Devon’s First Vacation

Just a few months ago, I was very happy to share the task of writing this blog with one of my Peacebus students, Ava, who is in grade 4. She was my first guest writer and I’m sure that you will enjoy her story…

http://bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.ca/2012/05/mr-jim-goes-bald.html

For today’s blog, I’ve asked another very special person in my life to help me write a story. My son, Devon, is only 9 ½ months old, but as you will soon see, he is already a very talented and funny author…


It’s been a lot of hard work growing up over the last nine months – what with all the growing, eating and playing – so I thought that it would be fun to relax for a day and go to a lake side cottage with my mommy and daddee.


We packed my Opa’s van very early in the morning. Just before we left, daddee went over his checklist…

Bathing suits – check!

Yummy food for the bbq – check!

Toys – check!

Devon – check!

Alrighty then… it was time to leave!!!


During the ride, mommy was always asking daddee if he was sure that he knew where he was going. We didn’t get lost – not even twice!


It was a long drive, so I helped out, too.


When we got to the cottage, we left all the unpacking for later and rushed straight down to check out our beach.


Daddee said that this beach was made especially for me. “A golden beach for a golden baby boy!” is what he said.


Since my bathing suit was still in the van, we spent a few minutes flying over the area, just getting our toes and fingers wet.


The water was so warm that we had to go for a swim, right away, so we quickly changed into our swimming outfits. Daddee wore swim shorts and I wore my swim hat!!!


I’m not sure what, “swimming in the buff,” means – it’s what daddee said I was doing – but it sure is great!


While we were swimming, mommy relaxed with a cold Ice Tea on the beach.


Having mommy and daddee together for such a long period of time is hard to do. We’ll have to have more vacations in the future.


This is the cabin that we stayed in. It is very small, so we spent most of our time outside on the beach.


We sure did a lot of swimming. Koly also loves to swim and he joined us most of the time.


Daddee spent a bit of his time taking photos of nearby flowers…


… and the always changing clouds in the sky.


Mommy likes taking pictures, too. She took seven photos to make this one really long image. It was very beautiful staying in Northern Ontario, with all the trees, hills, rivers and lakes.


One of the games I love to play is called ‘Making Bubbles With Mommy’. Daddee’s not very good at this game… or else it might be called ‘Making Bubbles With Daddee’ – but it’s not.


It was sunny, then it was cloudy. Sunny! Cloudy!


It drizzled for a little while, so we all had a little snack, staying dry underneath the tent awning.


There was only one small bit of cantaloupe left… and I wanted it! So I showed mommy and daddee my newest trick – I CAN CRAWL!!!!


Daddee said that if we all clap our hands together really loudly that the clouds would crack open so that it would be sunny again… and it worked!


Then we saw three golden ducks swimming on our golden lake. Daddee said that this was a good sign.


We could see the sun’s light on the trees, across the lake. See how the distant hill only has a little bit of light on it – near the waterline? Well, for the next few minutes we watched as the sun’s light moved higher and higher until all the trees were bright with sun.


And then, we saw a rainbow. And then, there were two rainbows!


Daddee said that it’s not often that you will see a rainbow touching the ground, but if you do it’s a lucky sign. One of these days I’m going to have to ask daddee what a ‘sign’ is.


Boy! The weather sure changes a lot when you’re on vacation. After daddee took this photo of the fog, he said that his photo looked a lot like U2’s album cover ‘No Line On The Horizon’. I’m going to have to ask daddee what a U2 is, as well!


And then it was sunny again and I got to play with a turtle that mommy found for me.


After some more swimming, daddee and I relaxed with a cool drink as we lounged about on a beach chair.


I told mommy that we should get a family vacation portrait before we all had too many cool drinks and forgot. I told her that Koly wasn’t in this photo…


… so we tried again. This time daddee was making funny faces and I remembered that I was wearing just my diaper – not a very classy family photo…


… so we tried again! This time we got it perfect!


Just before dinner time, we all decided to have a game of ‘Bang The Ball With A Stick Hammer’. Daddee was winning for most of the game and then I decided to help mommy out with my expert advice. “A little to the left, mommy. Oh! That’s too far. A little more to the right! Perfect! Now hit it hard!!!!” I was a great expert advice giver and mommy won the game!


And then… guess… guess… it started raining really hard. Daddee said that he didn’t care if it was raining or not, “we’re here to have fun no matter what.” He set up for another ball game and then we all played in the rain… under our umbrellas!!!!


