Pups and Broccoli

We have a new pup. He is a sheltie/street dog mix and he spent the first 24hrs with us completely petrified. Having babies is cheep in Mexico, so is buying a dog. We decided to go with the dog.

Chango (that is his name) was actually free. He was the result of an attempt at breeding that went terribly wrong when the mother dog got a little frisky with . . . well we don't know what with. . . but anyway, the owners didn't want him, so we took him off their hands.

This is his current favorite place in our house. The world is just a little big and scary right now, so the smaller the space, the better.

In other news, Jay and I joined Mexico's version of Sam's Club or Costco; it is called City Club and its membership is nice and cheep (about $10 a year with the current peso exchange rate).

We went shopping on Saturday and I got this fabulous bag of broccoli.
I like to put broccoli in everything. . . I sneak it in to add nutritional value, so I'm pretty excited that I can get it in such monstrous quantities.

We climb mountains just because we can.

Jay and I realize that we are not going to live a few miles from some fantastic mountain ranges the rest of our lives, so we are trying to take advantage of it while we are here in Chihuahua.

This morning we decided we were going to climb "the big one", Cerro Grande.
Armed with water, nuts, and, of course, Jay's new altimeter watch, we set out.

It took about 40 minutes to climb 1700ft, and the view from the top was spectacular.
Here are some shots from the trek.
Here is where we parked the car. . . Mexican's and their trash disposal. . . I just don't get it.
Here is the view from about 1/2 way up. Here is Jay getting in some "real" rock climbing.Here is the hot pink rock that was 50ft from the summit.We finally made it!
What goes up, must come down. . .

Oh P.S. ~ for all of you who have been suffering through negative zero temps in the States this past week, the temperature for this adventure was a sunny 73 degrees (maybe just one of the bonuses of living south of the border this time of year).

Christmas Break (part 2)

After a week in Nebraska, we were off to Michigan. A few flight issues almost delayed the trip, but the very nice people at Northwest hooked us up with a direct flight that got us there a couple hours ahead of schedule.

Here are some highlights from the trip in Michigan:

A Red Wings game with some Spring Hill friends.Celebrating Matt's Birthday.

Celebrating Christmas on New Year's Day (2009 - the year of two Christmases).

The Photo Shoot that just had to happen once we all received the same Northface Fleece for Christmas.

And finally meeting Miles Matthew.

I know it is a little delayed, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano)

Christmas Break (part 1)

Well, three weeks is way too long to go between posts, but I have a good reason - Christmas Break!
We just got back from a two week adventure that took us from Chihuahua to El Paso to Omaha to Lincoln to Norfolk to Omaha to Detroit to El Paso and back to Chihuahua again.

The time was filled with family, friends, a lot of rest and even more fun.

Here are some highlights to sum up our time in Nebraska (Michigan will come next post):

Music night at the Taylors.Christmas morning.
The Flying monkey.

Hanging out with the newest addition of the Taylor/Davy Clan.

White Elephants and more. . .

Yesterday was the peak of Christmas celebrations at Binimea.
In the afternoon we had the first showing of the Christmas Extravaganza (also known as the kids' Christmas program). There will be another one next Friday, but since Jay and I will be winging our way to Nebraska next Friday (Yeah!), we dutifully made an appearance and were very entertained for an hour of our afternoon.

In the evening, it was time for the Jr. High Christmas party. Jay and I are Jr. High party sponsors, so we, along with another couple (the Murrays), were running the show.

We ate donuts and sang carols.
We played some Ghost in the Graveyard (a hide-and-seek in the dark game) and ate Pizza.
(for those of you who are aware of my aversion to seek and find games, no, I did not actually play the game. . . I was in charge of "base".)
And we finished the night off with a good old-fashioned White Elephant gift exchange.
Here is the gift selection and here is the fantastic "Canada" T-shirt I walked away with.

Welcome to our (new) home!

Okay, I know 4 different homes in 14 months of marriage is not normal, but I actually think we will be in this one at least 6 months.

We moved into this new house just this past week. The old one just did not feel safe to me anymore. It was isolated, hard to get to, and surrounded by vicious dogs. Jay absorbed by feelings and found us a new house that is two blocks from the school and that has neighbors (friends of ours actually).

It is much smaller and we are still moving things from our old house into storage, but here are a few shots from our new place.

Here is Jay warming himself by our wood stove (the only source of heat).

Our living room:

Jay and Torre (our neighbor) tossing the newly bought firewood:
And here's a treat for all the Spanish speakers in our lives - a glimpse at our bilingual Christmas celebrations:

The Great Orange Adventure!

It is strange, in Mexico even the most mundane things seem to be an adventure.
The most recent one was Jay and I attempting to get the (seemingly) ripe oranges off our tree.

The orange tree, unfortunately, is located between a thorn bush and a fence, so it was an adventure to trek back and retrieve the fruit.

Here I am surveying the course:The most formidable obstacle:Making it through:Reaching the Fruit:The Crop:Finding out it was bad and (literally) throwing it away: