Yesterday was my birthday and now I'm 31. It was a relaxed day. In the evening, we went out for dinner with our best friends, Amorette and Parker, while the kids stayed at home and were babysat together. And then we ate my favorite chocolate cake! It was pretty much perfect. 

We've been home for about a week and a half now. Our trip to Mexico was incredible and I can't wait to go back! The day before we were scheduled to come home, we really felt like Conor needed to be in Calgary with his family. Jim was in the hospital and was transferred to the ICU. I'm so glad we made that decisions, it was the right choice. We spent 12 days apart, which is the longest we've ever been separated and Conor came home last night. I flew home with the girls by myself and really, it couldn't have gone better. Everyone was in good spirits and we had lots of help in little ways.

Our dear friends, Claudia and Sergio, drove us to the airport. Angela was there waiting for us and after checking in, Angela, Claudia and my crew enjoyed a little bit of food in the cafe together. That was a really hard goodbye for me. Really, really hard. Angela and Claudia quickly became close friends and I'm so grateful that I met them! They are incredibly generous and thoughtful. 

And now we are home in an impressive amount of snow. Every time, it feels so good to come home. 

Yes, we travel to see new things and to be tourists and explore. But the primary reason why our family travels is to make connections with people. We want to get to know those we live with. It's been amazing to make friends here and we have felt so incredibly blessed to make some really good friends that we hope to know forever. One family that we absolutely adore is the Navas Family. On Saturday, we spent the whole afternoon and evening swimming in the pool, hanging out and eating delicious food. Maeve especially loves this family and calls Claudia, "mama," and she calls Sergio, "Papa" and "Papi." She cries when we have to say goodbye to them and we joke that we'll leave Maeve here and come back for her in 5 years. And while that's totally a joke, in my heart I believe that Maeve wouldn't miss us and may even be happier with the Navas family! Maeve would only go in the pool with Claudia and Sergio.

Saturday was so hot! On Friday, we thought our pipes at our home in Spokane were frozen (turns out a neighbor turned off the water after seeing a faucet dripping on the outside), but our furnace for sure stopped working on Friday so it's cold in the house. But as I was basking in the hot sun and jumping into the pool, it was hard to believe that anywhere in the world could be cold! (No one got sunburned!)

Sergio and Claudia make amazing food. Yesterday, we ate grilled meat, the best black beans I've ever had, rice and guacamole. Claudia and Sergio are from Guatemala (crossing my fingers they are still here when we return) and they made us an incredible salsa as well. We ate with tortillas and for dessert we had grilled plantains with nutella. I thought I'd never eat again! 

We are going to miss the Navas family so much! We've had so much fun with them and I really admire the way they parent. Claudia is always laughing and relaxed. Both Sergio and Claudia are so generous with their time and what they have. For me, it has been really restorative to be cared about and taken care of so well. There are so many good people in this world and I'm so grateful to know some of them!

On Friday, we went to the children's museum and we really liked it! First off, it was free. I really appreciate how so many museums here are free or really inexpensive. The museum itself was pretty varied. It had a library, old trains to climb on, stray dogs, a couple playgrounds, an obstacle course and the most amazing swings ever! Some parts of the space reminded me of the play areas in Europe where children are allowed to build bonfires because it was wild and unmaintained. But the obstacle course and the train museum building were so polished! I didn't take any photos of the train museum, but it was a really neat space! An old train station was converted into this museum, and just about everything about it was so cool. Now, I regret taking photos, but I think we're going to take the girls back for at least one (free!) workshop. I just recently bought a membership to our children's museum and science center back home and I kind of wonder with all the money that is in the USA, why aren't there more free museums? 

If you are visiting Oaxaca with children, go here for sure! 

We went to the largest market in Latin America and saw maybe only a quarter of it. We were really fortunate to go with our friends, Valerie and Clay, who have experience and bearings on what parts of the market we should see. It was so nice to have extra adults to wrangle the kiddos. We spent about 3 hours total in the market. It was so interesting! When we were in Ecuador, we went to a really large market and left feeling dazed and overwhelmed. This market was more enjoyable in that the halls were wider, the items being sold more interesting, and the time of day was more ideal with not too many people. It's kind of mind blowing, how does everything get sold? We're starting to reach a point of anxiety (for me) about transporting our goods home and so we didn't buy much. Plus, I have too many experiences where I've bought something and not really used it like I thought I would. Anyways, I did a buy a maraca for Maeve. It's nice for her to have something to hold while she's on my back. And I found itty bitty panties for her too, we had to double back for those! I'm not potty training her yet, but she's showing signs of readiness. I'll probably cry when I'm no longer changing diapers. Also bought Maeve shoes... so maybe I wasn't being honest when I said I didn't buy much? I bought lots of Mexican buntings because I love it. And I found a sweater for my niece... Qué más? Holly and Greta have spending money and they bought a few trinkets too. Greta's really into buying gum and treats. 

Everything at this market was much cheaper (everything - food, textiles, etc!) than at 20 de Noviembre. Obviously it's a bit of a beast, but the next time I'm in Oaxaca, I plan on wondering around here more! 

A couple notes about the pictures... all the jeans are displayed with the peaches outwards. Makes  me laugh every time! The live animals... oh gosh, some of those chickens were looking rough! I cropped those out. We also watched (and smelled and sampled!) chocolate our friends had fresh ground at Mayordomo. Definitely doing that for ourselves next time and customizing the ingredients, less sugar, more almonds. And maybe bring a big suitcase next time?? This was a super fun adventure!

Okay, and  real life of traveling with Maeve... the poor girl rarely gets a good nap at the apartment in her bed. She's a really trooper! Most of her naps are on my back! Our girls are the best ages and sizes to travel right now! Holly and Greta are big enough to walk a lot without complaining and Maeve is small enough to carry a lot.