Suz's Stuff and Nonsense

Mexico XIX - Poverty

2010-01-13T10:50:00.000-08:00

These pictures speak for themselves.

Most were taken from the highway headed north to the Pyramids. Mexico City is surrounded by slums, and shanty-towns like these. Entire hills covered in concrete. Homes put together with scrap metal, tarps or pieces of wood. These are places cars can't even pass. I think of myself living in the US, lamenting that I didn't have granite counter-tops or a custom pool in my backyard. These pictures give me a quick reality check and I must again and again feel gratitude for all that I have, for all that ALL of us have living in the US. I don't want to hear about any more fake problems - a home rennovation, a broken dishwasher, not being able to find that perfect home in that perfect neighborhood with a perfect school... seriously, most of the worlds population lives like this...

I don't really make politally charged comments, but for all of those people who hate illegal immigrants, I think they need a tour of one of these shanty towns. If it were me, trying to raise my family in one of these shacks, earning less than $5 a day, with nothing to loose, I would risk everything to enter into the US illegally. There is so much hatred in the US towards Mexicans, especially in places like Arizona, Texas, and California - but do you blame them? I know it is costly for our government, but we all have more than enough clothes in our closet, food in our pantries, our houses are warm and dry, even with all the taxes we pay - so why should we complain about sharing with our neighbors. Keep coming my friends. Mi casa es tu casa. Mi pais es tu pais.

Mexico - XVIII - The move

2010-01-13T10:13:00.001-08:00

Our move - May 2009.

Swine flu really saved us as we moved to the other side of Polanco in early May. With every business, restaurant, school and store shut down we were easily able to make runs from our old apartment to our new house. Normally, this would take about 30-40 minutes a trip (to go 2 miles) and we would have to fight for a parking spot for the truck. This particular week, swine flu made it very easy.

We were very excited to move into a house with a small patio. I started to feel less safe with the security guards, who knew when Scott was traveling and knew when I was alone. We have no private securtiy, but the house is old and does not call attention to us. Why break into a pretty shabby looking place when the street is lined with mansions? And the best part of all, is that the kids school is directly across the street. We can literally get them there in about 20 steps. If you have ever experienced Mexico City traffic you would really understand what a lifesaver this is. We also leave two doors down from my favorite brunch restaurant, SAKS, and just a couple of blocks from the grocery store, and more shopping, located on Mexico's Rodeo drive - Masarik. At some point, I need to take more pictures of the front of our house.

How to move in Mexico. Find a few guys willing to work and a maid to watch your kids. We didn't do much and spent about $200- total, for the use of a truck and three strong workers. The professional bid was aroudn $1300, and of course we are always trying to save a buck - even if it means they will levy your furniture out the window, break the leg of your crib. I guess we could buy a new crib with the savings. As I wrote in an earlier post, our old apartment's elevator was broken. Making it even more difficult. Another plus, we will save over $700 a month on rent - take that our old evil landlord Roberto Charvel.

I wish I had a video of this caotic event - the garbage bags full of beanie babies flying out the window, the bunk bed they somehow got over the balcony in one piece, and the way the workers smiled and laughed through it all - they would each go home will 1000 pesos (about $80) so why complain? Here is a picture of us taking a break eating a little KFC.

While we waited for our phone and internet connections we found a week wifi signal on the roof. How is this for a home office? The old tenants were kind enough to leave the broken chaise - we brought up our beach gear. When the weather is nice, Scott brings up our TV and we watched a movie on the roof. The kids love it! (behind the treeline you can see the windows to the kids' school - Colegio Ciudad de Mexico).

The kids love having stairs to play on. Look at the lovely flooring in our new place - it kind of reminds me of the carpet you'd find in a stake center. Oh ya, and the maid Adriana prefers to sweep it. I keep telling her the vacuum is much more effective at sucking the pollution out of the carpet, but I don't think she believes me.

