Happiness

What Makes Mexico Megan Happy

The first few visits to Mexico, I remember feeling not comfortable. The house was finished and furnished, but it wasn't functional. Functional is way more important to me than aesthetics. D was worried about buying more (or at least SOME) art for the house; I was trying to find a good spot for our Kindles and iPods.

Thinking about what makes me enjoy each trip down here more and more, it comes down to our stay here operating smoothly. How long does it take to get in and out of the casa for a pool trip? How long does it take to get cleaned up after a pool or beach trip? Do I have a place to put stuff when I clean up? If you'd asked me how important those things were to my enjoyment of a vacation home when we bought the place, I wouldn't have rated them at all. Now I realize that, for me, it matters a lot. The little things that make the biggest difference to me, in no particular order:

courtyard stuff dump

Having a place to hang all the towels and stash all the stuff needed for pool or beach trips. It's just these wire shelves that were bought for an entirely different purpose (they weren't the right size), but with some strong magnet hooks, it's perfect for that function. It does not look good. But damn it is functional. 

Like this, but wider and with more shelves. And without the wheels. The wheels would be VERY handy from moving it to and from its storage location. Hmm. I bet I can buy some wheels!

making outings routine and easy

Having an easy way to get ready and to the pool or beach quickly. Part of the reason I never got into snowboarding on a regular basis is that I never got the point where getting ready to go was quick and routine. I always had to think about what to bring, how to get it all bundled up, etc. Having this beach cart to haul stuff to and from the pool or beach. Yeah, I look like a bag lady (D's description of me pushing it). But I have a way that I can lug all the towels we need, plus more, along with any pool toys Avery wants to bring and everything else one might need and I'm not going to complain about how Avery needs to leave whatever behind because it's too heavy or too much a pain to carry. I keep the cart next to the rack, take the towels off the hooks, fold and toss them in the cart, grab the bag with beach/pool toys (as assortment of used containers for things like playdough, things like that), grab whatever, toss it in and go. And yes, it really does roll quite well on the beach. 

great room stuff dump

We have a lot of sunblock. We always have to apply it before going on an outing. Keeping it in the bathroom did not work for me because we'd inevitably need to head back into the bathroom to get it to take with us. Sunglasses - we could never find them when we needed them. They were strewn all over. Medications and first aid supplies were scatted between bathrooms. For me, it's different in a vacation home versus a real home. In a real home, things have a spot in one bathroom cabinet. Everyone knows where they are. At a vacation home, you have lots of people using things and they get moved around. Or, you never remember where you last put them. If we stayed in the upstairs bedroom one visit, then the downstairs bedroom for another, things would have to be shifted around. Goggles, sunglasses, hats - they all need a permanent home. Meet the simple shelving I had built. True to form, I took this without neatening anything up. Why? Because I'm all about function. Yes, it would look much better if these shelves had books and decor on them. But what good what that do? Endless searching for key items be over! 

foot-cleanliness obsession dialed down

This one I credit to many things: anti-depressants which make me way less OCD; buying sand socks as a way to spend time at the beach; having a plentiful supply of socks to making walking around in the casa tolerable. Regardless, I've come a long way from the early days down here. I wash my feet maybe once or twice a day (not counting showers). That's down from about 10-20 a few years ago. I'm not constantly trying to figure out how to keep sand and dirt away. My feet are still very clean most of the time, but I've found a good balance between Crazy Foot Cleaning Megan and Normal People. It makes a difference.

storage closet in kitchen

This closet was always here, of course, but it wasn't functional. It's still not nearly as functional as I would like. However, it'll do. Having a place to cram all the stuff that doesn't fit in the kitchen is very key. I do not like having kitchen appliances we don't use daily on our counters. Coffee maker on the counter = hell no (neither D nor I drink coffee). Toaster = no (neither of us eat toast). Blender ... you get the idea. Behold the cram all the stuff in the storage closet. For this we bought shelving. I kind of which we'd sprung for built in shelves so we could better utilize the space of this awkward closet, but I'm happy enough with what we have.

It looks like a mess, but it's actually organized and functional (given the awkwardness of the space)

drying rack outside of bedroom

I've settled that the upper bedroom is the one I prefer. For a while I thought the downstairs bedroom was better for us since it has two queens vs one king. However, for several reasons, I prefer the upstairs bedroom. What to do with those pesky swimsuits? Yes, we could hang them in the bathroom. Flaws with this include not enough hooks in the bathrooms for both (bath) towels and swimsuits, longer drying time due to being in an air conditioned space, and water drops on tile floor = accident waiting to happen. The solution that works great for me is the drying rack being placed right outside the upstairs bedroom, which puts it kind of hidden beneath the stairs to the viewing tower.

stash of clothing

having a stash of clothing that I keep down here is very key in making trips mentally easier (I know, talk about a first world problem: making sure trips to our vacation home are mentally easier). Trips down now require that I bring only nice clothes if we go out to dinner at a nicer place (we rarely do) and underwear. I have all the t-shirts, shorts, swimsuits, and shoes that I need down here. It makes packing a lot easier. 

computer

I was skeptical about bringing my old iMac down here when D suggested it. I thought it was a waste of a computer that would get more use in our primary home. I was wrong. It's great having it here. Immediate access to home when we arrive and a nice place to check news in the real world. 

trash, recycling, composting system ... still a work in progress

This trip, I am trying something new with our food leftovers. Since I'm used to composting at home, it's now more second nature. This time, I've been putting food scraps into a large container in the refrigerator to be delivered to the compost can (it's a bin next to the trash and recycling bins that is emptied at the same time). This serves two purposes: 1. it keeps the food scraps out of the trash bin thereby eliminating bugs/flies around it and 2. it reduces our trash which in turn requires fewer trips to the community trash bins. In fact, I haven't had to make a single trash run yet. Recycling has a home in our closet off the kitchen, that is taken care of. 

There are still areas I'd like to work on to make things even more perfect (because things can never be perfect enough when you're a perfectionist).

