Happy 2nd Birthday!

Our birthday boy started his morning with a 7am birthday party before Esten went to work. When you're two and stay up until 11pm and wake up before 7am you feel like this. Actually we all feel this way when we do that.
Singing Happy Birthday.

His first attempt at blowing out his candle.
Got it. And in Rowan fashion he wanted, "Mas."
So we lit it again.
On to the gifts.



He had a fun morning and loved everything his cousins and grandparents sent him. This morning at 2:45am Rowan received another present from his Uncle Tom and Aunt Bunny, a baby cousin, Vaughn. They are exactly two years apart and both share their birthdays with their Uncle Cy. I think November 30th is officially booked in this family!

We've moved into our new house and are still working on unpacking. Once we are finished we'll take some photos and give you all "the tour." This is Rowan in his little room, in his bedroom. The people who owned the home before converted storage spaces into little playrooms in both bedrooms upstairs. They have a light and a door. Rowan loves his room. All of the pink is gone now and the room is so much more inviting.

Bike Ride

Rowan has been riding his tricycle for a few months now, but at this point he has mastered the trike. We're going to move on to a balance bike for his birthday. It's a bike without pedals or training wheels and is supposed to help with the transition to a normal bike. This is video of Rowan cruising around on his bike. And yes, the helmet is necessary because sometimes he freaks out when he goes down hills and bails. He has several notches on the helmet for proof. For the record, he has had just one bloody lip from tricycle accidents to date. Just one and he cried more when I tried to take him off the bike. He rode that day with blood running down his face.

Happy Halloween

We took Rowan trick or treating last night in a really fun neighborhood called Park Place. The houses, huge. The people, welcoming. The kids, plentiful. The neighborhood kicks off the night with a parade of all the kids in their costumes down the main road.



Cheese.



It took Rowan a few houses before he "got it" but after he realized these strangers were giving him candy, he was all over it. He even told one lady, who only gave him one piece, "Mas."



And we cut him off, half a bucket is plenty! This morning when we woke up the first thing he asked for was Dada, followed by, deedee (candy.)

Stateside

Hello out there, where have you been? I've neglected this blog for the past month while we were on the move. So much time has passed and I don't know where to start. Here is my attempt to recapture our last month or so.

- We had to hire two companies in Mexico to move us here because a full move from any one company started at $12,000. We had one company pack and load our belongings from their truck to another truck. The other company just drove our stuff here to Fayetteville. Coordinating this was fun :/

-The packing company was very, let's say, thorough in their service. For example, a plastic tuperware container was wrapped with three pieces of packing paper. When we moved to Mexico we had 49 boxes and we didn't buy anything except large furniture, when we moved back, 135. Like I said, very thorough.

-Our drive from Mexico to the US was uneventful. We waited on the border for an hour or so. The immigration agent asked us about a million questions and then we were on our way.

-The first thing we did after crossing the border- Whataburger. We wanted a "good" fast food burger, STAT. The Cuotas (toll-ways)in Mexico lack food stops. Our first day we didn't eat lunch until 5pm because there wasn't anything. Well, that's not completely true, there was a man who had rice and chicharrón tacos. I ordered a plate of rice for me and Rowan and he gave a metal fork in our to go box.

-We made tons of stops in Texas to visit family and friends. We're waiting for our visitors here, come see us.

-We rented an apartment in a four-plex that has a garage. We've (Esten, really) stored most of our belongings there because we are buying a house and don't want to unpack only to re-pack.

-Of course, all of our boxes are labeled in Spanish. It's a fun treasure hunt to find what you need. We're thankful we learned some Spanish while we were there. See example below.


-Our only piece of adult-sized furniture in our apartment is a love-seat that the legs were removed from during packing (thorough) and is now being propped up by folded cardboard. Classy!

-Our end-tables, shelves, dressers, etc are currently made of cardboard boxes. We've been getting out the jackets and sweaters from our wardrobe boxes on an as needed basis.

-We are under-contract on a house right now and if all goes well, we'll close on the 17th of next month.

-Fayetteville has great farmer's markets, trails, local shopping, food, and we're loving it.

-Oh yeah, my camera cord is in the garage in a box somewhere. I'm hoping that Esten will find it for me tonight, because tomorrow is Halloween on the town square. Believe me, you want me to post some photos of this little man in his costume.

Flowers

Rowan does not let one flower in our yard die a natural death, nope, he picks every single one he sees. Sometimes he brings me the flowers and sometimes he brings me the entire plant.



