Sunset Dreams & Capella Slings

Adios

2009-12-16T20:08:00.000-08:00

We spent most of our last week in Cabo preparing for the early Christmas celebration we had in one of the barrios. Last Tuesday, after we we took the men in San Jose Lunch we went with Donna to buy all the food for the gift bags, plus some extra to take to families that day. We bought milk, sugar, and a bag of rice to go into each of the food bags. As we were leaving the store, Jen got a phone call saying the people were at the house ready to pick up the Acura and take it to San Diego....four weeks later it finally left Cabo! Jen left to take care of the car and I went with Donna to an outreach. We went to the barrio where Luis' family lives. We handed out food, clothes and some of the candy bags we had made to many different families. Luis' mom came up to tell us goodbye and that she had to go to work. When she left I walked over to her house to find four of the children home alone again. The 6 month old baby was laying on a bed. The other three children were sitting on another bed eating their candy and playing with toys. I sat and played with them until we had to leave. I wanted to load them all up and bring them home with me! That night Jen and I prepared the 80 bags of food and tied a Christmas prayer with ribbon on each one.

The men in San Jose waving good bye to us

Too freakin' cute

I'm so excited!!!

This little boy was in charge while his mom was at work

Our living room...these bags of food were everywhere

We were amazed when we got to the barrio on Thursday for the Christmas celebration and saw all the people that had shown up! We thought there might be 75 people there, and there ended up being over 200!

She loved her gift so much!

We handed out all the food bags, while the children took turns at the pinata, and then gave the children their candy bags and Christmas presents. The children were all so excited, and it was great seeing their faces as they opened their presents.

We had to say goodbye to many people we met over the last 9 weeks, but the hardest was saying goodbye to Mary and Donna. These women who have committed their lives to helping the people of Los Cabos, were a blessing to us during our time there.

We left Cabo on Saturday afternoon. We had many of the same issues at the airport with all of our luggage that we had when we left...only this time it was worse, and we had added Lila to the mix! We arrived in Tulsa that night with only a few delays on the way. My parents picked us up from the airport, and I don't think either of us were quite prepared for the cold, and still aren't! We went straight to Jen's house where her parents and dogs were waiting to welcome us home.

You can't tell from our smiling faces but it was a very sad day!!!

But I don't wanna get in the bag!

We miss Cabo everyday, and can't wait to get back....

XOXO...Jen and Tal

El Blogo

2009-12-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

We finally finished all the Christmas gifts and candy bags! YEA! We spent all day Friday with Donna, and two of the women that help her, Amelia and Mary, taking food to families in the morning and finishing all the Christmas gifts in the afternoon. We can't wait to start giving them to people.

These little boys loved the suckers

Amelia, Mary, and Donna

We are spending the majority of this week with Donna so we said our goodbyes on Thursday to the Casa San Juan Diego Center and the Humane Society. It was sad to say goodbye, not only because it meant our time in Cabo was coming to an end, but we will miss the people we have come to know and serve every morning.

