Happy Halloween

Last Halloween we had between 75-90 trick-or-treaters stop by our house and we ran out of candy. This year Ted bought three huge bags of candy. We didn't have as many trick-or-treaters kids stop by this year so we have quite a bit of candy left over.

Barack Obama

A friend I work with is flying to Henderson, NV tomorrow to help support Barack Obama's campaign. Apparently he is speaking at a local high school in Henderson on Saturday. My friend and her girlfriend are flying there tomorrow to be part of the ground support. As she describes it they will be, "pounding the pavement for Barack." I am really excited for her as she is a huge supporter of Obama. She is so excited about the opportunity to be part of his campaign.

Halloween

Halloween is a huge deal in my office. We have a costume contest and a potluck lunch. Several departments decorate, and I took pictures of the decorations from one department. The Frankenstein mask is pretty cool. When it's turned on it makes creepy noises when you walk by.

Callie In Her Fort

Ted brought a box home from Costco today and Callie immediately jumped in and claimed it as her own.

Jodi Picoult

One really cool thing about our resort in Playa del Carmen is they had a library of books you could borrow which was perfect for me for two reasons:

1) I way over-packed. The weight limit for checked bags was 50 pounds. After I packed everything I wanted to bring, including six books, I weighed my bag and it was over 50 pounds. Not wanting to pay the "extra weight" fee I sacrificed three books instead of clothes.

2) Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors and I had not read this book previously.

It worked out beautifully.

Campaign Season

Campaign season is in full swing. These pictures were taken at the intersection of Highway 1 and Ocean Avenue in Lompoc. It's a very popular spot for campaign signs.

Yucatan Peninsula

I bought a postcard of the area where we stayed in Mexico. We stayed on the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula about 25 minutes south of Cancun and 25 minutes north of Playa del Carmen. Beautiful area.

Viagra

I think it is hilarious Viagra is sold as an over the counter medication in Mexico. I saw this in the small store at our resort while I was looking for sinus medicine.

Freedom

We sprung Callie from kitty jail this morning. She spent most of the day walking around and getting re-acclimated to the house. We are so glad to have her home.

*I cannot take credit for this photo. Ted took this picture with his camera phone.

Heading Home

Our room was in the Don Jose building. This is one last view as we were heading to the front lobby to check out.

Honeymoon: Day Nine

Today is our last day in Mexico. It rained off and on all day, but that was fine with us. We've had such a wonderful time, we didn't mind the opportunity to relax and hang out in our room.
Picture #1: The ceiling of the restaurant where we ate breakfast and lunch several times.
Picture #2: One of the many signs around the resort to let you know where you were going.
Picture #3: The outdoor game area beside the pool. You could play darts, ping pong, cards, etc.
Picture: #4: I wasn't feeling 100% so I really didn't mind staying close to the room. I finally broke down and bought some sinus medicine.

Honeymoon: Day Eight

Today was another beautiful day. The resort has all kinds of activities guests can participate in, and this morning Ted and I decided to take a bike tour of the resort property. It was a very easy ride, and it allowed us to see the entire resort property. Every evening the resort has entertainment for the guests. The last picture is of the fire dancers (I guess that's what they are called). It was actually pretty neat.

Honeymoon: Day Seven

Ted and I went to Cancun today. I'm glad we had the chance to check it out, and I'm even more glad we decided not to stay in Cancun. It is very Americanized and it felt like we were any large beach town in the US. We can cross Cancun off our places to visit, and I don't know that we will ever come back.
Pictures #1: Ted and me in Cancun.
Pictures #2-4: Me standing with life sized versions of the Cookie Monster, Ronald McDonald, and the Hooters' owl.
Picture #5: Tonight we had dinner at El Mar, the seafood restaurant at the resort. Ted is a huge fan of seafood and he was in heaven.
Picture #6: A picture of Mexican currency.

Honeymoon: Day Six

Today was a lazy day. We decided to stay at the resort and take advantage of the sun, beach, and pool. I took pictures around the resort today to give a feel for some of the different areas of the resort.
Picture #1: A view of Mar & Tierra, one of the indoor/outdoor restaurants.
Picture #2: Ted smoking a Cuban cigar beside one of the outdoor bars.
Pictures #3-4: Me inside the main lobby. The first picture provides perspective on how large the lobby is. The second picture is closer up to show off the gorgeous floral display.
Picture #5: Most of the evening entertainment was held in the indoor theater. This evening the show was a Las Vegas review. Hilarious.

Honeymoon: Day Five

Today was amazing. We drove to Tulum (about 1 hour south of our resort) to see the Mayan ruins. The view of the coast and the ocean are literally what I picture when I think of the word paradise. It is stunningly beautiful. Some of the ruins are right on the cliffs and other parts of the ruins are slightly inland. When we were standing on the cliffs the breeze felt wonderful. Once you walked a bit inland it got pretty hot. We were sweating bullets. Unfortunately my camera ran out of juice so I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked, but I still think we were able to capture the essence of Tulum.
Picture #1: Ted walking down the path to the ruins.
Picture #2: Our first view of the ruins.
Picture #3: One of the ruins right on the cliffs.
Pictures #4-10: Pictures of Mayan ruins.
Picture #11: Ted and Beth in front of some ruins.

Honeymoon: Day Four

Today is Ted's birthday and so we decided to take it easy and stay at the resort. We were both happy to take it easy after the long day we had yesterday. After breakfast we walked along the beautiful beach. After that we took advantage of the gorgeous sunny weather and hung by the pool. For dinner it was Ted's choice so we ate at Taman Sari, the Thai restaurant. All in all it was a wonderfully relaxing day. A great way to spend Ted's birthday.
Pictures #1-3: Views of the beach.
Pictures #4-7: Different views of the resort's amazing pool.
Picture #8: Our view from breakfast.
Picture #9: One of the courtyards at the resort.
Pictures #10-11: Pictures we took at lunch.
Picture #12: A view of our bed.
Picture #13: The resort staff gave this birthday cake to Ted.
Pictures #14-15: Dinner at Taman Sari.