Year THREE in Zacango here we come...







Saturday, January 23, 2010

Dia de los Reyes

We made it back to Zacango for Dia de los Reyes (Kings Day) on Jan. 6 which is the gift giving day of the Christmas season. On this day there is a tradition called "Rosca de Reyes" where you slice your own piece of a special fruit covered cake that has little plactic baby Jesus dolls "emplanted" in it. If you get a slice with one of the dolls in it your are obliged to cook tamales for the person who hosted you for the "rosca." Both Bruce and Hizee got slices with the Baby Jesus. While tamales aren't quite my speciality, I did agree to make pizza for Elvira and her family.
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Sunday, January 17, 2010

The Miraculous Story of a Miraculous Little Man

For those of you who have been waiting, here are the long awaited pictures of Hizee's new puppy. For those of you who don't know the story of this little bundle bear with me, as an animal-lover, as I tell the tale of Little Man.
After Hizee's beloved Chihuahua, Flo, died Hizee talked about getting a new little puppy after we returned from Canada for Christmas. This does not mean that Hizee had "moved on" after Flo's death (she still talks about her everyday and theorizes as to what she is doing in heaven) but she was ready to have another puppy.
So the day we returned to Mexico City after our flight, Hizee asked if we could go and look for a puppy. I, exhausted after our flight, reluctantly agreed and we set off on the metro in search of a place that sold puppies. After nearly two hours of searching, and asking around, and being led from one unsuccessful spot to the next we gave up our search. Hizee said she was okay with not finding a puppy and that we could wait till we got back to Zacango.
After Flo's death many people in Zacango offered Hizee puppies. The only thing was, Hizee wanted a puppy that she could carry around, even when it got older, just like she had done with Flo. So we had graciously turned down the offers. We thought we would try searching for a pup in Olinala as we had seen some smaller breed dogs in town.
We arrived back in Zacango late at night and the next day Hizee was up at 7am with a collar and leash in hand ready to go and search for a puppy. I told her not to get her hopes up, that while I knew of one house where they had poodle-type dogs, there might not be any puppies.
So we went to the house I knew of straight off and knocked on the door. Two white poodles came running to the gate and a little girl followed. When we asked if they happened to have any puppies at the moment she surprisingly responded that they had a little black one left and that she would call her mom. When her mom came to the door she told us that she had sadly just given the last "beautiful little one" away. We said thank you and were about to go when she called us back "wait, there is this tiny black one, if you want, you can have it." It turns out it was the runt and the mother didn't want to feed it anymore. I asked how old it was and she said it was only three weeks old. I said if we could find some formula for it we would come back and get it (I knew it would die without having it's mom's milk and I didn't want Hizee to go through another dog death). So we went to the vet and got some calf formula.
Hizee was esctatic about the idea of bottle feeding her little pup but I was still worried that it would die and I warned her that this might happen. And then I remembered Orange Cat. Much to our disappointment she had had another litter of kittens (there is no place to have her spayed here and we were going to get her this special birth control injection that is available but we were too late) and I thought she might take this little pup in as her own (as she is quite motherly). On the first attempt she rejected him. But then we moved her kittens to another location and stuck the pup in with the kittens while she was out for a break. When she came back she began cleaning the puppy and he began feeding...and this has been the arrangment ever since!
Hizee is over the moon about her puppy whom she calls "my Little Man." At first she said that this was just a nick-name but two days ago she announced that it would be his "real name" We are so thankful for Little Man who is now running around and thriving! (In the picture with the cat Little Man blends right in, he is the one nursing on the far right)

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Just One of the Gang




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Christmas in Manitoba!

Christmas was extra special this year as we were able to travel to Manitoba and spend Christmas with our families (a first for Ziko)! We spent nine days with each of our families and had a fantastic time just being together! Below are some photos of our time with Grandma Pat and Grandpa John (who isn't actually in any of the photos because he is always the one busy taking the photos)...
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...and getting spoiled by aunties and uncles...

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...and hanging out and playing with cousins Lindsay and Megan...
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...and Andie...
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...and Zam's great buddy (and cousin), Luke!
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Shawn and Candace and...PARKER!!!

And what would a trip to Manitoba be without some quality time with Shawn and Candace and...PARKER!!! When we left for Mexico, Parker, (son of our very good friends Shawn and Candace from Winnipeg) was just a bitty newborn and now he is a little man!!! We had kind of forgotten that Shawn and Candace were now parents and it was great to see them in action with their sweet, curious, huggable, little guy Parker! We were all smitten, of course,...we couldn't get enough of the little guy (I suppose a pay back of sorts for all the attention that Shawn and Candace lavished on our three when they were babies).
We had an AMAZING time together (as usual) and had a New Year's Eve sleepover. Shawn and Candace outdid themselves, presenting each of us with a coupon book as we walked in the door. Coupons for: a movie, supper, popcorn, SLURPEES, and a gourmet breakfast! Most of the activities on New Year's Eve night consisted of some sort of wrestling event (as you can see from the pics) and Parker was a hardcore little man, staying up past midnight and deciding not to sleep for most of the rest of the night.
Another highlight of our time at S & C's house was getting to see our friend Ginger and her little beauty, Lily, whom we had yet to meet (if you click to enlarge the collage you can see them in the third pic from the left in the bottom row). What a treat!
Thanks for such an awesome time you guys!
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And we even had the chance to see friends from Yellowknife while in Winnipeg! Our friend Elvis made a special trip out to see us (what a guy!) and we were more than lucky to catch the Daily's who were in Winnipeg to celebrate Christmas with their family for the first time in eleven years! Zam was completely pumped to see his buddy Seamus whom we barely recognized after a year and a half ( Mr. Tall Teenager now!)!
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Friday, January 15, 2010

We celebrated Christmas in Manitoba this year (the first time in four years) and it was a super exciting, action-packed, love-filled time for us! We spent the first 9 days with the Friesen side of the family and went to Winnipeg for our Pankratz side for the second 9 day chunk (pics to come). We surprised Mackenzie and Cole with our arrival (super fun) and the kids spent nine elated days together (24 hours a day -- sleep over every night). Together we laughed and had tonnes of fun...


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...eating, making chocolate houses, eating, making cookies, eating, and eating some more...
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...and rediscovering snow and winter in all it's splendor through eating snow, sliding, skating, and being pulled behind the snowmobile...
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...and just being together!!!
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La Virgen of Gaudalupe

The Virgen of Gaudalupe is the most important saint in Mexico and Dec. 12 is her day (google her to learn about her fascinating story). Her day is celebrated throughout Mexico. However, she is also the matron saint of a community called Las Juntas (a sister community of Zacango where many Zacangoins have relatives). This year (as last year, you may recall the posts) we joined Zacango in Las Juntas to celebrate the Virgen of Guadalupe.
Happy times during the procession... Selene and Blanca
Hizee and Anaisa
Rufino and Cirilo
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