• We need a dish rack drying solution. The dish rack that came with our housewares package is massive. I'm thinking that next time I'll bring down an old dish drying rack we used to use at home. I would link to a picture, but I can't find any online. 
• Dishwasher. Woe is me, the dishwasher in our second home is below par. First world self pity acknowledged. But it still sucks. Someday I imagine we'll suck it up and pay the money to put in a good dishwasher. 
• Foot washing bowl outside. I've seen other casas that have bowls for washing shoes and feet before you come into the casa. It doesn't get all the sand, but I'm sure it makes a difference. A large plastic tub would be easy enough to put out there. Next time we actually head into town (not on this trip), I need to remember to buy one. 
• Dining area. Our dining room table is very nice, as are the chairs. However, they're just too big for the space. I'd either like to switch out for a smaller table and easier to move chairs, or maybe install a bench against the wall, or do something to fix it. What we have works. We'll probably leave it as is for quite some time. However, I'd be lying if I said I was completely satisfied with functionality in this area. 
• Outdoor furniture that better suits how we use the casa. We have two sets of outdoor dining tables and chairs - one for the viewing tower and one for the roof terrace. We have eaten outside I think once or twice, and those were undoubtedly just to prove we could. We are not outdoor eaters, particularly when it requires carrying all the stuff up 1 - 2 flights of stairs. We are, however, outdoor loungers. We don't need dining tables; we need loungers. I'd like to get rid of the table and chairs in the viewing tower and put four loungers with side tables up there. I'd keep the dining table and chairs on the terrace, but add two more loungers and some side tables. 

All in good time. For now, I'm so very happy with how the house is set up. I'm so very happy that I have a way that I can say "yes!" to a pool trip request by Avery and *almost* mean the "!" part of it. I'm happy that this house we bought in D refers to as "a fit of irrational exuberance" has become a decision that I'm happy we made. I'm also hoping that it will create some fond memories for Avery, memories of a place where the family could be and just let the real world slide away for a bit. 

Blending

Mexico, sweet Mexico
The days here blend into each other. I never quite know what day it is. It's a nice change of pace. Another stark difference between Portland life and Mexico life is the calendar. I have nothing scheduled, so there's no need to look at it when I'm down here. In Portland, I am constantly looking at my calendar. I don't mind being tethered to my calendar in Portland, but it's also a nice change to be free of it down here.

This morning D got up with A while I slept in a bit. When I woke up, they'd already left for a morning trip to the beach for sea shell hunting. I made myself some tea and breakfast, then started what is sure to be my last day reading my current book. It's the last of the trilogy I'm reading. I have about 20% left to read, so I am quite sure I'll get through that today. I find myself looking for things to do other than read because I so dislike the feeling of finishing a good book. And since this is the end of the trilogy, it's a double whammy. But, that means a blog update for all of you, so it's not all bad.

Felipe came for the last time last night. Of the four meals, this was the least impressive, but still very good overall. When we said we're coming back in May, he said they'll be on vacation. In Panama. We'll have to cook for ourselves?! I think, though, that their vacation might be in the beginning of May. Ours is in the end. I know that everyone's thoughts are with us as we try to brave this time at the thought of having to cook for ourselves.

This afternoon, we all walked down to the store to get a treat. Avery and Henry both wore their "Faster, Stronger, Awesomer" t-shirts and both got exceedingly messy eating their chocolate ice cream bars (Avery edged Henry in this competition). Following that, Christie & I did took a quick walk with the kids over to the Agua Viva section of the community. Avery rode her bike and Henry ran. That community is looked very nice in some spots. We had to turn around a bit earlier than I wanted since Avery said she was tired and wanted to take a nap. So, now she's upstairs taking a nap and I'm about to finish my book. Since I wrote this post out of order, this is my last sentence.

Living Room
Our GC sent a picture of our living room cabinetry in progress. When I first looked at the picture, I wondered if it was our house. D had the same reaction. Upon first glance, it completely transforms the space. After looking at it for a while, it seems less shocking. And I should note it was all good shocking. I love it. I am so looking forward to putting it to use. So much. So much. So excited!

Colorado #1 = Casual
In other wonderful news, the attire during Colorado trip #1 - which is a long weekend in Beaver Creek with D's peers at his company - is all casual. For all dinners and all events. AWESOME. I have never been a fan of dressing up, but it's getting worse as I get older. Why would anyone want to be less comfortable than absolutely possible? Again, I'm all about function over form.

Colorado #2 = Quickly Approaching
I have a week at home between my two Colorado trips. The only anxiety I'm feeling at the moment stems from concern for Avery. She didn't seem to have any problems being apart from me while I was in Mexico before her. But the #2 week comes after I've only been back a week after being gone for almost 4 days.

I know having the primary caregiver gone so much in such a short time period is expecting a lot of any kid. I fully expect that my return from Colorado #2 will have a bit of a price for me to pay. Hopefully I'll have patience with paying that price.

Fever

Avery's sick
Avery has had a fever for the past two nights. We bought some infant Tylenol at the pharmacy in town yesterday, but failed to buy a thermometer (doh!) I'm pretty sure it's a low grade fever.  She's not throwing up and is drinking enough water. Plus, I keep giving her popsicles. I don't want her dehydrated. I know the hospital here in town is good and has English speaking doctors, so I'm not worried about being out of the country. If we need to take her to the doctor, we can. I'm just frustrated that we didn't buy a thermometer yesterday.

I've implemented sick rules this morning, so she's glued to the TV at the moment.

Henry & Avery
The great news for this trip is that Henry and Avery are getting along fantastic! There hasn't been a single big argument between them. Even small ones have gone like this:

Henry: "Avery, get in and I'll push please."
Avery: "No, thank you."

Seriously. They're so damn polite with each other it cracks me up. Henry is very good at honoring Avery's "No, thank you!"s.  I'm very impressed. He doesn't quite understand why Avery doesn't want to do something, but he's good at honoring it and either just continuing to asking without forcing her, or moving on to asking someone else. Yesterday, at the pool, Henry wanted to push Avery around in the floaty chair. Avery said, "No, thank you." So Henry decided to get Damian - who was swimming with his iPod - to get in the chair. First Henry starts to drag the lounger chair on the cement. Christie said something to him about that not being good, he asked Avery to help, Avery said "no thank you", I told Avery it's nice to do teamwork when people ask for help, she grabbed the other end and helped him carry it over to the edge by a deeper part of the pool. Christie and I didn't know what they were doing, so we just watched. Henry then pushes the chair into the pool. They both stand there watching it. After about five seconds, Avery says, "Uh oh." It cracked Christie and me up since it was such a delayed reaction to the obvious. Then Henry reveals his plan by yelling at the top of his lungs to Damian, "WANT TO GET IN THE CHAIR? I'LL PUSH YOU!" Damian, of course, couldn't hear, though I'm  quite sure everyone else at the pool did. But it was still hilarious. I'm not relaying this story very well. But trust me, it was funny.

Last night the two of them had a broccoli eating context (Henry won hands-down,  but Avery did not shame me).  They also had a milk drinking contest, with Avery entering the competition well behind Henry's start and coming in for the tie.

