Morris Family in Mexico: Mexico Look and See Trip, Part 1

It's officially four weeks until our big move to Mexico! We feel excited, nervous, anxious, and overwhelmed. Ben is there this week working and I'm at home trying to get our long "to do" list done and catching up on blogging in the quiet evenings. Finally, I'm posting a bit about our look and see trip we took at the end of January with the kids:

We've been home from Mexico for two days now and I'm exhausted. Besides being physically exhausted, our brains are totally overloaded with information, experiences, transitions, and memories. And while I know that I'm not going to be able to finish and publish this post for awhile, I wanted to sit down and type in order to remember, reflect and order my mind.

Overall, the trip was amazing. Our children totally exceeded any expectations in every aspect of the trip: behavior, flexibility, listening skills, trying new things, sleep, etc. We were so very thankful. It made us hopeful for the next couple years where life isn't going to be status quo routine.

Day 1:

We flew out at 8:30 am from Portland. Even though they had to be woken up at 6:30, the kids were so excited that they talked, giggled and sang loudly the whole way to the airport. When we got to the Delta counter to check in, Seth exclaimed, "We're flying Delta!? It's a dream come true!" He apparently has been wanting to travel on a different airline carrier. We made it to the L.A. with little incident, but that afternoon Los Angeles was hit with monsoon-like rain causing flooding on their freeways and a ton of flight delays...including ours. What was supposed to be a three hour layover turned into close to six hours and two meals in the airport with our children. The airport was packed and at one point as we were walking around Ben looked frantically at me and shouted, "Where's Josh!?" Fortunately he was in the stroller that Ben was pushing, lol. We were very thankful for the decision to bring a stroller. We really only used it in the airport, but it was a total godsend. Another funny moment of the day was when Seth decided to go potty (#2) with Ben at the airport. Apparently they were side-by-side in stalls when Seth told Ben, "I like going poop with you, Dad because it makes me feel so much older." Ha! As our frustrations with flight delays were mounting, we felt very blessed to have found a gluten free pizza place in the airport and were able to eat that on flight to Monterrey. All the kids did great on the airplane; Josh was much tougher to entertain, but Ben and I took turns and it all worked out okay. There wasn't a plane ride the entire time that we didn't get complimented at the end about the behavior of our children. We were so proud and thankful. Because of the flight delays, we didn't get into Monterrey until 8:00 PST, which meant 10:00 Monterrey time. We then rented a car (a first for Mexico) and had to navigate through the city to our hotel. It was nerve racking, but we made it! Thankfully the kids settled down and went to sleep pretty quickly in their new home for the week, because we were to be up early (7:30 PST) for our tour of Monterrey.

The twins were super helpful in the airport and were both in charge of a roller bag until it got checked in. I love this picture. The boys were so excited for their adventure.

Daddy on Josh duty. We let him bring his blanket on the airplanes and it was so dirty by the end!

The twins were always seat partners.

Clay was a good distraction on the flights.

Day 2:

Thankfully, Daimler hires a company that coordinates our move to Monterrey. This company, Anchor, sent a representative to take care of our needs for the week. Her name is Anilu and she spent the week driving us around Monterrey, showing us different tourist spots, parks, stores, and brought us to all of the apartments we would be touring. But she was so much more than that for our family. She spent the week giving us a running dialogue of what it's like to live in Mexico, teaching us different customs, phrases, and answering questions...she was amazing and we were so thankful for her! If she is the representation of what the people will be like in Mexico, we're very exciting for future friendships.

After an orientation with Anilu, she drove us to a beautiful spot in the middle of Monterrey. It is a hill that has a 360 degree view of the Monterrey area. It was an excellent place to begin the day because she could orient us to the layout of the city and it's suburbs from above. We were very blessed with excellent weather the entire week, and due to a wind storm they had the day before we arrived, the air was extremely clear (unfortunately, Monterrey often has smog). I will never cease to be amazed by the mountains that surround Monterrey; they truly are spectacular. It is such an amazing setting for a city.

I had forgotten until I saw this picture how much the sun hurt Josh's eyes. We weren't used to sun, and I failed to pack any kids' sunglasses. (I also packed fleece pajamas for Josh...I guess I forgot that it wasn't 35 degrees and winter there!)

Seth

Apparently this flagpole boasts the world record sized flag. We didn't get to see it because it had gotten torn up in the wind storm.

Ready for a lot of mountain views?

Ben showing the boys the Monterrey "M" in the mountain range

The range on the far right is what Ben will drive along for his commute every day.

This is the most famous "saddleback" mountain

These mountains all have names, which I'm sure I'll soon learn, but for now, just note how they truly are surrounding the city. (Seth and Josh)

It's a BIG city!

One the first things that the kids noticed as we drove around the city was how horrible all the roads are! They are very bumpy and not well maintained. We drove all around the city that morning. Anilu drove us past historical sights, museums and park. Finally, we needed a bathroom/Starbucks break. We all ran inside and Josh, who had been pretty cranky and tired all morning, ran into the glass wall at Starbucks trying to get to Ben. Apparently they were very clean windows!

These are some of the historic sights in downtown Monterrey

As Anilu learned more of our family and the things we like and value, she decided that a drive out to Santiago, a village outside of Monterrey would be good. There is section of the road on the way that is lined with various shops, stalls, plant nurseries, ceramic stores, etc. that made me excited and hopeful for a less "city" situation very close at hand. The village of Santiago is very beautiful and more reminiscent of a typical looking Mexican experience. (Monterrey, or more specifically the suburb of San Pedro where we will be living is a very modern, busy and American looking place.)

