Post Christmas Thoughts

 

 

Okay, I sort of lied about last week being the last of the Mexico pictures. It's not only that I have trouble giving up the fun and family connection that we all shared in Mexico, but McKenny sent a link to some of his pictures that he edited and uploaded to Dropbox for us to look at. I decided to add those. I particularly like the "goofy" picture that we all took on the balcony of our condo on our last day in Nuevo Vallarta. Everyone got in on the crazy, including Dad. Shirley got about as crazy as someone with her class and gentility could muster. Way to go, Shirley. We had a great trip with everyone and our memories are strong. I also added some pictures from our Christmas celebration at Don and Alicia's house on Christmas Day.

 

We pretty well completed our Christmas giving at the condo in Mexico and our small tree here in the house was bare of gifts. Darla bought a few things for Luke and I brought some of our Burns cookies for Earl and Frances and Don and Alicia. Darla also gifted her Mom and Alicia with some Silpada earrings. Don made a Prime Rib that he smoked for the first hour and then cooked the prime rib the rest of the time in the oven. The wood flavor was very subtle and very good. I'm not a big smoked meat fan, but this was very good. We played cards and visited at Don's house.

 

Darla and I got home after six and relaxed in the hot tub, letting the stresses and worries flood out of our bodies as we relaxed in the swirling 102 degree water. We watched a movie that night and went to bed fairly early. I was up Saturday and off to Cherry Island Golf Course for my first game in December. I had lined up Neil, Boyd and Pamas to play. Boyd suffers from vertigo and had a very bad case on Saturday morning so backed out. Neil and I had bought vouchers for the course ($55 for two with cart), so he decided to back out as well. It was frosty and I was concerned that we would have a lengthy delay, but it was only fifteen minutes and we got off ahead of our 8:20 tee time. Pamas and I played as a twosome and were the third group out. We quickly passed the two groups in front of us and played 18 holes in a little over 2 and a half hours. That is my pace...Hit it and Go!. I shot 84 and Pamas suggested we do a replay for $15. I checked in with Darla who was out doing some after Christmas shopping and didn't pick up. I made a command decision. Pamas an I ate an early lunch and were back on the course by 11:30 for our second 18. It moved much slower and we took 2 hours and 20 minutes to play the first nine. The back none was HORRIBLE and we decided to quit after number 11. We noticed the front nine had no one on it, so headed back over and finished another 9 (our 36 holes for the day) in about 90 minutes. I shot 43 and 40 on the consecutive front nines and posted the 18 hole score and two 9 hole scores for the day. I was pleased with how I played and if I was paying attention, would say that it is a good thing to take a break from golf occasionally. Yeah, right.

 

I ended up with a very sore back for my troubles and, strangely, got very little sympathy from my wife. I was sore last night, but the soreness seemed to have worked its way out of my body. The pa helped last night for sure.

 

I have a round on Tuesday at Sierra View Country Club. The guy I was supposed to play with last week begged off when he found out it was cart path only after five straight days of rain. We will try again on Tuesday. I have a tee time at Lincoln Hills Golf course next Saturday and have invitations out to Pamas, Paul and Bryan to play.

 

It is month and year end this week and we are scheduled to work a full day on Thursday the 31st. I will let the gang go on Thursday as soon as all binders are in and invoices completed. We are still on track for budget this month and I really want to start the new year off with a lunch paid for by the company for everyone. One fly in the ointment is that Wendy will not return in January as planned. Her daughter was born prematurely in November and has an issue where her tumor was removed. She needs to intubate her three times a day to help her expel her waste because of pressure the tumor put on her kidneys. This has to be done throughout the month of January, so she is tentatively scheduled no to be back in February. In the meantime I continue to bang away at her book of business and try not to mess it up.

 

I did meet this last week with the young man who wants to join my office from a competitor. He is a bright young (28) guy with a millennial attitude. He wants to come in and be a part of the team, but also to come and go as he pleases. I'm cautiously optimistic that he eventually ignores the pie in the sky and sees the major benefit to him to moving from a regional wholesaler to a national and international power wholesaler. The in house underwriting and expertise that we have far out distances anything his current company can offer him. I told him I'd need him to check in with me when he decided to take a day off or go golfing, etc. He shared with Harvey that he was concerned that I was a "micromanager".  Jeesh.

 

Darla and I are hosting a New Years Day party and fixing a prime rib and doing games that day. Darla was a little late getting out the invitations and we have one "No" and one "Maybe" right now. We could end up with a lot of leftover prime rib if no one shows up.