Casa Updates
Our new locks were installed yesterday. This means we won't use the key cards anymore. I am surprised at how much of a relief that is. Not having to remember the dang card is nice! The locks do have keys, but they also have a code you can punch in to unlock the door. That'll be what we use.

We bought some additional decor to get some color into our very neutral living room. I can't find my phone at the moment, so I'm going to post this without pictures, but I'll take pictures before we leave. We bought a new piece of art for a wall in the living room, a vase with paper flowers to go in it, and some watermelon "sculptures" to go on the top shelf of our new shelves.

Community Updates
Things are chugging along in the community with many steps forward and a few steps back. Within walking distance, forward steps include:

• fresh produce available at one store; milk, bread, baking products, etc at another
• two coffee shops 
• one wine bar
• three places for lunch, not including the wine bar or coffee shops which may have food (?)
• two places for dinner
• exterior modifications being done on the two large structures that are unfinished near us. They'll remain empty, at least that's my understanding, but the company that bought the common areas of our community at least agreed to plaster and paint the buildings so it looks better. I'm happy enough with that.
• rental facility for bicycles, four wheelers; it's also a place to book boating activities, etc. That's nice to see. D rented a bike. We're bringing our bikes down next time. Times I've used my bike since we moved to Portland: 0, so I'm not too worried about where it'll get the most use

Steps back:

• This isn't so much a step back as it is a bummer. An understandable bummer, but a bummer nonetheless. The hotel has finally started to charge the homeowners for the use of their facilities. That's fair enough, but who likes to pay money to use things that used to be free? It's now $5 a person to use the pool, the palapas or loungers on the beach, or the gym. I don't have a problem with the fee, but I do wish it could be applied toward a food/beverage credit as long as you spend maybe $25 at the pool or bar. Something like that. But, like I said, it's fair. 
• The restaurant that opened by the pool (not the pool restaurant, but another) seems to have closed. It's always tough to tell these things because they're not well signed when they are open. Maybe they just pulled the tables for some reason, but it looked closed to me. That's no big loss for me since they had pizza and pasta. The salad I ordered was so small I couldn't even make it through the meal without getting hungry again, so it wasn't truly an option for me. 

Rearranging

We'll be doing some rearranging of the furniture in the casa tomorrow.  I'm not going to explain why, but we have too much furniture for this place and much of it is too big.  There are several other homeowners in the same situation so selling it is a long shot.  Our main problem is that there's not enough room in the living room.  We have a gigantic armoire housing our TV which is not gigantic.  After much deliberation (which for D and I means about 15 minutes total), we've decided on the following moves:

• Move one of the armoires from the lower bedroom into the upper bedroom.  This will put two identical armoires side-by-side in the upper bedroom.  A little kooky looking, but not too bad. One will house the TV up there, the other will have a hanging rack in the top of it. 
• Move the armoire in the living room into the lower bedroom.  This armoire will be converted from a TV armoire to a clothing armoire. 
• Move the bookcase from the upper bedroom to the living room.  The TV will sit on the top of the bookcase; the DVD players will go on the top shelf; DVDs, books, and knick knacks will go on the other two shelves. 

This should free up a bit of space in the living room, as well as free up the closet in the upstairs bedroom since we'll have two armoires in that room - one for the TV and one for clothing. 

This morning I used those as-seen-on-TV storage vacuum bags to seal up the excessive linens we have for the casa. Again, I'm not going to explain why because it's boring, but we have many, many sets of sheets and mattress pads and blankets down here. They were taking up all the spaces in the armoire drawers.  So I decided to leave out an extra set of sheets for each bed, then seal up the rest and store it away in the closet. I borrowed our neighbor's vacuum and sweated my way through the process, but it's done.  We now have drawers, people, drawers!

After the great linen storage program of '11 was completed, we headed over to use the pool in our friends' casa. They have a swanky custom with a private pool.  It's a small, but deep pool. Their grandkids - close in age to Avery - have all learned to swim quickly in the pool because the width is relatively small, so it's less intimidating to kids.  Avery's making good progress. 

Let's see, what other news do we have? Well, there are now enough restaurants and businesses within walking distance of our casa to avoid renting a car when down here!  Next time we'll depend on friends or taxis to get to and fro the airport, and maybe a trip or two into town, but skip the car rental. D and I have decided it's our duty to support the walking-distance restaurants by not cooking.  Plus, it's probably cheaper since we often have to restock basic staples that then go bad before our next visit.  

What else? Oh! There's another airline out of Canada that's going to start flying in soon.  This will put pressure on Alaska Airlines to cut the cost of it's seats.  It also means the Canadians won't have to spend the night in LA to get down here.  Apparently the LAX - LTO route is one of Alaska Airlines most profitable routes.  They flights are always full to the brim, they fly on the cheapest type of aircraft to fly, and they have little competition (I would say none, but technically there are now flights coming in from Cabo and some other Mexican city). So this is excellent news.  

Avery and napping down here rocks.  She asks to go to quiet time and puts herself to bed and goes to sleep for 2 hours.  Bedtime is similar. I think it's all the work of swimming in the pool and the heat and the sun.  Whatever it is, I'll take it. 

Oh, I forgot to blog about yesterday.  We booked a boat and took it over to Carmen Island. On the way, we found a school of maybe 200 dolphins.  They swam right next to our boat for a good 15 minutes, jumping close enough that it was as if I could reach out and touch them.  Anyone who can kill a dolphin is not human.  That's all I have to say about that. We boated part way into a cave, then headed over to a white sand beach (even more private than the white sand beach we visited before, fellow girls' weekenders). This beach wasn't as good in that it's rockier, but I liked it better because it was totally private and secluded.  We didn't see a single boat there.  Plus, the snorkeling in the little inlet was amazing.  D and I have never been impressed with our snorkeling adventures, but this one was great. We saw huge schools of all kinds of fish. I think I'll try scuba diving next time we're down. The tour guide we used is a dive master, so we'll be able to use him again.  His English was excellent and he was very knowledgable and cool.  In case you're wondering, we took turns snorkeling.  One of us snorkeled while they other stayed with Avery on the beach collecting "crystals." 

Chugging

Things are chugging along nicely down here.  I was sick for the first few days, but felt great all day yesterday and today.  I'm really focused on not eating anything questionable (for me). No chocolate, no sweets, no egg creams (god I love egg creams), etc.

This afternoon Avery was playing in the courtyard.  I asked if she was ready for quiet time yet.  She said yes.  I got her milk while she headed into the bedroom.  When I arrived with her milk, she'd taken her glasses off, turned on the air conditioning, snuggled under the sheet and was awaiting her milk.  Seriously, how awesome is my kid?!

