Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts

After Christmas we headed south. How much further south can we go than San Diego, you ask? Well, there's always Mexico! It was actually our first time making a border run with our kids, and I can't think of a better way to welcome the New Year. Our drive down through Tijuana and Rosario was thought-provoking for all of us. Why were some of the houses and buildings in such bad shape? How come there were so many junkyards along the side of the road? What about the lack of strip malls and neatly organized subdivisions? It was interesting to talk about and ponder all of the ideas and circumstances surrounding these. Is Mexico more "free" because of a lack of building code regulations? When there is homelessness or junk accumulation, who holds the responsibility to step in and help or to clean up? I liked that these questions don't have easy answers, that they required us to think about the role of government, both federal and local, as well as individual responsibility.

Once we made it down to Ensenada, we cozied up in a nice hotel room overlooking the beach, and had just enough time to squeeze in some Spanish language television before walking a few blocks for some genuine Mexican tacos served with all the salsa and guacamole we wanted. The next morning we were up early for a zip-lining adventure that is probably better recounted in photos than words. As we soared over treetops and valleys and made our way across some very precarious bridges that probably belong in an Indiana Jones film, it was fun to think and talk about the parallels to life--how sometimes there might be a lot of frightening things going on around us, but if we can stay focused on the next step and keeping our balance, we'll eventually reach our destination. Also needed here: a huge shout-out to Aaron, our resident acrophobic, who managed to fly out on every single zip line, even if he wimped out on most of the bridges--it's no easy thing to overcome those fears! We also spent some time visiting La Bufadora, the largest blowhole in North America, and shopping in the little markets that were near every tourist area. We got an adorable little dress for Cora and the most delicious vanilla extract known to man, among other things.

We got back just in time for New Years fireworks at Legoland, which we stopped in and watched from an overlooking street. Then on to 2016! Our new theme this year is "Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts." And hopefully we'll find some ways to become a little better together as we continue this awesome adventure together. We enjoyed the rest of our unusually long winter break celebrating birthdays for Sera and Emer, and enjoying a family trip to Sea World--the plan for the year is to celebrate all the birthdays at Sea World, and for once in their life the birthday person gets to pick out something from one of the gift shops as well as a giant cookie. Emerson and Sera made the most of their days, riding the rides over and over (since the lines miraculously vanished after the New Year). Then it was back to school and seminary and all that good stuff (long as it was, I would gladly have taken a few more weeks of holiday break). Everyone is back in the swing of things, and Aaron and I are doing our best to enjoy this awesome season with these kids of ours--sometimes it feels like it's flying by entirely too fast!