Soccer

Seth and Sam completed their third year of soccer this fall. It was a great season. They played on a team with 7 and 8 year olds and were some of the youngest players of the group. This was apparent in size and quickness, as well as aggressiveness; however by the end of the season, they were holding their own with the bigger kids. This was the first year that they played on an all boy team as well as with a goalie. We were blessed to be on a nice team, where we already new some of the players and parents from baseball. Sam and Seth always looked forward to practice and never complained...even if they practiced in the pouring rain with only car headlights to illuminate the field.

Seth

One of the other players dad (who also happened to coach the twins in baseball) noticed that Seth always wears bright socks and that's how he could tell them apart. I had never noticed that!

Sam, Seth

Sam

Twin power

Sam throwing in to Seth

We were thankful for family coming to watch games. Sam especially loves having people he knows watch his games! The Plato family joined us one Saturday morning for a game.

It's always "interesting" to keep a toddler busy during games. Josh and Edmund were buddies in crime.

They finally decided to just cling on the daddy's (always a good option)

Ben spiked Josh's hair that morning...he looks even more of a stinker with his hair that way

One Saturday, both sets of grandparents came to watch the boys. It was so fun!

Seth, Sam (Seth's chin dimple is so noticeable in these pictures)

For the boys' final game, the field had been absolutely soaked the previous week with rain, so it was a muddy mess. After the game their coach suggested that all the players run and slide into a huge muddle puddle. Lots of fun for the kids, lots of clean-up for the parents (I may or may not have been a little irritated). Here they are with their buddy Cameron:

 Look how happy Sam and Seth look

 Seth, Sam

Field Trip: Lake Sacajawea

If you live in the Portland area, you've got to make the trip to Longview, Washington to visit Lake Sacajawea Park. It is amazing. It is over three miles long, has three play structures, gorgeous old growth trees, trails, gazebos, and a beautiful lake throughout the whole thing. And for you home school nerds out there that may or may not be teaching your children about the solar system, it has plaques for the sun and planets in a proportional distances. One of the families in our Classical Conversations group lives in Longview and mentioned this park to us, and we're so thankful. They met us at the park and we explored for hours, and honestly could have stayed all day. If you do decide to make the trek to Lake Sacajawea with a large group of kiddos, make sure to bring a stroller for any toddlers! It was a lot of walking for Josh. In fact, bikes for the family might be optimal! We didn't even make it all the way around the lake, and I guess that there is a Japanese Garden at the opposite end than we started that's amazing. I hope I've talked you into visiting some day! We loved it!

 Our friends Gavin and Micah joined us (Seth, Sam, and Josh too); the kids are sitting on the first plaque of the proportional solar system.

 Fun rocks to climb on and explore

 The boys all ended making fishing poles out of reeds and wanted to fish the whole time

 Seth, Sam

Josh found a green "worm." He was so proud of himself

The worm (caterpillar)

 All my sons

 There are many cool bridges as well

 I loved this part of the lake with the fountain. 

Playing underneath the bridges on the walk back. 

Field Trip: Hoyt Arboretum

In light of our imminent move to Mexico, I've been inspired to get out the house these past few weeks and really explore our area. It's always been my goal to have almost weekly field trips for the boys as we homeschool, but life always seems to get in the way, and we don't adventure as much as we should. But, this month, we've been much better about it. Maybe it's also because our sunshine has been so infrequent we practically sprint out the door anytime there is a non-rain opportunity. We've been cooped up!

Anyways, that's quite the introduction for our little outing to the Hoyt Arboretum in Portland a couple weeks ago. It was such a fun day. Ben met us for a picnic lunch and as the local kids had the day off school, we were joined by our friends the Kessi family as well. 

The Arboretum is absolutely gorgeous: full of large, old growth trees. We really only explored a fraction of the trails and it's our goal to get there at least one more time before we leave. (The boys and I really want to see the Redwood Grove!)

Here's some pictures from our time:

 (FYI, if you want to visit the Arboretum, drive past the Oregon Zoo parking lots and go further up the hill. We parked in the wrong spot to begin with, and although we found this large beautiful tree, it was not the right spot to begin the trails of the Arboretum and we had to pack all 7 kids back into the vans and drive to the correct spot). 

 Seth, Grace and Kate climbing a tree

 Daddy and Josh...they love each other

Sam was way too high for my comfort on this tree!

 My friend Mary and her daughter Annie. Annie and Joshy are quite the pals.

 Such a good daddy. 

All the kids. We're going to miss these friends while we're in Mexico!

