Charlie's Food Truck

Charlie turned 3 last week. It's crazy how time is flying by. For his actual birthday we started the day singing happy birthday with a candle in a pancake and ended with a pinata and a bike from Monika and Duane.

On Saturday my mom, aunt Mary and Nathan's family came down to join a little birthday party from Charlie and Diego and to celebrate my birthday too. It's so fun to have everyone here and always makes me want to get everyone to live closer together. My mom cooked up a storm and made delcious food for 50 even though we only had a little gathering at a newly opened Playseum nearby. Charlie got to decorate a cupcake and decorate his legs with 'face paint.'

This was his first ever cupcake. If that isn't deprivation I don't know what is.... He had fun but the place is clearly working through some kinks.

My favorite was the rock band - I really want to build a stage in the kids room! I remember how I loved putting on plays for my parents and whoever else fell victim. There is something about even a foot of height that makes a magical difference.

My mom made Charlie his own food truck outfitted with hand-sewn food. It's amazing how it has captured his imagination. He serves fish tacos topped with blueberry pancakes or "all beef hot dogs" topped with bacon - now that's fusion food! His aunt Veronika got him play money and the two together are a great combination. In case you are wondering everything on the menu is $20. Here he is setting up shop out front.

Next week Diego turns 1! Unfortunately he gets to celebrate with a MRI and his 1st year doctor's appt.

DC Gems

Charlie on his new Charango. And yes - he picked out the outfit. The song is a new genre of music - made up words!

Diego took a few steps this week, but it seemed more like he momentarily forgot that he couldn't walk. No repeat performances so I'm not counting them as official first steps. However he does have an official first word: Hola! He LOVES to wave to people and say hola. He says hola for hello and goodbye. And he finally got teeth!! He has 2 teeth - one up top and one on the bottom.

Friday nights at the Yards park is my new favorite DC activity. We set up a picnic, play in the fountain, listen to music and DANCE! Here is a picture of what our cooler usually looks like: beer, breastmilk, apple juice and water....something for everyone! Here is also a video of Charlie dancing to the music with Aidan. I guess it isn't well known yet because it seems to be the only summer concert series where you can actually fit your entire butt on the ground.

Another gem is the aquatic garden lotus festival. I wasn't amazed by the empty ponds the first time I went, but when the flowers bloom it is beyond amazing. Huge lotus flowers - taller than me and with blooms bigger than my head - loom over as you walk along the paths. Charlie was more into the face painting and the lotus hat he made. Check it out - pretty cool!

I used to also like the Eden Center - little Vietnam - until this weekend. We returned to get Charlie's haircut and he cooperated so well knowing that a treat was on the other end of a haircut. Unfortunately the stylist didn't cooperate - or didn't understand me. I told him to just cut a little bit and before I knew it he cut off most of Charlie's hair. Carlos says you never let a male cut another male's hair. I didn't know the rule. Despite the terrible haircut we had a fun time picking out a treat for Charlie afterwards. We got him another microphone.

Sunday we attended a friend's Bolivian ceremony called Ch'alla. Oddly we went all the way to Bolivia but it was in NorthEast DC that we attended a typical Bolivian ritual! Our friends had their Quechua teacher come conduct the ceremony. It is a really nice ceremony that happens on the first friday of every month - people get together around a fire, give thanks and put different meaningful things into the fire. And of course it wouldn't a Bolivian ceremony without coca leaves and lots of food. I was less excited about sticking a coca leaf in my mouth but the quinoa that she made was excellent. I'm hoping to get her over here to teach us some more bolivian recipes.

Part II - Panama

After the family reunion we headed to Panama. I think I had low expectations but I loved it! I also wished that we has visited the country 10 years ago so that we could have invested! Panama City looks more modern than most American cities and the coast line near the capital is now riddled with fancy homes and increasingly nice hotels. We were too chicken to explore the depths of the country with the kids so we stayed at a resort like place 1.5 hours west of Panama City. We did get a quick tour of the city, the old town and the Panama Canal - which is way awesome. Here is the skyline of the city from the old town:

I was skeptical about our choice as we left Panama City and drove in the dark through increasingly dark, back, windy roads and there were no signs to be found. But upon arrival we were met with cool, scented towels to refresh ourselves from the ardous journey, a personal 'butler' and basically a beautiful empty resort. Although it was on the coast Charlie had no interest in the beach and we spent most of our time in the pool. Given that we were almost the only ones there the staff got to know us and fought over Diego's attention and even got Charlie to get over his shyness long enough to order drinks at the bar (jugo de pina was his favorite).

In addition to pool time Charlie got to ride a pony. It was so funny. He sat as stiff and serious as could be as they walked around the stables. It didn't seem to enjoy it much but I enjoyed watching it!

