Morris Family in Mexico: Mexico Look See Trip, Part 2

Day 4

Two school visits were on the schedule for Wednesday morning. Having learned from the previous tour, this time I came prepared with backpacks of snacks and toys for the kids to play with during the presentations. Both visits went smoother than the day before (except for Josh spilling a bottle of water in one of the administrators' offices). I liked the first school (Euroamerica) best due to the project based curriculum that it was teaching. The boys and Ben liked San Roberto the best because the facilities were absolutely amazing. We haven't yet made a decision, which is fine because we don't intend to start the boys in school until the fall anyways.

As we were touring San Roberto, Anilu told Ben that an apartment in Torre Fuentes just came available. This was the complex that Ben had been pushing to see all week. The amenities: pool, ping pong table, green space, play structures...cannot be beat. So although we were excited about Naranho, we really had to see Torre Fuentes before making a final decision. The kids absolutely loved the facilities. Ben and I didn't know what to think about the apartment, however. It was on the 10th floor, beautifully remodeled, modern, clean...but SMALL. The bedrooms were tiny, and the balcony (on the 10th floor mind you) had kind of a flimsy glass wall. While the kids loved sitting in front of the huge windows watching the traffic go by, I felt confined by the placement of the tower in between two major city freeways. It was just so "city" and really, I am a country girl at heart. We left Torre Fuentes with both boys swearing that it was the "one" and mommy being really quiet in the back seat because I knew that I couldn't happily live there.

Here are some pictures of Torre Fuentes. That infinity pool was hard to turn down!

Watching all the cars go by

Best moment of this day was when Josh spotted a dead grasshopper on the balcony. He very discretely and seriously told me, "Someone shot it with a gun." Clearly a detective in the making.

Second best moment of the day was finding a gluten free, dairy free, egg free bakery with great goods! They even had sugar free stuff! Four donuts, a cinnamon roll, and a loaf of bread all allergy safe and all for under $10. We were so excited!

That evening we were invited to dinner at Martin and Anita's house. It was Martin's job at Daimler Mexico that Ben took, and Martin's family is continuing to live in Monterrey with a different job for Martin. They are quite the international family: Martin is German, Anita is from India, and their two kids have lived with them first in China and now in Mexico. They all speak multiple languages. We were so proud of Seth and Sam on this evening. First, they went and played soccer with a bunch of kids at the apartment...none of which they knew, and most of which weren't speaking English. Not only did they play, but they had fun! They also sat and quietly ate a dinner that was very different from the food that we're used to, that they really didn't like, and they didn't complain and said "thank you" at the end. I was a very proud mama! I think that Martin and Anita are going to be a lifeline for us in Monterrey, as they have already lived there for five years. We're thankful to already know someone! When we got back to the hotel, the boys needed a late night snack.

Yes, you're seeing that right; Josh decided that clothes were optional.

Day 5
With no more apartments to see and no more schools to visit, we finally got a day of rest. Well, at least the kids and I did. Ben went to work for the morning to touch base with his team.

The boys and I slowly got ready for the day and then headed out to explore. We walked through a park (that is basically a tree lined lane between two sides of a busy road) to get a Starbucks for me. Then, I let the kids play on the escalators at the outdoor mall for about 20 minutes (I'm sure the Mexicans were thinking: "those crazy Americans"). After that, about a block away, we visited a park. Ben and I had found this park when we visited back in October, and I wasn't sure what the kids would think of it. Well, in their eyes, it was an absolute blast. To quote Seth: "It's like a carnival!" All of the toys that Americans have decided are too dangerous, like seesaws and merry-go-rounds, are still fair game in Mexican parks. The boys got to play for a least an hour and are still raving about how fun it was. We're excited to return soon.

See saws!

They had many varieties of merry-go-rounds

None of which would be safe by American standards. All of which were a blast.

How about a large contraption where you can swing your friends around? Sure!

Lots of climbing structures

Josh wasn't so sure he could do this one alone

But he made it alright in the end

Lunch was El Pollo Loco, which Anilu had told us was a must visit for a quick meal. I was skeptical, but am now a believer. It was an 8 piece grilled chicken meal with corn tortillas, chips and sauces...plenty for our whole family to eat and all for about $8. I can get used to these Mexican prices!

