Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

We were invited to James' friend, Santi's first communion on Saturday. We were also invited to the family party later that night. In between, I saw something super-Mexican at the grocery store. (I did NOT buy it.) Turns out, in addition to family, they'd invited all of the boys from James and Santi's class. There are five of them. They found flashlights and ran around the neighborhood for hours while the grown-ups sat around talking (or messing around on our phones). Most of them have been together since kindergarten. This is their last year together at primary school; next year they'll all head to different secondary schools. I don't think it's occurred to them yet that this is the end of an era. They were too busy having fun.  

The boys saw this videogame restaurant in the mall while at the birthday party last week and so we went back this week. The tabletop emulators have new games like Nintendo Switch and the good ol' games like Artari Pong and Frogger. The boys laughed and laughed at the graphics of our favorite 80s games.  For example, Tom was a big fan of Combat. Ah, the simple joys of pixelated dogfighting. Other little joys this week: Iron filings on a magnet. Magic! "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." It's pretty much the only thing they've wanted to read all year and there seems to be an infinite number of books in the series. Seriously, how many of these books ARE there? Tom jamming out in Costco. These newly-posted signs on the boys' bedroom door. Transcription: No parents allowed. P.S. Unless they're reading [outloud to us].

This week, Tom graduated from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Centro Peninsular en Humanidades y  Ciencias Sociales (CEPHCIS) Spanish program. The Spanish and Mayan graduates had a graduation ceremony at the Rendón campus. Tom gave the Spanish student graduate speech and a student of Mayan gave a speech in that language. If you're curious, here's a good example of what Mayan sounds like: VIDEO Dos datos curiosos about the school:  UNAM is celebrating its 475th anniversary. That's older than 390 year old Harvard. The Rendón campus was originally built as a hospital and, if you're interested in architecture, it's considered a good example of post-revolutionary Neomaya design. Yucatán architect Manuel Amábilis Domínguez is basically the father of that style and there are a couple of dozen examples of his work here in Mérida. I like it. It's like a blend of Art Deco and Maya pyramids. Our social life continues to revolve around kids' birthday...

 

Here are the best pictures from this week's camera roll. I feel they require no explanation other than the puppy lives next door and his name is Milo.

Saturday night, we went out to dinner at Crabsters, a pretty swanky place in a pretty swanky hotel. I got a salad. Joseph got a burger. Tom got tacos. James made us endure another 30 minutes of watching him dissect an octopus.   Sunday, the boys ("the boys" includes Tom) produced flowers, chocolate, cards, and a new pair of my favorite fake Birkenstocks since my old ones are wearing out. The Primary kids sang us a song, gave us handmade cards they worked on in class, and passed out little slices of cheesecake.    

The kids have been working on class choreography for weeks now, and today was the big day. All the moms were lined up down the block waiting to be let in at 8 a.m. Here are the 6th and 3rd grades. (I am super proud of James for doing this, by the way. He hates being on stage.) I could see the 4th graders waiting for their turn to go on. They did not disappoint. So many sequins. Afterwards, all the 3rd graders went to Pollo Feliz to horse around on the play gym while the mothers tried to coax them into eating the food they'd ordered. The 6th graders went home to play on videogames because they're all aguafiestas .  

 We found this lovely critter floating dead in the pool just now. James tells us it's a tailless whip scorpion (also known as an amblypygi, which I bet has knocked out more than one Scripts Spelling Bee contestant). Goggles for scale. Ok, but it gets WORSE. We carefully scooped it onto a plastic lid and left it on the kitchen counter overnight because James wanted to dry it out and add it to his "collection." In the morning ... it was gone. There was one little segment of antennae left. Something ate it. 

A 3-day weekend is called a "puente." We happened to have a 5-day weekend so we drove over to Bacalar, Quintana Roo. ("Row" your boat, not kanga "roo.") The Google summary pretty nearly explains every you need to know about the town: Bacalar is a town in southeastern Mexico near the Belize border. It’s on Lake Bacalar, also called the Lagoon of Seven Colors due to its blue and turquoise hues. Fuerte de San Felipe is an 18th-century fort that now houses a piracy museum displaying colonial-era weapons and artifacts. The colonial San Joaquín Parish Church has a vaulted ceiling. To the south is Cenote Azul, a small, deep lake with underwater caves. Full moon. I sent this one to my family chat. My sister sent this one from Washington State, Mt. Rainier. Cue " the mouse song ." We ate twice at La Playita, James liked his octopus so much. Slightly sketchy ferris wheel in the plaza principal. The main thing to do in Bacalar is rent a boat and driver to t...