the ys exec team just returned from a working retreat in mexico. these pics sure don’t show it, but we worked long hours, wrestling through personal stuff, communication issues, and lots of planning for the coming year. we rented a home, so we could prepare all our own meals and save time and money. but we did go out for dinner one night, and mark dowds (our consultant) and i bought these nacho libre masks for our sons.

thursday afternoon, we were mentally and emotionally spent, and had mostly wrapped up what we’d set out to accomplish. the house we’d rented was overlooking a few ocean front golf holes, and four of us (myself, mark dowds, jay howver, and tic long) decided to play a few holes at the twilight rate. it was beautiful. four of the holes were alongside the ocean’s edge; and, yes, we lost golf balls in the ocean.

jay, dowds and i were driving out of mexico that night, and experienced a series of fiascos. first, we missed the correct exit to cue up for the border crossing, and ended up driving around tijuana near the border for a while, trying to find another way to the access. finally, we ended up in a lane toward the border that seemed like some kind of special lane. but the signs were all in spanish, and there was literally no way out of the lane anyhow. well, after waiting 30 minutes to get to the front, we found we were in some kind of special permit line, and were threatened with a $5000 fine, impounded vehicle and other penalties. they had us pull into secondary inspection, found fruit in my car (which was purchased in the u.s. and brought down with us), and told us we had to go back to mexico and come through the crossing again. really, it was like getting a spanking. the border guards walked our car over to the “entering mexico” side, moved some cones, and sent us back into mexico. we had to find a place to dump the fruit, and ended up wrongly on a freeway with no exits for about 8 miles (we gave the fruit and a few other things to a nice guy standing by a gas station hitchiking). finally, we made it back to the border, waited to cross again, and got through. by then it was 11:30pm, and we decided an in-and-out burger stop was in order.

finally, here’s max cooking eggs for himself yesterday morning, after i gave him his lucha libre mask.