Preparing to flee

Hi all,
Joel and Janice, (Mazatlan names Jus Ducky and The Wine Lady), are in the last stages of preparation to return home to Mazatlan. We now have aquired a 2009 Kia Sedona in order to transport loads of household goods to our Mazatlan place. The convertible is fun in Mazatlan, but impractical. Last year we packed 50 pounds of potatoes in a 25 pound sack. This year we will pack 200 pounds of potatoes into a 150 pound sack. We are making progress.

After a cool, rainy start the weather in Spokane turned good and we got to enjoy a lot of summer activities including bike riding, swimming, hiking, and physical therapy. Yes, Janice's biking accident resulted in a trip to emergency and 13 physical therapy sessions. Kenny and grandpa got a lot of bike riding and going to the swimming pool. Highlights of the summer were Janice's trip to Sandpoint with a girlfriend and coming home with a tattoo on her ankle and a trip to Fairmont Hot Springs in Canada to share some friend's timeshare. We enjoyed our new summer quarters after spending three weeks waiting for construction to be completed. Ollie enjoyed getting to play with Max and Bellla. He is an only dog, so learned how to be a pack member this summer. Joel officiated at 25 weddings and one baptism over the summer. We also volunteered at hospice and had two clients that we visited weekly.

Here is our tentative plan on travel. Friday morning the 1st of October we leave Spokane and drive to Stanwood on the West Coast. Joel will direct a wedding rehearsal there on Friday afternoon and then officiate at a wedding on Saturday October 2nd. Sunday October 3rd we start our drive to Mazatlan. We plan on stopping in Palm Springs to see a friend, then on to Green Valley, Arizona. On the morning of October 7th we meet two other people who will caravan with us. We then will cross the border into Mexico, clear customs and drive to Navohoa, Mexico where we will spend the night. On Friday October 8th we will drive the remainder and arrive home in Mazatlan in mid-afternoon.

We are looking forward to this winter. Joel will again work at the expatriate Library and Janice will work with the girls home Flore-Cer. Joel will again rejoin his bridge group two or three times a week, meet the guys for lunch on Mondays to discuss the problems of the world, then on Wednesdays meet with Hermandad de frijoles Y Cerveza. (Brotherhood of beans and beer). Janice will continue to organize "uncorked in Mazatlan" a wine tasting group that has grown in the past two winters. Her first tasting will be Mexican wine and tapas. Last year both of us took steel drum lessons. This year we are going to check out the arts. We will look for art and theatre classes. Janice has been told by her Dr. that a diet low in processed foods will lessen her need for several of her medications, so our diet will have a lot of the wonderful fresh fruit and vegetables, along with the fresh fish that is plentiful.

My brother Steve will arrive on October 27th and will stay for six months. He has an apartment in Centro, but I suspect we will see a lot of him as we get the NFL on our satelite TV. His wife will come down for Thanksgiving and later for another stay to see if she likes Mazatlan.

Stay tuned and we will update you on our progress.  The following pictures are some of the family members we said good-bye to. 

Janice's 94 yr. old mother, brother and nephew

Son, Jason

Daughter, Joanne

Grandson, Jelani

Grandson, Javin

Daughter-in-law Shari, Jaxson and Jayden is hiding

Grandson, Kenny

Jayden does not want to say good-bye (no grandma, don't leave)

Daughter Jackie, grand-daughter Jordyn not pictured!

Dilemma Update

We got the minivan. Very nice van, clean and will hold everything we need to bring down. We are packing up every thing that was on my wish list and will be packing the van tomorrow. Ollie is getting checked by the vet today for his health certificate, Joel is doing the banking now and I'm cleaning this afternoon.
We have one wedding and a rehearsal left in Stanwood, we'll go say goodbye to my mom, daughter, and grandchildren in that area and we will be off Sunday morning (Oct. 3).
This is all for now, but we'll try and check back in on our trip down.

Have a lovely day,
Janice & Joel

Handling a Dilemma

Ok, now we have a dilemma. So we live in Mazatlan more then 1/2 the year and have a house we rent. I have many items I "need" down in Mazatlan.  All household items. Lids to my pots that are already down there, toaster oven, linens, clothes, shoes, pillows, sewing machine, sewing supplies, outdoor lights, etc.

We did this last year and attempted to bring down a lot of my household items. We packed the car up so tight, we had to put the convertible top down just to take everything out. We left many of our belongings here as they wouldn't fit into the car.  It's likely the same thing will happen again.

Well, this week we have been looking at mini-vans. Makes perfect sense to me. Can't fit our stuff into the car, trade in the car on a mini-van. Certainly we'll have room then also right?  Okay, we went to see a few mini-vans this morning and think this might do the trick. My son is a finance manager for a very large car dealership in Spokane. He's been in this position for several years now. He brought us through the lot and finally said "look mom, you really don't want to do this. You don't want to trade in cars every few years and loose money on these. It just doesn't make financial sense."  Oh boy! This comes from a man that makes his money off people trading in their cars and buying new ones. I am very proud of him. So, I guess we drive our convertible down to Mazatlan again and stuff our car with boxes.

...Wait a minute, Joel has another idea. He called DHL to get a price quote on how much it would cost to send down what we can't get comfortably in the car. How bad to I want these things down in Mazatlan?  I just can't see buying the same things that I have all over again. That doesn't seem right either.

What has happened to wanting a life of of simplicity? I believe it is a good thing to do but I also can tell how spoiled I am wanting all these possessions with me. I've read books, magazine articles, listen to talks all on the subject of living a life of simplicity. You'd think it would rub off, especially when it's a good thing. Anyone else struggle with this? How do you handle it? Voluntary simplicity is about freedom. It’s about owning your own life; your stuff not owning you. Right now this stuff is owning me. Because of wanting to carry this stuff from place to place, it is loading us down, costing us more money and causing stress. Shouldn't this be an easy decision?  We've gotten past the getting another vehicle for more room. (and by the way, it wasn't for just more room, but that was the main reason) Next we need to decide if we are going to use DHL, and last of all, can I leave items here to make all of this more simple?     TBC

Life is Hard, Not!

So, today we just returned from our week vacation in Fairmont Canada. We were guests of dear friends and shared a beautiful condo overlooking a golf course and the most beautiful mountains of the Selkirks. Every day was full of fresh air, good exercise, super food, and lots of wine and beer. It's vacation of course.

And of course we couldn't be in Fairmont without going to the Hot Springs. We spent a lovely afternoon in the springs with all of us sure all our aches and pains would disappear. Well, maybe for an afternoon.

We saw plenty of deer. Bucks, Does and fawns. Too many to count. Some were within just a few feet of us, others watched us from a distance. On the way home to Spokane I thought perhaps I saw a black bear, but it was positioned just so, that when we drove by it was hidden by a hill so I couldn't be sure. Border crossings both ways were smooth. Actually a piece of cake. I was asked to take off my sunglasses; I guess the guy wanted to see my pretty blues eyes.

Now that we are back in Spokane we are busy doing all the things necessary to prepare to leave in less then 3 weeks for our Mazatlan home. I still have a few appointments left with the physical therapists for my shoulder and thigh. It's been close to 4 months since my accident. I have a little ways to go, but doing much better.

Yesterday, our grandson Kenny was baptised at a little lake near here called Fish Lake. He has wanted to be baptised for about 2 years and since pastor grandpa was here the time was now. It was a very special and sweet ceremony and such a pretty place that him and his mom, Joanne picked out.

We've had a wonderful summer here filled with great memories. Our time is growing short now with much to do. Be back soon!
Janice