The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Back to work!

Well, for most people in Canada and the U.S., today marks the return to work and school as the Christmas and New Year's season comes to a close.

Here in Mexico though, holidays continue through to January 6 which is Three Kings Day (Dia de los Reyes). So things don't return to normal here until Thursday this week when the kids return to school.

And we've decided that will be the day we move on.

We have a hard time staying in one place, even when we love it. And yesterday, our friends Paco and Oti returned to their house in Toluca, so we won't be seeing them again this year.

Paco, Oti, Ruth, and Kevin. Along with our motorhomes Sherman, and Max!

Oti has one more year of work left until retirement. Then, they will tour more of Mexico in their motorhome. It will be fun to meet up with them on the road here!

Paco and Oti had her sister and family visit the other day. Fun people, and we enjoyed meeting them. The two daughters speak very good English, so they got some extra practice with us.

Smiling for the camera. Top: Jesus, Paco, and Kevin. 
Bottom: Ana Ximena, Leticia, Oti, Carla, Ruth.

And one just for fun!

When Paco and Oti are around, you have to know how to laugh!

Anyhow, now that they are gone, we only have three more days here to relax. Then on Thursday, we're going to head a bit north, towards the city of Queretaro. It's only about 240 kms (150 miles), but we are going to take the back roads to explore and see if we can find a few spots to overnight along the way. And then in Queretaro, there is a really nice hotel almost right dowtown that has RV parking. It's a bit pricey, but as I said, its nice, and it's also the most convenient place from which to explore the city. We'll probably treat ourselves to a week there.

Oh, Ruth reminds me that I never told you how our yearly game tournaments turned out. The two of us play a lot of yahtzee and backgammon...almost every day. So we keep track of the scores on a yearly basis, just for fun.

In yahtzee, I was having a good year. In fact, at one point I was ahead by 1,869 points. I figured I had it made. And it turns out that I did, but Ruth gave it a come from behind run in the month of December that had me nervous that I was going to lose. I ended up winning the season by only 203 points. Ruth had been ahead early in the season, but never by more than 94 points.

In backgammon, I think I was in the lead right from the beginning. I ended up winning 77 to 64.

But despite all of that she still says that she loves me. I am a lucky guy!

This guy was buzzing around the lake yesterday. Now that looks like fun!

Bought a whole chicken the other day. A three and a half pound bird for 39 pesos ($3.25 CAD, $2.30 USD). So I did it up on the Weber grill. Shouldn't have taken more than an hour and 10 minutes or so, but I had it on there for an hour and a half because there was a bit of a breeze. And even then it was only just done. Going to have to get a thermometer!


Ready!

End of another great day in Valle de Bravo.

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Here's the meat thermometer I want!


And for those of you with New Year's resolutions, this is for you!


And for our Canadian readers...




14 comments:

  1. Lovely sunset.... looks like the perfect end to a perfect day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great thermometer: http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?cat=2,40733,44734&p=55652

    Can you tell I like Lee Valley?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lee Valley sure do make some good things. My dad and brother love them!

      Delete
  3. I have used a thermometer is for years, this way you know for sure.
    I made a wind screen for ours sure helps when there is a breeze.
    We doing a chicken tonight on our Q, love chicken!
    Gotta move around, thats why are living this lifestyle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have gone through my whole life never using a cooking thermometer and there have only been a few times when it would have come in handy and each of those times was when I was using someone else's oven that I wasn't familiar with. I am thinking though that we may end up having to get one if we are going to be cooking a full chicken on the BBQ more often.

      Delete
  4. Always nice to have a fun visit with dear friends.
    When it comes to doing chicken on the Weber I always check with the Thermometer even if it is not breezy.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I think we may have to get one. I think part of the problem was that we were grilling potatoes as well so Kevin had to go into the BBQ a few times to flip them and keep his eye on them so that probably made the temperature a little lower for the chicken.

      Delete
  5. Since we have an itty BabyQ I've gotten in the habit of spatchcocking the chicken to roast it. It cooks faster beautifully, very even but crispy and moist! Mmm, now I'm hungry :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, we have seen that before and have wanted to try that out but had forgotten about that method. Maybe next time. :-)

      Delete
  6. I will challenge you to a game of wordfeud! The app is free, I think...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We don't play games on the internet when we only have limited cellular, but thanks for the offer. :-)

      Delete
  7. Nice to have so many close friends in Mexico. Anything done on the BBQ is the perfect dinner in my books.

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    Replies
    1. We really enjoy spending time with them. We are always laughing so much and it gives us a chance to work more on our Spanish.

      We have to agree with you, we love using the grill.

      Delete

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