"You've Gotta Come Home Right Now!"

 Jake and I had just walked into his first swim class for the semester.  New kids, different coaches...he was a little hesitant.  As he was dipping his toes in the pool and I'm holding his hand telling him he's going to love it (which he does!), my phone started ringing.  I answered it on one of the last rings as I'm walking away from Jake.  "...Luke cut his chin.  I think you need to come home now."  

 When I heard "cut his chin," I was invisioning a little scrape. I told Joe where the Neosporin and the oils were and of course the bandaids.  "I'm not leaving.  Jake literally just got in the pool."  

Maybe Joe should have said, "Luke was running down the hallway and tripped.  His hands were full of crayons, so he let his chin take the force of the fall, and split his chin open on the hard tile.  There's blood everywhere."  Then, I would have dropped everything and grabbed Jake from the pool he had just hesitantly entered, and met them at the hospital!  Joe ended up taking him to the ER and they sent them to a different hospital, because poor Luke needed a pediatric plastic surgeon.  That's where I met up with them.  They hadn't even noticed yet that my poor babe's tooth was broken in half as well.  He was unbelievable when the doctor was working on him.  Not a squirm or a scream.  He just lay there and looked at us with the calmest look on his face.  He was actually interested in the fact that he could read his name on his wrist.  Thank heavens for that!

 After the doctor got him bandaged up we went straight to the ER dentist right there at the hospital.  Once again, not one moan or groan. And he hadn't even had a real dental cleaning yet!!!  

My poor little Luke!  Our first child to have to go to the ER for an accident like this.

 We waited a week to see if he would need to have the tooth extracted.  I kept reminding him to chew on his good side (which in fact, turned out not to be so good either--he chipped half of his enamel off of that molar too!), so this is what he would do:  

After that week, we sadly ended up having to pull his tooth.  When I went in with him to the office, I asked if they had any nitrous oxide and she said no.  They can knock the kids out cold, but the anesthesiologist wasn't available on such short notice.  I was sick!  My baby hasn't even had a cleaning yet (yes, I'm still stuck on this fact), and now he is getting his canine pulled?!!!  She asked if I would lie down in the chair with him and just like a champ, he opened his mouth and never made a peep.  I think at one point I was squeezing his hands harder than he liked, and he wiggled a little bit.  Not one cry.  And the fracture was deeper than the x-ray showed, so she ended up having to take it out in pieces.  

Sweet, sweet Luke.  He just looked at the dentist and didn't say a word to her or to me the entire way home.  After a major snuggle fest, I told him he could have as many popsicles as he wanted that day, and suddenly his eyes were bright and that was it.  You AMAZE me, Luke.  Every time a prayer was said that first week after he had been through so much, if one of the kids forgot to mention Luke's chin and tooth, he would announce that it was his turn to say the prayer. "...and bwess my toof and my chin..."  Now, since he is feeling better, he announces BEFORE anyone says the prayer, "not my toof and my chin.  I ok."  

He's not out of the woods yet, but I'm sooo glad he feels OK.  What a brave soul.  My absolute FAVORITE though, was when he came home after spending so much time in the hospital that first night.  He was cold and wanted to warm up, so he asked for hot chocolate.  It went like this:

"Can I have some hot cochit with marshpillows?"  

And that is why I love this stage.

Father Daughter Dance March 2014

It's our favorite time of year again!  We have a tradition of going out and getting a new dress for the special event.  It's almost impossible to find cute dresses down here.  Maybe I still haven't found the goldmine yet, but I've talked to quite a few locals, and they say the same thing.  They just don't make a lot of cute dresses for the preteens and teenagers.  I was a little worried that we had waited till the last minute.  I told Kate we could go shopping the weekend of the dance.  She suggested accessories too because now she has her ears pierced.  Oh boy.  "Oh, and by the way Mom, none of my shoes fit me."  Looks like we'd be searching for those as well.

