Ski Holiday

A few days before Christmas my mom took my brother and I skiing. Well, she skied and Nathan and I snowboarded. It was only the second time I have ever done it in my life. And last time I did it was 7 years ago. Even though it was long ago, I remember how difficult and painful it was. So you can understand why I was very VERY apprehensive about going.

I almost skied 2 years ago when I was about 6 months pregnant with Bibi. I don't fall down a lot when I ski and I was just planning on doing the bunny slope, so I didn't think there would be much of a problem. But I was about 75 (maybe 80?) pounds heaver than I am now, AND the day before I had gone maternity bathing suit shopping with my mom. The effort of only pulling those suits on and off made me tired and I had to sit down and rest in the changing room. So 2 years ago with my weight gain, pregnancy and fatigue on my mind I decided not to go skiing. Plus the day was cut short anyway because my sister-in-law tore her ACL within 4 minutes of getting on the slopes. GOOD TIMES!!

But back to this ski adventure. We went to Sundance and I was shocked to discover how big it is! I didn't know there were 4 different lifts! I didn't realize how many different run options there were. Sundance is definitely worth the price if you can go on a day that's not super crowded. Which this day wasn't

Nathan promised that he wouldn't ditch me and he would help me remember how to do it. And he was true to his word. The first run of the day was rough and it took me a while to remember how to turn, stand up and then finally maneuver the board. I was so slow on that first run that my mom decided to ditch us and run a few runs by herself. But she only got one more in! On the second run of the day I was much much better and we could stay together without problems.

Nathan later said that he always gets worried about trips like these because he loves having his mother along, but we tend to forget just how old she is! She's 60 (sorry mom, I just told the world your age) but she still does all the fun stuff with us so it's hard for us to remember her age. She still water-skis, and will get on those inflateable toys to pull behind the boat with her grandkids. She works out all the time, and If I suggesting hiking or backpacking or rock climbing the next time she came out, I don't think she would have any problem with any of those things. Actually, she didn't fall down even ONCE the whole day she skied. You know I cannot say the same! But he worries about the possibility of her hurting herself and then ruining her whole vacation. But mom isn't crazy! She knows her limits and keeps it safe.

Well, we had a great time. The baby got to hang out with her cousin all day, and I got a sore body for the next 5 days! It was worth it, though. Here are some pictures we took while up there. They were taken with a camera phone, so excuse the poor quality.



It snowed and rained on and off that day. It kept some people away from the slopes, and that's how we like it!
Thanks to my mom for the chance to go! And thanks for Nate for being patient with me as I forgot and then remembered how to snowboard. And thanks to the staff at Sundance for not laughing at me EVERY TIME I fell off the chair lift. Especially that one time where I miss-calculated how much time I had to dis-embark and I basically had to jump off the seat and I landed face down in a pile of snow. Giant bruises on my legs to show for that one. And a special thanks to Jules for leaving all her snowboarding stuff when she went to Texas. We hardly had to rent anything thanks to her!

Happy Boarding, everyone!

Kansas City Half Marathon

So on the 13th of October, I packed up the baby, a suitcase and a backpack full of movies and we headed off to Kansas City. I was very excited and quite scared to be doing my first half marathon, but I was excited to be able to do it with family.

Traveling was uneventful. Oh! Except that on NO of our 4 flights were we assigned to sit together. What? She's 2! Sometimes we were on completely different rows. Most of the time we both had window seats on the same row. It was quite annoying. And no matter how early we got to the gate, they couldn't seem to figure it out. People were nice about sliding over, though. Especially when I would say "Hey,I don't mind if she sits over there, You can watch her for me!" That got them moving in a hurry.

Oh, and because my child is 95% potty trained (on some days. On other days she's only about 25%. She chooses her compliance level based on if there is something better to do, anger at a punishment she has to endure, blood sugar level and her desire to piss me off. I'm not kidding on that last one.) I didn't have her wearing a diaper on the plane. It was never ever a problem, until I tried to take her to the bathroom in the airport before we left, and I didn't take her pants off all the way, and you know the rest. Baby with legs in awkward position + placed near edge of bowl = arc of pee shooting out of her and covering her pants. Totally my fault. But we had to get on the plane, so with a little wipe down and some heavy blotting we were on our way (yes, I forgot to bring a change of clothes. Again, my fault. If I had been better prepared this would've been a non-issue)

She never peed her pants on the plane. Why should she when we went to the bathroom a minimum of 4 times on every plane ride! Because plane bathrooms are so fun! They smell like a latrine and are so closely cramped, but yes! let's go again!

Once we got to Kansas city, it took me less than 24 hours to offend my sister in law. BOO-YAH!! I'm pretty good at that. Not like I *TRY* to offend her, but I know I can be judgmental sometimes. And I am pretty easy to read, and I have a big mouth. So basically, I would be surprised if I DIDN'T offend her. But luckily my sister in law is one of my favorite people on this early and so easy to talk to, and so quick to forgive and make you see why you are such an ass. And I always learn something new and important from her every time we talk. Lesson for the day: Don't raise your children for the approval of others. If you raise your children to the eyes of everyone around you, you will have morally confused children who can see your hypocrisy. If you feel like you are doing something with your kids just so outsiders don't look down on you, you might need to re-think it. It was a good time.

My sister Julie arrived 2 days later. She and her husband drove from Texas, and they got there just in time to go pick up our packets from the race coordinators. They had a whole bunch of fun stuff to see and buy. Disney was there pimping their marathon through Disney World. And that sounded like fun! My sister in law said she thought about doing that some year in the future. And I think that would be so much fun to do as a family again. I would do the half marathon, of course, but to be there and then enjoy Disney World after the race would be great, I'm thinking. I'm just dreaming, of course, but I think it would be a great goal.

I resisted the urge to buy anything, and so I went home and started getting really nervous for the race. And I mean really really nervous. My sister in law started laughing at me that night because I was just so stressed about what to wear. Should I wear a jacket? But I know it will be warm, I don't want to run with it around my waist with the zipper slapping me for 10 miles. What about gloves? Will I need them at the beginning? I didn't bring a good shirt to wear. What will I wear? Seriously, it was nuts. I was going nuts. She thought it was funny. Mostly because marathons (and half marathons) are nothing for her now. And she hardly even trained for this one! She just thought it was funny to see me all anxious and worrying.

So the next morning, I woke up and put my 10 year old niece in my bed and locked her and my baby in there. She was to be my primary babysitter, and she was great. Actually, all of the girls were great with the Bibbs. And Kyrie got to wipe her butt after an especially big poo. My kid will bend over and stick her bum in the air for you to wipe her. You don't even have to ask. The kids thought that was great! Anyway, they all babysat my girl while I ran.

And now, a sad story. Because my brother had Volleyball games on that day, and we needed Julie's husband to be at home with the girls in case something happened and he needed to drive someone to the hospital, this meant that there was no one to cheer us on and take pictures of us at the end of the race. (or during) But I got a few pictures before the race. While we were sitting in the car preparing.


