Festival de Globos

Here is what we have been waking up to the past few mornings. We have moved since last year and now we have a fabulous view of the "lake." The balloons were launched lakeside and absolutely beautiful. I only wish I had a better camera as they lost their glory in the photos, not quite as extravagant. There were over 90 balloonist participating in the 4 day event.



look how close they get to the water!






for more information on this event go here: http://www.festivaldelglobo.com.mx/

Getting ready for change

We put up our Christmas Tree already. I know, its early! But since Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here, many people start decorating around the beginning of November.



And for those of you who are observant, you may have noticed I've put on a little weight. Well,remember back in June right before my marathon when I injured my knee and couldn't run for about a month? Apparently during that time my body was also busy working on a new project. We are having another girl in March 2007. Baby Sis will have to change her name to big sis and she will be exactly two years older than the new baby sis. We are all very excited!

So that changes up a few of our plans. We had decided to end our stay in Mexico right after the 3 year mark which would be April 2008. The kids don't get out of school until June so we planned on staying until then. But this sort of switches things up a bit. I didn't want to announce anything until we were sure what was going on. The renters in our house informed us a few months ago that they would be leaving and our house would be open in December. With the baby coming I thought I'd go back again in February since we don't have insurance in Mexico and we are well covered in the US. Then it didn't make sense to move back for just a month or two. So I planned on moving back. Then my husband suggested I just move back in December, put the kids in school in January and get everything ready for baby. So this is my annoucement: I am moving back to The United States of America, land of the free home of the brave, birthplace of Target (those of you who are expats will understand that one). I am excited, I will miss a lot of things about Mexico and the friends I have made here but I am really excited to get settled into our home again and be among close friends and family. Hubby on the other hand will probably travel back and forth between the two countries while he makes his transition and finishes his time in Mexico.

So there you have it! We put the Christmas tree up early as we are leaving to go to the states a few days before Christmas and wanted to have time to enjoy our tree. I haven't decided if I will quit blogging altogether or change the title to Idyllic in Idaho (that's how I feel) or maybe it will turn into Insane in Idaho, who knows...

Our trip to Europe

Hubby had some meetings in the Netherlands last week so we decided to take advantage of his time there and bought me a plane ticket with a 100,000 of his sky miles. We decided to take a detour and flew to London first. We left Mexico Thursday morning and arrived in England Friday morning. I think I got about 2 hours of sleep on the plane. We took a train from the airport to Victoria Station where our hotel was conveniently located just around the block. (Along with the convenience comes the downfall that our hotel was right.next.to.the.tracks!! Luckily we were so tired from going two days without sleep it wasn't a problem) Here is hubby in front of the station.



We took the open top tour bus and saw all the sites in London. Here are just a few.

The London Eye




The London Tower Bridge


Westminster Palace and Parliament


Me in the London Eye



That night we went to see "Wicked," it was a really fun musical about the Wicked Witch's point of view from the Wizard of Oz, very clever too! I had a hard time staying awake during the first half of the play given the fact that I had gone two days without sleep, but at the intermission we got a Pepsi, icecream, and sour gummies that definitely helped! I had no trouble sleeping that night.

The next day we saw a few more sites and walked around town and then walked to Waterloo station
where we took a Eurostar train to Paris. We got into Paris around 10:30 that night, took our stuff to the hotel and went out to eat and got up early the next morning.My camera conveniently died around this time. I brought the charger but not a universal converter :( good thing I have lots of pictures somewhere from hubby's trip to Paris last year.

October

Big brother turned 6 this month. We had a party at our house and he invited the kids from his class. Everyone came dressed up in costumes and we decorated cupcakes and made little jars with gummy eyeballs and brains and candycorns. Then we played a few games, hit the pinata, ate lots of food and cake.



As tradition goes in Mexico, at the end of the birthday song everyone chants "mordita, mordita" telling you to take a bite out of your birthday cakes. Not sure that tradition would fly in the US with all the germaphobes but I just make sure that is the birthday kid's share of the cake.



