Greg's Monthly Updates: March 2016

On Feb 19 and 20, Krista and I attended a marriage conference at our church. It was a live webcast put on by Matt Chandler’s ministry (for those of you who have heard of him). It was very challenging and uplifting at the same time. There was even good information about dating that we talked over with our unmarried children.

On Feb 22, Ella and Cody celebrated their 2nd anniversary, and the next day, we learned that Hazel will have a new sister sometime in July! We are excited for Ella, Cody, and Hazel, and this new addition to our family!

The beginning of March found us in Philadelphia for Caitlin and Ben’s wedding on the 5th. It was a beautiful ceremony in an old church (built in the 1800s), and the bride was absolutely gorgeous. OK, the groom looked pretty nice too. It was so nice to see everyone again, although it went too quickly to spend much time together. I even remembered my brother, Ken’s, birthday on the 6th as we were driving home.

The Bride and Groom at their reception

When we returned from the wedding, we brought Cai and his girlfriend, Amy, home with us for their spring break week. Amy left us about mid-week to spend the rest of the break with her family in Connecticut, but we loved getting to spend time with her and getting to know her better.

Zach received an award from the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) chapter at our Civil Air Patrol meeting on March 10 for his exemplary work in CAP. He recently promoted to Chief Master Sergeant, so now he’s only two promotions away from being an officer (2nd Lt). He’s hoping to be an officer before we go to the New York Wing Encampment in July.

Zach (R) and the other cadets with their awards

We had a regional Awana event on March 12 at our church for the 7th – 12th graders (Trek and Journey). Jemmie and Zach did Bible quizzing with their teams and did very well. We only competed against one other church, but it gives all the teens good practice, especially those going to Summit in April to compete nationally as Zach will do.

We celebrated (from a distance), Kortney’s (3/17) and Carissa’s (3/23) birthdays this month since I wrote last too. And on Saturday, 3/19, Levi competed with our church’s Awana T&T kids in the Awana Games. They did very well and took first place for their group.

To close this out for the month, and to explain why it is being sent over a week later than I normally do, I will tell you about our trip to Mexico.

My son-in-law, Kevin, Hannah’s husband, has a membership with Hard Rock Resorts, so they invited us to spend the past week with them at Riviera Maya Hard Rock Resort, near Cancún, Mexico. Tuesday, March 15, after work, the five of us (Hannah, Kevin, their daughter Alma, Krista, and me) drove to Toronto. Kevin had figured out that we could save about a third of the airfare cost by flying out of Toronto on a direct flight to Cancún, as opposed to flying out of Rochester or Buffalo and having to make a connection somewhere. So, he booked us a hotel near the airport in Toronto before our Wednesday morning, March 16, flight.

I have to say that overall Alma was an exceptionally good traveler. There were some very long days in airplanes and cars, and she, of course, fussed some, but she only expressed what all of us were feeling. I’m sure we all thought about screaming sometimes, if we could have gotten away with it. When you’re really cute, like she is, for some reason it’s more socially acceptable.

The next morning, Wednesday, March 16, we took a shuttle from the hotel to the Toronto airport. We were on a big Airbus plane in the very last seats. Normally, being back there, I would feel like we were in steerage class, but it actually worked out very well. In the middle of the plane, there are 3 sets of 3 seats across, but in the very back, it is a 2, 3, 2 setup. So Kevin and Hannah (with Alma) were in one set of 2, and Krista and I were on the other side of the plane in another set of 2. Since we were in the back, when Alma did get fussy, Kevin or Hannah could stand up with her and get her happy again.

The flight was uneventful (the best kind), and we arrived in sunny Cancún to await our shuttle to the resort. It was about an hour’s drive from the airport to the resort, and the air conditioning wasn’t working too well in the van, so we were glad to arrive and put on summer clothes for the rest of the day. Our rooms were down the hall from each other and had ocean views, Jacuzzi tubs, king size beds, and lots of other luxuries. The AC worked a little too well in our room. Krista finally figured out to just turn it off when we got too cold. If we set the temperature higher, it took revenge on us gringos by making it colder. I know Celsius is different from Fahrenheit, but 23C is still supposed to be warmer than 19C, but when we changed it like that, it put the room down to 17C.

Anyway, the rooms were very nice and convenient to everything else at the resort. We took a short tour of the cove, beach, and other areas, and met our first wildlife, an iguana that was about 3 feet long.

We had lots of opportunities to be grandparents (abuelos, since we were in Mexico—I threw that in for you, Nicole and Eduardo, and BTW, congratulations on your new son! J) as the resort was divided into one side family and one side adults only. Some of the restaurants and the spa were on the adults only side, so we would take turns watching Alma while some of us ate or had massages, facials, pedicures, etc. They could only talk me into a massage. I’d have to say it was a little weird for me, but still pleasant. I got to be abuelo all by myself once when Krista, Hannah, and Kevin all went for pedicures. Kevin made sure they didn’t put nail polish on him this time as had happened on a previous visit. Alma did very well, overall, with us when her parents were gone, although there always seemed to be a point in time after a while when she would let us know she was ready to have her parents back.

We tried almost all the restaurants over the week (Hibachi, Mexican, French, Brazilian steakhouse, pizza, Italian, buffets) since this was an all-inclusive resort, so all the food costs were already paid. You may remember that last month I said I was down 10 pounds. Forget that. After this week, those 10 pounds I lost found me again. Well, almost all of them anyway. Back to the diet with me!

There were also lots of other things going on all the time. One day a man walked around with a monkey that would pose for pictures with you. We didn’t do that, but we got a picture of him. There were also wild monkeys that visited the trees near the resort. We went looking for them a few times, but never got a good glimpse of them. They had various parties and concerts and activities you could do or not as you please. One day, Krista joined in with some water aerobics. She said all ages were participating, and it was fun. She and I also went kayaking in the cove one day and saw lots of interesting fish. All of us except Hannah tried a rope walk across the cove too, and we all made it across without falling in, although it was close a couple of times!

Kevin got a perk for attending a pitch session that allowed him to get 2 tickets for a half day tour of a Mayan ruin city called Tulum. He sent Krista and me on that, and it was very interesting. It was really hot that day, but the history of the city was fascinating, and we loved it.

Besides the iguanas and the elusive monkeys, we also often saw a rodent that looked like a small dog. We googled him and found out he is called Sereque or agouti. You can learn more about him here if you want: http://www.mexiconewsnetwork.com/adventure/sereque-mexico/.

All in all, it was an amazing trip that I never thought I would be able to do, so many thanks to Kevin and Hannah for inviting us along!