It got really cool outside, with lots of lightning and thunder, so we had to spend the rest of the day playing inside. Daddee and I played my favourite game ‘Peek – a – Boo’ for hours and hours!!! Did anyone notice that I’m standing up in this photo? This is one of my newest tricks, too. First, I crawl over to a piece of furniture and then I climb it until I’m standing on my two feet. I can get up alright – sometimes it’s the coming down that hurts a bit!!!

I’m sure glad that I brought so many toys to play with. Mommy is a great friend to have around during toy time. We can play for hours and hours and she never gets bored. In fact, mommy spends most of our play time laughing!!! She thinks I’m funny!


Another of my favourite games to play is called ‘Godzilla’. Here’s how it works… first mommy has to build a tall tower out of blocks…


… and then I destroy it! What a great game!!!!



All this playing has given me quite the appetite. I think that it’s time for lunch. Mommy asked daddee to feed me. When mommy came over to see how things were going, I heard a whole bunch of new words that I’ve never heard before… she was directed them to daddee. Daddee said, “I’m not teaching Devon to play with his food, I’m teaching him how to be creative – a great artist!”


Near the end of the day, daddee likes to play me songs on his guitar. He says that he’s putting music into my head so that I’ll have musical dreams when I go to sleep.


Daddee’s been playing me songs for my whole life. I’ve been watching and listening very carefully and today I decided to show daddee what I’ve learned. He told me that I will grow up to be a fine musician.





Just before I go to sleep, I like to have my bedtime bottle. While I’m drinking, I’m thinking of all the wonderful adventures we had today on our first ever family vacation!!!! Thanks very much, mommy and daddee – I hope we can do this again really soon!!!!

Devon

+ + +

Thanks very much, Devon, for writing your first blog story to share with my friends from around the world. I’m sure that they will all enjoy it.

As your editor, though, I do have just one comment to make – just so you’ll know for the future. This vacation that we all enjoyed lasted for a whole week… not just one day. I’ll have to remember to teach you a little something about a thing called ‘time’… but that can wait until you’re a bit older!

Daddee

The City of Dawn

Joanne and I had decided that while we were in Mexico our greatest task would be to do as little as possible – and we were very successful in accomplishing that goal! We spent most of our time staying at our resort enjoying the pools, beaches, restaurants and sunshine - with two afternoons visiting a nearby city. We did, however, spend one entire day visiting two very exciting places…

Since our journey to Mexico was possibly a once in a lifetime event, I wanted to do something interesting and artful while we were there. I thought that it would be fun to capture some video footage and create another music video.

Our one-day adventure was taking us to the ancient city Tulum. I was really hoping that it would be possible to climb up on one of the ruins to film the rising sun.

I found out that this would not be possible. Instead, Jo’ and I woke up very early and simply watched the morning sunrise from the beach at our resort.

After another wonderful breakfast, we hopped aboard a tour bus and were on our way.

These speed bumps from hell – LOL – are called ‘tope’. They are found on either end of any community existing along the only major highway through this region. Vehicles turn on their 4-way blinkers and come to a dead stop before easing over these solid metal bumps. Great for traffic speed control in urban areas.

Although the architectural designs for residential living are quite different from those found in Canada, one aspect is the same – Urban Sprawl!

Along the highway I saw many billboards advertising luxury homes in condo style developments. I hate subdivision sprawl in Canada and I was saddened to see this style of development here. When will our urban planners realize that communities built upon the NEED for automobiles are destined to increase our destructive relationship with our Earth?

Beside the roadside billboard a roadway is cut into the jungle so that huge machines can clear away the non-profitable trees and swamplands in order to build happy homes with streets named after the kinds of trees that used to populate the area for thousands of years! Hmmmm… where have I heard that story before?

Our busride took us over one bridge. From here it became very clear just how flat this region of Mexico is. The entire area is wild jungle, stretching out and out… but not for long if urban developers have their way.

I asked our tour guide why the trees in these jungles are so short. I never saw a tree trunk larger than a foot and a half in diameter and for a while I was thinking that this region may have already been clear-cut and that I was looking at young trees that had been recently planted. The guide told me that these jungles were indeed very old and the reason why the trees were so short is because there is very little topsoil and very little rain. This region experiences great amounts of rain during certain times of the year but most of it washes into the ocean, again, because of the lack of topsoil.

The busride was just over an hour long and then suddenly we found ourselves taking a step back in time.