And here is the cheesy grinned birthday boy a few days later when a letter arrived in the mail from Grandma. It took about a month to get here and the money she sent was no longer in the envelope when we got it. :(



Here are the kiddos dressed up for Halloween





And of course following Halloween came Dia de los Muertos. Here is the altar at the school this year along with some of the skeletons the kids decorated.





Hubby and I left for a trip to Europe on November 1st so I'll blog about that shortly.

A little about September

The kids went back to school. What a joyous time. I love those kiddos, but I love them even more when I don't have to entertain them all day long. Big brother started preprimaria, which is the last grade in the Kinder School (similar to kindergarten). He is so excited to be the oldest grade in school and to "graduate." The next year he would go to Primaria (first through fifth grade) but I think we will be moving back to the US before then. Which is fine with me, selecting a primaria gets expensive and competitive around here since the majority of kids go to private school.

We celebrated the Mexican Independence Day mid September. We went to our ward party again this year. It was combined with another ward and planned much better. Yummy food (no hair and skin in it this time) and the other ward even planned entertainment. There is a cute family in the other ward with six amazing kids, three of which danced for us.



Then the older two gave us an encore



I love the colorful outfits. I dressed the kiddos up for the occassion too. When we move back we can use them for Halloween costumes :)


We even had an unexpected entertaining event. While we were all outside playing soccer and waiting for the food to cook, a police helicopter spent a good 15 minutes searching for someone the next street over. I was a little worried that some murderer might be on the loose and seek refuge at the church. Luckily some of the men closed up the gates to the church so we were "protected."


Hubby traveled 3 weeks out of this month and I mostly just saw him on the weekends. Good thing the month went by fast.

Chichen Itza

We have been busy the past few months. I've decided to finally make it a priority to go back and blog about what we have been up to lately. So here is August in Review:

The first week in August, my husband and I went to Cancun, sans children. We had so much fun! We spent the first few days at Playa del Carmen, beautiful!! We stayed at The Royal and had a great time soaking up the sun, snorkeling and taking walks on the beach, plus the all inclusive food there included all of their restaurants. Seafood, Asian, Italian, and traditional Mexican food. One of the better all inlcusive places I have stayed. The hotel included a gigantic jacuzzi in the bedroom and a king size bed that was to die for comfortable!

The next few days we changed hotels to Cancun where my husband had meetings for a few days. But first we took a tour of Chichen Itza. One of the New 7 Wonders of the World. I love pyramids, but to be honest I was slightly disappointed. You can no longer climb the pyramids so while it was a beautiful sight, it wasn't as fun a Teotihuacan.



Here is a picture of "El Caracol" or the observatory.


"La Iglesia" - I love all if the intricate details in this structure!


But my favorite part of all, which I recommend if you plan on visiting Chichen Itza, was Cenote Ikil. The Sacred Cenote is an underground pool of water where it is believed that ritual cleansing took place. It is over 120 feet deep of pristine turqoise colored water. Here is a view from above the Cenote. The size of it is deceiving because it is about 80 feet underground.


The orange and black dots you see in the water are catfish.

The best part was jumping into the cool waters on a Hot 100 degree day!

I had so much fun here! The crazy part is that the pool is filled with large black and orange catfish. I'm not sure how close they were to me, but you could definitely see them all around you!

The next day we did a dinner cruise on a pirate ship and were "attacked" and taken to an island where we watched a few shows and had a yummy dinner. The following day my husband had meetings all day and I had food poisoning. I spent the entire day in my hotel room throwing up and sleeping. I ordered room service but it didn't stay with me for long. The next day was similar, I felt horrible but was able to keep some food down. It was our last night and I had been wanting Lobster dinner. So we went across the street that evening to a famous lobster house and ordered crab and lobster. One bite and I had to leave the restaurant for some "fresh air." I ate some bread and soda and called it a night. It was a great trip before the puking began. I'm just glad I didn't have 3 kids to try and take care of while I went through all of that, it was nice to just sleep and do nothing.

The following week my mother in law came to visit for a few days. Unfortunately my husband had to leave town for business and didn't even get to see her. But she helped me fly back to the United States with the three kids. (We sort of planned it) I was going back for family reunions and my ten year highschool reunion. My husband met up with us the following week. We even got some family pictures taken with my husband's side of the family. Here are the grandkids and grandma.


