Feliz Dia del Nino!

So, on Friday April 16th Darryl and I left work, and as we started through town we kept passing cars adorned with Balloons. Some were Green, others orange or blue or pink. People in cars or on the street waving pom poms or streamers or signs of varying colors...
There were literally hundreds of cars in this parade and we had no Idea what it was for until we saw this.

Yep, you saw that right.

Dozens and dozens of cars decorated with balloons and children sitting on top of them.

Each car with a child was followed by a contingent of cars decorated in the same colors with supporters cheering for their little prince or princess.

Up and down both sides of the streets around the Tres Presidentes Plaza to the malecone and back...

Boys and girls on top of cars. Some weren't quite sure of the whole thing....but their fans didn't seem to have any problem expressing themselves....

And others knew just how to play to the crowds.

I grabbed my camera, rolled down the window on my side of the truck and sat on the edge to take pictures. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, but Darryl & I still didn't know what all the hoopla was about. Oh well, We enjoyed it just the same.

The following Friday we saw the same kind of parade only this time the car top riders were all teenagers and the groups seemed a little more boistrous. I was sorry I didn't have my camera with me. Last night as we drove through town after work (I forgot the camera again) they were once again decorating dozens of cars and this time small floats and trailers with balloons and lining them up for a parade. Local bands were setting up on the streets and we saw several young people in costumes and some in formals with bouquets of flowers and crowns. And we finally found out what is going on. These celebrations have all been leading up to today..

April 30, 2010

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Since 1925, Dia del Nino, or Day of the Child, has grown as an annual celebration throughout Mexico. This day recognizes children, pays homage to their importance in society, and endorses their well being.

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Feliz Dia del Nino!

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What a Happy Day!

The Giant Birds of Empalme!

I love how they trim their trees in this part of the world. It makes the drive through town quite fun!

We saw these birds while driving through downtown Empalme.

It's like Big Bird and his buddy standing Guard.

A wedding Dance!

Okay, it's not really "The" wedding dance. Just one of the fun dances at this fiesta!!

The Dancers in this video are Clockwise from the left, Bishop Ibarra, his wife Jenelli, Miceli Barohas (The Stake R.S. President), Salina Soto (the Stake President's wife and our Ward primary president) Romero Ibarra, and Elias Ortega. They really had this going good.

Sunday and Wednesday

Sunday Darryl and I invited little Sonja and her family to dinner. Her father and little brother Ernesto Didn't come, but her mom, Rosalia and little sister Ana came....
Along with her Grandmother, Maria Louisa and her Aunties, Mayda (20), Claudia Louisa (19) and Alma (16).

Wednesday Claudia was married in the Hermosillo Temple to Abinidi Sanchez. (Hillary and Jake, you remember Elder Sanchez don't you?)
Elder Abinidi Sanchez Garcia finished his mission just before Christmas and went home to Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico.
They started writing and talking on the phone and the rest... as they say, is history.

A few weeks ago he wrote and asked her to marry him. He and his mother flew to Hermosillo on Tuesday and came to Guaymas. They had their first date (I am told) Tuesday night.

On Wednesday morning they were married in the Temple.

They are so cute!

Hermana Sanchez, Abinidi, Claudia and Hermana Hernandez

Brother Soto was Abinidi's escort through the temple and I understand sister Soto coordinated the whole wedding festivities.

Ahhhhhh....... I love weddings.

I drove up to the temple alone, but offered to take one of the mother's back with me so they would have more room in their car. Instead, they sent the newlyweds with me on the 2 hour drive to Guaymas.

I think I will rename this red dodge truck 'Beseme Rojo'! I was afraid that there might be some awkwardness and shyness on the part of one or both of the happy couple due to the fact that they had never been together as a "couple". It's just that I forgot one very important fact where these two are concerned......

They are LATIN!!!!!!! Whew!

Let's just say the terms "Sucking Face" and 'Hot Latin Lover' have taken on a whole new meaning for me after that 1 hr. 22 minute drive! Yes, I know. It's usually a 2 hour drive unless you are Darryl, then it is about 1 1/2 hours. I was just speeding trying to get them home before I really got embarrassed.

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On to the reception!

Their Lovely Head Table.

The Wedding party enters to the applause of family and friends.

The Bride Escorted by her Father.

They take a turn around the room.

And stop for introductions by the bishop. From the left, Claudia's Brother and her mother, Sister Sanchez and the groom, Brother Hernandez and the Bride.

The Bishop explained to all in attendance what a temple marriage is and why they chose to be married in the temple. He congratulated the happy couple, and then Brother Hernandez handed Claudia over to Abinidi for their first Dance as Husband and wife.