 

I was able to get both the house cleaned up, the pool and spa cleaned and my car washed this weekend, so it was a  successful weekend. I also was able to check in with Darryl, Randy, Jennifer and Steve (Darla's brother in Hawaii), wish then each a Merry Christmas and get caught up on their lives. Dad called us and we returned the call and just got a ring that never went to voice mail. We will try to call him tonight.

 

That's is for this week. I hope you are all well and have a safe and Christ-filled New Year. Ciao.

Pre-Christmas Meanderings

Great memories! This will be the final installment of pictures. It has taken me all of a week as I have tried to get back in the swing of things. The only good thing is that it is a slow time of year as many of our agents take the final two weeks of the year off. We had our Christmas party and white elephant gift exchange on Wednesday. I bought everyone gift cards again this year. The company allows $40 per person toward our celebration and I am able to buy $50 gift cards to restaurants as many of the restaurants will give you $100 worth of gift cards for $80. I actually had two of my employees complain that I only give restaurant cards and they would prefer Visa cards. That won't happen as you have to pay a $3.95 service fee to buy a Visa card. I offered next year to buy a few $40 retail gift cards. We draw numbers and pick the cards. This year I went out of pocket to buy a couple of $50 retail cards as they were offered for $90. It still amazes me that people complain about free stuff. I've had the same problem with our lunches as I've reported before. I do have about three people that always make a point to come up and thank me after the festivities and they are some of my favorite people in the office. It was a white elephant gift exchange and oddly, I ended up with a white elephant wax warmer which are used in restrooms to leave a fresh scent behind after business is attended to.

 

It is Samantha's birthday tomorrow. She met a little friend in Mexico at our condo. The little girl is from Las Vegas, her birthday is in December, they both lost front teeth this year, they were both staying in building 4 and they were both traveling with aunts, uncles and grandparents. It was pretty funny. They got together once at the pool and they did the turtle races together. Her family ended up on the same flight back to Santa Ana with us and the girls sat together and played on the plane. Sam ended up going to her birthday party last Monday night and she will attend Sam's tomorrow. Pretty funny.

 

Dad and Shirley are on their way home as I write this and will not return home until after midnight tonight. It was Shirley's birthday on Tuesday and she was able to relax and enjoy her birthday in Paradise. I look forward to when Darla and I can take two weeks in Mexico or even three weeks. We have two weeks a year time, but can turn it into a month by either staying at a two bedroom at the Grand Mayan or staying in the one bedroom side for four weeks in the Spa tower.

 

Darla had her Christmas event at the foster agency that she works for yesterday. All of the families came. Unfortunately, one of the foster families that she handles had a death in the family while we were in Mexico. The Mom had a stroke and was convalescing in the hospital and then had a heart attack and passed away. The foster Dad was there and the kids are getting by. It was pretty traumatic.

Darla went with her friend, Denise, who also works at the agency and she was dressed as Mrs. Claus. The kids loved it.

 

 

We are having a good month at work, but our goal this month was actually below what we wrote in 2014. We are track to break that number and I'll be able to take the gang to lunch. I am not counting any hens before the eggs hatch, though. This is an odd time of year. We'll have a big day followed by a dead day this time of year. Hopefully, we can hit our goal and start the year off with a lunch for the troops.

 

Tomorrow I'm having lunch with an underwriter from a competitor's shop. He called me out of the blue and wanted to meet and talk about any opportunities that I might have and what he could bring to the table for me. Our company has lost a number of underwriters to this competitor and I'm anxious to hear why he is looking and what the situation is at his shop. It should be an interesting lunch.

 

I did not play any golf this weekend and haven't played in December. It has been cold and wet with frost delays and I was gone two weekends. That will change on Tuesday as I was invited by one of my agents to play golf at his country club here in Roseville. I'll work in the morning and meet him around 11:30 for a quick lunch and then we will play golf with he and a couple of his agent buddies from a shop we don't currently work with. This could be a good sports marketing outing for me.

I spent about four and a half hours Saturday cleaning the pool, clearing out all of the downspouts on the gutters, putting up Christmas lights and clearing out the last of the leaves from the side, back and front yards. The longest chore was cleaning the leaves out of the pool. I had taken the sweep out of the pool before our holiday and the leaves had filled the pool and sunk to the bottom. Some of the piles of leaves that I pulled out almost bent the pole holding the net. I finally got most of the leaves out and then vacuumed the entire pool and the water is sparkling again. I shocked and cleaned the spa and then found time for a nap before the Dallas game came on. They lost and that is good at this point as they prepare for next year and the draft. It was great to see Kellen Moore in there and he will start the rest of the year and we can make a determination if he is the guy we want as our principal backup next year. He was great at Boise State and it remains to be seen if he can bring his game to the NFL. Some can and some can't.