 I happened to be out on Friday when Kate was in school, picking up a birthday present for one of the kids friends, and lo and behold, I see this random, stylish dress, hung in the wrong spot.  Wow!  That's a good one!  I started looking around for where the rack was so I could see if there were any others.  There wasn't one.  This was it.  I said under my breath, "There's no way this will be her size."  I peaked at the tag and it was PERFECT.  I was floored.  That's the easiest I have ever had trying to find clothing down here!!!  Thanks for that little blessing!  I bought the dress and then when I got home, made a big deal about how we could still go shopping for shoes and accessories for the big night.

 After all, it's the process that makes it fun, right?

We hit the shoe shops and quickly found out that there is no way her feet are fitting in girls shoes anymore.  It was time to go to the Ripley's Women's Shoe Department.  Oh, did we feel grown up!  Kate grabbed heels that I couldn't even walk in and asked to try them on.  It was a blast.  Thankfully, we were able to find a couple of pairs that would work for an 8 year old.  It's only the beginning, my love.  I only pray your feet won't reach my lengths (Nope, that wasn't a typo-- remember that 1.5 size difference between the two?!)  Anyway, I've had plenty of experience, so if yours continue to grow at a rapid rate, I know where to go!!!

I was getting Kate ready in the bathroom, and Joe walked in to start getting ready as well, and she yelled, "Get out!!  Dad!  You can't see me yet!" Joe literally just eats this up.  He has so much fun with her at these things.

Love these two so much

I told Kate she was so lucky that she gets to start these dances so early!  I had to wait until I was 13 before I went to one.  But I told her that BG and I made up for it by dancing till our feet hurt so badly that we couldn't take another step.  Every year for 4 years.

You look beautiful and your date is hot!  Go have fun and dance the night away :)

Back to Life...Back to Reality

The kids first day back to school was Mariah and Chris' last day with us.  I was so sad to have the normal school routine start all over again.  I LOVE summer.  I love the fun adventures, the sleeping in, the lazy days, the yummy breakfasts, the reading til it's late and not caring what time the kids go to bed...I love it all.  

So I was a little sad when Monday came.  The kids made it through the week quite well, although I knew the exhaustion of the early mornings was quickly catching up to them.  The following Sunday night, I don't know what happened with Jake, but he was up 6 times during the night.  Bathroom break; wanting to sleep in our bed; oh! forgetting his water, so getting up to go retrieve it; deciding he didn't want to sleep with us, and would rather sleep on the ground next to us;  going on a hunt to find the perfect blankets for his new spot; oh, maybe another bathroom break... the night dragged on and on and on and on.   I was tired.  I was mad.  I was dying.  I knew that life would be miserable when 6:20 came the following morning.  

I got the kids off to school and when I came back 2 hours later to help in Jake's classroom, he looked AWFUL.  The dark circles and bags around the eyes were quite apparent.  I always come to help out during the stations time in his class.  I play word games with kids or help with art projects or we do puzzles... there are all sorts of stations and sometimes the children can pick and other times the teachers assign who goes where.  Well this particular day, Jake was not a part of my group.  I got going on a rhyming game with the kids at my table, and I happen to look over and see that Jake has chosen the cool fort they have built in their classroom as his station.  But he's not playing.  He is lying flat on his back, with his arms and legs stretched out, just staring up at the ceiling.  He stayed like that for the entire 1+ hour that I was there.  

When it came time for me to go, I went to give him a kiss and he hung on to me and begged to go home with me. The conversation went like this:

"Maybe you should have gone to bed last night like I told you to."

"Mom, I'm not tired!"

"Really?"

"No!  Not at all!  I just want to spend some time with my family! PLEASE can I come home with you?"

Wow.  He really knows how to work it.  And he knows exactly what is important to me.  I guess that's good, right?  I made him go explain to his teacher why he wanted to come home, and then we left hand in hand.  Sometimes you just need some down time.  Luke couldn't have been happier to have Jake home a little earlier than usual.  Me too.