A few of our friends

We ate at Bully's Tacos so I had to give the lil ham some love

Tallee even wanted some love from Bully

Earlier in the week we met Donna to get food for another outreach in the barrios. As she walked into Sam's we could tell she was a little frantic. She had just come from church, where she has Bible study every Tuesday morning, and as she was leaving there was a women waiting for her with a baby and another small child. Donna quickly realized she used to take food to this women. The women(can't remember her name) began telling her that her 10 year old son Luis had runaway, and needed Donna's help. This women has four children of her own, plus her sisters(who passed away) three children...7 children all under the age of 10. They live in one of the barrios and Luis had become the babysitter for all these children since he was the oldest while his mom went to work. Too much responsibility for a 10-year-old boy, and who was not getting an education because of it! The mother works at a grocery store and Luis for the last couple of days had been living behind it to be close to his mom when she went to work, but when she found him he wouldn't come with her and ran off again. So that is when she went and found Donna for help. Donna loaded them up in her car and came to meet us, we left the store and went to find the little boy. We found him in one of the barrios behind the grocery store where his mom worked locked in a room. Donna got him out and we stopped by one of Donna's kitchens in the barrios to talk to some men about putting him in the orphanage in La Paz. We then left to take his mom and siblings home, but he wouldn't get back in the car with Donna afraid that he would be left at his house. We left him at the kitchen with the men who help with the outreach in that area and took his mom home. Jen and I got out of the car to help carry some food in we had for them. The two children that were there ran out of the house so delighted to see us. The oldest child at the house was probably 6...6 years old at the house by himself with his 3 year old sister(the other two children we didn't see, thankfully they have been put in school during the day). We walked into their little hut of a house and saw a hammock(being used for a bed), two other small cots, and a couple of tables. Very cramped for 9 people...Luis' "stepfather", and the father of the most recent baby, is also living there. When we left the house we parted ways with Donna. She was going back to pick the little boy up to stay with her for the night. She was going to feed him and get him some new shoes...he didn't have any on when we found him. The next morning she was meeting the Pastor from La Paz who runs the orphanage there(we talked about him in the last blog) to talk to him about taking the boy.

Luis is now living in La Paz at the orphanage. After talking more with Luis on Tuesday night and with the Pastor on Wednesday morning they found out that he was being beaten by the stepfather, who does not have a job, and is a drunk. When we found this out we immediately started thinking about the other 6 children in the home. I know this happens all over the world, but knowing how the legal system here works, and hearing this 10 year old little boy's story, and seeing the conditions these people live in everyday, it just seems a million times worse. We got to see Luis on Saturday with some of the other children from the orphanage, and he looked really happy! Happy to live like a child again, and happy to have a place to shine!

We were worn out Friday evening so we read, played some gin, and went to bed. Last night, it being our last Saturday in Cabo, we hit the town and lived it up. Today we had a relaxing beach day and talked about all the things we were going to do our last week in Cabo.

XOXO...Jen and Tal

It's All Fun And Games Until Someone Ends Up In A Cone

2009-12-01T22:22:00.000-08:00

We finally got our pictures from zip linig, so here are a few...

Just before we took flight

Weeee!!!

Another amazing week in Cabo! Most of our days were spent doing the usual...breakfast and playing with the children at the Center, walking dogs at the Humane Society, and taking the men at the church in San Jose lunch. At the beginning of last week we took Lila back to the Humane Society to be spayed. After we picked her up we came home and she went straight to her crate where she stayed for most of the day. That night when we took her out to go to the bathroom we realized she had pulled all her stitches out and the incision was wide open. We rushed her to Cabo pets(emergency clinic) and they stitched her back up. The next morning when we picked her up she was feeling much better, but also quite annoyed because she had been coned!

Poor Baby

On Thursday for Thanksgiving we drove to Todos Santos. I'ts a little town about 45 minutes from Cabo. We walked around the town and had lunch at the Hotel California...chile rellenos stuffed with shrimp and lobster and marlin quesadillas with pineapple salsa...not the usual Thanksgiving meal, but it was really good. We stopped at Cerritos beach (a big surf spot) on our way home and we saw a gorgeous rainbow as we were leaving.

The view across from Cerritos beach

The Rainbow

We also had to get another rental car...I believe we our now on our fifth. Someone backed into the front of the other one. We now have a Nissan Tsuru. She has a nice little giddy up and go if you really put the petal to the metal. Jen has named her the little trojan that could.

Circa 1994 and drives like a dream

Saturday afternoon we went with Donna to Caribe(one of the barrios in Cabo) to serve food. Every Saturday in Caribe some of the children from the orphanage in La Paz(a town 2 hours from Cabo) come with the Pastor/director of the orphanage to have fellowship with a sister organization here. Donna provides them with the food so we took 200 sandwiches for the people to eat. They have praise and worship at the beginning followed by a short message. The music is really loud so it draws many people in the area. We fell in love with some of the little boys from the orphanage. I let one of them hold my camera and he took pictures the whole time. He would run over and show us the picture he took, give us a hug and then run off to take another. Before we left we saw another rainbow. I have seen more rainbows in Cabo in the last 2 months then I think I have my whole life.

