My Awesome Third Grade Class

I'm back teaching English at a third grade class in a new school this year.  "Primaria Estatal Jardines Valle" is a public elementary school that serves a neighborhood near the city dump.  It is definitely not a rich area, but the same as last year the kids are great.  After leaving class today I realize how blessed we are to have been born where we were.

Here are some of my smiling students.  They are excited to learn English.  I'm more excited to be their teacher.

She's very shy.  She's one of my favorites.

After class clowning around for the camera.

The group I work with "Friends of Mexico" has adopted this school and is responsible for most of what you see in the pictures of the grounds.  The school began a few years ago as a dirt field with a few class rooms.  The area between the classrooms was just an open dirt playground.  The covered basketball court, big toy, kitchen are all new additions.

An almost empty classroom during recess.

A selfie of me with the kids.... cool.

 

Life is Good.  I love my new students.  They seem to love me.  Awesome.

 

 

Charity & Sean Arrive in Mazatlan

 Our youngest daughter Charity and Sean are visiting in Mazatlán this week.  This is the second year they have come down.

One of the first things Charity wanted to do when she arrived was to get a wild new hair color.  As you can see she accomplished her goal.  She is now a red headed babe.

In front of the Hugo Galvon Studio.

We've already been eating quite well and have plans too eat our way through Mazatlán this next week.

Sunset over the Sea of Cortez.

We had a beautiful sunset the first evening that Charity was here.  Charity would have enjoyed it but she was taking a nap at the time.  Anyone that knows Charity will not be surprised, she loves a good nap.

Here are a few flowers to end todays blog.  Life is good.

Flowers from our yard.
 

2014 in Review... a Good Year

My version of the year in pictures.  Everyone is doing their Facebook year in review.... here's my version.

A tiny puppy gets a bath.

January 2014 revolved around our new puppy, Eva. We were spending our first Winter in Mazatlán and the puppy we were fostering for the shelter became a permanent addition to our family.  A simple rule should be to never let your wife bring a puppy home for a few weeks, we were both "hooked".

February 2014 was more sun and warmth on a Winter day.  We enjoyed a relaxing time until we decided to drive back to Washington to attend a memorial service of a friend.  It was a straight through drive of  3,000 miles.  We enjoyed seeing the grandkids and family while in town.

March 2014 found us back in Arizona watching Marines Spring training with Terri's family.  After baseball we wandered around the southern part of the state before beginning our migration East.

April's best buddy.

April 2014 was our deep South adventure.  We began the month in New Mexico, moved through Texas slowly (we should give West Texas back to whoever will take it).  Once we hit New Orleans we loved it so much we spent 2 weeks there, good food and good music.

By the end of the month we were in Mississippi.  The tornadoes and flooding had us hunkered down in a national park to wait out the storms and to get to know the alligators better.

May 2014 was swamps and more gators as we traveled through Georgia and Florida.

The last part of the month was spent working our way  up  the East coast.  Savannah, Charleston and Beaufort were all great cities.  We enjoyed our time in North Carolina visited our daughters in-laws, it was Southern hospitality at it's best.



Looking over the edge in the Appalachian.

June 2014 was spent listening to Bluegrass music as we traveled the Blue Ridge Parkway through the Appalachian Mountains.  It was 450 miles of scenic views as we traveled and camped along an amazing piece of land.

July 2014 found us in Washington DC visit our son Matthew and his family.

Grandpa, Matt and Billy.

We visit the President.  He's waving in the background.

We finished July driving West across the country.  We made a quick stop in Rapid City to get another stent put in my heart, a short 3 day delay, followed by hiking in Glacier National Park.

August found us back in Washington state visiting family and camping with the grandkids.

Lazy dog, lazy grandkids.... love them all.

September was all about lighthouses along the Oregon coastline.  We saw all ten.

August was the Redwoods, Disney and Yosemite as we moved South toward Mexico.

November was back to home in Mazatlán.  It really is feeling like home now.

December finds us back in the Pacific Northwest for Christmas with the grandkids and family.  We're enjoying our three weeks here.  We are headed back to Mazatlán on January 3rd to finish out the Winter.

Life has been very good this last year.... very good.

Pink Pig Pinata

For Charity and Trinity.

This blog is guaranteed to aimlessly wander from subject to subject with no coherent point.  That's why I began with a pink pig piñata to impress daughters Trinity and Charity.... what a Dad you have!

I haven't written lately because life has been moving along at a "retired pace".  So here are a few of the happenings from the last week.

We had square dance friends Ernie and Sue arrive in Mazatlán on a cruise ship for a day.  We had a great time showing them the sites for the day.  They are on a 12 day cruise traveling to many Mexican cities along the West coast.

Lunch with Ernie and Sue in Cerritos.

We went to a Posada the other night.  It is a Mexican neighborhood party with traditional foods and drink. We ate a lot of really good food, listened to great music and had a blast trying to break a piñata.

Blindfolded and ready to whack a piñata.

The girls with busted piñata parts for party hats.

An afternoon beach concert with country singer Brentster
Be sure to notice the four horses in attendance.

We spent another afternoon listening to country music on the beach in front of Deer Island.  It would appear that horses are welcome at "country" music events.... several attended.

Diego's Beach Bash is partly deck and mostly sandy beach.

And to end this blog.... another sunset photo or two.

A line of pelicans fly through a setting sun.

Pinks and purples tonight.

Life is good.  We fly home to Seattle/Tacoma in four days. See ya.

Christmas Decorating Mexican Style

Christmas Seasons Greeting from Mazatlán.  It is now time to decorate for the season.  The stores here have been decorated for weeks, so it was time to join in the spirit and get decorated.

We've got our piñata hanging over the dining room table.

Most of the Mexican decorations we have are woven palm leaves.  I like using the traditional crafts.  When in Mexico, do as the locals do.

Our front door.

Fabric from El Centro for table runners.

Palm leaves woven in natural and red.

We decided to have only a tree made of Christmas lights on our deck.  We will be leaving Mazatlán on December 17th to fly back to the Pacific Northwest for the holidays.  I didn't want to have to deal with a live tree after being gone for 17 days.  The imported live trees don't do that well in the heat, most of the needles have dropped by Christmas day.

A slightly unsteady night shot up six floors.

Through the condo looking out.

Ho Ho Ho.....life is good on this cold Winters night.  Balcony slider and front door open, it's still in the 70's with a nice breeze blowing through.