Everyone knows I love my job, but honestly if I could figure out how to move to some tropical destination and do resort marketing while my husband works as a divemaster/scuba instructor I’d be all packed. Without thinking twice. That said, we face a bit of an added challenge in that wherever life takes us, we need to stay connected to Canada and our awesome medical system here. Our son has hemophilia, and while his condition is mild, we’re super blessed to have all his treatment costs covered without added insurance.

Here are some of my favourite photos.

We stayed at the Crown Paradise Club Resort because they have a baby club for kids 18 months to 3 years; most resorts’ kids clubs are for kids 4 & up.

The weather was a little stormy the first few days, but it was still warm and mostly dry. Well, except for in the ocean… here is my son’s first trip into the surf with my husband; he’s not quite 3 in this pic. What you can’t see is that immediately after that, mini-man fell off of daddy’s back and tumbled through the surf. After that he said quite calmly as water still dripped off his eyelashes, “I don’t like the waves.” Yeah, I don’t blame you, kid. Little rough.

He did thoroughly enjoy the sand, though…

One of the days we were there we took a day trip on the Lupita Trimaran to Isla Mujeres:

This is what the water looks like between Cancun and Isla Mujeres:

We enjoyed a beer at a little cantina; we sat just to the right in this photo – at the end of the dock I stood on to get this pic:

… while mini-man had a nap.

After his nap, we went to a private beach where we had a buffet lunch (mediocre at best) and I took the opportunity to take mini-man out for a little paddle.

It’s really hard to give a two year old a ‘time-out’ in Cancun. I sat him on a ledge for misbehaving. Within seconds he was saying, “Look mommy, I found a shell!”

This was our second trip to Cancun; next time we go I think I’d like to spend the whole vacation on Isla Mujeres. It’s just beautiful there.

If you’d like you can see more photos on my Flickr stream.

It was like a special moment in time, carved out just for me and my family. We had the opportunity to be up before sun-up the other morning in Cancun to catch the first moment of sunlight over the horizon.

And the moment the sun peaked over the horizon…

And within a couple of seconds the sun was greeting us with a smile.

What was particularly touching for me was that the evening prior mini-man had the opportunity to look out just at the right time to see the sun drop down below the horizon on the other side. The whole moment only lasted a couple of minutes before the entire sun was above the horizon.

Anyway, it might not seem so special, but to me it was like one of those moments that God arranged just for me to experience. Those are the moments that remind me just how special this life is.

Have you ever had a moment like that?

The beach at the resort where I'll be staying

Well, I’m headed out tomorrow for a quick vacation to Cancun, Mexico.

While I don’t have a long time, it will be a good time… even if the weather forecast isn’t looking stellar. It’s warm; so who cares? I’ve got 3 new swimsuits, some cute new Roxy flip flops and my own coffee press (yes, with coffee and demerera sugar… because I’m a total coffee snob).

I’m really stoked about seeing my son enjoy the beach, the water, and some snorkeling. He’s been doing a super job in the pool and I’m so proud of how confident he is in the water. He’s not even 3 yet but can swim underwater with dad down to about 6-8 feet to pick stuff up off the pool floor. He can also snorkel with his water wings on, keeping his face under water for about 3 or 4 minutes before he wants to lift his head up and look around. He’s going to have a blast!

I’m hoping to find a couple of hours to myself to give windsurfing another whirl; I quite enjoyed it last year and did a pretty good job, too, if I do say so myself. I would try and take it up regularly here in Vancouver but I’m just not a fan of being cold.

If we end up with beautiful sunny days, we’re planning to book a day trip to Isla Mujeres on a catamaran. That will be our big exciting day while the rest will be spent on or near the resort.

Best part will be just turning my brain off. Well, okay, not OFF… but stopping all the details from their constant bombarding. I really think the life I live – particularly doing business online, where I have access to far more information than I could EVER process – leads to a very fragmented thought pattern, increased ADD and heightened stress.

While I love what I do, but I’m very much looking forward to a break. So no blogs, tweets or Facebook updates for a week. CYA L8R!

My morning started out with some Christmas baking… I like it when I get fudge for breakfast. What can I say? I’m perhaps a bit of a glutton, but really trying to keep to just a taste this year. I am going to make a very concerted effort to get my body back to pre-mini-man shape now that he is coming up on 3 years *blush*.

Then my boss says to go home… at, like 10:30am SWEET! I ended up grabbing my board and checking out the hill. With over 150cm of snow now when it just started snowing about 2 weeks ago, the conditions are fantastic. The snow is so deep that it’s a bit hairy and requires quite a bit of concentration (unless you get first tracks, of course, which I did not at noon) and the blowing snow and fog made it a wee bit hard to see, but all in all the snow is just fantastic.

I was saying this morning that I used to be that person who would only ski when it was sunny out. Not only did I not know what I was missing, but I really didn’t care. If I had known then that the snow is infinately better when it’s snowing than it is when the sun is beating down on it, I would have changed my tune years ago. Plus, there are usually no bodies on the hill. I didn’t have to wait more than about 4 chairs to get on the Screaming Eagle today.

Being Christmas Eve, we’re going to church tonight at 6:30pm. There are 3 services to choose from – 5pm, 6:30pm and 8pm. The Christmas Eve program is always fun – full of music and stories for people of all ages.

This year we’ve decided to go ahead with an idea that I heard on Praise 106.5 FM: someone called in one day and said they do birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas day. What a great idea!! So we’re going to turn it in to a tradition and bake a cake in the morning after opening presents, ice it in the afternoon during that usual downtime (my brother and I used to go to the only arcade in Vancouver that was open that day – Lesters) and then have birthday cake for dessert after a traditional turkey dinner (well, it will be more like a ceremonial taste at that point, but we’ll try).

We’re also going to spend the night as a family at my mother in law’s house. We didn’t set up a tree at home this year, and we’re going to do our celebrating there anyway, so we figured we’d all spend the night and get up and do Christmas in our jammies like we used to when we were all little.

Sadly, with the snow this year, my parents aren’t going to make it over to the North Shore for Christmas dinner with us, but they have been invited to their next door neighbours’ house so I’m grateful they have someone nearby to celebrate with. We also all got together for dinner just a couple of days ago and now I’m glad we did. I got some great photos of my son with my mom… good for keepsakes.

And lastly, this morning big-man and I decided to book another holiday. We’re going back to Cancun to stay at the Crown Paradise Club for a week in January. We stayed there last year and had a fantastic time, but this year we’re bringing our son to enjoy it as a family. Crown Paradise Club has a kids club for children as young as 18 months whereas most resorts’ kids clubs only take kids 4+.

We’re already planning a day of wind surfing and one day trip to Cozumel… preferably via catamaran from Cancun. I’ll see what I can find. I can’t WAIT! Big-man will be starting work in northern Alberta in late January, so we figure now is a good time to get away as a family because we don’t know when we’ll be able to do it again.

Anyway, I am praying for health and prosperity for all my family, friends and readers now and in the new year. May every day of the year ahead be filled with joy and laughter and many, many blessings.

Merry Christmas everyone!