Day 8 Mikayla’s Blog: What is an adventure? I believe an adventure is experiencing something new. Arriving in Mexico was just the beginning to a very long adventure for my family and me. It started out as just an idea, a dream long wished for, but soon grew to possible options, then fully emerged as a plan laid out for the next year and two months. The first real thrill and feeling of reality came when we jumped in the car at 5:15 am with all of our luggage, on the morning of June 16, and began our 45 minute trip to the airport. Nothing could dampen our excitement, despite the chaos of security, checking our bags, and trying to get six people legally on board the plane, happy and in one piece. After the second thrill up my spine from taking off, we finally had a few hours of quiet time. Landing brought more chaos (filling out papers, waiting in lines, and keeping salesmen from persisting that we buy something). Next, we took an hour-long ride to the condo that we would be staying at for the next few months. We were all so relieved to be in a place where we could actually walk around and relax rather than the stiff sitting we’d had to do in the plane and cars.After taking a little bit of time to get adjusted to the new place, we decided it was finally time to eat! After all, with two growing boys and two worn-out girls (and two adults), you can’t go more than a few hours without food before the crankiness really hits hard! So we found a nice traditional Mexican restaurant and sat down to a heart-warming, stomach-satisfying meal. I know our family has often been referred to as “crazy.” Well, some evidence for that is that we chose to, on an 80 degree day, eat soup and charcoal roasted meats! But oh, was it good!One night of sleep refreshed us enough to begin the next day with a good deal of energy. We walked a few blocks to a tropically decorated breakfast place where we tasted more authentic Mexican food. Now that it was the morning after our arrival, we were a bit homesick, so we all agreed that the closest thing to home here was….Starbucks. (We weren’t really homesick…we just wanted an excuse to visit the best coffee shop in the world! Well, actually, we just wanted working wifi.)

They had a “happy hour” going on from 3-5, so we waited until 3 to get drinks. As our parents worked on their laptops, the four of us grouped into pairs of two so we could walk around outside. Kathryn and I went one way and Ryan and Daniel went the other. A lady on one side of the road stopped us to ask if we wanted to get our hair braided (in the Mexican way). I asked her how much it would be. She pulled out a board full of pictures of different styles and I pointed to a few, asking the price for each one. The one I liked best was $15, but I didn’t have that much money with me. I bargained and ended up paying $5 (U.S) and 50 pesos.

As you can see, we have already begun an adventure and tasted some of the benefits of it. I am excited to experience even more!