Jorge, Juan, and Carlos

The little girl on the far left was hilarious

We have been wrapping christmas gifts every spare moment we get. We finished doing most of the children's gifts and have started working on the mom's gift bags. Most of them are filled with basic necessities...toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap. We have some jewelry, lotions, and nail polish to put in some of them, but not enough for all. We also are filling 1,000 bags of candy to distribute in the barrios for christmas...200 down 800 more to go!

Bags of candy for Christmas

XOXO...Jen and Tal

Cars, cars, and more cars!

2009-11-19T11:39:00.000-08:00

Last week was busy and so much fun! On Saturday night after Kristen arrived we went to NoWhere Bar and Pink Kitty...new club in Cabo that some of our friends opened.

Me, Steve, Kristen, and Tal at NoWhere Bar

Tal, Modu, and Kristen taking a break from "Getting Jiggy With It" on the dance floor at Pink Kitty

Sunday afternoon we went to Dog Day Afternoon in San Jose which is a fundraiser for the Humane Society. Nancy Hinch, the Bruton's neighbor in Tulsa, lives in Cabo most of the year and she gave us tickets to sit at her table.

The Acura broke down on our way home from San Jose so on Monday we rented a Jeep and we officially adopted Lila!

Trying to decipher the problem

I'm so excited to meet my sisters!

Kristen wanted to take this little guy (Eduardo) home

We went to the center on Tuesday morning and that afternoon Kristen, Jen and I prepared 50 bags of food for an outreach we did in the barrios with Donna.

Kristen preparing to serve breakfast

Edylei...my bestfriend at the center

Food for care packages

Tal finally found her souvenir from Cabo...The Michelin tire baby

Distributing food and clothes

Kristen con todos los ninos monos en los barrios

Jen and I are taking lunch every Wednesday to the men building the church in San Jose. So on Wednesday we took the men lunch and that afternoon we went to Mango Deck and got Henna tattoos and had dinner at The Office.

Kristen and I on the beach at Mango Deck

My mom tried to rub Tal's sweet shooting stars off with spit!

My early birthday cake and shot at The Office

Can't forget the birthday hugs!

Thursday morning we walked the dogs, made ceviche, and Brenda (Jen's mom) arrived. We also found out on Thursday that the Acura needed a new engine! Bye Bye Acura! We had to turn the jeep in on Friday, and we rented a smaller car. We now have a Dodge Hyundai Attitude. We started out with a red one, but we are now on our 2nd gold one...we have had four rental cars in the last 10 days due to seat belts not working, check engine lights coming on, and taking off a bumper while driving through the barrios. We have decided we need a tank to drive around Cabo. I think we gave Brenda an Ulcer while she was here...with the Henna tattoos(she thought they were real) and the car ordeals!

Goodbye Jeep...

Hello Dodge Hyundai Attitude (Goldie)!

Jen has been wanting to go zip lining in the canyons since we got here so Friday morning Kristen and I surprised her for her birthday and we went. We went on 8 different lines and it was awesome, but also exhausting... a lot of hiking involved! We are still waiting on our pics from zip lining but we will post them as soon as we get them. We also got a very cute fondant cupcake birthday cake. Well it was really cute when we picked it up, but by the time we got home it had melted and had a slight lean to it.

My battle wound from zip lining thanks to Kristen!

Poor little cupcake

We took Kristen to the airport on Saturday and that night Brenda cooked a nice homemade meal for us. We also saw Will Smith...he stayed two nights at Capella with his brother and some friends. Monday we took Brenda with us to the center to serve breakfast and then took candy to the children in the barrios. That night she took us out to eat dinner at a great Sushi place. We dropped Brenda off at the airport on Tuesday and we met Donna and Amelia to take food to a few families in the barrios. Yesterday we went back to San Jose to take the men lunch and then picked up a bunch of gifts from Donna to wrap for the children for Christmas. This morning we went to the center and then we walked the dogs at the Humane Society. That is the last 12 days in a nutshell.

