Catching up....

I've gotten a little behind with the posting. I could blame it on many things including that Dylan and I seemed to spent a good part of February and March being sick but that really isn't a good excuse. So here are the catch up pictures.

 ~ A little lime squeezer action.  Dylan loves to dig this out of the kitchen drawer and play with it.  

 ~ Dylan before school one day.


 ~ Cooking with Daddy.


 ~ The birthday Casa (This is what we had jammed in our car the day we were pulled over for making an illegal turn). Dylan loves to play in his casa.


 ~ Aunty Sarah comes to visit and we celebrate February birthdays with Tres Leche Cake.  It was very rich.





 ~ Ready for school



 ~ Opening presents.


 ~ A new book from Nana and Poppop.  Dylan has already memorized most of this book.

Funny Food Stuff

 ~ This is what we add to tap water to wash our vegetables with....... Matt thinks it is "interesting" that it says Previene el Colera on the bottle (I think you can work out what it is referring to without a translation).


 ~ Bimbo buns?
 

 ~ New Zealand Butter - YUM!

 ~ Conchas - these sweet rolls are everywhere, therefore I had to try at least one. From what I have seen they come in two varieties, one white and the other brown. They have a sugary topping on them. The one I tried was soft and sweet. It was a little dry but otherwise tasty. Lesley Tellez a food writer here is Mexico City is on the quest to find the best Concha. I am reading her results and may even make the trip to try a Concha at one of the places that rates above the others.

The carousel

While we were out getting a new battery for Matt's watch we found a carousel in the basement level of Liverpool (one of the department stores in the Santa Fe Mall). Dylan was actually way more interested in the Lego that was set up under the floor but got him a ticket anyway.

Relaxing at the Grand Luxxe - Part 2

~Lunching by the pool.
~Trying on some very stylish sunglasses.
~Warming up poolside
~Enjoying the pool.

~The Family picture.

~The foot shower.

Relaxing at the Grand Luxxe - Part 1

We spent the week at the Grand Luxxe in the Riviera Maya with Sarah, Rod, Grandma and Grandpa.  The weather the first few days was less than tropical but then the sun returned.  Here are the highlights.

~The view from the plane shortly after taking off from Toluca.



~Getting in a little swim while we wait for lunch after arriving at the resort.


~Already jumping off the edge of the pool.


~Hitting the beach with Grandma.


~Nothing like a little swim in the sand.


~Checking out the waves with Grandpa and Uncle Rod.  


~More lying in the sand.


~Sand chair time (otherwise known as having your legs buried in the sand).


~Knocking over another sand castle (they didn't last long, in fact knocking them over seemed to be the best part of sand castles).


~Checking out the crocodiles.

~Looking at the flamingos.


~Dylan enjoyed playing with these chess pieces (unfortunately the little point and shoot camera had some difficulty with the light and movement).

  

Ups and downs

Some things are finally coming together, we seem to have worked out what days the water delivery trucks come, the grocery shopping has almost normalized (as much as I think it will here, we joke that I need a list that shows the product and where to get it from) and I have made contact with the newcomers club.

One day last week I went half way across the city in search of framed (or not) canvas to paint on, paint and cotton string.  I had some success, check canvas and water color paint but not enamel paint or cotton string.  On the way home I pondered the juxtaposition that you see in many places around the city - walled courtyards that provide an oasis of calm away from the crazy traffic, roadworks, and noise.  I am particularly drawn to the courtyards and walled houses, the secret gardens that may or may not lie within and the mystic that comes with not knowing what is behind the wall.  I also laughed at the crazy street vendors.  Now there are street vendors that have their stands set up on the pavement (the taco and torta stands) and then there are street vendors that brave the bumper to bumper traffic, standing in the middle of the road (or highway) to sell drinks and candy.  

Last week I also noticed that things were blooming, hints of purple and flashes of bright red popping out of bare branches.  I can't wait for the full explosion especially as it looks like our street is lined with jacaranda trees.  I really wanted to find out what the trees with the red flowers were, so with a little help from Google I found an article a tree survey performed on Mexico City and with a little guess work (reading the tree names in Latin) I believe that the trees with the red flowers are Erythrina Coralloides (Naked Coral Trees).  Pictures to come.  

And then......on Saturday I wanted to send a text message to my Grandma to tell her we got the birthday card she sent for Dylan's birthday.  So I went to the drawer where we have been keeping cords and ipods and such in to find my US phone to get the number.  I couldn't find the phone so I spent about 45 minutes looking for it before I logged on to Verizon to confirm my suspicion - STOLEN.  Both my ipod and phone had been taken from the drawer.  I was angry and p$)# d off.  The pool of possible thieves was three but I have no way of knowing for sure which one of them took the items.  I suspended the service to the phone, changed passwords for accounts that were accessible from the phone and on Sunday we got a Caja Fuerte (a safe).  In the afternoon I logged in to Skype to talk to my sisters, they were both visiting our parents for the weekend to scatter the ashes of our Grandad and Nana Campbell.   They had the tough job of telling me that Grandad Joblin had passed away.  I am very sad as I really had hoped to make it home to see him.  To top off my day I then managed to pull something in my back as I bent over to pick Dylan up.  Oh, the ups and downs.  

Stuff Dylan says....

You can't help but laugh at some of the things that toddlers say.  Here are some random things from Dylan's mouth.

One day I called out to Dylan to see what he was doing...and he responds with "reading book, mouse in there".  He was reading the Night Before Christmas, the picture had a mouse in it.

Dylan asks if he can watch some "tackle movie". Translated from Dylan speak, that means he wanted to watch Football (American style). He loves to squat down anywhere and say "hut hut". Whenever Dylan falls over he says 'tackle'.

Last week he said something to me about three times.  I asked him to repeat it once more and discovered he was saying 'Super Chicos closed'.  Super Chicos is where he got his hair cut.  It is inside the Supermarket.  He had seen that the store was closed the day before when we were at the supermarket.

In the weekend Dylan and Matt were going to the play ground.  Dylan got both his shoes and Matt's shoes so they were ready to go, then he said unprompted 'let's roll dog'.