Where did Julie go? Ahhh, she was bending down. And Tina is typing on the phone probably saying "We are leaving our phones now. Talk to you in 3 hours". But then they were ready for the next one:
Ohh, not a good one of me! A LOT of double chin action going on. We all looked at this picture and decided that we needed another one.

SCARY EYES!! ALICIA IS DEMENTED! SHE WILL RUN HER RACE. . .AND THEN TAKE YOUR SOUL! And then I decided that I should stop looking at each pictures after I take it, and just keep snapping pictures. And so I did:

This is the best BEST of Tina and Julie. But I'm halfway gone. . .And I still have some crazy eyes. . .or some crazy eye, I should say.

Tina is looking half squinty. And I have a weird tip on the end of my nose. But I think this is the best of all of us. The best I could get. But why stop there?
Me with more double chin, and Julie looking off at something else in the distance. Maybe looking at where we SHOULD be? Like at the race?














And now Tina is just laughing because it is getting ridiculous. And somehow the flash got turned on to make me look all Casper-like. But we were having a good time. Everyone has a good time before the race STARTS, right?

We tried to stand in line for the potty. But we realized that people were cutting in front of us, and we all were only semi-dedicated to peeing. So we walked away like 2 min before the starting gun went off. We all laughed later that we were all willing to go before the race, but we never bothered to stop and pee DURING the race. I guess the nerves made the need not so great once we got started.

And start we did! Tina ditched us before we even crossed the starting line, but we thought she would. She turned around and said "see ya in a couple of hours!" and she was off. And Julie and I started slow and slowly. But we had a good time! We got to chat with one another all the way until about the mile 10 1/2. Then she felt like she was going too slow and she was cramping up, so she went ahead. The funny thing is that she didn't go THAT much faster and I could see her up until about mile 12 or 13. I think she only finished a few minutes ahead of me. They had bands playing music along the trail, and people had signs and noise makers to cheer you along. It really was a fun time

The Kansas City Half Marathon is HARD. It's up and down about 45 hills. No joke! If you aren't running up, then you are running down. There are very few level places. The last mile is ROUGH. Especially for me because I didn't know where we were going. If I had known where we were and when we would turn I think I could've done better that last mile. Especially because you tend to get down on yourself when the marathon runner passes you. (happened for me on mile 12.5). I'm happy that I finished in just over 2 1/2 hours.

Anyway, I'm going to wrap this post up. Tina tried to run back to get the camera at the car so she could photograph us. And she made it! But then the camera was on "play" not "take" pictures so it didn't happen. But we took a picture after the race of Julie and I together! Which Julie accidentally deleted. BOOO. I told you the picture situation was a sad story.

We went right home after the race, because I had a baby that I needed to get back to, and we all needed some good food. I think next time I would like my family to be there at the finish line for me and we can stay around and see what all there is going on at the party. But I'm not sad I went home. My body needed rest! I got a well deserved Thai meal later that night, and then the rest of my time there was a vacation!

I had a great time, and I loved being with my family and just making a goal and finishing it. I definitely have another one in me, but I don't know how soon I will do it.

Thanks for reading, people!

P.S. They had people taking pictures along the trail, and you can buy them. But I am cheep. I have the sore muscles and the memories of my first half marathon. I don't think I need much else. But here are some of the horrible grainy shots: I'm in the yellow shirt and gray pants behind tank-top girl.





















If you want to see more pictures of me running, I think for a limited time you can go to this link:

http://www.backprint.com/view_user_event.asp?S=20&PID=bp%18yG&EVENTID=72309&PWD=&BIB=7573

There you can see bigger MUCH better pictures than what I've blown up here.

The Cabin

Mom is selling the cabin. It's sad, but we knew the good times had to come to an end sometime. We have had that cabin for more than 1o years and we all have some great memories there. My husband has said that it's in the top 5 most favorite places in the world for him. He loves to be outside, relaxing under the trees. It is the embodiment of vacation and it will be missed. Here are some of my favorite things to do while there and the things I will miss most:

* Wakeboarding
* Drinking root beer (and letting my mom have "just a sip" of it herself)
* Falling asleep on a hammock after trying to read a book
* Playing SkipBo with my sisters
* Eating licorice
* Leaving the lid off the licorice tub so it gets hard and super chewy, and then listening to everyone whine about how SOMEONE left the lid off the licorice tub. So then I try to just take out a FEW pieces and leave them to get hard. But they always seem to disappear before I can go retrieve them. So then I just take the lid off the whole tub as retribution.
* Getting sunburned because I always forget to slather at least ONE part of my body and then taking a shower followed by a long nap to let the heat soak in
* Trying to convince my husband to get in the water
* Jogging down to the boat dock and then jumping in the water
* Smores and "skit night" by the campfire
* "Speerneck" stories
* Taco Bombs. And BFTT's. Actually, I don't think I will be missing those.
* One bathroom for 20-30 people
* My Aunt Lynda's crazy CRAZY antics.. And I mean crazy. Whether it's trying to convince people to eat the left over pizza crusts from 3 nights ago, or making clothes out of pillowcases, there is never a dearth of mocking material when she is around.
* Fresh blackberry pies
* Walking/riding down to the "swimming hole"
* A fridge so full of food it cannot close properly or even chill the food adequately.
* And finally, the battle that IS the yearly photo. I mean, we've only been doing this for 10+ years, but for some reason, something always goes wrong. Usually we know EXACTLY when the photo will be the first day of camping. "Hey, don't forget, family photo Thursday at 4:00 pm". But then there is always SOMETHING. Like a couple of kids are down at the swimming hole, or someone decides to leave early so we have to take the photo a day before, or someone forgot to ask a neighbor to take the picture so we scramble to find someone at the last moment. Or my personal favorite, last year, where mom decided to make dinner and then RIGHT BEFORE she announces it's picture time. So the food waits and gets cold for 45 minutes while we try to find a photographer and then proceed to give her 97 cameras to take a picture with each one. It's always something.

So here are some pictures of Trinity Center 2009. The last year we would all have those crazy wild times, even though we didn't know it at the time. (Thanks to my cousin Dakota. I stole them all from her)

The genesis of the FAMILY PHOTO. Notice how everyone is confused, there is someone trying to direct things, babies are crying, people are getting annoyed:













But then we always pull it together at the end:


Farewell cabin! Enjoy the next people who own you. But I'm sure they won't love you as much as we did.

Home

It's so nice coming home from a long trip. Even though we live in a little postage stamp of a home, it's ours. We have our routines here, and they are comfortable. It's nice being able to get back to normal.

Where were we you ask? Well the Bibbers my mother and I went to Missouri for about a week. We dropped off the coveted grandfather clock for my sister Sarah to pick up at a later date, and we got to see my brother's youngest daughter get baptized. We got to go to the lake and eat real Kansas City BBQ and it was just a great time all around. Here are some highlights from the trip:

* Taking off just hours after my baby's 2nd birthday party. (Party will be saved for another post) We wanted to get on the road sooner but there was a big issue with the trailer we were driving and the lights on it not working. Uhaul helped us out, though and we soon got on the road.