We also stopped at a grocery store to get some provisions for the week. The boys each got a "Tigres" baseball cap there which is the local soccer team that they have decided that they'd like to cheer for. After putting on his hat, Sam told us, "I really feel like a Mexican now that I'm wearing this hat!"

After lunch and a brief rest at the hotel we headed out to tour four apartments. They varied from a complex with a townhome in a gated community to an apartment on the 31st floor of a high rise tower. At the end of the day, our top choice was an apartment in Punto Central, a complex pretty near the city center, with a great pool and park area for the boys. The apartment was pretty, but had some very odd features; such as a bar area in the living room, a totally closed off kitchen, and an extremely crazy bathroom with red velour carpet squares on the walls.

This was the view from the balcony of the apartment. We enjoyed the noise of the fountain.

Ben would have a hard time showering in this bathroom/the red velour bathroom

The view from the pool made it pretty tough to pass up this apartment!

Dinner that night we took the boys to a traditional Mexican food place Ben and I ate at last time and had really liked called La Felix. The kids LOVED the food and I couldn't believe my eyes with how much food they consumed. One really cool thing about that restaurant is that they have black chalk paint on the bathroom walls and the kids all got to sign their names. It's the little things that really matter, right!? We were all quick to crawl into bed that night and fall asleep as we were totally exhausted from a day of running around!

Day 3:

Thank goodness we didn't have a packed schedule on this day, because we were all very tired! The kids needed some playtime, because although we kept gently reminding them that this was a "business trip," all they really wanted to do was jump in the hotel pool. The only thing on our morning agenda was a school visitation. It was the first of three school visits. These tours were tough...probably especially for me and Josh. Josh because it's hard to entertain a three year old through an hour and a half tour/school talk. Me because it's going to be such a hard mental adjustment for me to switch to having my boys in school. Overall, the visit went fine and we were able to head back to our hotel for a much needed lunch, swimming and nap break. Somewhere on this day we also squeezed in a Walmart trip, which is where we found the wall of soccer balls. Seriously, Walmart in America has maybe four options. The boys were in heaven.

This day happened to be our hottest day in Monterrey: temperatures peaked at 95! (The rest of the days were a comfortable 75-80 degrees, with one day at 65). It was a perfect day for a swim. When we got back to the hotel we didn't even eat lunch, we changed and hustled down to hop in the pool. The pool temperature, however, didn't allow for much "hopping in." It was freezing! Like jumping into a Pacific Northwest mountain lake freezing. Apparently Mexicans don't heat their hotel pools (which is understandable due to temperatures over 100 most the summer being able to heat them naturally). So we weren't really able to swim in the way imagined, but we did "dip" our limbs into the pool some and Ben and the big boys dared each other to jump in several times. Overall, it just felt amazing to be sitting in the sunshine around a pool. It was invigorating. This was just about as far as we all consistently got into the pool.

Later that afternoon we returned to the apartment complex Punto Central to tour another apartment with hopefully more tasteful decor. We were very excited, assuming that this was going to be the "one" because we liked the facilities so much. However, the apartment itself was a definite letdown. It was smaller than the other one and very dirty. It's amazing how the cleanliness of a place can help with impressions!

Thankfully, the realtor had found another apartment for us to tour in a different part of the city. This apartment is called Naranho and is one the third floor of a smaller complex. We loved it! It ended up being "the" apartment, so I want to describe it in more detail. It was the only apartment that didn't have the kitchen in a separate back room; in fact, it has a chef's kitchen (apparently the owner's daughter is a chef and they designed the kitchen for her) with an island overlooking the family room. It was amazing! The views of the mountains from the balconies of this apartment are fantastic, and the living room balcony actually overlooks the pool/grass area, so as the kids get older they could be down there as I'm in the apartment cooking dinner with the door open to listen for them. There is three bedrooms and four bathrooms. The decor is pretty funny: it's safe to say that the owner's style is "bling." The light fixtures are gaudy crystal...we asked her if she'd being willing to switch out a couple to better suit our tastes and she thankfully said yes. There is also a lot of interesting wallpaper (I think that's a Mexican trend for sure!). One of the really amazing perks of Naranho, though, is that there is a covered patio outside of the master bedroom that has a hot tub and an outdoor tv...two of Ben's dreams to have in a home. We are really looking forward to making that our little oasis! Another perk of the apartment is that it's only a couple blocks from a really great park. I really like it because it's not right in the city center and it had the best commute to Ben's work as well.

We left Naranho very excited, but at this point the big boys were still really wanted Punto Central, because there was a bike path and a cool park. It's hard to not make a decision on what your kids like best and it wouldn't be until later that evening and a big old list of pros and cons that Ben and I would decide that Naranho was the the top choice.

Dinner that night we just wanted something easy and American so we headed to a mall and ate at PF Changs. The ironic thing was that it was one of the most difficult places to eat. No one spoke any English and when the server told us that all the plates he brought out were gluten free (even though Ben had ordered something from the normal menu), I just about lost it. I'm sure the server thought that I was crazy as in our broken Spanish we asked over and over again, "Es libre de gluten?" (Is this free of gluten?) We survived, however, and thankfully no one got sick.

Here are some pictures of Naranho (our future home!) Who would have thought that I could get another dream kitchen!?