5 Hours and Counting.....

2009-11-07T11:52:00.000-08:00

This last week was very busy. On Wednesday we distributed food with Donna to many different families in the barrios of San Lucas. A barrio is a spanish term for district or neighborhood. These neighborhoods are very poor, as you saw on the pics in our last blog, and they are all over. We had bags of candy in our car and as we drove along the dirt roads in these areas we would give it to the children that were playing outside. The smiles on their faces was priceless! A couple of men joined us that day to see what Donna was doing in these barrios. One being Ray Thomas. He is a man that has lived and volunteered in the Baja for the last 20 years. He founded the non-profit Grupo De Apoyo Ray Thomas(GART) in 1989 to provide sports equipment, clinics, coaching, and educational assistance to the children in these very low income areas. Over the years their efforts have extended to provide breakfast for the needy children. Most of his work has been in La Paz which is a couple of hours from Cabo San lucas. Since May '08 his efforts have been being focused on the Los Cabos area. It's amazing what this man has done and is doing. The soccer teams created through his organizations gives these children a sense of hope and allows them to belong to something. It also keeps them off the streets. In 2002 he founded the YES foundation (Youth Education Sports) another organization to help continue the efforts already establised by GART. Ray and his team of dedicated volunteers can not do any of this without support and donations. Each soccer team needs sponsors, and to sponsor a team it is only $2000 pesos, which is about $150 dollars...very cheap! For more information about Ray and his team they are on facebook...Grupo de Apoyo Ray Thomas A.C. / Y.E.S. If you go to the Info page and click on the link it gives more details about the soccer programs and the other things they do.

The barrios kitchen in Cabo

All of the children gathered around for lunch

Giving their new puppies a bath

Wednesday night we went and picked up Lila from the Humane Society. We are fostering her while we are here. It was not something I was thrilled about, but I am completely in love with this dog now. So if I am we know Jen is, and I doubt we will just be fostering her for much longer. She is a really really good dog. She got her first spa day on Thursday and when we picked her up from being groomed and de-ticked we didn't even recognize her.

Before

After

Thursday we were at the Center in the morning and spent the rest of the day by the pool. Yesterday we continued putting gifts together for the children for Christmas. All the items we have for the gifts have been donations people have shipped down here from the States to Donna. Most of the children will be getting a used piece of clothing and a beanie baby for Christmas this year since that is what the majority of the donations have been. There are some other toy items for the little children, but not much for the older ones. We are hoping to get soccer balls and more boys clothing before the end of the month.

Putting Christmas gifts together

5 hours and counting until Kristen arrives...we can't wait!!!

Que tengas lindo fin de semana....XOXO Jen and Tal

Do You Know The Way To San Jose?

2009-11-03T19:50:00.000-08:00

The song "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" has been stuck in our heads since Thursday, so we thought it deserved nothing less than to be the title of today's blog. Thursday morning was the same as usual...serving breakfast and playing with the children. We took a bunch of new coloring books and crayons with us and the children were all very excited. The crayons were put to good use when they were not being stuck in mouths and up noses. We have decided to volunteer at the Humane Society only on Mondays and Fridays, so we did not go there on Thursday to walk the dogs, but we did stop in to check on Lila (Jen's dog) so she could fill out an adoption application. That night we went to San Jose for the Art Walk they have in the square. We decided to eat dinner there too, and went to a local taco joint that our friend Steve recommended. The tacos were awesome. We left dinner and headed to the square to look at all the local art. To our dismay there was no art. I told Jen and Steve that I could have sworn I read every Thursday they had art in the square...I guess I missed where it said starting in November the first time I read it.