* Driving all through the night to get to Missouri Monday morning. There were a few times that the Baby screamed bloody murder because she wanted her mother (who was driving) and she wasn't being properly served. My baby gets HYSTERICAL and will do things to get my attention. She'll rip out her hair, stick her fingers down her throat to make herself gag/wretch/vomit, scratch herself, bang things and kick the DVD player. She knows that ALWAYS gets my attention. The good thing is that by the end of the week long trip, we had been in the car so much and traveling so much that she was used to it. The trip back to Utah had no screaming meltdowns at all!

* Going to the lake and getting up on a wakeboard! That hasn't happened in years. Maybe since I was married. I just gained too much weight, and our boat isn't the best for pulling people up on a wakeboard. But my brother's boat has a great tower on it and it's as easy as pulling yourself up on a ladder. I was so shocked I got up. I went around for a while but I was so tired from the previous day (when I went around on the super tube behind the boat) that I didn't have the strength to go very long. Next time for sure. But I got up! I'm just happy I got that far. Especially because as I strapped on the boots and slid into the water I IMMEDIATELY wanted to be out. That old nervousness of "you aren't going to get up, you will make a fool in front of everyone" was there. And I really didn't want that. I think I said "Oh, I really don't want to do this" but I stuck it out and did it! Hooray for me!

* Texting Lynn while at a BBQ place to ask her the proper protocol of saying "Yes Ma'am" to someone. I feel like I'm being rude when I don't reciprocate a "ma'am". I was told that if the person is older I should always say it, but THEN I got worried that I would offend someone by using ma'am when they were younger than me, and thereby telling them that I thought they were old. Lynn let me know that it doesn't really happen, and that if you are older than them and you still say it, they just look at it as respect. (Did I get that right Lynn?) I still feared doing it because I thought it would sound fake. But now I know the rules.

* Coming back from an outing to the park only to find a WATER MOCCASIN (also known as the COTTONMOUTH) snake chilling in the front yard. Actually, chilling about 3 feet from where my baby was just walking. OHHHHHHHHHHHHH MYYYYYYYYYYYYY CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!! We ran inside, locked the door and my sister in law proceeded to call everyone she could think of until she found a ward member to come over and kill it. Which is a big deal for her because Tina is a big animal advocate. Example? the day before I found a spider on the floor and told my 14 year old niece to take care of it (I don't do spiders, remember?) and they PICKED UP THAT SPIDER AND PUT IT OUTSIDE! ZZHHHHHHGGGGEEEE (audible shiver) But luckily they were smart enough or cautious enough not to take chances with one of the most aggressive and deadly North American snakes that was just chilling out right by the front door to their house. The snake got it's head taken off. And I rejoiced in knowing my child would not die that day.

Just so you know, while Tina was calling trying to find a snake wrangler, I took the broom from the kitchen and unscrewed the handle. I was not going to let that thing get away. So if it started to move, I was prepared to go out there and beat it to death. Seriously, it was FEET away from my child. I was mad, and it deserved to die.

*Going outside to pick Mulberries. They are pretty good, if you can look over the inch worms that you have to pick out (or eat) and the little stems that come off with the berry. You can just spit those out after you eat them. Don't try to take them off the berry, because it squashes the juice out. But going into the back woods of the Missouri wilderness might get you in trouble. Which brings me to. . .

*My mom got a little bit of poison ivy on her face just to the right of her mouth, close to her chin. (I call it the "zit spot" because every month I get one JUST ONE zit right there. At least it's only one, right? But isn't 30 too old to get a zit when I'm PMSing?) Anyway, as we were driving home and were pretty close to the Wyoming border, my mom says, "This poison ivy is really itching my face. But I'm doing good not to touch it. But I have another little itchy thing in my eye lashes. Can you look and see if I have poison ivy in my eye?" And being the inquisitive nice daughter that I was, I agreed. I should've refused. Because as I looked in her eye, I noticed that her lashes were particularly thick in one area. And as she blinked, they moved in response. And then I saw it. . .The tick in my mother's eye.

Now, I want you all to go get a mirror. Or look at a butter knife you have retrieved from the kitchen. But you need to know where this tick was. Take your eyelid, and flip it up as if you were going to do that hideously grotesque and macabre act of flipping your eyelids up on themselves. Don't do it all the way, just gently tilt up your lid until you can see the teeny tiny ridge of skin running JUST UNDER your eyelashes. The minutely small piece of skin between your lashes and your EYE BALL. And you will know where that tick had its nasty Lyme disease-carrying head buried.

My mom says she wishes she could've preserved forever the look on my face when I realized what it was. I was horrified, and couldn't even bring myself to look at it, especially when it moved its legs. Bleeeggch. I'm getting queasy now just thinking about it. We were going to wait till the next gas fill up so my brother could pull it out himself, but after about a 5 second wait I just couldn't think of that thing feasting SO CLOSE TO HER EYEBALL for another second and I said I would just get it.

If anyone knows anything about pulling out a tick, you know that you have to get the whole thing making sure the head doesn't detach. So I grasped that thing, and gave it a gentle pull thinking that was all I would need to do. Nope, it was really drilled in there. So I just pulled harder and success!! And I was pretty sure I got the head too. That thought was confirmed when I looked at the thing and saw 2 chunks of my mom's eye flesh still visible from its nasty little pincers. Mom bled a little, but was very VERY happy to have it out. She said even with the little blood in her eye it was much more comfortable than having it on her itching her. AND SUCKING HER BLOOD I should like to add.

For the rest of the ride home I kept checking my (and my baby's) hair and all over our bodies for the hidden ticks I knew were at that moment giving us Lyme disease. I didn't find any but that's probably because they saw the death of their comrade and ran for their lives.

* And finally, you will ALL think this is gross, but it made me just so happy. When I got into the upstairs shower that all the girls share, I noticed that there was hair on the wall. Isn't that awesome? ALLLLL my sisters put their hair on the wall while they are taking a shower. I don't know where we all learned it. Probably from each other. But it's so nice to know that the same trait is being passed down to my niece. And you should know that her mother (my sister in law) specifically TOLD her daughter to put her hair on the wall. Because after they pulled a hair ball out of the drain that was the size and shape of a large rat, they figured that was the best way to avoid it in the future. Makes sense to me! That's why I do it!

I love my family. It's good being home. I can't wait for the family reunion in July!

Lobster Tales

Do you have a Lobster? Do you have someone who just gets you? With whom you can never go wrong? Who listens to everything you say, and even when they don't agree with you, they still love talking to you? Someone who shares in your happiest moments and your most embarrassing horrors and still doesn't judge you? Someone who you would give a kidney or a child to if you were to die? That person is your lobster.

