Bancas de Reforma

During the swine flu scare Mexico City was pretty empty. Everyone stayed in their houses with their masks on. (very interesting to me that they take such great precautions during a flu outbreak but never put their kids in car seats or seat belts) We decided to take advantage of the freedom from traffic and take pictures of the interesting benches that flank Reforma - the major thoroughfare through the city. Please vote for your favorite banca! Some had names, others didn't. Invent your own.


banca de circulo . . .







banca de cartas . . .















































banca de parejas amantes . . .










banca de hipopótomo




banca de jardin






sombrero de bruja















banca de arriba abajo . . .






banca de cubos. . .







banca de tapete volando . . .




banca de manos y pies . . .







banca de hombres . . .

Hill Country Weekend

It is said the best things in life are free. Although our weekend in San Antonio was far from free, or even cheap, some of my favorite memories were. Best things about the weekend:

• watching Ryan and Asher
• slumber party with Mabel and Caroline, then Bethany and Mabel
  
• getting a free diagnosis from Dr. Conrad
• having Annie smile every time she saw me coming
• s'mores by the bonfire
• getting a ring pop from Mabel
• cuddles from Devin
• reading a book (spanish) to Asher
• riding the kiddie ferris wheel with Caroline and Mabel
• Annie enjoying being in the water with her mushroom tube
• sharing a frozen lemonade with Caroline
  

I had lots of fun! Sorry everyone else couldn't be there. We missed you!!
and now for some awesome photos . . .

Thanks, Baby!

Thanks, Baby and Harper for letting me stay with you last week. I love your cute little tidy apartment. You made me feel at home. Thanks for sharing Shady's birthday with me! I had a great time!

Lactose-free

Like Poodle, I decided to go on a lacto-free (but not meat-free) diet. Unlike Poodle, my incentive is not to improve my skin, but rather to improve the environment - my small contribution toward the effort to prevent global warming. I will be making an exception for chocolate. I wouldn't want to starve.

Meagan's Wedding

Last week I was in Utah for the wedding of my niece, Meagan. She had a beautiful ceremony in the Salt Lake Temple performed by Pres. Eyring. She looked radiant, and very happy. It was so fun to share with her a very important day. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack my camera and had to rely on my mother for photos. She did a pretty good job, as you can see!

at the shower . . .

the beautiful couple after the wedding ceremony. . .

Matt & Vanessa at the wedding luncheon . . .
Cindy's cute family outside the temple . . .
and the wedding party at the Lion House reception.
Congratulations, Meagan and Quinn!!

Happy Birthday to my baby!

It's no often I get to spend the day with Shady on her birthday, so today was quite a treat. Me, Brandon and "the girls" as he calls her had a great time . . .
eating chocolate cake for breakfast
hiking to donut falls in the snow
making a visit to the Iceberg - oh yeah!
visiting Brandon's uncle's home-in-process
almost getting run over by a biker in Mueller Park
having a mini snowball fight with Brandon, and
eating at a Churrascaria.

Happy Birthday Lindsey! I hope you had as much fun as I did!

question . . .

Is it possible to die of boredom?

Just wondering. . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETHY

Happy birthday to Bethy, the best oldest child EVER! Because she loves to hide from the camera, and because I am in Utah without access to her baby pictures, I will have to share some highlights without photos. (to be added later)

From a very young age she proved she would be a leader. Although she was the youngest in the neighborhood (she was 1, the others were 2 and 3) she was the ring-leader of the kids in our little complex in Orem.

Bethy never lacked for an opinion. When she was only two she would insist that she knew which elevator would open next. At five, when I was teaching her the alphabet and she missed one, she would reply," you can call that an a if you want but I can call it a o if I want." She may not always be right, but she's never unsure.

Along with her leadership, she also had a compassionate side. She rallied the entire neighborhood into a garage sale to raise money for children who were starving in Africa. She raised quite a bit of money and sent it to Africa through our church fund.

