Happy Halloween!!!!

Well, Race had his first Halloween Party with other kids, piñata and all!! Karina, Nicolas, and Karina (pic 4) invited us over for the festivities. We all had a great time, and lots of great food. Even Race got a crack at the piñata! The kids all dove for the candy, of course, but a couple girls recovered a few pieces for Race. ¡Gracias, chicas!


They actually don't celebrate the Day of the Dead -Dia de Los Muertos- until November 1 and 2. So, we hope to also go down to centro Metepec to observe more of the celebration. They celebrate kids and saints on the 1st, and all other passed relatives on the 2nd. We have been down to Centro recently and they already have vendors with Day of the Dead candies and baked goods. Lots of skeletons, in all forms imaginable. One custom is to prepare a favorite food of a loved one who has passed and take it to their grave for them. They have a special round loaf of bread they make this time of year with sugar and cinnamon and also pieces of bread in the shape of bones on top. It is called Pan del Muerto, our translation Dead Bread. We have been eating it all month, yum!!

"I've Got Skills!"

Well, Race's vocabulary is growing... He can say mama and dada, of course, and dog, ball, bottle, and car (including the vrmm-vrmm). And his latest is papa. Papa, you know who you are! Of course, the pronuciation isn't quite that clear, usually just the first couple letters or so, but we usually can pick it out. We are especially quick when he is pointing to the object. This does now mean that he can call us at will, which he does con frequencia!

On the motor skills frontier, he is recently attempting to jump, a new trick dad is teaching him. He reponds in earnest when you say "jump". It is quite comical. He never leaves the ground, of course, but he makes every effort to do so. Pic 3 is an action shot, he is on the way "back down".


Life is good!!

Achievements and "mis-achievements"

"I know I am not supposed to open this gate, but I am going to anyway!"

Yes, though Race is not allowed, he has mastered the gate from the backyard to the laundry area. He keeps wiggling it back and forth until the latch slides out. Smartie!




"Now I am going to pick all the flowers!"

He loves the flowers in our backyard; loves to grab them and smash them, I should say. At least he has an appreciation for natural beauty?




"Oh, so thirsty..."

He is practicing the art of drinking, however most of the contents are dumped down the front of him, so we have to monitor the amount in the glass until he has figured out that he can't tip the whole thing up over his head!



"Mmmmmm, cheese right from the bowl. ¡¡Más queso, por favor!!"

Fun with Race

Race just can't get enough of his strollers! He pushes them, pulls them, climbs in them and on them, and anything else he can manage. Pushing them off the step in between the living room and dining room is a fav.
We take walks several times a week down to Centro Metepec or up to the mall or grocery store. We went to a flea market (pulga) yesterday, and he slept in the stroller through most of it. Even with the loud noises and loud music! Nothing seems to phase him. He slept through the fire works during Independance Day, too!

"I love playing in my strollers!!! Go Blue!!!!!"




"Yup, I still love my strollers... "



Well, Race is learning to eat with utensils, but sometimes it is just easier to use the fingers. He can usually get the food to his mouth, but the trouble is getting the food on the utensil!

"mmmmmmmmm, yogurt..."

Thai says "¡¡Viva México!!"

In case anyone was wondering how the dog is doing...

She seems to be adjusting fine, and Race just loves her!!! And she loves the attention, of course!

La Casa #17

Hi everyone, just thought you'd like a quick tour of our house in Metepec, Mexico. We'll start the tour with the cabinets...

Race's First Birthday

We are a little late posting his Birthday Photos, but better late than never!




First he had Birthday Spaghetti, which he loved, can't you tell? He even fed himself a bit with his spoon (not the fork in the photo, mind you!) That is his latest accomplishment, but he hasn't quite mastered it.


Then we had a few friends over, and they sang Happy Birthday to him in Spanish (which is nothing like the english version by the way). We all had Tres Leches cake (Three Milks), which is just like a yellow or white cake we know, but it is super moist, and milky. Good stuff! We have video of that event (which we can't seem to upload, maybe later we'll figure it out.)

Anyway, it was a good time! Happy Birthday, Race!

Trip to Teotihuacan pyramids

We visited the ruins of the city of Teotihuacan, which includes the piramida del Sol (pyrimid of the Sun) y piramida de la Luna (and the pyramid of the Moon). Both built to worship the gods. The Sun is the 3rd largest pyramid in the world, just a bit smaller than at Giza in Egypt. The largest is also in Mexico, not far away. There were 248 steps up the Sun, and I mean TALL steps, and not very deep, so you had to bend over to climb. That was their goal, to make a person bow to the Gods all the way up. And Ron carried Race all the way to the top, Good job, Dad!!!
It was an awesome sight. You could see the whole city which is about 2 miles long. The Moon is at one end and the Citadel at the other end, and the Sun about half way down. It was incredible to imagine that 200,000 people lived here 2000 years ago. At its zenith it was larger that its contemporary, Rome.

The first pic (up top) is taken from the Moon of the 2 mile stretch, you can see the Sun on the left almost a mile away! (to give you an idea of its size). The 2nd is of the Sun as we approach, the 3rd is of Race and I about half way up the Sun, the 4th is of the Moon (taken from the top of the Sun). The 5th is of Race sitting on the Sun (right before the paparazzi showed up. That's another story, evidently Race is famous.) The last is an artifact found on the site, there were lots, very neat.

It was cool (chido)! There were lots of vendors peddling their wares, and there were some beautiful art pieces (among the trinkets). We all got burned by the sun, being so high an altitude (about 8000 ft). And Jessica looked like a lobster, pobrecita!

It was a great day trip, we highly recommend it!!! Ciao!

Race's 1st Blog

Hola greetings from Mexico,

This is a trial run for Race Eckles blog page. Here are a few photos from Mexican Independance Day (Sept 16). We went with our friends, Nicolas, Karina and Karina. It was our first major outing, and we celebrated with about 25,000 other people in the Zocalo de Toluca (Toluca town square). Toluca is the capital of the State of Mexico where we live. At 11 pm everyone sang the National Anthem, except us of course, as we are not yet Mexicans. Then every single person got covered in foam spray that every single person seemed to have, again, except us. Then they shot off fireworks from the government buildings surrounding the Zocalo for an hour. We had on stage entertainment all evening by different groups. It was a fun time.

Well, that's all for our first blog, definitely more to come. Hasta luego!!!!