Our First International Family Trip

For our first trip internationally as a family, this past Christmas we went to Mexico. It was really neat to see a place so different than any I have seen before. To see the poverty there was something I had never seen before. It was also really neat to be exposed to the culture there. I really enjoyed getting to practice my Spanish and of course the food was amazing! I also really liked exposing my kids to the different culture and language.

To save some money on airline tickets, we flew into San Diego, CA and then made our way to Mexico via bus and then walked across the pedestrian bridge. Here Jenny and I are right at the entrance to Mexico.

For the first few days, we stayed at Rosarito Beach. The beach there was clean and beautiful. We could see the beach from our hotel room, which was beautiful. We went spent most our time playing at the beach and eating tacos at the taquerias.

View from our hotel room window

We could also hear this lovely church bell ringing from our hotel room. So Tessa and I investigated it and found the church. So beautiful!

We got the girls matching Mexican dresses that the wore often throughout the trip. One time walking down the street wearing them, the girls got a comment "Somos Mexicanas?" which was cute.

After Rosarito Beach, we next went to Tijuana. We had a larger hotel room there with two bedrooms and a kitchen so the girls had extra room for playing, which was nice.

One of my favorite things was just walking around to get to know the city and just stopping wherever for ice cream or tacos or whatever somebody is selling at whatever random stand pops up near you. We walked to a local park and after playing a while a man wheeled the fruit stand up and we got mixed fruit seasoned with spices and limes. Mmmm. Delicious! Also my first real exposure to papaya. 

Then on the way back to our hotel after we were done playing at the park, we stopped at this random hole in the wall shop and had some delicious homemade hielo - or popsicles. PS - don't be alarmed at the giant bandaid on Jenny's face. She had the tiniest of scratches and a completely unnecessary (medically speaking) bandaid made her feel better.

Tijuana has a lot of museums. Tessa and Jenny's favorite one was Mini-city. The concept behind the museum is kids work jobs like adults and earn money and then with the money they earn they can spend it on fun activities or at the store at the end and get some candy. Here Tessa is driving the little car around the track - an activity that costs money. Another child is filling her car's gas tank and is earning money.

Then also in Tijuana, I wanted to see the wall dividing Mexico and the United States. It was crazy to see the wall extending even into the ocean. It was really neat to see how the wall has been colorfully painted on the Mexican side of the wall and the political statements and things up on the Mexican side of the wall.

One of the things that blew my mind the most was walking along the ocean boardwalk and you could look directly to your right and see the ocean and then if you look directly to your left, you could see completely dilapidated homes. The poverty right even along the ocean with an amazing ocean view, was just completely shocking to me.

Next after Tijuana, we went to Ensenada. I found it a bit too touristy particularly near where the cruise ships dock but the local parks and beach near our AirBnB were nice. When we went to this local park on a Saturday, a man had set up kid sized tables and chairs and paints and was selling plaster sculptures for children to paint. The girls had a lot of fun with it.

The girls had a lot of fun playing on the playgrounds and they even made some little friends. Tessa even learned how to say "Soy Tessa" to introduce herself to the other children. It was neat to see Tessa able to play with other kids even without really speaking Spanish and the other children not speaking English; it seemed the kids could play together and get along without needing to speak the same language.

In Ensenada we saw La Bufador - or the blowhole. It was this spot where during high tide, the waves from the ocean are forced to shoot up. It was fun and wet and overall more impressive than expected!

We did a walking tour at Ensenada, which was kind of a lot considering David and I carried the girls nearly the whole time as it was too much walking for them. It was really interesting to learn about the history of Ensenada though. The walking tour introduced us to a few museums. Here we are at one of them - an art museum. Tessa is lying on the floor here as that is the spot the artist designed her work of art to be viewed from.

Here we are at a historic hotel from the walking tour.

Antics at the place we stayed at in Ensenada because it can't be all museums and walking tours when you've got kids!

And then of course we also spent lots of time at the beach in Ensenada. Our place was again within walking distance to the beach for our time in Ensenada.

Then also while in Ensenada, David and I took surfing lessons. Surfing is as hard as it looks! It was fun though. It was something I had wanted to try for a while so it was really cool to get to do it.

And here we are on our way home in our matching Mexican sweaters. It was a fun but long trip. While in Mexico I think we most missed home, routine, family and hot showers. Now that were back from Mexico, I most miss the delicious food (especially the fresh tortillas and the pastelerias with shelves of delicious pastries I've never tried before for a few pesos each), getting to practice my Spanish, the warm weather, the beach, and all the unscheduled family time.