A picture of the beach, in front of our resort, between Cancun and Playa de Carmen in Mexico. Paradise does not get a lot better than this and its winter.

Well we are back in Denver after a fantastic break to the Riviera Maya, just South of Cancun Mexico. My spanish is getting better with each cocktail I consume. Lesleigh's parents joined us on a trip to Mexico last week for the week.

I managed to swop some time share from SA for time share in Mexico. What a bargain we got. My levy was $250 with RCI for 7 days. The room rate in Mexico over this peak week was $1600 per day. So all we had to pay was $250 for 7 days, now that is great value. The resort we stayed in was brand new and we were the first occupants, each room had a stand alone shower, toilet, Jacuzzi bath tub and a hot tub on a balcony overlooking the golf course at the beach. What more could we have asked for. Happy hour was between 11am and 13h00 and so every cocktail ordered arrived with a duplicate. We enjoyed all of them one at a time. The weather ranged between 25 and 30 degrees C and the water temps were as warm as Durban in summer. Enough said, take a look at the photo's and make your own judgments.

I did miss being with my family over Christmas this year as we always make an effort to be together. So love to you all, I am glad to hear that you had a fabulous Christmas day and may the new year bring you all you wish for and a whole lot more.

To all my mates now scattered all over the globe thank you for all your good wishes for Christmas and may all of you have a year of happiness, good health and great success ahead. You have all made big sacrifices to start new lives abroad and the dividends will pay in your favor, hang in there.

To my mates back in SA miss you lot heaps and hope that you are all enjoying the warm climate and braai's out there on the decks. It is going to take some time before I will be able to visit again but I do extend an open invite to all of you to come over and stay with us whilst skiing some of the most sought after ski slopes world wide.

Happy New Year!!!!


Lesleigh loved the beach and soaked up some good sunshine whilst sipping on Margarita's for the week.

We visited a local town Playa de Carmen and had cocktails at the beach on these really comfi chairs

Fishing over here is also good and the food was great.

This is a pic of the Playa de Carmen Beach front

The streets are clean and well organized with lots to see and do and the clothing and food are very reasonable.

Celebrating my birthday in Mexico was another highlight in the trip

My wife turned into a little Mexican local in a day

Here is the life, kick back and relax on a bed alongside the pool with waiters serving cocktails and warm weather.

The local pubs could be found at all the pools and we certainly took advantage of these well frequented pit stops.

Here is a photo of the resort and as you can see it is one spectacular destination.

Lesleigh's dad and mom arrive at the Cancun airport

And so this is what we left behind for Christmas, a much cooler Denver with a snow plough clearing the road in the morning after a gentle dump of snow the night before.

The lights Parade in Denver and skiing in Breckenridge

On route home from the ski trip the water fall stood frozen as was most of the lake on the road side.

A view of the road and snow on the hills as we headed back toward Denver.

Lesleigh and I after a great day on the slopes, both very happy at a successful day out.

We tackled a blue slope and it was not as easy at I thought it might be.

On the ski lift out to the main slopes.

The lunch time break at the restaurant at the base of peak 8, out in the sunshine on the outer deck

The morning lesson was relatively incident free with one noted crash for me going straight through the blue fence seen here but I did remain standing although the fence came straight down.

Here we all are at the start of the lesson.

The morning air was crispy but better weather was on the way.

It was a memorable day for me on my first day out on these slopes.

Lesleigh, Jen and Mel all at Breckenridge as we prepared to take our first lesson in ski-ing

Lesleigh and Jen in the Gondola which takes us from the car park up to the base station on peak 8.


With all the sludge on the roads our car looked a right mess.

Traveling through Frisco on our way up to Breckenridge.

We attended the parade of Lights on Friday night in downtown Denver and watched in the freezing cold as hundreds of participants marched by in the annual parade.


One of the school marching bands in the parade.

Even the bands dress up in theme dress whilst playing carols down the street.

There were a couple of these blow ups and they do look funny swinging in the wind between the tall buildings.

We managed to get VIP seats in the grand stand but it was still cold out.

The Snow Thickens as Winter sets in

Our Christmas Tree all set up and standing in our formal lounge. Lesleigh decorated our tree and it looks great.

It is easy to spot the two South Africans in the neighborhood building our first snow man in the backyard.

The golf course I play at regularly is temporarily closed due to all the snow. Opens in Feb next year, maybe.

Above is the park we celebrated summer in, what a transformation.

This is Bowles avenue just up the road from our new house.

Our temp gauge on the back porch indicating a high of 20 Degrees F

A picture of the sun rising on the back garden.

Sunrise from my bedroom window.

A view of our neighbors across the street

Enjoying the joys of feeling snow falling for the first time

Our front door in view in and amongst all the snow falling from above.