall installed.

The shower is in and functional!

I still need to find a vanity small enough to fit in the space....and a mirror, and towel bars etc etc

Some of this was planned and some was a surprise.

New shower? planned.  Completely new bathroom including all new walls built? surprise.

Cha-Ching

This morning I woke to the sound of my phone buzzing on my nightstand.

When I grabbed it and saw that my tenant was calling me at 6:45 a.m., I knew I was in trouble.

The water line to the refrigerator had come unattached and had spewed water for who knows how long while she slept.  

She woke to the sound of running water, which alarmed her.

And me.

The upstairs kitchen, hall and bathroom were flooded.

The water ran down the walls and stairway and pretty much every room in the basement had water of varying amounts.

The laundry room has a floor drain and yet, somehow, there was water everywhere!

What good is that drain if it isn't the low spot?

oy.

I jumped out of bed and drove over there.

Thankfully my awesome sister who lives closer to the house than I do was also willing to run over there with towels and her shop vac.

We got it cleaned up and fans going.

We had to rip out the carpet on the stairs 

(which was being replaced next week anyway but I had planned for big burly carpet installers to do it, not weakling me).

The new drywall is wet.

The area under the stairs is really wet.

It is a lot of work to deal with water damage and clean up!

But 

Here's what I'm grateful for:

That this happened when someone was there.

That this happened BEFORE we put the new carpet in the basement.

That the hardwood floors on the main floor were largely spared...and the ones that got wet didn't get soaked.

That my sister had dealt with flooding in her own house and was a huge help and a calm presence.

That home depot rents bigs fans.

That the sewer pipe repair was done with no major glitches or added expenses.  Our drains will now drain and are guaranteed for 10 years! yay!

But, oh, I am so tired.

and broke.

This is what happens when you don't blog for a long time...

 The rental house saga continues.

I have spent many hours over there.

I removed the asbestos tiles from the bedroom and entryway.

And I looked gorgeous while doing it.

I had a little barbecue at my house for a couple of neighbors and the couple that rents our basement apartment.

I did the great Pringles taste test as an activity

(A friend had posted about going to a dinner party where they did this and I knew immediately that I had to do it!)

Everyone enjoyed the activity even though there was a consensus that several of the flavors were disgusting.

I also failed to take pictures of most of the people doing it...

I am still going to lunch with my parents every Thursday.

We sometimes try out new restaurants and we sometimes just go someplace we know we like.

Every once in awhile, my Dad likes to go up to Salt Lake and eat at the fancy restaurant that overlooks the Salt Lake Temple.

This last time we walked around enjoying the perfect fall weather and the beautiful flowers.

And my brother Dion was able to join us.

Good times.

Frank and Carter and I went to General Conference in the conference center in Salt Lake.

It really was great to be there in person

(we usually watch over the internet)

and we were all amazed at how much better the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is in person.

My niece, Lauren (from Alabama), came to Utah for a few days before she went into the MTC to serve a mission for our church.

The family got together to celebrate seeing her and it was awesome.

Then we took her to the MTC and dropped her off.

Yay for missionaries!

Our next door neighbor and good friend from Massachusetts, Nick, 

came to Utah to go to the MTC also.

He went in the same day as my niece.

We took him to dinner the night before he began his mission and it was awesome.

We miss our MA friends!

Also, Yay for missionaries!

I said, "Act like you like each other"

The awkward boy hug. 

Be careful not to touch!

These boys never stop being sarcastic...even when saying goodbye

I went to a bridal shower for my niece Jaime.

She is getting married in November and will be living in our little apartment.

It was a fun time and they played a game that I really liked.

(and I don't usually like shower games)

They asked a variety of questions to her fiancé and then we asked her the same questions.

If she got the answer right (the same as her fiancé) she got to open a present.

If she got it wrong, she had to chew a piece of gum.

She had a mouth full of gum and it was funny.

But she got a lot of questions right too...so we all gave her the thumbs up for getting married.

I went to a BYU football game with another visiting friend from MA, Stephanie.

We went with my brother Dion and his two boys.

We had a great time!

Carter and Charles (Stephanie's son and a good friend of Carter's) sat in the student section and had a good time as well.

And since the Grangers were here visiting, we invited another MA friend for dinner.

Arthur came over (we were sad his fiancé was sick and couldn't come).

Arthur was invited to the barbecue the night we did the Pringles thing...

but I had failed to tell him I got a new phone number.

So he was texting me and thought I was ignoring him

and I was wondering why he never came!

Wow!

I've had a lot going on...no wonder I haven't blogged!