Lila

Taco Joint

At Shooters with some new friends

We have been anxious to get involved with other volunteer opportunities in Cabo and on Saturday we met with some people to make that happen. Our friend Barrett that lives in Cabo introduced us to his friend Modu. Modu is a personal trainer (http://www.moduvated.com/) and has been working with a nutritionist in San Jose to get a program going for women who have had cancer. He was meeting again with her on Saturday for brunch and asked us if we wanted to go with him. We went with him to San Jose to meet Isabel and two of her friends. I wish I could go into detail about all these people and how wonderful they are, but I will have to save that for another time. Isabel seems to know everyone in the Baja so she was the perfect person for us to meet, and she knew exactly who was in need of help. We set up a time to meet Isabel on Monday and left brunch very excited about all the new things we would be doing this week.

On Monday we met Isabel in San Jose. We were following her to another women's house and got pulled over on the way. The officer rambled on and on about something and we finally figured out he was saying we needed this and that on our license plate. Isabel turned around to help us, and talked him out of taking us to the station, but we did end up having to "pay him off" to drop the matter completely...$250 pesos...which is only about $19, but still! When we finally got to where we were going we met Donna and Elsa. We quickly learned that Donna is a women with a mission! She is originally from Bosnia, lived in the states for many years, and has lived in Cabo for the last five. Isabel told Donna as we were walking up that she had brought 2 angels with her. We both thought that was very sweet, but soon realized that these women were the angels...literally!

Elsa's son...Enrique

There are endless things we saw yesterday that we could write about, but what we saw happening in the first barrio we went to brought us both to tears, and the story we want to share with you. Donna's main mission since being in Cabo has been to set up little kitchens in the barrios to feed the people (more information about exactly what the kitchens are and what Donna and others are doing is on this website http://www.cabobabies.com/). The first kitchen we saw is still a work in progress. It will be in a church that is in the process of being built. The church is being built by the pastor and other men who live in that barrio. These men do not have jobs and are not being paid to build this church. Donna was there visiting one day during their lunch break and realized that most of the men did not even have anything to eat. So she started taking them lunch three times a week and on Fridays giving them more food to take home to their families. We got to see the church that was being built and help serve these men their lunch. Some of the men there had started helping to build the church just so they could get a meal for the day. One of the pictures that you will see below show the men sitting under a tarp held up by poles eating their lunch...this was where they first starting having church on Sundays in that barrio. We got to talk to a few of them and hear their stories. We both stood there in awe of these men and what they were doing. As I looked over and saw the men praying before they ate it brought me to tears, not just because of the poverty that was right in front of us and all around us, but because of the faith that these men have. Pics from the barrios...

The new church

Some of the women made these for us...can someone please tell me what it is that we ate?

Today after leaving the Center we met with Donna again to start organizing clothes and toy donations she has received to give to the children in the barrios for christmas. It is a big task and will keep us very busy.

Adios...XOXO...Jen and Tal

Cocktails & Turtle Dreams

2009-10-28T15:53:00.000-07:00

Buenas Tardes! We decided last Friday that our feet and hands deserved a spa day, so we got manis and pedis. We chose to go to a humble establishment in town... I can't say more than that because if I do we would have to relive the experience and we are not ready to do that! I will say that we staged a fake phone call (thanks for the fake caller app on my phone Cale) to get us the heck out of there. Needless to say, we went for round 2 of manis and pedis on Saturday...it was fabuloso! The rest of the weekend was spent on the beach enjoying our favorite drink in Cabo...the Capella Sling...

Capella Sling

crushed ice

2 ounces vodka

1/2 ounce pomegranate infused tequila

1 ounce raspberry puree

2 ounces sparkling water

2 ounces sprite

3-4 fresh raspberries

Directions:

Fill a mixing glass with ice. Add vodka, tequila, and raspberry puree. Place a metal shaker over the glass, invert, and shake 3 to 4 seconds. Pour the mixture into a highball glass and fill the glass with sparkling water and sprite. Add raspberries and enjoy!

On Sunday we had some friends join us at the pool for Sunday Funday! We read, played dominoes, and sent 185 baby sea turtles out into the ocean. The hatchlings were found under a rock by the cabana at Capella. We waited until sunset and went out to the beach to let the little guys go. We found out that these sea turtles can average 350 pounds, and only 6-10 of the 185 will survive. Something in the oil of a persons skin is not good for the babies so we had to wear rubber gloves when we touched them. It took them awhile to make their way from the beach to the water so we helped them as much as we could.