I got to go to Arizona last week to visit my Lobster. It was bliss. We got to swim in her freezing pool (yes! It was 106 degrees outside but the pool was still so cold!) during which she almost had to save my child's life. And she made me a birthday cake AND took me to a birthday dinner and wouldn't let me do or pay for anything. But the joke was on her the first day!! While she was in the bathroom I snuck to the counter and paid the bill. MWAAA HAAA HAAAA!!

She is the most attentive, best friend ever. And she takes care of everything!! I only had to bring one small bag because she had everything for me and my baby. Crib, Boppy, toys, books, wipes, swimming diapers, snacks. She had it all!! And what she didn't have, she offered to get me. She's just the combo of the best hotel and the most interesting person in the world. You all need to get one of them. I promise, it will change your life.

It was the best 4 days ever. And my baby was so good. Most of the time. I was kind of far away from her room, so my Lobster (And Mr. Lobster) got to hear her through the night. I guess she woke up a few times. I've trained myself not to hear it unless she cries for a while. And she didn't. Just long enough to wake up our terrific hosts.

Also, Evi learned that if someone has something you want, you can go up and grab it out of her hands. This was tough for a 3 year old (Lobster's daughter)to deal with: a 16 month old ruining your whole world. Evi did a pretty good job adjusting when I took the things away and gave it back. She quickly went and found a new toy to play with. But there was a good tug of war going on before that. And half the time Darby would lose the toy and she didn't take the loss as well. I don't blame her!! I get pissed when something is just slow coming to me. Imagine if it got taken away!! Don't blame her a bit.

Darby was hot and cold towards Evi. One sec she was flinging herself down the indoor slide to make my child laugh, and then next she was trying to "help" her down the stairs. Evi HATED when that kid touched her. It made me laugh so hard. She was like "get your hands off me!!!" and would shrug off her hands all the time and then scream if the touching persisted. So freaking funny. I kind hoped that Darby would touch her more to see how my kid would flip out. Hilarious.

Anyway, as is customary with my trips down to see my lobster, I didn't take any pictures. I took one of my baby crawling into her entertainment center, and one of her spinning around and licking the cake batter beater. But none of Darby, none of lobster and none of us together!! Kind of less effective, but pretty standard at this point

So basically, if you are expecting awesome pictures of us together, you are sorely out of luck.

I loved my time in AZ. If possible I would've stayed longer. (and actually kind of did get an extra day there) And why not stay longer? Wouldn't you want to stay forever with your lobster?

I know I do!

P.S. Not enough is said about Mr. Lobster and how awesome he is. But I tread lightly here because praising another woman's husband is a tricky thing. But I love her husband with all my heart and I'm so thankful that he gives up wife, house and everything else to accommodate me when I come to town. So to him I say: THANKS AGAIN!!! My love and friendship with your wife would not be possible with your your help and support.

Eureka

So coming home from Ecuador was horrible and great at the same time. We were going home, and yet we weren't. We had to fly to Costa Rica, then Guatemala and then LAX and then Utah. They made us get off the plane EVERY TIME. And most of those flights were very full, so we didn't get an extra seat to put the baby on while she was sleeping. But it was great to be going home . . .sort of.

Anyway, once we got to LAX, we realized that we didn't have our boarding passes for the Delta flight, and so we would have to check back in at the Delta counter. We didn't think that was such a problem until we realized that the Delta counter wasn't open and we wouldn't be able to check in until that time. Again, I will say this loudly TRAVELOCITY CAN SUCK IT. Great job making us stay in the LAX airport for 5 hours until the counter opened. And not in the good part of the airport where there are restaurants and vending machines. No! On the outside of the airport right next to the drug dealers who are driving by trying to sell their meth to weary travelers. It was seriously upsetting

Marcelo and I tried to find a corner to sleep, but we both couldn't sleep because what if someone ran off with our child? True, she was sleeping, but she was sleeping in her stroller, so it would be really easy to roll her away! The ticket counter finally opened up, and they tried to tell us to go to one of the kiosks, but we got to go to the front because they wouldn't check us in at the kiosk. After a diaper diarrhea blowout from baby, and a very overcrowded flight to SLC, we were HOME! I was so excited to be back where I could drink the water from the tap!

Reagan picked us up from the airport, and she drove us home. It was to be a short visit home, though. We were only there for about 4 or 5 hours. Because that night we went back to the airport to get on a plane to California! I know, we are crazy!! But my mom pulled every string in the book to get this vacation planned at just the right time when everyone could be there. And it was only going to be for 4 days, so I knew it wouldn't be that bad. Again, I was wrong.

I went and tried to do as much laundry as possible to be able to wash all the bugs out of our clothes and to have clean stuff to take to CA. I did pretty good! I had to take a load to the laundry mat down the street to dry it in time, but we did it just fine! Marcelo went to Target to buy another DVD player because I broke the other one in Ecuador (CLAAASSSSIC ALICIA!!!) We had no time to sleep: we packed up, and we were gone.

So the last time Marcelo and I had a complete REM cycle was the night of the 23rd into the 24th. For some reason we were late. I don't know why. I think it had to do with Marcelo needing to stop to get a Red Bull at the Mavrick so he could be awake enough to drive to the airport. But I know we got to the airport about 40 or 45 min early. Not great, but not too bad. We knew that we would be leaving our car in long term parking but I didn't know if I should drop Marcelo off and let him check in alone, or drop him off with baby and luggage, or he drop me off. We ultimately decided to park together and then go and check in together.

BIG MISTAKE!! We missed check-in. Apparently you have to be checked in 30 before or they sell your seat. We were there 24 min and they sold our seats. (that shuttle from long term parking takes a LOOOOONG time. PUN INTENDED)

Please note that we were on NO SLEEP. Our baby is on NO SLEEP. Poor girl is being jacked around so much, she has no idea which way is up! And we get there and are told that there are no seats. My mom is supposed to pick us all up at the airport in Redding, and if not, she has to make a 3 hour trip to come later!! It's so not good.

These are our options:

1) Pay to fly out tomorrow. This will cost the purchase of whole new tickets and will be over $1000 each.
2) Pay to fly to LAX on another airline. Only Southwest still had a flight going out there that same night. But to make our connection up to the other flight was WAAAY tight and she didn't think we would make it. Oh, and the cost to fly Southwest would be $1000 for each ticket.

Then the lady asked us if there were any other airports nearby. In my drunkenness, I was only thinking about Lake Tahoe because they tried to sell me a ticket there before thinking it was "close" to Redding. I am on no sleep and it takes me longer than it should to say, "Oh yes, Eureka is close!! You guys have a direct flight there! Do you still have a flight going out tonight?" And she said yes!!! And the cost to "change" our ticket would be around $360 each. Not great. The money becomes the issue now. Marcelo is freaking and saying that he's not going! If it's that much money, he's not going!! Screw it! He's going home and going to sleep!

