Hello from Yakima

Our 6th grandchild is on the way and "It's a little boy"!! We couldn't be more happy for Josh and Kristi. The ultrasound was done this week and the development of Baby J looks perfect and is definitely a boy. He was moving around alot so they couldn't get a clear picture of his little heart so they will do the ultrasound again in four weeks. He is expected to arrive July 8th. It's funny, alot of us were predicting a boy and even the "drano test" was correct. Many doubt this method but I am a believer. I used it on two of my children, Joel and Jessica and it was absolutely correct with both of them. Now that it worked on Baby J I am even more convinced. For those of you who do not know about this test here's how it is performed. After about the 4th month of pregnancy, you take about 2-3 ounces of the mother's urine and mix it with crystal drano, about equal amounts of urine and drano. If the mixture turns brown it is a boy. If it stays blue gr...

Over the past few weeks we have been working on a project at the orphanage to repair the teeter-totters, also known as seesaws. They were in good shape until this past year when they begain to break. They have probably been there for many, many years. On one of our recent trips to work on the project, we took our friends, Dick and Jan along. You will see Dick helping Greg in the photos below. Also, you will see a little boy by the name of Edwardo helping Greg. Edwardo is about 10 or 11 years old and he was always so excited when he saw Greg. He really enjoyed helping Greg and getting to use his tools. Jan and I played with Pablo while the guys worked on the teeter-totters. We even got him to smile this time. Greg was back out to the orphanage to finish up the project today and he said the kids were having a great time on their new teeter-totters. I'll have to go back and take some pictures of the kids playing on them.

Recently, we went on a home tour sponsored by an organization here in Mazatlan called "Pro Mexico". Every year they arrange a tour of six beautiful homes in Mazatlan. The owners donate their homes for a day, and those of us on the tour get to see wonderful examples of interesting architecture and interior design. We traveled around in buses donated for the occasion. The tickets were $30 US and all proceeds were donated to the Pro Mexico organization. Pro Mexico is a private, no profit, volunteer organization that focuses on Health and Education programs for the needy. They sponser several events each year, including this annual home tour. We toured two homes in the very expensive neighborhood of El Cid and two in the newer part of Mazatlan, a home over 100 years old in historic old town owned by a couple from Scottsdale, AZ and one up on a high cliff over looking the ocean. The owner of this home is from Sacramento, CA. The home has 18,000 square feet in the interior and 5,00...

Last Sunday, February 17th we took an hour and half drive north of Mazatlan to the fishing village of Barras de Piaxtla with our good friends, Dick and Jan. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at a local restaurant and also enjoyed the beautiful view of the ocean from there. There was also a beach front retreat in this area. Here is the website if you ever feel the need to really get away. We thought it might we fun to stay a couple of nights but not much longer. As you will notice in the pictures below, those nets above the beds in the pictures are because they have a few mesquitos. http://www.larosadelasbarras.com/ As we were leaving the restaurant, a group of 5 Mazatlan Universidad students arrived and wanted to take our picture. We guessed they thought we were interesting looking gringos. One of the students spoke very good english and was studying Tourism at the Universidad. We posed for the picture and headed up a very rough dirt road to the Las Labradas petroglyphs near the town of Chi...

We just wanted to let you know we had a wonderful Valentine's Day together. We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary at Torres Mazatlan. We had a delicious filet mignon dinner and a beautiful sunset to watch too. Below is a video clip I took as we enjoyed our dinner. The sunset just kept getting more brillant in shades of red but I had to get back to my dinner. Also, I have posted a couple pictures of us from that evening too. Enjoy! There was a drawing that evening too. A jeweler from Canada donates a piece of jewelry every year to be raffled off and the proceeds go to the 35 employees (waiters, bartenders, kitchen and activities staff) at Torres. This year it was a $2,000 US diamond and pearl pendant necklace. We didn't win but they raised $4,000 US that was divided among these employees. A very nice, well-deserved bonus for each of them. We hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day and we think of you often as we continue our adventures here in Mexico. Enjoying our marga...

This event happened here in Mazatlan today, Sunday, February 10th. My friend Jan and I, participated in this 1 - 10K run. We chose to do the 10K (about 6 miles) but we walked it. The registration fee was 100 pesos or $10 US to support cancer research If you aren't familiar with who Terry Fox was, here is a little recap. I took this info directly from an internet site that contained his biography. "Terry Fox was a young Canadian whose battle with bone cancer prompted him to run across his country, despite already having had one leg amputated. Fox grew up in Port Coquitlam, outside of Vancouver, British Columbia. Diagnosed with osteogenetic sarcoma in 1977, he had his right leg amputated just above the knee and was fitted with a prosthetic device. To draw attention to the disease and to raise funds for research, Fox announced he would run a marathon per day (more than 26 miles) across Canada, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. He began his trek on 12 April 1980 in St....

I have finished posting the pictures from Carnaval. We hope you enjoy them.

Carnaval was alot of fun this year and very special since we had two of Greg's cousins, Janet and Diane here with us. They arrived last Thursday, Jan 31 and left Monday, Feb 4. It was a short visit but we think they enjoyed their time, visiting a small Mexican village, El Quelite, Old Mazatlan, the Coronation of the Carnaval Queen, the Carnaval parade and they even had time to catch a few rays and relaxation on the beach. Oh, of course, lots of margaritas and chips and salsa. Here are pictures of our visit with Janet and Diane and the Carnaval too. Enjoy! The first evening of Janet and Diane's visit was the first day of Carnaval too. We took them to the Plazuela Machado (El Centro/Old Maz) that evening to enjoy the beginning of Carnaval. As I explained in a previous posting, Carnaval ran from Jan 31 - Feb 5. On Feb 6, Lent began so the party is over and fasting for 40 days begins. As you know, Mexico is a Catholic country so most would be following this tradition. These are a c...