Our last 24 hours in Argentina

Did I forget to mention that we spent Valentine's Day in Uruguay?  We usually don't go above and beyond when it comes to the holiday--by the time we've celebrated Christmas, Joe's b-day, and our anniversary, it's a bit much.  But I have to admit, I didn't mind taking it to the next level this year :)  It was a lot of fun.  Argentina is known for their meat.  So when we got off the ferry from Colonia, we grabbed a taxi and had it take us to a fantastic restaurant to finish our Dia de Amor. 

 Cabana Las Lilas was in Puerto Madero and it was incredible.  Mariah was dying that we were going out to dinner at 10:30 at night and restaurants were hopping with people.  Something we have gotten used to seeing after being down here for a while.

 Loved the cow they put in my meat to let me know how cooked it was :)  And the rumors were true.  You could cut it with a spoon!

 I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow that night.  "Do you always travel like this?!"  Meaning, do we pack as much in as we possibly can...I laughed and realized that we do fit quite a bit in down here.  I don't feel like we can be too lazy on our trips down here-- there are way too many new things to see and experience!!! Yes, I might be a little overkill, but we know when to sit on the beach and relax.  I'm not that bad!!!

 The next morning we found a little cafe for breakfast.  Once again, the people watching was fascinating.

 Like this guy, sitting next to us, with the shirt unbutton to the belly.  Why even wear it? Classic.

 When we were finished with breakfast, we slowly made our way to the famous Recoleta cemetery.

 One tree.  Insanely enormous.

 Once again, I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to this cemetery.  I had only been told that seeing it was a MUST.  When we walked through the gates, I was astonished.  It was like a city within a city-- full of mausoleums, vaults, monuments, chapels, palaces... to house and honor the bodies of some of the most influential families in Argentina.

The bigger and more expensive, the better.  The alleys felt like a labyrinth that we could easily get lost in.  We hired a guide to take us around and it was a wonderful idea.  She was able to tell us the secrets and the stories and the mysteries of the cemetery.  Very worth it.

 

 Each one so different from the next...

 This was the very first coffin in the cemetery.  Wow, how things sure changed as time went on!

 Some actually had little chapels inside of them to hold mass.  Look at how tall!!!  Joe and Chris had to crane their necks to try to see to the top of this one!

 And when you looked in the windows or through the gates, you could actually see stairs the descended underground--and floor after floor after floor of coffins that were housed in these structures.

 "Don't Cry for Me Argentina!"  We couldn't stop singing it.  Here lies Eva Peron.

 Some of these things were simply huge!  It was unbelievable!  It kind of reminded me of the Egyptians and the grandiose pyramids to house the Pharoahs bodies...they went to such great lengths for the bodies!!!  I'm simple I guess.  I'm glad we don't feel the need to go to such extremes to house our bodies after we die!!  Our bodies are nothing without our spirits.  I'd rather work on making sure my Spirit is in the right place instead of worrying about working on a grand masterpiece to house my coffin.

 We witnessed a cute, little old couple entering the cemetery to visit their loved ones.  We heard them put their big key in, turn the lock and go inside.  I guess it was surprising and a good reminder to me that this is still first and foremost, a cemetery!  And even though thousands of visitors pass through to see it, families still come to pay their respect.

 Some of the alleys weren't very wide :)  Thanks for the demo, Mariah :)  

After we visited Recoleta, we headed back to the hotel to gather our things so we could go to the airport.  What a trip!  The taxi came to pick us up, and we happily got in and were talking away.  There was a ton of traffic, and we worried (only slightly) that we might not get to the airport in time.  It did seem like it was taking a lot longer to get there than when we initially arrived a few days earlier.  Thankfully we had allowed for plenty of time.  We finally got to the airport and thanked our driver and ran in to check in.  We showed the lady our tickets and I heard her say in Spanish, "We don't have that flight time here.  That is at the other aiport."  THE OTHER AIRPORT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We didn't know there was another one.  And why did the taxi driver not ask us which one we needed to go to?!  When we probed a little deeper, we found that the other airport was 40 minutes away.  We were going to miss our flight.  I started to panic and immediately felt the need to pee.  As we listened to the lady explain that our tickets were the non-refundable, cheap kind, we started to worry that we were going to have to pay a fortune to get flights changed on the spot.  We stood there forever and I kept whispering to Joe if she had told him anything.  He would just quietly tell me, "Not yet."  They finally sent us over to talk to the manager, and before we knew it, they were taking our tickets and checking in our luggage and we hadn't been charged one peso!  They were changing our flight to one that was at the airport we were standing in...just a couple hours later.  PHEW!  And there was our hiccup on this trip.  As we told the Robins, there always has to be at least one.  We got in at 2:30am and were so happy to crawl into our beds that night.

