Mexico!

The summer blew by and school is here.  I forgot how fun summer is for kids.  When we got in the car to come home from our last summer adventure Charlie couldn't stop crying and said that he didn't want to go back to school.  In fact he decided to move to Mexico...or Connecticut...or Long Island...basically anywhere but home.

After months of deliberations - okay more like procrastination - we ended up deciding to go to Mexico for our summer trip.  The hope was to expose the boys to more spanish again this summer.  I simply wanted to go back to Antigua, Guatemala but Carlos' stomach won out.  We ended up choosing Cuernavaca because it was somewhat easy to get to and we could find a decent place to rent.  Even though it was "easy" to get to this is what we looked like when we got to Mexico City....

Cuernavaca ended up being great for the kids and good for our stomachs, but not very scenic for me.  We found a nice little school where both of them to go to play with local kids and also a great soccer team for Charlie to practice with.  The whole country seems to be kid-oriented and Cuernavaca had really fun kid activities.  We hired someone to come cook for us and it took me a full two weeks to get sick on Mexican food!

Charlie had many favorites about Cuernavaca including the fact that he had 4 "best friends" in school, rode an indoor zipline, discovered a love of foozball and scrimmaged soccer everyday.  Diego was lukewarm about school - he cried at least 50% of the time when we dropped him off.  He did however love the giant bubbles, the big ball pit and the bungee jumping like thing.  His least favorite were the little dogs at the house where we stayed! Poor Diego was traumatized by these little tiny dogs.

Breakfast looked more or less like this everyday

my uncouth child

soccer practice

the hotel in Mexico City was ready for Charlie and Diego

The town itself was likely once a very quaint colonial town, but the population exploded after the Mexico City earthquake and lost much of its charm.  But it is still where many wealthy Mexicans have second homes and it is apparent with the huge walls armed with broken glass or barbed wires. 

The coolest trees at one of Cortes' old Haciendas!

Town festival with church covered in flowers

Peacocks and Flamingos at Las Mananitas restaurant!

Cortes' dining room...

Borda Gardens

 I really wanted to introduce the kids to the Mayan culture so we took a taxi out of town to see the ruins of Xochicalco.  There were surprisingly excited the ruins - climbing temples to see a cool view is pretty neat.  We got there just as it was closing so Carlos had to sweet talk his way in.  I was sure that meant a bribe, but he assures me it was just smooth talking.

They didn't dig the coconut milk we got on the side of the road

 My favorite part of the trip was waking up on my birthday to find this outside my bedroom:


One of the best birthday presents ever.  And FYI - these are not mariachis.  They are called a "trio" there and yes there are four of them....:)

My least favorite part was the lack of sleep due to worry.  Every night I was worried about the kids safety.  Even if the US media reports and travel advisories didn't keep us away they sure scared us!  I was a kept woman as Carlos didn't like me venturing out alone.  Locals didn't want to talk about the violence much so it felt like the elephant in the room.

My princess Sofia made it through the trip and was a big hit with everyone.  Unfortunately all the travels gave her a cold and cough.

B-Roll

We were in New York last weekend for my brother's surprise birthday.  As a birthday present we made a film for and about him - so I had the kids do some reenactments of our childhood.  I found a rapunzel wig at Target (apparently the only wig sold during non-halloween times) and put it on Diego.  He called it his "wiggle" and a "pony hair thing" and was okay to wear it, but wasn't the best actor.  Here are a few of the B-roll clips.  I was trying to get Diego to refuse to hold Charlie's hand to cross the street.  Also note that Diego is wearing Charlie's shoes so he looks even more comical...

The kids had so much fun playing with the cousins while in New York.  That said the experiment of letting them stay up late and then closing the door to let all four kids sleep on the top bunk was a resounding failure.  Somewhere around 10:30 they all climbed up to the top bunk and were giggling.  We told them to go to sleep and closed the door.  5 minutes later we opened the door and all four were in tears.  Everyone descended and dispersed to various beds.  

We've been enjoying pool time.  Especially with Charlie's friend Cici who has a membership at a fun pool.  It has a slide, a kids pool and diving boards.  This weekend Charlie was adamant that he wanted to go off the high dive!  We were way too scared for him to let him do that...

Sofie is super sweet although she still only cat naps. It's crazy!  I'm hoping that once Charlie and Diego start school we can focus more on her schedule (now she is beholden to everyone else's schedule).  At night she sleeps pretty well but I have to be proactive about getting her to bed by 7pm.  If I even wait until 7:02 she becomes inconsolable and screams like crazy.  She is reaching for things and doing crunches but no rolling over yet thank goodness....

Summer Fun

We've had a fun start to the summer. We've been really enjoying warm summer evenings and hanging out in the neighborhood.  Tia Veronika came for a visit this weekend and the boys were so excited to see her.  For 4th of July we went to the neighborhood parade, then went to the baseball game (and happened upon some amazing seats!), then on to a cookout and fireworks.  The parade lacked a lot in terms of costumes and floats, but they made up with it in candy!  it was like Halloween - crazy.  We tried to convince the kids to exchange their candy for a ticket to the Nationals - it was a tough sell, but definitely worth it because it was a great game.

This year was the first year we all got to see the fireworks and we loved it!  The park near our house has a great view without the crowds.  We ran into a bunch of Brent folks there and the kids all jumped in the fountain together.  It was a very summer sight - kids on a warm evening watching firework and playing in the fountain in their clothes (though I'm pretty sure it is the fountain that the dogs jump in so I was grimacing a bit rather than just enjoying the romanticized image of frolicking youth).