Home Sweet Home. Nothing like a cheap sofa from IKEA to curl up on. Ok, I think Matilda and Timothy are the only ones not faking :)

Mexico XVII - Grutas de Cacahuamilpa

2009-11-19T06:54:00.000-08:00

Family Picture outside the cave entrance. Funny, huh?

Caves are always challenging to photograph, a portable tripod would be nice

The girls were not really impressed with the cave, until they saw "diamonds" on the walls.

For some reason I like this weird blurry picture. I should really read my camera manual.

The girls posing.

Scott is still smiling! He has way more energy than me when it comes to touring with the kids. This was not a stroller friendly place - in several areas we had to carry it up several flights of stairs. I would reccomend the baby backpack or a really light-weight umbrella stroller for this day trip.

The girls posing again.

Mom has had it. No more day trips for a while. Notice the vein popping out of my forehead. This picture also shows how pretty foilage is in the moutains surrounding Mexico City.

Julianna on a zipline over a huge canyon. She is such a dare-devil! When I asked the workers how old the child had to be, they told me 18 months old and up... okay... I was hoping you had to at least be twelve.

Mexico XVI - Taxco

2009-11-17T11:27:00.000-08:00

We saw the "Grutas de Cacahuamilpa and Taxco all in one day. It was Good Friday and Scott didn't have to work, so we figured why not? A little much for one day, but sometimes I'd rather drive home late at night then to bring everything for an overnight stay.

Here is a view of the valleys surrounding Taxco. I bought a wall-hanging from this man on the side of the freeway and couldn't resist taking a picture. I did ask his permission first, and usually as long as you buy something this is acceptable. The mountains in this region (southwest of Mexico City) are so pretty, and it's great getting some fresh air.

Taxco is meditteranean style city built upon the side of a moutain. This used to be the world's largest producer of silver. There are still silver mines in the area and it's a great place to pick up silver beads and jewelry.

One downside, the town is not stroller or kid friendly. To the right of the picture above, you see Scott carrying the double-stroller down a flight of stairs. There are several places where you can proceed via a long flight of stairs, no ramps or roads to take you up to the town square. I would definately not do this again with the kids.

Here is a view of the town from the restaurant.

The kids were starving after all the flights of stairs.

The "zocolo" or main town square of Taxco. Note all the movement!

WARNING: Those with week stomachs stop reading at this point and don't look at the following pictures.

Well, what we didn't know, was that there is a huge religious procession on Good Friday, the day we went to Taxco. I looked this up when we got home, and it actually is a time when a lot of tourists come to Taxco to see this very procession. Above is a man carrying a cross from a montesary up to the center of town.

Poor Julianna found this very disturbing (who wouldn't) but couldn't stop watching the people carrying thorns, heavy crosses, or even those whipping themselves with belts covered in nails (self-flagellation as I later learned.) Notice the girl in the picture totally staring at Julianna. There is no word in Spanish that means "stare" and people will just stare and stare and stare at you. Matilda, with her blond hair and blue eyes shoots back nasty glares, and even this doesn't stop them. Scott taught her to say "Que me ves?!" - why are you looking at me?

This man is carrying stalks covered in thorns. My kids kept saying, "Mom is this real???!!!" And i couldn't lie to them, this was not some Hollywood production. This man had blood dripping down his back. One women told me a lot of these men were addicts who wanted to join the montesary and had to do this first. Haven't they heard of AA? That would be far less painful. I have more pictures, some of women with collars and leashes covered from head to toe in black doing the pilgramidge on their hands and knees.

This was the only nice part of the procession, little children dressed as angels.

WARNING - CONTAINS GRAPHIC MATERIAL

Taxco Good Friday procession - self-flagellation

I really hope I don't offend anyone, this is what we all happend to see... you never know what you are going to get in Mexico. Julianna, after seeing this asked me, "Mom, is this the true church?" I told her, "no," and she said, "I didn't think so."

Mexico XVI - Easter, broken elevator, swine flu and the apartment we will not miss!!!

