ZimWex Family Blog

Mexico 3:: Resort Life

So, when you sit around a resort all week, without taking in much culture.....*

This is what you do!

You read...

You swim...

You show off your summer fashions...

You are brave...

You drink...

You look at the sky...

You spend time together...

\

You also fight with your siblings, get grumpy over trying new foods (Even when financially motivated!), really, really, really complain about putting on sunblock, bitch that your wife is working too much, spend time in the Playa del Carmen hospital, administer vile-tasting antibiotics, and try to figure out who hit who first.  Those things just don't make quite as cute pictures.  But they all happen, too.

All in all, I'll take the package.

AZ

*Hot Mayan Ruins aside....

San Francisco, Day 1

So, I recently got the opportunity to spend approximately 27 hours in San Francisco!

I hopped off of the airplane at 11:30 AM, got my rental car, and got busy!

I started off my visiting a friend who has a house in what is called the "Swish Alps", a hilly area that divides the Castro and the Mission (and is home to much of the LGBT Community, hence the fancy name...)

Pretty great view from her house.

She took me out to lunch at a great little place called "Slow Club".

We followed it up by a drive around town.  Word to the wise (and carsick).  Do NOT accept a ride around town, if you are not driving, particularly shortly after digesting a delicious pork Sandwich.  I had a blast seeing all of town, but my stomach was rebelling.  Was happy when I went out to explore on my own.

Headed off to Crissy Park, where I walked up to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. Marvelously peaceful.

There was a good view of Alcatraz, which was FAR closer to the mainland than I had expected.

And you could see back to the whole city.

I experimented with the Hipstamatic...

And tried unsuccessfully to take a photo of myself.  Eventually found a cute tourist couple to take one for me.

Found my way into the Warming Hut, where I bought the kids a few cheesy San Francisco souvenirs. Cute signage, right?

 

More tomorrow...

AZ

Fall: a few photos

These were all outside Hampton Court Palace, which yes was very interesting and educational.

But I think this was for sure our favorite part.

AZ

Cornwall Again.

Yes, I do like it here.  And so do the kids.  Ella has declared that she would like to have her wedding here, and Jerry is "definitely going to bring his kids here".

Can you see why?

Warning: I did not edit much here. If you have seen enough pictures of my kids in various locations, scroll quickly!

Oh, we will have to find a way to come back here, wedding or no wedding!

AZ

Cornwall Again.

Yes, I do like it here.  And so do the kids.  Ella has declared that she would like to have her wedding here, and Jerry is "definitely going to bring his kids here".

Can you see why?

Warning: I did not edit much here. If you have seen enough pictures of my kids in various locations, scroll quickly!

Oh, we will have to find a way to come back here, wedding or no wedding!

AZ

Field Trip 3:: Tintagel Castle, or where Mommy threw the fifth tantrum at the gift shop

You all know how this one ends.

But let me show you how it began.

A hike in the rain...

With a pretty spectacular view...

To the ruined castle at the top where King Arthur MAY have been born..

Violet is becoming an expert at posing for the blog.

This was a room with a view, huh?

Pretty.

The Mists of Avalon?

It just kind of fuels the imagination.

So, you can see why the tantrums in the gift shop were kind of a downer.

ON THE UP SIDE, however, we made it through THREE, count em THREE gift shops today without incident.  The only difference that I can put my finger on? My complete freak out at the last gift shop.  Perhaps thats what it took.  We shall see....

What I like about "Family Hotels": A Photo Essay.

 

 

 

 

 

   
    

 

AZ
 

the kids like it, too.

 AZ

Cornwall

Okay London has not been blog-conducive.  Not sure why.  It all feels like a bit of a haze, but perhaps I will get back on it soon.  

However! Ruby, Violet and I decided to take a mini-break* to Cornwall.  (the town of Mawgan Porth, as a matter of fact), while Tanya went to Colorado to pick up the big ones from camp.  A few days ago it was starting to seem like a bad idea.  Turns out Cornwall is FAR from London.  Like 5-6 hours.  And you have to drive on the other side of the road to get there.  And the forecast was cold and rainy.  Only the non-refundable hotel reservation kept me from cancelling.

Then today, we embarked on our journey.  Um, everything went wrong.  The car was not in the rental office.  Or any other rental offices in London.  Not an automatic car in sight for the American who has never learned to drive a stick.  Luckily, there was one in Heathrow Airport, so I schlepped everyone out there and finally got a car.  Then there was LOTS of traffic.  Like the L.I.E. on a Friday afternoon.  Then I took an unplanned detour through the city center of Bristol at rush hour.**  Luckily, my children held up.

And then we arrived to this:

 

  
Those were the view from our room.

We'll stay.

AZ 
 
*note, new British vocab.

 **Lovely city by the way.

The best decision I made this week.

This past Tuesday was a humid, hot, and potentially stormy day.

But not so much so that it occurred to me, leaving the house in the AM, to bring rain gear.  Consequently, when I picked up Violet from school at 1 PM, and the skies opened up, we had only one cheap deli umbrella with us (and a stroller).

As we walked out of school, I looked at Violet and said, "Well what do you think, Violet?  We could wait inside until the rain stops, we could try to stay dry by walking under this umbrella, or we could try to get as wet as we can.  What do you think we should do?"  Of course, her answer was to get wet.

And so we began.  I stashed the cheap umbrella under the stroller and we started out with the goal to get as wet as we possibly could, splash in as many puddles as we could, and maybe sing "Singing in the Rain" the whole time.  It was quite possibly the most fun walk I have ever had in my whole life.  And so much more fun than huddling somewhere away from the rain.  It was especially fun to watch people's faces when they saw us.  Their first response was to be concerned about us (Those poor people without umbrellas), but as we got closer their faces changed, because everybody could see that we didn't care, and in fact seemed to be pretty darn happy.  And then they smiled.

Of course, you can't do this every time it rains.  But I highly recommend doing it when you can. There was something great, not just about splashing in puddles as much as we wanted, but also in looking at the situation we were in and embracing it, rather than trying to escape from it.  Seemed like a pretty good metaphor for...just about everything.  Thanks, Violet.  

AZ