So, back to Saturday. Once again, it started with a little sleep in for me and banana pancakes made by chef Ricky. We played outside and enjoyed the morning and then headed to Diego's soccer game at 10:00. He was outstanding and scored 2 goals. The weather was glorious and it was such a pleasure to be out on the field. Aldo comes to all of his games and films them so I will try to upload some videos of him playing. He was so pumped up and excited after his game, so sweet to see!
As we were deciding what to do for lunch, Ricardo suggested we go on a hike. So we ran home, had a quick lunch in the backyard, gathered our things and headed up to a breathtaking place, about 45 minutes away, called Sweetwater Creek. We had the best hike we've ever had. The day was perfect, the kids were happy, Marco fell asleep in the baby bjorn and we took our sweet time, without the slightest rush in the world. We hiked down to the ruins of an old factory and then down to the riverside. We sat by the river and just hung out for almost two hours. Of course the camera battery died as I was about to snap the first shot of our riverside hangout, but it was awesome. The kids threw rocks, Ricardo and I chatted, Marco watched the scenery. It was one of those moments that I would love to freeze to be able to remember every little detail for the rest of my life. We hiked back up and were in the car by 4:45. We called Aldo and Cami to meet us at Mellow Mushroom for dinner and had a super fun time, sitting outside on the terrace. Diego and Alexia were worn out from the hike (and soccer and no naps) so they loved just sitting still, coloring, eating and enjoying their time there. We headed home and we were all in bed by 9:00pm!
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And on to today....
Ricardo woke the kids up early to say goodbye to them (which I fully support and am glad he did), but that meant for an extra dose of crankiness. I went to bed late last night and woke up early so I wasn't all that chipper myself. The kids were at each other all morning so I was thrilled when it was 10:15 and time to leave for ballet. Ballet was great. Alexia loved it and Diego and I played memory game in the sitting area. When we were about to head to Trader Joes, they started to fight about something (and being plain ugly to each other) so I said we were going home and not to Trader Joes. We came home, re-grouped and talked things over and then headed back out again. We weren't at Trader Joe's for 2 minutes when Alexia rammed her shopping cart into Diego's heals (by accident) which exasperated him and set the tone for the rest of the trip. I ran into a gal that I had not seen in 2 years and as we were talking the kids had a full out fight...hitting, pinching, screaming...the whole works. I could not believe it - they had never done that, and much less in public! My friend said to me "Oh wow, you are so patient. I cannot take my kids to the grocery store with me." And I thought "This is the first time that I've really wished I could have left them strapped onto the roof of the car" Just kidding. The highlight of Trader Joes is always finding a stuffed animal and getting a treat. After my conversation abruptly ended with me saying "I'm sorry, we have to go, these kids need their lunch!" We skipped finding "Joey," picked up our crackers, went straight to the cash register to pay and straight to the car for spankings (they each earned themselves an extra one). Phew. Variations of that incident continued throughout the afternoon and right up to bed time...which was at 6:40pm! I put Alexia down for her nap at 2pm, but she fought it with fury, so she was able to get out of her crib at 3pm to play with Diego. They had a peaceful and delightful hour of quiet play while I had a peaceful and delightful hour of rest time in my bedroom, which allowed me to make it through the rest of the afternoon (and a lot of prayer and a cup of coffee at 4pm). Before bedtime I asked Diego how he felt about having such a hard day and he said "Mi corazon ha estado en el oscuro." "My heart has been in the dark." And how wonderful it is to know that we have Jesus to bring us the light that we cannot possibly have on our own.
Ahhh, back to my happy place:
1 comment:
What a fun day....Saturday, that is! Love that you all get out and about all the time with 3 kids! You're my hero! I love looking at old pictures with Spencer and he loves it too. It's such a wonderful way to laugh and reconnect. Wow, the TJ trip sounds like it was from ****:)! I've had those, don't worry!
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