We did take a day trip to El Valle de Anton which is a town in a major crater. It is the most lush place I've ever been. We visited a zoo which had animals I've only read about like Tapirs, Agoutis and Poison Dart Frogs. The cutest were the monkeys which jumped on the staff's back and below is a picture of Charlie communicating with something like an ostrich.

This is my all time favorite picture - not because we look good (in fact we look terrible) - but because Charlie took it. I realized that we didn't have any pictures of Carlos and me so I asked Charlie if he could take a picture of us. He took his task seriously and I think he did a pretty good job!

Part I - Bolivia

We have logged a lot of miles in the last few weeks. Carlos joined me on a work trip to Chicago and then we left for the Vazquez family reunion in Bolivia and then a vacation in Panama. I was really worried about the travel to Bolivia - 5 hours to Panama, 5 hours lay-over in Panama and then a 5 hour plane ride to Bolivia, late night arrival in Santa Cruz and then another flight to get to Cochabamba. The bad news is that it ended up taking 2 days to get to Cochabamba! The good news is that the plane rides and layover weren't that bad. Based on the good advice from our yoga mom friends we put Diego in a car seat and let Charlie sit on our laps. Diego on the loose is hard to manage at this age - he wants to eat and touch everything and constantly move so the car seat was great. We snuck into a business class lounge in Panama which made the layover enjoyable. We enjoyed the free drinks, Charlie enjoyed the free snacks and Diego enjoyed watching the airplanes:

The day we got there was rainy and cold so I dressed the boys in adorable matching Adidas sweatsuits that our friend sent. The only problem was that Bolivia was playing Argentina in the Americas cup and my little boys in baby blue Argentina colors didn't go over well. Here is Diego in his suit:

Once we finally made it to Cochabamba we participated in the first-ever Vazquez family reunion. The evening started with a happy hour and films and pictures of the Vazquez family. Saturday included an outing to a nearby lake and then a dinner and music. In addition to us, family members came from all over Bolivia, Texas, Florida and Brazil. I don't have the official shots, but here we are on a bus heading to the lake:

In between family events we got to see friends from our past life in Cochabamba and visit favorite restaurants and shops. Well actually the 'shops' are more like stalls in the vast informal market called "La Cancha." The Cancha must take up 10 square blocks. It's massive and you can easily get lost inside. One block has shoes, another block has meat, another block has flowers....

When we went to the Cancha to find Charlie a Charango instrument we ended up in the middle of a wedding party. Here are some shots of the wedding and Charlie picking out his Charango.

The weather and pace of life was just as ideal as I remembered, but what once seemed like a perfect place to live now seemed like it didn't fit our lifestyle. I'm not sure if that is good or bad. With the kids I found myself worried about everything from food and water issues to road safety like crazy chicken buses and "trufis" (group cars that pack people in) and wondering what terrible things the coca issue would bring in another few years. I was the person I never imagined myself - Instead of eating anticucho (bbq'd cow heart) from street vendors I was constantly armed with 5 different types of wipes, hand sanitizers and bottles of water! I used to love the pervasive indigenous culture and customs and some of that did come through but I realized that I've become so ethnocentric that what I was seeing most was the dirt and germs rather than the special culture.

Overall it was really nice to go back and I wonder when we'll get a chance to go again...It's been almost 10 years since our last trip there.

Here is Charlie driving a remote controlled car in the plaza:

Cleveland

Diego, Charlie, big Charlie and I drove to Cleveland for my grandparents' 68th wedding anniversary last weekend. The trip did not start out very smoothly. 30 minutes after packing up the car and the two kids we were back at the house and totally unravelled. We went to pick up uncle Charlie at the train station and then get on the road after stopping to get some food. Well....I was on the edge anyways after not sleeping much all week, I had just come back from spending all afternoon getting shots for our trip, Charlie missed his nap and Diego hates being in the car so he was screaming. As big Charlie went in for pizza a metermaid tried to give me a ticket while I was in the car and that was my limit. I blew up at her and she yelled at me (I'm guessing she probably had a similar crappy day). A nearby cop came over to calm us down...But by then both kids were crying. So 30 minutes and two screaming babies later we went back home to re-group.

Luckily the rest of the trip was not very eventful. We arrived in Cleveland around 2am and Charlie, Diego and I passed out together in one bed. It worked out well except that Diego was up at 6am as always. Charlie on the other hand slept in until 9:30!! That's a first!

The party was wonderful - especially because when we walked in the door Carlos walked towards us! He didn't think he'd be able to make it, but surprised us by showing up in this random suburb of Cleveland. It was a very special event - there were loads of people in a beautiful setting. Diego seemed to bring a lot of joy to people. One woman in particular wouldn't let go of him. It took me a while to realize that she has memory problems which seemed to make her even more pleased with Diego - he was new to her every time she passed by. It was really sweet.

