Mexico Summer Visit Part 4

One Saturday my mom's good friends Luis and Lynn invited us to their beach house for the day.  The kids took early naps and we headed to their place in the afternoon.

Here we are at the beach while we waited for our fish to get fried and ready to take to our friend's house.

Luis was a great "babysitter" while we were there and very much enjoyed the kids.

We got the kids in their swim suites and enjoyed the sand and ocean.

I stayed on the beach, but Oma was a happy companion to my little ones.

Late in the afternoon we got to see the fishermen come in with their bounty.  It was such a fun experience.  We happened to be there during the two-week period where fishing for sea cucumber was allowed, so that was fun to watch in itself.  As the fishermen got off, there was a truck on the beach with a large scale where the buyers were ready to purchase their goods.

We got to sit around the table with our friends afterwards and enjoy whole fried fish for dinner.  The best part about the meal for the kids was eating the fresh corn tortillas.

At one point during dinner time the kids started to "play" musical chairs.  And then I caught my boys loving on each other while they shared one chair.

And then as the day was coming to a close, the kids asked if there were any books to read.  Here is my lovely girly-girl engrossed in a magazine Lynn and Luis gave her.  What was funny was that as we were saying goodbye, the kids just walked out with the books, expecting to be able to take them home :)

And here is my mom with her best friend Lynn.  Right before I took this picture they were arguing with each other about who was going to keep the most food (No, YOU keep the food.  No, YOU keep the food).  Every since I was young, I have memories of these two ladies arguing about who's going to wash the dishes, who's going to keep the most food, amiga this, and amiga that, and I love you amiga, and thank you amiga.

Thank you for your hospitality.

The kids were wiped out by the time we got home.

Mexico Summer Visit Part 3

Our boys got their "Mexican haircut" while visiting.  I normally cut their hair, but I was really wanting to give a local hair shop some business, so we ended up walking up the block from my aunt's house to the same barber shop my dad used to get his hair cut.  The man was very kind, and the boys did a wonderful job.

This was a fun afternoon with some friends at the pool.  

Valerie, Ines and me (and our babies).

Here are some pics of the children helping Oma pick some fruit from her tree.

This is probably one of the kids' most memorable things to do with Oma -- pick fruit from her trees.

And here they are with a neighbor girl playing with some playdoh.

Another picture of my aunt, but this time with one of her wonderful nurses with her.  She is so well taken care of.

And here they are with one of my cousins Velia, who between chocolate, mango treats and milk, made her way into their hearts.

(and I'll be done once again with pictures for now.  Maybe tomorrow I'll work on them again.)

Mexico Summer Visit Part 2

While E and B were pretty picky eaters (no surprise there!), Naamen loved just about anything you put in front of him.  He seemed especially fond of kibbeh, a Lebanese dish I grew up eating.

And of course, one of my greatest highlights of the trip was being reunited with my forever friend Valerie, now with three kids herself (!!!).  By the end of the trip, our children had become "forever friends" as well :)

On a Saturday morning, while Naamen napped, we took the older kids to the town's market to do some shopping and to give them "the experience."  They had a lot of fun and even got to buy some toys for themselves.

And then pool time with both Valerie's and my family.  I don't think we had ever been able to do it before.

The kids really enjoyed napping in the hammocks while we were there.  If it were up to them, they would have slept there as well, but we didn't want them to in fear that they may fall during the night.  An afternoon nap didn't seem that threatening.  

We were in Mexico during two Sundays, and although my aunt's house is a 45 minute drive from my mom's house, it's only a five minute drive to our church.  So on both Sundays we went to visit my aunt early in the morning, and then headed to the 10:30 AM service at church.  Here they are at my aunt's table, enjoying their second breakfast of tropical fruit (mango and zapote), in addition to other treats.  

One of the Lord's kindeses during our trip was seeing this boy and his family.  Both his mom and dad are friends of ours and were both co-workers of both Byron and I at some point.  His dad had been recently diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing chemo (still is!).  We were not sure if we'd be able to see them during our visit, but on Sunday while driving around the town to show the kids our old house and the school we used to work at, we ran into them!!!  What an unexpected blessing that was!!!!

And speaking of unexpected blessings, that same Sunday while at Walmart shopping for goggles for the kids, we ran into our dear, dear, dear friend Alex!!!!!  He is one of my sister's best friends and it was such a joy to see him since we weren't really planing on visiting with him.  He was so kind to the children as well and even bought them each a treat from the store.  Thank you, Uncle Alex!

And also that same Sunday (yes, SAME Sunday), we met our good friends Luis and Cristina and their two children for dinner and fun that night.

This picture makes me laugh at Byron napping in his hammock, with faithful Doggie and his right index finger in his mouth.

Byron returned to the States after six days in Merida, but the fun continued after he left.  My mom took us to the town's zoo on morning.  We had a lot of fun!

We even got to get on the zoo's train and ride in it twice.  What memories this day brought!  I remember taking this same train around the zoo many, many times over the years as a child.

(I still have a good bit more pictures to post of our trip, but it's getting late and I must head to bed.  Hopefully I can work on it some more later this week... Until then, night night!)

Mexico Summer visit Part 1

We spent a little under three weeks in Mexico early this Summer visiting family and friends.  I was a bit hesitant about being in Merida during one of the hottest months of the year with three children five and under, but it truly turned out to be a memorable time that made our return back home a little hard.

I uploaded my thoughts and a few quotes by the kids every night while we were there through Instagram, but I'll do my best to record it on the blog as well.

Here we are at my mom's house on the afternoon we arrived.  Of all days to arrive, the power went out in the entire Yucatan Peninsula, which meant that on top of it blazing hot, my mom had no electricity (aka -- no AC!!!), and no running water (!!!).  That first night was rough.  I laid in my hammock at night thinking to myself:  "I don't think I'll be able to make it thru the entire trip.  I think I'm going back home with Byron next week."

However, here are the kids outside with my mom, giving them the tour of her backyard.  Emma was the most excited about picking fruit off of my mom's trees.  Son Byron's quote of the day was:  "I love Oma's home more that our home."

One day we drove the 30 minutes from my mom's house to Progreso to enjoy the ocean.  The kids had a blast, of course.  And I kept Naamen on my back the entire time so he wouldn't get all sandy and wet.

As a side note, this was the beach where Byron sent me scavenger hunting during on the night we got engaged ELEVEN years ago!!!

One of my main goals while being in Mexico was to spend time with my aunt Miriam.  Her health has declined significantly since I last saw her, and she doesn't even remember who I am, but that didn't take away the joy of being in her home and in her presence almost every day.  The kids were a little scared of her, but I'm glad they got to spend some time with her regardless of.

It was fun to run into one of my cousins one day at my aunt's house.

We took the kids to the mall one day to have lunch and have fun.  We introduced them to some crepes, food both Byron and I enjoyed together often during our Mexico years.  They loved them!

And of course, some fresh OJ for the family!

And our little Miss Mango got to have some mango ice cream at one of our favorite ice cream joints.

And then one of my cousins invited us to her daughter's birthday part.  Speak about giving the kids an experience of a lifetime!  Now the kids want their own pinata at their party this summer.

They even had a "live show" for the kids.

And kids juice...

We have a really funny video of the kids catching the candy as it was falling from the pinata.  Son Byron was literally laughing as the candy was "falling from the sky."