criplomats

With our friend Kristin in PV

John and I headed south to Puerto Vallarta this week – we went down on Wednesday and came home on Sunday. It was so much fun – we hadn’t been on a “just relax” vacation in a while and it was just great. We had a fabulous room on the beach with a fantastic view. It was wonderful to fall asleep each night listening to the surf! Click here for more photos of our trip.

The most fun part of the trip was going whale watching on Friday. We were on a small boat with about 10 other people. We followed a couple of groups of humpback whales around and were rewarded with one of them breaching repeatedly for us (i.e., jumping straight up out of the water and crashing back down). It was incredible!

We also had a chance to see our good friend Kristin from A-100 class – our trips overlapped by a couple of hours, so as soon as we landed, we went to her hotel to visit a bit before she had to leave for the airport.

I was sick the first part of the week before our trip – I had scheduled vacation but caught a nasty cold and ended up in bed several days. I went to the doctor Tuesday before we left just to be sure it wasn’t anything more serious than a cold (which it wasn’t). Luckily the sun in Puerto Vallarta helped get me over it quickly.

Great vacation but happy to be back home with little Flavia! She’s happy that we’re home…

Whale watching

Great shot of John on the balcony

From our front door

John and I were off work on Monday and on our way to El Paso when the snow started getting heavy. We opted just to run over to WalMart and come home, rather than spend the day as we originally planned. We ended up with an inch or so on the ground – quite pretty and fun to watch. The Consulate opened a couple of hours late on Tuesday.

On Thursday I made a run down south to check on a baby. We drove about nine hours, and the grandparents brought the child two hours down from the mountains to meet us in the tiny town’s police station. The last two hours of the drive was really pretty – crossing the sierra at sunset, with ear-popping dramatic views and precarious switchbacks. We spent the night in Parral, then drove six hours back to the Consulate on Friday.

John and I spent most of Saturday watching “Fringe” on Netflix. It’s by J.J. Abrams and is a lot of fun.

John got me hooked on Stieg Larsson this week – I read both “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “The Girl Who Played with Fire.” Fun reads!

John has been a little under the weather, so I went alone to the annual Christmas Gala at work last night. It was a lot of fun to see everyone all dressed up and having fun!

With my good friend Pam…

and Jason

Marsha, Brad, Mitch, John and fire extinguishers

The highlight of the week was flying to Dallas and driving two hours or so over to Pittsburg, Texas, to spend Thanksgiving with John’s family. Pete and Ginger met us at the lake house on Wednesday, then all of John’s cousins arrived on Thursday for a day of fun, eating and visiting. It was a great trip. Mitch provided the entertainment by bringing fire extinguishers for us to play with (and learn how to use). It was wonderful to see everyone, especially knowing that we will be in Tel Aviv next Thanksgiving. Click to see more photos.

We spent Wednesday and Thursday nights there, then back to Juarez on Friday. It was so peaceful on the lake. We also had fun renting a Prius to drive to Pittsburg. I enjoyed seeing Angie (Mitch and Laurie’s Boston terrier); we also stopped at their house on the way to the airport Friday and met their other doggies.

Last Sunday, we spent a nice afternoon at TFran and Michael’s, trying out his new discada, sort of like a Mexican version of a wok. Sergio from the office made the pan for him, then came over to fry up some fish in it. Tasty! Click for more discada photos.

Sergio cooking with the discada

John in Mexico City with friends last week

Since I just posted last Tuesday, this is a short Criplomats week. We enjoyed just hanging out, grilling up some steaks and watching the last episodes of “Rome” after getting home from San Antonio.

Wednesday, I took John to the Ciudad Juarez airport to catch his flight to Mexico City. He went down there to see his old work buddies for a few days. He also spent a morning at the Embassy, meeting with folks and touring the operation. He especially enjoyed visiting with a woman who used to be the staff aide to the Ambassador in Israel (the job John will have in Tel Aviv).

I had Wednesday off, so I went to the dentist and got a few things done around the house. Back to work on Thursday and Friday for me.

Saturday morning I went to a neat arts/crafts fair in El Paso. I didn’t buy anything but saw some nice jewelry and textiles. Unfortunately, John’s morning flight home from Mexico City was cancelled (thanks, AeroMexico), so he didn’t get in until late last night – better late than never!

With Jim and Joan in Bandera

John and I spent a great weekend in San Antonio and got to see some of our favorite people! We arrived mid-day on Saturday, and spent the afternoon and evening with my cousin James, his wife MaryBeth and her cousin Lauri – and, of course, Maverick the Golden Retriever. We had a lazy afternoon visiting, followed by an excellent dinner at La Fogata.

Sunday we played with Mike and Wayne all day. A special treat was finding out that our A-100 friend Jimmi was just up the road in New Braunfels, so we all piled in the car and visited with her for a while. We sat on the back deck of her hotel, watching the Guadalupe River roll by – very pleasant. We topped off the night with an excellent meal at Piati’s.

Monday we headed out to Bandera to see Jim and Joan at their new house, and spent some time tromping around their beautiful piece of land in hill country. The house is great and almost ready to be inhabited.

The best thing about seeing old friends is picking up right where you left off, as though two years or more hadn’t gone by.

We got back to Juarez on Tuesday and were happy to see Flavia again.

For part of last week, I was on my own since John had gone to Las Vegas. I spent last Sunday afternoon at a co-worker’s house for a goodbye BBQ for Whitney and his family.

Tuesday I was in charge of a lunch for a visiting staff delegation from Washington. Wednesday we were off work for Veteran’s Day, but I worked the whole day, just trying to get caught up. It felt great to get some things cleared off my desk. John got in that night from Vegas and so we grilled some steaks.

Thursday after work, I had dinner at Barriga’s with my good friend Pam – always fun to visit with her.

For the last several months, I’ve been mentoring a group of local staff in a Foreign Service distance learning class – they all took their final exam on Friday, and I was thrilled that they all passed – whew!

Click to see more photos from our trip to San Antonio.

Wayne and Mike with Mookie