Happy Birthday Josh: 5 years old

It's hard to believe that our youngest son is five years old. Josh was so proud to be five. 

This past year has been full of big milestones for Josh. He learned to ride a bike without training wheels, he can swim without floating devices (like really swim well!), and he even lost a tooth. He is also learning how to read and do math. His face is now filled with freckles, it's adorable.

I've mentioned before that it felt like moving to Mexico was hardest on Josh in many ways; however, I think he has finally found his stride here, feels fully comfortable, and is having fewer anxious moments. Starting kindergarten, in a situation where I am teaching, has been wonderful for him. He does so well at school: he is a good friend, he likes to learn, and is pretty obedient (there will always be a stubborn streak in him). He is actually showing himself to be pretty good at art and he is a fast learner. Josh loves riding his bike during recess with his buddy Antonella. 

Josh continues to absolutely love and adore his Daddy and wants to do any and everything with him. He loves to play all sports and is very talented and aggressive. He likes to do puzzles and Legos (but doesn't do them independently, only with a buddy). He likes to be read to, but is not in a hurry to read on his own. Josh would spend 24/7 on technology if we let him, therefore, we rarely let him do any. He is obsessed with building forts. His newest thing he loves to do is play with his stuffed animal Piglet. In fact, I think that Piglet was his comfort object when Ben was traveling on a 10 day trip. Josh brought Piglet everywhere in the car with him, toted him around the house everywhere, and used him to help him be brave (and to be naughty too!). It is very, very sweet. 

Five year old Josh is spunky and loves to laugh. He always keeps us on our toes. He loves to play with Seth and Sam and also loves to bother them. He doesn't love to play independently, but that has gotten better since he's been going to school and is stimulated by friends. His favorite foods are peanut butter toast, humus and veggie straws, pizza, sausage, pop rocks, and ice cream. His favorite shows are Shawn the Sheep, Paw Patrol, and Tom and Jerry. He always picks the brightest colored shirt in his dresser.

 We asked Josh what he wanted to do for his birthday and he said he wanted to go to Jumpster, eat Frida Chilaquiles, and have chocolate cake. He only wanted to do it with his family, because his buddy Jer couldn't come (he moved this summer). On his birthday, he and I baked his cake together and went to the store to pick out the coolest birthday balloon and candles ever (Mexico does fiesta things above and beyond).  

  

 He has the BEST smile

 He's always so proud and happy to be between Seth and Sam 

 The twins bought Josh a Lego set with their own money

 We brought some presents from family with us from America: Legos from the Platos.

 All he's wanted for so long is a watch. He was thrilled.

 Five little monsters and a world cup candle. Oh yeah. 

 It's not only huge, but it opens, plays music and spins. 

Happy 5th birthday sweet baby boy. You are a joy and delight to your family.

Goodbye Leonard Family

Today is Sunday and every Sunday we miss our dear friends, the Leonard family. It has been two months since the Lord brought them back to the States and Mexico just doesn't feel the same without them. 

We don't only miss them on Sundays, but especially on Sundays. Sundays were our days together where we would connect at church and then decide what we'd all do together afterwards. Sometimes it just looked at lunch at a restaurant. Many other days it was a meal at one of our houses and swimming afterwards. Truthfully it didn't matter what we did, it was just the togetherness that mattered.

In a memory book given to the Leonards before they left, I wrote, "You guys were our lifeboat in a sea of culture shock." I believe that's why our friendship was forged so closely so quickly...we just all needed each other. We needed afternoons of chatting in English, telling stories of catastrophes at banks, irritations of foreign schools, and hacks for surviving in a world where we don't quite belong. We needed encouragement from stories of the Lord's provision in each other's lives. We needed to vent and laugh and cry together. 

Not only were Dustin and Katie a lifeline for Ben and I, but their kids were just such fantastic friends for our boys. One time we had Kyler and Jeremiah for a long weekend while their parents went out of town: what a gift for our boys! The twins played a 3 day long game of Risk with Kyler, Josh and Jer ran around like crazy and played and played. We have memories of our kids together having nerf gun wars, playing soccer, making legos, and so much swimming together.

