Child Labor? Nah...

Aunt Bethany put the kids to work, but they didn't really mind. It was a beautiful northern California evening, and all of our mini-vans were extremely dirty... The kids look like they're having fun though, don't they?

4th of July

So, I'm proud to be an American! I really wanted to be in the US for the fourth of July, so we planned our trip back to arrive in California on July 3rd. The kids were awesome for the three days we took to drive back, as always! We spent the 4th swimming and hanging out, eating Costco cashews and chocolate raisins, and playing Farkel with grandparents, great grandparents, cousins and aunts and uncles. It was great! In the evening we headed to Cal Expo for fireworks and yummy fair food. The ginormous corndogs, cherry sno-cones and funnel cakes were our favorites! The people watching was very entertaining, as well as our kids' impromptu dance performances for the crowd. On top of all of that fun, we enjoyed a spectacular fireworks show, set to patriotic music--with the exception of a five minute musical tribute to the late Michael Jackson. What more could I ask for?

Going to Warsaw!!

I know that we (and by we, I mean Rebecca, of course) are way behind in updating the blog, but for anyone out there who still looks at it, just wanted to post that we received our next assignment - Warsaw, Poland. We will leave Mexico next summer, spend a year in D.C. trying to learn Polish, then it's 2 years in Warsaw, where I will be a political/military affairs officer. We are excited!

Jake's Robotics Camp

Happy Father's Day!

"Dear Dad (aka. MR. BIG),
You're the coolest dad in the MILKY WAY.
Everyone SNICKERS at your funny jokes.
You totally CRUNCH the competition with your XTREME gaming skills.
And you're the grillmaster! M&M!
If we had to pick be-TWIX you, CARLOS V, and a JOLLY RANCHER, we'd pick you!
With love and KISSES, Your little NERDS"

Better With Age

Happy Birthday Andy! You're my favorite.

Jake's Sixth Grade Graduation

So, graduation from sixth grade is a really big deal here. It all began with a graduation/awards ceremony in the afternoon. Jake graduated with academic achievement honors, a special award for computers, and the citizenship award for his class. Great job Jake! We didn't attend the special mass, but in the evening the kids and parents attended a semi-formal dinner dance! I have to admit, I wasn't really enthusiastic about going to the dinner dance, but it ended up being a really nice night! Jake was excited about the party, until we got there. I had to hunt him down so we could dance the mother/son dance. Thank goodness for the Cha-Cha Slide, which got him dancing, and for one of his friends who liked dancing, who kept him on the dance floor. I think he enjoyed it there for awhile! We were pretty much the first to leave the party at 10:30pm, after 3 hours, but the party was far from ending! I am happy that he won't be the new kid at school next year. It will be a nice break for him, now that he knows people and knows how the school works, etc.

Bosque Magico!

We spent last Saturday at a small amusement park, the Magic Forest, which is about 15-20 minutes from our house. It wasn't quite Disneyland, but Rachel said that while we live here, maybe we could call it Disneyland. In reality it was somewhere between a carnival and Lagoon (in Utah), but we had a great time. The weather was great and we could ride on almost everything in just a few hours, and it only cost around $40 total (550 pesos) for our whole family to get in! It has lots of rides for kids, and quite a few for daring adults who aren't prone to motion sickness, a couple of water rides and a small rollercoaster, which Jake and Grace loved, and which went upside down 3 times. I forget the name of my favorite ride, but it is one of those big innertubes with six seats in it that goes around a river rapids course--like Grizzly Rapids in California Adventure--and we were all able to ride it together. We were all drenched with water together too! It was a great way for us to spend the afternoon!

Jake's Choir Performance

Sixth graders were required this year to take a semester of band and a semester of choir in hopes of sparking interest in the students and growing the music department of the middle school. These pictures are from Jake's choir performance, and the choir is half of the sixth grade class. They sang Drops of Jupiter, You'll Be In My Heart, and a Rag-Time Band song, which was their best. He enjoyed it alright, but decided to play trombone in the band next year instead of taking choir again.

MuVi: Museo del Vidrio

We took the kids to visit the Vitro glass museum a couple of weeks ago. We thought we were going to be able to tour the factory to see how they make bottles, but we were only able to see some displays of glass items they had made since their founding. The coolest part was the exhibit of glass sculptures. It was really amazing what the artists could do with glass!