The Mexico! status update

Toddlers and traveling:
The kids were great. Henry napped for about ten minutes on the first flight (from PDX to LAX) and Avery napped for most of the second flight (from LAX to LTO). Napping equals happy traveling parents because when kids nap, you can do WHATEVER YOU WANT.

Parents and traveling:
I can't speak for Megan or Penny but I was ready to be done with the flight part of our traveling experience by the time we arrived in Los Angeles. That being said, our second leg went smoothly minus a little grumbling towards the end from Sir CrankyPants (a.k.a. Huck Finn). We made it through customs with no problem but we did have to show proof that it was okay to leave the country without the other parent. (Samples of letters of permission to travel or consent to travel can be found online all over the place. Ours included a brief statement by Darren that said I had his consent to leave, the travel dates and details, his signature, and it was notarized.)

How the iPad faired:
Pros: Portability, you don't even have to take this sucker out when going through security (like you would with a laptop); Entertaining to toddlers that wake up at 10p.m. after they have tricked you into believing they went to sleep for the night; Readability, I'm enjoying my fluff fiction purchased from the iBook store for this maiden Mexican voyage
Cons: Connectivity, as in I can't get it so my brilliant idea of traveling with the iPad and blogging the whole way goes out the window; Hen wants it all the time, he's no longer satisfied with the minuscule iPod screen

Food:
Megan, through no fault of her own but rather my own crazy runaway imagination, had me believing we wouldn't have access to familiar foods at all. For someone with weird food issues, this caused a bit of stress. All was for naught, though, as we went grocery shopping shortly after getting settled in at the casa. Meals on the menu for this week include pasta all'amatriciana, roast beef, chicken fajitas, and red beans and rice. We also purchased some authentic Mexican flour torillas. I'm definitely going to have to get some to bring home to the Mr.

Our casa:
Breathtakingly beautiful. Gorgeous. I'm already totally hoping for another invite. It's hot, for sure, but with an air-conditioned casa you hardly notice. Okay, you actually notice the sweltering heat of the sun the second you step outside, but that just makes you all the more grateful for the air-conditioning when you walk back into the casa. It's relatively quiet, there are amazing views from the tower, and the place just screams "It's vacation time, baby!"

Pictures to possibly follow.