 From the Holly Grove

After the Arboretum, we drove down the hill to an amazing play structure in Washington park and to run around the Rose Garden a bit. I love that garden so much!

 Turning the kids loose on the paths of the rose garden.

 There were a few roses left to sniff

 Sammy

I love how each rose is so perfect

 The kids all made it down to the bottom of the amphitheater...and then had to come up. It was muddy and tiring at the end of the day, but oh so fun! I cannot recommend the Hoyt Arboretum enough (and the Washington Park play structure and Rose Garden as well!)

We're Moving to Mexico!

Yep, you read the title of this post correctly: 

we're moving our family to Mexico.

Two months ago, Ben had an early Monday morning meeting with Head of his department that we'll never forget. He asked Ben to consider taking a management position in Daimler's facility in Monterrey, Mexico. While we had always considered moving our family overseas, we expected it to be to Germany. Mexico was not on our radar. However, as we prayed, discussed, researched and considered the opportunity, we realized that a move to Mexico would actually be a much easier transition for our family for several reasons: first, all of Ben's business trips will be back to Portland, so our family will be able to return every 3-4 months. Second, the travel time back home is only 8-10 hours...much easier with three children than a flight half way across the world. Finally, we think that learning Spanish as a second language will be a bigger benefit for our children (and us for that matter!) than German.

So here are a few of the details:

We'll be moving to Monterrey, Mexico. Never heard of it? I hadn't either. Here's where it is:
(photo link and credit http://www.worldatlas.com/na/mx/nle/where-is-monterrey.html)

We'll be leaving in Mid-March and will live in Monterrey for 2-3 years. We're hoping to be back by the summer of 2019. The current plan is to keep our house, so that we'll have something familiar to return to on our trips home. Monterrey is a city of 4 million, so we assume that it's going to be quite the adjustment for all of us "country and open space" lovers. We're hopeful that missionaries on furlough, or friends and family in need of a place to stay can use our home when we aren't in Portland for a visit. (So please, if you know someone that has a temporary housing need starting in March, let us know!) We're going to keep our home fully furnished and move with a minimal amount (clothing and some books and toys).

Ben and I took a quick visit to Monterrey one weekend in October, as we didn't want to make a decision to move our family to somewhere we've never seen. Our first order of business was to assess whether or not we felt safe; we did indeed feel safe and have done lots of research on the safety of where we will be living. The second question we had: will there be grocery stores to accommodate all of our specific food allergies? So, we spent our Saturday driving to and walking the aisles of grocery stores. It will be no problem. In fact, they have a wonderful grocery store with all the allergy friendly and organic food anyone in Portland would be thankful for...and they even have a Costco! Finally, we spent a lot of time driving around finding green space and parks for our family. It's a hard mental adjustment for all of us to imagine living in a huge city apartment building; Ben and I wanted to make sure that our children can still have an outdoor and active lifestyle. We found several beautiful parks, and as Monterrey is nestled at the base of a gorgeous mountain range, there is also hiking opportunities. Here's a view of Monterrey. (photo link and credit http://www.allmexico365.com/blog/tag/things-to-do-in-monterrey)
This was the view from our hotel in Monterrey

 Here's Ben and I at Monterrey's famous Fundidora park; it is a former foundry that was converted into an enormous, beautiful park that I think our boys will have a lot of fun at! We were thankful to find a park with lots of green grass and trees.

Making the decision to move our family to a foreign country has been one of the hardest things we've ever done. Truth be told: I've cried a lot. It's hard to picture leaving a home and community that we love. It's hard to imagine being that far from family. We are going to miss our spacious home on an acre of land. I grieve the loss of my favorite hobby of gardening: who is going to eat our raspberries and see my iris', lilies and roses bloom? The boys are going to miss our dog, Rosie, as we won't be able to take her to Mexico (anybody in the market for a dog?).

However, we believe that the adventures and experiences that will come from stepping out of our comfort zone will be invaluable to our family. Going through the decision process as a family has been wonderful for our faith, as will be the experience of living in a foreign country where we can't be as in control of our circumstances.

So, stay tuned. As we don't have many more details of our move than I just gave you, I don't have much more to share. Daimler is going to fly our family out in January or February to pick out housing. Meanwhile, we're spending our evenings trying to learn Spanish as a family, as not as many people in Monterrey spoke English as we hoped and expected. Please pray for us as we try to prepare our hearts and minds for a huge life transition. Also, if you know anyone who would like a dog in March, or would be interested in staying in our home short term, please contact me via email jmeruda@hotmail.com.