Right now we’re in a beautiful RV park right next to the sea. We enjoy going around the trailer, scooping dirt into sand castle buckets and making a sand castle. Before one of the security guards said, “please can we not use any more water?”. We used to spray them to death (the castles, I mean). It was pretty good getting my ear pierced but it only hurt as much as it probably hurt you. You can go out into the sea when it is not wavy out and out to a coral reef where there’s all kinds of beautiful fish with wonderful colors. Not like the beaches in California. these beaches are very warm and pleasant. Last time I emailed you we were probably a thousand miles back. Think of this.. right now we should be 25,000 miles away from home. It’s a pretty damn long ways. but it was worth it getting here. It’s also a paradise to ride bikes. We did have a friend named “Emily” here and she was like, 10. But her sister had to get married [I, personally, don't think she "had" to. :)] so they left so we don’t have any friends here but there’s lots of stuff to do. I hope you’re really having a good time. Oh, and um, you don’t have to wait for the Star Wars movie for us. We’re not sure we’ll make it there in time. Here we might build a palapa. It’s like a bunch of sticks, wide enough for an RV to fit in, then they put coconut branches over. But it takes a few months to actually build it. [2 weeks] All the other times I’ve emailed you, we have either been sitting in Papa and Tata’s trailer or at the place we emailed you last time but this time we’re sitting in our own trailer emailing you. It’s been kind of hard for me to write emails to you because I miss you so much. Hope you have a good time.
From Pikey.
PS I turned nine almost a week ago. And happy birthday!
Mom said it’s really hard for you to read our emails, but I have to tell you some stuff. And if you can please try and write back. Here in PaaMul, we’re in a beautiful trailer park with palm trees which have coconuts on them but it’s illegal to chop them off. [it is a protected turtle sanctuary] But once and a while one will fall and you can pick it off the ground and hammer a nail into it and pull it out and do it a few times and then put it holes-down on the top of a cup and wait. When the milk stops draining out of the coconut you chop it in half, with a machete if you have one, (which we don’t) so we hit it with a hammer. Once it’s cracked open we scoop out the insides. If you’ve ever had coconut, and if you like it, you’ll know that the coconut milk looks just like water but has a very good taste. And the insides are white when it’s not dry; very kind of glassy-white. If it’s dry, it’s kind of a rough white color - like plaster.
Even when it’s wavy out you can go out into the Caribbean Sea, though it is harder to make it out to the coral reef. The coral reef isn’t as I’d imagined it. The coral is at least as thick as your head (most of it is at least) but some of it’s about as thick as your arm.
I don’t know the exact feet, but it’s about 1/2 km out - a bucket on a very thick branch. It’s used to signal the deep channel where the boats can come in and where the coral reef is so the boats don’t hit it. Me, Dad and Pike usually go out to that. We went out with Mom about two times we went to the bucket too. It’s a good place to rest for a little bit. There’s lots of kinds of fishies. Pike just came in. He says he just found a HUGE coconut. [they are now discussing how heavy it is] Me and Pike just agreed (Mom decided for us) it’s about a kilo heavy. It’s two pounds and a half; that’s how heavy a kilo is.
Just a bit ago, Mom read us an email that Jeff sent to her; just the parts that concerned you and stuff and Dad’s feeling fine. Dad’s got this really cool computer program called Limewire. It’s file sharing - it looks for open computers and finds song files and a lot of stuff and takes them to our computer and it can burn CD’s for us that means we decide what songs it burns and copies them onto a disk. Right now Dad’s playing a disc that he made.
Have you seen “A Knight’s Tale”? It has a sport called “jousting” in it. Two contestants ride horses with armour on them; themselves and the horses, and they ride at each other with dull wooden stakes called “lances” and try to knock each other off the horses. One point for breaking a lance between the torso and the neck; thought they don’t usually die in it. Two points for breaking a lance on the head and three for knocking the opponent off his horse (or her).
And anyway, you don’t really have to wait to watch the Star Wars movie if you don’t want to. Cause we’re kinda toying with the idea of buying a palapa here for a few months. [We'd be here MUCH longer than a couple months if we bought a palapa] We’ll tell you when we’re decided.
Well, that’s about all I have to say.
love, from jesse.
3 responses so far ↓
1 John Howser // May 22, 2005 at 8:11 am
Pikey and Jesse,
WOW……you guys write soooo well, and with soooo many interesting things to discuss!! I really enjoying reading what you have written……you must get your writing skills from your Mom…….and that is good. I sure do wish I had had the opportunity to do what you guys are doing……back when I was your age (a long time ago). Keep up the writing…..keep reading….and enjoy that wonderful life.
John Howser
2 TaTa // May 22, 2005 at 10:34 pm
Hi Jesse!