The boys and I did a lot of walking on this morning and we discovered that not only are the roads not exactly up to American standards in Monterrey, but the sidewalks are also horrendous. On the final stretch before our hotel, as we were tired and hot, Josh stepped into a HUGE pot hole filled with water (probably about 10 inches deep). That made for a rough last couple of blocks.

That afternoon we drove up to Chipinque, one of the surrounding mountains. It's full of hiking trails and has a really cool park at the top. On the way we encountered a family of raccoon-like creatures, called Coati. They crawled all around our car and were fun to watch. At the top there is a fort like play structure and some really big cement slides. It was freezing (because of the high altitude) and we didn't bring coats, so we didn't last long, but we can't wait to explore it more.

One of these Coati even climbed under our car as we stopped to watch the group.

How fun is this?

We stopped at a viewpoint on the way down

It's such a pretty setting for a city

Afterwards, we went to the park close to our new apartment. It really is only about 3 blocks from the apartment and will be an easy walk or bike ride through neighborhood houses and side streets. It is beautiful, peaceful and clean with a ship themed play structure, see saws, a basketball hoop, and great climbing trees. We're thankful that we will live close to a place like this!

Come and visit us and you too can experience the ship play structure

More teeter-totters (Seth, Sam)

Yes, that's Ben in the tree to the right. No wonder the kids like climbing trees.

More trees and more mountains looming

Dinner that night we went to an awesome Mexican restaurant and tried all different kinds of tacos. We watched a man light up a cigarette right under a "Do not smoke" sign and the waiter bring him an ash tray. Apparently, rules are mere suggestions. We got stuck in the parking garage for quite a while because we couldn't figure out that we had to pay at a kiosk in the mall before driving to the exit. Oh, and we saw some really cool monkeys in mall pet store. All in a night in Mexico.

I can get used to this type of food!

Day 6
While we had somewhat adjusted to the time change (2 hours earlier), a 6:00 a.m. alarm (which was really 4:00 a.m.) was really difficult to get up to. It ended up being one of "those" days, which is not a good thing to have on day that you're trying to catch a flight. We (of course) left the hotel about 10 minutes after we wanted to. Then, we missed a very crucial turn on the way to the airport. It really wasn't our fault. We had just paid a toll and asked the cashier (in our broken Spanish) the way to the airport. She motioned to us to go to the right. Little did we know we needed to take a sharp right turn to get on an exclusive lane towards the airport. We assumed it was a gradual merge; nope, there was a cement barrier the whole way to the airport exit and we couldn't get on the correct road. This meant we had to drive to the next possible exit to turn around...this was at least 8 minutes down the road. Then we had to turn around and head 8 minutes back, where we encountered another toll, for which we had no pesos left to pay. We ended up talking the cashier into taking some American dollars and zoomed off to the airport, now running quite late. Next, we had to drop our car off at the rental company. Luck had it, the room was packed with people, the workers were slow and few, and we sat around waiting for 15-20 minutes to turn our car in. Those were stressful moments. We checked into our ticket counter with less than an hour before our flight. Of course, the worker was slow and then she encountered a problem with the kids' seats being in a exit row. She had to switch things around, and by the this time, Ben and I were on our last nerves, snapping everyone's heads off, worried Josh was going to pee his pants and absolutely starving. Thankfully, Monterrey's airport isn't very crowded, and with about 40 minutes until take off, we made it through security and I even had time to get hot chocolate, coffee and snacks for everyone. We were SO thankful to be on our flight to L.A.!

Apparently there was a major headwind coming north to Los Angelos, so our flight took almost an hour longer than scheduled. Then there wasn't an open gate for our plane, so we waited for another 50 minutes until we could unload. Although all that was frustrating, we were so thankful that we didn't have a close connection! From here on out, the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. Ben and I were exhausted and for once, we didn't put any limit on screen time for the kids. It was pure survival mode! And not only did we survive, but we made it to our home in time for waffles for dinner. That evening, as I was thinking to myself how good it was to be home, I wondered what it is going to feel like when we come home after three months of being gone. It's sure going to be weird straddling two places as "home," but I'm so thankful that we are able to do it and don't have to say a complete goodbye to our Scappoose home!

This is what our crazy family looked like at 6:00 a.m. trying to leave the hotel. Three kids, five backpacks, four roller bags, a stroller and a pinkish-white blanket.