Settling in - Fall 2016

 *These are plants from our front yard.

We spent the fall in McAllen:

• unpacking
• starting homeschool
• exploring the neighborhood
• finding parks
• taking in the deliciously different food options
• swimming - every day at the neighborhood pool
• visiting South Padre, at least once a month
• finding a church
• meeting Kyle's colleagues, and overall just getting accustomed to a new place.  

• 

  One of our first walks on the walking/running/biking trail a block from our house

  

The climbing rope at La Vista park, a block away.  He's the only one of us that can make it up.

Bill Shupp park

Parrots on a wire

The neighborhood pool, with a diving board, oh my!

Lots of great sunsets

You might think that since we are still in Texas that it can't be that different.  But it is, a lot different.  The climate- hotter. The food- very mexican (not tex-mex). The language- very spanish (and some english).  The native plants and animals/birds- very beautiful and tropical.

Favorite spot for our bird photographer. He's putting together a 5 hour slide show of just birds, if you are interested next time we see you. 

One of our favorite things to do is go over to the bay side of the island to explore the water and sand areas.  We usually head over before sunset. You can walk out for a long way and the depth doesn't change much, below the knees.  We look for shells and hermit crabs (shown above), though we throw them back before we leave. 

The hotel that we usually stay at is an easy walk to the beach and also has a great pool.

A couple of weeks after the sand castle competition

This is Nana's taqueria. It's about 15 minutes from our house but kinda on the way to the beach. Their courtyard is beautiful and the food is pretty amazing too.

A visit to the National Butterfly center