He also loves torturing pill bugs, lady bugs or any other bug that doesn't bite. Just had to mention that too.

Sausage

Rowan is talking a LOT these days and we crack up at some of his pronunciations. They're hilarious. This one is our favorite right now. Sausage.

The Lists

When deciding whether to move "home" or stay in Mexico we didn't want to make a rash decision so we made lists. It was simple concept really, a sheet of paper, two columns (Mexico and Fayetteville) and things we liked about each place. Here see for yourself. Click the picture to enlarge it.




We tallied it up and Fayetteville was the winner. Done. We're still finalizing plans but we'll be back stateside early next month.

Razorbacks

According to Wikipedia, a razorback is a feral, domestic pig. It also happens to be the mascot of the University of Arkansas, which is where Esten has accepted a faculty position. Yep, that's right, we're moving. Esten will be a wheat breeder, working to develop wheat varieties for the state of Arkansas and other southern states. He will also be teaching a class or two.
U of Ark is located in the northwest corner of Arkansas in a town called, Fayetteville. It's a progressive, small town and seems like a mini-Austin. They have a pay as you throw trash program, an organic, vegetarian meal delivery service, a "green" library, the Buffalo National River and a brewery. We are thinking we'll fit right in. We'll be leaving Mexico at the beginning of October. Ahhh. So much to do, so little time. Congrats to Esten on such a big accomplishment. It seems like yesterday we were just college students and now he's a college professor. How awesome is that?

El arco iris y los burros.

Rowan can climb into his stroller now. And that's what he does when he wants us/me to take him on a walk. After dinner the other night he did just that, climbed in and started buckling himself while yelling, "Walk." On this walk we went left out of our gate instead of right, partially because right is uphill and partially because we never go that way. Look what we found.



The picture really does no justice to the sight but it was a full rainbow. One end was in the village on the next mountain, San Miguel Tlaixpan and the other end came all the way to our village. It's been a really long time since I've seen a full rainbow. And then we found these guys resting after a long day of work, pulling a plow. The field they work is behind the brick wall.








You just never know what you might stumble upon when venture out beyond your walled paradise.

Evening in our Garden

In Mexico they call a yard, a garden. Have I mentioned we have a beautiful yard? Last week we were outside playing in our garden and after Esten and I both did some pull ups on our bar, Rowan wanted to try. Much to our surprise he could hang on the bar all by himself. He's strong. This picture didn't capture him all alone on the bar but notice Esten is not holding him.
And then he just wanted the camera and wouldn't hang anymore for a better photo op. But this one is cute.

This video needs a little explanation/translation. Rowan loves giving the dogs treats. Ian can sometimes snatch them from him and "bite" him. He doesn't bite hard but it happens. Rowan does NOT like this so he will mostly throw Ian's treats. Before he throws them, he "counts." He can say, two so he substitutes that number for all numbers. Pablo is small and Rowan puts Pablo's treat directly in his mouth. For anyone watching who doesn't know any Spanish, mas means more. It is probably the word that Rowan uses most often. This video is of Rowan giving the dogs treats. Enjoy!

Mount Tlaloc

This past weekend we braved the rain and chilly temperatures (50's) to hike Mount Tlaloc. Tlaloc is a rain god that is worshiped by the Aztecs. This makes a lot of sense because this particular mountain is one in the range of mountains that our storms come over. It is 4,151 meters high and gorgeous. Some friends from CIMMYT have climbed this mountain before and since there is not any signage and there are no permanent trails, besides the one main road, it is rather important to go with someone who knows where they are and where they have been, especially if you plan to venture past the main road. People illegally take timber from this mountain and as you walk you can see the donkey trails that have carried the wood out of the forest. When we arrived we saw three women coming down the mountain with buckets full of mushrooms, which were likely going to market. We went to look for mushrooms as well. Chantarelle and porcini mushrooms grow in the leaf litter from the pines and oaks high on the mountain. We came down with maybe 20 mushrooms in all and no one could confirm that they were 100% safe to eat. So maybe we didn't get dinner but we had a really good time and workout.

Just as we began hiking looking over at another mountain.

It was very misty.


Ro in the pack our friends Cristina and Jeff gave us long ago. Despite the look on his face he really did love it.

Ian the international hiking dog. Pablo couldn't come because of his attitude problem with other dogs.

