Hola Joey,

I hope your having a good time in mommy's belly today. So yesterday we got you some new stuff. Actually your Grandma and Grandpa got you you a nice playpen. It's super cool, and has a change table as well. There is also a night light and music built right in too. I suspect you will be spending a lot of time inside it, so we wanted to make sure it's a really cool playpen. We also bought you a stroller with car carrier. This will be your home on wheels. We will be able to take you everywhere we go. We can go down to the beach, or just walk around Playa Del Carmen. Pretty exciting, because it makes your arrival seem very real and closer than ever.

We got back from New Orleans last Monday. What a great city it is! Great food, nice people, and very hot! It's about the same temperature as here in Mexico, but far more humid, so it feels even hotter. It also rained a bit while we were there. In fact while we were on the Hurricane Katrina tour, seeing the damage around the city that still remains from the 2005 hurricane, it started to rain heavily. In fact there was some flooding that night due to all the rain they got. Sort of ironic. We also witnessed a pretty intense thunder and lightning storm while we were there. We were staying on the 37th floor of our hotel, and we had a great view of the city overlooking the French Quarter. We watched the lightning light up the sky for much of the evening. We even got caught out in the rain while walking back to the hotel from the tour bus. The down pour soaked us right to the bone, it was pretty wild. Even though it was wet and rainy, it was still really warm. Of course the whole trip wasn't rainy. It was mostly very nice, and really hot.

Once we got back to Playa Del Carmen it was back to the weather we were used to, at least for a few days. For the last couple of days now we've been getting quite a few tropical rain storms and even some thunder and lightning. It's the first really rainy days we've had here since I moved here in March. But enough about rain.

So the Stanley Cup finals are nearing the end. The Stanley Cup is the most coveted pro sports trophy there is (in my opinion) and is played for every spring/early summer, and is to determine the National Hockey League's annual championship. This year it features the Detroit Red Wings, and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both teams are really good, but since Detroit just won last night to take a 3 games to 1 series lead in the best of seven, it's looking like Detroit is on the verge of winning their 4th Stanley Cup in the last 11 years. I'm a big hockey fan, but mostly I just like watching if my favorite team the Edmonton Oilers are playing. The Oilers had a rough season this past year, and honestly and even worse season the year before. But 2 years ago the it was the Oilers who were battling for the Stanley Cup. Unfortunately they lost in game seven of that series. Next year however is looking very promising. They finished this year very strong and have a really good group of young talented players who look as though they are going to be a force next season. It will be exciting to watch them from time to time if I can next year. I can't wait to teach you about hockey, and maybe get you a hockey stick and rubber puck or something for us to play around with. I don't think we will find any hockey leagues here to play in, but we will make due.

There are lots of other sports you may find fun too. Soccer is very popular here in Mexico. It seems to be their number one sport. I played soccer very briefly when I was a kid, but never really got into it. All I remember about playing soccer was there was a ball and crowd of kids following the ball. I was the kid at the very back of the crowd more interested in kicking at the dirt with my cleats than actually trying to catch up to the ball. In hindsight, I probably would have liked it more had I been put in goal. I also got into softball. I was much better at that, and enjoyed it a lot more. I even started playing softball again a few years ago. It's a great summer outdoor pass time. We will definitely be getting you a ball, glove, and bat at some point too. Of course your mom's side of the family are big football fans. I never really got into football, although I do follow your mom'm favorite team the Cleveland Browns. I'm sure there will be no shortage of people trying to teach you how to throw and catch a football once you're older. Since I never really learned how to myself maybe I'll try and pick up a few pointers too, then we can both learn.

Sports aren't everything though. Sports can be a lot of fun, but there are lots of different activities that can be fun. Music for example. Your daddy loves music, all sorts of music and loves to play and write music, but we'll get into that in another blog. For now Joey, have a good time in the tummy. Only 3 months to go before we get to meet face to face and I can't wait! I will write you more soon!

Love Daddy

Well, Joey, we're back and you definitely ddn't make all that walking around New Orleans any easier. But, wow, did we have fun. One great thing about being pregnant is the appetite, Mommy loves, loves, loves food and now because I'm pregnant, I can consume two or three times as much as before. This came in extraordinarily handy in New Orleans.

