Tales from Cancun

LTC and I celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary last week by going to the LeBlanc Resort in Cancun, Mexico. We had a fantastic time, even though hubby got pretty sick at the beginning of the week.  (It also rained those two days too.) 

To start off our fantastic experience, we were met at the airport by a chauffeur, who produced a Lily for me and offered us drinks for our drive to the resort.  He pre-checked us in to our hotel during the drive and had a Strawberry Daiquiri waiting for me and a Coconut Milk (LeBlanc's speciality) for hubby when we arrived at the hotel.

After checking into our room and getting settled, we went down to the International Restaurant to eat lunch, since we hadn't had anything to eat since 4 a.m.  The International Restaurant cooks up anything on the grill and offers a wide variety of food, from deli to fruit to buffet and dessert.  (Oh, the desserts were to die for, folks!)



Here's the view looking straight out from our room.  You can see the lower half of Cancun farther down the shoreline.  Very picturesque!  Out the window, to the left, is all ocean view.

 And to the right, the Lagoon, where we saw an Alligator about 9 feet long!  (I have pictures and will post them next week!)

LeBlanc is a fabulous resort for couples only, usually couples celebrating a wedding, anniversary, birthday or some such event.  There were couples of all types there and I even got to chat with a really nice woman from Pennsylvania.  (We discussed the resort and the man being rescued from a potentially dangerous undertow past the sand bar!)

Alligators?  Undertow?  Water rescue?  Yes and more!  At one time, we were in the elevator with the General Manager who offered to get us anything we needed.  (We decided not to mention Montezuma.  Pirate!)

Oh, and have I mentioned the cabana boys and the happy smiles as wonderful servers delivered your heart's desire... Ahem... Strawberry Daiquiris filled with rum, please.  ;)  (Got to shout out to my newest buds, Ana, Sara, and Laura.  Also, our butler/concierge Alex and Luis.  And I couldn't forget Alan "Alan Jackson".  Yes, he did say it just like that too.  And then there were Jesus and Jesus, Armando, Angil, and Jose, so gracious to fulfill our every need.)

Did I mention there were chocolate covered strawberries involved?  And yes, the Happy 30th Anniversary sign is made of chocolate and tasted oh, so good!

I'll leave your mouth watering.  (Pirate!)

More tales to come next week.  Same time.  Same blog.

Do you have any Anniversary or celebration memories to share?

Hopping Down the Bunny Trail

Sunday is Easter, but at my house we don’t celebrate it the way most Southerners do with the trip to church in a new dress or hat followed by the family dinner and such. And yes, I’m Christian. We just do things differently than tradition dictates around here.

I do, however, still put together baskets brimming with gifts for my children and make it a family time to celebrate together. Chocolates and surprises overflow along with items to enhance their beauty. Weird, I know. But we call them Esther Baskets after the biblical beauty pageant winner, Queen Esther. (If I had boys I guess it’d be a different holiday for us!)

Of course, as the years tick by the baskets get more and more challenging. Last year one of the baskets was a pink bag of automotive tools for the child that had recently acquired her first car. How does that apply to beauty? Well, there’s nothing more UN-attractive than a woman who can’t take care of herself, right?

Anyway, this year is a conundrum for me. The oldest has digressed to toddler style gifts that center around Beatrice Potter and the youngest wants computer parts! What do I do with that? Isn’t it supposed to be the youngest child wanting the gifts and the oldest growing out of the need or desire for them? Hmm.

No matter the basket's contents, one thing's for sure…the ugly rabbit will appear and then everyone will want to paint. Blame it on my mother, Norma Jean. She had me paint that god-awful thing when I was 4 and I don’t have the heart to throw it away or repaint it. So it will make its appearance and both kids will then reach for a paint brush and off we’ll go…..hopping down our own unique art-filled bunny trail.

And then we will have cake. Bunny Cake ^.^

So what do you do for Easter?

Pullin’ Pranks and Gettin’ Punk’d

Pranks and tom-foolery seem to be somewhat of a lost art in my world these days. I suppose we’re all so grown up and serious, so career minded and busy that we don’t have time for such things anymore. Well, for most, anyway. But it hasn’t always been like that in my own private world. I’ll give you a view of times past……

One Christmas, we had dinner and the family gathering at M&M’s farm. There was foolishness afoot when my sister Dr M and I went out to the pasture to collect some chips, shall we say. What good could come of going to the pasture for chips on Christmas day, you say? Well….there’s a very special Uncle J and his lovely wife Auntie B who won the family-prankster-recipients-of-the-year award. And so, off we went, Dr M and I, to gather. (It was someone else’s job to handle the Auntie B foolishness.) And what became of the chips? Well, they ended up stuffed into an old work boot, wrapped in beautiful papers and ribbons for Uncle J to rip apart and throw in a wide circle across M&M’s brand new living room carpeting. You can imagine the whoops and hollers that went up in that crowded room, and the cries of M&M. There’s nothing like a bit of manure to complete any family Christmas gathering, aye?

The greatest prank (though unintentional) to ever occur at my childhood home was when my father was bitten by a snake while trimming the bushes. Not funny, I know, but hear me out, okay? See, it was a hot southern day and Daddy wasn’t exactly the fondest of lawn care. That was my mother’s true love. So here he is, trimming the hedges when he gets bit. And right there within reach was the guilty snake, which Daddy immediately picks up and flings across the yard. Mother, being a nurse, examines him quickly and sees the two marks and rushes him off to the ER without checking to see what kind of snake nabbed him. Anyway, I just remember him looking white as a sheet. Later that day, when they returned from the hospital, he didn’t look so very white, but rather more red-faced with embarrassment. Apparently the doc had sent them home to examine the bushes a bit closer. It would seem that he wasn’t bitten, but rather stung. By hornets or wasps, I don’t remember which. And yes, still laying where it was flung was the innocent snake…..of the species reptilious-plasticus! I guess my brother had lost it in the shrubs one day! Oh but we laughed for years….

Now my sister Dr M’s birthday is on April Fool’s Day. Oh the pranks I would LOVE to pull on her. But sadly, my immediate family makes me play nicey-nice. But I’ll tell you, I’ve always wanted to send her a box of birthday chocolates. Well, mostly chocolates, anyway. I think it’d be fun to remove a few of the candied delicacies and replace them with hand-dipped ….... chocolate …..... cotton balls? Imagine her surprise!!! Tehehehe………Blek! Of course, now she’s on to me after reading this : /

Food pranks are always fun, like presenting a cake for dinner that’s really mashed potato iced meatloaf (the kids love this one!). Familyfun.com is a good resource for food tricks. And of course, these days pranking happens more frequently on Facebook (change the language) or Microsoft (change the screen to the blue-death-screen). Office tricks in our technology enhanced world are fun, so you can explore a few here… http://www.aprilfools.com/office-pranks.html#Auto-Correct (I admit I’ve had a bit of no-good-silliness with spellcheck myself!)

So has the fun been shut down in your world? Do you have crazy prank memories? What April Fool’s Day foolishness will you pull this year?