Bethy loved friends and had quite the social life in Minnesota. She even tackled her friend, Rachel when she tried to leave before Bethany was ready to have her go.

She also has a sense of humor - after being sent with our luggage in Brazil on a boat that the rest of the family missed, she had to wait for us to arrive on the island by the next boat. Instead of being mad, she used her Cancer voice to make us all laugh - including the audience generated. We also laughed (well, not at the time) when she fell crossing a major thoroughfare in Sao Paulo. Wasn't quite so funny at the time.

No one can deny that Bethy's a hard worker. From helping me throw papers when she was in grade school, building tree houses with Brandon in High School, along with holding down several jobs at once, to completing Med School and residency in the top of her class, she always does the best at whatever she decides to do.

And that includes being a mom! And she has the proof in Mabel and little Annie!

Happy Birthday to a great daughter, wife, mom, sister, and OB!

Happy Mother's Day

to all of my beautiful daughters and daughter-in-law, mothers and potential mothers. I smile every time I think of you! (and I think of you a lot!)

Mi casa es tu casa . . .

but I'm not so sure you'd want some of these. Given that I've been a little bored this week, with no clinica movil running, I thought I'd post some of the interesting homes in our neighborhood.
They're not your regular tract homes


We'll start with the traditional. Actually, very nice. Very orange - the most popular color here.

This house looks like a funky airplane. You have to enter at the base and take an elevator up to the main living area (not that I've been inside - it's kind of assumed by the way it's built)

This one is dad-the-bad's favorite. It is built in a circle, and is almost completely enclosed in glass.
We call this baby the "sore thumb" because - well, it's ugly.



As you can see, people will go to great lengths here to have a yard. The support structure alone probably cost as much or more than the house sitting on top.This one is my favorite. It is built into a cliff. The protruding portion is the actual house.
An engineering wonder!

And in the same neighborhood - we have this little dwelling. Because the country recognizes "squatter's rights" you have people living on undeveloped land - in hopes that someday it will be theirs.
Which one would you choose?

Girl Party!

Bethy hosted a great girl party on friday!

Invited guests included:

Cool Cat Caroline . . .

thoroughly modern Mabel . . .

and adorable Annie!

We feasted on pizza . . .

had "not so much" slumber . . .

and the girls performed their own rendition of "singing in the rain."

Other interesting happenings:

Brandon came home after midnight from his scout campout because his tent filled with water. He returned the next am - I never heard him come or go.

Caroline woke up at about 12:30 coughing and wanting to go home.

In the middle of the night I awakened to find Mabel strutting across the playroom in her high heels (see above pic of said shoes.)
Needless to say, we had lots of fun all around, and little sleep.

Shut Down

Well, it's official. President Calderon has shut down all "non-essential" (essential meaning police, hospitals) businesses in Mexico City until May 5. Dad-the-bad has defined his business as "essential" and is at the office. Ironically, my job - the clinica movil - decided they were "non-essential" and shut down, so I'm at home enjoying my chocolate.

and here he is . . .

Asher Ryan Reed - couldn't be cuter . . .



and Ryan couldn't be prouder . . .












nor could the rest of the fam . . .









A BIG THANKS to: Bethy - for a great birthday party, cake, slumber party, and comfortable housing for several days! , Brandon - for accompanying me and the girls to the zoo and riding the train once again, Carrie - for letting me stay an extra day and making me her awesome roast chicken, and Ryan and Brianna - for having such a cute baby and letting me hold him - even if I am from Mexico - and letting us have a party at their house. Pretty brave!

Not to worry, folks!

If any of you have been following dad-the-bad's blog, you may have concerns that all grocery stores in Mexico may close due to the "swine flu" epidemic and we will have nothing to eat. Fear not, my blogger friends. Having just returned from Houston, I have enough chocolate to get the both of us through this!

We have a Reed!!

Congratulations, Ryan and Brianna!! I can't wait to see Asher in person. You guys do great work!