SUMMER!

Well I used to aim to write once a week, but now it looks like I am going for once a season! We had a terrific summer. We spent it in Santa Barbara and up the California coast which was a good way to avoid the 99 degree weather in DC. I was so happy to see how much my kids loved Santa Barbara. I put them in a camp run by my 5th grade teacher at my old elementary school! how cool is that?! Charlie LOVED it. He begged and begged to go a 2nd week which was a logistical challenge for us, but worth it given how much he loved it. I think it helped that he had a crush on one of the counselors in training....Diego liked zoo camp more and then they both loved skateboard camp. What's not to love about that?

After camp we'd head to the beach where they'd play for hours and not get bored. And then seemed to carry the beach home everyday in our car. My poor mom tried to vacuum the mess but it would reappear the next day. Diego especially loved the beach. He never seemed to get bored of digging in the sand or bouncing in the waves. We did have to invest in wetsuits though because we are total water wimps.  I let Diego boogie board even though he isn't a great swimmer and I think he got a little scared from getting tumbled too many times so he just liked to float on the board through the waves.

I loved it because I got to reconnect with old friends and simply enjoy the beautiful view. Spending time with Caroline and her girl Eloise were a highlight for me. I love the idea of our girls being friends.
 
The view from our house was great - Amazing what a view does for my mood. My mom was faced with the challenge of watching Sofia while the kids were in camp so she experience the full Fia Factor. Sofia is a force of nature and not one that I've been able to harness in a positive way (yet). I tried to put Sofia in zoo camp but she refused - all out screaming, flopping on the pavement, etc. Everyone loved Fiesta and we carried back extra eggs to break over people's head at some point this year....


The other fun factor was that Carlos planned a major surprise for my birthday. I had been hoping to see a bunch of people I care about but never get to see sometime during my 40th year of life and he convinced many of them to come for the weekend. He is a terrible planner, but he sure surprised me.

After SB we headed to Yosemite for some hiking and a family camp setting with the Nicolettis and then to SF for Stephanie's amazing wedding. I love weddings and I love hearing people's toasts. Stephanie's mom's toast had me in tears (in a good way!). Now we're facing the start of school and - as usual - are not totally prepared. In fact Sofia is totally refusing to go to school. Anytime I mention the idea she screams her ear-piercing, high-pitched scream and shuts down the topic. I don't know how I'm going to get her out the door and 2 blocks up the road

Soggy Spring

Sofia as a villain...what a surprise!

It's been a really soggy spring in DC. It's rained so much that baseball season has been mostly rained-out.  Given that baseball is meant to take up 3 nights a week and most of the day Saturday I haven't minded a few cancellations...We are also facing threats about an all-consuming soccer season which I've put off as well. What happened to organized community or school sports? Travel soccer starting at age 7 seems like a crazy use of my/our/charlie's time. Baseball fortunately is all on the Hill which I love. Charlie played up to AAA and Diego played up to AA. The jump was much bigger for Charlie as he is the youngest and smallest player on the team and they move to player pitch. Not getting knocked out by an errant pitch seems like the top priority, followed by just getting walked and hitting the ball is the last option. Watching him pitch has been the most fun because I love to see how confident he is on the mound. I, of course, impose my horror at the thought of all eyes on me as I throw a pitch, but Charlie loves it and seems to do pretty well.  I hope that confidence never goes away. Diego is playing well and excels even in AA though he doesn't have Charlie's confidence.

It did stop raining long enough for all of us to do the Capitol Hill Classic. Carlos and I did the 10k (with Sofia), Charlie and Carlos did the 3k and Diego, Charlie and Carlos did the fun run! Here was Sofia it at the start of the race - success!

Luckily she cooperated once I got moving...the iPad helped for the last few miles. Charlie did great in the 3k - ran 9:16 minute/mile which was faster than me:)!

Cici had a birthday/going away party at their house in Virginia and Sofia stayed home with my mom. It was a huge relief to not have to worry about her after the last episode of poisoning their dog Scout. The kids had so much fun and they played so much and so intently in the huge yard. I especially loved to see them gathered under the huge tree - it felt like a happier version of the Giving Tree with the kids making the tree glow. Despite running around for 5 hours they still didn't sleep until after midnight. Something about putting 4 kids in bunk beds guarantees very little sleep.

Carlos has gotten a contract which is great news (happy to be out of the "pre-revenue" phase!) but it means that other things slip through the cracks - like Mothers Day :). oh well - sleeping in is over rated. Unfortunately I've taken up Carlos' habit of not being able to get back to sleep when woken up in the middle of the night. Sofia has been waking up and calling to me in the middle of the night. She refuses to just walk over to my bed and crawl in - she needs me to come to her....and then I spend the next two hours going through all the dark crevices of my mind.

Sofia bandaging her head with a pickle bandaid. I need one too at night these days. 

