Meeting Tjasa and Family

We've been in email and phone contact with Tjasa - a mom from San Francisco who is interested in doing the San Miguel de Allende experience with her kids. We have several mutual friends in common, and today we finally got to meet her and her family. It was one of those days that seemed rich for everyone involved.

Unlike us, Tjasa has some history with San Miguel. Her dad owns a house in town, and has been coming here for at least fourteen years. Tjasa and Scott - her husband - were married here. And she had visited a few times and already knows some people in town. But there's still a difference between vacationing, and actually living in a town - especially with her two kids Finn (7) and Remy (4). I was more than happy to show her our family's perspective.

I met Tjasa at her house, as well as Scott and Christopher, her dad, who is an architect. It seems like a lot of architects wind up buying homes here and doing some fun things with them, and Christopher's house was really cool. I especially liked how he used outdoor mirrors, which I had never seen before. Our landlord is also an architect, and we got to see his other house here in San Miguel, which was fun for different reasons. But I digress.

Anyway, after the house tour, I walked with Tjasa to the bus stop to pick up the kids. The from-Baltimore crew (Sam and Anne) called me while I was waiting, and were at a nearby yummy restaurant I like called Ten Ten Pie al Carbon, so I offered to grab their kids and take everyone over there. Sue called from her Spanish class, and arranged to meet us there as well. So once the kids got off the bus, Tjasa, myself and five kids walked over to Ten Ten Pie and met up with Sam and Anne. Sue arrived, we had some snacks and beer, and then we all headed over to Parque Juarez. At the time, I felt like Tjasa might have been overwhelmed, but we were only getting started.


Sam, Anne, Sue, Tjasa and me at Ten Ten Pie. Bryce took the photo.

As we arrived at Parque Juarez, 9 year old Griffin appeared on his bike, and told us he met this cool new kid Finn (Tasha's son). Once we got to the play area, the rest of Tjasa's family was there, as well as the from-Texas crew of Anne, Christopher, Griffin, William and Gavin. And then a couple of other families showed up, as well as a friend of Tjasa's we had met before. Sam and Anne brought margaritas and tequila, and we had an awesome family-fest in the park. Finn and Bryce made friends instantly.

As it got dark, we headed towards the Jardin and had dinner with Tjasa's entire family at Pueblo Viejo - one of our favorite and always reliable restaurants. Then, we took in the Jardin scene as the kids all played while we enjoyed the vendors, music and people milling about.

The whole afternoon was a perfect example of the warm and fuzzy feeling of living here, and it was great to share it with a really cool family considering moving here.