Beach time with the Cousins!

We went up to Pine Orchard, CT and all the cousins had crazy fun hanging out.  It was super nice to be there because there are so many fun activities.  We spent days clearing the rocky beach (throwing rocks in the water never seems to get boring for them), swimming in the pool, playing tennis, kayaking and taking a hike across the marsh to Stony Creek.  It is so nice to be there and I wish we could spend the whole summer playing around.

We also got to enjoy some beach time in Long Island with Wallis and Eli.  Every morning when charlie would wake up (too early) he would race out to see if Wallis or Eli were up and ready to play.  Sadly he was usually the first one up and had to wait patiently.  When it was finally time to go back to DC Charlie cried so ally.  He was genuinely really sad to go home.

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!