Weekend Away

We had an awesome little vacation this weekend! A friend from Winnipeg was in Saltillo on business so we headed out there Thursday to hang out with him. Friday morning we got up and headed to Monterrey. It is the third largest city in Mexico located about an hour east of Saltillo. We hadn't booked a hotel but headed to the Crowne Plaza because we liked the location and it had good reviews. We had seen a pretty good rate online. When we got there they told Andrew the best rate was way out of our price range. Andrew mentioned the rate he had seen online. She did some more looking and quoted him $50 less. Andrew politely thanked her and we prepared to leave. As we were rounding up the kids the manager approached him and offered a rate $30 lower than the online rate! Including breakfast. The buffet was AMAZING. You know it's a good one when you don't have enough room for all the great food. And the service was fantastic. Our room was awesome- we had a super cozy king sized bed, and Eva was quite happy sleeping on her "special bed" on the floor (why didn't we think of this before? It was joy, pure joy.) The room had a TUB. The hotel had an awesome pool, including a 12" deep heated kiddie pool, pool toys, and a not-too-hot huge hot tub. We swam up a storm! Eva didn't want to go home.

After we checked in we headed south to the Bioparque Estrella. It is over an hour's drive from Monterrey. About halfway there we were lucky enough have a run-in with the traffic police. We had forgotten copies of our visas which made it a bit tense for a few minutes, but it all worked out. I felt bad for the kids who were already tired of driving. After all that, it was frustrating to have to wait in line for 45 minutes just to pay to get into the park, but fun once we were there! The best part was the Serengeti Safari, for sure. Both kids absolutely loved it. We got on a big open bus with our cups of animal food and got to offer it to all sorts of fun African animals. Unfortunately we didn't get to see all the attractions. It was not only hot but also humid so 3 hours in the park was plenty. Plus we needed to leave time at the end of the day for swimming! And tubbing!

who doesn't have a family photo like this?

Eva decided to try out the waterslide. It was a good start....

...then things started to go wrong...

...and it ended in tears

Here we are plotting the second attack. She did go up but cold feet got her while she was standing in the lineup. Maybe next time!

Safari animals up close and personal

In the morning we checked out the recently opened Santa Lucia Riverwalk. It was beautiful. Tons of fountains, great architecture, floating bands. We took the boat tour which was a nice way to see it. We wished we'd had time to spend in the Parque de los Fundadores at one end. There is an awful lot to see and do in Monterrey. Looking forward to another excursion there one day.

Paseo Santa Lucia

Statue in the Macroplaza, downtown Monterrey

Cool Neptune sculptures in the Macroplaza, downtown Monterrey

The kids did great on the way home. Shortly after, Eva's gymnastics teacher Bertha came over to babysit while we went out to a farewell dinner for a couple from Circle of Friends. The kids were ABUZZ with excitement to have Bertha in our house!

Juno

We saw the movie Juno this weekend and both loved it!

More to come about the weekend once I find time to write it all up and post the corresponding photos. We had a super fun weekend away! Here's a teaser:

Sleep Update

Thank you to all who offered advice and ideas about our sleep situation. We have made a few minor adjustments, including offering Micah cheerios to munch on in his crib in the morning (bought us 10 minutes) and putting Blue Baby in with him (negligible effect). The major change though, is in our attitudes. Micah wakes up perky and raring to go, and doesn't generally get grumpy during the day. So I am pretty sure that either this is a phase or simply the way he is made. We are now taking turns getting up with him and choosing to enjoy the extra hours and the beginning of the day. We are also getting to bed somewhat earlier. That helps.

He is Risen!

We celebrated the resurrection of Christ today.

Eva with her friend Emily

A missionary couple, Bill and Lisa, started an english language church and we are so excited to be part of it. Andrew and I are really enjoying the sermons. The kids come flying out of their Sunday School class squealing with delight. Andrew has been leading worship together with Bill & Lisa's son Donovan.

Today after the service our little church had a potluck lunch.

The kids had a blast. The amount of sugar consumed made me cringe.

Micah is eating in every one of today's photos!

Blue Baby was originally purchased for Eva when we were expecting Micah. He is still extremely popular. Recently he was in some sort of accident and went through puberty, apparently. Thanks to Eva he is now the proud owner of many facial and cranial bandaids, as well as a moustache. Micah has taken a real shine to him lately. There have been many tears shed over posession of Blue Baby. Sometimes though he does get a break from the drama.

He is risen indeed!

Sleep... what is that?

Last night Eva had insomnia. She up for a couple of hours starting about 12:30am. And Micah was up for the day at 4:15am. Is it possible that our 17 month old child only needs 9 hours of nighttime sleep? He only sleeps about an hour in the day. At this point I still have hope it might be related to the last of his molars which is pushing through. Though maybe having hope makes it worse. I refuse to believe that the only way to get my full night's rest is to go to bed as soon as Eva is asleep. At this point. But I am swiftly moving toward bleak dispair. I hate the impact it has on my days and I hate how powerless I am in this situation.

We can't even try the "letting him cry" method until a reasonable hour- we share a wall with our neighbors and would feel terrible subjecting them to the wailing as well.

I am open to ideas about how to remedy this situation. Comment away!

Who Wants To Go Skating?

Eva does! Micah, not so much.

Believe it or not, there is a full fledged indoor ice rink here in Torreon. Thursday we took the kids to free skating. Eva ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. Micah ABSOLUTELY HATED IT. The smallest skates were size 11. Micah is a 6.5 so the poor fit might have had something to do with Micah's opinion of the activity.

Once our time was up, Eva refused to take off her skates. Even the promise of a milkshake at Carl's Jr wasn't enough. Finally we just had to pull parental rank.

She has been asking to go again so we'll do it again soon. This time one of us will stay back with Micah, so there will be photos to share.

Micah's Good!

Micah lost his limp a couple of days ago and his foot is pointing forward again today! Whoohoo!