I have been “away” from my computer for awhile. But today I finally found some time to read the recent postings.
The swim out to the corrals sounds exciting and lots of fun. I have never used a snorkel nor gone under the water to look at the fish. It sounds as though the water there is very clear and the fish are very colorful! A great combination!
Mom says you kids are enjoying the “Tom Sawyer” book. Not a long time ago we bought that book and the “Huckleberry Finn” book to read. Both PaPa and I had read the books many years ago, but they are so good, we decided to read them again! I’m glad you’re enjoying them!
Your cousin, Paul David, has been playing a game called “Lacrosse” - it is actually a game played by the Native American Indians. They taught the “white man” to play and it became a favorite of the early settlers. However, it sort of “died out” some years ago, but has recently been taken up by a number of players. It is the national game of Canada.
Paul David played two games last Sunday, and another two games today. We all drove down to Morgan Hill, where the “tournament” was held. We were there all day - (PaPa and me, Uncle Paul, Aunt Miriam, Juliana, Auntie Chris, Becky and Catie (and last Sunday, Uncle Chet went, too).
The day was plenty warm, but we also had a strong wind. That means that it was not too hot, but lots of things got “blown around”.
After we all returned from the games, we decided to go to “Chevy’s” and have our dinner. We had a good time eating together (Becky made a big mess with her meal - most of which landed on the floor!)
PaPa and I miss each one of you VERY MUCH. We have been going up to Euclid Avenue to work on the storage building. It is a mess, and I’m getting things straightened out there. PaPa is working on the walls and we hope we can get it inspected and passed soon.
When Uncle Chet is working, we spend a little more time with Becky and Catie, helping out Aunt Chrissy.
But soon we will be heading toward the east - to see Aunt Michelle and Uncle Slade as well as Cody, Graham, Sebastian and Zane.
Good luck to each of you trying to decide what to do about the palapa and life in Mexico. PaPa and I are planning to return to San Felipe next September.
Please give your mom and dad a hug from us, and we send special love to you and Pike, Felicity and Ellen.
TaTa
3 TaTa // May 22, 2005 at 11:00 pm
Hi Parker!
I am so glad that you got your ear pierced! I really thought you had an earring the one day I looked at your mom’s posting. So are you now looking at earrings instead of tiny beer bottles?
PaPa and I have been living at Aunty Chissy’s and Uncle Chet’s place since we returned to California. Actually, we are living on the street! Our motor home really “cuts up” their back yard, and besides, they need the room back there for their cars. (When we arrived, they had three cars in the yard - they had borrowed Matt’s (from next door) big van so they could take Chet’s Aunt and Uncle around. Chet’s Aunt and Uncle live in Wisconsin, and they were out here for about a week. We met them and they are really nice people!
So we are parked in front of their house. We don’t have any water connection, but we do have electricity. That means we have to wash our dishes in their house, and we use water only for brushing our teeth and stuff like that.
PaPa and I have been visiting the doctor’s - just getting regualr check-ups. We did get our eyes examined and will get some new eye glasses. Also, we’ll get our hearing checked, and I may get a new hearing aid. (Then I’ll be able to hear you kids when you talk!)
Next week end is the Memorial weekend Camping. Aunt Chris and Uncle Chet will take the girls up there, and PaPa and I will take Juliana up to camp, too.
(Aunt Miriam and Uncle Paul and Paul David will stay here in the city and get ready for Paul David’s graduation.) We will go up on Friday and come back on Memorial Day. Aunt Chris and Uncle Chet will go from camping over to Yosemite for a couple of days. Right now, Yosemite is flooded! There has been so much rain in California this year, that the waterfalls are spectacular - but so much rain and (snow earlier) has caused flooding in the valley. We hope it will be dry enough for them to have a visit there. PaPa and I will bring Juliana back here because she has school on Tuesday.
Besides getting the storage room up to shape, we are getting some things taken care of to the Lazy Daze and our little “Element” - then we’ll be ready to travel again!
We just hope we see you and the family before we return to Baja in September.
We we leave here and go to visit Aunt Michelle. By the way, next time you visit Wisconsin, you won’t see Aunt Michelle, Uncle Slade, Cody, Graham, Sebastian and Zane at their “old” house. (That nice place where we all had the “Smith Grandkids 2004 Summit” last year.) Aunt Michelle and Uncle Slade will be moving to Minneapolis, MN this summer. They just bought a new house (a very big house) and they’ll be moving in a couple of months. When we see them, we’ll take pictures and post them so you all can see their new place.
Paul David will have a graduation on June 4th - we will all go to his graduation, then head for MN shortly after. Maybe we’ll see you somewhere along the way………
Lots of love to each of you,
TaTa
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