Category Archives: Field Trips & Parks & Travels

Taxco Mexican Grill

On one of our recent trips we stopped and ate at a wonderful restaurant that serves Mexican food, Taxco Mexican Grill. We found the experience to be pleasant, delicious and well worth it. It is definitely a place we would recommend to other families.

The Taxco Mexican Grill is owned by a family who immigrated to the United States of America from Mexico. They opened their first restaurants in Atlanta Georgia in 1983. They have been very successful and now own a chain of restaurants in several states. The staff was friendly and helpful. Our waiter’s name was Zachariah and is pictured below on the left. He is the nephew of the owner. He did a good job taking care of our table.

We did a little research and found the word Taxco comes from the name of a silver mining and tourist town in Mexico. Taxco sits on the side of the Atatzin Mountain in the state of Guerrero Mexico. The word Taxco has two meanings. Taxco means “place of the ballgame” and the city hosts several sports such as basketball, volleyball, and tennis. Taxco also means “where the Father of the water is” because of the waterfall near the center of the mountain town.

Food:

The food was delicious. Since this was our first time here, and not sure if we would like it, we played it safe and ordered familiar dishes. However, we loved the flavors so much that I am sure the next time we go, we will branch out and try more things we are not as familiar with. Some of the delicious foods we ordered included:

Cheese enchilada with Spanish rice and beans:

Tostada with beens, lettuce, tomato, and guacomole:

Beef burritos with Spanish rice and beans:

Our six year old son ordered beef burritos. These came in pairs of two and without rice or beans. He loved every bite!

From the kids menu, our nine year old boy ordered chicken and fries. He is a picky eater, and most of the time will order something (not spicy, not covered in sauce, not touching other foods, etc) he is familiar with.

However, once he saw his brother’s burritos and asked for a bite, he quickly changed his mind.

He asked us to order him the same burritos too. So we placed another order for two beef burritos and the staff brought it out to us quickly. He loved the burritos and asked for seconds! We could not believe it! This goes to tell you just how good they are, because he has never asked for burritos before.

Steak fajita burrito topped with nacho cheese and served with Spanish rice and beans.

Pico de Gallo and sour cream:

The fresh made salsa is served in large bottles with a basket of crunchy warm tortilia chips. Each person can choose from hot spicy salsa or mild salsa and pour the amount desired into small empty salsa dishes and refill them as needed. We also ordered bowls of cheese dip too.

Some of our kids also enjoy mixing cheese dip and salsa together.

Everyone enjoyed the food. We had nothing left over when they were through.

Costs:

The costs were very affordable and likely one of the cheapest places you might eat out and still enjoy fresh cooked food. Burritos with rice and beans was $6.75 and 2 Beef burritos (no rice or beans) was $5.95. Steak burrito with rice and beans was $12.25 A combo of beef burritos and tostada with rice and beans was $8.75 Kids cheese enchilada with rice and beans was $4.75 Kids chicken and fries was $5.25 I would say out of all the Mexican restraunts we have visited, this one was the best combination of costs, experience, and quality flavors.

Another way we keep costs down is drinking water when we go out. We asked for glasses of ice water with slices of fresh lemon to drink. Water is free, is more healthy compared to sodas, and it helps keep our costs down with our large family. Having a slice of lemon in the water helps kids and adults enjoy the flavor and hides the taste of city tap water that public places serve. Our family much prefers spring water or well water, but that is not usually an option at restaurants so we just order waters with fresh lemon slices. With 8 people in the family, ordering lemon water when dining out is a huge savings on our budget.

Experience:

The restaurant was clean and the atmosphere was comfortable. The room was not crowded as many restaurants are, and there was plenty of space for our large family. Our waiter, Zachariah, was prompt and courteous. I asked his permission for a photo of himself to include in this story and he was happy to let me take it. We enjoyed this experience and his outgoing personality helped make it enjoyable.

After dinner, we took a walk outside to enjoy the scenery. There was a lovely pond with a deck, walking paths, fountains, and geese.

The restaurant actually has outdoor seating if you want to eat outside and enjoy the fountain while you eat. We will have to try doing that next time.

After leaving the restaurant, we enjoyed watching the sunset and scenery at a nearby lake.

We enjoyed this outing. It was a relaxing experience eating some of the flavors of Mexico and visiting the fountains and nearby lake.

I would encourage other families to find ways they can spend quality time together and enjoy life. Spending time together builds relationships and taking time to enjoy nature, mountains, forests, parks, lakes, rivers, oceans, fields, and looking at the sky too, is refreshing to the body. It sort of recharges your batteries so to speak. It improves the quality of one’s life. There is so much beauty to enjoy.

Ecclesiates 5:18

“Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.”

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Learning To Draw By The Sea

Learning To Draw By The Sea.

We recently had the opportunity to stay overnight on a visit to the ocean. We spent the morning and evening playing on the beach, but in the heat of the day, we needed something else to do to avoid getting a serious sunburn. We did not bring electronic games or computers that are part of our normal homeschooling day. Instead, we played board games like chess, put together fun puzzles, and spent part of our time learning to draw with the art kits we recently made.

