We have family and friends visiting for vacation. In addition to enjoying holiday celebrations together (including Lisa's birthday), we have been having fun as tour guides for the bunch. Until now, we haven't spent too much time as tourists here -- our arrival was filled with intensive Spanish classes and setting up house and then we jumped into a very busy school and work schedule. For the past few days we have been tourists, enjoying everything from boat rides to wine tastings . . . and lots of taco tasting (perhaps our favorite activity).
Tomorrow our friends and Uncle Eric will head back "to the other side" (as our local friends call the U.S.) and my dad will join us on a road trip to Sonora, where we will be tourists for a few more days. Here our some photos of the tourist scene in Ensenada and the neighboring Valle de Guadalupe.
Santa seems to have known that we were spending Christmas in a different climate zone. No snow boards this year for these Baja boys. Santa left skim boards under the tree! So, Nathan and Theo have been learning how to skim board with Rachel and Jessica, friends who are visiting from Massachusetts.
All four of them looked a bit out of place today on the beach in bathing suits. They played in the water for hours while their parents (and all of the locals) walked the beach in jackets. But, the weather was beautiful and the kids insisted that the water was warmer than the water off the Massachusetts shore in summer. I didn't check it out myself, but I do know that that these four have spent many days together playing in frigid ocean water and on snowy mountain tops. They had a great time.
The reason none of us have blogged in a long time is because we went back to Denver for my grandmother's funeral. She died after a long and hard sickness of Alzheimer's. I really never knew her very well until after she was diagnosed with the disease. Alzheimer's is a disease when you begin to forget everything. From how to talk to how to eat. Partially I think that it's good that this happened because she had no life what so ever sitting around not being able to do anything. During the service I learned about my grandma and who she really was. I learned that she was a very fun person and she won awards and she loved to sing songs. While I was there I saw my family and I hung out with my cousins. I even got an early Christmas present of heelys.Besides the reason it was great to come back and visit. Or journey back wasn't so good though. After the plane from Colorado we took a trolley to the border. Then we walked across the border on foot (while it was pouring rain)to a bus station to take the bus back to Ensenada. Our trip was over.
Okay I'm sorry this post is late. As you know last week there was a big talent show at our school. Not only that but it was a big religious festival called El Dia de Cristo Rey (The day of Christ the King). First there was this big mass. It was a very looooong mass. The choir sang songs, and students read passages, and it went on for quite awhile. After the mass we had to do these stupid dance things (rhythmic movements they called them), that we learned from our gym teacher who can't dance. Nobody was enthusiastic, therefore our classes "rhythmic movement" sucked pretty bad. After, we got food and there were games for everyone. I really just hung out with my class and other kids from a different school who had come over. Personally I thought the party had plenty for the kids to do but nothing for the parents. After all the socializing came the talent show.
All in all the talent show was pretty sick. Except for me only younger kids participated, but that was okay. Supposedly you had to demonstrate some trait in Catholicism (like honesty or generosity or something). Theo and I kind of skipped that part (which is one reason we didn't win). The whole show was also a fundraiser to raise money for an organization called Teleton. It is an organization that helps kids with disabilities. We donated money but apparently each team had to raise money separately which we didn't do (which is another reason we didn't win). Anyway my piece went really well and so did my brother's. Afterward I went to grab my backing track and two of the d.j.'s pulled me over and asked me to participate in this huge 80's music festival they organize every year. It's gonna be huge! with lights, and huge amps, I am officially psyched. Actually I'm just about to call and confirm. Here's a video of my performance sorry about the sound quality, but I left my bigger amp in Denver:
We are happy to share our experiences of a year in Mexico with our friends and family. Check back here often for news, photos, and diaries of what we've been doing. Feel free to comment here, too. This way we can keep in touch!
Hasta luego! Laura, Nathan, Theo, and sometimes Mark
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