2009-11-15T19:42:00.001-08:00

April 2009. Here are the girls, cooped up in the apartment during the swine flu scare. School was shut down for two weeks, as well as restaurants, movies, parks, museums. We stayed in the apartment and rotted - literally.

So when we looked for apartments in October 2008, we chose one close to a large banking building, because that meant 4 extra policemen on one side of our building. This was all good, until there started to be several protests by mining workers. Apparently, several of their men had been killed and the company (whose headquarters were in this building) failed to recompensate those families. The screaming and yelling, the first time, frightened me, but everything was fine. The protestors stayed outside the exit during lunch hour so the "millionarios" couldn't leave on their break. We were just happy they had their clothing on (naked protests are common here). Look to the back on the picture, you'll see Scott - I dared him to go down their with them.

Here's when the protest can get ugly. Extra police are called in to confront the protestors and allow the "millionarios" to leave their building. The poor miners then left, but there were two more protests like this one while we were in that apartment. (These pictures were taken from our family room window)

Here is a picture outside our apartment, located on 510 Seneca, in Polanco with our favorite security guard, Raul. What a nightmare this apartment turned out to be. Besides protests, it had several problems. We were told by the landlord, that everything had been repaired and renovated and we wouldn't have any problems in this building. It turns out, the week before we signed our contract (from Arizona of course) the elevator went out. The landlord, Roberto Charvel, did not have the decency to tell us before signing. When we arrived on January 5th, I wanted to cry when I noticed the elevator was out - but all our stuff was there waiting to be unpacked and there wasn't much else we could do. Roberto reassured us it would be fixed soon. January, February, March..... no elevator! We have 4 kids, buy lots of food at Costco, the water alone is enough to kill someone climbing up two flights of slippery marble stairs. So finally in April, after a lot of fighting with good old Roberto, we were done with that place. So, anyone thinking of renting from Roberto Charvel with either Vander Properties or Pelican Properties - BEWARE. He is totally dishonest... I could go on and on. Maybe this will come up on a google search for him, maybe not. By the way, Roberto did not fix the elevator until August - I'm so glad we moved!

Decorating Easter eggs - note how messy the place is. By May, I wised up and hired a live-in maid. Life is hard in Mexico City - it is good to have a lot of help!

Decorating Easter eggs in our teeny tiny kitchen. In Mexico, most kitchens are built just for servants, not for families. So they are so small and rather depressing. Very little light, counter space, etc.

Mexico XV - Cancun with the Hatch Family

2009-11-15T18:29:00.000-08:00

April 2009. The group at Xcaret - minus Matilda and Scott.

Timothy and his cousin Austin Hatch (Becca's baby)

Timothy fell asleep in the sand. It most have been like a womb - all warm and comforting. Don't worry he's wearing SPF 60 and he did not burn. We moved him into the stroller where he took a nice long nap on the beach.

Why is it that Dad's are so good at thinking of games which require so little movement or effort on their behalf? Paul Hatch (my sister Becca's husband) played a game with the kids in the baby pool - they loved it! He tossed the intertube and they had to duck underwater before they got hit. Poor Austin took this one though. Good thing he has his binkie in the pool.

Casa Maya Condominiums. We crashed with Becca and Paul in a two bedroom condo. Here is a view from the room. It wasn't as fancy as other places, but it had an ideal location on the coast. It's located on the northeast tip of the island and there are hardly any waves. It was like being at Bear Lake - except with beautiful sand and salt water. I would definately go back to this resort. Thanks Becca and Paul for letting us crash with you guys!

How to fit 12 people in a two bedroom condo - get creative with the sleeping arrangements. The kids had so much fun each night. It was like a big slumber party, except they fell asleep immediately, the swimming really wore them out.

The kids at the entrance of Xcaret - of course you're not supposed to take your own pictures of their macaws.