When Monday came, we hit a few of the markets to get some special things for them to bring home.  I happened to mention that she would NEVER see me in a certain type of hat.  I just didn't like them.  "You mean a fedora?"  I had no clue what they were even called.  I should have never opened my mouth.  After plenty of little chistes whenever we saw one, suddenly there she was, buying us matching fedoras.  What can I say?  This may have been the only time it will have rested on my head, but it was worth it for the picture and the 16 years of friendship that we've shared :)

Absolutely loved our time together.  THANK YOU Mariah and Chris for coming down and spending such QT with us.  Chalking up a few more wonderful memories with you two was so worth it :)

Why Don't We Go to Uruguay Too?!

When we planned our trip with Mariah and Chris, Joe said the one thing he really wanted to do in Buenos Aires was not in BA at all!  He wanted to take the ferry across the bay to Colonia, Uruguay for the day.  "You can do that?!"  I asked.  This was getting more exciting by the second!  So, when we were doing our city tour, we stopped in to see if we could get tickets. Mariah and Chris were at the total liberty of us.  They have French and German under their belts, but not Spanish.  They were able to figure out though (probably through my facials) that there were no seats left on the ferry.  We had built this up so much and I knew that Joe really wanted to do this.  Everyone was a bit quiet and then after much conversing with the lady behind the desk, Joe stood up, thanked her, and announced, "We are all set."  With just a hint of a smile.  Confused, they looked at him and all he said was, "Looks like we'll be traveling first class."    

 I was howling.  That is so unlike Joe.  He bought the last 4 tickets in 1st class on the ferry so we could get to Uruguay.  Can you tell he really wanted to check it out?  So that was that.

 The next day we got our passports stamped, headed through customs, waited at the terminal and then were shown up to the second level where the extra comfy seats and "free drinks" were.  

 This was going to be a lot of fun :)

 We were ready for our Uruguay experience.

 First class, we found out, not only included the nice seats on the boat, but a tour of the town as well as lunch.  Not half bad...

 When we got on the bus, there were only 2 other people already on board.  One of them was passed out with his mouth wide open, fast asleep.  I guess that was a good indicator that this wasn't going to be super thrilling.  We made the most of it, and possibly even got a few seconds of shut-eye in as well, but were definitely ready to get out and walk around when it was over.  

The Coliseum in Colonia

 A little of the terrain

 Time to check out the downtown.

 There were no expectations on my end when it came to what this would be like.  I knew nothing about the town, and that added to the excitement when we made it to the main square and found it to be quiet, colorful and extremely quaint.  It was an artists dream.  I'm no artist, but I had plenty of fun with my camera.  Welcome to Colonia:

 The tires of this oldie but goody have actually become one with the pebble stone road, and plants claimed it as their own.

 Our stop for lunch.  The freshest, most thirst quenching lemonade in my lifetime.

 The lighthouse was a must.

Wow was it windy, but what a view!

 This was a shot purely to check out the shirtless, hairy man on the right, who was all over that girl of his.  It was a little much if you asked us.

We loved Uruguay!  At the end of the day, we hopped on the ferry again and made our way back to Argentina.  Wednesday:  Chile.  Thursday:  Argentina.  Friday:  Uruguay.  Three countries in three days for the Robins.  That is pretty, darn, good.