My highschool reunion was surprisingly a lot of fun, considering it was planned about 2 months beforehand and not a lot of people got the invitation. It was just the right size group to be able to talk with everyone, about 100 people showed up along with their spouses and kids.

We had to get back to Mexico as school started the last week of August. But it was a lot of fun seeing our families whom we hadn't seen since Christmas.

Yes, I'm still alive!

Ok, so there is no good excuse for my absense. I can't believe its been over two months since I've written anything. It actually took me a minute to remember how to log in and create a post. I'm glad I remembered my username and password. So an update of all the craziness that has been going on for the last 9 weeks or so.

Running:
I had been training for a marathon and had many liberating moments, including running 17 miles with just me and my music. I am such a social runner that I had never run that far without my husband or friend for moral support. It felt great! but a few weeks later I injured my knee. 3 weeks before my marathon. I had done the entire training program including 19 miles. I was frustrated and sad. I haven't been able to run the last 2 months because of the pain. I went on Saturday and it was the first time in those 2 months that I've been able to run without pain. Its like having an old friend back. I didn't realize how much I loved running until I couldn't do it.

School:
The boys finished school at the end of June, little brother has recently started taking speech classes that are showing signs of improvement. They are all in spanish but I have noticed his English improving as well. The kiddos are keeping be busy this summer, we've been busy playing and creating.

House:
We moved to a new house. My husband had to park his truck out on the street since our old house didn't have enough space for him to park. He has had EVERY SINGLE emblem on his truck stolen, a window broken, and the side mirrors stolen several times. He actually caught someone in the act and chased after him into the dark wearing his pajamas and without shoes. I was quite worried as the mirror the kid stole only costs about $30 to replace and 20 minutes later my husband still hadn't returned. So I called the police, my husband came home shortly after and we decided to move. We are now in a gated neighborhood, a little further from town, but its nice to not have to worry about that stuff.

Me:
I got to go to the US last week for a much needed girls weekend out. It was so much fun seeing good friends and relaxing. I also clebrated a birthday a few weeks ago, and so did little brother who is now 4. Hubby and I get to go to Cancun soon and I am so excited to spend some time away with him. He has been so busy with work lately that we don't get to see much of him. Love you!

We also got some family pictures taken a few weeks ago. Baby sis finally has enough hair to put in pigtails. She finally looks like a girl!

Happy to be a Mother

Yesterday was Mother's day in Mexico. It went so much better than the fiasco it started with last year. I normally work out in the morning after dropping the kids off at school. But the kids were putting on a special program yesterday. So a few days before I had mentioned/asked my husband if he minded that I go at his usual time at 6 am. He said that would be fine. So I woke up at 5:15 to get ready on time. My husband had bought me a brand new work out tank for the special day. I ate my breakfast and went to the gym. I got there and signed in for my class and the lady at the front desk shows me a huge floral arrangement that is FOR ME! My thoughtful husband dropped it off last night. What a sweetheart! It was filled with cala lillies, king lillies, giant mums and gerbera daisies. The vase had cellophane in it with water and slices of grapefruits. It was BEAUTIFUL! I had a great rowing workout too!

I got home and showered and ready for the day and got the kiddos dressed in their outfits for their program. They were performing songs from 80's groups (Latin/Spanish) Menudo, Flans, and Parchis. Big brother was in Menudo (pretty sure he was Ricky Martin ;) ) they were dressed in tight black pants with white t'shirts that had the sleeves rolled up. They each did spotlight dances too, so cute! Little brother was in Parchis, he wore a green overall outfit and did some fun movements too.

We went out to lunch later that afternoon and then took the kids to a movie and had dessert. What a fun day! Thanks for spoiling me honey!!

Its digi- "me"

Thanks to AJ for sharing this with me. Visit Meez.com if you want to make one for yourself. And if you want to earn "coinz" to pick out more customized outfits you can type in my username as your referral (amerimeximadre) , here I am at the market!