It was so nice to have our portable DIY Art Kits. Be sure to check the story with information on how to make one for your family.

The kits were small enough to go just about anywhere with us, yet they were big enough to hold just about everything we needed.

For some reason that I can’t remember, I didn’t get pictures of the kids drawing. I guess I must have been so excited about the view, and the opportunity to sit there and draw, that I failed to get up and take pictures of what the others were making too.

For this project, I used the watercolor pencils. I had hoped to make a project with paints too, but I didn’t have time to accomplish both on this trip. My older son chose to use charcoal pencils from his kit, and the younger kids used crayons. I pulled out a small table onto the porch to hold my drawing pad and pencils.

It was a bit windy on this day. I separated the pencils colors that I wanted to use from the case holding the pencils. I set them beside my drawing pad, however the wind kept blowing them off and I was constantly having to get up and down to catch a pencil before it rolled off the porch. I realized the next time I take this art kit on a trip, I will need to bring something better to hold the colors I am using. Perhaps something as simple as a rubber band or a small tray with sides would have solved my problem.

From the porch where I sat, I could see a long ways in the distance across the ocean and the beach up and down the coast. To the front of me was ocean as far as I could see, and to the left was a small fishing vessel that soon disappeared while I was drawing. I tried to capture both in my drawing. The waves were the most difficult part to draw because they kept moving. Drawing the ocean wasn’t easy because even though it appears the same, in reality each and every moment it keeps changing.

Learning to draw by the sea was fun and it is an experience our family will never forget.

“And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:10

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Boats, Birds, and Clams, OH MY!

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This week we did a family fitness activity at a local park called Lake Julian.   In addition to a lake, it has a boat marina, a sail boat club, a rowing club, a playground, picnic shelters, and lots of wooded and natural areas to explore. We visit this park several times through out the year because there is so much to see and do here. It is a great place to observe the seasonal changes too. Besides family time together, it is a fun place to explore natural science.

It was a beautiful day with bright sunshine and with a slight chill in the air. There were a dozen or more fishing boats on the water.

The kids and I spoke with one of the fishermen as he slowed his boat down not far off shore. He was using a paddle to check the depth of the water in the shallow areas and checking out his trolling motor and gear. We inquired about how the fishing was going. He said he had not caught anything yet.

There were lots of sail boats on the water too. The other side of the lake had more sail boats than I could count. They looked so beautiful. Their large white sails were such a contrast against the winter backdrop of “hibernating” trees and the blue water of the lake. It was amazing to watch the sails catch the wind and push the boats along in the water.

We spent some time feeding and observing the birds on the water. There were several varieties of ducks, geese, and sea gulls. The kids noticed that like the fishing boats and sail boats, ducks and geese can float on the water. They use their feet like the boat propeller to push themselves along in the water. Birds can take flight and sailboats do not fly, but there are similarities in both the sails and wings. The wings are similar to the sails on a sailboat because they can open and close and catch the wind to glide along.

The sea gulls were very competitive with the ducks and geese. They had a distinct advantage of speed and craftiness. They would fly high in the air, swoop down fast to the water and steel the food away from the ducks and geese. The kids remarked how the sea gulls could fly both quickly and slowly depending on how they held out their wings and the placement of their feet. They are true pirates of the air and water.

We had so much fun feeding and watching the birds on the lake.

Then being the hands on young scientists we are, we had a great time exploring near the shore. We walked quite a distance of shore line, noticing small changes, observing the water, rocks, waves, plants, wind, and various birds.

The kids hoped to find small fish and crayfish. They used a small stick to poke around small pools near rocks. They lifted a few rocks to see if they could entice a crayfish out of hiding.

We did not find crayfish today, and we only saw one small fish.  We hypothesized (guessed) that we did not see lots of small fish, because it is not yet spawning season. The fish count in the lake may be low this time of year, and most of the small fish may have been eaten through the winter months by the bigger fish and birds.

We did however find lots of other treasures.   We found moss growing on rocks. And feathers left by the birds. We found some goose poop too (no picture). The kids were fascinated with different rocks and the contrasting soft texture of the feathers.

Check out these fresh water clam shells.  Some of the shells were separated from each other and laying side by side in the water, and some others we found in the water were still attached to each other.

The kids wanted to know what the animal that lives inside of the shell looks like. They also wanted to know where the clams went and why these shells were left behind? So we decided we would investigate more about fresh water clams when we returned home.

We observed the ducks feeding on fish and plants. They bent forward and dipped their heads and upper bodies under water to reach for food. This also gave the children a closer view of the ducks webbed feet they use for swimming.

The mallard ducks were a little pre-occupied with competing for a mate to care about the children throwing out bread to them, or the sea gulls stealing the bread.  The geese and the wood
ducks were obviously offended by the sea gulls and squawked at them when they swooped in. There were hundreds of birds on the lake today. Aren’t these ducks gorgeous?

For More Information About Fresh Water Clams:
                Definitions, classifications, and pictures
                Images
                Fact Sheet
                Coloring Pages

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