 

We work a half day on Thursday and have Christmas Day off. Next week is the same for New Years. Darla and I will host friends on New Years for prime rib, games and football. We look forward to ringing in the New Year. It has been a great year personally, but a tough year professionally. I see very big things ahead for the office in 2016, so I'll raise a glass to 2015 and be glad to welcome in the New Year.

 

I hope you all have a GREAT Christmas Day and make sure that Christ is right in the middle of your Christmas celebration. Be well and God bless each of you during this holiday season. Ciao.

Family Vacation in Mexico

Well, only 34 pictures on the first blog post after the vacation. We had a blast as a family. We flew out on Saturday at 6:30 AM to Santa Ana with David and met Jen, McKenny and Samantha later in the morning. We grabbed some breakfast with David and then met their plane. We all got some lunch and brought it on the plane for our flight to Mexico. Darla and I shared a sandwich, David got some Chinese food and Jen got sandwiches for their gang.

 

The flight was unremarkable and we were in Puerto Vallarta within three hours. The airport was packed like I've never seen it. There were flights backed up and the baggage claim and Immigration were jammed. We were able to get our bags and finagle our way into a relatively short line and get through pretty quickly. They have a system in PV whereby your push a button and it randomly comes up green or red. Green you go on happily about your day. Red and you get your bags searched. we've been to PV about six times now and never been searched. Jennifer has been there once and got the dreaded red light. There was no issue, but she had to go through the invasion of her bags by the Mexican authorities.

 

Dan and Becky had arrived about 11:00 AM and met us outside the airport and we met our transportation, which was a nice Chevy van that drove us into the resort. The kid's heads were on a swivel as we went through the entry of the resort and into the reception area. We took a shuttle right over to Tower 4 of the Grand Luxxe, which is the newest building. I was told that we could not get into the spa tower again. We upgraded two years ago, but we were in Luxxe 1 the last time we came over. The tower was still under construction at the time. Something must have cleared up because we ended up in the new building, which includes an alcove on the balcony that has a spa table on it. We didn't get in until after 5, so just got checked in and had dinner. The boys decided to go to the Taco Break restaurant for dinner while Jennifer and I ran to the on site market and grabbed some eggs, milk, cereal, bread and lunch meat to tide us over.

 

 

Sunday, we took a cab into Nuevo Vallarta and spent $375 on groceries for the week. We were able to eat all of our lunches and most of our breakfasts in the condo and also had three dinners, including tacos and burritos one night and breakfast for dinner another night. Darla and I also bought two meal plans so we could treat the kids to two dinners and two breakfasts. Darla and I split our meals and Jennifer and McKenny did the same. Daniel bought an extra meal. Dad and Shirley came in that night and met us for dinner.

 

I treated Samantha to a Dolphin Experience for her 8th birthday on Tuesday and she chose to do it with her Mom rather than go to the Kid's Experience. The fun thing about the swim experience is that they were able to swim with the dolphin. You can see Sam in the one picture on the dolphin. The dolphin swims upside down and the swimmer climbs on top and holds the fins as they cut through the water. The dolphin center has quite a gig set up whereby they seat us about 80 yards from the pool in a viewing area and then put camera people in the water with them to get pictures. They got some outstanding photos, but the package of photos was $159. The cost of the actual swim for both of them was a total of $94. We had a zoom lens and was able to get some decent pictures.

 

The Majahuitas and Yelapa adventure that we took with the same company was much more reasonable for their photo package. They wanted $79 for the photo stick and a group picture and any picture in a metal print. We eschewed the metal print and got the cost down to $40. That trip was fun, but we had to be at the Dolphin Center at 7:30 AM on Wednesday. Not a fun thing on your vacation, but we made it work and Jennifer was able to get Sam to bed early. She was so excited to go snorkeling and kayaking that she was up and raring to go in the morning. We had a decent continental breakfast with fruit and pastries, juice and coffee. Unfortunately, McKenny had to work and missed the trip and it was his loss. We had a blast. The boat went first to Puerto Vallarta where we picked up more passengers and then on to Los Arcos, where we slowed and a speed boat delivered a couple who were staying at a resort near the arches. We traveled about an hour and 40 minutes to Majahuitas, where we dropped anchor and spent an hour and a half snorkeling and kayaking. I was in the water for about fifteen minutes and up and out and back in the boat. Looking at fish for me is fine, but ten minutes is plenty of time to spend. Sam was a little fish and spent most of the first hour with her mask in the water looking at all there was to see. They came back up and were the last ones to get a kayak and David joined them.