Semana Santa

Last week was Semana Santa. The holy week before we celebrate easter. This means the kids have two weeks off of school and that my gym doesn't offer my classes at my usual time for two weeks. Kind of like the Mexico spring break but it lasts longer. Hubby had Thursday and Friday off last week so we decided last minute to take a little trip. Everyone kept telling us that everyone clears out of Mexico City to go to the beach so we thought that would be a good time to visit since the trafffic there is normally horrendous!

We took the morning pretty easy, hubby and I went to an early spinning class at the gym. Then we came back and showered and packed everyone up, we sent buster to his friend Poncho's house and we set out on our way to "may-hee-co"! Apparantly everyone else had the same idea, we spent and hour waiting in line at a toll booth, but other than that it was smooth sailing. It took us about 5 1/2 hours to get there. We drove around for awhile looking for our hotel. We new which area it was in but had no idea where the street was. We finally found it and got settled in around 9 pm. We ordered some roomservice that was DELICIOUS and expensive from the gourmet restaurants at the Camino Real.

Friday morning we got up bright and early and headed to Six Flags.
Our first ride was "Splash!" I went with the kids while hubby stayed with baby sis. We were in the very front and survived the ride without getting totally soaked, mostly just our hair and rear ends.
Then at the end of the ride you get off and walk over a bridge while the next coaster comes down at a perfectly timed to get you absolutely drenched!! I was dripping from head to toe. The water came with such force that it almost nocked my hair out of its pony tail.


Apparantly everyone who did stay in town decided to go to Six Flags too, the place was packed. Even the kiddy rides took and hour wait in line. Not so much fun. Especially since baby sis was only allowed to go on about 5 rides in the entire park. The little ones that go in circles. It was my pleasure to take her. She had so much fun on the hot air balloon ride, that one actually left the ground. This one here was the Orca ride. The camera died right after this photo was taken so you didn't get to see my face turn green after going around in circles over and over.


These pictures were taken earlier in the sequence. Here we are in front of a castle. Notice the kids posture as the are soaking wet and the sun hasn't warmed up just yet.
And the boys on the airplane.

At the end of the night hubby and I decided to buy a "Flash Pass," not to be confused with a Fast Pass that you might get at Disneyland. This ticket actually costs money. $100 pesos for three rides. We took turns watching the kids while the other person when on an adult ride. We did Bat Man and my favorite, Superman. It was enough excitement to make us feel like the trip was worth it. It was nice to hop to the front of the line passed about a 2 hour wait of people. If we ever go again we will get the VIP passes. They are expensive but if you don't get them you spend the entire day in line while other people with VIP passes cut in front of you. By the end of the day I started to hate people with those darn VIP passes. Just when you thougth you were FINALLY going to get on a ride, a load of "important people" would show up and you'd get bumped again.

The battery died on the camera that day so we have no evidence of the rest of the trip. Saturday morning we got up and took the kids to breakfast at Sanborns, then waited in another long line at Ciudad De Los Ninos. We finally got in just to wait in some more long lines. The place is really cool though, lots of minature places for the kids to work and earn and even spend kid money. They made Marinelas (like tweenkie with strawberry and cream filling covered in chocolate), worked at a Veterinary shop, did an excavation and more. They even had places like Walmart, McDonalds and Dominoes where the kids could work to earn money. We need a place like this in the US!

That evening we went over to Gabriela's house. My husband was a little hesitant to meet one of my "imaginary friends" (internet friend) but pleased to discover that she is not a dirty old man. Her husband Guapo cooked us a delicious meal of grilled pork loins and asparagus and she made a yummy fruit salad. We had a lot in common with our travels and work life in Mexico. Its fun to meet someone with a similar lifestyle. And little Pedro is even cuter in real life! We took pictures before we left, so stay tuned to see them!


Sunday we planned on spending Easter Sunday at Gabriela's church but we spent an hour driving around looking for the place. We ended up going to McDonalds for breakfast and heading home. We shared with the kids the Easter story about Jesus Christ's resurrection and tried to have our own little mini church lesson.

I have to charge the battery and download the pictures still so maybe after the kids are in bed I will get around to that.