We had a bit of trouble getting to New Orleans; in Atlanta there was a big lightning storm and it grounded our plane for an hour or so. It wasn't so bad though because we met a nice lady from Baton Rouge who'd just come back from traveling around Europe. She was very interested in you, when you're due, what the doctors are like in Mexico, etc. I told her all about your doctor and how he gives us an ultrasound at every visit and sends us home with a CD full of pictures of you. When I told her each visit only costs $50 for all that, she just about fell off her chair! In the USA, she said, Mommys-to-be only get a couple of ultrasounds their whole pregnancy! How sad, I look so forward to seeing you every month at our Doctor's visits, hearing your healthy heartbeat, seeing your head and belly and little feet.

When we finally landed in New Orleans, it was very late at night and I was so tired. We caught a cab and the driver was very interesting, an ex-homicide detective, he told us all about his experiences in hurricane Katrina and told us that because of it, he changed his cab company name to "You're in Bad Hands with Allstate Insurance" because he couldn't get money from them to fix his house after the flood.

We got to the hotel and our room was on the 37th floor! Our ears popped on the way up. We went to bed pretty quick we were so tired. In the morning when I woke up I took some pictures from our room.



The coolest thing about New Orleans, Joey, was the people. Mommy has been to 14 countries and has never in her life encountered such friendly people. It wasn't just the people working in the hotel and restaurants and shops either, it was every last person walking down the street. Considering what this city had been through the past couple of years, it makes it even more astonishing, how friendly they were. I guess, like Mommy's friend Mike said once, once you've lost everything, you're free to gain anything. It was pretty inspiring. Especially after we went on the Katrina tour. The bus driver took us all through the areas of New Orleans that were the worst hit by the flooding and the storm. Several times I fought back tears. It was very moving and horrifying at the same time, that a major city in the richest country in the world could suffer so much almost 3 years later. Here in Mexico, Cancun was battered by the worst storm in recorded history that literally stopped over Cancun for days (Grandma and Grandpa were in that storm!). That storm happened after Katrina hit New Orleans, and it leveled Cancun, and not only has Cancun bounced back, but it had a long time ago. And New Orleans, and American city, has not. It has a lot to do with money, the fact that Cancun is funded and occupied primarily by major American hospitality corporations, where as New Orleans is occupied mostly by poor minority groups. The bottom line is that not enough people with resources care about New Orleans. But I did learn on the Katrina tour that Brad Pitt, a great actor currently, has been in New Orleans since the storm, helping to build houses for the people who need it the most with $5 million of his own money. I thought that was pretty cool of him.

What I enjoyed the most in New Orleans, though, was the food. Joey, one day we will take you back there when you have teeth and you can enjoy it for yourself. Those people know how to cook! But I think if I ever had to live there, I would get really, really fat, because it's all comfort food, deep fried and buttery. Mommy's weakness. Some of the best food we had was at NOLA, Emeril Lagasse's restaurant. He is a very famous chef right now, who has many, many restaurants and a cooking show. He is mostly know for yelling BAM! when he's cooking, which didn't go unsaid when your Daddy and I ate at his restaurant.

We also had some po'boys. The best was at Mother's which is a very famous restaurant, so much so that the line is out the door all day long.



And Muffulettas:



And Beignets, sushi, Indian food, gumbo, jumbalaya, barbecue, and red beans and rice. It was so yummy!

Mommy and Daddy did some shopping for you:



And we saw lots of cool sights:



All in all it was a great trip, but we're glad to be back with rocky and Grandma and Grandpa and Kramer!

Technorati Tags: new orleans, food, po'boys, muffulettas, nola, emeril, legasse, hurricane, katrina

Hola Joey! This is Grandma. I am so excited about you, you can't believe it. My first grandchild and my mom's first (or second??) great grandchild. The reason for this will become clear when I tell you about your extended family. My mom is your great grandma, your mommy's and your Uncle Bobby's grandma! She will be 91 just after you are born! She is really cool for her age!! Ask your mommy. She had 5 children, 3 who will be your great aunts, 1 who will be your great uncle and of course, one who will be your grandma, ME! I will start with the oldest, Aunty Carolyn. She is married to Uncle Don and has 2 girls, Laura and Stephanie, your 2nd cousins. Aunty Joanne (Joey) and Aunty Suzanne (Suzy) are twins. Aunty Joey is married to Uncle Ian, with 2 boys, Matt and Nick (wait til you see how tall they are!!), 2 more 2nd cousins. Aunty Suzy is married to Uncle Mike, with 1 girl, Jessica, another 2nd cousin. Uncle Bobby (yes, another Bobby) is married to Aunty Brenda, with 2 boys (2nd cousins again), Shane and Chad. Shane is married to Jen, who is pregnant and is due on the exact same day as you!!! That is why we don't know if you will be #1 or #2 great grandchild???!! Chad just married Emily last week! As you can see, you have a very large extended family!! All await your arrival with great joy!
One other member of our family is Kramer - he is our krazy kanine - bassett hound. He is Rocky's best friend! You will love him and he will love you - watch out for the slurps! Believe me, you will need a bath after one or two of those!!
Well that's it for now, Joey. Can't wait to see you.
Love Grandma
xxxooo