Our tour guide told us many stories and as I listened I found my imagination wandering, wondering what life must have been like for the people of this region and time. We learned that the proper name for this city was Zama – meaning The City of Dawn. Justly named for an area on the most easterly part of this country, bordered by a great ocean.

When the Spanish came to this area they pointed to the great wall which surrounded the inner city and asked what it was called. The Spanish were referring to the city but the Mayans thought they were referring to the wall which is named Tulum. This word stuck and now this city is called Tulum.

We learned about the social order of the Mayans. The nobles, elitists and religious leaders lived within the wall. The tradesmen and workers lived outside the wall. Their homes were made of trees, fronds and clays and so after this area was abandoned the Earth quickly reclaimed its own, leaving only the sacred buildings which were constructed using more durable materials.

The Mayans lived in reverence of the beauty and power of Nature. We learned about how they gathered most of their food while domesticating a few species, which were farmed. They had to adapt to the many different elemental seasons of this region, as did these termites. During the rainy season much of the land becomes flooded. That is why these termites build their nests in tree branches.

It was interesting to learn that bubble gum came from the Mayans. Our guide pointed out the trees which the Mayans would ‘tap’ – like how we tap maple trees for syrup – to get a chewy snack. The Spanish invaders added a little sugar and flavour, and bubble gum was invented.

We learned that this was one of the last places to be reached by the Spanish. Just off of the coast there is a great and long reef which follows the coastline. The large European ships could not get to shore so they had to dock many miles away and hoof it on foot to these cities. This gave the Mayans the time they needed to abandon their cities so they wouldn’t become slaves. It is estimated that over one million Mayans still live throughout Mexico.

The reefs that saved them from brutal attacks did have small valleys in them. The Mayans knew where they were and this allowed them to travel from village to village or city in smaller boats for trading.

The Mayans were great mathematicians – following the standards of time as laid down by universal occurrences. They constructed temples that would have small holes cut into them. During the summer equinox the morning sun would shine through these holes and onto other religious structures.

Other buildings had different holes and at different times of the year the sun would shine through these to tell the Mayans that it was time to plant or harvest a certain crop.

Of course, someone (and it wasn’t me) had to ask about the Mayan calendar ending on the winter equinox in 2012. We learned that the Mayan calendar, just like ours, has a beginning and an end. When our calendar ends on December 31, we simply begin our cycle again for the new year. The Mayan calendar is the same, however, their cycles last for over 5 000 years.

Our guide used a stick to explain this by drawing in the sand. He drew one circle and began dividing it, explaining how it relates to the stars – just like our zodiac. The Mayans used this to mark the years – very much like our calendar. Then he drew another circle, touching the first one and explained how this one was divided differently – in nine parts – to honour the timing of the birthing process. Then he added two other circles, one on each end of his drawing. These circles represent Venus and Mars and based on their solar alignment with the Earth, another cycle of their calendar is represented.

So… instead of living in fear that the Mayan calendar is ending we should be living with great expectation to witness a massive solar occurrence that will not happen again for over another 5 000 years! It’s impossible to know for sure, but the alignment of three planets is sure to have many interesting consequences (maybe the ocean tides will rise an extra ¼ inch on some of our coastlines – I don’t know), but I’m sure that we will not witness what many fantasy dreamers are living in fear (or possibly celebration) of.

Our second destination of the day was the coastal inlet of Xel-Ha.

There were many activities to keep people of all ages amused. Joanne and I spent over four hours snorkeling in the warm and fish filled waters.

Many of the T-shirts found in the shops were promoting ‘green’ philosophies, expressing our needs to tread lightly on the Earth so that we can preserve our environments for future generations. Since Xel-Ha is a water resort – of sorts – I laughed when I saw T-shirts with dolphins and fish with sayings like, “BLUE is the new green”.

We had to use special ‘enviro’ sunscreens at Xel-Ha, to protect the water and fish. It costs about the same as normal sunscreen and this made me wonder why it hasn’t become a standard for all sunscreen manufacturers around the world.

Joanne and I both agreed that our adventures on this day were the height of our entire vacation. We had an absolute blast!!!

By the time we got back to our resort the sun had set and our bellies were complaining. It wasn’t long after another great dinner when we found ourselves sitting by the pool with very heavy eyes.

We continued enjoying ourselves for the next several days and then it was time to come home. Home to the cold…

… and snow that is Canada!

Ahhhhh! It was great while it lasted!!!

Jim