At the end of the day, I'm really glad we made it to xcaret, the mexican theme park about an hour south of Cancun. There you can swim in a cenote, play at the beach, see some small pyramids, eat a huge buffet, watch a live-performance...etc. etc. All on very maticulously maintained grounds. Would I go again... sure why not, I would just be sure to set aside the $300 way in advanced. It's like a day at Disneyland, expensive, exhausting, but we can't seem to get enough of it.

Mexico XIV - Hilton Cancun

2009-11-15T17:29:00.001-08:00

April 2009. Rebecca and Paul left, we moved to the Hilton Cancun Resort. The kids loved the pools, the beach full of seashells and I loved the breakfast buffet. I could go on and on about how delicious the food was... ahhh some of the best chilaquiles ever! The only downside, the water was a little wavy for swimming, and the rooms were small.

View of the pools and ocean from our room.

Paradise! Timmy fell asleep everytime we went in the hammock. It doesn't get any better than this!

Timmy posing for the camera.

We loved the swimming pools at this hotel. Behind the girls is a poolside bar - they actually were able to talk to way to free soda, by swimming up and asking the bartender, "cuanto cuesta?" In just three months they have developed perfect accents. I will never be able to speak as fluidly as them.

Mexico XIII - Three arqueological sites in one day - what were we thinking?

2009-11-15T15:54:00.000-08:00

Mayan ruins - Chitzen Itza, Coba and Tulum. April 2009.

Chitzen Itza - the most famous of the Mayan ruins.

Family picture at Chitzen-itza. This was my second time here. The first was 12 years ago with Cheryl, Paul & family. Back then we were able to climb up the pyramids. The kids were really disappointed that it was roped off.

After 5 minutes, Julianna was done. Have I mentioned yet how much she dislikes pyramids? And this was the first one we saw

The second pyramid of the day, Coba. There was more shade and the kids enjoyed exploring the grounds there.

Julianna and Alexandra climbing up one of the pyramids at Coba.

Tulum, beautiful, beautiful Tulum! It's Alexandra who is having a hard time now!

This is the prettiest archeological site I have ever seen, and may ever see. It is located right on the coast, and there is a lovely breeze. Below the pyramid is a public beach that closes at 4:30pm (fyi) - we arrived at 4:45 and the kids were furious that we couldn't swim after such a long day.

We found a public beach close by Tulum and it was perfect! Powdery white sand, a huge sand bar for the kids to play in. It made the long day worthwhile.

The kids trying to body surf in the waves.

Hurray, everyone is finally happy!!

If I could do it again, I would maybe only see one pyramid, then head directly to the "cenote" close by. All pyramids in this region were built by a sacred "cenote" - natural well - that you can swim in to cool off.

Mexico XII - Coyoacan

2009-11-15T13:31:00.001-08:00

March 2009. I absolutely love spending a Saturday in Coyoacan. I regret not considering this area when we were looking for housing in Mexico City. This neighborhood is made up of multi-colored homes, cobblestone streets and has more of a bohemian feel. The market has the best seafood tostadas in all of D.F. and there are lots of little art museums. It is only about a 10 minute drive from Polanco (as long as you don't hit traffic!)

Best picture of the Day! Alexandra with one of Diego Rivera's statues. These were all over the yard of the casa azul.

Visiting Frida and Diego's house (La Casa Azul) in Coyoacan. I love the girls' pose!

Timmy sitting next to aa statue. It could have been made of him, back 2000 yrs ago or so.

Julianna posing next to one of fountains in Frida Kahlo's garden.

I really love all the color in Mexico - too bad the HOA only allows shades of brown!

If you want really good seafood tostados, this restaurant in the middle of the Coyoacan market has the BEST tostadas I have ever tried. They serve them with about 8 different choices of salsa, a big slice of avacado. To die for!!!

Waiting for our "Tacos al Pastor" - Yum! For those of you in the Phoenix area, according to the Mexican I met at Garage Sales, you can find Tacos al Pastor in Southwest Phoenix. (the area that always seems to be on the news for something or other... but hey, I'd go there for these tacos!)

The whole family in front of the Coyotes fountain. The name Coyoacan actually comes from a Nahuatl words meaning "land of the coyotes."

