February 15th. Well Merle and I had a date today that was really nice. Kathy took the boys for us (she is amazing – had her hands full with 6 children, and still calm and happy!). So Merle and I had the whole day to ourselves! It was peaceful and calm and happy. Merle has a good sense of humor when he is happy, and he mad me laugh a lot today! It was nice to spend the day with just him. When Kathy returned with the boys, they came aboard and told us all of their adventures. We were all refreshed and happy to see each other. Being away even for a few hours now seems like a long time. But it is always time well spent.

I would like to know how to help Shandro be more positive. God, will you help me please? I will wait for an inspiration from you, here at the computer. Thank you. Pray before bed. Say positive things when he is not mad – even happy. Louise Hay is good. Don’t be so hard on him when he feels sad or bad or hurt. Just comfort him. Don’t yell. Try to be loving especially when he’s mad. Teach the ten commandments. Read the positive Wayne Dyer books often. Play. Sympathize. Shut my mouth and actively listen.

February 14th – Happy Birthday, Florence! And Happy Valentines Day! Hope to talk to you soon! Today we caught a bus and took the boys to downtown Puerto Vallarta to check out the sand sculptures and statues along the Malacon (which is the walk along the seashore). Dad bought us a nice Valentines lunch with fresh juice that was divine. Then we went to the zoo and saw some animals we had never seen before. Some of them were pink flamingos, peacocks, deer, crocodile, panther, leopard, cougar, lynx, tigers, and ring-tailed cats. Then Merle hired a taxi driver to bring us back to La Cruz (which was a great treat all by itself). We arrived just in time for dinner aboard Love Song; Kathy made absolutely delicious chicken enchiladas and we were grateful to be there sharing it with them. The children outnumbered the adults, with 6 kids aboard; Rocko and Mia (Alexandra’s children) were visiting as well. We took the boys home tired and happy.

Happy Birthday, Guerro Matero!!

February 3rd – Matero’s 4th birthday! This morning before the boys were even dressed, Kathy brought over Morgan and Wyatt – the birthday monsters – and they wished Matero a happy birthday with an awesome book called The Birthday Monsters and fancy presents. He loved it and soaked It all up. At one point, he said ‘Today I’m the birthday (prounounced beethday) boy. Then Merle took the boys downtown to pick up the piniata that a lady made especially for us. It was a colorful star and beautiful! Then when Merle got back, we took our piniata and our food and games and went to the beach where we set up our pot luck tables (Merle’s kayak, rocks and other non-table objects) and prepared for our guests – 30 all together. The kids had a great day on the beach, doing scavenger hunting and chasing and racing and catching crabs. A couple of older boys found coconuts and brought them back to the party and Scott macheted them open and we ate the sweet meat. It was excellent. The piniata was full of good stuff, and Matero took a few good wacks at it before passing the piniata stick along. And several children later, Shandro had a crack at it and busted it to smithereens! The food for the pot luck was amazing! I was actually surprised that Matero picked a pot luck. We told him he could have any kind of dinner he wanted – at a restaurant, or on our boat, and he chose a pot luck. And it couldn’t have been better, Cheetos (at his request) and all! We topped it off with two fires on the beach (a small kids fire and a big fire too) and just after we sang happy birthday to Matero and dug into his coconut cake, we watched the fireworks across the bay! Way cool! So now he is four. And we were explaining to Shandro how Matero has actually just completed his fourth year and that tomorrow is the first day of his 5th year alive here on earth, and Shandro didn’t understand how Matero could skip a year, just like that. A good day all around. Only a few people Matero wanted to have there who were back in Canada. Grandmas and Grandpas and aunties and uncles and cousins. It’s nice that he still thinks of them, even tho our communications have been infrequent.