This morning Avery rode her bike to the pool while I walked.  It worked out wonderfully.  She did fall twice, but she amazingly didn't get a single scratch either time.  The first time she took a corner too fast.  The next time she didn't avoid the uneven surface. After I explained to her about uneven surfaces making her less stable, she started to point out "uneven surface!" as we'd bike/walk by and would dutifully go around them.

Tonight we have Chef Felipe coming over to cook since we're having the C's over for dinner. Tomorrow we've book a boat trip out to Carmen Island to do some snorkeling and sightseeing. We did it with a traditional tourist company, versus with the fisherman friend of our property manager who usually takes us out to Coronado Island.

Girls' weekend ladies: I saw the waiter again!  La Cava has closed down, but the little restaurant on the corner next to it is still open.  He's working there now.  We stopped for dinner, so he was our waiter once again.

Two things I like much better in Mexico: tomatoes and brown rice.  I don't know what makes their brown rice different, but it's so good.  Their tomatoes are delicious.  And this is coming from someone who doesn't really like tomatoes.

When we go to the pool, Avery has a donut shaped floaty thing.  She can use it to swim all over the pool.  We're nearby, but she hasn't slipped a single time and we both feel confident of her ability on the floaty thing.  It means that D and I can both read while Avery plays in the shallow end of the pool or swims around.  When she's swimming around one of us has to be more in charge of keeping an eye on her than reading, but it works out well as long as we communicate who's on duty.

Unlabeled

Label:Insanity

So do you want to know what kept me up until 2 AM last night?  What do you think could be so very important that I stay up that late?  I became obsessed with cleaning out my gmail account.  Never mind my storage is at 3%!  Basically, my goal was to delete all emails to which a labeled hadn't been applied. When I view gmail through my computer, it's not a problem to delete these since I just press the delete button to delete or the archive button to save. And I never press the archive button unless a message has at least one label attached to it.

However, when I delete through my iPhone, gmail doesn't actually delete the message.  It archives it.  This means that when I delete a newsletter-type email from the iPhone, and there are no labels attached to it, it goes into this place of oblivion.  I've known about this since a week or so after I got my iPhone (so just over a year), but thought I could just Let It Go.  Not last night.

You'd think gmail would have a way to search for all unlabeled messages.  If you Google that, you'll find a lot of people want this feature.  You'll also find there are a few tedious ways to find them, though I couldn't get a single one to work.  I think they only work when you have a small number of labels.  I have 63 different labels.  Regardless, I came up with my own method for identifying all unlabeled messages.  Then I sorted through all those that should have had a label and assigned them the correct label.  Then I deleted all the messages that were intended for deletion in the first place.

What about this problem in the future, you ask?  I did actually think this through.  I also developed an easy method for identifying those messages that I "delete" (which is actually archiving) via my iPhone in the future.  It's a manual process to then re-delete the emails from my computer, but not cumbersome.  It's like keeping my spam box cleaned out.  I'm generally very good about cleaning out spam on a regular basis. 

Yep.  I did all that for a personal email account in which I still have 97% of my storage free.  Being crazy is hard sometimes. 

Medication

The next topic isn't far off from the first one: my OCD-like obsessions.  I don't officially have OCD, but I have obsessions that a layman would call OCD.  And with regards to these obsessions, I definitely notice a huge difference when I'm on anti-depressants.  On medication, I can just let things slide;  I'm not obsessed with stupid little things; I don't freak out if something isn't perfect.  All those things take up a lot more space in my mind when I'm not on medication.  I don't really understand why my OCD-like-tendencies are helped by medication, but I know beyond any doubt that my tendencies are definitely minimized.

In the last few weeks, it feels like the medication isn't performing quite as well at suppressing my OCD-like obsessions.  I've gotten in a loop on several things such that, after the fact, I'm shocked by the amount of time I've just squandered on a meaningless task (see above).

Yet, my mood is great and I am very happy in life at this moment.  As such, I don't want to increase my medication dose.  I don't want to mess with it when I'm not having any side effects from it and my mood is stable (well, as stable as any "normal" person). 

Loreto

Check out #8 on the NYT's 41 Places to Go in 2011 list.

Soy

Soy Sauce

I've mentioned before that I subscribe to The Big Picture blog by the Boston Globe.  Today's series of pictures is called Small Worlds.  It's from an annual competition held by Nikon to capture photography done at manification.  All of the pictures are aweinspiring, but a couple stand out to me.

#12 is of crystallized soy sauce magnified 16 times.  I'm amazing at how "Asian" it looks.  It looks like an abstract of Asian writing.  I'm sure if you read Chinese or Koren or Japanese, you'd probably think me crazy.  However, not being familiar with those languages, it just looks so much like characters to me. 

#16 is a snow crystal magnified 40 times.  How perfect it is.  Amazing. 

Mexico Happenings

Vic & Mike arrived yesterday.  They seem to be pleasantly surprised with our little community and casa.  I don't think they were expecting much since I try not to oversell the place.  We went into town for dinner last night (Christie & Mom - we ate at the same restaurant we had lunch at before taking Christie & Henry to the airport).  It was delicious and Avery was quite content to watch the iPhone through dinner, a necessity since she was a good hour past her bedtime.  That hour really matters now that she's not napping during the day. 

My afternoon shift starts in five minutes.  D has a conference call for work during it, so Avery and I will head to the beach or pool for sure during that time.  Vic and Mike have headed into town on their own to do some grocery shopping. Vic wanted to explore, so it seemed better for them to head off on their own.  And they're cooking dinner for us tonight.  Sweet!

Avery and I made Vic a birthday cake (her BD was Monday) yesterday morning and it turned out quite well.  I was most pleased with it.  I didn't make any frosting, but it's moist enough with the sour cream I put in it to do without frosting. 

Tomorrow we have a boat trip to Coronado Island planned as long as it's not too windy.

I think Avery is feeling the attention diversion now that Vic and Mike are here.  When we were driving back with them from the airport, there was a lot of chatter in the car with the four of us catching up.  Avery was watching and listening.  When the adults would laugh, she would laugh, too.  This is a move she's repeated during other moments, even though I know she's not getting the joke.  I made a mental note of it and we're concentrating on making sure she feels included.  I'm sure it's an adjustment for her.

They have started building the feature in our exterior courtyard.  We thought they'd be putting in a fountain there, but it looks like it's going to be a planter with a large tree in the center and then surrounded by flowers.  I would prefer the tree the fountain since the shade is more functional than a decorative water fountain. 

