Mazalada

The Mazal family (my mom's side of the family) had it's first ever reunion - dubbed the "Mazalada". We gathered from all over to my uncle and aunt's beautiful home in Monterrey, Mexico. To be surrounded by aunt and uncles who doted on us and our kids, by nieces and nephews who loved playing with them, by cousins to relax with, was priceless. To travel 12 hours each way with connections and layovers, was not so proceless, but we did well all things considered.

Matthew insisted on pulling this carry on bag (could he have subconsciously known it was full of food?), once in a while he stopped to rest, but insisted on doing it himself without help.

Samuel showing matthew the view from the window seat

A view into traveling with 3 young ones

The pool at my uncle and aunt's home. It's a roof-top pool in a home build into a mountain side, aptly dubbed "the spa" by my cousins

All three kids loved the motorized Dora bike . . .

And pushing my aunt Laura, the hostess, on her "car" too

Matthew and Renee enjoyed their first, second, third, etc, popsicles. Lucia, one month their junior, shows them how it's done.

The play ground at my aunt and uncle's house

"And you shall tell your granddaughter" Regi and Renee at the Seder.

Matthew and Samuel had coordinated outfits that matched Renee's (sorry we have no pics)

The girls (my aunts, cousin, mom, sister, Renee) at the hotel

Samuel and Eduardo loved "driving" my cousin "Big Alejandro"'s mini

The three ids on a boat ride, wearing their Canadian Olympic t-shirts

The family enjoying the pool and surroundings

Renee loved wearing her life vest, especially when out of the water. She put it on by herself.

Renee took a day or two to warm up to her great aunts and uncles. Mateo, the host, persevered and soon enough Renee as happy with her "Matoto"

Taking a carriage ride

My uncle and aunt's house

We did a ton of fun activities, this is just one - they have these giant plastic balls for kids to go into a float in a large pool of water. Most kids run around the balls like hamsters, tossing themselves around. Samuel took a more Zen, floating gently approach.

And matthew had his own (age appropriate) pool of balls too

Renee and Lucia (my cousin's daughter) lvoed kissing and hugging each other

My mom and sister let us take their first class seats on the first (and unfortunately shorter) of the flights home

And, if you were wondering what traveling with a four year old and two 20 month olds looks like . . .

Mateo, Laura, Mateo, Moni, Alejandro, Alejandro, Any, Rodrigo, Alejandro, Lucia, Sophie, Maria, Ricardo, Fabi, Julia, Sophia, Cuqui, Sue, Alex, Dave, Seth - que padre la pasamos, Dick y Renee ubieran estado felices, what a great time we had, Dick and Renee would have been proud. XO