Mexico

After a very long 18 hours we arrived in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Upon our arrival at our beautiful resort, we were greeted with the fact that our room wasn't ready and that we couldn't check in. For people who had been in there clothes for well well over 24 hours we weren't happy! Plus we were all wearing jeans and jumpers and the weather was well above 25 and rising. All sleep deprived and hungry finding food seemed like a good option. The only option we had at 9 in the morning was a $25 a head buffet and apparently that was out of the question. So instead we didn't eat and we just sat or laid on couches in the lobby for two hours before more food choices opened up! In the end we found some Mexican food with some chicken nuggets thrown in for the boys. Eating a fish taco for breakfast after not eating for so long probably wasn't the best idea. But it did taste good and in normal circumstance I may have enjoyed it more. We then processed to check in, shower and hit the pool.

My little buddy Preston

As a side note, showering is seriously the best thing ever! It can actually turn someone into a functioning human being.

The resort is huge with a maze of pools everywhere. Including a lazy river, water slide, and wave pool. Plus the gorgeous beach. We spent the afternoon hours floating around and round the lazy river, playing ping pong, water sliding, napping, and reading. We had Italian for dinner in Mexico. Which makes huge sense when the kid who is 6, hungry and tired loves pasta with butter and cheese. Despite the fact that we were in Mexico and eating Italian, the food was amazing. Really fresh and the service was impeccable. All in all it was a good end to a bad start to day one!

Dinner at the Italian Restaurant

Day 2 started at 9am, much more appropriate for my liking. I hit the gym and then proceeded to the pool for some R&R until Preston started to complain about being famished! Not hungry, not starving! Famished! His parents were at Walmart buying groceries at the time and no we hadn't eaten anything, but I didn't know what to get him. So a strawberry smoothie it was. The lazy river was nice and quite in the morning so a couple of laps of that cooled us down and gave me a break from hearing a six year old whine. We had lunch and then it was straight back to the pool. There's nothing better than pretending that your cocktail is a virgin piña colada, when in actual fact it's not. Apparently because I'm not of legal drinking age in America, I can't drink here. BS I say! I found out that the Mexicans starts drinking at 12 and the technical legal drinking age is 18. So I think I'm well within the zone! For dinner we went into Puerto Vallarta. It was amazing to actually see some of Mexico and all the little shops. For dinner we had awesome Mexican. I had fajitas and margaritas. Can't get much more Mexican!

Main man Ethan

Night Club in Puerto Vallarta

Dinner and cocktails with the fan

Puerto Vallarta Mexico

Day 3 started out great! The family had to go to a presentation thing, so that they could get 10% off their entire bill. Like a time share presentation where they try to get you to invest in a new resort. So I opted not to go and I had the hotel room to myself. I slept a little longer in bed, went to the gym, and then hit the pool. I got three hours of piece and quiet before they finally showed up. Today like yesterday was spent very lazily by the pool, reading, swimming, drinking margaritas, floating around and around the lazy river. Nice and relaxing! We ate guacamole and corn chips for dinner as no one was very hungry. Then went for a walk to a different resort. Where we are staying there are many resorts all owned by the same people and they have a shuttle service that takes you around. We went to a place where there are a few shops and bakeries. It was incredible with all different sorts of pastries, cakes, chocolates, macaroons, and frozen yogurt. We all opted for the frozen yogurt option. We sat outside in the most stunning lounge area over looking a lake that was all lit up. Hard to explain, but it was really beautiful!

Mexico has the most amazing sunsets

Frozen Yoghurt

Day 4 started early, but was thoroughly lazy! Spent the entire day yet again at the pool. Did however venture to the beach and saw some turtles hatching. Went down the water slide 10 times at Preston's nagging request. Ate some excellent sushi for dinner. That was about it!

Ethan working on his bombs

Love me some palm trees

There were Iguanas everywhere

Asian Restaurant at night

Me and my boys, don't know where they were looking

Day 5 very much like day 4. But we headed back into Puerto Vallarta at 5 to do some shopping and have dinner. We saw the most incredible sunset. Spent a great deal of time (far to long for my liking) in a shop that specializes in all things leather! Ate the best Mexican food ever. With the largest margaritas. All in all it was a fun evening, with a taxi driver who thought he might try and make it our last day on earth to top it off. I have a feeling speed limits, nor road rules apply in Mexico.

Mango Margaritas

I think it may have been a little big for him

Most amazing sunset

Day 6 I may have stared to sound like a broken record. Surprise, surprise it was another day pool side. It was exceptionally hot today with very little wind, but the pools were freezing. So you were either hot or cold. But I guess I can't complain really. We headed back into puerto Vallarta. Went to the same restaurant at Preston's request. Drank some gigantic margaritas. Then basically rolled home cause we were all so full.