This week has been great so far! Jen got her first good night of sleep this week last night. She was watching TV in bed Sunday night about to fall asleep when she felt something crawling on her neck...it was a cricket! So the last couple of nights she has been checking her bed and wishing she had a turtleneck to sleep in! I finally have the serving breakfast thing down at the Center...Jen not so much. She spilt 2 cups of chocolate milk on herself this morning. I know some of you may be thinking...how hard is it to serve breakfast?...well its not really, but there is a different cook/volunteer for each day of the week, and each have their own way of cooking, serving and cleaning. I think we have finally figured out everyones way of doing things. Somedays we feel like they couldn't do it without us and other days we feel like we are just in the way. We have been playing with the smaller children this week(15 months-8 years). They are full of energy and tears. It's like a domino effect with the littlest ones...one starts crying and they all do. They are just so darn cute though! We have both forgotten our cameras the past few days but we will make sure and take them tomorrow so that we can take a bunch of pics for everyone to see. Today at the Humane Society we found out that Jen's dog "Mr. Nana" had been adopted and a few of the others will be moving to a nursing home soon to give and get the love and attention they need. Don't worry though, Jen has found a new dog that she wants to take back to the states. She wanted to fill out an application for her but I wouldn't let her...her name is Lila. She said, "It's meant to be she has a L name just like Lily, Lola and Layla, and I do need a souvenir from Cabo." She is precious, but really?

Hasta Luego....XOXO Jen and Tal

The Thunder Rolls On!

2009-10-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

Oops we forgot about the blog! Actually we didn't, we have just been preoccupied. We decided to take a few days off from volunteering at the end of last week, so we could finish settling in, catch up on some much needed rest, and soak up some Vitamin D! We also got some great news...Kristen is coming to visit at the beginning of November! We are very excited! On Friday night we went to dinner with a friend from Tulsa who now lives in Cabo. We went to a place called Arts and Sushi on the marina. The rolls we had were amazing. We tried octopus for the first time, and it was really good. After we left dinner, we went to NoWhere Bar for a few drinks before heading home.

Saturday morning we woke up to find a hurricane was headed this way...reported to be the second strongest hurricane on record! The hurricane was a category 5 at some point, but decreased to a 1 late on Monday. By the time it reached land it was just another tropical storm! The storm didn't hit until early Monday morning. The thunder was the loudest we had ever heard! Kind of scary actually...I almost went and got in bed with Jen! We woke up to more flooding that morning...the whole living room this time! We were told we needed to evacuate Capella, the place we are staying, until Sunday. They started boarding up windows, and doing everything else you do to prepare for a hurricane. Much to our disappointment, we both began to pack the things we would need for the week. We had another friend, who is in California, who offered us his house for the rest of the week. His house is more inland, so we took him up on his offer. As we were walking out the door we got a phone call telling us we didn't have to go anywhere because the hurricane was decreasing...we kept our bags packed just in case! Needless to say we didn't make it to the Center or the Humane Society Monday or Tuesday, but we now can say we have survived a hurricane and two tropical storms!

Surviving the storm!

Yesterday we woke up overjoyed to see the sun, and went back to volunteering. After we left the Center we went to the Humane Society to walk/run with the dogs...all 37 of them! The workout the dogs were giving us was intensified by the overwhelming heat and humidity due to all of the rain! Once we got home it started raining again but all clear skies today.

This little boy said, "no pictures please"

I want to bring this little girl home with me!

I also fell in love with this little guy...I bet he would love Tulsa!

Mr. Nana

Tal was a really good sport about the dogs...she even named a few Layla...this was my favorite "Layla" becasue he looks and acts just like my baby.