Patching

Avery's patching is going better.  She resists putting it on slightly, but not too bad.  She has no issue leaving it on, but there's still prodding to get her to take it off. However, it doesn't hurt nearly as much since we put a very, very small amount of lotion on her face first and that reduces the adhesion enough to eliminate pain, but still allow it to stick (enough) to be effective.

Drawing

Milestones

Every once in a while, I actually read the "your child at [insert age]" article sent to me by babycenter.com. Today's linked to skills mastered by the average 31 - 36 month old. Avery's in the advanced category for all ages listed for most skills. The skills she's not quite there on are related to drawing. She can sort of draw a circle, but most of the time she keeps going around and around and it's just a hot mess really. She is no where near a stick figure. I am not shocked by this at all because she has so little interest in drawing or coloring. She can hold the crayon or marker quite well, it's just the activity itself holds no interest for her. Don't get me wrong. I'm not worried about this at all. Different kids like different things. I just find it interesting.

I also don't think she's doing every other foot when going up and downstairs.

I have commented to friends several times that I don't get why it takes kids so long to master their colors. Given one of the milestones is knows ONE color, clearly it's a universally challenging thing for kids. Avery, by the way, is not blue-yellow colorblind. The day after I did the post stating how sure I was that she was blue-yellow colorblind, she identified yellow for the first time ever. That was the only color she was, for whatever reason, struggling to remember. She's got it down pat now.

Neighbors

After dinner last night, Avery wanted to play ball. The three of us went into the exterior courtyard next to our house and sat down to toss the ball to each other. A neighbor's gate was open and eventually the temptation of the ball was too much for their 5-month-old puppy who ran out to greet us when no one was looking. That resulted in us meeting three sets of neighbors. We're not good at meeting people who are not introduced to us. Hell, we're not good at maintaining relationships when people are introduced to us. Now if I can only hang on to their names and commit them to memory.

TV

D and I brought down the DVD's for the first season of several TV shows. We finished the first season of Breaking Bad, then dutifully ordered the next two seasons so they'll be at our house when we get home. We started Sons of Anarchy last night. I'm enjoying that one, too.

Friends

Vic and Mike arrive this afternoon! It'll be fun to have them here for the rest of our visit. We've already book a boat trip out to Coronado Island for later this week. We're planning to dinner out tonight, so that should be fun.

Grateful

Best trip yet

I must say, so far, this is the best trip we've had down here to date. It feels as if we have the perfect storm of elements to make it so. First, we have enough of the comforts of home. Plenty of towels, socks, housewares, etc. Next, we have a routine down for where things go and have a place to put things during the daily must-do tidy up routine. Next, Avery isn't napping during the day which is making bedtime total cake. It's 7:05 and she's fast asleep. Finally, we've reorganized some of our outdoor furniture so that our reclining chairs are now up in the viewing tower. Since the viewing tower has a solid roof - as oppossed to the roof terrace that has a pergola on it - there is always a good chunk of shade available. We also have a ceiling fan in the viewing tower to keep air circulating. Avery and I read up there for a good hour or so today. She read her books, I read mine. The view of the mountains is actually the one I prefer, as opposed to the sliver of the sea we can see from various angles.

Our 4-hour divisions of Avery duty are also working out so well. It means that the one who is not on duty has zero guilt about doing whatever - napping, sleeping in, reading, watching TV, computer time, laying by the pool, whatever - and the person who is on duty has no expectation of doing anything but playing with Avery, so there's no resentment of the off-duty person. We should have done this from the get go!

Today, I had the 1-5 shift, which is the hottest shift. I was concerned because I didn't think we could just go walk around without roasting. However, when Avery was done with her lunchtime movie break, she promptly explained to me that we needed to go to the beach to finish our sandcastle. I loaded up two bags with everything I could possibly need for the beach or the pool, then headed over to the beach. I figured when we were done on the beach, we'd hit the hotel pool, rather than the community pool, since it's right by the beach. In the end, Avery and I spent a couple of hours just floating in the sea. The water was so warm and totally clear. It was some of the most enjoyable beach time I've ever had. We decided then to go get some ice cream from the store, but got sidelined when Avery saw other kids playing in the hotel pool. I turned around and got her all suited up in her vest to play in the hotel pool. I think she was just too tired to really engage, so we only stayed for ten minutes before she asked to go. We walked back to the casa where I literally had to prod Avery to go to the store for ice cream. Turns out, the store isn't open on Sundays anymore, so no ice cream. That's when we came back and headed up to the viewing tower for another lovely couple of hours in the warm breeze.

On the beach, I realized that I will almost definitely miss these days and the current stage of our community very much, particularly when development finally does ramp up. Yes, there's a torn up road to navigate. We don't have many amenities within walking distance. During the weekdays, you still hear a lot of construction noises. And everything is in a constant state of change since the community is still trying to right itself since the original vision was abandoned with the bankruptcy of the company. However, even given all that, I think what we've got here is a very unique experience. It was a Sunday on a public beach and we had no issue finding chairs or a palapa for shade. There was almost no noise from the other parties on the beach, but enough activity to not seem weird. There were several dogs running on the beach, but the dog owners (some Mexican locals, some gringo homeowners/visitors) were responsible and easy going. The pool at the hotel has been redone since the hotel reopened six months or so ago. It's nothing fancy, but it feels solid and clean. They have all new furniture with plenty of shade and cushions. You don't have to pay for any of it. I feel welcome there as a homeowner (versus a hotel guest) and there's no questioning of our "right" to be there. My favorite part: no blaring music! I will rue the day when hotel management decides it needs to blare music. I have little doubt it will happen, but for now, it's just lovely. We have our own little piece of paradise at this moment in time, even though it's come along a path that isn't what we'd envisioned. I'm grateful for that. And it's wonderful that it's here when Avery hasn't yet started school since I imagine these years will be the ones during which we are able to spend the most time down here.

I also remember a trip down here before our casa was done. We were in the process of completing our homestudy and application to enter the pool for adoption. It was a great trip despite some logistical challenges (power outage, water outage, tropical storm, etc). I remember hoping that we'd get a chance to enjoy our casa just once before a child arrived. This afternoon, as I was sitting in the calm, warm sea with Avery floating nearby giggling and splashing, I realized that this place is what it is to me precisely because of Avery. I'm not sure Childless Megan ever would have embraced it in the same manner that Mother Megan has.