Mexican sweet shop

Watermelon Margarita

Day 7 the last full day here. We woke up early this morning to go on a boat tour to a island where we could snorkel, kayak and paddle board. When we got there we all had to put our life jackets on and swim a couple 100m, through an underwater cave to get to a beach cove. The waters we crystal clear and the sand super white. We had to leave the place after 15 minutes though due to the fact that the tied was coming in fast and we wouldn't have been able to get back out of the cave. We then headed around to the other side of the island to snorkel. There were so many amazing fish to see and coral. Paddle boarding was up next and I actually managed to do it half coordinated! We had lunch and some piña coladas on board and then it was back to the resort. The boat ride to the island took 1 1/2 hours each way so it was a great chance to take in the sites around. Nuevo Vallarta is surrounded by beautiful mountains, very picturesque. We saw Whales and Dolphins too on our journey. We ended the day by the pool. Everyone took a nap, then we had dinner at the beach bar and restaurant overlooking a beautiful sunset. This trip has been a lot of fun and I'm not looking forward to going back to reality.
             
                                                             

Morgan just loves snorkling

Looking so attractive

Love a good pair of goggles

Go Preston

How excited i am to see you

So i'm just writing this post to let you all know how excited i am to see my sister.

Halloween

The wonderful day has yet to arrive, however for the past couple of weeks leading up to October everyone has been in the full swing of Halloween. The supermarkets have had decorations and copious amounts of candy for sale. Everyone is decorating the insides and outsides of their houses, and to be honest some of the decorations really creep me out. Everywhere has become a haunted house, or haunted hayride attraction. Now this is the bit that I really don't like. Anyone who knows me will know that I get a freight easier than anyone. So the thought of going somewhere to willingly be scared, seem absolutely ridiculous. I can even handle all the ads on the radio promoting the haunted houses, like they give me the creeps enough. 

Near where I live there is a giant cornfield, and the other day there were like twenty big black crows, just chilling out. Then of course I see a black cat. Like is everyone out to get me. I think i've come to the conclusion that I do not like Halloween. I don't know if I might like the actual day with the trick-o-treating. But the lead up to it, I'm really not a fan of. 

Oh and did I mention Pumpkin Spice? Well If i didn't let me tell you about pumpkin spice! It's everywhere, and in everything, like no joke everything! Oreos, biscuits, coffee, bagels, muffins, pies, candy, M&M's, and the list goes on. I can't say i've tried it, i'm a little bit skeptical of what it might taste like. But maybe I should, before it goes away. It's only really a big thing in America, as far as i've heard. But I think I can safely say that it's a bit of an overkill on the pumpkin spice. 

The other thing that I don't like is the candy, everyone has a large bowl of it at the ready when you enter their house. That includes ours, so when i'm trying to eat healthily it's not easy when there is chocolate staring constantly in your face.

Don't get me wrong though Halloween can be exciting, and everyone seems to be in an all round better mood at the moment (accept me). But I guess it just isn't the holiday for me.

Philadelphia Rock n Roll Half Marathon

On Sunday the 21st of September I woke up at the ever so evil time of 5am. I enjoy nothing about this time what so ever, but it had to be done. The reason for this early wake up call, is that I was participation in a half marathon. Now no, i'm not known for my exceptional running skills, or having ever been interested in doing such a thing in my life. But I was roped in as my host mom's support team. So off we went. We were only fast walking it as she has bad knees and calves or something like that. But really fast walking was fine with me. The race didn't actually start till 8am. We go there at 6.30 so we had some time to "warm up", and look really professional. The race eventually got underway and as it was a staggered start our corral didn't start until 8.35. Once we were underway we were going at a solid pace. Fast walking actually meant that we were passing many of the "runners" (or people who look like they are running, just really, really slowly). So the first 8 miles I was feeling good. By the 9th mile I started experiencing some tightness in my thighs, and blistering on my feet. Not so pleasant really, but you know what they say "no pain, no gain". I wasn't going to let a little pain stop me really, so I powered on. At this stage I was kind of really sick of walking and just wanted to run. But I had promised to do it with Jen so I stayed with her. At the 10th, mile to my utter frustration, Jen started slowing down drastically, she hadn't been feeling well that day so I understood. But I couldn't handle people passing us due to my competitive nature. I just keep pushing her along until the last mile where she gave me permission to run ahead. So I ran the last 1.1 miles and boy did it feel great. I started passing a tone of people, and actually felt like I was accomplishing something that day. I crossed the finish line and collected my "participation medal", along with all the other free drinks and food they were handing out. Jen finished, we took our post race picture and left. 

My favorite thing about doing this was the sense of accomplishment. No we didn't have the fastest time, and we mostly walked it. But still it just showed me that I can achieve more than I think. As much as I was sore the days after and during the race, I want to do another race again soon. This time I want to really train for it. 

The Rock n Roll Marathons are great because they are held in many of the major cities in America. The marathon is designed so that we get a tour of the city and see the history behind it along the way. At each mile mark they also have bands playing. It's a fun race, where people of all fitness levels are participating. I defiantly recommend the Rock n Roll Marathons if you are just looking to have some fun, whilst also exercising.