Some of the mushrooms. I think they were alleged porcinis. I googled them and I'm glad we didn't eat them. Maybe they were chantarelles. I'm not a mycologist.

¡Qué tenga un buen fin de semana!

Sea World and Water Issues

Before we left on our vacation we had yet another Mexico "experience." With lots of laundry to be done, our maid waiting to clean our house, showers to be had, diapers to be washed, etc... we had not a drop of water. On the second day we decided to ask our neighbor if she had water, wondering if it was just us or a village problem. It was just us. We looked at our pump (bomba) and it was old and sounding funny so we decided, instead of waiting for plumber who couldn't come until Saturday (the day we were leaving) we would just do it ourselves. And that's what we did. Here are Esten and Rowan working hard at attaching the new pump.





FAIL. The pump was not the problem, but we have a new one now. We looked at the fuses and they looked old, so Esten went and bought news ones and installed them, FAIL. The fuses were not the problem. So we gave up. We bought 12 5-gallon bottles of water to pour into the washer machine so that we could at least rinse Rowan's diapers and to do the huge pile of dishes that had accumulated over the days. The most frustrating part was that our cisterna, the tank under the house where water is stored until it is pumped to the tank on top of the house, was full but we couldn't get the water from there into our house. Errrggghhh. We arranged for our maid, gardener and neighbor (we figured between all three of them, one of them would run into the plumber) to talk with the plumber when he came on Saturday and get the problem fixed. And thankfully since we've been home our water has been plentiful. It was a filter part and some really old washer-looking things that had been causing the problem.

On a much happier note, while we were home, in the great state of Texas, we went to Sea World. A friend of the family, Clay, works there. He was able to let all of us, mostly cousins and our children, into a part of the park that others don't get to experience. The kids were able to pet a wallaby, a huge tortoise and see an owl, up close and personal. We like owls, remember? It was really hot but we had tons of fun. The cutest thing of the day was when Rowan saw Shamu jump out of the water, he called him/her an "airmee" which in Rowan's language means airplane. We laughed because she kind of does resemble one.







And without further ado, the BIG news. Rowan is using his potty. He mainly uses it in the morning and at night but we're not complaining. He knows what it's for and that's the first step. He is very proud of himself and claps a lot when he pees in it. We're taking it slowly but we are on our way to a potty trained Rowan.



Here is a picture of our "foyer" (it's really big to call it that) where Rowan's GeoTrax train is setup. We play out there a lot in the morning while we drink our coffee. Oh and in case you care to know, under the floor in that room is where our cisterna is, it's like a hidden swimming pool under there.



We are enjoying the cool, wet weather here. The highs are in the 60's and lows in the 40's with rain daily. If you need an escape from the heat, come for a visit.

Krantz/Mason Wedding

This wedding was special for Esten and I since it was a sort of repeat of our own wedding, sans stress. The rehearsal dinner was at the brewery and the ceremony/reception was at Kairos. Bring back any memories from our wedding? While the venues were the same, the parties and the memories were unique and perfect in their own. We had so much fun!

At the rehearsal dinner, Jess and Mic gave Ro a fabulous, pretend guitar. As soon as he pulled it out of the bag, he said, "Out!" As in, out of the box, pronto. I fumbled with the eight thousand twisties and plastic pieces that they bind the toys into boxes with these days and got it out as fast as I could. As I was working, Esten suggested that we get him up on stage with the band and his new guitar. I think there is a photo of Micah as a child playing a guitar onstage with his dad. Before we could take him, Ro was running with his guitar to the stage. He plucked the strings, strummed them with a whole fist, made the lights come on and was beside himself over this little guitar. He continued to put it down and to clap for himself. Perfect gift for a little music-loving ring bearer.



Ro and Mara practiced walking down the isle at the rehearsal and we were all pretty confident they would pull through come show time. Wedding day was different in that we had a princess melt down just before showtime but the diva pulled through, with a little bribery, and had a solid performance. Ro had a goldfish break just before performance to tide him over and luckily saved his melt down for the reception.



Here they are walking together down the isle, like angels, slow angels. While they were walking a few petals spilled from Mara's basket and Ro said, "Uh oh." They started to stop and pick them up before we pushed them on their way. Rowan doesn't like things out of place and it wasn't any different this day.



They made it down the isle and sat, with more bribery, through the short and sweet ceremony. Ro loves to cheer and clap and when everyone applauded the newly weds he wasn't left out. Mara, on the other hand, didn't clap as she wanted to make sure she was looking good in these photos.





