BUENO

Hola amigos! Ok, it's not really fair for me to write anything in spanish, as the place we stayed in Puerto Vallarta was almost exclusively US/Canadian, and I kind of feel guilty about going to a different country and pretty much experiencing none of the culture... but hey.
We had a great time on vacation, largely due to the fact that we had over three times as many adults as kids... Definitely the way to travel with small children. With the minor exception of alexander getting sick and puking on us on the plane ride home, it was near perfect. We really enjoyed the pool (Liam is a true water baby) and racing the waves in and out on the beach. A highlight was the whale watching tour where we actually saw multiple whales breaching up out of the water all around us... a truly spectacular spectacle. How something so huge could hurl itself out of the water like that, or, even more befuddling, why (I like to think it's for the shear joy of it) is a mystery that makes me smile at the thought. Alexander was literally quivering with excitement. How cool that little-kid-spirit is contagious!
For a few days there (and now still), breast cancer wasn't the first thing that hit me in the morning, or the last thing I tried to force out of my head before I fell asleep. For the next few days at least, I'll be the one with the strangely distributed sections of sunburn (e.g., the triangle on my ankle) that I somehow missed with the sunscreen, rather than the bruises on my arm from the blood draws. And during the next few months, when I'm feeling icky, I can think of those incredible whales that can project themselves into the sky just for the splash, and that will help, I think.
Dad thinks we should make this an annual event... so for the next many many years to come, as we're sitting on the beach, we can reflect back on this first February Family Trip, and this situation, which seems so all-encompassing now, will be just a footnote-- and more importantly, another reason to enjoy being with my family that much more.