Chihuahua

We went to Chihuahua in October for the wedding of David's cousin, Marisa. Daniel and I hadn't actually been to Mexico since he was 6 weeks old, so the trip was due! It's about a 9-10 hour trip, so thankfully, my mother-in-law rode with us most of the way. She brought Abuelo's iPhone with puzzle apps and some other cool road trip stuff to make our trip less crazy.

We got to spend some time with his visa-abuela, which was a really nice blessing for David and I (and I would imagine my mother-in-law, as well). I don't know that Ela or Daniel will remember the trip, but I will. He always gets a little freaked out with new people, and it was even harder in Mexico since he doesn't understand Spanish as well as English, but he did okay with Ela. Though he didn't want to sit on her lap or anything, he would point to her and whisper, "That's Ela" to me every time we saw her.

There are usually 50-60 people at our family gatherings in Mexico, so Daniel was probably a little overwhelmed. It was nice to have some quieter time with David's aunt and uncle (Paty y Victor) with whom we stayed. Paty repeated "Paty beautiful" over and over to Daniel to see if he would call her that! Unfortunately, Daniel kept calling her "Ela" (Paty's mother!) Oops! He also got to spend some time with his second cousins, Sofi and Roberto. It was funny to see them play together. A couple times, Roberto asked, "Porque hablas ingles?" (Why are you speaking English?) And Daniel would look at me and say, "He's speaking Spanish!"

Daniel had quite an adventure with Roberto when they took off in the little battery-operated car around the block. He was having a good time and was pretty impressed with Roberto's driving (he kept staring at him, like, "Are you seriously driving us around???").....until they crashed into a tree. Apparently Roberto's not a very good driver yet! Daniel refused to get back into the car, and now when he tells the story, he says, "Roberto CRASHED into a tree, and Daniel cried, 'I want my Mommy!'"

The ride back to Abilene was not so easy since Daniel was pretty worn out from the traveling. Even with Abuela helping in the backseat, he threw a pretty good fit at nap time. Despite that, we hope to go back soon. It's always nice to spend time with family! I'll try to add pics at some point......no promises as to when that might be!

Daniel with Ela, Roberto, & Sofi (the great-grandkids)

Ela's grandkids and great-grandkids