Mexico Part 21: Trompo Magico

Eva at the playground 

It seems like these kiddos come with us a lot to trompo.  Noah, Ava and my Eva

Eli on the cow, that since then, I have noticed a sign that you can't ride the cow.  Whoops.

Riding the tractor.  Anything with a steering wheel is fun.

In reality these pictures are back from May, but I thought I would post together since the post is all about Trompo Magico.

It seems like lately we spend every Saturday at this place.  And this place is Trompo Magico.  I think it is one of my favorite places here in Mexico.  It is nothing different when compared to a Children's Museum back home.  I suppose that is what I like about it.  It feels so American, so kid friendly, so clean.  The place is hardly ever crowded and it is always well stocked.  In this way it is better than the Portland's Children Museum.  That place seems like it is always packed and I couldn't really afford to go there unless I used their cultural pass from the public library.  But here, the kids and I bought a membership so that only thing I have to pay for when I go is the 20 pesos ($1.50) I pay for parking.  What a steal I tell you, because the membership is only 350 pesos for a family of 4 (it was about $30 for me at the time).  The kids never get tired of playing inside and if they do we head outside and play in the outdoor park and have a little lunch.  Most of the time we go with friends.  It is easier to keep track of the kids if there are multiple moms there.  We each help watch each others children and not to mention we keep each other company while the children play, play, play.  Just writing about this place makes me HAPPY.

There is a mat area that is technically for children under 2 but Eli can seriously spend one hour in this place wrestling the mats and getting stuck in these tubes.  He wasn't too excited here.  

Look at him palm this baby.  All those stethoscopes were placed in the crib by yours truly.  

In the bubble contraption.  Love this pic.  Naomi, Eva, Ava, Erik.

Look at that face, but isn't the bubble cool?

Mexico Part 20: Independence Day

In case you didn't know, September 16th the kids get off school for Mexican independence day.  The real fun, however, is on the 15th.  People party the night of the 15th and then at midnight, they do the "grito" and light their fireworks.  Since it feel on the weekend, most people left town leaving Guadalajara nice and quiet.  In fact, I really didn't even hear very many fireworks at night.  Well we celebrated with our church.  Every year our Stake puts on an independence day party with music and tacos.  People get real into it and dress up in festive green, red and white.  We had a great time.  Matthew is still determined to take some dance lessons soon, but my little Eli was my dancing partner for the night.  So, beginning September the Mexican flags start coming up and there are carts on the street selling the colorful attire.  They even sell bigotes (mustaches).  We have yet to buy one for Matthew but I think next year we have to.  The other fun thing about this month is that Eva gets into the spirit from school.  There were multiple nights in a row where she would run around the house yelling "viva Mesico."  Yeah, she still has issues saying, Mexico, but I think it's cute.  It is crazy to think that our little girl is really learning to love this country.  I guess it is only fair if we dragged her here in the first place, right?  We really are lucky to be here.  The kids will really be able to understand their Mexican roots, when this is all said and done.  So, here you go people...VIVA MEXICO :)

Dylan, is such a ham.  She sees the camera and she has to be in the picture.

Trying to look as festive and possible.  Next year, I will be better at this.

I just noticed that the only good pic of Eli is with his friend Dylan.  What the heck, Eli?  Don't you strive to impress your mom anymore?  

Eva and her buddy Naomi.  This was take two.  The first pic Eva had her eyes partially closed.  This is what I got after I told her to open up her eyes.  She likes to be a goof ball.

Mexico Part 19: Ave. Chapultepec, Crepes, La Matera

The girls along for the ride, Tammy, Dany, me, Anjane, Kim

me, Kim, Anjane.  We missed Dany, Kim's sister in this pic

The night was loaded with people, not vendors, sigh.

 

         He told us he could prepare two more hot dogs on his arm.  He was pretty dope!

Sorry Kim, not a great pic of you but I had to get one of Anjane with her food.  Running joke we have.

I am fighting the urge to not post this in Spanish.  Even though I live in Mexico there are very few people that I speak Spanish to on a regular basis.  I have some friends from church that I speak Spanish to and then the mom's from Eva's school.  That's it.  Pretty crazy huh?  That's why I fight the urge to post this in Spanish because these girls that I went on this adventure with I normally speak Spanish to with the exception of my sweet friend, Anjane.  Alright, back to the post, Kim and Dany wanted to take Anjane and I to Avenida Chapultepec because on Friday and Saturday nights they close the street down, a very large and popular street during the week mind you, and open it up for people to mingle and buy things from vendors.  However, on this occasion they were doing some celebrations, I think it was go greenish related, and instead of vendors they had music concerts with stages and bands all along the strip.  As a result there were tons and tons of people out.  It turned out to be a bust really, but then we went out for hot dogs and that was the highlight of my night.  The hotdogs were Mexican style with mayo, ketchup, onion, Mexican cheese and the wiener of course.  I love that about this place, you can always find good food on the streets for cheap.

Speaking of yummy cheap food, we have been visiting "our crepe guy." We call him that quite often because it seems like we visit him often.  Near my house, probably about 10-15 minutes away a little crepe stand comes out at night and the girls, and our family, like to go and enjoy in the goodness.  I think I have learned to perfect my crepe and I have decided that I love mine with lechera and nutella.  I pay 40 pesos for this goodness so with the dollar hovering around 13 pesos to the dollar, the crepe is only about three dollars.  I think if I go out for more of these I won't break the bank.

