Mexico!!! Part 1

We had the privilege of taking our first week of summer and spending it in Mexico.  DH and Teeny Bopper couldn't come, so it was me and the 5 kids driving down.  That meant that there was 2 people per seat, with a space in between everyone.  This made for a wonderful drive!  That space meant peace, and it was awesome.  We missed our fam that couldn't come, but the peace in the car was so nice!
It had been a year since I have seen my SIL, C.  And TWO years since our kids had seen each other!!  Crazy!  I was so happy we were able to meet up on this trip.  We all had a great time just hanging out together.  This was no ordinary trip, though.  We spent a couple of days with some Mennonite families, Grandpa put up an incredible new swing set, and we got to participate in a dental clinic.  I have so many pictures that I will do a few separate posts about this trip.
Part one:  the Mennonites

I keep saying over and over to myself, WHO gets to do things like this?  Only those who know my in-laws understand things like this are par for the course to them.  They are very good friends with several Mennonite families.  They celebrate "Ascension", which is 40 days after Easter commemorating when Christ went back to heaven after his Resurrection.  They get together with family and have a big meal together.  These particular families have adopted DH's parents and wanted to celebrate this holiday with them.  (and us)  They were delightful!  They all spoke English so we were able to communicate just fine.  They learn high German at school,  low German at home, and learn English from each other.  One of the groups also learns Spanish.  I was so surprised at how much we have in common.  Once we became very comfortable with each other we asked lots of questions.  It was so interesting.  I am so happy my kids are able to have experiences like this!  Meeting with these people who seem so mysterious at first, because our differences stand out.  But then we get to know them and those things just melt away and leave our similarities and friendship to bond us together.  Like I said:  A.Mazing.

On Monday evening we did a lot of singing together.  Our styles of singing are very different, but we have many similar hymns.  The kids also know a lot of popular movies and music.  I brought the Tangled music book and they loved it!  They kept asking me to play "Mother knows best".  So cute!  There was one occassion when C and I were singing "See the light" from Tangled in parts, and we had no idea anyone was around.  When we ended to song we received a round of applause from the teenage girls that were around the corner.  We will never forget that moment.  They came around the corner clapping and told us we sounded so pretty.  It was SO fun!!  They joined in with us a little after that.

Here are the teenage girls all visiting on the trampoline.

Grandpa pushing some of the little girls the swings.

The men chatting and having sodas.  Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the women!  I was too busy visiting to take pictures.  Darn it!  Maybe on of my sisters got one?

The little boys watching a movie together.
Abraham Lincoln and Jake, hehe