It is getting harder and harder to keep up with things on this blog - what with work, kids, tiredness and life in general, creating these posts and doing any kind of meaningful blogging is way down the list of important things to do.
Luckily, one other reason that this post is very late is that we have actually been away on holiday - which felt amazing and was very well needed after the last few years.
There have been other things going on as well though, so I will attempt a little overview of everything else before telling you about our holibobs....
Back in Winnipeg, it was time for Susan and Jon's lodger for the last few months - Kenjo, to finally return to Germany. Hannah really liked him and they often played together. Kenjo was a really good lad and he will be missed. He even bought Hannah a really nice present - a small Frozen themed lego set that they had fun building together!
Hannah has also started the next level of swimming lessons and it is the best yet - she really seems to enjoy these ones and is doing brilliantly at the moment. She even practised on holiday in the pool, but more about that later...
One other thing we did before the holiday was to take the kids to the airport for a look around and play so that they were familiar with the bag check, and security and we hoped it would make it easier for Hannah to use the toilets if required. She wasn't happy about that part....
Luckily the actual airport and aeroplane part of the trip couldn't have gone better. Both kids did great, playing and behaving for the most part and not having any accidents or issues. The only bad part of the journey to Mexico was a bit of miscommunication on arrival when we were trying to contact our Airbnb host on the app and they were trying to contact us on Whatsapp. This meant a 30-minute wait, within 10 feet of an inviting swimming pool, while we finally got our communication worked out and finally got the apartment key. After that, the holiday was a blast. There's too much to tell but here's a summary....
The 2 bedroom apartment was great, with a huge balcony where Ollie loved to watch the traffic go past underneath. The kids shared a bedroom, meaning that Buffy and I got our own bedroom too.
Days were spent swimming in the pool, playing on the beach and wandering around on 5th Avenue, with the kids taking turns for shoulder rides or pushing and riding in the stroller.
We ate out on the first night at a Mexican restaurant and this was probably a mistake as the kids tired quickly and had to go home to bed. I ate the rest of the meal and suffered from my overuse of hot sauce, which gave me the runs for a few days. I didn't feel ill, but did spend one day out with a converted diaper down my shorts just in case I sharted!
That day was the first day that we had a rental car and drove down to see the Ocenside ruins at Tulum. A great day where Hannah loved spotting lizards and we all enjoyed the drive out of town.
The second day with the rental car was a drive north to Croco Cun Zoo, where the kids got to play with snakes and lizards, parrots and Mackaws and a really cool walk through a Crocodile enclosure as well as stroking a small croc! The kids loved it!
During the holiday we also arranged for a Babysitter to come around for a couple of nights and put the kids to bed, while Buffy and I got to play adults and actually go out. These nights were great, even when we somehow forgot to check prices and drank our way through four cocktails that each cost more than our combined meals! Expensive, but great!!
On one afternoon wander with the kids Olllie was presented with a free pineapple by a local Mexican farmer who had a truckload of them - we all enjoyed the nicest pineapple we have ever had when we got home for dinner.
We played in parks, met loads of nice people and really enjoyed not having to wear 4 layers of clothes just to go outside.
On the last full day, we were also disappointed that the kid's pool was closed for cleaning for a couple of hours, but we were allowed to take the kids up to the adult-only rooftop pool where we had a lovely swim that morning!
Here are a few random holiday memories to look at!
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One shit, but ultimately satisfying thing that happened while we were away, was when I got a notification of movement from one of our security cameras at home. I had only put the cameras in a few weeks before Christmas, so we were pretty pumped when all this happened.
I logged into the camera app and saw someone casing our house to see if we were home and leaving the snow shovel across the door and some mail hanging from the mailbox. The woman in question will forever be nicknamed creepy coat woman, for the slow methodical way she moved and the big thick coat she wears,
We guessed that she would return the next day or night and if nothing had moved, would presume we were away and break in. So, we got in touch with our neighbours on the Whatsapp groups we started a year or so ago and later in the day, we let our next-door neighbours into the garage remotely from Mexico to move a few things around and make it look like we were home. This is after other neighbours had already removed the shovel and mail.
Then that night I was ready and waiting when the notification went off again. I watched the same creepy coat woman case our house out again and try the door. Then she actually lay down on the deck.
I was watching live 3366 kilometres away and decided to speak through the camera. I and said 'I see you, go away'. She flinched immediately, got up really quickly and ran off!! Technology is wonderful (as are our neighbours!) I was elated and it took a while to calm down and go back to sleep, I also kept logging back in to make sure she didn't come back. She didn't.
We didn't let the local hoodlums and cats spoil the holiday though and continued to enjoy ourselves until it was time to get packed up and go home to Winnipeg the following Sunday.. Both the kids loved Mexico and we have decided that we will have a winter holiday again every year unless we cant! Next year Florida maybe? Just don't tell creepy coat woman when we are away!
The journey and flight home were pretty good - a long day, but Buffys' genius idea about taking painter's tape with us definitely helped. All week we had a small train track stuck to eth coffee table in the apartment made with painter's tape, complete with train wash, tunnels and bridges. Now on the way home, the two-seat tables were lowered and a new train track was created complete with the wobbly bridge between the two trays. Ollie loved playing with both of these and from now on, painter's tape will always be in our 'going away' bag!
There are lots more stories we could tell you - about chilli jam, the bumps, elevators and escalators and a very crazy slide to name but a few. If you want to know you will have to ask!
Back at home, we decided that the kids sharing a room had been such a success we should do it for real and so Oliver's bed was moved into Hannah's room and the Nursery was converted into a very nice home office. So we are all now very happy - except when the kids have singing contests at 10pm and 5am! Bloody kids!
Its nice to be back at home now. Winter is at its deepest depth of cold with tonight approaching minus 40 degrees, But there are only a few weeks left and then the sun will melt the snow and summer will arrive.
Hannah is enjoying school again and is pooping properly. Ollie is enjoying daycare now and is apparently getting much more involved with other kids - He has always been very independent there up to now.
We are planning for the next year or so and due to costs and lack of holiday time won't be going too far away for another year, but are hoping for a bit of weekend camping and days out with the kids.
The holiday was the longest we had ever all spent together day after day with just us 4, and it actually went really well. We can definitely cope with the kids now and even though they are fuckin mental - like all 2 and 4 year olds, they are growing up fast and doing pretty great.
Hannah had her first dentist trip last week with no problems and Ollie is going this week for his first check-up. All in all, life is pretty good at the moment!
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