When I woke up yesterday and went to turn on my laptop I got the dreaded blue screen.
:(
I'm not sure if it's completely gone, or just sleeping. My brother-in-law, the computer genius my family lovingly refers to as "Wonder Boy" will be here next week and hopefully he can bring it back to life.
Other than that we're having a fabulous summer.
Guapo gets here in the morning! Yeah!
We are picking him up at the airport and are heading directly for Water World, a huge water park in Denver. I have always wanted to take the kids, but have never been able too because we have always had one too small to handle the long day in the sun. But now that Vanessa's here, we can do it. Vanessa, Pedro, and my mom will spend the day shopping for bargains (Vanessa's husband is sending her a little more money as she now has NO money left! My mom deserves a medal for all the shopping she's done with Vanessa.).
Poor Guapo will probably be shot after traveling for 18 hours, but he's willing, so we're going for it!
It has been a great few days watching my kids make friends with the neighborhood kids and play outside until I absolutely insist that they come in. They just don't get that in our nomadic-city-living lifestyle. To watch them doing the same things I did when I was their age in the same cul-de-sac has brought tears to my eyes more than once. I am so thankful that my parents have kept their house even though they could have downsized long ago-it has been a stable point in the lives of my kids the last 7 years-really, the only household that hasn't changed since we left the States. :)
...and I am exhausted!!!
One of the benefits of Guapo's having an overseas position is that he gets 30 days of vacation. When we were deciding if this was the course we wanted to take, 30 days sounded like a loooong time. We pictured 30 days on some Caribbean beach, relaxing under a palm tree, drinking a limonada, while the kids splashed in the waves and made sand castles.
Not quite.
Most of the years we have come home to the States for the entire 30 days, because we want to but also because we feel guilty for living so far from our families.
Ok, so that's ok, 30 relaxing days in the States, right?
Welllll, not really, because Guapo and I both have families that we want to spend time with and they don't live on the same street. Or town, or state, or even same country at times. There were those 3 years Guapo's parents were living in Gautemala, so throw in a couple of side-trips to Gaut. We have tried hard to divide the 30 days as fairly as possible between the two families. This could mean visiting anywhere from 2 to 4 states and 1 to 2 countries during any one trip. As we have added kids along the way, the trips within the 30 day relaxing vacation have become harder and harder.
Then there's the shopping.
It is my job to buy for our family all the things that we will need throughout the next year. Don't get me wrong, I love shopping as much as the next guy, but day in and day out it gets to be a little bit much. It's a frantic kind of shopping, not the fun, relaxed shopping you may be imagining. Picture running through Target clearing the shelves into your cart, then taking all of the crap home, removing any and all packaging so as to take up less room in your suitcase, then packing and re-packing 12 large suitcases or duffle bags in just the right configuration so as not to go over the 70 pound allotment.
Several days into the shopping frenzy, I start to forget what I have bought and what I still need. Near the end of the trip, I'll wake up nightly in a sweat, suddenly remembering I have somehow forgotten to buy something that I simply cannot live without, thus necessitating yet another trip to Target. I have, on several occasions, gotten a rash that was due to spending so much money in so little time. By the end, I halfway expect my credit card to burst in to flames as I swipe it through the little machine.
I know, there are much worse problems in life to have, but it does cut into the tranquility said "vacation".
Then there's taking care of our house in the mountains that we foolishly rented to college boys last year. I cringe when I think about what poor Moses the Moose witnessed over the last 9 months. Or maybe he was the instigator, I'm not sure. When we found him he was wearing mardi gras beads and a pair of tightie whitites (ewwwww.)
It started with 3 guys and were pretty sure there were a lot more than that living there.
It appears that someone was even living in the garage. As you can see from the photo above, they had moved out a bed, bedding, a sofa, and several lamps to the garage. It was 39 degrees two nights ago when I was up there, I don't know how anyone slept out there, but apparently they did.
They left us with what Betsy, the nice professional cleaning lady who charged us almost $700.00 (out of their security deposit, of course), called "quite possibly the filthiest house I have ever stepped foot into". In addition to the filth and muck of who knows how many people living there for 9 months, they also left us some lovely reading material and some really choice posters.
*sigh*
I digress.
Next there are the appointments.
Even though we have found good doctors in most of the places we have lived, I like to maintain a relationship with a doctor and dentist in the States.
6 people X ~2 appointments = 12 visits
Again, eroding the serenity of the trip.
And to make a short story long, that was how I spent my day today, the kids and I all had appointments with the doctor. Poor Juan Carlos (5 yrs) had to get 4 shots, Pedro (15 months) had to get 3, and Julio (7 yrs) had to get one. It used to not bother me so much, I knew it was for their own good. I was a lot tougher as a younger mom. Today I cried. :(
And on top of all the shots, I had to get the dreaded woman check-up. You'd think after 4 kids I wouldn't loathe it so, but I do.
The very good news is that no one needs another vaccination until Pedro goes to kindergarten!!! And since he's still nursing (sorry if that grosses you out, but wouldn't you want to be able to nurse on a 12 hour flight???), that doesn't seem even in the realm of possibility.
Well, I better get to bed. I've got to hit the stores first thing in the morning to buy some new furniture for our house. :)
(Sorry to vent. We are having a blast, and I know what a blessed life I lead, I just sometimes long for the serenity of that Caribbean beach!)
Well, we are a week and a half into our summer vacation. I have tons to blog about but not a lot of free time- we are busy all day long having fun and eating all the foods we have missed the last year.
So, here's a little recap.
