We said goodbye to family today. Probably the last time we’ll see them for a few months until we mosey up north for a summer visit. It sort of hits me on days like this that Mexico really is our home now. While everybody else is off to the airport for an international flight, Ali and I are piling into a rental car for a thirty minute drive. And it feels totally natural. We don’t think anything of it anymore. If it weren’t for the visa issues we’d feel one hundred percent like we belonged here. And for now at least there is nothing compelling us to return to life back in the States.

Sometimes I wish we could kick our “pack us a suitcase” habit altogether and really become one with our adopted country. By that I mean I wish we could not order a suitcase full of stuff every time somebody comes to visit us. But we’ve still got our favorite clothing stores, we still find it easier to get boat parts or computer accessories, and we’ve always got a list of things from Target that we just can’t seem to find down here. Some things, no matter how we might try, will always just be easier to order online and have delivered to us whenever someone is coming for a visit.

Lowe spent the entire family visit battling a tooth. Hours after they left I stuck my finger in his mouth and there it was, poking through his gums at long last. Tooth number three.

Last minute family photos this morning. Because no family vacation is complete without a pic of the three sisters.