Turks Part II

*urgh, somehow lost this post.  Resposting what I remember.*

Back from the turks, second half of the pics...
Such a great time with the GogoPops.

 (btw these dogs need a home, the airlines subsidize the trips back to canada... anyone looking for a lovely well socialized dog?)  Kid friendly... check.

 LOVE.  Judy - your dress

Having a good time in the garden (as with our previous trip I tend to be a bit of a gardening minimalist, or as Riles says "mama kill all the plants?").  BTW, Tiny, we really miss you. 


This used to be overgrown bougainvillaea, hibiscus, desert rose and green stripy thing (that's a technical term). Aaah... space to breath now.  Mom, I promise it will grow back.

 Just 'cause my dad didn't already have enough projects, I insisted we add a new retaining wall and heighten the garden three feet.  Thanks to Alex, Moja and Erin for your hard work!

 Mango trees.  See mom how the hibiscus and bougi filled in after last trip where I decimated them?  I promise it will all grow back better than before.

 Orchids grow wild here in the trees.  On our walks we high-grade from empty lots along the road and now have a great collection going.  Couldn't seem to find any flowers today, but there are literally dozens of these thriving.  Now to understand why these guys can grow neglected in the crooks of a tree without soil, when I kill them at home.

 

 A naturally occurring hole on the property where the previous owners had filled up with cuttings, now composted.  Dad's dug it out to get (precious here) topsoil.  Its HUGE.  Trees on the side for scale.  PS - dad, love your randomness.  Now what to do with this damn hole?

Flamingos in the lagoon.  Sorry, shot from too far away.  They are neat, so hot pink!  Saw them every day.

Photos from our sundowners walk.  Love how there's always a puppy!

I swam to the islands, about 30 minutes hard swimming round trip with flippers, but in reality about an hour when checking out the reef out there.  Its nice n shallow most of the way, with sandy bottom and just the right amount of interest without being scary.  Lovely to have the destination, so much nicer than swimming in a pool. However, the last time I was on my own, I stopped for a huge starfish (2+ feet across) and almost stepped on a ray (medium sized, but with a huge tail, like 8+ ft!).  He circled me for a while, checking each other out, then a school of big (>1m) fish where hanging out around me.  All in 5ft of water.  I decided this was quite exciting enough while on my own and high-tailed it home.  Dad and I then swam back out together, but other course couldn't find the ray again.  Below see us swimming in the middle.

 Pops bought Riles this beat up dune buggy and fixed it up.  We didn't actually turn it on for him but he was THRILLED to sit on it and be pushed around the circle.  He hasn't stopped talking about it since.

 Potty training is ... interesting.  Pees are fine, but #2 is a disaster, and he seriously has three a day.  Its causing problems at playschool.  We have resorted to bribery in a big way.  Since he was naked the whole time we figured it would be easy to catch.  Yeah, no.  Finally the last day, we got a poo on the potty and he got the ultimate reward - ice cream and chocolate sauce WHILE sitting on the dune buggy.  I'm printing this and putting it up in our potty!

Thanks again gogo pops for a fantastic holiday!