Days Like These…

         Brothers Mario & Rodo, our faithful leaders on our trail rides through the desert highlands of Central Mexico!

Since relocating full-time to Mexico, we are often asked by family and friends back in the States, “What do you do there? How do you spend your time?” I think the natural assumption is that now that we are both technically retired from our stateside professions of firefighting and teaching, that we have idle time on our hands….hardly. 

We have 10 year-old twins, are young and active, and keep ourselves joyfully engaged in a variety of activities here in the central highlands of Mexico. 

The following photos give you an idea of what a ‘typical Thursday’ (and sometimes Saturday) looks like for us, during this chapter of our lives. 

As mentioned before in a previous post, Country, Cowboys and Caballos, the owners of the home we are renting are awesome people—generous, altruistic, fun, down-to-earth, good people. We have a standing invitation to come out to their ranch in Banda—about 20 minutes outside of San Miguel de Allende in the countryside. It has been a tremendous gift to our family. 

Here is our Banda outing from yesterday:

All set to go to the ranch and Liam wants to make sure his hair looks good!

On the road, heading out to Banda

Being greeted by the new addition to the ranch, Oxxo. She joins 6 others!

A day in the life of a retired firefighter…Playing catch with the pack!

Go Seamus, Go! He worked hard for that stick and has no intentions of sharing it!

Mairead leading Cañon up from the corral to get him saddled up for their ride…

Liam admiring the grandness of his Dad’s ride, Guerrero… The Gentle Giant!

Burro escapes from the corral and comes walking out of the main house courtyard! Mario and pup Oxxo to the rescue!

Liam the animal whisperer helps Mario return the burro safely to his corral!

Frank and Guerrero all ready for their ride, yee-haw!

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon…

Our faithful leader, Mario. The rain has REALLY greened things up around here! So beautiful!

The rest of the gang coming up from behind…..

Rain is on its way and time to get back to the ranch!

Something to be said for simple, country living….

Loving my view from atop Casanova!

Back from our ride and Seamus is VERY happy to greet us at the gate!

Rainy season, river is up, and we are about to cross it–in the car!

Blurry, because I was screaming and the car was bouncing up and down crossing the rising waters! But we made it!

For our friends and family that ask what we do in our new lives, or for readers that might also be curious, this ‘trip report’ speaks to at least what 2 of our 7 days of a week currently look like—days like these….

The rest? Stay tuned….more adventures to come!