Fiascoes and Fun

Sofia literally painting her nails

It's been a fun and full few weeks of beautiful weather, visitors coming to town and first communion. The last is something I know very little about which was painfully obvious through the whole process, but it was surprisingly nice. Last Tuesday Carlos pulled a classic Carlos move and told me for a month that he had reserved the apartment for some family friends coming to town. At 6pm while I was at Charlie's baseball game in Anacostia I decided to confirm for the 500th time that he had the cleaner come and put the keys in the mailbox. "Oh, no - I thought that was for tomorrow. The apartment is full tonight. Sorry" "BUT THEY ARE ALREADY PAST BALTIMORE AND I'M IN ANACOSTIA!" "oh yeah, sorry." I called every fellow airbnb person I knew and every hotel in the area only to come up short. Meanwhile Sofia had to go poo with no bathroom in sight. Of course. I rushed home to meet our homeless guest and sent her on a walk around the neighborhood while I picked up the guest room which was littered with kid sleepover mess. It all worked out well and turned out nice that we were able to catch up over a glass of wine.  The next day Mandy and Toby arrived within 1 minutes of when Pam and Kenny left. We switched sheets and they headed out for some adventures. Toby and the boys had a lot of fun playing - especially spying on some not very exciting victims and taking in their first Nats game of the season.

A couple of hours after Mandy left Erica and her family arrived for the weekend. In advance of a big birthday this summer I've been trying to get people into town so I can spend time with old friends and Erica was nice enough to oblige. With one very, very sweet kid (Bodhi) they for sure thought we were crazy. Sofia pulled her usual tricks and wouldn't share even a truck she had never before been interested in. After a rainy start to the weekend we had a beautiful Sunday and took a bike ride down to the Lincoln Memorial and then to Yards Park where we left Erica and Sam to run to First Communion.

Some one from the church came to talk to us the previous weekend in advance of First Communion and was visibly shaken by my very brief response to her question about my relationship with God. I hate to disappoint people, but I also can't possible lie to someone from the church. Without knowing what to expect I really enjoyed the ceremony and Charlie was so proud of himself and of his suit.  It felt like a rite of passage even if not necessarily in the way it was meant. We were taken in by Ian's family afterwards to celebrate and who opened our eyes and tastebuds to a phenomenon of chocolate ravioli. Deliciousness.

Sofia remains a force to be reckoned with but also increasingly pleasant. She still leaves every friend's house in a screaming fit, but in between she is charming and affectionate. She is famous on the Brent playground among the PreK 3 and 4 girls. I can't say that she is widely liked, but she sure is well known for not actually going to school there yet....

Diego is forever my bag of sugar who will still surprise us sometimes with his sweetness. He'll randomly ask us how our day was or thank me profusely and in the most genuine way for a cup of water. He plays the card too because he'll start crying and we automatically get mad at Charlie or Sofia even if Diego instigated the fight. I also love that he loves his pottery class. He complains about going to almost any class, but not pottery.

Catching up

Looks like I've set a new record for length of time between blogs! The longer I go without an entry the more time I think I need to catch up on the past few months and so the less likely I am to actually get to typing. It's a silly barrier because, given how poor my memory is, I can't remember more than a few weeks ago anyway!

I just got back from a work trip to Myanmar which meant Carlos, my mom and Sandra had to contend with Sofia from Sunday-Saturday. The trip was poor timing as I left on Easter, came back on Sofia's birthday AND missed the kids' spring break. For Easter we set them on a clue hunt around the house first and then sent them away while we put eggs out back and on the first floor for an egg hunt. It turns out our kids aren't the only ones excited about the easter egg hunt. In the 30+ minutes between putting the eggs out and letting the kids hunt around the squirrels came out and gnawed through half dozen eggs in search of chocolate! I hope they aren't as sensitive as dogs are to chocolate.

While I was away the kids did a mini-soccer camp and on Friday they set up a lemonade stand for the Nat's first home exhibition game. They broke their previous record and earned $75!

It seems Sofia dominated as usual and made everyone exasperated. Because I was on a plane for her birthday, we haven't had a proper celebration, but she did get pampered with fun presents. We also got the good news on her birthday that she got into Brent for next year which is a huge relief.

Sofia figured out how to make stairs from her drawers so we often find her on top of her dresser as she debates what clothes to put on. As you can see she either wears nothing or the same single dress every  day. 

I was in Myanmar for the inauguration for the new government and the ongoing negotiation of which ministries will be put under the NLD. It's fascinating and full of rumors given the opacity of politics. I don't know if I'll have a chance to go back - not the ideal vacation spot - but it did and continues to have a deep impression on me. I've been reading about Aun San Suu Kyi and the immense brutality of the Tatmadaw in The Perfect Hostage.  It's hard not to think about how fortunate I and my kids are to simply have been born in a country like the US - pure luck. Trying to get my kids to see how lucky they are hasn't totally stuck yet:). I read an article to them about Bangladeshi girls that were facing cultural backlash for learning to surf. Charlie did agree to share some of his lemonade earnings for fund that was being raised in their honor, but he capped his compassion at $20. Some pics from Myanmar:

ASSK shared a room with her brothers and her bed is the closest one

Other fun activities over the last few months include:

Visiting the Homestead. Fun and funny. We would go back now that we know the drill, but it is like airlines - they nickle and dime you for everything! I'm surprised the pool was free to enter...


Bowling at the White House with SAISers

Visiting Toby and Lisa's farm:

 First School "Dance." It mainly entailed Diego getting chased around by a bunch of girls and Charlie and his friends chasing each other. But there was some dancing and everyone had fun.

The girls who chased Diego