NOW it's a Party!

Wow- it has been a while since we have last posted. Sorry to keep you in the dark, but we were in Cancun, Mexico with the lovely and talented Kurt and Meg Palmer last week! We have wanted to take a trip somewhere warm (while it was cold here in Iowa), with the Palmers since Kurt and Paul discussed it in the Spring of 2009. The plans came together quite nicely and we had a wonderful trip, with very few troubles. Below is the itinerary we followed, with pictures coming in the near future...

Friday, January 14, 2011- Kurt and Meg arrived in Waterloo, we ate dinner at Applebees, and watched the movie Couple's Retreat (what a great warm-up for the week to come- if you haven't seen the movie, I would strongly recommend it [my favorite part is the Yoga scene])

Saturday- Wanda (Thanks Wanda) dropped us of at Waterloo Airport at 5:45 AM and the hurry up and wait began. We flew to the Twin Cities, then to Cancun, and were sipping Corona's and Margaritas at the Casa Maya Hotel (http://www.casamaya.com/ingles/index.html) by 3:30 PM!

Sunday- The morning was spent listening to the time share presentation and telling them no. After our three hours of listening, along with a free breakfast and mamosa, we left the resort and went to Wal-Mart. After spending almost 2 hours at Wal-Mart, we climbed in the taxi, went back, and made it to the beach. At night, we spent over 4 hours at Margaritaville with All-We-Could-Eat Fajitas and All-We-Could-Drink Margaritas!

Monday- We sat on the beach, swam in the ocean, played Farkle, learned 4 Point Pitch, Euchre, and Phase 10, and ate at Hard Rock Cafe.

Tuesday- We signed up for the Excaret Excursion (http://www.xcaret.com/), but didn't end up going because both the guys had some 'stomach issues' that needed resolved. The best medicine- take a 3 hour nap, go to the beach, play games, and stay at the resort (the pasta buffet was delicious), and get to bed early!

Wednesday- We made it to Excaret and had a blast. We snorkeled in an underground river and saw some bright-colored fish, we snorkeled in the bay and saw lots of different types of fish, we saw people swimming with dolphins, saw men swinging from a tower on a rope, ate a seafood buffet, and watched a 2 hour show on the history of Mexico! By the time we arrived back at 10- we played a few games of Farkle and went to bed!

Thursday- We slept in a bit and Melissa and Paul went to Market 28- a 'local market' that is geared more for tourists. After hearing every excuse to come into each individual store, we decided to buy from three locations, made our purchases, and went back. The beach was quite sunny and warm. Knowing it was our last beach day, we stayed out for most of the afternoon. We showered and went to Hooters for our final dinner.

Friday- Up early for the hotel breakfast buffet and on the way to the airport by 8. After 13.5 hours of traveling, through customs and enduring a 90 degree temperature differential, it was nice to be out of the airport and home by 10 PM. We hugged the Palmer's and sent them on their way, as we unpacked and missed the sunny, sandy beach we had just left.

Overall- it was a great trip, with great friends, and a nice getaway from the Iowa winter. Throughout the entire trip, we felt safe and secure, and Paul was enjoying the attempt to use Spanish he had picked up along the way! We rode the public bus system, exchanged dollars for Pesos, took a taxi, and shopped at Wal-Mart- all with great success.

Thank you all for your support, love, prayers, and encouragement. Thanks to Craig and Pat for the connection to lodging, for Wanda, Karen, Clare, Grandpa and Grandma Palmer and Larsen for taking care of the young boys and girl in Iowa. A huge thank you to Kurt and Meg for enduring a week with us, for being great travel companions, and for being the best of friends!!!

The Middle of the Week

Wednesdays are usually great! Not only is it coffee in the morning and the halfway point of the week, the day generally goes pretty quick as I try to catch up from the beginning of the week and keep up through the end of the week. This Wednesday is no different, as lunch is over and the afternoon work time is about to begin!

The five of us in the family are still celebrating the accomplishment of the 'baby of the family,' as Chester graduated from beginning class at Puppy School. His instructor, Andrea, passed Chester with flying colors, and he has been invited to attend Intermediate classes starting later this month. We have a certificate and picture of him with his hat one (which he didn't necessarily care for and fought with the whole time it was on)! If I can figure out how, we will post a picture.

Another exciting Tuesday night event was the purchase of a new pair of shoes. Melissa and I consider ourselves old fashioned (and of course, I would fall under the classification of thrifty), so we like to purchase things on sale. We were having conversation with a 17 year old boy, who shall remain nameless, and his quest to get the shoes that he "...really likes!" After trying on shoes and discussing prices, he decided to get the shoes, even if they weren't on sale. I will not disclose the amount at this point, but would like to hear comments on how much is too much for a pair of tennis shoes (not for tennis, but just to wear out and about and do some running in). The topic is still being discussed, and I would be interested to hear your comments and share them with that 17 year old boy!

Please post your opinion on:
How much is too much for a 17 year old to spend on a pair of cross-training/tennis shoes? Why?

Have a great rest of the week!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the Waterman's! A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks, and we are a bit behind in our posting. At any rate, we hope you all had a healthy and happy holiday season and that 2011 has started off well.

We are very fortunate to have the time and means to see family and friends over the holiday season. Not only did we celebrate the birth of our Lord by candlelight (and an extra 9 inches of snow) with our church family, we were also blessed to have safe travels to Peoria, Bloomington-Normal, Manchester, and Edgewood! The gifts were good, the food great, and the conversations outstanding! Thanks Dave, Wanda, Richard, Eileen, Lyle, and Alice for hosting such great holiday gatherings.

We have already celebrated Carlos' 17th birthday (oh wait... we have FINALLY, since it was in October of 2010), by eating at Whiskey Creek and attending the funniest show I have ever seen- Spamalot! All three of us agreed that we thoroughly enjoyed the show and encourage everyone to see it! We would go again in a heartbeat. We are also lucky enough to see our friend, Jacob Smith, perform in the show as Sir Dennis Galahad! He did a fantastic job and fascinated us after the show with stories of performing, traveling, and what the future might hold!

We are working on our holiday letter, which we will send out around the end of January (we wanted to make sure 2010 came to a complete and total end before rushing out a letter)! We hope you are all doing well and enjoying the finer things in life- we know we are. Give us a call, text, email, or even better, stop in and visit!