Mexico Moments

Yesterday afternoon I was absolutely elated because I completed my first entire phone conversation in Spanish. I cannot even begin to explain how much of a victory this is for me.

Afterwards I went for a walk, and since my kind husband took the kids to the park in order to give me some alone time, I was able to actually think during that walk. I realized that it's usually only the large events of life: the visitors, the adventures to mountains and wildlife parks, the ER trips, and the holidays that I find time to blog. But today I want to record some of the day-to-day moments of our life here in Mexico.

One of the boys' favorite pastimes while we have been here is map making. The twins have even taught Josh to draw roads and buildings. It's very sweet and Ben is very proud of his city planners.  

 Clearly one cannot wear anything except for underwear during the arduous task of map making. 

 A close up of their work 

Ben hit a pot hole a couple weeks ago on his way to work. By the time he got to work he discovered that he had not one, but two flat tires. We're having the worst car luck lately.

One of my big questions in moving here was: do the trees lose leaves? Well, here's proof of autum right here in Monterrey. The problem is, the picture was take on December 7. 

I went to return something at a store here, only to be told that you have to make your returns within FIVE days. Yes, five. The randomness of Mexico never ceases to amaze me. 

"How do the Mexicans decorate so much for Christmas?" is Josh's frequent car ride question. Thankfully we have been able to easily get into the Christmas spirit here, as Mexicans are totally into decorating!

This picture can never do these lights justice. The lights are wrapped all the way around these enormous trees that encircle a round-a-bout. We may or may not have taken a couple trips around the circle just to see them again and again!

I can't help but share this picture. Seriously: is this a wreath with a bow, or a bow with a wreath? A bit over the top, don't you think?

Sam and Seth's school had a big Christmas party on December 1st. We stopped by their classroom to see the decorated door. 

The party was Willy Wonka themed, and like many things we've experienced here, quite "over-the-top." Massive amounts of decorations, blow-up contraptions, and even a snow machine. Poor Willy Wonka and the oompa-loompa were so creepy looking that everyone was avoiding the photo booth. We took pity on them and got a group photo (seriously, look at how creepy Willy Wonka looks).

We found a new park with new wonderfully dangerous playground equipment.

 A contraption like this would never be allowed in an American park.

Naturally the kids loved it. 

This type of merry-go-round is quite popular here as well (and quite fun!)

We went to the coolest Christmas bazaar at one of the parks in the middle of the city on a Sunday evening.

 Have you ever seen a sinking Titanic inflatable? Me neither.  

The kids got to watch "The Grinch" on a big screen. It was 70 degrees on December 3 at 6:30 pm. It was quite fun!

 Ben thinks that the kids' pose for this one should qualify us for awkward family photos.

This one is better, except for Josh's face being half hidden behind the ginormous ornament.

Christmas season is also puzzle season for our family. It's a favorite pastime for all of us, and even Josh can get into the fun now. The above picture shoes the delight on Josh's face when he's putting in the final piece...which had been missing for a day and that he found on the floor! 

The boys have gotten into building Legos again. This is Sam's freightliner.

And Seth's various vehicles. Currently they are each amassing an army for a war and I'm avoiding that corner of the house least I puncher my foot with any of the never ceasing supply of small sharp objects. 

Ben was invited to a business dinner at a swanky business club here in town. That set off a catalyst of necessary shopping for me, because the dress attire was formal cocktail (apparently cotton sundresses don't count). I rushed off to the mall two nights beforehand for speed shopping and found the perfect dress. Then, my lovely husband informed me that my shoes wouldn't do either, so the next day Josh and I went shoe shopping in the mall together and found the hugest Christmas tree ever. 

After way too many stores (because my feet are apparently huge for Mexican standards), I finally found "the shoes," Josh loudly informed me, "Mom, you look almost Mexican in those!" I could tell that the cashier understood English because she was stifling a laugh! 