5 more months

I think it's easy when you are away from home for a long period of time to feel sad and just wish the days away. Of course I want to see my friends and family, and be at home. But right now I need to live in the moment. I can't keep looking towards February and wishing that I was there now. I've been given an opportunity that I might never get again. I'm extremely fortunate to be able to be here. So I doing my best to try and live everyday without wishing it would hurry up and end. Some things I have been doing to get myself out and about and exploring are: Hiking at Valley Forge - which is the site of a famous battle in American history- it's a massive area with many trails to explore, you can even see some of the old shelter houses where soldiers took refuge from the constant fighting. I've explored a few different towns in my area, I go to the coffee shops, or the parks, different boutiques, and book stores. I go to the gym, I have been trying hard with my health and fitness, but I really needed more motivation to work out. So actually going to the gym is the motivation I needed, once you're there, you look stupid if you aren't exercising. I've been trying to make new friends and I see them during the day when I can, and when they are available. This has given me a greater understanding of many different cultures as most of them aren't American. 

There are a few things that I want to do here before I leave, and i'm going to try my best to do them all:

-Skydivng (don't tell my mum)
-visit California
-Florida
-New York at Christmas time
-Ice skating in Central Park
-Do a half marathon
-Learn how to Snowboard
-visit chicago

I know I might not be able to do everything, but they are just some of the things that I really want to do.

In 28 days my family are visiting me, and I couldn't be more excited!

Oh Canada!

On the 14th of August we all packed up the van as one big happy family and started a 12 hour road trip to Canada. The land where the maple syrup flows, and the honest humor hits you from every direction. The van we rented had a TV in the back. So the boys played xbox for the majority of the trip. I tried to watch a movie but car sickness got the better of me, and Preston played the iPad for what felt like 5 hours straight. Our first stop before Canada was Michigan where Jen's mum lives. I can't say I've ever had a desire to visit Michigan. Which was a whole lot of what I like to refer to as woop woop. A lot of farms, grass, and small towness. But it's another state to cross off I guess. 

On the way, so excited clearly!

Isn't he just the cutest

The whole trip I knew I would be meeting family, and old friends of the family. Which I also knew meant the weekend would be full of awkward chit chat. So having prepared myself for that I met the first lot of family friends when we were having dinner with them at 10 O'Clock at night. The journey to michigan had taken 10 hours and by this time I was tired. But seeing as we were only their for one night we had to see as many people as possible apparently. So I did all the awkward greetings, saw more stunned expressions when people found out I was Australian. Got asked about the wildlife in Australia (I'm honestly not sure why they all care so much), then proceeded to do my dutiful role of entertaining the children. 

The next day we hung around with Grandma for a while, had some "world famous pizza" for lunch. Then headed off for the two hour journey to the Canadian border. When we got to the border it took us an hour to get across the bridge. Paul thought that they would pull us over cause I was with them. But I just smiled politely, answered all their questions. They stamped my passport (which excited me cause I have another page stamped now), and sent us on our merry way. In 15 minutes we were at Paul's parents house. Who thankfully were normal and weren't awkward. We spent a couple of hours there. I met Paul's brother who lives just around the corner. Then we headed off for dinner at Paul's sisters house. Now that was the fun family affair. Everyone was there. But I found that Canadians and Australians have a similar sort of attitude towards life. They are more relaxed and more humble than Americans. They also treat me more like an adult, than a child. Are also very warm and friendly, making everything a lot easier for me.

The next day was the big family reunion. I of course was a little worried about going, cause i'm not obviously related to anyone there and everyone else is. But it turned out to be ok. It was held on a farm (not so fun). But everyone was really welcoming and friendly. I even met some people who had been to Tasmania before, I thought what are the odds of that (not very high). I was asked many questions about Australia, more specifically about the wildlife. I'm not sure why everyone has this perception that in Australian we basically co-exist peacefully with snakes and reptiles. It's like they think that to everyone person in the population, that there is also a creature, and they roam the streets freely with is. I have a felling that Steve Irwin may have had something to do with that. My other favorite thing is when people start to try and guess where i'm from. Most of the time I get British first, then they arrive at Australian. But a couple of times I go from being British, to New Zealand, to South African, and then we eventually arrive at Australian. It was one of those family reunions where you play the old games like three legged race, sack race, shoe kick, tug of water, and water balloon toss. For us it was all whilst in the rain. It was defiantly an interesting afternoon, but it was nice to finally meet Paul's family and see where he grew up. 

Preston in the sack race

Preston on the ground

Fun on the farm. AKA Whoop Whoop

Sunday rolled around and we geared up for the long drive home. We drove to Niagara Falls this time to cross the boarder there. Niagara Falls was incredible. It's certainly breathtaking. It was one to tick of the bucket list. We then crossed the boarder and were on our way home. It was a quick but fun trip and i'm glad I got to see another part of the world.

USA side of the falls

Famous Horse Shoe

Me and Morgan

From the boarder bridge