I tell her that is the best option, because for sure we can get someone to pick us up on their way to the cabin. It will at least get us there, and then we can figure out how to get 3 hours away to our cabin. I'm sure there are a few people still in Eureka waiting to come up!

Nope. There is no one there so we have to rent a car in Eureka. We call about 45 million rental companies (actual number: 5) and are told they can get a car for us, and then at the end they say, "oh, sorry, we don't have any cars here" Crazy. The car is expensive, but by the end of the day, I'm so tired of calling places and I feel lucky that we even FOUND a rental car!

So at the end of the day, our plane is OF COURSE late getting to CA because the flight crew was on another plane delayed in Chicago. They had to call in a whole new flight crew and wake them up to get us there! It made us even later getting to Eureka, where we then had a 3 hour drive to the Cabin. Which I did. Without any sleep for the past 2 days. All I have to say is that Sunflower seeds + Dr. Pepper=Crazy Delicious. And a crazy jolt to the system. While Marcelo was falling asleep in the back in the middle of conversations, I was feelin' fine!!

And then we were there at 2 am!! And our travel problems were over!! I think we are done traveling for a very VERY long time.

So here are some pictures of our great time at the Cabin:

The family picture of just us kids, spouses and grand kids. There are tons of us!!

And then the "everyone" picture. We take one every year. It's a lot of blood, sweat, tears, yelling screaming and crying to make it happen. And I'm not kidding! But we get one every year!!

Oh, and P.S. we didn't have to pay the $360 to change our tickets because apparently they gave our seats away too quickly. We didn't have any bags to check, so they shouldn't have given them away until 20 before take off!! So due to "their error" they changed them for free. THANKS DELTA!!

And be on time for your flights, people!!

Ecuador Part Two

Just a few more pictures and items from Ecuador.

Gifts from my mother in law: My mother in law made a few choice items for my baby. One I took back to the USA with me, and one I hid so that she *thought* I took it, but by the time she discovered it, it would be too late. This is the one I took. It's ok. She said I could hold the baby's "hair stuff in it". Ummmm, thanks?

Anyway, it has little pockets on it and it's a caterpillar. Obviously. My mother in law's house was FULL of things like this. I hate junk like that. I mean, I know that they don't have tons of money (neither do we for that matter) but at least I don't make stuff just for the sake of having something on the walls. But nevertheless, like I said, I really didn't mind it, and it was easy to carry, so I took it with me.

However, the second item was not so lucky. It was conveyed to me that I should put my kid's diapers in it. Again, thanks? Here is a choice picture of it:


I don't know how to describe it's hideousness. You know how in my last post I tried to describe to you about how no one listens to me? Well, it's like that with these "gifts" too. No one bothered to ask if we would have room for them. No one asked if we even wanted them. It was just assumed that we would take them.

It was huge, firstly. Also it was heavy. Also, I think she's under the impression that I use cloth diapers, because this is a classic cloth diaper caddy. I hated everything about it the first time I saw it, and I was going to be forced to take it. Marcelo said, "my mom worked hard on it, you have to take it." UUUUGHHH!! I'm sure these last few paragraphs make me a horrible person, but I really REALLY hated everything about it.

Moving on. My mother in law is a very unique person. Her birthday was on the 18th of June and everyone got her something. Marcelo and I brought this great new set of silverware, and her other kids got her clothes and shoes and fun things like that. However, my mother in law is a CONTROL FREAK, and she had no idea that the party was happening. Here is the look on her face when she found out what was going on:

SHE IS TICKED!! She's pretending to smile, but she's seriously annoyed. Those things on her lap are her presents, but she wouldn't touch them or look at them for like 30 min. She was just going on and on about how she didn't know, and she should've known, and why didn't anyone say anything? and why didn't she know, and SHE SHOULD'VE BEEN TOLD ABOUT THE SURPRISE PARTY THEY WERE THROWING FOR HER, DANGIT!!! She was really REALLY ticked off.

So Here are a few group shots from that same "party night. I like how these pictures also show a little more fully my in-laws house:















So the picture on the left has 3 of the 4 siblings (Leo wasn't there yet) and the parents. Marcelo. Lety, Cesar and Vicente (My father in law on the far right) And of course my mother in law, not smiling. And then the picture on the right has everyone in it. (except me who is taking the picture) The little boy in front and the boy in the back with the black hat are the kids of Anita (seated) from her first husband (He died in a sad motorcycle accident a few years ago) In yellow is Leo, Marcelo's older brother and married to Anita. Anita is currently pregnant (after a serious ectopic pregnancy scare/surgery and miscarriage 18 months ago) and they are hoping everything goes well. Jan 6th is her due date, so that will be exciting.

So that is a great family shot. Here is one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip: My father in law and my baby:















AGGGGHHHHH!! That shirt makes me laugh every time I see it!! My father in law is so soft-spoken, so kind-hearted, so peaceful so it makes the shirt hilarious on every level. Plus the fact that it's pink. AWESOME! My father in law is one of my favorite people on this earth. I really love the look that Evi is giving while he holds her. And she took to him SO quickly. I think she just knows and can sense his kindness. She would cry when he left and wanted to walk outside to see him leave. Honestly, my father in law is amazing. As much as my mother in law annoys me, my father in law makes me happy.

Next: my baby loved LOVED their cat "Chiqui!" (pronounced Chee-kee) Chiqui is a boy, and they starve him. I'm not kidding. I was told by Marcelo that you "HAVE" to starve them so that they will run around the house and catch and kill the spiders and roaches and mice. That is all well in theory, but when you have no more mice or roaches or spiders because the cat ate them all, then what? I just know that cat cried all the time, and I hated it, so I would sneak him food whenever I could.


My child LOVED him. She would chase him around the house and he quickly learned that being close to the baby got his face smacked or his tail pulled. He was a great sport about it, and never scratched her. I will say that the animals in that house are VERY well behaved. . . they have to be or they don't get any food!!

Here is a video of Evy "demanding" the cat come down and play with her:



And finally, this little "stroller" was purchased by my in laws and generally liked by my child. It was liked by her until she saw me sitting down watching her ride in it and she wanted to be held by me. Until then, however, she had a great time:


Oh, that red outfit is actually a set of PJ's that used to have long sleeves. I had to cut them off. It was very difficult trying to find the balance between not over heating my child and protecting her skin from the malaria/dengue carrying mosquitoes. We figured that this was a good option for these PJ's.

Well that's it!! All my pictures from Ecuador. I wish that I had more. I'm just not a picture girl!! Oh well, maybe next time.

Ecuador Travels & Trevails

I don't know why, but I just couldn't get back in the mood to blog for a long time now. I think I have so many things to blog it's so overwhelming. But I've decided I'm just going to have to start and then if I forget some things and have to come back later and tell you about them I will.