Hi Joey! This is Grandpa. I can't wait to see you! I am going to tell you a little about what is happening in the world. News is usually a nice thing but in the strange world we live in, maybe not so nice, but you can be the judge one day, Joey. Some people in the USA are trying to control the world through possessing so much oil and controlling other countries. These are pretty bad people in my mind. The president of the usa is the figurative leader but in reality he is only the messenger. His name is George Bush. Africa often is in the news as so many children starve each and every minute in places like Darfur, Sierra Leonne, Nigeria and South Africa. These countries are so badly off because of western countries using the african people as human experiments with drugs. The pharmaceutical companies are responsible for this. The war in Iraq is going into its 6th year as the Americans want to steal their oil and then rip the American people off by charging inflated prices. If they wanted to save our planet they would not be so concerned about oil, but you know, money is money(maybe?). The North Pole is melting at a very high rate and soon there won't be any polar bears left. Polar bears are bears that are white and currently inhabit the North Pole. Other animals facing distinction are Koalas, sharks, etc. Too many because of human greed. I hope some animals are left for you to enjoy. Afghanistan is also playing host to another war in which Canada is playing a part. The Americans and Canadians are also involved in a war on drugs but they won't take a lesson from the UK and legalize drugs. China just had a very bad earthquake with over 60 000 dead. Burma just had a bad cyclone and many died there too. Many people were also injured and left homeless. 2% of the worlds population own 98% of the worlds wealth. I hope these numbers change in your lifetime, Joey. People in the world are very concerned about new findings about food we eat and many bad qualities in processed food and many other things about some of our food like beef that is pumped full of anti-biotics and steroids. Some world class athletes take steroids also to enhance there performance. Many of these athletes have had distinctions taken away from them. Global warming is a huge problem and we all need to be careful of what we drive and how vehicles affect the environment.The world's economy is an important concern as the United States is going through a recession and European countries seem much stronger.That is just a taste of our times three months before you are born.

We currently live in Playa del Carmen, Mexico but are still Canadian citizens. We live one block away from your Mom, Dad and Rocky. Playa Del Carmen is in the Riviera Maya on the coast of Mexico. Soon you can enjoy a swim in the caribbean.


Some people to remember, maybe?
Premier of BC-Gordon Campbell
Prime Minister of Canada-Stephen Harper
Mayor of Vancouver-Sam Sullivan
Presidente of Mexico-Calderon
President of the USA is George Bush
Music we enjoyed in our time- Sonny and Cher, Donavan, Niel Diamond, Stones, Beatles, Bob Dylan, Meatloaf, Arlo Gutherie, Country Joe and the Fish, Nirvana, etc.
Movies we have liked are; Good Will Hunting, Major League, On Golden Pond just to mention a few.

We will love to see you when you pop out and we will be waiting with open arms and very big smiles on our faces because you will make all of us so happy.
Love Grandpa

Hey Kiddo, you're kicking my tummy right now. Actually, they're probably punches. You do an awful lot of that, you know. Maybe you'll be a great boxer like Mohammed Ali.

Tomorrow we go to New Orleans! The food you'll be gettin' is gonna be fantastic, I promise you. I have mapped out an entire day-by-day itinerary for your Daddy and I, all based on food we can't get here in Playa. On our list we have a sushi restaurant, an Indian restaurant (mmmm, Mommy loves butter chicken), a Middle Eastern place, Greek, po'boys, gumbo, crawfish and last but most certainly not least, Emeril Lagasse's NOLA. We are so, so, so excited. At first, we were going to see your Auntie Carrie and Karla in Orlando, because they are there right now to visit Disneyworld (somewhere we will take you no doubt) and we haven't seen them in a long, long time. But Mommy can't go on any rides because you're in my tummy, so we really wouldn't have been able to spend much time with them. But you and I will see Auntie Carrie soon after you're born.

