Kids Trip to the South Border

Grandma called to invite the kids to travel with her to visit Big Grandpa & Grandma in Texas. They were thrilled. They returned to lots of work in school so they haven't had a chance to share their visit. 3rd quarter of school is over, ISATs (Illinois Standards Achievement Tests) are over and it is Springr Break so they can finally share their story.

Thank you Big Grandpa, Big Grandma & Grandma!

1,472 miles separate Chicago and Pharr, Texas - approximately 23 hours driving time.

Pharr, Texas is a community with bi-cultural diversity, beauty, and history. Pharr is strategically located in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, only minutes from the Mexico border.

According to the internet, "the City of Pharr is a well known location for all types of tourists. Pharr enjoys receiving people from our own United States (Winter Texans), people from our nation to the South, people from our nation to the North, and even world-wide travelers. " This is where Big Grandpa & Grandma fit in. They have spent the winter months in Texas for the last few years. After visiting, we see that they like it there and why they like it.

Leaving Chicago's cold weather was not difficult, the weather in Texas was warm and sunny. Here we are at O'hare.

Our plane getting loaded up.
We flew from Chicago to Dallas then from Dallas to McAllen, Texas
These cacti are real, not plastic. This is a "garden of cacti" in someone's "yard". This is a tree of Texas lemons. They are as big as a cantalope and make the greatest lemonade!
This is a cemetary, Ashley thought it was a party but soon realized those are tombstones with colorful flowers everywhere.These are pictures of the Los Ebanos Ferry. This is a man pulled ferry "boat" that goes from Texas to Mexico over the Rio Grande River. Alex said it only takes a few minutes to get across. The ferry looks really small and it is kind of scary to believe but three cars and many people are able to cross at one time! Five men pulled ropes that were connected to each side of the riverbank, making the ferry cross. To get the ferry started, the men had to rock the boat then start pulling. It cost 50 cents to go from Texas to Mexico. Fifty five cents to go from Mexico to the US.

The Los Ebanos Ferry is the last remaining hand-drawn ferry in the U.S. that connects the U.S. with Diaz Ordaz, Mexico.

We crossed the river then went right back to Texas for lunch. Here we had a giant cheeseburger with lots of vedgies that after it was cut with a machete, we all split.

After the yummy cheeseburger lunch, we went to the Museum of South Texas History Museum. The museum is all about South Texas history and heritage. We "walked through time,” learned about the history how the area had physically changed, ancient cultures, Spanish exploration, Mexican War, Rio Grande Steamboats, Cattle Kingdom, etc. Alex liked Camp Cookie's story about pioneers and "stuff". We both had awesome smoothies there. Here are some pictures of the sights.

This guy was in dress showing what the Mexican Army looked like. They still dress like this.

This is the day we went on the Dolphin Watch at South Padre Island. We didn't see any dolphins at first but they threw out a net and caught squid and fish. Near the end of the trip, we saw a lot of dolphins. Ashley's camera batteries quit so we are lucky Grandma took pictures too. Thanks Grandma!

This is the bridge we took to get to South Padre Island and to Dirty Al's for lunch. This is where the Rio Grand River meets the Gulf of Mexico. Our trip was on the Gulf of Mexico. We don't have pictures but we also got to swim in the Gulf of Mexico. It was fun, the waves were really big but the salt water was cold.

The guide on the boat showed us the squid and fish that were caught in the nets. All that were in the net were picked up to show the other species in the area then put back into the water after the tour.

Ashley's self portrait in the sun.

Ashley, Alex & Big Grandpa

These are the dolphins that swam along our boat.

We went to Mexico to shop for a little while. It took a long time to get into Mexico because there was a long line to go through customs. We crossed the Rio Grande again on a bridge this time. When we got into Mexico, Mexican Army men were by the gates. There were police officers on the Texas side.

There were poor people everywhere. There were people selling jewelry, purses and other souvineers. When we were walking on the sidewalk, there were people sitting with tin cans trying to collect money. In the street there were two little boys singing and playing the accordian for money as well.

The markets were neat. They were like malls but outside.

I don't know what this was but it was pretty so I took a picture of it.

This is our border picture with Big Grandma on the Mexican side of the border.

These are lemons we picked from a tree in Big Grandma & Grandpa's, neighbor's yard. We made yummy lemonade from them.

This is the pool in Big Grandma & Grandpa's neighborhood that we swam in every day except for the day we left. The water was warm and we got to swim at 9pm, it was awesome!

Thank you, Big Grandpa, Big Grandma & Grandma for inviting us to Texas. It was awesome to see you and to be in warm sunny weather while it was snowy at home. On the trip it was cool to see how close Pharr is to Mexico and the "Border Patrol" that is talked about so much on television. We can see that you like it down there because gas is cheaper and it is so warm and sunny.

We returned to projects being due, tests to take, more tests to take, a band concert, Logan's arrival, a dance recital and more.

We will be glad to see you again when you come back up north so you can see our cute new cousins.