Colorful Spring

Aren't my soccer mom friends beautiful?

They surprised me with a delicious chocolate flan for my birthday. I need to give credit to Paul for taking this photo. His first try was of our knees. 

Joletta brought the biggest pile of Easter treats ever! Just so that you can laugh at us, I'll let you know that I asked for Cheez-Its; Anthony asked for Twizzlers and Peeps; Paul asked for almond butter; Sam asked for Veggie Straws; and Micah helped us eat a lot of it. 

Returning the favor, I took her to the women's breakfast at church where she ate nopal (cactus) tacos and pozole (the ubiquitous pork and hominy soup.)

Joletta took tons of photos with her iPad. Yes, she slid down the big rock with Sam, so she can come back someday.

Joletta did a great job of pointing out beautiful things that have become normal for us.
#43: flowers, flowers and more flowers. There is always something beautiful blooming.

Sam likes to play hidden pictures now. How many typically Mexican things can you find in this picture of Nogueras? I can find at least 11.

Joletta and I took ourselves on a sugar cane tour (seen growing on the left).

The sugar cane has been burnt, cut down and is ready to be loaded onto a huge, high truck. New sugar cane plants are poking up. The whole sugar cane process has got to be lumped together into #44.

Things that have become normal #45: Hammocks in restaurants.

#45: Soccer fields in the middle of "nowhere" that are clearly maintained with loving care.

This hike was how we got to one of Micah's soccer games.

Even our friend Manuel made it to the field, less than a week post surgery.

We sure enjoy being able to go to the beach a couple of times per month. 

Joletta caught a wave on the boogie board, thanks to coach Anthony.

Hilarious fun!

Micah gets wiped out, too,

but the three generations continue trying to conquer the waves.

It is nothing that a coconut can't fix!

My boys of La Boquita!

The Ballet Folklorico was spectacular! All of us enjoyed it, even the skeptical boys. 

There was powerful pre-hispanic dancing

 
and colorful dances from around this region of Mexico.

There were young boys who can move their feet faster than our boys could imagine! There were 3 generations of a family dancing together. How appropriate, for our outing of 3 generations.

Did I mention the beautiful colors?

There is so much talent here in Colima.

While Skyping with Andrea and my nephew Mark (who is growing up too fast while I am away), we proved that Grandma Jo fits into the stair-steps now.

Paul's friend Diego (who is twice his size) had a precious party for family and a few friends.

The timeless classic: musical chairs.

Making a train was Sam's idea. You know you are a third son when you think that it is normal to lead kids twice your age in an activity...

or love to make them laugh.

Micah's teacher Edith and her family own a Golden Waffle Restaurant. It was so fun to go during the boys' two-week long vacation for Easter.

Pretty and delicious waffles and smoothies made by a very artistic family. 

While Anthony reviewed grants for the National Science Foundation, Joletta and I took the boys to the park.

From the looks of it, Micah won't be getting his license in seven years.

Anthony, on the other hand, is able to drive our Nissan Sentra up the ridiculous roads to the volcanoes.

After three tries, I finally got to hike the Volcán de Nieve.

It was totally worth the wait.

Is this picture what you expected México to look like?

Finally, we found the way to get as close as we would want to the "backside" of the Volcán de Fuego. If you can see where it is smoking on the right side, we are pretty sure that is from lava flowing down the side, based upon videos we saw that were taken that very night.

God's creation is cool. I forget way too much of my geology, but the earth still fascinates me.

Doesn't it seem like we are in Hawaii? The day after hiking a volcano, we went to the beach with black, volcanic sand.

and drank piñadas under thatch-roofs. The restaurant even has a water park in it.

Things that have become normal # 46: You would not believe how often we get interviewed by students for their English assignments. (I think we are up to 7 times.) This girl was the youngest yet and her English was very good.

#47 Abundant coconut trees close to the coast.

The piñata lady made an Atlas soccer player and a little old lady for Micah and Joletta's birthday celebrations.

Micah called him his little brother

and would have rather kept him than whack him.

After a month of preparations and help from Joletta, we were ready. An hour later, our friends arrived.

Micah got to play soccer with his friends

and we had WAY too much food. There are some cultural differences that I may not ever understand.

We surprised Joletta with her own piñata.

Sam whacked the little old lady hard!

Micah had been singing "Las Mañanitas" (the Mexican birthday song) for days to teach me. It turns out that he was silly enough to sing it at his own party. Looks to me like a similarly silly picture of his uncle Scott at about the same age.

Micah is blessed to have great friends here.

After Joletta left, we still had a week of vacation. We went to Guadalajara for a couple of days.

"Mommy, I'm sleeping in dad's arms. Are you taking the picture?" - Sam is helping me with this blog post, since he is home sick from school.

Paul, Micah and I enjoyed the regional museum.

Even Micah was interviewed by English students this time. His Spanish was better than their English.

Street musicians

The Guadalajara market is huge, so Paul was able to find the toy he had been saving money to buy.

Even this picture doesn't give you an idea of how endless the market is.

At least I enjoyed "stopping to smell the flowers" while we waited for the children's museum to open. Trompo Mágico is an outstanding children's museum.  

Anthony got to teach his sons about chaos and mathematical modeling of pendulums. When we came home, he helped the older boys reproduce the image created by two perpendicular pendulums on the computer. It was wonderful to see his excitement about fractals be passed on to our sons already.

You saw it here first: my debut on the electric guitar, with Micah on vocals. I think I actually learned something from sitting in the back of the class during Paul's guitar lessons last year!

Micah got to be an anchorman on TV.

I was impressed with this playground's ability to encourage fun exercising. 

When even R2D2 barely generated smiles, it was time to go home.