We had fun playing with the cousins and going to the pool before getting back in the car for 7 hours. The pool was great until Charlie slipped off a raft and went under water. It was confusing but I turned around and Charlie was being propped up by Carlos from underwater and the raft was between Carlos and Charlie. Charlie was bobbing up and down so I got scared and jumped in after him too. Charlie was scared but fine and we learned 2 obvious and important lessons: 1) don't swim beyond the shallow end and 2) don't jump in too quickly. I jumped in and sunk so I had to hold Charlie from underwater too. I should have climbed into the water and swam to him.

Passports, Visas and Shots

It's been forever. For posterity sake I think I'll break up the update into different entries so Diego doesn't know how delinquent I am....

Last week we got the kids passports for our upcoming trip to Bolivia/Panama and SHOTS! Diego and Charlie had to sit on boxes on top of stools to get their picture taken at the ghetto photo place next to the passport office. Of course Diego was all smiles and Charlie gave the photographer his special skeptical stink eye. The passports are good for 5 years so I look forward to Diego traveling when he is 5 with his baby photo.

I also spent 3 hours getting shots with the babies. I told Carlos there wasn't anything he could do to make up for how terrible that experience was. I had two pissed off, hungry kids confined in a small room, missing their naps and a nurse who took forever to discuss what shots I should get. When Charlie finally got his shots he went ballistic -he wouldn't stop crying and screaming. Diego got one shot too but seemed less upset about it. By the time I got out of the room I was sweating and the entire office knew who we were. We went to Starbucks to get a treat and Charlie sat and ate and ate and ate - he finished a yogurt with granola and an entire panini sandwich. We also have to deal with visas. Bolivia thought it was a good idea to impose reciprocal visa requirements on Americans so we need to have an invitation letter from a Bolivian, bank statements to demonstrate solvency, shot records, photos and pay $135. Slightly absurd.

Sticky fingers Diego finds little treasures all over the place and puts them in his mouth. I'm in a perpetual state of hypervigilance given that Charlie never did this. The other day I looked away for a second only to hear Diego gagging and then see a WHOLE cherry pop out of his mouth - stem and all! I don't even know how he managed to swipe it from the counter. He has quick hands and he is getting quicker in his crawling. It is still so darn cute to see him scurry along the floor. I tell him to hurry up and he tries his best to shuffle quickly.

I gave up and moved Diego to the guest bedroom. I put Diego to sleep in the pack and play in the guest room and then once Charlie falls asleep I move Diego to his crib. This was after 2 painful weeks of trying to get them to sleep together. The routine had become Diego going to sleep and then Charlie waking him up when he went to bed with screams of wanting to go to the bathroom. He literally goes pee 3 times every night before actually falling asleep. Bedtime routine was turning into 2 hours and Diego is very punctual about getting up at 6am.

This is usually what happens when Diego gets near Charlie's toys....Diego was so cute talking to the train, but then Charlie pushed him out of the way.....

Yet Another Fever

Sadly Diego got sick AGAIN. Poor kid - we drag him all over and he just goes with the flow. We kept him out late to take our Chilean guest to Two Amys pizza. The wait on a Wednesday night was surprising and although Diego enjoyed his first pizza experience he didn't get to bed until 10:30. 10:30! Anytime he goes to bed late he ends up getting a fever. The pizza was good but definitely wasn't worth the 2 sleepless nights that followed.

Despite feeling crappy, Diego was a trooper this past weekend. We went to Dumbarton Oaks for the first time and were amazed by the gardens. Charlie ran around with his Abuela and loved it (She seems to have just as much energy as Charlie does and they leave us in the dust) and even Diego enjoyed crawling around too.

On Sunday we went to Charlie's school for a pig roast. It was a great way to introduce Charlie to his new school and show him that it is a fun place. There was live music, a BBQ, a balloon artist and playing on the playground. I actually don't like the playground much becuase it makes me nervous, but he enjoyed it. Everytime we pass by we try to say something about school. He stopped saying he was going to cry at school and now says "And mommy and daddy are going to go to school with me." I guess it's a step in the right direction and hopefully this helped out too.

Diego is crawling around and it's so cute. Charlie never crawled so I find it adorable to see Diego shuffling across the room. Sandra swears that he says 'agua' and 'mama', but I'm not convinced. He does love agua and anytime I let him loose in our room he crawls to the bathtub, makes grunting noises and tries desparately to turn on the faucet. Charlie continues to have his special sleep habits. I started putting the monitor next to his pillow and told him to talk into it if he needs something (like going pee) instead of screaming and waking up Diego.

Here are some cute pictures that Soogy sent from Uncle Charlie's graduation: