Sun Salutations

Roosters are often portrayed crowing at the break of dawn but did you know they can crow any time of the day or night? I just looked that up on Wikipedia after my confusion with hearing them at 3:45am as I checked up on my son. We got up a couple hours later and watched the sun rise with the roosters still crowing. Pretty beautiful! (minus the constant noise)
I wish I could say my family and I were performing our morning yoga routine on the terrace but instead we have already endured a tantrum over Wall-E and which lap to sit on.  Now we are off to play some golf as this is my son's new favorite game and the putting green is 50 feet away.

These trees lining the street are uniquely shaped. The squares are my favorite so I had to share.

18 liters of Mexican milk

We have arrived in San Jose del Cabo!  Day 1 of 29 glorious days and we were greeted with heat, for us anyhow.  It is currently 79 here but feels insanely hot.  We ate sandwiches on our new garden terrace overlooking both the Sea of Cortez as well as the infinity pool here and I had to remove my elbow from the sun because it was stinging!  Shows how MN pale I am.

There was the usual confusion at the airport of who was driving us back to our condo.  We waited around a half hour eventually making an expensive phone call to our resort.  Our driver ran up with our sign even though he claimed to have been here 20 mins, no worries we had been enjoying the surroundings.  Sea, desert, and mountains all in one.  Cacti EVERYWHERE.  All of the local houses were small gray cubes and rectangles.  

We love our condo.  Beautiful stainless steel appliances, granite surfaces, luxury bedding, yet the towels are literally mismatched secondhand beach towels.  Strange considering all the other work they put into the details, but this is Mexico.  We have great flat screens, artwork, and furniture throughout the condo yet there is speaker wire hanging out of holes in the walls.  We were a little surprised to see a 3rd bedroom here, that had not been advertised.  Thought there were only going to be two, I guess now we could accommodate guests if any were to venture down to the southern most tip of the Baja peninsula.  Funniest of all was the plethora of Mexican dairy products waiting for us upon arrival.  We have 18 liters of UHT milk, both whole and "light" varieties.  Also 1.5 liters of strawberry yogurt drink.  I had put in an order for groceries for us and somewhere in the translation they thought I wanted a TON of milk even though I only asked for a half gallon of whole and skim milk.  Not sure how we will finish 18 liters but it makes me laugh.  

It is only nap time and I still have the rest of the evening to play!  Both my boys are sleeping and I am ready to explore.  Even though the flight was stressful this morning (apparently 2 year olds don't like to be strapped into a seat for 4.5 hours) I am so glad that we made this decision to come down here for the month of February.  It is the first time our passports have been used since we got married.  Sebastian's passport photo had every single security official cracking up at the various checkpoints.  Except the policia federales upon arrival.  They did not crack a smile.

Traveling with a Toddler

I am going on my first "real" vacation with my toddler next week and never before has my list-making been so obsessive as it has been these last few weeks.  My husband and I have decided to spend the month of February living it up in sunny San Jose del Cabo.  This plan, everyone assures is, is pure gold.  Spending the beginning part of this rather mild winter in MN and taking off for Cabo right when things start to feel bitter was our goal.  Lately I have been slightly anxiety filled with the thoughts of all the toddler stuff I may encounter.  What if his eardrums burst on his first plane trip?  What if we contract some horrible parasite.  What if something goes wrong with my pregnancy.  What if what if....  I am just ready to just get this vacation GOING.  My extensive online research using tripadvisor and several other forums have prepared me for most of what I will encounter but still I wonder.

My husband and I once had everything, I mean EVERYTHING stolen from us while lunching in Bratislava, Slovak Republic.  When we found our first set of cops thinking that they would help us and fill out some sort of a report they took my husband into the back of an unmarked van for 20 minutes while I freaked out and then proceed to ticket us for lack of proper permits on our rental vehicle.  That's all they did!  No help, no assistance contacting the US Embassy or US Consulate even though we had no passport, no money, no laptops, cellphones, etc and they were the most unhelpful people I have ever encountered besides Comcast Customer Service.  After that encounter we proceeded to still spend the rest of our month in Europe with very little clothing and a renewed attitude.  Traveling light was adopted and embraced after that incident.  We literally wear one pair of jeans and pack a few shirts, undies, and out the door we go.  Why now am I packing an entire suitcase of toys for my tot just in case?

Along with packing and list-making we just released our newest free iPhone app called, Rate This Pic.  After viewing so many hilarious and memorable pictures that our friends and family have shared on facebook we thought why not have an app where users can upload their most enjoyable pics to be viewed and rated by others.  Please download and enjoy this app.  :)    We are looking for more pictures so if you have some to submit do it!  Here is the press release announcing the deets.

Intelligent Art

I have always been drawn towards educational visual aids.  In fact, I am more interested in looking at maps, periodic table of elements, and bedrock cross sections than I will ever be looking at the majority of the paintings at the MIA or the Walker.  I still enjoy these museums quite a bit, but only a few visits a year  is needed to fill up my artsy quota.  I am convinced that the geology visual aids and mineral samples lining Pillsbury Hall at the University of Minnesota were a contributing factor to declaring Geology as my undergrad major.

As a "grown-up" I find myself wanting to fill my limited wall space with framed maps and chemistry tables.  I have denied this desire and stuck to traditional home decor so as not confuse, plus my DH now has a say in this matter and I don't think he'd share this aspiration, though I have yet to ask.  As I type this I glance at my living room artwork tastefully matching the throw pillows on my couch and I yawn.  If I really want to fill my house with pics of Steve Jobs and diagrams of the local rock outcrops than now is the time to act, right?  I know I'd encourage this small pleasure in my friends and family so why not myself?