Ode to Colorado
Every time I step foot in Colorado I wonder why we live anywhere else. I love everything about the state of my youth: the seasons, the mountains, the sunsets, how it smells, the parks, our house, everything. I'm glad we get an entire month here this summer.
And of course, it's always wonderful to go home to my parents and feel like a kid again. Here's my dad with Juan Carlos at the park:
My parents borrowed a trampoline from their neighbors and the kids have been jumping hours each day which has made bedtime a lot easier.
Why my mom is a bad woman
She made me do this (don't worry Guapo, they were really, really cheap. I promise):
and I think she may be expecting (or she was going to play basketball with Julio):
Vanessa
She is thoroughly enjoying the States. Especially the shopping. Of the $1,200 we are paying her for the 4 weeks she's here, she only has $50.00 left (she did leave half of it at home with her family before we even left, but still). It could be a long 2 1/2 weeks for her!
My parents have lots of squirrels around their house-every time she sees one she screams so loud that it freaks me out and jumps up to find her camera she must have 300 pictures of squirrels doing various squirrel activities.
The squirrels are only trumped by the raccoons-they come up on my parents deck every night to steal the squirrel's peanuts. A few nights ago she stayed up until 2:00 am waiting for the masked beasts.
I guess the excitement over the wildlife shouldn't surprise me, I go crazy over the monkeys in Brazil and the Brazilians don't seem all that impressed by them. But squirrels?
Sunday she went to a Rockies game with my dad; they sat 5 rows behind home plate. She forgot her camera. 300 pictures of squirrels and none of America's Favorite Pastime. My dad was buying people drinks to take pictures of her and then email them. As far as I know, no pictures have been received yet.
Oh, I almost forgot the funniest thing. H1gh School Musical 2. Everyday. Sometimes twice a day. She has got a serious crush on Troy. I bought her this Troy jewelry set as a joke and she's been wearing it ever since. I have to admit, it is helping her English a lot-she is doing great communicating. I kind of feel bad for her husband though...
Pedro
I have been so excited to bring Pedro to the States so he could try all of the cool new baby/toddler foods available.
The kid won't eat anything that he didn't eat in Brazil. He refuses. Shakes his little head and purses his lips together. I am so disappointed.
Same goes for people. He hasn't warmed up to anyone and wants me to hold him all.day.long.
Here he is earning his keep:
Luxury Vacation
I was so worried about not enjoying the trip having an extra person always around, and now I am worried I have ruined all future vacations. I kind of feel like a movie star with my entourage-if I am carrying Pedro, Vanessa takes my bag or vice versa. I can take time with each kid and when Pedro is sleeping, I can leave and do something fun with the big kids. She helps pick up after everyone which is so helpful. I can go out for a run and not feel like I am impositioning anyone.
This is the way to travel!!!
I love coming back to the States. It's always SO nice here. Clean, cheap, fun.
We've covered a lot of ground in three days in Houston. Highlights include:
First off, let me apologize for being a bad blog friend. Something is wacky with Bloglines, it has stopped tracking several of my favorite blogs. If you haven't seen me around your blog for a while, that's why.
Ok. On to "The List". Julio (7 years old) has been making very long, very detailed lists that include super cute drawings, about what he wants to do during our trip the States. Unfortunately, his medium of choice always seems to be pencil, so I'm not going scan it, but I am going to type the list out, just as he has it (read: I don't have to spell check because you'll never know if it was a typo, or that's how he spelled it).
We will be making three stops on our trip: Texas, Colorado, and Utah. His list is therefore divided into three parts:
Texas
Coloradow (not a typo folks)
Utah
So, there's our list for the summer! I would make a few additions, like eating some decent ice cream, drinking LOTS of milk, and drinking directly from the faucet after I brush my teeth.
T minus 26 hours and I'm not all the way packed. Agggggggh!!!
Maid update: Vanessa is seriously scared to get on the plane. It didn't help her last week to watch the news coverage about that plane in Sudan that caught on fire after it had crash landed.
She called today to ask me if the seats on a plane are very close together, because she doesn't want to be alone. She'll soon see how annoyingly close they are!
I am feeling relieved that she will be there to help me on the flight, but also like I will be traveling with 5 kids instead of 4!
Signing out until Houston.
Just a quick post to remember these last few moments of peace. The kids are at school (their last day), Pedro is asleep, Vanessa our maid is not here (she's spending the next few days with her kids before the big trip on Sunday). This is quite possibly the last time I will be alone for the next 7 1/2 weeks.
Don't get me wrong. I love summer and having fun with my kids, but, if I am perfectly honest, it scares me just a little bit.
The nonstopness of trying to keep 4 kids happy and somewhat entertained.
Oh if only Pedro would realize how wonderful it feels to sleep in during the summer.
Oh well, a mom can dream, right?
Our morning was not quite as I would have liked. I imagined peacefully waking my kids up, having them be all excited that it was their LAST DAY OF SCHOOL, us sharing a leisurely breakfast. Instead, I had put off putting all the cookies on trays for class parties and wrapping teacher presents so it was more like, "Get yourself breakfast I'm busy!!!". :( Luckily, they were so excited they didn't seem to mind making their own toast.
The morning improved drastically because Ballerina girl invited me over for breakfast at her house (yummy waffles- I am totally impressed that she had her act together enough on the last day of school to make homemade waffles!) and a pre-trip manicure and pedicure. (Another benefit of living in Latin countries-you can always find someone that will come to your house to do your nails).
T minus 2 hours. I've got to catch a little catnap before summer begins!
