Morris Family in Mexico: October Outings

October we stayed busy! Our returning to Portland feels closer than ever (we still don't have a move date, though), so we are really trying to embrace Monterrey and all its offerings.

We are going to miss having a pool downstairs, so we continued swimming until early October, even though the water was a bit cold.

This is the life.

On October 12 we did our first ever race: a 5k at Chipinque called Bakpak Noturno. The race starts at 7 pm and everyone has to wear a headlamp because you run in the dark.

Before the race

Neither Ben or I had ever done a race (unless you count the Turkey Trot in college around campus).

All the competitors gathered before the race for stretching. It was a super fun atmosphere with a band playing drums and tons of people.

We ran into friends from church, which ended up being our saving grace with Josh. While he was initially fussing about walking up the hill to the starting line, as soon as Josh saw David, he was ready to run and chased him the whole time with no complaints!

All the people at the starting line with the mountain in the background.

Josh and I post race.

The twins ran all 5k and smoked Ben, Josh, and I. They were so proud of themselves and had such a fun time!

Showing off the cool medals.

They are made of would and pretty stinkin' cool!

One weekend day, Ben got a wild hair to drive us to the river where he participated in Matacanes (an all day cliff jumping, rappelling, river canyoning adventure) last spring. He warned me that the road was sketchy, but no warning could have prepared me for just how sketchy. However, we took it slow and the crazy drive was totally worth it to experience the beautiful Matacanes river.

Ready to swim!

But a picnic first...

It was such a beautiful, unique river

We ended up stopping and hanging out here

But first we walked further up the river and explored a bit

And while it was pretty, nothing compared to that first waterfall

So, we returned and played here for an hour or so

The kids all ended up jumping in and swimming back and forth, although it was cold (not glacier-melt Oregon stream cold, but cold by Mexico standards). The not-so highlight of the afternoon was that Josh made his pretend hotel on top of a red ant hill. We heard a scream and the twins reached him first, discovering him covered in ants. They started brushing them off, but not before they were down his pants and underwear. We ended stripping him down naked and putting him in the water. It took awhile to get all the ants out his pants and underwear and he ended up with a fair amount of bites. Poor kid! It wouldn't be a Morris family adventure without some mishap.

My absolute highlight of the afternoon was the butterflies. At one point in time, I looked up to spot hundreds of Monarchs migrating. The sky was filled with them. It was spectacular. Five minutes later, most the butterflies were gone; I felt like it was such a gift from the Lord for a short moment in time.

Butterfly with the river in the background

I love that this wonderful husband of mine just wanted his family to experience the beauty of the river with him; he was so excited for us to see it!

The trek back.

All through the month of October, the city of Monterrey put on an event called festivo Santa Lucia, which was basically a ton of free concerts and shows at multiple outdoor stages. We didn't get around to seeing as many events as we would have liked, but we did make it to the light show, which was awesome.

It was such a beautiful evening down in Fundidora park with spectacular views of all the mountains.

Sam, Josh, Seth

We were walking over the river just in time for sunset

Waiting on the lake for the light show to begin

About 20 minutes before the show began, we found our little spot on the grass to watch the lights. Then, about 10 minutes before the show started, with a signal unbeknownst to us gringos, people moved onto the sidewalk and stacked up right in front of us. We were bummed, but sure that everyone would sit down once the show started, to be courteous to those behind them. The music and the show started, and everyone except those three people sat down. And those three people were in the front row and weren't even watching the show with their eyes, only their phone video cameras. No matter the amount of booing and "sit downs!" was going to make these three sit. Finally, to the cheers of the crowd, a guard came and told them to sit down or move. It made my night.

The show without three people standing in our viewpoint.

The night views on the Santa Lucia are beautiful.

After the show, we went to night street tacos. We've been wanting to try this arrecherra place, but it doesn't open until like 8 pm. Finally we were out as a family late enough to partake!

This is a parking lot by day, taco stand by night.

The food was amazing!

Here are a few other random, but fun, pictures from this month:

We went to a small carnival one Sunday afternoon to watch our friends' kids do a fencing demonstration (sword fighting, not fence-making). The view of the bridge was awesome!

All the boys in their Tigres jerseys.

The color palate of this picture cannot be beat...or the handsome faces of my boys.

We were super lame for Halloween this year. For dress-up day at school, the twins were football players and Josh was a hunter (we're big fans of the "wear what you got" costumes in our household)

On Halloween night, the boys dressed up again and trick-or-treated around the apartment complex. Exactly TWO people opened their doors, so they came home and ate ice cream. Lamest Halloween ever.

We took advantage of the "fall back" time change to go down to the Sunday street market (we can never quite make it there and then to church and do all we want to do).