So the last your heard from me, I had a horrible traveling trip but I was finally with my in-laws enjoying the fresh fruits and other tasty foods of Ecuador. Here are a few pictures of some of those tasty foods. These are called Achotillos (they might be achetillos and I'm just pronouncing it incorrectly. Marcelo isn't here to double check so you'll have to forgive me if I'm spelling it incorrectly.) From the first pictures, these little fruits looking menacing















They look spikey and a little hairy all at the same time. That is actually a very good description of them on the outside. However, when you crack into them they look like this:


Yeah, they are like a nice peeled grape inside. You peel of the spiny but soft outer shell, and inside you find a soft flesh not unlike a grape who has married a mango. The taste is very sweet, and the texture is very peeled-grape-ish, but the mango reference comes from how the fruit clings to the large pit inside and how the little strings get caught on your teeth. But these things cold are the best on a hot afternoon or a hot night for that matter.

Here is another food item: Chifles.














Chifles are a gift from Heaven.They are made from "verdes" also known as plantains to you English speaking folk and they are much more related to a potato than to a banana. They look like unripe bananas, but they are completely different. You have to cut off the skins and if you get some of them under your nails it will give you a splinter like you wouldn't believe. That's right, the SKINS will do that! There is no easy peeling going on with these bad boys.

So the reason they are in the bag is because we bought them from the "chifleros" down the street. They do nothing all day but use a mandolin slicer and take these verdes and slice them into big vats of hot oil. They make thousands of them every day. And this whole bag cost like 50 cents. It's good they are so cheep because Marcelo's family loves them with ceviche and 2 of them can finish off a whole bag. Heck! I can finish off a whole bag myself! They taste like potato chips but fresher. Uggh, I'm getting a little salivated just remembering them again!

So enough about the food. You know that the food was good. It was great! But that was one of the only good things about being there. I hate to say it, but it was true!! It was so different being down there. Just so different and more difficult. The heat, the location and the fact that our baby didn't adjust so well all made things so difficult.

A typical day involved the following:
2:00 am, 3:30 am and 4:30 am: The family dog (who's name is León) sleeps up on the roof. However, you need to know that they have a sheet metal roof and he likes to put himself under the edge of it. If you know anything about big metal buildups, you know that the sounds travels EVERYWHERE in them. So when he is under that edge and starts barking, he might as well be inside the house right next to my head. It's honestly that loud. So at those times posted above, León hears other dogs in the neighborhood barking and decides he wants to get in on the action. The barking action I'm always terrified it will wake up Evi, but it actually doesn't! Never! She's used to the craziness already

6:00 am: Marcelo waking up and sweeping the floor in the house. My baby also wakes up at this time. I count the number of mosquito bites I accrued over the night. The number is always in the double digits.

8:00 am: Breakfast. Usually some sort of fried meat. I did not like breakfast. I would avoid it. Much to the annoyance of my mother in law. She hated when I refused food. One day my sister in law made tuna, onions, tomatoes and cilantro in lime juice for breakfast. BREAKFAST!! Again, I would avoid it. While trying to find something my child would eat. She usually didn't want to eat anything.

8:30 am Marcelo leaves to goodness knows where. Honestly, I have no idea where he is or who he goes to see!! But I know he won't be back before 1 pm, sometimes as late as 3 pm. I never go with him. Why is that? Well, we tried it one time and put the baby in the stroller and once we hit the sun she started screaming. It was way too hot for her and all the little bugs kept biting her! It just wouldn't work out. So he just left without me and went to make his visits alone. He had to go alone and I was left in the house alone with my mother in law. . . .

10:30 am: Nap time for me and baby. I LOOOOVED nap time. Especially when I had dengue. Evi and I put the fan on and just slept.

11:30-3 pm. Nothing. Nothing at all. I would maybe listen to my iPod, maybe talk to my sister in law. But usually nothing.

3:00 pm: Lunch. Usually something I didn't want to eat. But what could I do. They never ask you if you are hungry, and they never ask you how much you want of the food. You sit down and a plate of food is in front of you, and you eat it. Those are the rules. Don't like tamarindo juice that tastes like rotten fruit? Then plug your nose and chug it! Seriously, she had this tamarindo paste sitting on her counter for like 3 days and on the 2nd day I lifted the lid and my head snapped back because it was so strong. It smelled very rancid, almost alcoholic in it's rancidness. I asked what it was, and they said it was for the "business" (The business is "health juices". Whatever) And then they put it in front of us to drink!! I did not like it! But like the good daughter in law, I ate it.

Most days I wasn't hungry. It's too hot to eat. Or I only wanted a little something. No luck. You didn't get to choose your portion size. At the beginning I would fight through it, but at the end I was tired trying to make everyone happy and I just left the food that I didn't want.

3-9 pm: More of nothing. Another nap for Evi, maybe another nap for me. Maybe some more hammock time. Marcelo gone visiting people: Me alone.

And that was my day. Over and over again. I was so tired of all of this, it was too long being there.

And my baby was sick. She got persistent diarrhea. And she didn't want to eat. My father in law really got to see how strong willed my baby was. If she doesn't want to eat, she won't. She would go meals and meals without eating. And my mother in law would whine and try to get her to eat something, but she wouldn't have it. There was nothing we could do to make her eat. So that was so nerve racking.

And then she started the vomiting. She would vomit at least once a day. She wouldn't eat anything all day, and then we finally got some food in her, and she would puke it up 4-6 hours later. Everything. I was so nervous. I could see her losing weight in front of me. It was scary. I am so thankful I was still breastfeeding. Sometimes it was the only thing she would eat. And I knew that she was getting it at least 4 times a day. So I at least I had that going through my mind saving me from running to the nearest airport and jumping on a plane directly home!!

And I almost did lots of times. My in-laws have cement floors. That's right, just cement on the floors. The front room is a smooth cement, but quite slippery. The dining room, bedrooms and kitchen all have a rougher uneven cement. Which does not bode well with my baby flinging herself on the floor in the middle of a tantrum. Or slipping out of your arms trying to get away and falling on her face. She did this over and over again. And I got a picture of it:


Nice, right? It was huge for like 4 days, then it went away. And then the very night it went away, she did it again!! I swear people thought that we were smacking her around. On the picture on the right you can see the sheen off the smoother cement in the background.

Anyway, my kid was always smacking herself or trying to eat the dirt off the floor. (No wonder she was so sick all the time!!) It just wasn't an enjoyable trip for me!! I wish it were! I wish I could say it was better! But it was just torturous.

Oh, and I didn't get to go to the beach. YUP, remember how excited I was to do that? Remember how I had never been to a warm beach and I was so excited to go while in Ecuador? Well, it didn't happen. I got dengue fever. What is dengue fever you ask? Well, Healthline.com says:

"Dengue fever is a virus-based disease spread by mosquitoes. Dengue fever begins with a sudden high fever, often to 104-105 degrees Fahrenheit. A flat, red rash may appear over most of the body early during the fever. A second rash, measles-like in appearance, appears later in the disease. Infected people may have increased skin sensitivity and are very uncomfortable. Other symptoms include: Headache, Joint aches, Muscle Aches, Nausea, Swollen Lymph Nodes, Vomiting."

