Mexico Part 54: Anniversary Trip

On the 19th of July, Matthew and I will have been married for 10 years.  That's a lot of years!  Not to mention the fact, I have been with the guy since I was 16.  Almost have of my life.  And because of it, we decided to take this opportunity we have living in Mexico to fly to the beautiful region of Cancun, Mexico.  So, on June 14th Nana flew down to watch the kids, while Matthew and I left the next morning for our little vacation.  We gave Carla a quick tour of all the things she would need to know while she was here and we left.  She is seriously one of the bravest people I know!  Who would do that?!  Fly to a country where they don't speak the language to take care of your kids?!  I have the BEST mother in law.  Our trip didn't start the greatest because we showed up at the airport two hours early, like the airline wanted (but totally, not necessary), flight was three hours delayed, and apparently, we didn't have our shuttle transportation set up to the resort once we got to the Cancun airport.  Thanks to some very nice people, we made it to the hotel on the correct shuttle.  But, by the time we got there, and figured things out, it was around 10:30 pm.  We basically lost all of Saturday.  Always a bummer.  Then on Sunday, we spent roaming around the town of Playa del Carmen "getting ready to have fun" (for you Arrested Development watchers).  You see, the night before, we were caught off guard paying 160 pesos for two one liter bottles of water, when at the store we would have paid 40 pesos.  Inflation is crazy in these places, and when you live in Mexico, you know better.  That's why we hit up Playa del Carmen.  We found a Walmart and got the missing trinkets we needed for our trip.  The beach at Playa del Carmen is beautiful and we ended up setting a tour for Cozumel on Monday for some snorkeling.  Monday we headed back to Playa del Carmen to take the ferry over to Cozumel, only to realize we barely had enough money to pay for the ferry and take the shuttle back to our resort.  We accidentally forgot to bring enough money with us, and didn't have any credit/debit cards with us either.  It was a shame, because in Cozumel it was raining and we didn't get to see the island after the snorkeling because we had no money on us to pay the transportation.  We made lemonade out of our situation and enjoyed the snorkeling.  Tuesday we went to Tulum.  We saw awesome ruins there and played on their beach.  Even though it wasn't sunny, I had never enjoyed such blue, warm water or white sand.  It had nothing on my Oregon beach.  Wednesday we made the decision to stay put and enjoy our beautiful resort.  We ate great food there, swam in cool swimming pools, laid around the beach, got sunburned; it was an awesome day.  Thursday we took a tour to Ek-Balam and visited the ruins there.  We went to a small Mayan community for some lunch, swam in a cenote (underground hole with water inside), and stopped in a small town.  One of the coolest tours we were on.  And then Friday we went to Xcaret, an archaeological park embedded with so much of Mexican culture.  Every night we did night swimming and ate delicious resort food.  I missed my kids but it was nice to just be Matthew and I.  I have learned a lot being married.  It has its ups and downs.  Way more ups than downs though.  I have learned what it means to think about the other person, compromise, and how to rely on one another.  I think about him as my really good friend.  I remember when we first got married how strange I thought it was that he never went home, and now I can't imagine him not being home.  He knows me better than any other person and loves me like no one else.  I really am lucky to call him mine.  I feel lucky that even after all these years, he still can make me laugh.  Happy Anniversary Mateo!  I love you!

And big shout out to Grandma Patty for letting us use some of her time share.  Thank you!!

I took over 700 pictures, so these are just a few of my favorites.

Tulum

Ek-Balam

Xcaret

Mayan Palace Resort

Mexico Part 53: Visitors Take II

May was full of family!  Last minute my parents decided that they wanted to come and see us one last time before we left Guadalajara so they came on the 23rd and stayed for 10 days.  It was great to have them here and do a do-over from the first time they came.  I was a little more cautious this time of where we went out to eat, and we all managed to stay nice and healthy this visit.  One of the other main reasons my mom was coming was to visit her older brother in Matehuala who had been sick.  So, my parents, the kids and I piled in the car and went to visit my mom's side of the family.  River knew we were leaving and wouldn't get out of the car when it was time to go, so she came along for the ride too.  Matthew was doing a Carrera Brutal, kind of like a ragner with crazy obstacle courses in Queretaro, Mexico, so he didn't drive down with us on Friday.  Instead, he joined us Saturday night.  We stayed from Friday to Monday and made a pit stop in San Juan de los Lagos outside of Jalisco.  Then a couple days later three of my aunts and uncles from my dad's side came to visit and we had a full house!  It was crazy but fun.  They are the nicest people and have the greatest kids.  We even threw an early birthday party for Eva since we won't be going to Oregon this summer.  It was nice to be able to have family and great friends there too.  While the family was in town, we went to downtown Zapopan, Chapala, Tequila (twice) and also Tlaqupaque all inside Jalisco.  We drove around the city in two jam packed cars with no seat belts and weathered the intense Mexican sun.  It has been HOT!  Get ready for picture overload...

San Juan de los Lagos

Tequila

More pictures to follow...