Some other things we would like to do, is go to see one of the famous cemeteries in New Orleans. Yes, by the time you read this, you'll know Mommy has a bit of an interest in the darker side of things - the more mystery, the better! We'd also like to go on a boat in the Mississippi, and walk down Bourbon st. and wander around the French Quarter. We are, most importantly, going to go see the 9th ward, as well. That's the area of town that was worst affected by Hurricane Katrina and, not surprisingly, a poorer part of town with a lot of minorities. The story there is very sad because the worst of the damage was done after the storm passed. These people were not helped by their own government because they were poor and they were mostly minorities. Something that Mommy wants very badly to teach you is that all human life is sacred no matter what side of the tracks you come from or what color your skin is or even if you've been convicted of an heinous crime. This is why we're going to see the 9th ward. You gotta keep reminding yourself when you live in a place like Playa Del Carmen in a beautiful new condo with a swimming pool out front, that the world is still hurting out there and that not everything is all peaches and cream.

Mmmm... peaches and cream. Dammit kid, you make Mommy hungry.
Technorati Tags: new orleans, nola, emeril, lagasse, bourbon, street, french quarter, food

Hi Joey, how's it going today? I imagine your busy doing things in mummy's tummy right now. In fact I think you should give her a good kick right now because she's watching Project Catwalk right now, and I doubt you're enjoying it all that much. Even with her tummy protecting you from the horrible U.K. t.v. show it still must be painful for you!

Speaking of T.V. shows, we don't have cable right now because it's just too nice outside here in Mexico to commit to spending so much time in front of the television. However we do find ourselves downloading a lot of t.v. shows and movies and watching them at night before bed. We just finished watching Survivor last night, and we also like to watch The Wire, Top Chef, Hells Kitchen, and we just started watching OZ. We also watch a lot of movies, and we have quite a large selection of kids movies that we downloaded for Abbey and Natasha when we were back in Canada. I will be sure to stock up on some of my favorite kids shows for you like Blues Clues, and of course Dora! Dora is a girl and all but she's from Mexico. Her cousin Diego also has a show and he's a boy so maybe we'll have to watch his show as well.

I had lots of favorite kids shows when I was a kid. I remember waking up early in the morning on Saturday's to watch Saturday morning cartoons. I'm not sure if Saturday's are still known for cartoons since there are channels dedicated to running kids shows 24/7 now, but when I was a kid it was a big deal. Also because I grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, it was a frozen snowy blizzard outside for 8 months of the year. I would get up before anyone else and bring my blanket out to the living room and turn on the t.v. so quietly so nobody else in the house would be woken up and I would have to lie on the floor maybe a foot or two back from the t.v. just so I could hear it. My favorites were He-Man and the Bugs Bunny show. Then my parents would get up and we would have breakfast and I couldn't wait to get back to watching more cartoons.

Eventually I would get dressed and go play in our basement or get bundled up and go play outside in the snow with friends. We would have snow ball fights, play road hockey, make snow forts, or just goof around. It was cold, but there was something really peaceful about being a kid and growing up in snow. As a kid we didn't have to worry about digging the car out of a snow bank, or the engine block being frozen after an extremely cold night, or the excessive heating bill. We just had to worry about getting to school on time, having to trek through the snow banks, and keeping or tongues from getting stuck to the metal poles on the playground at recess. I know it seems silly like "how would anyone get their tongue stuck to a pole?" but it never failed. Nearly weekly some kid would have to get his tongue unstuck from some part of the playground. I don't remember ever doing it myself at school, but I do remember getting my tongue stuck to the metal railing outside our front door one morning while waiting to be picked up for school!

Well, your mommy and I are heading to the beach this afternoon. All this talk of cold and snow and I need some sun and waves! I'll write you again soon, have a good time in mommy's belly at the beach today!


Love Daddy

Hola Joey! It's a pretty hot Saturday here in Playa Del Carmen. We spent the day looking at stuff for you, like cribs and playpens and bassinets. We also bought you your first pair of shoes, which are pretty damned cool for baby's first shoes if you ask me. Here is a photo:



Pretty neat huh? Yeah, your folks may be geeks but we're definitely the cool kind of geek.