It's basically like mono for a week. With a rash. I had all those symptoms except the vomiting. It did last a week, and I didn't take anything for it. No reason, the recommended medicine is Tylenol! Obviously just for the discomfort. I can stand it, so I didn't want to take anything. It ruined the last week of our time there. I just slept all the time. And I had a rash. And Marcelo had me take like 3 showers a day. I was SOOOO tired of showers.

Did you know my in-laws don't have hot water? So when I say shower I mean cold shower! Cold showers are horrible first thing in the morning. And cold hair first thing in the morning? LESS EFFECTIVE!! I was so done with Ecuador and dengue and just everything in general by the 24th. ALL DONE!! (Say that the way my niece Isabel used to say it with the accompanying sign language. I know most of you don't know it, but you can make it up in your mind)

Ok, that's all I'm going to write for right now. I'm going to leave you with a few more Ecuador pictures. These are the Bibi and I with some chicks that my in-laws bought. I don't know why they bought them. Probably to raise so they could someday eat them. That's usually why they have animals!! But here we are looking at them and I'm trying to keep her from pulling a Lenny and snapping their little heads off. She loved how soft they were!


More Ecuador stories tomorrow!!

In Which the F-Bomb was Dropped, but not by ME!!

SUPER LONG POST!! WARNING!! READ WITH A SMALL SNACK! YOU´LL NEED IT TO SUSTAIN READING ENERGY!

So remember how I was crazy scared to come here? Remember how I was having night time sweats and I was all anxious and I wouldn’t concentrate or think about it and I couldn’t get excited about the trip. And how almost everyone told me to just “don’t worry about it! Just go and enjoy yourself!” I will now tell you all the same thing in the biggest boldest letters possible

I TOLD YOU SO!!!

So here is story. In Utah I was trying to keep my “schedule.” I even tried to bathe my kid in a bathroom sink of the D terminal I don’t recommend this to anyone. I promise, it doesn’t work and it will only piss off your kid. The automatic soap dispenser kept shooting foam all over her and she still smells like the stuff. But I held her off sleeping till we got on the plane. She ate and slept all the way to LA. No problems. We got to LAX at 10:30 local time and 11:30 Utah time.

So our next plane was set to leave at 1:30 LAX time (2:30 Utah time) and so we had plenty of time to get to our connection. Well, after winding our way around and finding the long line we needed to stand in, we begin to wait. Of course, a 1 year old walking child doesn’t want to stand and wait patiently in line. She wants to be running all over. So Marcelo and I take turns chasing her around the terminal. 10 min each. She’s crazy running all over, trying to go out the automatic doors, or trying to get her hands caught in them as they opened or trying to climb up into the luggage x-ray machines. I’m telling you, I was really looking forward to getting to our terminal and letting her run in a more “controlled” area where we could watch her without running the risk of her getting run over by a luggage cart.

So I see on the departures board that our flight to Costa Rica was on time, but that a flight to Guatemala was cancelled. I thought “sucks to be going to Guatemala tonight! Why would there be a cancelled flight? There isn’t snow or other bad weather. Did another bird run into some propellers? Oh well gotta go chase my kid now” and I let it go from my mind.

Now, I’m going to go off (ironically, of course. You’ll see why in a minute) about those people that are up at the counter for forever. What’s the problem? Do you have a reservation? Yes? Then get up to the counter, show your passport, hand over luggage and get goin’!! Don’t you see the line of 76 people behind you? Let’s get the show on the road! No talking on your phone! No standing around looking confused!! Get your ticket and get out of line! Or just get out of line all together! Man, at 11:45 at night, after 45 min of running around after my kid, I was done with them.

It’s our turn at the counter. Whoo HOOOO!!! The lady asks for our itinerary. I said I don’t have it. I almost always never bring it. My printer hasn’t been working and I’m too lazy to print it out anywhere else. I tell her we are on the flight to Costa Rica then on to Ecuador. She types on her little computer for what seems like a long time and then says, “You were on the flight going to Guatemala. Your flight was cancelled”. So for you reading out there, that means that our itinerary was to take us to LAX, then Guatemala, then Costa Rica, then Quito and THEN to Guayaquil. Right now I’m thinking of saying a very bad word to Travelocity, but I won’t for the gentleness of my readers. But I’ll just let you imagine what it is… You’re wrong. I was going to call them a rat bastard.

So we learn that our flight has been cancelled. I’m upset at this point, but not yet to the point of panic. The lady at the counter said to go down to the other counter, and there was a “special line” for those of us whose flight was cancelled. We walk down where she’s told us and there is a person from the airline there. She points to ANOTHER line to the right of us that has approx 200 people in it and says, “That’s the line there”. Panic starts to creep in. Then I ask “what happened to the flight” and she said “They only have 4 flights a day. This was the last flight of the night. They sent the wrong size of plane. They were supposed to send one size, but they sent another, and then something happened with that plan. So the flight is just cancelled. The next flight goes out tomorrow at 2 pm, but we are already over-booked by 50 people and we are asking for volunteers to give up their seats. And the flight after that we are booked over by 40 people, so I don’t t think you’ll be on that one either. So you’ll probably get on the one going 24 hours from now.” The Panic has arrived. Full mind blowing panic. We are the VEEEEERY last in a long long line of people, and my baby is squirming.

Squirming is an understatement. She treated the 2 hour sleep in LAX as a nap rather than what it really was: the beginning of her night of full sleep. So she’s got crazy energy. Mind blowing energy. When you pick her up, she is twisting, and turning and arching to get out of your arms. And then you put her down and she runs right over and pushes someone’s luggage over. Or pushed over a birthday-gift package they have wrapped ready to go. Or tries to climb up into that x-ray machine again with the scary security guys looking at you. And tries to eat dirt and mud pieces off the floor. I grab her arm and she tries to peel my fingers off her while simultaneously dropping her bum down in attempts to weasel away from me. It’s my worse fear realized And we have hours of this to go. It’s now 12:20 and I call my mother so I can melt down.

And BOY DO I MELT DOWN!!! Walking back and forth in the airport, crying, trying not to shout as I vent. I am full on making a spectacle of myself. The term “drama queen” comes to mind more than once, but I’m running on no sleep from that night, and only 3 hours from the night before. So the fatigue is really adding to my meltdown.

I say “how can they just abandon 200 people here? Don’t they have another plane? Don’t they have anything?” My mom assured me that they would probably put us in a hotel, but that was no consolation for me, because it was going to mess up my baby even more. It was at this time of my melt down that someone in a suit took notice of Marcelo and I and was taking him away! Holy crap! They think that we are using our kid to bypass security and we’ve been tagged as suspicious! I kid. They of course were taking pity on us. The airline had called in like 4 or 5 upper level workers to try to make miracles happen. We were pushed to the front of a line I would soon realize was the “families with small children” line of which I was the only one sobbing like a hysterical freak.

