Thursday, April 22, 2010
4 Years Old!
Here are some pictures from my birthday party.
Papa declared it officially spring and got the hammock and the barbecue out. Then it rained, but just a tiny little bit -- didn't put a damper on the party.
Here I am taking a swing at the pinata (sorry, Mama doesn't know how to type a tilde in here)
Here's how eight kids play together with one hammock
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Morelia, Mexico
We spent spring break in Mexico -- but it's not what you're thinking -- not much tequila and very little beach. We visited friends in Morelia, a beautiful old city several hours northwest of Mexico City, up in the mountains. Since we were there for Semana Santa (holy week -- between Palm Sunday and Easter), we got to see how Easter is celebrated. No bunnies at all, and very few eggs, to tell you the truth.
Here's the main Cathedral in the center of town. It seemed like there was a big party in the street in front of it and in the plaza next to it just about every night.
On Palm Sunday, lots of folks sold things made from palm fronds in front of the churches, and everyone walked around carrying them.
Here I am enjoying the hammock with my friends Nawa and Giso and a buddy of theirs. We were very happy to see each other again after a year and a half, and to practice our German together.
Here is the only part of our trip that was about eggs. The big kids emptied the eggs, filled them with confetti, and painted them. After we found them (twice), we broke them on each other's heads and made a big, fun mess.
You can't get too attached to these beautiful paper mache Judas images. They get wired with explosives and blown up on the Saturday before Easter.
On Jueves Santo (holy Thursday), everyone walks around town visiting seven churches to commemorate the seven houses Jesus visited. There must be more than a hundred churches in Morelia, so this isn't too difficult.
Visiting Volcan Paricutin was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Back in the 1940's, a Purepecha farmer was plowing his field when steam started coming out of the ground. Over the next 7 years or so, a volcano grew up right there out of his field ! Eventually, the lava from that volcano buried two villages. All that's left is this church. Fortunately, it happened slowly, so everybody had time to get out of the way.
You can see the cinder cone of the volcano on the left in the distance.
On our way back, we stopped in Angahuan, a Purepecha village, and saw this small church that was very lovingly decorated for Easter with bananas and coconuts and bread and flowers. That colorful thing on the floor that looks like a rug is actually made out of sawdust!
Here we are in Patzcuaro, a lovely little town next to a lake with the same name.
We were lucky enough to be invited to join some friends of friends for dinner here and then join them for the Marcha de Silencio (silent march) on Saturday evening.
I like these friends alot -- especially this guy! He is so funny!
On Easter Sunday, the streets were all decorated with purple and white paper and there were a lot of silly parades with music and dancing going through the streets and plazas. When we stopped to watch this one, they said, "todos, todos!" (everybody, everybody), so we joined in too for little while.
Here's the main Cathedral in the center of town. It seemed like there was a big party in the street in front of it and in the plaza next to it just about every night. 
On Palm Sunday, lots of folks sold things made from palm fronds in front of the churches, and everyone walked around carrying them.
Here I am enjoying the hammock with my friends Nawa and Giso and a buddy of theirs. We were very happy to see each other again after a year and a half, and to practice our German together.
Here is the only part of our trip that was about eggs. The big kids emptied the eggs, filled them with confetti, and painted them. After we found them (twice), we broke them on each other's heads and made a big, fun mess.
You can't get too attached to these beautiful paper mache Judas images. They get wired with explosives and blown up on the Saturday before Easter.
On Jueves Santo (holy Thursday), everyone walks around town visiting seven churches to commemorate the seven houses Jesus visited. There must be more than a hundred churches in Morelia, so this isn't too difficult.
Visiting Volcan Paricutin was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Back in the 1940's, a Purepecha farmer was plowing his field when steam started coming out of the ground. Over the next 7 years or so, a volcano grew up right there out of his field ! Eventually, the lava from that volcano buried two villages. All that's left is this church. Fortunately, it happened slowly, so everybody had time to get out of the way.
You can see the cinder cone of the volcano on the left in the distance.
On our way back, we stopped in Angahuan, a Purepecha village, and saw this small church that was very lovingly decorated for Easter with bananas and coconuts and bread and flowers. That colorful thing on the floor that looks like a rug is actually made out of sawdust!
Here we are in Patzcuaro, a lovely little town next to a lake with the same name.
We were lucky enough to be invited to join some friends of friends for dinner here and then join them for the Marcha de Silencio (silent march) on Saturday evening.
I like these friends alot -- especially this guy! He is so funny!
On Easter Sunday, the streets were all decorated with purple and white paper and there were a lot of silly parades with music and dancing going through the streets and plazas. When we stopped to watch this one, they said, "todos, todos!" (everybody, everybody), so we joined in too for little while.Assorted photos -- almost spring
Papa built me a treehouse! Well, ok, really a lilac bush house. He did a great job (he even cut holes for the lilac branches), and, as you can see by his big smile, he had a lot of fun.
I love it, and so do all of my friends who come over to play.
Being silly on a skateboard with my friend Alexa
More sillinessIf this worked, it's a video of me riding my bike -- look, Mom, no training wheels! Papa and I surprised Mama. She returned one evening after being out for a couple of hours to find that my training wheels were off and I was riding.
