Rachel's First Day of Preschool!

Rachel started preschool on Monday! I have usually only put my kids into preschool for the year prior to kindergarten. I tried to do that here, but pretty much all Mexican kids (and most American kids living here) start preschool at 2 or 3, which means there aren't any playgroups or music or dance lessons in the mornings that we could attend. Rach is almost 4 1/2 now, and she needed some extra stimulation and some interaction with other kids, so I am so happy we found a great affordable preschool to do both! She had been telling everyone that she was going to start preschool on Monday, but when the time came to actually get ready for it, she just repeated over and over, "but I don't want to go to school". She was worried that she wouldn't know what to do because she didn't know spanish. My reassurances that her teachers could speak english too did little to comfort her. I finally bribed her with a first-day-of-preschool cake that would be ready for her when she got back home. That seemed to make things a little easier. At the preschool, the moms just drive up and the teachers come to get the kids out of the car, so saying goodbye was fairly easy. When I returned to pick her up, she was all smiles, asking when she could go to school again. Excellent! I'm so happy things are going so well! These pictures were taken after school, as we were running a little late that morning(with all the complaining, comforting, bribing, etc.) She does look happy though, doesn't she?!

Mother's Day Goodies

My honey brought me 2 dozen long stemmed white roses...beautiful, and I got a really cool big painted bowl from Tampico for Mother's Day this year. But my favorite gift was laying in bed, mostly awake, when Andy came home from his early morning church meetings. I heard him quietly come in and wake the kids, then I heard them tiptoe to my bedroom door, finally "waking" me up by singing "Mother, I Love You", bearing cards and flowers! I love my cute family!

Our Tampico Family Getaway!

During our 2 week break from school--our swine flu holiday--we took a trip to Tampico. It is about 6 hours southeast of us on the gulf coast. We got to stay with Uncle Brian and Aunt Carol, the mission presidents there. They were so wonderful to us, taking time out of their super busy schedules to show us around Tampico, teaching us how to play new games, and cook us wonderful meals. We are really grateful to them! One of our favorite parts, or several of our favorite parts of the trip was getting to play at Playa Miramar! Oh, how I've missed the beach! I loved that all of the kids are old enough that we could all play in the waves at the same time. We made, then destroyed, this awesome sandcastle...

Walking and stationary vendors were selling fruit, chili ice-pops, clothing, hair braiding, jewelry, headbands, homemade breads, beach toys--all right on the shore--and while we kept repeating "no, gracias" every 2 minutes, Andy did take up an offer from a waiter from a nearby restaurant! He and Jake said this shrimp cocktail was pretty tasty and fresh!Here's a few shots of my cute little(and not so little anymore)kiddos playing around...Jake and Andy hung out in the deep water together so they could boogie board. They had the perfect waves for it! I love this picture of Grace...



Sarah loved trying to boogie board too, I think she caught a couple of waves.This trip was Rachel's first experience at the beach, and she was really fun to play with in the waves. She just jumped when she saw waves that were taller than she was, and when she got water in her mouth she just spit it right out! No complaining and a constant smile. I think she loved it! I've decided Andy and I need to retire near a beach.

This is a cool little pavillion at the center of downtown Tampico, and an old cathedral that is being restored(or if not in the process of restoration, then it's being held together by metal poles on the outside) in the same town square.
Brian and Carol took us to their animal park, El Solito, and while we've been to the one near us several times, we've never been able to get this close to a giraffe or a monkey! The girls rode horses and Jake did a zip-line course. Unfortunately for us their water park was closed due to the swine flu, so we didn't get to play there. Darn it.



Andy, the giraffe-whisperer, lured this giraffe over to the fence near us, so we could pet him. Every time the giraffe started to leave, Andy would make a little whistle or clicking noise, and the giraffe would come right back. It was really funny!
The Tampico Mexico Temple is small but beautiful. The sun was shining so bright, we could hardly look at it because it's beautiful white stone reflected the sunlight!


We are so glad we were able to make this little trip. It was exactly the vacation we needed after being quarantined in our house for several days!

Earth Day

Earth Day isn't really a big deal here, so we thought we'd do our own little family project. We picked up trash at an empty lot next to our street. It's pretty much a dumping grounds for contractors building houses around us, and for the taxis that park there waiting for the maids' work day to end. We didn't get to pick it all up, but we enjoyed going out and doing a little something! Several cars slowed down on the street, watching us, trying to figure out what we were doing...rummaging? We filled our bags, but I think the kids were disappointed that we didn't drop them off, grab a new bag, and head back to clean up a bit more. Little cuties. I need to give them more opportunities to serve in the community. They love it! (Note: Sarah's favorite piece of trash--because it is recyclable--and Grace's trash picking gloves. Too funny.)

KIDZANIA!

KidZania rocks! It is an indoor kid-sized city. With the purchase of a plane ticket, each kid also gets a check for 50 KidZos. The kids head straight for the bank to cash the check or get credit put on a card. Then, they go to work at Wal-Mart, or the hospital, or the pharmacy, or as a policeman, or a reporter...the list goes on and on! They can also pay to work at Dominoe's(making their own pizza) or McDonald's(making their own burger) or to bottle their own Coca-Cola, or to design Barbie clothes, ride a mini-bus, etc. Before they are able to drive, they get their own driver's licenses, complete with their picture. When they've spent their kidzos, then they go back to work and earn more! I think it's a really fun idea, and the kids had a great time! We were so happy to get to go with some good friends and Grandma and Papa Patrick. The kids were able to split up--boys, girls, young ones--which worked out perfectly! Great friends and great grandparents! (Lots of pictures here...I really only picked the best...)