So I have been postponing this post for a while, but Jesse says it must go up so we can remember! I don't know if I am just embarrassed that it happened to us or shocked, anyway here we go...

Mexico has been awesome and for every new place, there are things to get used to. Cleaning is a little different here (we squeegee instead of mop our floors or the fact that I scrub each individual piece of clothing instead of letting a machine do it for me) and the food, the language, etc.

Well the kids and I had just dropped Dad off at school/work and Quinn was acting REALLY tired. She just wanted to be held and rocked...it was only 9 am (she usually naps around 11), but man she was tired and fell asleep in my arms.

I started our normal Tuesday ritual of soaking our clothes then started to "squeegee" our floor. When I got to the laundry Bennett was running this way and that and I told him he either had to stay outside with me or go upstairs until the floor dried. He choose to stay with me.

I got through all of the clothes but about 4 items which were soaking inside. I threw the clothes in our scrub sink and all I heard was a CRASH. All I could do was cringe. I knew it was the door. Bennett was being so helpful and shut the door for mommy! "NOOOOOO" was all I could say! Then I just laughed and thought, no way! This cannot be happening. Bennett had no idea what happened or why mommy was acting funny until I explained, "Bennett we are now locked outside." It was now about 9:30-10 o'clock.

Funny thing about the doors in Mexico is that most don't have handles, the ones that do would be doors like the bathroom door or the bedroom door, but never gates/garages and outside doors. So THEY LOCK AUTOMATICALLY WHEN CLOSED!! WHAT ?!?! And the only way to get in: to have the keys (which I didn't) and for someone to open the latch on the inside. Plus, it was so early that I hadn't opened our windows yet so the two windows facing what I like to call "the square" were locked!

HOLY COW?!? What could I do?!? So, I finished the remaining laundry and looked about our prison. All I had were wet clothes, a clothes line, a bottle cap, broom, dust pan, and a squeegee. What would MacGyver do?

More about our prison...it is literally an enclosed cement square (with no ceiling) with two laundry lines, our gas tanks, and a scrub sink. The shortest wall is just under 10 feet (I measured), the wall parallel to our apartment is about 12 feet with broken shards of glass cemented in it (to keep people from getting in...or out) and the next wall is about 14 feet. I noticed that our front window was open, if I could just scale over the wall, drop down into the backyard and we would be alright. I climbed on our scrub sink and climbed the wall. But it was in vain! I don't know what I was thinking but we have an apartment right next to ours and their scrub sink was on the same wall as ours...and there was no way I could climb the outer wall without a little boost.

We were stuck until someone let us back in. I'll spare you all of the details, but we tried to find things to do...scrubbed our prison, played in the water, killed some bugs, watch the sun pass us (when we started there wasn't any shade, when we left...all shade), sang songs, marched in the square. We drew letters and animals on the cement with water. We were blessed with water to keep cool, but it isn't drinkable.

Bennett was such a trooper the whole time. I tried to explain (without blaming) our situation and he played as much as he could. He never napped, but would lie on me and ask him to hold him over and over again. I hadn't snuggled this much with him since he was a newborn.

Bennett would say the funniest things like "I'm sorry someone closed the door and you forgot to open a window" or when we thought our landlord was there he would shout "Victor come help me before our Cheerios get soggy" and "Victor your mommy says to come here right now and open this door." He would holler for Jesse and ask him to open the door or just shout his name. He would say to me "Mom let's go inside and play the iPad" or "let's go inside and eat."

I think around 4 he got really hungry (no way to know the time there...I felt like the man in that time sensitive study in the movie IQ where he is shouting and acting crazy because he didn't know the time), but he never whined or cried, he really had high spirits. When I would try to rest and put my head down, he would say "don't be sad" or would ask me what was wrong and I would tell him I was bored and he would look and me with a confused face and ask "Why?" I would laugh and say "it's because I am stuck in a cement box and have been for hours."

Bennett thought it was so cool to go potty outside...

