Back to Mexico...

We took a short trip back to Queretaro, Mexico to show the boys around, get them tested for school, and get James' work visa started. Well, we got two of those things accomplished. We found out after we got down there that they needed his passport and tourist visa (paper you get when you come into the country) for two days and we were only there for one. Long story short, he has to wait until we move down there to get that process going and they'll have to rent things for us because we can't get our stuff past the border until he has the work visa (among many other very annoying things).

Anyway, back to the actual trip. Kellogg's generously pays for us to fly first class for these "scope out" trips. Ethan absolutely loved it. I think the first flight (3 hours), Ethan ate for 2 and a half hours...and he had already eaten before we got on the plane.

Ethan getting comfy in first class

This is pretty much what he looked like the whole ride!

The boys did great traveling except for the fact that Nolan all of the sudden had to go to the bathroom every time the fasten seatbelt sign went on (even though he had just gone within the past hour!). The problem was when we were flying from Houston to Queretaro and had to get through customs before he and Ethan could go to the bathroom....no, there are no bathrooms before you go through customs at the Queretaro airport and we almost didn't make it!

So, if you're planning on visiting us and flying directly into Queretaro, here are a couple of tips/ warnings:

1. try to get a seat as close to the front as possible when booking your flight so you can be at the front of the customs line (James and Ethan were at the back of the plane and we were almost the last people in line. It's a small airplane, but there's only one customs worker, so it takes a while!

2. make sure you take advantage of the short time the fasten seatbelt sign is off and go to the bathroom (even if you don't have to!).

3. when you get off the plane, you walk outside to the customs area. There will be military men standing outside of customs with rifles and big dogs. Nolan went outside the roped area and they didn't shoot him, so, luckily they aren't trigger happy, but it's a little scary all the same.

We got into our hotel very late, so we all went right to sleep. Needless to say, the boys were VERY tired and fought A LOT the next day. We had to go to the passport office and the bank first thing, so the day did not start out too exciting. The boys then got to see their school and do their testing. Nolan's was about a 1/2 hour and then I talked with the preschool principal and found out that he was accepted. Ethan's test was a different story. Two hours later, he was done with the test, but we had to wait to find out if he was accepted. Luckily, a few days later, we found out that he was accepted. We had a nice lunch and then went to see the house. The boys loved it, thank goodness, and were running around like crazy people all over the house.

A couple of funny interactions that happened:

Nolan, EVERY TIME someone said Mexico: "Metzico - yeeesss!"

Ethan when he walked into the bathroom when we got to the hotel - "oh good, there's a phone in here!"

Ethan on the first morning- "most importantly, where are we going to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner?"

Nolan every time we left the hotel: "go in mommy's car?!"

(uh, no, remember the day of traveling we had yesterday???)

Ethan after watching Spanish cartoons - me: "did you learn any Spanish?"

Ethan: "I already know Spanish"

me: "oh really, then what did they say?"

Ethan: "I don't know, I couldn't understand them"

It'll definitely be a different experience when we move there! Something new will come out of their mouths constantly I'm sure!

We ended our one and only night there with dinner at Tacos El Pata. A lot of the restaurants have a play area for the kids (the nicer ones have someone who watches the kids in the play area!). El Pata had a huge climber that the boys loved. It was funny because half the time the boys were being followed around by a group of Mexican kids trying to talk to them. Ethan said they spoke a little bit of English to him and said that they were nice, so that's good.

The whole experience made me feel even better about the whole move. I'm really excited about the kids being able to be immersed in a different culture at such a young age.