I try not to think of the money we paid for the casa, the furnishings, and the continued maintenance of it, because when I do, I go through an opportunity cost exercise: where else could be be vacationing with that money? What other things could we have done in Portland with that money? However, in the end, I'd honestly take a trip down here over a trip to the fanciest all-inclusive resort in Mexico. I'd rather come down here for a week than head to a hotel or a rental house in the States, if only because it now feels like home. It has a quality that rentals and hotels don't have for me. It took me a while to get to this state, but I'm here. And I'm damn grateful for it. For all of it.

Beach

Beacheriffic

Avery and I made not one, but two trips to the beach today! The first was during my 4-hour stint of Avery-duty this morning. Avery and I headed down there with her bucket and shovels with the intent of building a sand castle. However, I didn't do a survery of the tools she opted to bring in her bucket, so we were missing the necessary molds to make building a castle easier. We ended up collecting sea shells and rocks and tossing them in the water. Since the water was very calm, we also waded into it to retrieve sea shells from the sea floor. I did not properly estimate the depth when going after a particular sea shell and ended up with waist high water. Not so much an issue when one is wearing a swimsuit, but a little odd when wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Not to worry, though, I got the elusive shell! Avery, of course, quickly chucked it back into the sea.


Our second trip as an impromptu visit to the beach as Avery and I were walking around after dinner. After reading Sara's latest post on things she learned from Sara during the planning of Love Life 5K, I said, "Yes!" to Avery when she asked if we could walk along the beach as the sun set. Actually, first I said no becuase I didn't want to get my feet dirty again. Then I thought better of it and figured why not? We had a good time. I tried to show Avery how to throw properly, but I think she needs Pop Pop to help her with the mechanics. Maybe you'll join us on our next trip down, Dad?

Nappage

After a family lunch at the pool bar at the hotel, D took over for his 4-hour stint. He and Avery headed to the pool while I headed in to take a nap. I love, love, love to nap in our casa. There's something about the brightness of the sunshine outside and the whiteness of the sheets and then stillness of the day.

Community Goings On

As we were walking home from lunch, a homeowner friend of ours heard my voice and popped up onto their roof terrace to invite us in for a chat. It was good to catch up. We also learned that the guy who sold us our casa, who left the company years ago and is also a homeowner, was in town just for the night. So tonight we popped over and paid him a visit after dinner.


We learned there's a rush to get many of the custom beach lots completed since they'll be closing down the road that gives access to these lots. Once that road is closed, I imagine the cost of construction for the remaining lots will be considerably more.


We also learned that they'll be renumbering the casas. Appparently it's to enable the ambulances and emergency personnel to actually find the right casa since the current numbering scheme make no sense at all. You'll find a house in the 100's next to one in the 500's and then jump back to the 200's.

Birthfamily

Avery's aunt, her birthdad's sister, just friended me on Facebook! We haven't met her or Avery's paternal birth grandmother yet. She expressed an interest in meeting Avery and us, so hopefully we'll get to meet them soon. I love that Facebook makes these sorts of connections so much easier to establish. It doesn't build a relationship, but it definitely makes the logistics of establishing one easier.

Windy

Another day in Mexico

It's rather windy today.  I'm hoping it eases up a bit so Avery and I can head to the pool this afternoon.  If not, we can just go for a walk, but when it's windy here, it's also kinda dirty.  Nothing too awful, but enough that I'd rather hole up than go for a walk. (Sweet! Since I started this post, the wind had died down quite a bit.)

We found a new arrangement for our living room furniture down here.  We have a lot of furniture for our little living room. There was one particular corner that was a tight squeeze.  It occurred to me that we could switch the direction of the dining room table.  While it makes things a little askew, it is a much better space layout than before.  It makes the room much more functional and usable.  So now the table is not located squarely beneath the dining room light, nor is it square with the art work on the wall.  However, it is much better. 

The newly purchased (and then replaced) water dispenser rocks.  It's amazing what a difference that makes.

Avery

Avery is napping like a rock star down here.  Not necessarily taking longer than normal naps, but she's happy to go down, does so without any prodding, and has no protests at any point.  She's also, thankfully, going down easily at night.  The only snag is that she wakes up around 2 am and cries.  We are alternating nights and one of us heads down to her room and then sleeps in that room with her.  We've been pulling her out of the Pack N Play and letting her sleep in bed with whomever is on duty that night, but we're going to try just going in to sleep in the room with her to see if that helps.  This is the first time we've had her sleep in her own room down here, so I'm thinking she just needs a little help getting used to the room at night.  It doesn't help that she's got a slight cold (runny nose, non-wet cough, no fever, all else normal).

She can get herself out of the PNP, but it's fairly safe since we wedged it between the two beds in her room.  She just climbs up on the bed and then gets down.  We would let her sleep in the bed without us, but she is still prone to falling out of bed and with tile floors and plaster walls, that just seems like a bad idea. 

Entertainment

We are now through the first season of Mad Men. It's good, but I definitely wouldn't rave about it.  I think The Wire is much better. Next, we'll watch season 2 of Mad Men, then get started on Entourage.

Avery has a few things to watch: Finding Nemo, Cars, Peppa Pig, Charlie & Lola, and Monsters, Inc. Thanks to Christie for loaning us the first four of those DVDs!  Right now, her favorite is Peppa Pig, which she requests by asking for "piggy!"  Peppa Pig is adorable for the first few mintues.  Then it's just freakin' annoying.  Fortunately, it's easier to distract Avery away from the TV down here since there are new places to explore.

Keeping Busy

I have now finished labeling all the light switches.  I didn't label our switches in Portland, but most of those switches are somewhat logical.  The switches here are random and sometimes completely illogical. We also discovered what the mysterious switch turns on!  It is an outlet behind the armoire.  In our new living room arrangement, it now turns on the floor lamp that was previously not in use.

I want to put together a Google Map of the various places in town to buy groceries, but for that effort I need the help of a neighbor.

Freedom

This place will be a lot of fun when Avery's a bit older.  I can envision her running around the community and investigating things.  She'll have some freedom that isn't as accessible in Portland.  

This morning we ordered blinds for the house.  There aren't too many people down here right now, so the fact that we have no blinds and there are houses all around us isn't too much of a problem.  It will be nice to have them next time we're here, though. 

Tomorrow we have the closet guy coming by.  We need to have some shelving put in our pantry, as well as some additional organization put in the closet upstairs.  I'm also hoping he can build and put up some simple shelves in one of the nooks in the living room.  This would serve as a place to put keys, sunglasses, hats, etc.  

The weather is great today.  I'm finding one of my favorite activities is to sit up on the roof terrace and watch the birds.  They are large, soaring birds.  I would assume hawks or eagles.  I'm not sure, but they glide and are just beautiful against the clear and bright blue sky.  