Then the church bells rang...like they do every day and we shouted for JOY!! Daddy would be home in about 45 minutes! HOORAY! We marched around for a long while shouting for joy. When we heard outdoor open, it was like Christmas morning. I told Bennett that Daddy was home and he says "let's hide." Right, because that is what I want to do, spend more time in "the square" until he finds us...but we compromised and hid and jumped out at daddy when he walked through the door! It is always great when daddy comes home, but for some reason, today it was even better :)

Dad opened the door and had the NERVE to be laughing and said "I hope you weren't out there for too long." It was now 6 o'clock. Bennett ran past dad to the food asking, can I have this, can I have that...I told him he could have anything he wanted. I too ran past Dad because there is something missing from this experience...Quinn.

I rushed upstairs to my little girl (who had been crying) and just held her. Poor girl, she was stuck in her own prison all day. We were blessed though, she slept a long time (the day before and after she took three hour naps each). She was so happy to see us! She was all smiles when we held her and VERY thirsty, but a happy girl despite her imprisonment. And another blessing was that her diaper was barely damp (she averages three poopy diapers a DAY)! I didn't let her out of my sight all night and just held her. My sweetheart.

So we were in "the square" for over 7 hours. Jesse decided that we deserved a treat (and if it involved cookies and ice cream I was in) and took us to MacDonald's to eat and let the kids run a muck. We DEVOURED our food and it turned out to be an awesome night.

I did learn somethings: cement is never comfortable, my kids are TROOPERS and that I would HATE prison.

I do feel that we were blest even in this situation: Quinn was safe and had a comfortable place to sleep (and she wasn't stuck outside in the sun), and didn't have a poopy diaper, that Bennett was so optimistic the whole time, he would tell me "I love you SOOO much" over and over again. Another blessing was that I had been sick the previous days from food poisoning and I didn't feel sick until the following day. We weren't in want of water or food until the end and really (I know this sounds strange but) it could have been worse.

I did worry about Quinn not wanting to go to bed that night and I wouldn't blame her if she didn't want to, but SUPER Bennett stayed and went to bed too so she wasn't alone and really she was just fine. I waited outside their door to see if I needed to rush in there to "save" her, but she fussed once and I heard her amazing brother immediately say, "It's okay, It's okay. I'm here." I know it's cheesy, but it really doesn't get better than that!!

Here are some fun things about our lives:Our neighbor lives upstairs above the carport and is really nice. He is a P.E. teacher and is rarely home, but speaks English and helps translate when the landlord comes and Jesse isn't home.
Jesse calls this the Mexican way to mop. There are drains all over, you just get the floor nice and soapy, scrub it with your broom, then squeegee it into one of the drains. Fast and easy, but you have to do it 2+ times per week. Things get really dirty pretty fast here with all of the dirt.
I love this photo. This is our lock to our backdoor, but it is the same on our garage door and front door (the garage door has three doors and this particular lock is for the actual man door, the other two doors have three locks that must be undone to open the doors). These locks automatically lock and you must have a key to open them...more on that later. That little screw on the far right is common as well, if you tighten it, then even a key can't open the door. Pretty crazy huh?
Our carport. Long driveway...it's easiest if you back in, let's just say my driving skills are improving...it is fairly long though and that is the most random place to put a couch, but whatever.
Our backyard. That tree is a lime tree...yum. We mostly play on the tile though and get really dirty! Quinn is the worst (and no tub!!) when she crawls around, but that is what being a kid is all about.
Our Landlords...it's funny that they didn't smile (it was an old belief if you smiled in a photo it would take your spirit away) because they are always smiling when they are here. Victor and his "mujer" don't speak any English, but when they come over, they just ask for the kids and play and play with them! It is really sweet. They are fantastic landlords.
This is where we get our gas...every time we want hot water, we come outside to our "square" or "the box" and turn on the gas to shower and then turn it off when we are done...very similar to our Belgium apartment. If you need more gas, you must chase after the gas men...and have them come change your tanks. So fun...I recorded their "song" and it is the same song where ever you go. I will post that later. We hear the "Gas song" at least three times a day and they randomly drive around waiting for people to chase them down...