After the ceremony the prince and princess were climbing trees with the help of Esten.



And this was just too cute not to post. Ro and Mara playing with the water hose, the day after the wedding. Dah-ling.



Breaking news to come in my next post...

Ro meets Singer and Philly

As promised in reverse order, Philadelphia. We flew to Philadelphia after Mic and Jessica's wedding to visit our friends, John and Jess, and meet their new addition, Singer Nash Noel. This visit consisted of a lot of, "Yes Rowan the baby has eyes, but we don't touch his eyes." Next time when Singer can defend himself, it's on. Jess and I spent most of our time taking care of babies and catching up, while John and Esten spent their time in the basement (aka. The Man Cave) recording a SOLID gold album. I'm still waiting for my check, Jess did you get yours? While we were there our friends, Susan and Bruce, came down from NYC to visit and we also had the pleasure of hanging out with Ava for the 4th of July.

I can't believe I'm posting this picture of myself but the boys are cute.



The boys at the park, I believe they are discussing Singer's hands.



And here is Singer smiling at Ro.



And Ro running to bring me a lily.



We braved the heat and went to see the Liberty Bell. Ro was very impressed :) Here's the fam in front of the cracked bell.



Coming up next, wedding photos.

Home Sweet Home

We made it back home from our vacation. I'm reporting the happenings in reverse order because I want to write about our drive home while it's fresh. We were supposed to have been home earlier but that didn't happen due to the flooding of the Rio Grande (see pic above) and the absence of our title to the fabulous 1997 Pathfinder (aka. P-Funk.) You need the title in Mexico to get a temporary registration permit. While we read Laredo news online and waited for the international bridges to open, we were also trying to secure a new title to the car. You need a release of lien from the bank that financed your car to get a new title and when that bank was bought by another which was then bought by another, this proves difficult.
We waited for 3 days to receive a release of lien fax and once we did receive it we learned that Texas DMV doesn't accept faxes. We needed original papers and Esten needed to get back to work so we had to come up with a new plan.
Plan B. We decided to fly Esten home and Ro and I would stay in Texas until we somehow got a new title, then Esten would fly back to Texas and we would drive. Esten drove Ro and I to Corpus so we could stay with my Mom while we waited. While we were there we found the title. It was there tucked in an old passport I had given my Mom to hold on to.
So we moved to Plan C, pack up and head out early Monday morning. And that's what we did. We left a 6:30am on Monday morning and headed to Laredo to cross the border. Crossing into Mexico took about 10 minutes and then we drove around to find the place to get the temporary registration for the car. The one at the border was closed because it was flooded. We found it after a while and got our paperwork squared away. We headed for Monterrey. As soon as we got going the Federal Police were stopping all traffic and when we took our turn, they told us the highway was closed and the only way to get to Monterrey was to cross back into the US drive to McAllen and cross there. McAllen is 140 miles from Laredo. Crossing back into the US took another hour(which included a long line and an X-Ray of our entire car sans living things) and the drive on US83 was SLOW. We finally got to the border at 4:30pm and crossed again. We drove past Monterrey and stayed in Saltillo for the night. We found a hotel that accepted pets on our second try and took it. In bed by 10:30pm.
Day two of driving started off a little rough as well. First we got robbed 200 pesos at the gas station. We both saw 437 when the pump stopped and then the next second it was 637. Not sure how they did it but they did. Oh well, we just let it go. Next stop, the golden arches, we never eat McDonalds except when traveling. We were heading out to the highway, coffee in hand, when we got pulled over for speeding. Esten was using the miles/hour instead of kilometers/hour on the speedometer. Oops. We successfully bribed the cop with 500 pesos and went on our way.
At lunch we stopped at one of very few gas stations equipped with a food court. There was an ambulance and fire truck there and we saw someone laying on the porch to the food court. After we pulled in we realized the person was dead. He was covered from his head to his legs so we could only see his blue toes and fingers. Freaky. It was one of those situations where you don't want to look but can't help yourself. We suspect he died on the bus that was there. We are not CSI's but we didn't see any foul play. Rowan was oblivious to the entire situation. So we jumped the body and got our sandwich (torta). The rest of the drive seemed extremely long and never ending.
We finally made it home about 8pm on Tuesday night.

Our dogs are loving the yard and the fact that our doors are open all day so they can go in and out as they please. Now to unpack. I'll post pictures soon of the family reunions and of the wedding.