Black Beans and Mexican rice

2009-11-15T12:55:00.001-08:00

These pictures were taking during my first Mexican cooking lesson from our maid Berinice. I wanted her to show me the basics, and I regret not measuring exactly everything she used. First we prepared black beans in the pressure cooker. Here is a rough explanation of how we did it.

Sort 1/2 K (about 1 lb) of black beans. Make sure there are no rocks or dirt. Rinse with warm water. Put the beans in the pressure cooker with just a little bit of onion, some epazote leaves, and a clove of garlic. Add water - basically it is 1 part dry beans to 4 parts water and I don't really measure at all. Add a few Tablespoons oil. Cook on high for about 50 minutes. In Mexico City, we are about 8000 ft above sea level so you may be okay with a shorter cooking time. When they are finished season with Knorr Suiza - or what we call chicken bouillon, and salt. If you want some refried, you can use the liquid they cooked in and smush them in a frying pan, without having to add extra fat. Epazote is a very common spice used it Mexico. It has a very strong smell, somewhere between tires and licorice.

Note, I now (7 months later) cook my beans differently. I use the same quantities, 1/2 Kilo black beans and add water up to the 10 cup mark on my pressure cooker. I next add the end of an onion (or a scrap that won't be used for salsa or something else), the stems of cilantro, 1-2 cloves of garlic and and about 3 T olive oil. When it's finished, I take out the chunk of onion, the garlic and the cilantro stems. I scoop out the bean and some of the liquid and season them with some freshly chopped cilantro, salt, a little knorr suiza, and chipotle juice (the juices from a can of chipotles - just for a little flavor) or I use dried chipotle powder. Cilantro gives it more of a Carribean bean flavor, and the chipotle gives it a nice undertone. We always have these in the fridge and I make a batch each week.

I made rice with Berinice and noted 1) Mexicans are NOT afraid to use a lot of oil 2) FRESH ingredients are always used. I took horrible notes during this cooking session. What I remember is that she soaked, regular long-grain rice for 30 minutes in warm water, then rinsed it. Next she covered the bottom of my pot with oil and fried the rice until it looked golden brown like this - for about 10 minutes. You have to constantly stir. Meanwhile, she cut the stems off of the tomatos (roma, because they are much cheaper than large tomatos - see above), cut them and half and put them in the blender with about 1/4 of a small white onion, and 2 cloves of garlic. She covered the tomatos with water and blended this well. For this type of rice, the tomatos then become part of the liquid used to cook the rice. Just follow the regular rice porportions and add more water to the mixture if necessary (about 1:2, rice tomatos). In the US, I had made Spanish rice several times, but with canned tomatos. This is much taster, but I have to admit, this type of rice does give me heartburn :o(. Ok where was I, after the rice is nice and golden brown add the tomato-water mixture. Turn the flame down to low, cover the rice and wait for the water to evaporate and the rice to cook - about 15-20? minutes. Also, she added 2 large jalapenos, uncut to the rice before to give it extra flavor.

Mexico XI - Puebla

2009-11-15T12:01:00.000-08:00

We came back from Veracruz on the southern route - all toll roads. I really wish I would have photographed some of the jungle, but I really thought we would be in the traffic forever, so I never got a shot of the all the foilage. The kids at first made monkey noises when they saw banana trees, but the novelty of these trees along the highway wore off fast. These are pictures from the last day of our trip.

The cathedral at night.

Walking around the downtown Puebla at night. The kids loved the break from the car.

Puebla is such a charming town, with cobblestone streets, brightly colored restaurants and lots of delicious food. We'll have to plan a whole weekend here.

Mexico X - Costa Esmeralda - El Tajin - Quiahuixtlan

2009-11-15T10:18:00.000-08:00

March 2009. Our adventure to Veracruz... we woke up at 4am to get out of the city before traffic. It still took an hour to find our way because the main freeway north was shut down at several points. We ended up on a winding mountain road through the jungle for almost 8 hours!!! There was an over-turned truck at one point which slowed us down quite a bit. Needless to say, we were so happy when we saw the sign for "El Tajin." I like the way the bottom part of the sign is falling off - so Mexico!

