Visitors, Beauty Queens and Great to Come "Home"

Been a busy week or so!  My son Marshall and his new wife Alix arrived in Puerto Vallarta on November 10th for a belated honeymoon.  It was so good to see them at the airport!  This was Alix's first trip outside the US so I was very hopeful she'd have a great time....and want to come back.

Matt and I had earned a free weeks stay at the Hard Rock Vallarta resort as a result of referrals we've made through our vacation club membership.  That free week wasn't transferable so we stayed there and let the kids have our casita to their selves....oh and Herm, they kept him as well.  The week seemed to go well for all of us, just too fast.  We picked up Marshall and Alix several times to show them around but they still had plenty of time on their own.

I cannot say enough how proud I am of Marshall.  When he was younger, I always referred to him as "poor little Marshall".  Seemed like if something could go wrong for someone, it would be him.  But he has grown into an amazing young man:  kind, smart and self sufficient.  He and Alix make a great couple because she is so loving and supporting.

Dinner With Marshall and Alix in PV

When we checked in the Hardrock, this is the first thing we saw:

Dang Matt's luck!  The Miss Swimsuit USA International competition was being held at our resort the week we were there.  Sixty-four beautiful women in bikinis, tough life Matt leads, and you can see that from the looi om his face.

One day we had found a quiet spot on the beach and a photographer and a couple of the girl showed up for a shoot.  This was our view.

The photographer wanted the girls to take off their tops and squeeze into life jackets that were intended for four year olds.  I took this video of part of that process, Matt called the video "squeeze them real tight"  

Of course a few of the girl brought their very hot boy friends with them.  Unfortunately this wasn't the norm.  Most hung out with the fat, sloppy photographer.

And then I enjoyed this guy who had lunch at the pool with us one day.

Saturday, our last full day at the resort, and it was gray, rainy and cold!  We spent a few ours at the beach, but not much fun, so just had a lazy day with a long nap.  Then Sunday it turned out to be the most gorgeous day.  The sun was shining, but the storm seemed to have knocked out some of the heat we've been dealing with, and the sky was so blue.  We arrived back at our casita to spend some time with Marsh and Alix before taking them to the airport, and the view from our little patio seemed even more beautiful than normal.  I think we missed our little home.  So sad to see the kids go, but hopefully they'll visit again next year.

We've been very spoiled here as we've had the entire place to ourselves.  On our property this is also a three bedroom house and a studio palapa in addition to our casita but no one staying in either of those - until this weekend.  It's a Mexican holiday and about six college age Mexican "kids" arrived Saturday for a two night stay.  I can say this for Mexicans, they do have fun.  The music was blasting and they were singing along - and laughing!  I've never heard so much laughter.  We were concerned we might have to spoil the party and ask them to turn it down, but right at 11:00 the music went off and we didn't hear a peep out of them.  

And of course need to add an update about Lola.  Jan continues to send me pics and reports on how she's doing.  Sounds like everyone is adjusting well.  Lola is making friend with the other dogs, and especially likes to stick close to Jan.  Her incision is continuing to heal but there was a problem this past week with a UTI.  I was concerned her health issues were going to make it too hard for Jan to keep her but Jan has reassured me that Lola has a home there until I get back.  Here's the latest pic, Jan calls it "queen of the castle".