Mexico Part 52: Elijah's Fourth Birthday

My sweet kid Elijah turned four on May 2nd.  I can't even believe it.  He has grown up so much!

He had a family birthday on his actual day and a friend party the next day.  I wanted to make him what he wanted for dinner on his actual day and he said he wanted cake.  So knowing him pretty well, we made him french toast, eggs and watermelon.  Three of his favorite things.  His friend birthday was with our good friends that live here in our neighborhood.  Nothing too complicated.  I got WAY too much food, and the kids had fun.  What else is new?

Elijah, 

You have made such growth this past year.  Your language has thankfully picked up to the point where I can say you communicate.  Whew!  You understand English and Spanish beautifully but choose to speak English or at times a combination of the two.  You have a pretty pronounced lisp that is endearing.  You go to preschool twice a week and playgroup the other two days.  You are learning to interact with your buddies and defend yourself as well.  You are as kind as can be and wouldn't hurt a fly.

You LOVE sugar.  I wish you didn't but you have quite the sweet tooth.  Cookies, cake, candies, chocolate, you name it, you love it.  But when it comes to real food you can be a picky eater at times.  You don't seem to like soups and stews and tend to enjoy the drier American food.  Breakfast is always your best meal of the day.

You have an amazing imagination.  You can play for hours by yourself and I always love to buy you toys because I know you will enjoy them and actually use them.  You are a builder.  You love blocks and legos.  You can construct cars, robots, rockets, airplanes, with little to no effort.  You also love super heroes.  

You are learning slowly to hold a pencil and trace over letters.  You can't seem to decide which hand you write/color with.  You are actually equally good in both.  You can make stick people with a flat smile.  And are learning to have the control to stay within lines.  You are really good at using scissors too.  However, your perfectionism gets in the way of you executing your ideas sometimes.  

You love t.v.  We have to limit you because you get lost in it.  Some of your favorites are the "lego movie," Maker, maker, (Mr. Maker) and benius an berb (Phineas and Ferb).  But you also like to listen to stories as well.

We love you so much!  You are pretty easy going and it makes having you a joy. 

Mexico Part 51: Visitors

It's been two years since we've had anybody from the States visit us, and after Spring Break, we had Cathryn and John, Matthew's sister and her hubby with baby, come and visit us.  We were SO lucky to get to host them.  Although, I am not going to lie, I now sympathize with our families every time we crash their homes for weeks!  They only came for a week and by the end I was pretty tired.  It isn't easy to keep your routine (Eva and Matthew still had school) and be in the sun all day touring this place.  Plus, it didn't help that somewhere in there we all managed to get sick, which was a major bummer, but we still had a BLAST.  We tried to hit up all the places that we love here.  We started right off the bat from the airport straight to Chapala.  It is a beautiful drive.  When we went back into the city we stopped at our favorite taco place and had tacos al pastor.  Best ever!  Then the following day, we overwhelmed them with a get together with all of our friends here.  We even had the missionaries over!  Monday I took them out to the old tianguis I used to go to for some tlacoyos.  I think Cathryn at first was a little confused that we were going to have a heavier meal for breakfast, but that's how they do it here.  We went to my favorite Oaxacan place to eat on Tuesday, is it just me, but my idea of visiting a place is getting to eat all the yummy food?  Somewhere along the way, something made us sick.  Whoops!  Matthew took them to the Gauchimontones on Wednesday, and Thursday we headed to Manzanillo for some beach time.  Matthew and Eva played hookie on Friday.  I am getting the hang of the beach here and have the desire to go every weekend.  No joke!  It was a great drive and the kids were awesome.  It's getting easier to travel with such older kids.  If I can get Cathryn to send them to me, I will add some awesome pictures of things we saw while driving to all of these places.

Having people visit where I live makes me realize how much I LOVE Mexico.  Three years ago when we talked about moving here I couldn't fathom it.  I probably thought what all of you think, Mexico means drug lords, murders, abductions...you get my drift.  But I was so wrong.  This place is wonderful.  And I seriously mean it.  My day to day life is the best and I can't believe I get to call this place home.

Mexico Part 50: Easter

I am sure I have mentioned this time and time again, but out of the United States and living in another country, our friends have become our family.  We have pretty much claimed the park near our homes and camp out with our own tables and chairs to put on quite the production.  Sometimes, the Sunday doesn't feel too Sabbathy with all the work we have to do.  But it is always worth it.  We are too poor to pay for the covered area with the neighborhood's tables and chairs so we just bring our own.  And, since we are the house closest to the park, our home often becomes the public restroom too.  We now have our act down pretty well, and this Easter didn't disappoint.  We had two hams, green bean casserole, funeral potatoes, yams, all the good stuff our mom's would do for us, but now that we are older we do for ourselves   It's pretty great.  We also included an Easter egg hunt, water balloon fight, and an egg toss.  I am grateful to know that we can be a family wherever in the world that we are.  And this Easter I am grateful to know that because of my Savior, I have the blessing to be with my sweet family forever.  Happy Easter!