Happy New Year!

Well here we are at the end of 2008 and wondering, once again, where our year went! We had alot of variety what with eight months in La Paz, we were able to visit the Brekke's in Sedona, managed a quick business trip to Las Vegas, hosted family and friends on the boat and in Mexico! All in all we'd have to say it was a good year. We wish everyone a Very Happy and Prosperous 2009!

Along The Way

Meet Jamie and Behan who are from the Seattle area. We first met them at Gate 11 in Alameda where they stopped en route down south. It sure was fun visiting with them in La Paz. Jamie and Behan have three of the greatest kids it's been our pleasure to meet!

Meet Jana and Richard. They laughed because we "picked" them up at a restaurant while we were having dinner! We had a happy hour planned and thought they would like to attend and meet other boaters and our local friends. They blended in just like we knew they would! Jana is an accomplished artist, check her out: http://www.janazimmer.com/

These folks, Mike and Jeanette, are the first "gringos" living in Mexico that we met. Mike and Jeanette have an endless supply of information and tips about living in La Paz. We've been on a couple of road trips with them and hope to do more of that in 2009!

Friends of Friends of Friends!

One of the best things about meeting cruisers is that they bring more and more great people to the mix. Meet Bll and Linda who are on "Tanque de Tiburon", that's "Shark Tank" for you non-speakers! Bill and Linda are from Sierra Vista, Arizona. Interesting story here, Bill and Linda bought their boat which was previously called "Dos Brisas" and belonged to Earl and Maria which they bought when it was named "Tabula Raza" from Tom and Ginger all of whom were from Alameda where we keep our boat now! Very small world.

Christmas 2008

This year Steve and I will spend a very quiet Christmas here in La Paz, sadly without immediate family. We will, however, have our family of friends joining us off and on throughout the holidays which we are very grateful for.

We want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

New Friends

When Doug and Carla did the Baja haha they met other cruisers who were headed down to Mexico as well. The upside of their trip is that we get to meet those same people and the family just keeps getting bigger! From left to right: Steve, Doug (not paying attention), Carla, Cam, Richard in the Back and Janie.

Chores

We've had lots of fun with Doug and Carla but have had to do some chores too, like getting our hair cut! We were pretty good lookin when we left Laura's!

Moondance Hits La Paz!

Doug and Carla arrived on "Moondance" and it has been a big party ever since! This picture was taken in Sorianna on a shopping excursion. Mexicans must think we are crazy, we take pictures of everything and every place!

Crit Comes To Stay

On November 23rd we drove out to Muertos, again, this time to pick up Crit. Crit is like this perfect guest that everyone wants to have. She made herself right at home, we enjoyed her tremendously. This picture was taken at the Cactus Sanctuary. On this day we were in the company of cacti that have been on this land for thousands or years!

Moondance Arrives

Saturday November 22 we got the call, Moondance had arrived and off we went! Los Muertos aka Bahia de Los Suenos is about an hour's drive but it was worth it! Nothing like beer and guacamole between friends!

Art

On Highway 1 in Baja there is a very small town called El Rosario. Last year on our way down we stopped at Mission Tacos, a small restaurant with four tables to have lunch. We were admiring the paintings on the wall when the proprietor's husband arrived with paint on his clothes and hands! This man, in this very small town, turned out to be a self taught artist! We bought a beautiful painting of a Blue Agave Plant. This year we bought our "mask" painting. The colors are incredible. We are great fans of Hugo Lopez's art and his wife's tacos!

Our Second Season!

Our trip down the coast was very beautiful and uneventful, thank you very much! We arrived to a well kept house the first week of November. We still have some unfinished house projects but really need motivation or unsuspecting guests to help us out with them! We expect Moondance and her crew (Crit) to arrive soon and are looking forward to it.

October Brings Marc

If I thought August and September were great, I was in for a real treat! October brought Marc who we had not seen in two years! Marc was only with us for three days, but they were the best three days! Let's not wait another two Marc.

September Brings Victoria

Then came September. Victoria came to visit for six whole days! What a treat! All that corny, mushy stuff they say about what sister's mean to each other, it's all true. This girl is everything to me and I love kicking back with her.

August Brings Christina

Marina life is always fun what with pot lucks, parties and happy hours, but when people come to visit - that's the best! August brought Christina, she stayed six whole days and we packed them! Shopping, toasting, shopping and shopping, what fun! We have a yearly tradition, can't wait til next year!

In-Between-Time

Wow, back at the boat. It was a happy/sad reunion this year, we lost our buddy Dan Dowler and we will miss him very much.

Our First Season Ends

Well, we made many friends our first season in La Paz and had alot of fun along the way. Steve and I were lucky to find Linda to house sit our "casa".

Kallbrier's Visit

April brought Kim and Mike with the Oh Shucks book and a deck of cards! We've been playing this stupid card game and keeping our on-going scores for about 30 years! We play everywhere we go together, even at airports and bus stations! In Hawaii we have Mai Tai's while playing, in La Paz our drink of choice are Margaritas and in Vegas we drink whatever they give us for free!

Cyclists

February 20th Steve and I returned from the movies to find Dave and Amy camped out in front of the house. Dave and Amy both left Seattle (not together) on their bicycles. They spent some time with us while they re-grouped and continued their trek. Dave has a wonderful blog http://ridesouth.net/ I highly recommend checking it out! We really enjoyed meeting and spending time with them, in my opinion, a very brave and adventurous pair.

The Graf's Visit

Christmas came and went and Bernd and Ann arrived in January. Bernd and Steve got to go fishing a couple of times out of Los Muertos and had an awesome time. For their second fishing trip Ann packed a lunch with a salad she concocted made from the fish they had caught the day before, man was that good! Even Reymundo (the boat captain) loved it!

We sure had a great time.

Papa

Papa Just loves being surrounded by family! From right to left: Sarah on her Grandpa's knee, Maria, Ana, Yolanda and Kai.

New Kitchen

So excited about my new kitchen! The tile setter finished just hours before the Christmas gang was to arrive. Thanks to Victoria all the kitchen stuff that was strewn all over the house was given a cupboard or drawer to live in. Thank you Victoria!

Christmas 2007

The house wasn't quite ready for company to arrive but arrive they did! We had seven people besides us and it was a little tight! From right to left is: Yolanda (sister from Germany) her husband Kai, Steve, Victoria, Sarah and Ana.

Working Guests

As you can see we put Kathy and Dave to work immediately. We didn't have a ladder yet so Kathy worked out just great for changing liight bulbs!

Good Sports

Kathy and Dave were our very first guests arriving only a week and a half after we moved in! We managed to have beds when they arrived but had no idea the city water trickled in three times per week in the evenings only! If this had been a boat we would have called it our "shake down cruise"! Luckily they were okay with showering sporadically and were great about eating out since we didn't have a working kitchen yet.

In The Beginning

In May of 2006 Steve and I bought this little house in La Paz which needed some tlc. The house closed without us in June and In September we loaded up a cargo trailer and came on down!