Arrived safely!

Thanks for all of your wishes for safe travel. Ellen and I are at our hotel enjoying a Pisco Sour - the national drink of Peru. Thanks for checking in!

You May Remember...

...my dear friend Ellen from this post about the day that Dave and I met.  Ellen and I traveled to Guatemala together after meeting at language school and traveling all over Costa Rica. Well, Ellen sent me an email in February asking if I wanted to go to Peru with her to check out Machu Picchu and travel through Latin America like old times. I wrote back and said, "Yes, I do and thanks for asking. What are the dates?" As it turns out the dates were perfect and I chanced upon a screamin' deal from San Francisco to Lima for $425.  Dave gave me the green light and just like that, I'm going to Peru...leaving the day after tomorrow (Sunday). 

You really just can't pass up that kind of awesome opportunity...right??

This is what I've been trying to convince myself of for the last 3 weeks as I stare at the ceiling, not able to sleep, thinking to myself, "You have four kids! You can't go traipsing haphazardly around South America like you're 19 again! What are you thinking?!" Oh dear. 

We'll be flying on three small planes during the week and the thought of small aircraft in the Andean updrafts of South America has me a little sweaty (to say the least).  I actually came to the cheerful realization that if something happens to me at least Dave will be able to raise the kids. Honestly! Isn't that morbid? But, I was actually able to sleep after that. Uggh. The things we put ourselves through. 

Anyway, please send thoughts of safe travels my way over the next week or so. And maybe you can throw in a couple for Dave as he juggles lunches and laundry and baseball, oh my!

Check back for pics next week. 

Did I tell you...

...that we were taking the kids to see the Grandparents in Miami and cruising across the Gulf Stream to hang in the Bahamas for Spring Break? Well, we're here in Bimini having swam with the rays at Honeymoon Harbor yesterday. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to partake in the Junkanoo festivities before heading back on Sunday. Now before you go getting all envious on me just keep in mind that it's not all sunbathing and pina coladas. Imagine kids barfing across the Gulf Stream, generator on the fritz, flip flops overboard, a dead dinghy motor, oh, and eight people stuffed onto 42'. Don't get me wrong, we cherish every single opportunity we get to hang with the grandparents and to go boating with our kiddos, but just be reasonable before you think that the ocean is always bluer on the other side of the Gulf Stream (although, it really is).  See for yourself...

I could watch this man tie dock lines all day long.  Nothing sexier than a man in his element. Am I right?

Soli "snorkeling". 

"Even though I'm 12, I still love my dad."

"Someday I'm gonna tie dock lines just like my dad." And his wife will adore him for it... (Ugh. That was hard to type. I actually wrote it, deleted it, and then wrote it again. Someday he'll be married?! Alright, that's enough. Next pic...)

My little mermaid.

I'm pretty proud of this shot because, you see, I had to use the manual focus. Whoa! Big step for me! Watch out Flickr (they must have some great pics on that site because they can't spell for crap...).

We couldn't resist playing "Titanic" on this shipwreck off of Bimini's south shore.