This Tienda is right across the street (they are everywhere-literally) and are about this size, some bigger, some smaller. This is where we get our water and our Magnum ice cream fixes.
Our lovely bird nest. Bennett was so excited until the bird knocked the egg out of the nest...sad. We held services for it and everything... Bennett said,"That mommy bird got mad and pushed the egg out of the nest and it died" WHAT?!? Crazy how things get lost in translation.
Our scrub sink...
This is our baby gate...yup Quinn LOVES the stairs. She will climb them and look right at us, shake her finger at us and say "uh huh" and wait for us to get her...we are all wrapped around her finger, but Bennett is the worst because he FREAKS out when he sees her on the stairs and will either yell for us to get her or try and "help" her down himself.
This is our washing machine...yes that is a picture of ME!!

Our Apartment

I am going to be jumping around with our Mexico updates, many have been asking us about our apartment (our mothers) and to reassure them that we aren't living with dirt floors and aluminum walls...Here is our apartment:

Our downstairs bathroom: yes our luggage is holding the sink up...it fell shortly after we moved in, but no worries it is fixed now :)

Our upstairs bathroom...we only have a shower which can be difficult for the kiddos, but it works just fine for us. And yes the toilet is blue. Mexico likes their colors.
This is our "extra " space upstairs. This is where we like to play and bounce all of our balls, race cars, etc.
Our garage...it is a two door. You must have a key to get into the garage and our front door, whether you lock it or unlock it.
We have to haul in our water from the local Tienda (across the street).
This is our "master bedroom", don't let the bed fool you, it was a full, but the mattress was awful so we are pulling a Belgium and switched the mattress with our guest room...a twin. We just shoved the extra space with pillows.
Our kitchen: with a fridge, kitchen and top stove. That back door leads to the "square," where we have our hammock, and do our laundry.

Our spare room: mattress gone. This is where we keep our food, spices, and breakable dishes (we don't have any cupboards...so Quinn gets into everything).
Our front room, stairs and dining room.
Another view of our front room. Pretty huh?

The kids room (upstairs with ours)...Yes Bennett's bed is bigger than ours :). Quinn's bed is not in the picture, but right next to the bed.

Guaymas

We woke up early the next day and made a mad dash across the boarder...which it turns out, was not a big deal...at all to cross. No one stopped us, we just drove a few miles to get our tourist visas and register our car...easy peasy.

Our first stop was a city called Guaymas. I didn't know what to expect, but I sure didn't expect this:
It was BEAUTIFUL!!
Our Hotel
I just love this picture of Quinn and Bennett holding hands. They do that often in the car, especially when Quinn is crying. Bennett reaches out his hand and says "It's okay sister, it's okay. I'm here" it is ridiculously cute!!


This is the view from our room! We just stared at it with our mouths open! Gorgeous! It was so pretty we saw bridals being taken there and girl's celebrating the quincineras. You should have seen the dresses! Everything from white to bright blue, purple and pink! Amazing...and they were the huge poofy dresses too! One had a hat and an umbrella. It was amazing to see.

Mexico: First stop Tucson

Thank you Cowarts for letting us crash your home! We always love seeing you! And Nana, what a special treat to spend time with you! We need to come and see you more often. The kids loved their new toys and Quinn non stop signs for her "dog." She LOVES that dog.

I know there is a photo of our cat, but the day we left we found her a new home, but really, isn't she BEAUTIFUL! I love that cat! Cheers Eleanor.

Congrats to Varun and Dana

We were so lucky to be there when Varun and Dana tied the knot for Eternity! Isn't Dana GORGOUS?!? Varun you look very handsome too!

Farewell

A special farewell to those wonderful IWFC ladies who have graduated and moved on!


It was the end of a school year and many of our friends were graduating and moving on...so what did we do? They threw a HUGE party. These girls know how it's done! Of coarse, I ended up bawling at the end because I was leaving the next day for Mexico and the first to day goodbye! Man we are going to miss you all! Here's to you Meghann, Kylee, Aubrey and Rachel.