We've seen a number of large and small dogs in the community - and even one cat lounging on the walls of someone's roof terrace.  There are stray dogs and cats around, but you don't see them in the community itself, though they are sometimes in the construction areas.  One couple has two yellow Labs, another woman was running with her two Irish setters on the beach this morning.  I hope we are able to make the drive down with the dogs at some point.  Turtle and Eddie would just love to explore this place.  Originally we thought we'd be driving down with them often, but I'm not sure when we'll be up to making that drive with Avery.  She does well driving, but that is a long trip. 

Bored

I'm bored.  Yes, I said it.  I'm bored.  I'm thinking of posting a status-off competition on Facebook.  It would be a grueling 24-hour competition to see who can post the funniest/most clever status updates.  The only problem is that I can only think of one funny status update and it would be a lie for the sake of being funny.  Dang it!

Avery took a 3-hour nap this afternoon with Daddy.  Well, they were in the same room, but Avery slept in her crib.  It was rather cute when I'd go up to check on them and they were both snoozing away.  I also took a nap during that period, but I did so on the couch, which is surprisingly comfortable. 

We wandered over to the Inn today to have lunch. On the walk back, I let Avery crawl on the sidewalks at the hotel.  I realized, when talking with Christie a couple of weeks ago, that I don't ever let Avery explore things outside.  It's not a conscious thing or me being worried about dirt.  It just hadn't occurred to me that she might want to crawl around outside. Anyway, she loved it and quickly started crawling very fast away from me, thereby amusing the hotel staff.  We also put her in the sand to play for a bit.  She was very unsure of this and pretty much immediately started doing the "change" sign*.  


Here's an amazing story efforts of one employee of the Portland Water Bureau to aid a family with getting water back during the storm.  Quite impressive. 


I'm so not tired right now.  Might have been that nap this afternoon.  Oh, and no, I didn't get up to watch the sunrise.



* Somewhere along the line, Avery got the change sign mixed up with the all done sign, so now when she's done eating, or done being in the stroller, or done with any activity, she looks at us and doesn't her change sign.  I am not too concerned with her getting the sign right.  After all, it's more about whether she can communicate, and we can understand, her needs.  At least this is what I'm telling myself since we've obviously confused our little girl.

More

It's evening now.  We returned from a walk a bit ago.  Thank goodness D insisted we bring the Bob stroller.  In order to navigate through the various obstacles around here, not to mention very bumpy sidewalk when they do exist, a stroller with shocks is definitely a must.  Avery inevitably falls asleep on the walks because she's not napping much.  Granted, today was the first day to try to get into a routine. 

The weather here this time of year is ideal for me.  It's warm in the mornings, hot in the afternoons in the sun, then cools down for the evenings.  The evening walk along the beach was enjoyable and I even took off my shoes and walked in the sand!  I'm trying to be less hung up on these things.  That was a big step.  I, unsurprisingly, showered off my feet at the showers by the hotel pool on the way back (we're allowed to use the hotel ammenities as home owners until our community has, well, any ammenities I guess). 

Avery is doing well at finding things to occupy her time, though it's more work watching after her here since it's the opposite of baby proofed.  We borrowed a baby gate from some neighbors, but with the types of walls we have, it's not the safest thing in the world.  With three flights of concrete stairs, it's a chore making sure Avery goes no where near them without one of us.  Before arriving, I was a bit worried that the roof terrace and the viewing towers wouldn't be baby safe due the height of the walls, but they're higher than I remembered and there's no way Avery's getting over them.  She loves the roof terrance.

I started to clean our kitchen/living room floors, but it turns out they aren't nearly as dirty as I thought.  In fact, I'd say the cloth comes up cleaner than when I clear our floors at home.  I think there was a layer of dust in the courtyard and Avery transferred quite a bit of that indoors during her many trips from the courtyard to the living room. 

Finally, I shall part with good news about our viewing tower.  We do indeed have a much better view of the sea than I was expecting.  I thought we'd have to be on tippy toes and lean a bit to the right to see anything.  But we can see quite a bit while sitting down.  Not as cool as being right on the beach, but not too shabby.

33

I'm 33 today. It's good to celebrate in Mexico!

We made it!  And we now have Internet access.  There's so much to say about the house and our trip, but it's all a jumble and I've not much time.  Avery has just woken from her nap in the stroller and I put her in the Pack N Play with some "toys" (my purse, D's swimming googles case, her toothbrush).  So random bullet points it is:

• Avery was just perfect on both flights.  She slept on both, then played happily with a plastic water bottle the rest of the time.  My no toys idea worked out perfect for the flights.  She is perfecting putting the lid on the water bottle and that literally kept her occupied for a couple of hours total. 
• We got to the Portland airport quite late Christmas morning.  Our luggage just made the check-in cutoff, we made it through security and got to the gate right as they were boarding.  Amazing how not stressed I was about it all. 
• The house is great, but I have the usual problems I have with anything expensive we buy: I only see the flaws.  And there are flaws.  I told my mom I have a convergence of two feelings: "What the hell were we thinking buying a house in Mexico!?" and "Wow - I am so happy we did this!"  It's rather surreal to arrive at a home you've bought to find all the furnishings moved in, dishes washed and put away, and toilet paper stocked.  It's also a bit shocking to realize that there are no cabinents in which to store peanut butter.  Rachele, you would gasp at the lack of functionality in our kitchen!  But, I must remember, we didn't buy this place for a gourment kitchen.  We wanted a place of our own in a warm climate where we could get away from it all. 
• The community is still a construction zone, albeit one with a lot more houses done than before.  I am, surprisingly, not bothered by this at all.  I would totally be bothered if I had booked a vacation here and paid vacation prices.  However, I seem to not have my usual Megan-annoyances down here.  That in itself was worth the price of this place!
• We had hotdogs for Christmas dinner.  Yep. Hot dogs.  And I have no regrets about that.
• Avery refused to sleep in the other bedroom last night, but we did get her to sleep in the crib in our room. And, in the end, this worked better for me, too.  It's hard to know what the temperature is in any one room.  I was worried she'd be cold or hot or scared.  Napping is still an unknown.  We don't have blinds yet, so it's really bright in the rooms.  She can sleep in light, but I think she doesn't know that it's nap time without the dark.  It's like a calming signal to her that it's time to calm down.  This morning they were installing our TVs and Internet, so I took her out for a stroll in the stroller and she fell asleep in that.  She only slept for an hour or so, but it's something.
• The weather is warmer than I expected.  I thought I might be chilly this time of year, but the days are perfect.  Not too hot, but warm enough for capris and a tank top.  The nights are fairly chilly, and the house doesn't have heating, but it wasn't an issue last night. 
• They cleaned before we got here, but the construction means dust.  And the openness of the house (a main selling point for us) causes the dust to be constant.  So I'm struggling to deal with the floors. I am planning to mop today and ban the wearing of outside shoes.  Avery's knees and hands are always dirty. We have little hand prints on everying. 