Some of our favorite memories with the Leonards include visiting Bioparque together, the crazy hike to "base camp" behind their house, and when Dustin and Derrick picked us up in Laredo when our car engine died in San Antonio. It was also Dustin who coordinated our epic Via Ferrata climb. We also loved going to jumpster together. I miss getting to share books and pictures with them. They were also the family that I relied on when Ben went out of town for business. It was always nice knowing that I could spend an afternoon at their home in Back2Back! 

We knew when we moved to Mexico that the Lord would provide for us above and beyond, and that is what he did with this friendship. We also knew that our friendships here, unfortunately, would all end with goodbyes. These goodbyes are different from when we said goodbye to friends and family in Oregon: we know that we will return to Oregon and live close to loved ones again. Goodbyes here in Monterrey are more permanent...we probably will never live in the same community again. Our goodbye to the Leonards felt so final. Not, "Goodbye, see you at Christmas!" but, "Goodbye, maybe we'll try to visit you once this year." It was heart wrenching for all of us.

So, here we are in Mexico, minus the Leonards. Seth said the other day, "It doesn't feel like Mexico without the Leonards." I agree Seth, or at least it doesn't feel quite so sweet and homey.
What we wouldn't give for one more slow, lazy Sunday afternoon together.

Group photo together before saying goodbye

Hilarious goofy photo.

 One of our last evenings together, Josh and Jer wanted to borrow Ben's phone so that they could "take a picture together so that they would never forget each other."

These two: such sweet friends to one another


Josh has shed many, many tears over missing Jer

I miss watching them play rescue bots together!

It may sound silly, but before moving here, I prayed for a "bosom friend" (like Anne of Green Gables). The Lord truly provided that for me with Katie. She was wisdom and a listening ear for me.

 Another thing Dustin and Katie provided for us was an introduction to their ministry, Back2Back, which is why I am now teaching at the school on campus. This picture is from a Sunday where they brought some of the Back2Back interns to our house for lunch. 

 The first time we all hung out together, we went to PF Changs and jumpster. So, that's what we decided to do for one of our final times together. 

 So many hours in the pool together!

 This particular day they had a great ball game going, but often times it was "King of the Mountain."

 Sam and Kyler

 Everyone sporting cool pool hair (a Dustin speciality)

 Playing chicken at the Back2Back pool

 A few pictures from our weekend having Kyler and Jer staying at our home.

 Jer and Josh swimming at the consulate pool.

 Meal with friends Max and Oskar as well.

 Playing Enchanted Forest before the game regressed into "Jer and Josh rules"

 Ben reading to the littles

 The three-day risk game

 The game was epic.

One final note: the day we said goodbye to our friends is etched in my memory. We spent a final afternoon at our apartment together, prayed together at the end, and then said our goodbyes. Ben, the kids and I then headed to our terrace to wave at them down on the street. They drove off and there we were, the five of us, so sad. Heavy hearts, grieving together. We sat on the couch and there were tears (most of them mine). We talked about the gift that the Leonard family had been to us and we talked about how much we would miss them. It was a poignant moment of togetherness for our family. This is a gift that Mexico has provided for us: these moments, these tools of learning. Even if it's grieving, we are processing deep things with our children. And even though it's difficult, I can't help but believe that it's good and it will ultimately serve a greater purpose in the life of our children in the future.

Queretaro & La Pena de Bernal

Compared to the splendor of Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende, we weren't too enamored with Queretaro. Perhaps we would have felt differently if we had visited Queretaro first (without the other two cities to compare it to), or if we weren't absolutely exhausted from three consecutive nights of horrible sleep. Either way, while we would return to the other two cities in a heartbeat, I wouldn't be too torn-up if we never visited Queretaro again.

Thankfully our airbnb in Queretaro was the nicest of the three places we stayed in. We arrived in the city in late afternoon, tried to catch a quick catnap, and then walked into the old town city center. Queretaro is a much bigger metropolis than the other two cities, so while this section of the city is quaint and traditional Mexican feeling (it's even a UNESCO heritage sight), it also has more of the vibe of a large city. 