The famous crepe and I 

Heather and Anjane.  These girls can always make me laugh.  They wanted to play a prank on Matthew and I the other night where they were going to pretend stab me!?! and freak out Matthew.  I know it sounds weird but it really was funny at the time.

Matthew spends a TON of time studying.  In fact, for 6 weeks in a row he had a test every Monday.  Well, this past Monday he had no test, so the girls and I took it upon ourselves to get some sitters and take the boys to an Argentinian steak house called La Matera.  We figured they couldn't say know if it was steak.  It was pretty good, but what was even better was the company.  I love these people.  What's neat about them, is that they all started Med school in the same semester that we did.  Ben, keeps Matthew dedicated to his studies and ever since he made friends with him they have helped each other stay on track with their studies.  They are good for each other.  And I figure, if I can't spend time with Matthew, I couldn't be happier that he spends it with someone who is determined to do good on the boards; just like Matthew.

From left to right, Jared and Michelle, me and Matthew, Ben and Kristi

The truth is, ever since I got here I spend a lot of time with my kids but also with friends and it is pretty awesome.  I don't think I have ever been on so many dates and girl nights as I have here in Mexico.  I seriously think I am living the life.

Eva's First Day of Kinder 3

Have I already explained that they do schooling a little different in Mexico than they do in the states?  Well, I have a horrible memory so I am going to explain a little about schooling here for the sake of enlightening everybody.  Private education is quite the boom here.  I guess it is because I live around people with quite a bit of money, but even people that don't make much make the sacrifice to send their children to private school.  Most of the reasoning behind it is that people want their children to be bilingual and almost all of the private schools are bilingual  The other main difference is that people send there children to school very early on.  Even mom's that don't work will send their children to school by 18 months.  But really, kinder doesn't start until the child is 2 to two and a half and that is considered kinder one and there are up to three kinders.  Now that Eva is five she is in Kinder 3 which is the last of the kinders.  The children by the end of this year will be able to read close to fluently in Spanish and will be able to write in cursive as well.  Crazy huh?  In math they will know there numbers up to 100 and will begin to add and subtract.  Of course coming from the states I am amazed that my daughter will be able to do all this but it makes sense here since children go to three years of kinder right?  Should I get on my, I advocate free preschool education tangent now?  I will spare all of you.  So my Eva is now in Kinder three and these were some of the shots from the first day of school.  It wasn't as emotional as it would have been back in Oregon starting kinder, but I will get over it.  She is excited about school still and for that I couldn't be more thankful.  

Now enter her brother.  Elijah is not so excited about school.  Tiny Town likes to take younger siblings to school for free on Fridays.  So starting that first Friday that Eva had school we put her little brother there too.  He was a mess the first day, and has slightly been getting better but not really.  They don't have him there long, only two hours but he stills prefer to be home with his momma watching a little Elmo and chilling out.  Okay, we don't watch a ton of Elmo, just one episode a day but he still loves the red furry creature.  Why do I send him to school you ask?  Well, really it's his dad's idea because he thinks he's too attached to me, but the other reason why is because we feel it would be good for him to learn to interact with other children and socialize.  I am hopeful he will get better there but today, he did stay home with me because he panicked and didn't even want to get out of the car.  And of course, I am NOT willing to send my kid into school in hysterics when I am not doing anything at home that couldn't have a cute little toddler with me.  I know I am a sucker but when the time comes he will get this.

Mexico Part 18: Chapala

Anjane and I got adventurous and posed next to this old man in his costume.  Since we gave him money, he let us hold some of his weapons.  

Our tour boat was Wendy, and the pictures are all blue from the inside of the boat.  The island is where the fisherman stayed part of the year.

First of all, don't judge.  Here is my sorry attempt at making a photo collage.  I used lightroom but I don't really like how they turned out.  So, if anyone knows of something a little more user friendly that I don't have to pay a million dollars to use, I would love your input.  The only reason why I want a collage in the first place is just to quickly put pictures in without having to decide which two or three pictures I will use for the blog.  I like that I got more pictures but I don't think they are pleasing to the eye.  

Okay, back to the real post.  I think almost a month ago now, WOW, I am horrible at updating, The Hiatts and the Herreras from our ward went to visit Chapala.  It is a lake in Jalisco and is apparently the largest fresh water lake in all of Mexico.  Lake Chapala is important to Guadalajara because it provides water for the city.  In fact, I think there is a controversy right now because Guadalajara wants to continue to develop this area, but of course, is putting the water levels of the lake in jeopardy.  It is about a 45 minute drive from where we live and worth it at that.  We went during the "rainy" season and everything was green.  It really was beautiful.  The touristy part is less than a mile long.  They have vendors on the street and tours on the lake.  We decided to take a small boat out on the lake and take it around the island where, two times out of the year there is a heavy fishing season for these little small fishes that the people here like to fry and eat.  I didn't try them, because they didn't seem like my cup of tea but you really do see them everywhere.  After walking the strip, taking the tour and eating at a yummy restaurant, it was time to pack it all up and head for home.  We don't get to see the sites of Mexico often since we aren't on "vacation" but when we do we wish we could see more of this cool place.