Over the weekend we went to see Lisa and Toby in Chestertown and the kids had SO much fun.  Toby took them out on his boat to check the crab traps and went fishing.  Sofie and I stayed shore-side because she couldn't fit into a life jacket.

 Sofie is still super sweet.  She smiles a lot and almost laughs. She still loves to be held, but tolerates sitting in the middle of the action.  The boys adore her, but Diego in particular worries me with how he fondles her.  Sometimes it almost seems like he is trying to hurt her and other times he doesn't realize what he is doing - like when he tried to lean on her stomach to help himself sit upright.  She is grabbing for things -- though not very precisely...Unlike the boys she can't stand the pacifier and loves to nurse.  I'm very happy about that as I want to keep her my little baby as long as possible.  She sleeps okay during the night, but mainly catnaps during the day.

It has been tough to balance attention for all three kids and I don't know when/if it'll get easier.  The boys fight a lot, but miss each other a lot when apart.  Diego in particular has been having a tough time and I assume it has to do with being almost three and being in the middle.  He has taken to sitting in Sofie's bouncey chair...I'm hoping school will help with this. I don't think any one is getting enough of my time - including me!

Last Day of School/First Mandatory Playdate

Charlie finished pre-k 4 last week!!  Here he is with his little crew on the last day

Diego had a "mandatory playdate" for school during which time the teachers walked around with clipboards taking notes as the kids played. It felt a bit bizarre and extreme given that he is only two years old....Here he is hard at work:



I had to travel for work last week too and it seemed like everything imaginable went wrong. It was a bad sign that by the time my plane was taking off at 6:30am I had already gotten concerning calls from Carlos.  Despite getting up crazy early to nurse her and pump so that Carlos would have a fresh bottle of milk, she was crying uncontrollably by 6am.  At 6pm I got a text from Carlos wondering how long he should wait for the swimming coach....hmmm - technically a really long time given that he doesn't have swimming on Tuesdays!  He has swimming on friday....  That night Sandra spent 1.5 hrs trying to get sofia to sleep; when sofie woke up at night she woke charlie up who couldn't go back to sleep.  In the morning he must have looked so out of it that the nurse sent him home from school.  He ended up staying home with a crazy fever.  good times! Luckily the next night my mom came down for reinforcement.  I tried to tell Carlos that he should appreciate me more, but that didn't go over well :).

Last weekend we enjoyed the DC Truck Touch and two fun picnics - one slightly more well endowed.  The California State picnic had fun food and activities. Charlie and Carlos tried the three legged race -- clearly they need more labor day olympics practice.  The water balloons were more of a success until Carlos convinced Diego to throw a water balloon at my butt while I was wearing white pants! Great, thanks.  On Sunday we had a picnic with the SAISers.  It only took 2 months to plan, but well worth the wait.  Mark made homemade bread and took care of my kids (and all the other kids on the playground)!  what a treat.

Weddings have become mini-vacations for us.  This past weekend we went to a fun (and amazing) wedding on the Eastern Shore. Sofia came with us, but the boys stayed with Sandra.  My mom came too to help out with Sofie during the wedding.  It takes a village!  Ayesha and Premal are a super cute couple and the wedding/weather was beautiful.  A flash mob dance was planned for friday night so Charlie and Diego helped me practice the moves.  Despite their best efforts I still didn't get the dance right!  Check them out practicing:

at a crab shack in oxford

Almost Summer

We've been enjoying the nice weather before the gross, sticky summer weather hits. We are also enjoying life with three kids before it becomes life with three kids running in different directions...Sofie is insanely sweet and isn't mobile which seems to make life manageable right now.  I'm already dreading the day she starts to dislike the bjorn!  She still won't nap very long on her own, but at least she doesn't mind being put down now and rarely cries.  That said, she definitely prefers to be the center of attention.  She can hold her head up pretty well but hasn't started to grab for things yet.

This week I have to go to Cincinnati for work and I'm so worried about how she'll do for two nights.  Carlos thinks I'm worried about him, but I'm really not - I'm pretty sure he can survive 2 nights of no sleep.  I just have no idea what will happen to poor Sofie.  I made all the boys - including Carlos - practice giving her the bottle.  He thought I was joking, but I really wasn't....He has yet to change her diaper let alone feed her!!

This past week we went strawberry picking, had pool time and got to enjoy a fun visit with the Larson family.  The boys loved Alma and looked up to Xandr while Sofie basked in all the attention she got.  Charlie, Xandr and the dads went to an evening baseball game thinking - again incorrectly - that they'd only last a few innings, but they wandered in around 10pm because the boys wanted to stay until the end.  Charlie has entered a new phase of preferring to have playdates than hang out with us.  And Diego is in a new stubborn phase- I can't tell if it has to do with being the middle child or simply the fact that he is 2.  He is super sweet when he is alone with me, but once Charlie is around he digs his heels in about the weirdest things.

alma enjoying the treehouse

Here is Charlie playing piano. I'm very proud of him - not because I think he is great at it - but because of his focus.  He doesn't voluntarily practice, but when I ask him to practice he'll sit down and doesn't like to get back up until he can really play whatever song he is practicing.  Sadly he has already surpassed my music knowledge so I can barely help him....