Feliz Navidad!

Yep. Back from Mexico. We had an awesome trip and feel now that a week is not enough time for a Mexico trip. We look forward to taking at least two weeks in the future. I had been thinking of renting a house in Tahoe for Darla's 50th birthday, but think that a trip to Mexico with the family is what is in the cards. We will sit down with Jennifer, the boys and Darla's folks and see if we can make it work. The Vidante resort in Nuevo Vallarta just gets better every year and the amenities, infrastructure, pools, service and the rooms have improved so much that we want to share this with our family. None of them have been to our resort and we upgraded this year to three weeks and moved to the spa tower, which features 2800 square foot two bedroom suites. The contract we signed is "building specific", which means that we know we will be in the fourth Luxxe tower above the fourth floor. We are trying to set ourselves up for retirement and I now have enough time that we can stay six weeks in a row when we finally are retired and able to travel.

 

Our first night in Nuevo Vallarta, we wanted to have dinner with Bob and Debbie Hand, who were at the resort the week before us and were leaving on Sunday. We planned to drive into Paradise Village and have dinner at Brasil, a Brazilian steakhouse that serves meat on skewers. When we arrived, we were saddened to hear that the owner of Brasil had died in the last year and his family had closed the restaurant. We ended up eating at Napolitano's, a Mexican restaurant right next door to where Brasil had been located. 

 

Neil and I played golf five times at the Nicklaus course while we were at the resort and I struggled getting used to the Bermuda greens. I shot 89-82-86-86 and 83, so averaged 85 over the week. We had 7:20 AM tee times each of the days that we played and were off the course by shortly after 11 every day. We didn't play on Wednesday with the idea that we would take a cab up to Busceria or Ceyulito. That plan got shut down when Darla signed us up for a facility tour on Wednesday morning, which turned into us upgrading our contract yet again. I may add one more week within the next ten years so that we can have a month of time in a two bedroom unit, which would give us two months using our lockouts.

 

The weather was incredible every day except our last, which made our having to leave for the states a bit easier. It was overcast and cooler and when Darla and I walked over to the sales center after breakfast, the sky opened up and it poured rain for about thirty minutes (right after we got into the building). The storm left puddles and pooling of water all over the resort.

 

The developer has signed a contract with Greg Norman Enterprises and they are working on the front nine of the new course (the first three holes) now in front of the Luxxe Towers 4 and 5. My building will eventually have either an ocean and poolside view or a golf course view. The rain left much of their equipment stuck in puddles on the developing course.

 

The resort will soon open a Circus Soleil show in contract with the Canadian company that owns the Circus Soleil brand. They also have plans to open a new Disney style resort with attractions and rides that will be just outside of the resort's property, but we will have access to the park as part of our ownership. They will build part of the Norman course adjacent to the new theme park and that will be across the river from our resort. The owner of Vidante owns land all the way to the airport and had planned to build a train from the airport to the resort. The taxi union got wind of the plans and caused so much noise that he dropped the plan and will now build roads to bring his guests to the resort in a more direct route (with taxis). In the meantime they have already bought the trains and have the tracks built on the resort property. The other thing that they are bringing back and I look forward to, are the water taxis that will transport guests from one part of the resort to the other. Right now transportation is by electric shuttle vehicles or by a series of wooden bridges that criss cross the resort.

 

The pictures above are of our Limo ride with Neil and Lilly, Steve and Brenda and John and Camille on the Wednesday before we left for Mexico. It was a magical night with a great meal, good champagne and a nice chilled Bailey's Irish Cream in the limo. The Christmas lights were fantastic and we even stopped at one house that had the lights timed to music that was played on an FM Transmitter. We looked at the local lights in Roseville and Rocklin and then took a drive down to Sacramento and the homes in the fabulous forties, an upscale older neighborhood located at the area from 40th avenue to the mid fifties. That neighborhood went way out and had lights that actually cross over the road from one side to the other making a tunnel effect. I would guess any boom trucks that have to pass through the area aren't thrilled with their decorating. It was a great deal of fun and wonderful gift from Neil and Lilly.

 

The pictures from our trip include many group and couple pictures as well as many of the exterior of the resort. The lazy river and children's area are shown to show Jennifer and Samantha the fun that awaits them if they choose to join us in June. Darla's birthday is in May, but we will delay the celebration to give Sam time to finish up her Kindergarten year.

 

We returned home on Samantha's 6th birthday. The flight was uneventful, but when we got to San Francisco, all of our bags arrived save for Neil's golf clubs. We not only lost Neil's clubs, but we also lost about two hours in San Francisco as we were stuck at Immigration trying to find the clubs. United had scanned the clubs as received, but they were NOT at the over sized baggage location. We are guessing that someone stole them. I know Neil's pain, as I had mine stolen in Denver a few years ago.

 

Christmas will sneak up on us quickly this year as I am back to work for Monday and then a half day on Tuesday before Christmas on Wednesday. We will host the family on Tuesday afternoon for a prime rib dinner. I hope that each of you have a wonderful Holy-Day season and an equally satisfying Christ-mas. I will talk to most of you on Christmas day. Be safe and be Happy. Ciao.