Baja del Sur

Another first. I landed at an international airport! After leaving Palomar airport, Robert, DJ, Holden and I flew to San Felipe Airport in Mexico. We were greeted by armed, friendly soldiers who showed us where the fuel station was and directed us to the administration building.

Inside the administration building, we filled out some forms, paid some money and used the bathroom. My passport had expired so I had some 'splainin' to do but everyone was extremely friendly.

The flight to Mulege was only 2.5 hours. Because highway 1 is on the West side of Baja in Baja Norte, there isn't much to see on the Sea of Cortez side except beaches, mountains and islands. It was beautiful.

When we arrived at Mulege I found my mom's beach and did some slow flight above her cove to let her know we were about to land. We landed at La Serenidad, the local hotel that has an attached airport. It is probably the nicest hotel in the area. Again, we were met by Federales and had to show them our permit. No money this time. Don Johnson, owner of the hotel and honorary mayor of Mulege came out and helped push the plane back.

While staying in Mexico, we flew to several destinations just for kicks. My favorite was a little place on the Pacific side called Campo Renee.

We were sent by pilot friends in Mulege to get some oysters there. As promised, we were able to taxi from the air strip to the restaurant. We had seafood cocktails and sent someone for six dozen oysters at the local oyster farm.

The boys never asked to watch TV or movies the entire time we were there. They had too much exploring to do. Plus, there was Nana constantly keeping them busy with fun activities and making them pick up after themselves.

On New Years Eve we had a feast at an international survival school down the beach. They had no students, but the staff and others from the beach brought in food and lots of expired flares to light off.

On January 1, we flew direct from Mulege to Tijuana Airport. Robert dropped us off and flew to Brown Airfield in the US. We had to walk across because my passport expired. The kids had to come with me because I held the permission slip from their mother. On the way from the airport to the Otay Mesa pedestrian crossing, we ate genuine street tacos and sugar sweetened Mexican Coke. Both boys said the tacos were the best they ever had.

My Mom's Christmas Letter

Feliz Navidad!
There is no way to send Xmas Cards out from here so this will have to do. We are at our palapa in Mulege Mexico for Christmas this year for the first time. It is a beautiful 78 degrees as I look out on the water where the dolphins are playing. A totally different Christmas for us. We are keeping plenty busy and having lots fun making memories here in the Baja.  Last night we had 34 friends over for Christmas Eve dinner & a "white elephant" gift exchange. What a great time we had! 
 
Our year ....
The first 3 months of 2010 we were living at my brother Roy & Kristy's guesthouse while I went through daily chemo, &  radiation. The next 2 months we lived in our motorhome near Scottsdale AZ for more treatments. Finally we moved home to Show Low AZ  in June for the rest of the summer, only commuting for occasional treatments (2 1/2 hrs). At home once again, we enjoyed camping and ATV riding in the mountains with friends. David, Viki , Chance (10) & Vaughn (6) came up for 8 days camping. Dustin, DJ (13), Riley(9) and Holden(6) joined us at  Lake Roosevelt  for boating and wakeboarding. This is the first year I had to give up waterskiing. bummer! We were able to get to Calif a few times where we visited with friends and family. Our youngest grandchild Jimmy is now 4. Where does the time go?!  Nov 1st we moved down here to Mulege for the winter. Ed keeps busy building something or doing palapa maintenance when we aren't playing Texas hold-em, kayaking, fishing, reading, or partying with our friends. My friend Melissa and Ed had a surprise B-Day party for me in Nov. There was dancing and even a Piñata!  It was so much fun!
 
"Living life to the fullest" has never meant more to us than in the year 2010. One year ago I wasn't expected to be around to see this Christmas and here I am!  (and feeling good too). I know in my heart it's because of all the prayers, love, and support from our family and dear friends. We have so much to be grateful for this season.
 
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!
 Wendy & Ed
 

Riley's Soccer Season Ends

Riley really loves soccer. She had her after season party at a local pizza place.

Dustin from his Droid

Breakfast On The Way To LAX

We ate at The Pantry on the way to LAX to return Nana to Mexico. DJ remembers The Pantry but Riley and Holden don't. I knew they would like it!

We had plate-sized pancakes, biscuits and gravy, bacon, omelletes, potatoes, and grill toasted sourdough bread! So good. The line to get in moved pretty fast so we ended up at the airport thirty minutes early.

Dustin from his Droid

The Great Park

The Great Park is a community development project on the site of the shuttered El Toro Marine Base. It is inexpensive to visit, large and usually has a festival or two to visit. They also have a tethered helium balloon, the Orange Ball, that goes up 400 feet with a large circular basket underneath for carrying passengers. The balloon was closed on the day we visited due to high winds, but we walked around a farmer's market considering eating lunch there from the various food trucks.

This looks like I ordered the kids on the tubular bike sculpture for a picture, but it was completely impromptu. They love running around the Great Park because it is so big. It was nice to capture the three kids playing together like this.