So I guess I'll fill you in on why we're in Mexico. A long, long time ago, in 1986, your Grandma and Grandpa took me and your Uncle Bobby to live in Australia. On the way there and the way back, we visited places like Fiji, Tahiti, Hawaii, Singapore and Malaysia. We also got to see Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Surfer's Paradise and Noosa Heads in Australia. Needless to say, your Uncle and I were very spoiled that year, and then again in 1992 when we returned to live in Australia and on the way and the way back we visited Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Cook Islands and Fiji again, plus while in Australia we saw the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Alice Springs (from the airport), Sydney, Adelaide and we lived in Perth and went on many, many road trips up and down the west coast. We even got to feed and pet dolphins in Monkey Mia. I was a teenager then, and I remember the whole year like it was yesterday. All of this traveling put what your Uncle Bobby calls "the bug" in us. The travel bug.

When your Uncle Bobby got older, he took a bus tour around the USA to see all the famous ballparks, then he went back to Australia and lived for over a year and had some stopovers in places like Malaysia, Thailand and Laos. He wasn't in Vancouver very long after he got back, flying off to Europe to see England and Scotland and Sweden. When he finally came back to Vancouver for a while, he missed traveling and worked very hard to make nough money to go somewhere else. Finally, in 2006, your Uncle Bobby moved to Thailand and lived near the beach in Phuket for 6 months. I hadn't been outside of North America since 1992, and your Grandpa, Grandma and I all flew to Thailand for Christmas to be with Uncle Bobby. When I was there, I remembered how much I loved to travel. Your doggy, Rocky, had always held me back from traveling but I decided in Thailand that it was silly to let our wonderful puppy take the blame for me not traveling. We all decided to move to Mexico the following year. Doggies and all.

First to go was Grandma and Grandpa. Your Daddy and I met up with them when they arrived in Playa Del Carmen last year in July. Kramer flew really well and was fine. He found it a little hot, but that just made him sleepy which, for anyone who knows Kramer, is a good thing! Your Daddy and I were only visiting for a week, but we loved it. The people are so friendly, there is hardly any crime, the weather is spectacular and everyone lives to do things outside. It was a much more active lifestyle than back home in Vancouver, as well as very laid back and just beautiful. Daddy hmmmed and hawwwed over wanting to move here but not being able to. We went back home and sat inside for the rest of the summer, the weather being the most miserable of any summer in Vancouver I can remember.

Next to move was Uncle Bobby. He left Vancouver in September. It was pretty hard on Mommy cause that was the first time she'd ever lived in a city where none of her immediate family lived. I'm sure by the time you are reading this, you already know how important my family is to me and how close our family is. I felt very lonely, but I had to look on the bright side - I was moving to Playa myself in December!

When December finally rolled around, I had sold everything I owned except a small pile of boxes, and I had said all my goodbyes to everyone in Vancouver. The hardest was saying goodbye to your Daddy. During the previous 3 years, your Daddy and I had been inseparable. We loved each other very much, and it felt like we were a part of each other. But we had to say goodbye because Mommy needed to finally travel after all of these years just dreaming about it, and your Daddy's home and work were in Vancouver, as well as your sisters, Abbey and Natasha. We said goodbye and I flew to Cancun with Rocky.

As soon as I got here I felt better. I saw your Grandma and Grandpa at the airport, and then Uncle Bobby when we got home. We had lots of fun the first few weeks, especially with Christmas coming up. Lots of beach time and swimming time and Rocky had adjusted absolutely fine. I was having a wonderful time but I was very sad as well because I missed your Daddy. He and I would talk on the phone almost every night. We would talk about how much we missed each other and how we could work things so we could be together. Daddy soon booked a flight here in January and we talked about maybe getting married and how maybe Daddy could come and work with Mommy's company here in Playa.

It was right around that time that I realized I was pregnant. I was very nervous at first, but I told your Daddy. We decided we would make sure I was pregnant before we made any plans. So I told your Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Bobby. They were all very, very excited. When I confirmed that I was pregnant, I told your Daddy and it changed everything. Soon he was making plans to move to Mexico. He still came for his visit in January and we had a wonderful time together. It was hard to say goodbye again, but only a month later, he was back. This time for good.

Joey, you brought two of the best friends ever, together again. You gave us an amazing reason to be together again. You inspired your Daddy to see that he could live somewhere else and be happy. No, we are not married right now, but we love each other and we are a part of each other, and thanks to you, we have found a way to be with each other. And we are so happy right now. Things took a little adjusting, but right now we are happy every day just looking forward to your arrival.

Thank you for such a wonderful gift, Joey!

Love, Mommy

Technorati Tags: mexico, canada, ex patriot, baby