After seven visits to our new best friend, the dentista in Mexico, I think Gary is finally done with dental work! Here’s a shot of the New Guy – (still with the same old girl!).

It was 99 today – YIKES!

Every time we drove to the dentist (and as you recall, there were many such drives) we passed the entrance of the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. And every time, I wanted to stop. Yesterday (now that we’re down to our last weekend in The Valley) we finally made it! (I think the trick was not to combine it with a dental visit!). It was worth the wait! There was a wonderful video, a great Visitor’s center and several walking/hiking trails. After we took one of the walks, we hopped on the Tram that took an hour+ guided tour around the reserve. Lots of info about Texas/Mexico flora and fauna, and while we only saw a couple of the fauna, it was a good tour. We were planning on taking a bike ride around the property, but since it was now in the 90’s, we opted for the air conditioned car! On our way home we stopped at that great Farmer’s market and picked up some more goodies (and an ice cream cone!)
Here are a couple of pictures from the day – there are more here if you’d like to see them. Quite a variety of sights!
First the Spanish Moss

And then the Cactus!

Today was a chore day – along with another enjoying the A/C day. Although we had a cold front come through this past week (that means one day it only made it up to the low 70’s), looks like we’re back on the early summer streak. On one hand it’s hard to believe we’re on our last week here in the valley, but on the other hand it seems like we’ve been here a little too long. We haven’t stayed in one area for three months before – and I confess, we’re ready to move on. Plus, we have some exciting things coming up in the near future… next time, OK?

Phew, it was a busy weekend!
It started quietly enough – we took a nice long walk in the morning and then tidied up and did some chores around the house. (Yes, there are still chores to be done!). Then we went shopping for a new chair. We’d been looking for a comfortable chair to use both as a computer chair and a dining chair and finally found one we liked (along with the price we liked). Assembly was required so that was another afternoon adventure (not so much the assembly, but finding the space to do the assembly!). We hung around home in the evening (testing the chair?), which was a good thing since the next day was packed!!!!
We left early for a shopping day in Progresso, Mexico. It was a such a treat to being going to Progresso and NOT going to the dentist. We found some treasures and even honed our skills at bargaining. I think we did OK for amateurs!
From there we headed to huge flea market (back in the good old US!) where we had scoped out some “stuff” from a previous visit. We were pretty focused, but by that time of the day it was well into the 90’s and we were melting fast! Back home by 3:30, recovered (cooled down and cleaned-up) and then headed out to an evening concert of Mariachi and Grupo Folklorico – Latin Folk Dancing. It was done completely by high school students, but believe me, it’s like no other school concert I’ve ever been to! The talent was amazing – and the show was impressive. Sub titles would have been nice, but like so often happens, music somehow crosses over those language barriers.
Sunday after church we headed to a wonderful buffet….where at one point I had both sushi and enchiladas on my plate. Not sure if that’s legal, but everything was quite delicious! It was a total recovery day – and another scorcher!

Back to work today – Gary was painting lines in the parking lot (a nice switch from A/C work) and I was cleaning classrooms. This is spring break, so it’s pretty quiet around here (though over on South Padre Island it’s a totally different story!). And tonight we found a 50 cent movie – The End of the Spear. A good movie – and a nice night out.

Lights out is just around the corner!

These are pretty darn cute – just thought I’d better warn you….
Ellie, just before her third birthday ~

And Hayley – getting the hang of walking!

I warned you!

We’re getting settled at our new home – Grace Community Church, right in the heart of Pharr, Texas. It’s a fairly large city with all the perks (lots to see and do) and disadvantages (crowds). We had a fun weekend getting to know the four other couples that we’ll be working with over the next three weeks. Saturday we went to a huge Flea Market andFarmers Market. Golden Pineapple – $2.00, cored and peeled free, red and yellow and orange peppers – 50 cents each! It was a fun morning. In the evening we went to a local rodeo – which was kind of a disappointment (the eight of us were about 25% of the people there), but the trip to the DQ (also known as a Texas stop sign) made up for any bad feelings! Today we worshipped together and then went to a neat local restaurant, Koko’s Uptown Cafe, which had a live (all female) Mariachi band – Azucenas. They were excellent, as was the lunch!

So it looks hopeful that we’ll be doing something more interesting than driving to Home Depot (and the dentist) this month…although we did make an afternoon trip to HD this afternoon. And thankfully it’s only about 4 minutes away!