Babymakers

This is Benjamin and his new friend Christopher. They like to ride tricycles all day.

Christopher, of course, is Mexican and speaks only spanish. So Benny says and english sentance and then Christopher says something in spanish and back and forth. It is so cute. They communicate just fine.

And being in Mexico is  interesting because the boy, who is also 4, was over here ALL day before without anyone to check on him…. I am sure the who street knows he is with the gringos- but still…

Fruit here is yummy, so much cheaper, and fresh here. They are sharing some watermelon.

Cabello in spanish and horse in english.

For my birthday gift our friends gave Rick the idea for a massage!

So they took me to a Spa (wow!) and suprised me last night.

At first I was really scared because I didn’t shave my legs (!!!) and my feet were not in the best shape. Oh wells. I got over it quick. Having 6 kids makes you a bit less self consience (or however you spell it).

Anyhow, the person really knew what they were doing and hit acupressure points and used aromatherapy and everything. I could not stop smiling all last night.

Then we went to a restaurant near by. It was really nice but very odd because it was all older retired people from America. I have never seen so many americans in one spot in Mexico. I guess there is a big retirement village in the city.

Angelica and I are going to get pedicures Monday.

And btw before you think I am spending a bunch of money… the massage was only about $25! I would of paid at least a hundred for the guy at home.

Wow.

Today is my 30th birthday.

We are in a small village called Cedros near Guadalajara with some friends.

So far Rick made me eggs for breakfast, Savannah bought me a snack from the little store next door, Jacob and her picked me some flowers. Rick brought me home flowers from him and his guy friends doing thier running around errands this morning. Now they are Guadalajara getting new tires for the bus.

I am just sittin’ around so I figured I would say Happy Birthday to myself.

Adios!

Transitos- Men that give traffic tickets. They are NOT police. Thier only duty involves giving tickets.

We have been pulled over SEVERAL times here. At first it was funny and exciting but now it is O.L.D.

The transitos usually stand beside the road here and flag you down with thier hands. Pretend you are telling someone with your hands to "come here". You wave toward yourself. Now make that same motion toward the ground. That is what they do to tell you to stop.

And the transitos don’t make much money so they like to bribe people for money instead of writing tickets.

The first time we got pulled over we were going around a bend coming into Las Glorious with a bus full of people. The speed limits here are really LOW. Many places around 12 miles per hour. The transitos chased us down and pulled us over on a back road. When they realized we were Gringos, or at least I assume that is what happened, they just turned around and drove away. They never even got out of the car. We all had a good laugh over that one. By the way, a gringo is a white person.

Then there was the time we were coming out of the big city near us driving back to the house. The transito stopped us. We didn’t understand him very well. We caught that he wanted to see Rick’s license. Rick showed it to him but would NOT let him have it because here the transitos will take your license and won’t give it back to you. You will probably get it back if you go to their office. But in Mexico we won’t chance it getting lost or stolen so we DO NOT give it to them. The man tried to communicate. We tried to communicate a little too and he finally told us to just go. No ticket.

Then there was the time that Rick almost turned in front of traffic. He was making a U turn and he almost turned in front of oncoming traffic. But almost doesn’t count, right? There was a transito there and he pulled him over. After him trying to take Rick’s license, which was NOT going to happen, he let us go.

Then there was last night. We had a bus full of people coming back from the monthly youth prayer meeting. Rick was keeping up with traffic and they pulled him over out of the group cars. The man was slightly cranky. He wanted Rick’s license. Rick showed it to him in his wallet but wouldn’t take it out because he knows better. This time the guy was persistent. We told him to write a ticket and we would pay it but he wouldn’t. The transito decided to go for the license plate!!! That was NOT going to happen. The transito and his transito co-worker went to the back of the bus. Of course Rick jumps out of the bus and runs behind it with the transitos. The transito is pulling out his swiss army knife type of thing to take the plate off. ha ha ha he didn’t know my husband very well because rick doesn’t have the plate on with screws… he has it bolted. And with that type of knife the guy was not going to be able to unbolt the plate. Rick is telling the guy he is NOT going to take the plate off the bus this whole time. As Rick has someone open the back door so Rick can get his ratchet out of his tool box (he was going to put the plate IN THE BUS where they couldn’t get it) the transitos gave up and let us go on our way.

Transitos and police are not bad. They are people doing a job. In fact, we have seen them going above and beyond many times doing things like jumping peoples cars and helping them. I hope we don’t get pulled over anymore!