Today we went to the Center and I was reprimanded by the cook for giving too large of portions to the small children...which was upsetting because Jen was on tortilla duty and was allowed to give two or more to everyone. In the end there were enough eggs, what I was serving, to feed an army...I think the cook wanted to keep them for herself! When we finished cleaning up breakfast we were excited to go outside and play with all of the kids, but they were nowhere to be found...guess they had bigger and better plans! Maybe we'll have better luck next week :) The dogs were stoked to see us and even more so to be free from the clink! We were also super excited because there were two other volunteers there to help walk them. So our workout was cut short to about 20 dogs today! We spent the rest of the day just maxin' and relaxin' by the pool. I began book numero 5 today and Jen insisted that I read aloud. I got stuck doing all of the reading while she floated in the pool...story time is so much fun!

Until next time.... XOXO Jen and Tal

We Have Arrived!

2009-10-14T17:18:00.000-07:00

Hola, from Cabo! We have been anxiously awaiting our 9 week stay in Cabo, and it is finally here! We decided to keep a blog of our time in Cabo San Lucas to keep all our family and friends updated on what we are doing. We have been coming to Cabo for the last 7 years, and at the end of every week here we always try to extend the trip...Jennifer usually does. When we were in Cabo in May, with Team Tulsa, once again we kept trying to come up with ways to stay longer. Needless to say, we didn't! So while we anxiously awaited our June Cabo trip, we started brainstorming of ways to stay for a long period of time. Many ideas came to mind...selling jewelry on the beach, fruit from a corner stand, bathroom attendant, etc...Although these all sounded like great ideas, we decided some type of community service would be best! So on our June trip we visited places, with the help of our new friend Ponny, that we could volunteer our time, and we each found a place we wanted to volunteer. We will be volunteering at The Los Cabos Humane Society (Jen's pick) and The Casa San Juan Diego Center (Tal's pick). When we got home in June we immediately started planning for our 9 weeks abroad....

With months of preparation we are both ecstatic to finally be here! But we did not arrive without a proper farewell from our wonderful friends back in Tulsa. On Friday night before we left, Kristen, along with the help of Dara, Megan, Cameron, and Ashley threw us a bon voyage party at her house. It was fabulous...a lot of our close friends were there! They even went as far as getting a few of our favorite things to eat and drink. Here are a few pics from the party...

Jen, Tal, Ash, Cam, & Dara

Kristen

Ash & Jeremy

Judd & Myley

Jen, Tal, Meg, & Brent with our parting gift

Jen, Tal, Jeremy, & Ash

Neither of us wanted to leave, but it was getting late and we had to say our goodbyes because one of us still hadn't finished packing!

Saturday, the day of our departure, started early...neither one of us feeling 100%...it must have been whatever is going around! :) There had yet to be any tearful goodbyes, until my parents and I got to Jen's house to pick her up to go to the airport. My mom asked if she told Lola and Layla goodbye (the dogs), and the waterworks started! Sweet thing cried all the way to the airport... nothing but smiles though that morning when she told her parents and Papa goodbye. We got to the airport and started the very long check in process with all 9 bags in tow. Jen had two bags to check and one to carry-on...mind you she had already brought 3 bags down the previous week... the other 6 were mine, two of them being carry-ons plus my purse! Of course every single bag I checked was over the weight limit! General boarding is only allowed 1 free bag. Elite class is allowed 2. So I had to pay for one of my bags, Jen claimed another, and the 9th bags items were distributed amongst the other 8 pieces of luggage that were already overweight. The nice man at the ticket counter, finally fed up with all the repacking we were doing, let the overweight fee slide, and told us to be on our way! We got to Cabo without a hitch, and with all bags accounted for! We arrived at Capella Pedregal, our home for the next 9 weeks, and started settling in.

Poor Guy!!!

Nuestra Casa

The View

Need we say more?

So we can see you every day!

Sunday morning we met with Father Arturo, the director of the Casa San Juan Diego Center, at the San Lucas Evangelista Church, to get the information we needed to volunteer at the Center. We got to the church assuming mass was over, but realized after walking in that we would be attending mass then meeting with him after. So we now have been to our first Catholic mass in Spanish! After we left, we drove to the Center and to the Humane Society to make sure we knew where we were going for the next morning.