OK, Avery has had enough of her PNP time.  And I can't locate the crackers to give me more time. So I shall sign off.

Pictures to help with visualization...

OK, here are some pictures to help you visualize on the interior packages:

Granite counter with assumed Terracota package

Terracota package with white appliances


Amarillo kitchen with black appliances

What I find odd about the above pictures is that the wood for the Amarillo appears to be much lighter, but in the samples it appears darker than that for the Terracota.

Appliances: I originally told D we were definitely going with white because I absolutely hate black appliances (apologies for the bluntness for those who have black appliances). However, as I'm looking at these pictures, perhaps we should go with black. Clearly, stainless steel is the best aesthetic option, but I can't see spending the amount of money we'd be required to in order to upgrade to stainless.

So, anyone who is interested, please provide feedback on the packages (Amarillo vs. Terracota ... btw, there is a third one, but both D and I dislike it, so we're not even considering it), as well as on appliances. Do you think stainless steel is worth it? Does it make a big enough difference? What do you think of the granite option? I so regret that we didn't just bite the bullet and put granite in our guest bathroom as well because, while I like the look of tile, it just doesn't clean as well and starts to look dingy with the grout much quicker than any other type of counter. One other thing worth noting is that none of these pictures reflects the shape of our kitchen. Here's our kitchen layout:

Interior Package

Tomorrow is our 4th wedding anniversary! We have reservations at Caprial's Bistro, which looked like an interesting place to me. We don't do fancy gifts for our anniversary, but do follow the traditional anniversary items. This year is linen/silk.

We have a call on Friday to pick out our Mexico house interior package and select which upgrades we'll be doing. At the moment, D and I do not agree on the interior package, so I think we'll have to discuss that some more. Let's see which one you all like better. Remember, this is for a Mexican house, so while you may not necessarily like the tiles all that much, it looks really weird when you have more American style things in the house. For example, we went into a few houses that had upgraded to granite counters and it looked very out of place. So while the practical side of me wants granite because it's easier to keep clean than tile, I'm not even considering going for granite because it looked so out of place. I won't tell you which package I prefer and which D prefers so as not to taint opinions either way.

Note: You can click/double-click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Amarillo


Terracota
Edit: if you view this slideshow on Flickr, you can see what an Amarillo kitchen looks like. I haven't found any Terracota pictures yet.

Finally, this was my 12th day in a row of working out! I'm going for 21 days straight since I once heard it takes 21 days to form a habit. Once I get to 21, I will then see if I can adjust to going only 5-6 days per week without completely falling off the wagon.

We Did It!

Well, we did it. We bought a house in Mexico. Actually it's just a plot of land at this point, but it will soon be a house. Maybe in 1 year, but I'm guessing at least 1.5 years. I can't buy that you can come in on schedule in Mexico. It's in Loreto Bay, which is outside the town of Loreto, located about midway down the Baja Peninsula on the Sea of Cortez. When we were landing in the plane and I saw the sea, I was in awe. It's truly beautiful. What is being built is basically an ecologically friendly community of 6,000 homes (eventually). None of the homes have yards, but most have indoor courtyards, some bigger than others. We bought one of the smallest homes with two bedrooms. After touring some of the houses, I can see how the big homes will be absolutely gorgeous.

Really cool things about the community

• Water: The plan is to not use the local aquifers for much longer (1-2 years hopefully). This is done by building a desalinization plant. They're also creating estuaries in the Aqua Viva community which will aid in plant and sea life creation.
• Power: build a windfarm to power the entire community.
• No cars: it's designed to be a walking community. There are very few drivable streets being built and some current streets are being eliminated. Streets that do exist for driving are designed to be made inconvenient to discourage it except to get in and out of the community.
• Salt-tolerant plants: the existing golf course is going to be redone with grass that will be tolerant to being watered with salt water to save fresh water. All the plants in the community are designed for the climate and to be salt tolerant as well.
• Adobe: the houses are built with all weather-facing walls built of adobe brick. This material transfers heat less quickly and keeps the houses cooler, reducing the need for air conditioning. It's also very, very durable.
• Organic vegetables: an organic vegetable garden is being created to supply the entire community with vegetables.

I'm very excited, but also nervous. It is a leap of faith that all these things touted will happen as planned. When we saw the houses they've already built are just as good as they had touted and they're just beautiful in the setting, that made us feel much more at ease. The community is just awesome; any community that has a 50% conversion rate of people who actually go down to have a look and buy must be doing something right. This release had a 60% conversion rate. The group that we were with had all but one couple buy a house. The very cool part is we spent the weekend with all these people and then, ironically, we all ended up buying houses right near each other. It was entirely possible that we could have ended up far apart due to which lots are available at the present time. Anyway, this means we already know a lot of our neighbors. We had a great time with everyone. I couldn't believe how happy I was when I saw one couple come into the contracts room after us and then when I realized we were neighbors, it was so great! We are among the youngest buyers, particularly me, but I've always liked the retirement community feel. After all, our place in Denver was basically that! It was mostly baby boomers. I would say the average age of buyers (and I'm completely guessing) was 50-55.

We originally were planning on buying in the Aqua Viva community, but when we saw the sea views, we changed to buy a lot in the Founder's community. This means that we are truly within walking distance to the beach ... a 1-2 minute walk at most. We are hoping we'll still have a view of the sea once the houses are built, but it's hard to tell line of sight without the structure actually being there. The houses right behind us have been built and up on their roofs, the view is nothing but spectacular right now. Even if we don't have the best view, I think we have one of the best locations in the entire community. We are right next to the lap pool (no excuse for not exercising), near the market (fresh fruits and veggies daily), near the beach club (probably won't join because it's expensive, but good to be near it), near the commercial shops, near the beach, and near some of the really expensive custom homes. I think it's always a good thing to have a cheaper house near more expensive, grander homes.

In any case, if someone had sat down and said, "Let's build a community that is absolutely everything D and M would like," this is what they would have come up with. It wouldn't be ideal of a lot of folks; some downsides being it is a desert landscape (though the air isn't as dry as Denver), it's in a foreign country, we don't have tons of space. However, we are both thrilled and extremely hopeful.