Countdown to Mexico!!!

Right around January 1st I received an email about our friends’ parents house for rent in Mexico, and it seemed like a sign.  Yes, I think lots of things are signs.  The email was sent to A LOT of people and most of them didn’t decide on the spot to go to Mexico, but I’m easily influenced.  I immediately put the wheels in motion to rent the house for 4 weeks, and work remotely while also taking some vacation time.  The departure date seemed so far away…now it’s 10 DAYS until we will be south of the border!!!

Ben can’t work remotely or take 4 weeks off, so we will be spending the first 2 weeks with my friend Elizabeth and her twin daughters, Chloe and Hannah, who coincidentally are Aliya’s best friends.  I can’t imagine being 11 years old and spending 2 weeks in Mexico with my best friends (plus 2 more weeks after that for Aliiya).  I don’t think they know how lucky they are.  When they fly home, Ben will fly down and spend the last 2 weeks with us.

Given all of the bad news about Mexico in the media lately, a few people have asked why in the world we would go there, whether we’ll be safe, etc.  The answer is YES, we’ll be safe!  I met some people from Mexico the other day and they told me that San Miguel de Allende is “muy tranquilo”.  The areas of Mexico that are experiencing the violence and drug problems are not near SMA.  We don’t expect any problems but we’ll be cautious as always.  While trying to put mom’s mind at ease, I found this article – Top Ten Most Dangerous Things in San Miguel.  The list includes accidentally talking to a Republican, fallen seniors who have tripped on the cobblestone streets, and wine bottles clinking together in the trunk of the taxi.  No doubt we’ll come up with our own Top-10 list – we’ve already been warned about the drunk shopping…when you wake up in the morning and wonder how in the h*ll you’re going to get that giant piece of Mexican art home (thank you Priscilla!).

On Monday morning I told Norah that we had 12 more days and I felt that little flutter of panic that I get when I’m still doing laundry at 3 a.m. and leaving on a 9 a.m. flight.  So in hopes of some stress-relief we started getting organized and doing a little packing.  The kids and I already have our 4 pairs of matching socks ready to go into the duffle.  We are allowed one 50-pound bag each, and just like when we go to Morocco, a lot of what we bring will be staying there.  When I visit someplace I like to leave some sort of positive mark and teach the kids something, so on this trip we will be bringing supplies to a girls’ orphanage and doing some “social volunteering” (aka playing and visiting).

We’re bringing school supplies, soccer balls, and 270 pairs of underwear!  Here’s Norah sorting and packing the undies:

The soccer balls that we’re taking are really cool – they’re indestructible and they don’t need a pump.  We will be taking 10 balls with us, so we’ll have enough for the girls orphanage and also the boys orphanage!  If you’d like to sponsor a ball for $25, let me know!  Here’s a great story about the balls from the One World Futbal Project:

There’s more information about SMA, along with photos of “our” house on the SMA page.  I’ll try to do a good job of keeping up with my postings, for anyone who wants to travel to Mexico vicariously.  😀

 

Berry Pickin

One of the best things about my job is the flexibility – I can work from anywhere, and pretty much any time.  I work A LOT of hours so there’s really no question about whether I’m working enough to earn my keep.  The kids start a 2-week stint at camp next week, followed by some time working from my remote office – in Mexico!  But this week I’m WWK – Working With Kids, so I decided it would be cooler and also a change of scenery if we spent the week at our cottage.  When it rains that means that we are crammed into 600  square feet instead of having almost 5 times that to spread out and get away from each other, but I’m a weather-optimist.

WWK usually involves me working from early in the morning until 11ish, then taking the kids on a mid-day “adventure”, and then working until late at night.  Today, despite the rain, our adventure was strawberry picking at Charlton Orchards Farm and Winery.  I’ve dropped the ball on my parental duties here…this was their first time picking berries of any kind.  For the record, they HAVE picked apples.

Then we hit the grocery store (I swear, it’s hardly more expensive to eat out), drove home while debating the feasibility of sponsoring a beaver through Heifer International (Adlani’s choice because it would allow a family to cut down trees without the environmental impacts of manufacturing an ax), and then broke up a dog fight when one of the neighborhood dogs came into the house, continued Annie’s progress on her rawhide bone, and then got mad when she came to see what was up.  That got the adrenaline pumping.  Hopefully they’re all headed for a crash now so I can get a few hours of work done before our giant strawberry shortcake feast.

And I almost forgot…as we were driving along at 50 MPH, I saw a guy taking a photo of something and immediately recognized that it was a luna moth.  When we went back to check it out (the kids had never seen one), there were two!  Very cool.  They were both males.  The females have slightly darker markings and fancier bottom parts on their wings.

February Staycation – Days 4-5

The educational / cultural odyssey continues!  After musical theater on Saturday, science on Sunday, and politics and history on Monday, Tuesday we headed to the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester.  The armor was amazing!  Even Adlani liked the weapons, and Norah loved the shield-creating activity.  We all agreed that the best part was the presentation about armor and weapons.  Aliya and Adlani got to be part of it!

Wednesday I had some work calls scheduled, so Norah had a play date and Aliya and Adlani went to Roller Kingdom to skate.  I’ve heard there are photos and even a video of that outing, which I will add later.  Here is Norah preparing for her play date.  Independence comes at a price.  But at least the dog was happy.

February Staycation – Day 3

Yesterday we took advantage of the Presidents Day activities and headed to the JFK Library and Museum.  Aliya was more into the exhibits and Norah enjoyed the craft activities.  Adlani complained most of the day but majority rules.  It was better than sitting home all day listening to the whining.

They were supposed to be acting “presidential.”

This quote helps with all of the things I find insurmountable.  Like my basement.

February Staycation – Day 2

Today started with another snowstorm, called “Plato.”  When did we start naming our snowstorms, anyway?  When the snow tapered off we went to Boston to go to Family Science Day, which is part of the annual meeting of the AAAS.  The AAAS is the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Family Science Day is a free event with exhibitors and presentations to get kids excited about science.  It was fabulous!  The kids got to do a lot of different experiments and had a great time.  We had dinner at Pho Pasteur…I crave their Pho Ga (chicken soup) whenever I have a cold, and I’m trying to ward off the one that everybody else in the family has had within the last month.  A backseat fight ensued on the way home, so everyone was banished to their bedrooms and I get to watch the Downton Abbey season finale all alone.  Yay!