 

From there, we pulled anchor and lunch was served. They had cold cuts, fruit, salads and an open bar. We traveled about 45 minutes to Yelapa. The town of Yelapa is a fishing village that is only accessible by boat because of the jungle terrain surrounding it. The word Yelapa means "where the sea meets the river". The river does empty into the bay at Yelapa. Becky got sick while she was snorkeling to Daniel's dismay. She unfortunately got sick as they were getting back on the boat, right at the ladder. We got her some Dramamine and she felt better, but decided to skip the hike up to the waterfall. Daniel stayed back with her and Darla decided to visit with Dan and Becky on the beach, so David, Jen, Sam and I headed up to the waterfall. It was an easy hike up a sidewalk to the waterfall. You can see how beautiful the waterfall is. David took the pictures which turned out great.

 

From the waterfall we hiked back through the little village of Yelapa to the bay.  Sam counted 23 dogs, including four puppies all from the same litter and all with different families. The school let out as we were walking back and the children were all in their school uniforms. We saw one father with his kids and a mule ladened with fruit and vegetables. We also saw several men on 4 wheelers with supplies brought in by boat. They also had the requisite Catholic church that looked like all of the town's money was sent building it.

 

We spent about 90 minutes at the beach and Sam made friends with a little Mexican girl who didn't speak English. It was fun watching them interact. Jen bought Sam a water and we offered Daniella a drink. She didn't want any, but kept saying "agua". We finally figured out that she wanted Sam to go back into the water. This is a picture of the girls together:

 

 

Wednesday night we celebrated Sam's birthday and Shirley's birthday at our condo. We fixed tacos and salad and beans and chips. Shirley was really touched as we all made her cards and bought a cake for her and Sam. She told me afterward that she was so touched, she had trouble sleeping that night.

 

The rest of the trip was fun and mostly spent on the resort. Daniel, Becky, Jen, McKenny, David and Darla went into PV on Monday and I stayed behind with Sam and we went on the lazy river, went on the water slide and I took her to the Kid's Park at Grand Mayan. You can see a picture of Sam eating ice cream. That was on our Monday and I was being Grampa..or Papa as she calls me. We had a ball together.

 

The kids went into PV and shopped a bit in town and then had lunch at PiPi's, a famous local restaurant that we have visited many times. They also went into the Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Puerto Vallarta. They had a great day in the city.

 

You can see the crocodile that we saw in the river outside our condo tower. I had seen the croc early in the week. Darla went to a massage with Becky on Thursday morning and Jennifer, Sam and I saw him again that morning and luckily Jennifer had her phone. The river is man made and fed by the Rio Grande de Santiago. I think the crocodile must have been sucked into the man made river by tubes that feed it. The croc is really young and only about four feet long. He stuck his head in the water inlet tube while we were watching. I'm guessing he eats the iguanas which are in great abundance at the resort. Sam counted 34 during our trip.

 

Sam went Thursday night to see the turtle races. It is a fun thing for the kids, but is actually the sea turtle release by the municipality of Nayarit. The sea turtles arrive in early November and lay their eggs. Forty five days later they hatch and the turtle refuge group releases them back to the sea. It is fun for the kids as they watch the baby turtles run to the sea. Sam swears her turtle won the race among the 50 or o turtles released.

 

Darla unfortunately became ill on Thursday night, having a bad night sleeping and then ending up with the flu in the morning. She was not in any shape to do anything on Friday and spent most of the day in bed. It was our last full day of vacation and the rest of us went over to the Grand Mayan, played pool volleyball, hit the lazy river, went down the slide and spent the afternoon at the beach. It was supposed to rain and the storm arrived at about 4 PM while we were in the ocean. The ocean is 85 degrees in Nuevo Vallarta and the warm temperatures have quite an effect on the weather. The recent hurricane intensified dramatically because of the warmth of the ocean. The rain falling was really pretty cool as we body surfed. Unfortunately, the storm intensified and, although it was still 70 degrees, we got soaked to the bone. We were leaving the next day and had to take the blow dryer to the backpack I was carrying as it was drenched. 

 

Well, I will continue with more from our vacation next week. Dad and Shirley are still in Nuevo for another week and I'm jealous. We left them with a fridge full of leftovers, so they are set for the week. Be well. Ciao.