The boys and I

Mayra participated in a children's conference this weekend with a workshop on teaching preschoolers. More on that tomorrow. Cathy spent the weekend with Mayra's parents. I invited my two boys camping (sort of) and then swimming. They are growing up so fast. I want to be able to speak into their lives, and take the time to do so.

We dropped Mayra and four other ladies from the church (Tania, Sandra, Esther and Shari) at the conference in Pachuca, and headed for the hills...to a mountain town called Mineral El Chico. It is an absolutely beautiful place in Mexico, with tall evergreens and towering mountain cliffs. We found a cabin to rent near the town, and after exploring a bit (with two boys and two bb-guns!), we drove back down to town for a late night snack of cheese cake, ham and cheese torta and some soda.

Back at the cabin, a young guy came and brought us firewood for the fireplace in our cabin. The cabin was cool, almost cold, but then became hot (almost unbearably hot!), as the wood burned into the early morning, leaving hot coals, then not so hot coals...and then the cold returned. El Chico is a cool place, with high elevation (over 8000 ft.). So we went from cool/cold to warm to hot to warm to cool to cold by the time we woke up around 7 a.m.

Fortunately, we found the scorpion AFTER we slept...otherwise we may not have slept so well. The kids thought it was just the coolest thing. Here in Mexico they say that scorpions come in pairs...never did find the other one! Hope we didn't bring it back with us in our backpacks!

Saturday began with exploring some small, in the middle of nowhere towns. It was fun. Then a torta de tamal for breakfast (salsa verde for all three). Then another drive of close to two hours to a really nice swimming area near Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo called Tephe. Daniel, David and I enjoy the wave pool especially, also the new water slide with blue mat.

The weekend was more than just a good time. We talked about the importance of respect, and read stories about their namesakes, Daniel and David, in the Bible. All in all, a great time!