Timothy on top of a pyramid.

This is the most famous of the pyramids found at "El Tajin." Above is one side of the pyramid and below is the other side of the same pyramid.

Another view of the famous pyramid at "El Tajin." To quote wikepedia:

"The site's most famous building is the Pyramid of the Niches. The step pyramid of 6 terraces is some 60 feet high. While only medium as Mesoamerican pyramids go, the ornamented architecture creates a striking and visually pleasing effect. The terraces are of well cut stone forming a series of 365 niches. A staircase rises up the pyramid's east side. Originally the pyramid was topped by a temple, but little remains of this. 600-900 AD

Picture taken above the ruins. Alexandra and Timothy were real troopers and hiked up to see this view. Julianna and Matilda would have no more of it and stayed down below with our friends.

The kids were starving after visiting the ruins and enjoyed "elote" - corn barbaqued on a stick. I included this picture because you get a glimpse of this old-man dressed in typical Veracruz atire.

On the way home from Playa Esmeralda we visited the Arquelogical site of Quihuixtlan. For more info and for better looking pictures click below. It was so pretty, over-looking the Gulf of Mexico.

http://portal.veracruz.gob.mx/portal/page?_pageid=313,4309043&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

In the background you can see some of the tiny alters that are found all-over this site.

Matilda is so not impressed by this place.

Eating at the hotel buffet with the Rabe family. The food was excellent, especially the hand-made sopes and freshly squeezed madarin orange juice.

Julianna and Alexandra enjoying the beach. We didn't have the best weather (mostly rainy over-cast, 60s/70s) but the kids still had fun making sand-castles and searching for seashells.

Before you book your next family vacation to visiting Mescoamerican Arqueological sites, look at how happy my kids are walking around these grounds.

Mexico IX - Valle de Bravo

2009-04-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

After seeing the butterflies we drove through Valle de Bravo to this lovely little town. We ate at a restaurant overlooking the lake and terracotta rooftops. It felt much more like Europe than Mexico. The kids loved exploring the markets in town (Michoacan) and eating ice cream at a plaza in the centro. I think the pictures speak for themselves.
(Am I posting too many pics? What do you want to see, more of the kids, or more of the sights? Feedback is appreciated!)

Mexico VIII - Monarch Butterfly migration

2009-04-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

We drove west to see an area where Monarch butteries migrate each years. They spend 3-4 months in this regions and their are hundreds of acres of butterflies. As this area is protected we were not able to get as close as we would have liked. We rode horses for about 30 minutes up a mountain to get to the vista point. I was a little nervous going up the steep path, especially because I had baby Timothy on my lap, and Julianna, Alexandra, & Matilda were all on their own horses. The kids actually enjoyed the horse ride more than the view of the butterflies. In the photos, you can see the orange on the trees, and these are butterflies. It was a cool morning so they were huddling together to stay warm. There were still several along the path and fluttering around the trees. This was pretty amazing to see so many butterflies in one spot.

I sure hope these horses don't get SPOOKED!

The girls loved holding Butterflies

Mexico VII - Xochimilcho Centro Turistico

2009-03-22T19:41:00.000-07:00

We drove around a little and finally found the touristy section of Xochimilco where we were able to take a 2 hour boat tour of the famous floating gardens. It was Monday morning, so the canals were very quiet and peaceful. We took a tour on this lovely "Benvenidos Mexico" boat.

In Mexico, you can't go two feet without a food stand - even on a boat. Soon after we boarded a lady selling papas, elote and other snacks caught up with us.

This picture is for all you "Nacho Libre" fans out there. Here is little eskeleto eating his elote.

Some of the 2 hour tour was very relaxing and beautiful...

