Party

Our friends had a party to celebrate their one year old's birthday. It turned out to be far more fun for us as she went off to bed. We had tacos which were great and a pinata which we bashed up good and proper in front of the little girl. I'm not sure what message we were sending but she got right into it too with a wooden spoon. Great party!

My Garden

My multi-coloured roses - yellow and pink on the same plant. I got this big climbing plant by pulling off a twig from a friend's garden it just grew like crazy! In fact all the plants you can see in this shot are stolen from someone's garden. I love it!

These two white flowers just popped right up from a really boring looking plant.

Here is my lovely garden. It's growing like mad now there's loads of sunshine. I just hope the boys living here will look after it. Rob reckons her will grow herbs so I have hope.

Getting excited

I am so excited to jet off to Vietnam. We just got our flight details and the information on our first social. We are flying via Quatar on Quatar Airlines. I was a bit disappointed as I hate flying and now we have to do a transfer it makes it twice as bad. But never mind I have got over it!

We have a social on the fist Saturday when we get there - off to a Czech micro-brewery. Sounds like something we would do in London. I hope it will be easy to meet people and make friends. It sounds like they have an organised social committee unlike here where the principal organises the Christmas dinner etc. and we end up sitting in the art room having dinner. I can't wait!

Less grumpy!

I feel so much better than yesterday. I went to the gym last night, ate healthily and got a good sleep. Although I did dream like crazy. I hope this week goes quickly. We have a party to go to this weekend for our friends' one year old kid. They have already had the kids party but think they should also celebrate so we're going round theirs on Saturday. I am looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up after the holiday.

Back to school blues

I feel crap although I slept really well last night. I look shattered and people have even said that. So much for a holiday rest! I didn't sleep very well while we were away and I think getting back into routine will help me feel better. I was gutted to get back to school today to find my classroom in a big mess. I left it perfectly tidy and was looking forward to coming back to an organised room. They had ripped out two windows and it was so dirty. They left all my stuff in a mess and didn't bother to put anything back and some of the kids work from the walls has completely disappeared along with the chair I sit on. I was fuming. If I had know I would have put all my personal stuff away.

I need to eat healthily and go to the gym. It makes such a difference. I have only ten weeks to slim down a bit before pigging out in England. It's terrible to think like that but if I loose weight before I get there I can put it back on again in the summer!

Back home

We're back in Mexico. We're all unpacked. I don't mind being home but I can't bear the thought of school tomorrow. It's boiling hot here. For some reason I thought it would be cold. My garden has grown like crazy and looks gorgeous. I am going to organise a party outside now it's warm and dry. Only ten weeks of term then big, long summer holiday!

Out for a nice meal after our mega walk.Frog!

Great big leaf on the way to the top of the volcano.

Looking into the steaming volcano. It stank of sulphur and was quite choking.

After visiting the volcano we went to a butterfly and snake place which had a waterfall walk through the park. Bit of a climb again! My legs will be super strong when I get back.

Not what I call a holiday

The hill we climbed - it looks more tame from a distance!

We spotted 3 different toucan species and I managed to get a shot of this one.

At the start of the walk.

We went on the craziest hike today. It was about 6 hours and straight up or down a so called hill - it was more like a mountain. It was amazing being right in the forest. It went through a rain forest and then as we were higher a cloud forest. Both of the forests have completely different animals and plants. It's like there is an invisible line where they change dramatically. It was beautiful but I was shattered. Of course Gareth loved it but I would have preferred to be lying by the pool! I collapsed when we got back and slept like the dead. Gareth is taking me to a lovely restaurant and has promised a bottle of wine for my efforts.

Zip lines and Tarzan swinging

I have just screamed my lungs dry by scaring myself silly on a swing. We went on a tour where you fly through the forest on zip lines. It was very professional and I felt totally safe but some of the lines were so high up and very long. The longest was 450m and about 30m from the ground. It was really exhilarating and we had great views of the town and the volcano. I was very brave though when we came to a Tarzan swing. You had to jump off like a bungy jump and it took your breath away then instead of bouncing you continue to swing like on a big rope swing. I went so high - right up into a tree. I screamed my head off and all the blokes though I was very funny. I came down shaking like a leaf and my legs felt like jelly. Now I am glad I did it - but I wouldn't do it again soon. We're going to have a lazy day. I'm off to pig out on white chocolate covered coffee beans. I love them. So much for the healthy eating!Me on the Tarzan swing

Hot Springs and Erupting Volcanoes

We had the best day yesterday. After lunch we took a hike round the volcano. It was incredible to feel it rumbling and we saw it chucking out rocks and lava. It is one of the most dangerous kind of volcanoes as it does not have a lava flow but sends out explosions of lava rocks. So we couldn't go right up close and take a look - we had top stay pretty far off. But it was amazing - like a natural firework display.

After that we went to some hot springs. I thought the would be man made pools on a cliff like the others we had visited but this was a full on spa. It was idyllic. We had fresh towels and it was a welcome relaxation after a hard day of hiking. The pools we huge and all natural with little waterfalls and smooth rocks to sit on. Some of them were a bit too hot 41.5C was the hottest - I'm sure that's hotter than a bath. They had a bar in a cooler pool where you could sit in the water and drink. I had a naughty but yummy cocktail. We had dinner with the other people we had been hiking with. They were rally nice . A couple of girls from Mexico, so we had lots to talk about, and a couple from Arizona. All round a great day out. This is the best picture I could get at the springs as it was too dark and steamy. You can just about see a water fall behind the steam. You could sit underneath it and it felt like a steam room.

Volcanoes and Rainforest

We're just in the middle of a trip. We have had lunch and have an hour or so to waste so I thought I would take the chance to add my photos so far today. We went on a hike this morning through the rainforest. We started with the volcano smoking behind us and we could hear explosions along the walk - a bit scary. It was really high up in the canopy across suspended bridges. The wobbled about like mad and I was a bit of a scaredy cat. We saw some poison dart frogs - the ones you can kill people with darts by wiping the points on the frogs skin. I was careful not to accidentally lick one.After that we went to a lovely waterfall. It was a killer walking up and down. I used muscles I haven't used in ages. But it was worthwhile to swim in the plunge pool of the waterfall. It was really cold but refreshing as it's so hot today. It was the cleanest water I have ever seen and felt lovely in my hair. We just had a nice lunch and it chucked it down with rain - we have timed it so well. Now it's stopped and we have another hike to take round the bottom of the volcano. Then on to some relaxing natural hot springs.

Jungle Photos

On the beach after our jungle walk

Bats having a daytime sleep

Vey poisoness snake / called eyelash something (can't remmeber exactly)

I look a bit manic here as I was up far too early and I got to hold this bug. It was all too much.

If you ever wondered this is how pineapple grow.

Monkeys