Pencils are great, backpacks are great too! Whatever you can bring is great! MY PLACE is great...don't miss it this time. Your kids will like it, if they like to sing, even better! Thanks for squeezing the extra stuff into your carry-ons! It's appreciated!

Hey Nancy!

Unless the Great Lotto Bird dumps a big one on my head, it does not look like this year. Important anniversary for us this year (30) and Jerry wants to go back to Barbados (sentimental fool). Even that isn't a done deal, yet. It is not at all like Cancun, but every place has it's merits, faults, fans & detractors. Seriously, he buried a pair of shoes on the beach in Barbados & wants to go see if he can dig them up! The beach is wide & the water never comes up to the area where he put them, so he swears they have to be there. ;-}

I do love the folks in the Yucatan & I will truly miss seeing friends this year, including some from all over the world. Luckily, some do keep frequent touch on picture trail...where folks can forum & post photo albums of Cancun vacations & other things.

I have to grin because Jerry is so sentimental & in tune with me. PennyPenguin said when I was singing at My Place (his back was to the stage) he said, "I know that voice!" Not sure if he really knew it was me until he looked, though....hahahaha!

One thing he says is for sure...... He ate a grouper dish at Omni, Laguna Grill, & My Place. His favorite of the 3 recipes was at My Place. Not a quality comparison, just his taste.

LOL because ZZ lives at MY Place when she & hubby are in town! That's a good thing because MY Place is a great place to be!

Shame that more folks don't recognize it for the good thing it is, not to mention the wonderful friends you can make in Janet, Joe & their top notch crew. It's not meant to be a Coco Bongo, Dady's, or a flamboyant extravaganza of debauchery. It's a friendly, world neighborhood place where anyone should feel welcome and relaxed. I still want to know who the young Brit Chick is who blew me away with her rendition of "Black Velvet," if you please??

People should drop in & check out the DJ booth! Be amazed at how full it is of stuff for the KIDS, thanks to TA folks, or... if it looks a bit empty, kick a few bill$ your way, or make a foray to Walmart & fill those bags up for the kids.

Bump for the kids & Christmas all year long!

We will definitely bring a bunch of stuffed backpacks when we come in April- I never knew this website existed and is a must to check out. The photos are great! What a great heart and spirit you have neverwenthome and what a big difference i think we all can make.

www.giveatoygetasmile.org

NO! DON'T DO IT! DON'T GO TO

giveatoygetasmile dot org

If you have a soft heart, all those pictures of smiling kids and families will just make you cry & wish you could do more!

I tell ya...... that site is just a trap for folks who have big hearts & deep caring for the less fortunate of the world.

BUT...... if you believe that you should give your heart away on vacation to someone other than a drunken lothario, or transient hottie..............

Check out the site & tell others to witness what you see there.

Giving a backpack and school supples won't just help kids with the book knowledge..... it also gives them the knowledge that there are caring individuals out there!

GOD! ag700...you almost had ME crying! I didn't feel bad giving presents out to the kids in the villages. I had all I could do from crying when I went into the General Hospital. We gave out stuffed animals and coloring books and crayons to the sick kids. THEY HAVE NOTHING IN THE HOSPITAL FOR THE KIDS TO DO ..they lie in bed all day with no distractions other than hospital tests. One little 3 year old girl stuck her arm up to her elbow into a pot of boiling oil..she is pictured on the website. When we left, you can see that the kids were a bit happier and were all coloring. The General Director said I was welcome ANYTIME. As we all know, you feel better when you feel happy...you heal better when you feel happy. One of my goals is to try to get together enough financing to buy DVD players and TV's (even if they're 2nd hand) to put in each of the 10 rooms of the Pediatric floor. At least when the kids are there, they would have something to do 15 hours a day. I would also like to set up some sort of PLAYCENTER so that the kids that can get around have somewhere to go and the kids that can't, at least can have some games or toys to play with.

So far, we have all accomplished alot. I'm hoping that, with all your help, this will go an ongoing project of GOODWILL! Thanks!

Sorry about your particular drive, but we usually bring school supplies and baby items and give them to someone at out favorite hotel to give out to the employees who work there, since we have been going there for 4 years now, it seems more personal.

How about a gift card to Office Depot-does that work?

Sure a gift card is fine. I can always go into Office Depot and fill in with the things that the kids need, that we didn't get enough of.

It's nice to give the employees things for their families, however, these people work and have a decent income. The children we target are in the colonias and don't have the same opportunities because their parents are not employed in the Hotel Zone- The key is to help. It doesn't matter who is getting it..it's a matter of giving. The Cancun Trip Advisor people are VERY giving as you can see from the 2006 Give A Toy Get A Smile Roster. Thank you all my TA buddies! Nancy