Belated Welcome home Circe

[Kelly]

Barbara-
Happy New Year! How was the vacation? I meant to ask this a few days ago
when I saw you reappear.

Kelly
#4 2/12/05

[Circe]

"Kelly" > wrote in message
...
> Barbara-
> Happy New Year! How was the vacation? I meant to ask this a few days ago
> when I saw you reappear.

Thanks for asking, Kelly; that's really sweet. Here's my belated response:

Our vacation was, overall, delightful. We had a wonderful time in
Zihuatanejo, where the weather was a balmy 88+ degrees and sunny every day
and the ocean water was like a bathtub. The kids did a "swim with the
dolphins" thing that was pretty cool and we also went snorkeling off Ixtapa
island, which was really neat.

After 6 days in Zihua, we flew to Mexico City. Unforutnately, as we were
leaving Zihua, Julian wasn't feeling well and by the time we got to MC, he
was throwing up. It was obviously the norovirus that's been going around
because he was over it fairly quickly, but it jumped from him to Vernon to
Aurora to me to my husband and my mother. We had three nights in the hotel
in Mexico City, but we didn't get to see much because we were all in various
states of ill health. Still, we went to the late night mass in the main
cathedral on New Year's Eve, and the was lovely. The cathedral has an
amazing pipe organs and the cantors they had were fantastic. On the last day
in MC, we were well enough to visit the anthropological museum, which is
considered one of the premier anthropological museums in the world and is a
major architectural attraction to boot.

After that, we had a van drive us out to Teotihuacan were we stayed in a
hotel run by, of all companies, Club Med. It was lovely and very inexpensive
($70 per night per room, with beds for three people in each room) and right
next to the site. The next day, we got up and climbed the pyramids at
Teotihuacan (well, the older kids, my husband, and my best friend climbed
both; the little ones and I made it midway up the Pyramid of the Sun, then
the little ones could get any further because it was too steep; I went all
the way to the top but didn't bother with the Pyramid of the Moon, which is
shorter but much steeper than the Pyramid of the Sun). It was really hot,
sunny, and dusty on the archaeological site and we only got to see about
half of it (it is gigantic--more than a mile from end to end) before we ran
out of time. After that, we went back to the hotel, took a quick dip in the
pool, had some lunch, and then got driven to the airport.

All in all, it was a great vacation. We all felt very relaxed when we got
back.

Unfortunately, since getting home, it seems it has been one problem after
another. First, the hard drive on my old laptop crashed and was damaged, so
I have a new hard drive and am missing most of my brains as a result (e-mail
archives, address books, etc. are lost forever!).

Then, on Sunday, my minivan started running rough for what seems like the
umpteenth time since we bought it, so I had to take it in for repairs on
Monday morning. Turned out to be a bad coil which was covered under
warranty, but it took two days to get it fixed and I"m getting very sick of
having the darn thing in the shop once every two months for something other
than scheduled maintenance. I'm thinking about pursuing remedies under the
Lemon Law, to be honest.

Sunday night, my husband left for a business trip to Baltimore for two days.
Tuesday morning, I got up to find my entire lower floor (which includes my
kitchen and family room) covered in an inch of water. The rains we've been
having here raised the groundwater level so high that it started leaking in
through the walls. So I spent all day Tuesday dealing with that. I'm just so
glad my nanny was here to help me.

On top of all that, my hard line for my telephone is acting weird.

So, that's the long, mixed saga of what I'm been up to since Christmas. Hope
you've been well and happy and not flooded.
--
Be well, Barbara

[Ilse Witch]

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 09:13:37 -0800, Circe wrote:

> After that, we had a van drive us out to Teotihuacan

That's such a magical place! I have been wanting to go there with my
family, but somehow never seem to find the time... I was there after a
conference several years ago, and it thoroughly impressed me.

I'm glad to hear you had a great holiday, except for the illness...

> (e-mail archives, address books, etc. are lost forever!).

Horrid!! That's my biggest nightmare! Reminds me to go an make a backup...

--
-- I
mommy to DS (July '02)
mommy to four tiny angels
(28 Oct'03, 17 Feb'04, 20 May'04 & 28 Oct'04)
guardian of DH (33)

[Circe]

"Ilse Witch" > wrote in message
...
> On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 09:13:37 -0800, Circe wrote:
> > After that, we had a van drive us out to Teotihuacan
>
> That's such a magical place! I have been wanting to go there with my
> family, but somehow never seem to find the time... I was there after a
> conference several years ago, and it thoroughly impressed me.
>
I have to say that I found it a very somber, vaguely eerie place. It is so
dry and so large that I couldn't quite get my mind around it. Not that I'm
not happy I went--I am. It's just that my experience of the place seems to
have been different than many other people's (my son's pediatrician also
referred to it as "magical", which isn't a word I'd use).

