Canal and Parque Chapultepec

 The day after we arrived to Mexico, our kids did not miss the opportunity to swim in the canal behind the Ocampo´s backyard (practically their backyard).  This canal runs through the entire city and is the life source of Cuerna.

I was told the water is pretty cold, since it comes from the mountains...so we waited until the hottest part of the day and went in for a swim.  The water was cold and in our group, the only one who would jump all in was Arden.  He loved playing in the canal and this lucky guy found a huge water plant full of all kinds of interesting creatures.  If I would have let him, I think he would have been by the canal until the following day.  He was loving it.
I only got in to my waist and that was enough for me...but I couldn´t get over how cool it was to have a fun source of water like that.

The following morning we took a taxi over to the ecological park.  It was very green and it had a lot of water (the canal).  Since we went on a Thursday, almost all of the extra features (sort of extra), like the petting zoo, the boats, and other things were closed.  However, we still had a great time.

I think Arden and Maya´s favorite features were the giant leaves.

Arden and Maya seem to be right at home being in Mexico and at the Ocampo house.
After 2.5 weeks, I have loved staying with the Ocampo family and I'm finally starting to go out and run errands on my own. I can take the taxi and to go the big grocery store, to church, or go and exchange our money.  I've even ventured into driving a few times.  It wasn't so scary...the third time I tried it.

One of my favorite things is to be able to literally walk across the street when we're out of an item...like eggs or bread or cheese and buy them at the mini store. It is so convenient and they are not that more expensive from the regular grocery store.  I also love walking to the tortilleria and getting freshly made and still hot (right out of the tortilla machine) tortillas. They smell and taste amazing.  We even have our favorite tortilla place.
Arden and Maya have found their favorite ice cream parlor that sells tiny popsicles for 2 pesos...that's less than a quarter.  The ice cream parlor is around the corner from where the girls attend school and my kids love to go pick them up after school because they know they'll stop by the parlor and order their 2, 5, or 8 pesos popsicle and happily walk back home.  It's all an adventure for us.

We've also been blessed with cooler weather.  It has rained a bit and there were several days with lots of cloud coverage...which was fine with me, since it stayed cool.  Overall, it's been great.  We haven't done a lot of the tourist things, but that's okay...we're living in Mexico, not just visiting.