 Ben and I had a delightful evening out. And perhaps I should take a moment to celebrate the fact that we have found a wonderful babysitter here for the boys. Alexander is local college student and the boys really enjoy her. These baby steps, like being able to go on dates in a foreign country, feel like giant leaps! We are thankful.

The food was amazing, the company was great as we sat by two different couples who had each done different expat experiences, and I even won an amazing raffle price of a luggage set!

For weeks, I searched store after store for candy canes to no avail. I wasn't anticipating this lack of the classic American Christmas candy. I was so frustrated. Then, my knight-in-shining armor brought me a gigantic box home. Ben found them in a candy store next to the barber shop where the boys were getting their hair cut. And, it must be noted that Josh got his first ever non-mom hair cut here. We have found that candy is a serious motivator for Josh. He looks way too old and grown-up with his new haircut and we have informed him that he "must stop growing."

The boys have been really into playing catch with a football with their daddy. Josh's player names are "Wide Mack" and "Jimmy Spider." 

These last few months, we've been blessed to get to know a family from Northern Ireland that is here for cancer treatments for their 12 year old son, Cameron. Doctors in Monterrey have developed an experimental treatment for a type of childhood brain cancer called DIPG. There are about 50 families here from around the world receiving the treatment. Hanging out with the Finnegans is so inspiring. They are here under the hardest of circumstances, but have the most amazing and positive attitudes. We had them over for dinner one night and all the kids had an epic battle. 

The kids made an epic fort for the battle against the parents.

Then Ben talked three of the kids into betraying their team and joining him. Seth later told us that he "almost cried" at the betrayal. Ben is such a stinker. 

 

The next weekend we went bowling with the Finnegans. Isn't this dinosaur ramp amazing!? I feel like I could have bowled much better with its help.

I love this picture of Ben so much. He's so hilarious. 

Cassie and I (and their "wee" baby Caitlin...everything is wee to a person from Northern Ireland. We love their accents!). Cassie has been such an example to me of true bravery and faith. She has amazed me through their three months here, of living in a 2 bedroom apartment with 4 kids, no toys, not to mention a child battling cancer. She never complains and always finds something positive to say.

Josh and Chloe (whom he adores). Yes, the kids are playing with tops on the floor of a restaurant. The thing is, we still eat at pretty "American" times, so the restaurants are always empty when we are there. Most families don't start arriving to eat until after 8 pm.

You could never get by with this at an American restaurant.

I volunteered to buy supplies for card making during Sunday School. I never would have thought that it would be so difficult to find craft supplies. After walking up and down a main road that I thought contained a "papaleria" (paper store), only to discover that it was closed at 3 pm on a Saturday (really?), I finally gave in and went to Office Depot, where I could find red and green paper and sequins. I haven't spotted Christmas stickers anywhere...it looks like I'll be bringing stickers and candy canes back here from the States this winter. 

We would have never imagined that snow would be in the forecast here in Monterrey. It's super rare...even more rare than snow in Portland. We were quite excited!

Maybe too excited: the "3-5 inches" forcasted turned out to be only a dusting.

But, it was enough to throw some snowballs. Oddly enough, we didn't bring any of our snow gear here, so the kids were freezing. Their "mittens" were socks on their hands!

We made it down to San Pedro de Pinta, the Sunday street fair, one more time before leaving for America. 

I didn't want to miss out on the cool Christmas decorations. 

 We found the most amazing tacos, which we ate at 10 am for a late breakfast. (Sam)

 The way these kids have learned to eat tacos, you'd think that we are becoming Mexican! (Seth) 

 Josh showing off his new barber haircut 

One final picture: this past week there was an epic soccer match-up. Monterrey has two teams: the Tigres and the Rayados. They both made it to the finals for the whole country of Mexico. The city was going crazy about it! All the boys were so excited when the Tigres won the championship. Seth now has been pointing out that we're so lucky to have been in Monterrey for two "rare" events: snow and the epic soccer game.