Also, it's not the greatest place to visit with young children, simply
because it *is* so enormous and there is *so* much walking to do. Of course,
the fact that our kids were still getting over the norovirus and therefore
weren't feeling especially energetic as a result probably colors my opinion
slightly. Julian liked it a lot (he loves climbing anything and everything
tall, so the pyramids were right up his alley) and my niece, who's 12, got a
kick out of it, but the little ones were pretty unimpressed <g>. So it's
something I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing until your youngest
child(ren) are closer to 6 or 7 years old.

If you do go in the future, be sure to check out the Club Med Villa
Archaeologico de Teotihuacan as a place to stay. If I were to go back
(especially with the kids), I'd plan to do at least two nights there,
possibly three, so that we could do several half days on the site and then
kick back the rest of the day at the hotel, which is lovely and quite
inexpensive.

> > (e-mail archives, address books, etc. are lost forever!).
>
> Horrid!! That's my biggest nightmare! Reminds me to go an make a backup...
>
LOL, as soon as I rebuild my life, that's the first thing on my agenda!
--
Be well, Barbara

[Kelly]

Aside from the virus, your trip sounds amazing. My parents go to Zihua a
few times a year. They love it.

Hope the house issues resolve-of course none of it would have happened if
you were not single parenting it! Sounds like Murphy met up with a lemon
(murphy's law)

Again, welcome back!

Kelly
#4 2/12/05

"Circe" > wrote in message
news:__xFd.19$hu.15@fed1read01...
> "Kelly" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Barbara-
>> Happy New Year! How was the vacation? I meant to ask this a few days
>> ago
>> when I saw you reappear.
>
> Thanks for asking, Kelly; that's really sweet. Here's my belated response:
>
> Our vacation was, overall, delightful. We had a wonderful time in
> Zihuatanejo, where the weather was a balmy 88+ degrees and sunny every day
> and the ocean water was like a bathtub. The kids did a "swim with the
> dolphins" thing that was pretty cool and we also went snorkeling off
> Ixtapa
> island, which was really neat.
>
> After 6 days in Zihua, we flew to Mexico City. Unforutnately, as we were
> leaving Zihua, Julian wasn't feeling well and by the time we got to MC, he
> was throwing up. It was obviously the norovirus that's been going around
> because he was over it fairly quickly, but it jumped from him to Vernon to
> Aurora to me to my husband and my mother. We had three nights in the hotel
> in Mexico City, but we didn't get to see much because we were all in
> various
> states of ill health. Still, we went to the late night mass in the main
> cathedral on New Year's Eve, and the was lovely. The cathedral has an
> amazing pipe organs and the cantors they had were fantastic. On the last
> day
> in MC, we were well enough to visit the anthropological museum, which is
> considered one of the premier anthropological museums in the world and is
> a
> major architectural attraction to boot.
>
> After that, we had a van drive us out to Teotihuacan were we stayed in a
> hotel run by, of all companies, Club Med. It was lovely and very
> inexpensive
> ($70 per night per room, with beds for three people in each room) and
> right
> next to the site. The next day, we got up and climbed the pyramids at
> Teotihuacan (well, the older kids, my husband, and my best friend climbed
> both; the little ones and I made it midway up the Pyramid of the Sun, then
> the little ones could get any further because it was too steep; I went all
> the way to the top but didn't bother with the Pyramid of the Moon, which
> is
> shorter but much steeper than the Pyramid of the Sun). It was really hot,
> sunny, and dusty on the archaeological site and we only got to see about
> half of it (it is gigantic--more than a mile from end to end) before we
> ran
> out of time. After that, we went back to the hotel, took a quick dip in
> the
> pool, had some lunch, and then got driven to the airport.
>
> All in all, it was a great vacation. We all felt very relaxed when we got
> back.
>
> Unfortunately, since getting home, it seems it has been one problem after
> another. First, the hard drive on my old laptop crashed and was damaged,
> so
> I have a new hard drive and am missing most of my brains as a result
> (e-mail
> archives, address books, etc. are lost forever!).
>
> Then, on Sunday, my minivan started running rough for what seems like the
> umpteenth time since we bought it, so I had to take it in for repairs on
> Monday morning. Turned out to be a bad coil which was covered under
> warranty, but it took two days to get it fixed and I"m getting very sick
> of
> having the darn thing in the shop once every two months for something
> other
> than scheduled maintenance. I'm thinking about pursuing remedies under the
> Lemon Law, to be honest.
>
> Sunday night, my husband left for a business trip to Baltimore for two
> days.
> Tuesday morning, I got up to find my entire lower floor (which includes my
> kitchen and family room) covered in an inch of water. The rains we've been
> having here raised the groundwater level so high that it started leaking
> in
> through the walls. So I spent all day Tuesday dealing with that. I'm just
> so
> glad my nanny was here to help me.
>
> On top of all that, my hard line for my telephone is acting weird.
>
> So, that's the long, mixed saga of what I'm been up to since Christmas.
> Hope
> you've been well and happy and not flooded.
> --
> Be well, Barbara
>
>