November

In the Better Late Than Never Dept., here's Lucie at 11 mos. As I mentioned previously, it was a bit chaotic from Halloween to Thanksgiving, what with our various health issues - but we did find time to have a little fun.

When Daddy gets home from work, Brennan greets him with "Hi Daddy!" and "You have a tie, Daddy?" - which means, he'd like to wear Daddy's tie. Given that Daddy's level of attachment to his ties is somewhat akin to how Carrie Bradshaw felt about her shoes, the above photo is strong evidence for how much he's grown as a father.

Lucie has discovered another baby in the apartment and quite enjoys waving at her and talking to her.

Rainy, chilly days send me in search of ways to occupy a 3 year old boy that don't involve the 72nd viewing of "Cars 2". The nice guy who runs "Jungle Gym" at the Y introduced Brennan to some sort of Nerf baseball.
And there's always the Academy of Sciences, where you can whip up a nice plastic dinner while aboard a fake boat.

And when the rain lets up, you dash to the nearest playground to burn off some of the crazies. The above game involved chasing a little boy on a scooter while dragging a hula-hoop and screeching continuously.

The playground is even better if you can con your grandpa into "helping".

We had a Louisiana-style Thanksgiving this year, sharing a deep-fried turkey with Grambo & Grandpa Uwe, Uncle David & Aunt Amy, and cousin Ian. I think Lucie ate more turkey and sweet potatoes than anyone else at the table.

And we were able to duck out of taking a ton of food home, because in 2 days we were off to Mexico...

Mexico

Bienvenidos! Finally - after co-ordinating the dates, booking the place, buying the tickets, and waiting for months and months - we made it to Mexico for a week with our friends. Audrey and Grace were already in the pool when we arrived!

We know from our last visit (aka, swine flu scare leads to deals too good to pass up) that Puerto Vallarta is fairly kid-friendly, and Vida Mar, the beach level villa at Casa Tres Vidas, is pretty safe for babies, if you don't count the pool in the living room.

Brennan was pretty tiny the last time we went - 9 months - so it was a lot more fun for him this time. He loved running on the beach and getting knocked around by the waves, as long as John (or Mommy) was nearby. He also was very busy trying to keep up with Audrey, who is 5 and much more grown up.

Lucy did not care for the ocean at all, but found the sand quite delicious.
Brennan also enjoyed being a handsome man about town, wearing Mommy's sunglasses while strolling along the malecon.

There were also rocks to climb and little tide pools to find -

-Noodle Mania!

-and lounging in the hot tub.

Lucie had plenty of room to explore, and didn't have to hear "no, no, Lucie" 78 times a day while being snatched away from the really exciting dog bowl/cabinet/tower of toilet paper she just discovered. She had an endless supply of fruit and tortilla chips to munch on. And there were plenty of arms available to carry her around:

Mommy's

Suzanne's

and Daddy's!

Breakfast and dinner was at the villa, thank god, because getting this group to a restaurant was no easy feat. Also there's construction on what is the main - and practically only - road between Conchas Chinas and Puerto Vallarta, which meant going to town often involved 20 minutes of sitting in a hot cab with 4 sticky, bored little kids. On the plus side, going to town allowed us to replenish our wine supply, which never lasted as long as intended. Some bright ex-pat finally realized there was an untapped market - gringo wine snobs on vacation - and opened up a shop where you can get something other than Concha y Toro malbec. And Bren finally got his own sunglasses:
Nobody got sick or sunburned, and we only got asked to keep it down one time, so I think it was a successful trip. We just wish it could have lasted longer. Next time, hopefully...