San Lucas Evangelista Church

Casa San Juan Diego Center

Los Cabos Humane Society

http://www.humansocietycabo.com/

Bull outside of Humane society

We spent the rest of the day going to the grocery store, and unpacking. Actually we have spent the last three days unpacking, or rather Jen has...when you see the pictures you will understand why...

Who knew you could purchase a surfboard at Walmart

Thank god for space bags!!!

Jen may have slightly overpacked...

Sunday night when I was in my room, I heard a big crash come from downstairs, followed by Jen yelling....Tallee, we have a problem! I went downstairs, and the hanging rod in her closest, that she had just been hanging some of her clothes on, had fallen...along with some of the sheetrock...

My poor little dresses!

The lack of sleep and traveling from the weekend made it near impossible for us to get up Monday morning. I woke up and went downstairs to see if Jen was up yet...she wasn't. When I finally got her to wake up she kept trying to convince me it was Sunday and to go back to sleep. I told her she could nap when we got home. We made it to our first day of volunteering at the Center just in time to start serving breakfast...The Center is a place where families can come and have breakfast, that would otherwise go without. After breakfast the children, from babies to teenagers, play and enjoy the activities at the Center, before they go to school in the afternoon. The mothers have the opportunity of taking a sewing class...which Jen and I are both thinking about joining. At night the Center becomes a homeless shelter. In return for having a place to sleep for the night the men and women that stay at the Center help with breakfast and clean-up after. As the week goes on we will learn more of the activities and things the Center provides for the families...So that morning we served breakfast and then went to play with the children. We learned, or attempted to learn, the hokey-pokey in Spanish...sorry no pictures of us doing that...and played many games of Jenga. Most of the children don't know any English and we don't know Spanish, so there is a lot of smiling and nodding, but as Father Arturo told us Sunday the language barrier does not matter, it is about the love you are showing the children. After we left the Center we came home and attempted to start this blog, but the internet was not working. So Jen started learning Spanish...Brenda bought her Rosetta Stone before we left...and I took a nap. When I got up she was fluent(she says, "thanks mom")...my hour nap had turned into the whole afternoon!

On our way to the center at 8am we saw this line of people outside of Cabo Wabo...Sammy Hagar is in town and they are all waiting to meet him...the line was around the block!

Getting ready to clean up breakfast

Some of the younger children

This little girl wanted to pose for the camera

Jen and Selena

This little boy was so cute!

People were still in line 3 hours later!

Today has been pretty much the same as yesterday, but we have a few more bumps and bruises on our bodies. Since we had a little trouble getting up Monday morning, Jen decided to put her phone in the bathroom so she would have to get up to turn her alarm off. She got up and turned it off, but decided to go back to bed, and on the way there came into contact with the marble/iron table in the room. Needless to say I did not need my alarm to get up this morning. After serving breakfast today we played with the children outside in the rain. I was taking pictures of the boys playing soccer on the basketball court when the ball flew through the goal and nailed me in the back of the head! Ouch! I already know what my parting gift will be to the Center...nets for the goals! When we were about to leave today the children started yelling Jennifer's name, the only one they can remember, and were pointing at the sky...it was a rainbow! It was beautiful! We both hoped that meant the rain was going to stop and be the end of tropical storm Patricia that has been making its way through Cabo since we got here, but it wasn't! We are hoping the end of the storm will hit tonight and be sunny skies the rest of the week!

The boys playing soccer on the basketball court

Tallee playing a game with some of the kids

This little girl wanted to take her chocolate milk togo

The Rainbow

We are sick and tired of the constant flooding in our rooms due to the storm! The storm has also caused the streets (most of which are under construction...just like T-town) to flood and make serious potholes that even Tulsa can't compete with! We feel like we are on a log ride everytime we get in the car.

I can't imagine how many towels we went through to stop the water

They even brought in sandbags to stop the flooding

We've only just begun...