Christmas in Mexico #5: Shopping, Horses, Fires & Goodbyes

Day 8:  This day started with Trevor waking up and everyone ready with buckets of water to dump on him as he came out of the Casita.  The girls came up with the idea, but Trevor was kind of in on it, and agreed to be the nice victim.  How nice of him to show my girls how to be the victim of a practical joke, and be a good sport about it.  The girls had so much fun playing practical jokes all week long

We went shopping in Ajijic that morning.  I love this picture of Gavin resting on his Daddy's shoulders, and sharing an ice cream cone

We found this little shop making fresh tortillas.  It was cool to see how they were made and watch them fly out of the machine and into the bucket.  Yum!

Sharing Grandpa Ducky's ice cream cone, or just claiming it all for himself?

Isaac loved this little slide in the backyard

Tackling Uncle Trevor

We went horseback riding around the neighborhood

Erin and her horse

Shopping for bracelets

I love that this man is just sitting there playing a toy recorder at his stand

My Mom joined an expat group in Ajijic called Lake Chapala society.  This is where they do many activities and plan outings.  It was a nice enclosed area with pretty gardens and a clubhouse where members can get together

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Jen and Gavin out on the town

I loved the boutiques and little shops around town

The girls in my family with our baby boys

More shopping

This old man was wandering around the town playing the musical instruments all over his body.  Kinda like Bert on Cherry Tree Lane

YAY for sleeping babies at the end of a fun day of shopping in Ajijic

This man was nice enough to let Gavin sit on his horse

They even have food trucks in Mexico!

Birds of Paradise - my  Mom's favorite tropical flower

Cute family

Day 9:

Elaina learned about service in primary at church, so she came home and said she wanted to serve the gardener by watering the flowers, so she got a cup of water and went around the house watering all (or just some) of the flowers

We were sitting on the terrace Sunday afternoon and noticed that the hillside just outside of the community was on fire.  It was really close to the houses, and just at the end of my parents' street - about a 5 minute walk away.  We called the community's security guard, but he didn't seem to bothered by it, and nobody had called the fire department yet.  We called the fire dept and then watched it spread up the mountain for a few minutes.  Mike  and Trevor decided to go try to do something, so they found some shovels and rakes and headed up the hill.  The flames were really tall in some areas (as you can see in the picture above).

Soon after they got there the fire trucks arrived, but it was probably 30-45 minutes after we called them!

The firemen tackled the larger flames up the hill and Trevor and Mike handled the small brushes still burning further down the hill. 

They of course found it really hot and hard to breathe with all the smoke.  The rubber on Mike's shoes melted and the shoes basically ruined afterward.

They got a picture with one of the firemen.  It was kind of random to see a Canadian flag on the fire engine.  Apparently their station is funded or gets some kind of financial assistance from a fire department in Southern Alberta

I'm proud of these hard working guys that didn't really think twice about going up the hill to help out when the fire men hadn't arrived,

My Dad bought a coconut and I wanted the kids to try coconut juice.  As you can see Elaina wasn't a fan!

Day 10:

For some reason I love this picture the grandkids climbing into Grandpa Ducky's bed in the morning. 

cute Isaac

bedtime stories on our last night there.  The boys are captivated by the story, can you tell?

What lucky kids to have such wonderful grandparents

sweet Erin

Elaina came up with a great idea to have each person write a thank you card to my parents for hosting such a wonderful Christmas vacation for all of us.  She provided cards and paper and ensured that everyone made a card, and that it was kept secret from my parents.  Behind her are all the card we made.  She is such a sweetie, and loves to coordinate things like this

We wanted to try to get another picture of all the kids together in their new Christmas pajamas since we didn't get a very good one on Christmas Eve.  Love this picture of all five kiddos

As always, we have to eat the gingerbread house - doesn't matter that it's dusty and stale!

Mom and Trevor

Saying goodbye.  It's not very often that we're all together, and we've anticipated this trip for so long.  It was hard to say goodbye

Gavin kissing Nana goodnight

One last snuggle with Nana on our last night.  Check out the look on all of their faces!  So tender and sad

We had such a fun time.  I loved seeing (almost) all of the cousins play together.  

My parents and their daughters.  I'm so lucky to have such wonderful parents, and appreciate them making this trip possible and putting SO much effort into making our time in Mexico absolutely wonderful.  I can't wait to go back!

And....this concludes my millions of pictures about our Mexico trip.  Finally, right!?! :)