Home Sweet Home!

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We're home and I think we'll need a withdrawal support group for tropical vacationers. It was odd looking out the window and not seeing the ocean.

We said our good-byes to all the staff at Luna & had a final margarita with Luis! We tipped them all, and said a big goodbye to the security staff who I made lunch & brought dinner to on a regular basis since it's a long shift keeping the complex quiet and peaceful. Odin was sad to see us go; we gave him all our leftover food & a big tip, so he was pretty happy about that. What an absolute fine human being. Works 7 days a week there & has a family too.

Cancun Airport was really quiet and no lineups for our flight to TO. Overall it was a great flight with the exception of Ava being sick and vomiting once. Just too much of a good holiday I guess. The staff were fantastic on the flight taking great care of her.

Other than that disruption, I got stuck sitting next to a guy who flirted with me constantly. I will admit I was wearing a new summer dress and geez, I must have looked like "all that and a bag of smarties". Alright I know...self-praise is no praise but apparently this guy thought I was a bag of smarties too. It was almost bordering on annoying with his constant attention. And he was married too...the nerve. Oh did I mention it was Al? 😊 (It's a good thing I bought a couple of these dresses; seems like they are a hit with that hub-ster Al 😊 (PS I mention it because I think it's nice after many years together when your spouse thinks to give a compliment and mean it without it being squeezed out of them 😊. A good marriage they say drags a long tail of memories behind it & when a nice gesture is made it's added to the memory bank. I can't imagine spending a holiday or for that matter, a life with a better man. After all these years, we're having a good time; raising a family, dealing with life and well...soccer balls etc. (read below). Awwwwwww sorry for the syrupy moment.. I've now collected myself after a little "shout out" to Al.

Speaking of soccer balls... Unbeknownst to us, Marth packed a soccer ball in Ava's backpack. So when we opened her bag on the flight, we thought, "OMG what if that stupid soccer ball explodes during our flight due to pressure scaring the beejessus out of all the passenges who think it's a gun shot?" Al had specifically left the ball in the closet because of that reason. (the chances are very low I'm sure, but do you want to be THE person that happens to???)

I could see the newspaper headlines IF it exploded:

"Soccer ball explodes on flight, terrifying returning vacationers from their tropical vacation. The irresponsible parents were hauled off the plane and fined for causing a disburbance. An "aunt" called Martha was also kept for questioning but claimed no knowledge of having put the soccer ball in the confiscated backpack. The mother of the child was caught trying to throttle said aunt Martha by the neck.

Due to changing planes, getting our luggage & going through customs we forgot about that &^%!$(MISSING) soccer ball. Ava's bag was open when we bordered the plane for Ottawa and the stewardess saw it & nicely asked to take the ball, while saying to another stewardess, "do you have a pen so we can deflate this ball for the little girl?" Now we're getting glares from other passengers for the hold up. Surely these stewardesses have better things to do so I'm telling them, PLEASE get rid of it. Honestly I don't need any more trouble than the trouble that knows how to track me down already. (Marth was very well intentioned and felt bad about the incident. Luckily there was no problem and our faces never made the front pages...) I only want to make the front pages when we win the lottery.

Other than that, our arrival was much smoother than last Feb. If you don't remember that episode take a peek at that blog aroud Feb. 11th called "Be Careful What You Wish For...".

Glad to be home but reality set in like a bad rash. Unpack bags, separate laundry, haul out a few moldy looking bathing suits & then look in fridge to see no food, close the fridge door only to open it quickly again hoping to see something magically appear that we could eat! And shaking out Ava & Rory's running shoes I felt the need to contact Playa that we accidentally brought home their ENTIRE beach in their shoes. Sand, sand and more sand...Hello vacuum it's your old friend Sal.

Here's hopin and a wishin' that maybe I can make it back to Playa in November to finally attend "Taste of Playa" after last November's fiasco. I still shake my head over that one. Maybe Costa Rica is on the menu as Playa Beach Condos & Villas is now open for business there & might need my ahem, particular expertise in that area!!!

"Home is where the heart is; but happiness is where you friends are".

Sal and my compradres, Al, Lara, Rory, Miss Ava, Auntie Marth, and Kels 😊

(By the way; some of you mentioned you didn't receive all my blogs. They probably went into your "spam" account. To read all the blogs, just click on one you've read, and then it "next entry" or "previous entry" at the top!

PS We always come home to bills, bills and more bills. This time I saw two boxes at the door. I got birthday gifts sent from my friend Linda; all the way from Texas! I loved her quote, "I've known Sally for 30 years and they've been the best 20 years of my life"! HAHAHAHA that's why I love her, that sarcastic Irish wit. What a touching thing to do! I LOVE the gifts Lind! (see pic Linda!)

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