So we get to the counter where a guy starts typing. And I swear he’s typing for like 20 min. And then he comes back and says that they are going to get us a hotel, but that the first time we can get on a plane is the next night at 2 am. O sea in 24 hours. I hear the news and then I start crying again. This pattern continues on and on. We keep getting new helpers and they keep doing the same thing. Typing for 20-30 min and then telling us that we can only get on a plane the next night. And then I start crying again. And then someone says that maybe we can get on one that morning at 6 am. Not ideal, but still an option. But then no, we can’t get that one either. And I start crying. Lather, repeat.

And then we hear about one going out at 2:20 this very morning! It seems almost too good to be true. But then they say no, we’ll have to wait 24 hours. And what about our bags? And then back to typing for 29 min. Additional people are called in. Supervisors, luggage people. At one time, I look over from where I am with the baby, and at the counter in front of Marcelo are 6 airline people. No kidding!! We were TOTALLY those people that I was yelling at before. You know, the “get your tickets and move on, people!” I was just going on about. And we had been at the counter for well over an hour and half. Oh, the irony!

The time ticks away. My baby is still running around crazy. It’s 12:30 then 1 then 1:30. Which is 2:30 am Utah time. My baby is still going strong. As I look around, I come to notice that during all my crying drama and baby chasing I haven’t noticed that the line of 200 people has dropped to like 7! Nothing like before And then we get the news: We are on the flight to Costa Rica! The direct flight! It means we will make our connection and get to Ecuador at the original time. Why didn’t Travelocity just give us that flight in the first place? Who knows? Let’s all say it together. . . .RAT BASTARD

We get this news at about 1:45 am. They said that we are confirmed and they’ve moved over the luggage and now all we have to do it take care of the “kid tax.” (They told us back in Salt Lake that this might happen and we would have to pay anywhere from $20 to $400 for our lap child to fly internationally. Better than the cost of a ticket, right?) Anyway they shoot us over to the end of the counter and we are told it will cost $170 for our kid. We are shocked but are told by them that this price is CHEEP for what it usually costs. And that it’s a roundtrip price, so we won’t have to pay again. Whatever, anything to get us on that plane.

It’s now 1:50 am, and I hear us get paged! The flight is set to leave at 2:20 am and we are being paged. I ask the “baby ticket” guy if they know we are here. He says not to worry about it. It’s going to be fine. Notice he doesn’t answer my question? He just tells me it’ll be fine.

More typing. They should go to typing classes or something. At 2:00 am we are paged again. I look around we are ALONE in the terminal. We have 5 airline workers and 3 baggage x-ray machine guys around us looking at my baby saying how cute she is. I don’t give a crap. We’ve been paged twice DO THEY KNOW WE ARE HERE?!?!?! At around 2:05 the “baby ticked” guys drops the F-Bomb. Loudly. Apparently when he went to print the ticket the machine jammed and now he has to start over almost from the beginning. Yeah, I think the F-word was definitely warranted in this situation.

At 2:10 we are paged again. And I realize that when we eventually get our tickets, we are going to have to RUUUUUUN to make it. Luckily I have my running shoes on. AND I’ve been working out. I’m not worried about stamina. But I am worried about luggage.

A quick word abut what we are carrying. I have my stroller, a large OVERFLOWING “baby bag” and my baby sling. The baby sling was on at this time with the baby in it preparation for running. And why wasn’t the baby in the stroller? Well, because Marcelo had THREE things he carried with him: a shoulder bag, a small carry-on bag and then a box of pots and pans that Tito Garcia asked us to bring to him.

(Judd! I saw Tito! He’s still so funny. But not so skinny anymore. I don’t mean that he’s a tub of lard. Not even close! But he’s not a stick figure anymore. Let’s just say he can no longer hide behind just a single jungle plant leaf. . .it would now take two. His wife is super cute-like braces at 23 cute-and they have a daughter named Yvette who looks JUST LIKE HIM! He always makes me laugh and we are going out as a double couple sometime in the next week. I do hope some Chifa and a Manzana soda will be on the menu! I’ll let you know how it goes.)

So in preparation for running I figure it’s better to load up the stroller and then run with the baby in arms. At finally like 2:14 we get tickets. One of the workers says she will accompany us and we start going. Again, there is NO ONE THERE in the security lines. So that’s a blessing. But they still take a butt-long time screening us. We strip down and get everything through the gate and then we are off running aging with untied shoes and belts hanging down off our pants. When we get to the gate, I was like “we are Alicia Marcelo and Evelyn Loor” and they are like “where were you? We were paging you!” EEEEFFFF YOU TACA AIRLINES!!!!

Getting on the plane I can see that they are moving people around so we can all sit together. Marcelo later told me that the guy in the seat we eventually got was told “you need to move” and when he protested they were like “I don’t care. You need to get up now and move” HA! So they did something right!

We sat down, they closed the doors and we left!! Lots of people on the plane were looking at us like it was our fault. And I wanted to stand up and make an announcement that it was the fault of the airline and that we’ve been ready to go for hours!! But it didn’t matter. We were gone. Funny thing, our baby didn’t want to sleep still! She was crawling and going crazy for the first hour of the plane ride. It was like 3 am which was 4 am Utah time and she had only slept 2 hours. She’s the freaking energizer bunny. And then finally she calmed down and went to sleep (when the lady behind us finally turned off her overhead light. Apparently that copy of Cosmo magazine was just too good to put down at 3 am!!)

Surprisingly, the rest of the trip went off without a hitch!! All of our luggage arrived, no one tried to steal my baby, and my in-laws were waiting for us. They are crazy for this little girl, just like I knew they would be. Everyone is. She’s going to have a rude awakening when we get back to real life. And for all the complaining about the breastfeeding, I’m so freaking happy I did it. It’s my saving grace. She was able to get right back on her normal schedule without any hiccups. Seriously! She’s sleeping through the night and my sister in-law Anita said, “Did she just go to bed like that? (snaps fingers) How did you do that?” it made me happy.

I’ll be taking credit for getting us on the early plane. Even though I know it was due to all the work of the supervisors and airline workers, I like to think that I was just a hysterical hot mess and they just wanted to get rid of me. If I hadn’t started crying, I don’t think that we would’ve gotten that 2:20 am flight. I expect to be praised and worshiped by Marcelo and Evi forever for this.

Ok, one more thing before I go. The food is all I expected it to be! The fruits are a dream come true. My mother in law won’t let me cook or clean at all. She’s CRAAAAZY possessive about her kitchen. But she’s been really good about letting me into her kitchen to grab food for my baby. . . unless she doesn’t like what I’m giving her then she’ll take whatever it is that I’m giving Evi out of my hand and make her something else entirely different. Ahhh, Latin mother-in-laws!

Well, I wish I could put some pictures for you. Sorry, no time. If you are still at the end of this post, you are a trooper!

But now I’m going to have some naranjilla juice. Jealous?