Mexico

Our annual trip to Mexico was wonderful, as usual.  Every year, Greg's amazing family flies down from all over the US (and Canada) to hang out by the beach.  Even Grammy made it again this year.  Let's hear it for amazing 104 year-old grandma's!!!  She almost didn't make it, as she had a chest cold and her doctor advised against it.  After sitting silent and listless for the appointment, once she heard his decree, she sat up and yelled, "No one tells me I can't go to Mexico!"  At which point, she rallied and made it from New York to Mexico in the dead of winter.  What a trooper.  

Our only sad note was that we missed you, Alice!!!

Grace and I enjoyed morning walks on the beach, where we often found interesting things, including starfish, shells and a dead sea snake.

Speaking of walks, each evening our big family would find ourselves on the streets of the town, out looking for flan, churros or ice cream.  Rincon de Guyabitos locals didn't know what hit them!

   

And speaking of going out on the town, we enjoyed a fun Sunday trip into La Penita for church, where Ethan slept in Derick's lap and Greg blessed the sacrament, said the closing prayer and was generally the only one who understood anything.  We did sing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" for our closing hymn.  I'm pretty sure they threw that in for us gringos, but it was strange to sing it in Spanish.  Who knew it was even in the Spanish hymn book?!

  

Speaking of Spanish music, we had a wonderful impromptu dance party on the beach one night with a Mariachi band that only knew one song that they played over, and over, and over, and over....

And speaking of the beach, much time was spent in that sand or in the water crashing over that sand.

 

Is Jane not the most amazing backward boogie-boarder ever!?! 

 

Grandma and Grandpa devised this wonderful game of tying a balloon to the kids' ankles, and they had to pop each other's balloon.

 

And speaking of wonderful activities for the kids, we enjoyed the annual pinata:

And this year, Aunt Ellen brought all the supplies to make cute tie-dye shirts with the kids.  The most darling little boy came up off the beach to sell his wares, and was captivated by the process of tie-dying.  So, Aunt Ellen helped him make a shirt.  He was SOOOOO cute and became our best friend, coming to see us at least three times a day for the rest of the week.

 

And speaking of cute little kids, we spent a morning at the most darling school, distributing the school supplies that we brought down.  It was fun and tender and reminded us of how blessed we are.  I was conflicted, as on the one hand, I feel it is a good thing for my girls to see where their donations are going, but on the other hand, it felt a little, "We are the rich American benefactors, condescending to bless you."  Not sure where the right line is on that one, but hopefully, it teaches my children to be grateful and charitable and doesn't inflate their egos.  The school kids were darling and so happy and sweet. 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of happy, you should have seen us on our whale watching trip, that started off rather disappointing.  We had already declared it to be the worst in 13 years. But I prayed like crazy that we would see a whale, as we had three family members on their first whale watch.  God answers prayers, because we soon found a mom and her baby.  The baby jumped out of the water at least 30 times, and our boat trip jumped from being the worst to the best.  Also, my bro-in-law, Robert, brought an under water microphone and recorded the whale song.  INCREDIBLE!!!!

 

 Yes, I took this with my iphone:

 

 

Speaking of incredible, look how beautiful Grandma Tallmadge looks:

 

  

And beating everyone at Bridge:

 

And speaking of bridge, behind Grace, you can see where Ethan hangs out all day, when he's not swimming:

Speaking of swimming, we did a lot of it:

  

We also did a lot of eating:

 

Greg took Grace down to the beach to buy that drink, and the lady said to Greg in Spanish, "You come here every year, don't you? I remember your little sick boy when he was just a baby, and now he is so big!"

Speaking of...

And speaking of being recognized- as I was coming out of the waves one day, the older gentleman who was surfing near us asked if I was on television.  I didn't really know how to respond to that, as I wasn't exactly sure if he was talking about what I thought he was talking about...  He finally said, "Aren't you on the I'm a Mormon commercials?"  I was somewhat stunned, as I answered in the affirmative.  He is from Denver, where they played the ads last spring.  I was amazed that he could recognize me at all, much less in a wet suit, no make-up and my hair pulled back.

And speaking of looking scary:

The kids had fun indulging at the market.

And speaking of fun indulgences, Gracie got a pedicure.

The polish lasted 5 minutes in the pool.  She was pretty devastated.

At least her fancy hair-do lasted longer.

And speaking of being somewhat spoiled...

Oh, were we speaking of that!?  While we were sitting by the pool one day, Greg realized that exactly 30 years before, to the day, he had come to that same beach in Mexico with his family.

Oh, and while we're on the subject...

What does it say about these kids that they have a beach 100 yards from this couch, but they are choosing to watch Studio C on their phones???

 

Well, hopefully, they didn't get too spoiled.  They sure are loving and sweet with this little boy and his crazy brother:

Adios, Mexico!!  Until next January (as Ethan continues to remind me daily)!!

Christmas 2012

Christmas felt like a whirlwind this year.  Am I the only one who felt that way?  I can't believe we are already back in school with a full week of the new year behind us.

Our holidays started at the beginning of December, when I shipped out our Christmas cards.

This year's offering:

My favorite part of Christmas is receiving cards in the mail.  I love it.  I just took them down from the walls today.  I am always eager to get rid of the tree and decor, but the cards are harder to part with.

Our festivities marched on through December with various concerts, parties and recitals.  Soon, we found ourselves at Christmas Eve.  We served our traditional finger foods, which included an amazing cheese tray that Gracie put together with her dad.

We all stuffed ourselves!

Some of us even enjoyed some lobster:

Filled with good things, we moved to the family room for the traditional nativity puppet show.

With that, Mom and Dad went home, children nestled in their beds, and Greg and I stayed up half the night preparing for the big day.

 

The kids were thrilled to empty their stockings.

But even more thrilled to open their presents.

Jane sure was excited to get that big, fat Vera Bradley gift card!

Derick was super excited to get his very own American Girl Bitty Baby.

If Grace's tongue is any indicator, she was very excited about her new iPod Touch.

But the highlight of the day was Ethan's new cat.  Yep, we are now officially cat owners.  I have never seen him more excited on Christmas.  All day long, he said, "Oh! Ethan got a cat!"

 

The best part of our Christmas was that halfway through the day, we looked outside to see this white stuff falling.

Later, when our friends, the Koehles, came over, the kids spent MUCHO time outside in the snow.  It was only the second white Christmas we've had here in Texas over 14 years.

It was a dreamy day.

A couple of days after Christmas, Jane and I finally finished our quest to read the unabridged "Les Miserables".  It took us a couple of months.  The first 50% of the book, I read aloud to her, the second half, we each read on our own.  We both finished in the morning, and then went to the movie in the evening.

That's me after crying all my make up off.  I am telling you!  What a crybaby.  I honestly don't remember the last time I SOBBED that hard in a movie.  I couldn't stop!  I actually had never seen the play, so reading it with Jane and then immediately watching the film was a very special experience.  And can I just tell you how proud I am of my hard-core 7th grade reader!?  I would be lying if I said there wasn't LOTS of whining from our 13 year-old over the course of the experience, but she did it!  That was one big book and lots of new vocabulary words.

On to New Year's Eve!  We spent the evening as a family, playing games, eating yummy Asian food, and watching the sweet movie, "The Odd Life of Timothy Green".  More crying.

New Years' Day, the girls invited a few friends over and had a blast.

And finally, how cute is this boy and his new cat!?!

I'm telling you what.  As much as I don't like those animals, it sure is a joy to see my little boy love something so much.  And for a parent, that spells a successful Christmas.


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!