Awwwww..... They are so happy! How sweet!

The Elders and some of the kids hanging out in the hall.

And yes.... I got to dance with the groom!

The dinner provided by the Relief Society sisters was delicious! (of course!) The Dancing was fun, but at 10:00 Darryl and I left. We didn't stay to see them cut the cake, we were fading fast and not looking forward to our 4:15 AM wake up call.

~All in all it was a glorious day!~

Humanitarian House #2 - Empalme

Meet Angel. He is one of a family of 8 (Mom, Dad, Grandpa and 5 boys) who live in this house in Empalme. The room you see behind him is the 10' x 10' bedroom and bathroom of the existing house. This is the kitchen/laundry room and living room/bedroom.

The SUU Humanitarian project constructed this dome on the back of the property as an addition to their existing room. They applied the concrete on this dome by hand. SUU did not have time to finish the outside so Dome Technology put a smooth top coat over the whole dome.

This dome will be an 'addition' for the family. It will have 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and a loft. Angel and his little brother Jacob are very excited for their new home and came out to help us work on the floor inside the house.
This is the finished exterior of the little dome house in Empalme. Boyd Fife, the director of the program from SUU will be coming down in a couple of weeks and we will be framing out the inside. Once the walls and plumbing are in place the family will be finishing out the house.
Hey.... I think I've seen that paint job before, or something similar. :-)

On Saturday when we were painting and cleaning up the inside of the dome the outside temperature was close to 90. The inside of the dome was very cool. The Family really likes that!

New Furniture!

This is Darryl's favorite, he calls it Moby Dick and the little Mobys. The curves and lines in the grains of the Iron wood are so fabulous.
The pictures just don't do it justice.
This is my favorite base. I know, ..... Skye is beyond jealous now.
Can you believe the detail in the Carvings? It is wonderful!

Can you just see this in the living room with a nice glass tabletop on it? Perfecto!

Okay I realize that it may not be your thing, but Darryl and I love hand carved, hand made almost anything. These are actually small tables made to have a glass top. We will purchase the tops when we get back to the U. S. The whale table is Darryl's and the other table is mine. Let's just call them our Mother's / Father's day gifts to each other.

Fishing Trip No. 1, The Pelicans and The Semana Santa Crowd

This past week was a National Holiday in Mexico. Our crew didn't work on Thursday or Friday, So Kirby Sheldon, Darryl, Lalo and I decided to do some real ocean fishing. Our first trip was with Gary's and it was a fun trip for Darryl and I since we are not super serious "fisherpersons" as Darryl put it, but for true sport fishermen like Kirby and Lalo I think it was a little boring.
Oh well, the four of us had fun anyway. Above we are just getting ready to head out to sea.
We didn't get any bites on the trolling lines, so after an hour or so we dropped anchor and started bottom fishing in hopes of catching a prize winning grouper.... or whatever.
Below we can see that I am ready willing and able to catch some fish, if they would just bite!

Kirby was rather disgusted with his first catch of the day....... seaweed.

A few minutes later he did pull up this nice octopus from our fishing depth of 120'. About 10 minutes later Darryl reeled in another Octopus. The crew was thrilled when we let them keep the critters.

Darryl, Lalo and Kirby were all pretty successful at reeling in several Ocean perch...

Here he caught two at once!

This was his best catch of the day. If you look closely you will sea a Spotted Bay Bass.

Lalo reeled in two Scorpion fish, which are pretty nasty creatures as the spines in their fins are poisonous and will cause quite a bit of instant pain and some swelling you get gaffed by one. They say it's similar to a sting-ray sting. They are good eating though when you have an experienced hand doing the filleting.

Part of our catch. The deckhands filleted these guys and fixed us fish tacos while we sat in a quiet cove watching the wildlife.

Darryl with another perch.

When we stopped in the cove while the crew cooked our lunch they pelicans put on quite a show dive-bombing at the schools of fish below the water. The splashes are pelicans that just hit the water and if you look closely between them you can see the wings of a pelican just breaking the suface as he dives in head first.

One of the more curious pelicans.

When these creatures move and fly they look so pre-historic!

Back at the condos, the crowds were just starting to arrive at our beaches to Celebrate the Semana Santa, or Holy Week. Notice the Coors Beer tent? There were literally hundreds of beer tents lining the streets of San Carlos.

In San Carlos the Holiday is not so much a religious observance as it is a big college & family spring break party!

Thousands of people came to camp, play, party, buy and sell on our beach for 4 days!

It was a lot of fun, until I could hear them screaming with laughter and running by our apartment window at 4:30 in the morning.

Oh well, that is the joy of being young.... right?