 Playing line tag in a plaza. We've found the key to traveling to places like this with kids is to have a good balance of touring and playing, even if means finding a park or playing tag.

 Neat traditional looking buildings.

 There were a lot of plazas with fountains and statues.

 I was totally obsessed with watching this lady sweep the plaza with her broom made of branches...it was so effective! Maybe I need one...

The main cathedral of Queretaro

The inside was absolutely gorgeous

 The boys, and Sam in his cowboy hat. It was his dream souvenir and made us stick out like a sore thumb (like we didn't enough already).  

 Seth is the photo-bombers of the family. I really liked the tile work at this restaurant.

 Another cool plaza, another cool church. 

We ate at dinner at this really cool restaurant that featured food from the Oaxaca region of Mexico. We didn't expect our mezcal drink to come in a bowl: it was pretty amazing featuring fresh grapefruit, limes and oranges.

 The night view from our balcony; we didn't stay up too late that evening...we were so tired! 

The next morning we headed out early to find some coffee for breakfast before heading out of town for a hike. I always think that it's fun to see a city waking up. 

Oh yes, that's yet another handmade broom out of branches. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see this one in action. I wonder if it was effective with all those leaves still on the branches? 

 Super weird statue outside yet another historic plaza.

 This church was so beautiful with it's ornate coloring and curled buttresses. 

 Definitely my favorite all time Mexican wall! 

While we didn't love Queretaro, we really enjoyed the hike that we went on at La Pena de Bernal (about an hour out of the city). It is the third largest monolith in the world! After three days of all city, we sure enjoyed the fresh air and countryside of Bernal.

Our boys sure have became great climbers here in Mexico.

 Indian paintbrush in Mexico! 

 Quite the view on our hike.

 The monolith in the background.

 At this height, I was pretty stressed about Josh around the edges; Ben went on ahead a bit and decided to take the twins a little further on to the rim.

 I stayed behind with Josh; we rested and then he made a little fort in the woods.

 Below the monolith, the little town of Bernal was pretty cool as well.  

 The town cathedral.

After eating lunch in Bernal, we headed back to Queretaro because Ben actually had a work meeting with a business owner who lives in the city (which was great, because then he didn't have to take a vacation day!) On the drive back to Queretaro, we discovered that one of our tires was low (which was not surprising in light of how bad the roads had been). Thankfully, it did not end up being a second flat tire in less than a month; we were able to put some air in it at a gas station and the tire survived the rest of our driving for the day. It did make for an elevated stress level, though, as we were not only in a time crunch for the meeting, but also to get to the airport later that evening.  

While Ben was at the meeting, the boys and I hung out another cool plaza. I read a book and the boys played an imaginary game surrounded these letters. Can  you find all the boys on the letters?

As I mentioned above, our drive to the airport was rushed and a bit stressful (but boy was the countryside beautiful...we can't wait to return). Praise the Lord we arrived to the airport with a time to spare and were even able to order a quick dinner. However, we did have a low point of the day when our carry-on luggage went through airport security and they confiscated Sam's second souvenir: a thunder egg. I was SO angry! We were obviously a family with young kids passing through...are you really thinking that we would use a rock as a weapon to clock someone over the head with? To add injury to insult, the security lady wouldn't even let me take a picture of Sam with the thunder egg (because no cameras in security). Poor Sam was so sad and disappointed! 

All in all, our four-day journey into central Mexico was a wonderful vacation! We loved the area and would really like to return again. 

One more note of caution to anyone traveling to regions such as this: a few days after returning, little Joshy ended up with fever and diarrhea. Fast forward a few days and one really bad sleepless night, Josh had contracted pinworm (google it for a gross explanation). He probably contracted the bacteria from playing in a tepid puddle of water at a park in San Miguel. We were really careful not letting the kids play in the public fountains, etc., but never considered the danger of playing in a puddle. Apparently small animals, like turtles, can carry pinworm (and probably other bacteria). Thankfully all it took was a dose of medicine and he was fine; since then, our whole family has also taken the medicine, just to cover our bases. We definitely will not make that mistake again!