At other times we were reminded of the poverty around us. All along the canals are shacks made out of just about anything. Most of the people who work on the canals also live on the water.

Here is a Mariachi band floating along the canals.
Here is the Mariachi band that floated along the canals

Mexico VI - Xochimilco Nature Reserve

2009-03-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

We drove to the southern end of the city looking for Xochimilco (so-chee-mill-coe) and ended up in this nice nature preserve. The air seemed a lot cleaner and the girls had fun finding caterpillars. Special thanks goes to Eric Sundahl for driving with Scott all the way from Phoenix to Mexico City - a three day ordeal full of some long painful stretches.

Is it just me, or is concrete not a very good landing for a steep slide? In the background of Alexandra's monkey picture are some really scary teeter-toters. Who remembers the green ones just like these at Conant Elementary's playground?

Mexico V - Chapultepec park

2009-03-22T16:51:00.000-07:00

We loved Chapultepec park so much we went back the next weekend.

Timothy gets a lot of laughs here with his hair that is growing straight up. We here lots of comments like, "Que pelos" and "ay, que guerito mas precioso."

We rode the train around the park and Timothy could not stop starring at this little girl's painted face. The little girl kept trying to touch his puffy hair.

Julianna loves these stands that sell fresh potato chips with lime and hot sauce. Yum!

The girls each had 10 pesos to spend and they used it to buy these cute little plants that are the perfect size for Barbie world.

Mexico City is so colorful. Here are some pictures from our walk in the park.

Notice in this picture how these cotton candy machines work with a hand crate. Would a bike like this complete with a popcorn maker and cotton candy machine be great for any party?

Here is a typical street food stand. I especially love the mango on a stick. Next time I'll stop and let my camera focus :)

Timothy is sitting up

2009-03-22T16:44:00.000-07:00

Hurray for Timmy he can sit up!

Mexico IV - Chapultepec park

2009-03-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

We spent Scott's birthday walking through the zoo and markets at Chapultepec Park. I have to say the Phill & Ted stroller we brought here has been a life safer. It is narrow for managing crowds, has jogging stroller tires for the uneven sidewalks, and a swivel wheel for easy one-handed manuevering. We have heard it called "Padrisimo" here when people realize there is a little "guerito" hiding in the back. Thank you Brenda Petty for strongly reccomending this stroller :) it has been worth every penny!

Face painting is a big deal at Chupultepec park and the girls enjoyed having little designs painted on their faces. They were at first disappointed that I wouldn't get one of the 30 peso designs (completly covering every inch of their face) and we opted for something simpler. It was a good thing - we had to use some heavy duty soap to wash this stuff off. I guess indulging kids is part of Mexican culture and the girls enjoyed buying cotten candy, papas, and some junky toys.

We finished the day with some delicious Tacos al Pastor... I need to learn how to recreate these flavors at home. I would reccomend a trip to Mexico City just to eat some real tacos like these... by the way a plate like this costs about $2.50.

Mexico III

2009-01-24T20:48:00.000-08:00

Scott celebrated his birthday with Co-workers from American Express. After they sang to him they smashed his face in his cake. If I knew this were coming, I'd filmed more! We had a pinata which the Security Guards so eagerly set up in the garage.

Alexandra has been really liking her blanket with all this change. She says that she'll stop sucking her thumb next year. :) We were impressed with her pronunciation yesterday, when she told us the name of her friend, Roberto Parra, and rolled her "r's" with out any trouble.

Julianna is still collecting rocks. She is making new friends and saying a few phrases in Spanish. She loves the monkey bars at the park close by and has a lot of energy for walking around town.

Matilda is a super-star here. We take her around in the stroller and she scowls at people. Finally she yelled, "Dad! Why is everyone LOOKING at me?" He answered, "because you are so pretty." She screamed back, "I'm NOT pretty... I'm a LITTLE GIRL!"

Timothy likes riding in the baby backpack. He kept patting Scott's head saying, "DA-Da" He has two little teeth, can sit up, wave and hold his own bottle. I'm not sure if he will ever crawl; someone is always holding him.

Suz is enjoying this vacation from cleaning. Hopefully this week I'll tackle the box of paperwork we brought from the US. I can't wait for Scott to bring the van out here so I can brave the Mexico City traffic.

Mexico II

2009-01-18T18:35:00.000-08:00

We ate grasshoppers!

well, juju spit hers out, but at least she put it in her mouth for a second...
Last Saturday we explored the open market outside Lincoln Park. Our first stop was a Oaxacan back of a car stand to sample "Chapulines" - grasshoppers roasted and sprinkled with lime and chili powder. Scott threw a couple in his mouth like it was nothing... I ate one, (so gross), to look as tough as Scott. Julianna put it in her mouth and spit it out. Alexandra, always trying to outdo Julianna, chewed it and swallowed it. She was so proud after!

Mexico City - we made it

2009-01-05T20:38:00.000-08:00

The kids took turns with Scott in first class. They loved it.

I had to get over germs fast. Timmy did eat off of this wooden high chair.... ewww

Embassy suites hotel (the Nuttals former home)

Alison, Mary, Becca and you other bloggers I will try to keep this up... Please I hope I don't bore you, I was never much of a writer. But maybe you will get a laugh or two from our adventures. Believe me, I had no idea what I was getting myself into with this move to Mexico. But, as long as there is good food and a friend or two we will be ok.

So here is my first Mexico Post.

We made it! The morning was crazy getting the house ready and all the stuff into the car, the plane, customs, etc. etc. I thought we down-sized but with all the strollers and luggage and special blankies and special dolls we were pretty bogged down. We didn't have time for breakfast and the credit card machine on the plane was broken so I had to dig through the kids luggage for some extra cash for the box lunch and drinks. With Matilda's coin collection and Jujus stash we came up with $14- enough for two boxed lunches and drinks. Scott and Juju were in first class and scott got scolled by the flight attendent for having brought us some orange juice. She calmly told Matilda, "it is against FAA regulations for you to have this drink... and took it from her!"

After getting through customs we were met by two drivers who helped with all the STUFF. I rode with Juju and she had some good comments in the car (no offense to Mexico - this is a seven-year-olds view of a semi-developing country)

"Mom, I don't think I'm going to like this place." I ask her why and she answers, "In the first place, it smells like dog poop here. In the second place, there is writing all over the walls. In the third place they have dirty laundry everywhere. In the fourth place, I don't know any Spanish. And fifth, there are too many cars. And I have to go to a new school."

Fortunately, the smells got much better as we approached the apartment and the kids were excited to choose a bedroom (one of three ha ha). Julianna's mood (and mine) improved a lot when we were finally able to eat our favorite food - tacos and drink horchata and kidie pina coladas.

Alexandra's great comment in the hotel was, "Mom, can't you change the Disney Channel to English?!" Matilda has no idea what is going on and keeps saying, "Dad, I'm going to Mexico City, not a hotel and not an apartment."

Disneyland

2008-04-08T17:46:00.000-07:00

We went to Disneyland in March. It was fun... so now my blog is updated!

Suz

Christmas pics

2008-02-15T10:28:00.000-08:00

everyone is bugging me about updating my blog. I haven't taken many pictures these days so here are some from Christmas

2007-11-24T14:26:00.001-08:00

Under Construction - Mary has given me the homework assignment to update my blog - more soon!

2007-03-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

Alexandra and Baby Taluleh

2007-03-14T18:54:00.000-07:00

Julianna with our little Baby Tallulahh

2007-02-28T14:14:00.000-08:00

Vickie put juju and alexandra in her recycling bin. Luckily she keeps it very very clean. gross

2007-02-28T14:08:00.000-08:00

Alexandra was sad and Matilda gave her lots of hugs. Cute.

2007-02-23T07:33:00.000-08:00

Matilda with a helmet

2007-02-23T07:25:00.000-08:00

Alexandra and Matilda getting into juju's makeup