Time to pack (again)

We are finally just about settled and they are packing our things for Ireland next week.  My effort at posting to the blog once a month has obviously failed.  Posting the highlights for the last three months will make our lives sound action packed and exciting. The truth is that I really spend more time on laundry, cooking, cleaning and moderating homework while Alfonso practically lives at Intel.  Fun, fun.

We went to Seattle to visit a couple of my college friends.  It rained.  We had lunch at the Space Needle and the kids were in seventh heaven because the restaurant rotated while you ate and the dessert was "free." ( It was included in the ridiculously expensive meal.)

For the boys' spring break, we went to Ohio.  It snowed.  The kids got in some quality time with family.

Alfonso spent his vacation laying tile in my parents' kitchen.  Alejandro insisted on a ribbon cutting ceremony.  (Dante also cut a ribbon from the other entrance.)

On a rare day without rain, Alfonso took the kids to the park.  Dante fell off the monkey bars and busted two bones near his elbow.

Easter was nice and relatively low key after the frenzy of the egg hunt.

While the cast was a nuisance in every other way, it made it very easy to pick out Dante on stage with 30 other Oompa Loompas in the Willie Wonka Jr musical.  The boys had fun and they performed beautifully.

We hadn't had a nice day on the weekend and consequently hadn't made it back to the beach in a while.  So on a not-so-cloudy-day, Nadia and I dropped the boys at school, went to the beach, had lunch, and made it back in time to get the boys from the bus stop.

Alfonso's mom came to visit.  It rained most of the time.

Cathy came for a quick visit. It rained almost the entire time.  (The bridge at Multnomah Falls is still under repair.)

Somewhere along the way, there was a sunny day and we hit the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival.  Unfortunately, the rest of Oregon also thought it would be the perfect day to go as well and we waited an hour to get in the parking lot to be surrounded by hundreds of people.  Insane.

While we have had some gorgeous days here and there, the photo below is a little better representation of our experience here.

Next post will be from across the pond!  At least, I hope so.  This move to Ireland has been in the works for about two years and it is starting to feel a bit anti-climatic.

Another month -- here and gone

There's really nothing too exciting to report but I'm forcing myself to post just to keep the habit.  We have settled into somewhat of routine without really feeling settled at all.  These short relo assignments are exhausting.

The area had a rare snowstorm and we were housebound for four days.  Unfortunately, I missed the wonderful opportunity to take a picture of Alfonso shoveling snow in cowboy boots.

Dante lost a mouth full of teeth -- 3 in one night.  He had to leave a pouch for the tooth fair who is now broke.

Mom came to visit but the weather was typical winter weather for Portland -- cold and rainy.  So we didn't do too much.  The kids loved the science labs at OMSI so we'll be headed there again soon.

There was one sunny day so we went back to the beach.  The wind was brutal, so it was a short visit.  I never get tired of the ocean.  However, the extra laundry that accompanies each trip I could do without.  

Oregon Again

I can't believe it's been a month since we arrived in Oregon.  The moving process was painful but some fabulous friends stepped in and helped us out.  Compared to New Mexico, there is a severe shortage of sunshine.  However, it has been unusually bright for January in Oregon.  We have had two gorgeous days at the beach so we can't complain too much.

The first day we walked into the boys' new school, I was enamored with the beautiful building, facilities and grounds.   However, after a couple weeks, I was desperately missing their former charter school.  While they used to eat lunch in the library, their former program, teachers and community excelled in every way that matters.  I just keep telling myself that it is only temporary.

We took a trip down the Columbia River Gorge.  The sun was out but it was still bitter cold and windy.  I had been all excited about hiking to the top of Multnomah Falls.  I didn't do it last go round because the boys were so little.  During the second week of January, a boulder fell and smashed a hole in the century old bridge.  Hopefully, it will be repaired before we leave.  

Most of the NM transplants got to head straight to Ireland without the detour to Oregon.  I know we'll be there soon enough but I have to admit that I'm a little jealous listening to the stories of their Irish adventures. We have some good friends here and we are trying to make the most of our time.  It's just hard to really get settled or feel at home when we'll be leaving so soon.

I will try to post here on a monthly basis.  Chances are there will be more to write about once we are overseas.  I bought the boys journals and I'm making them write entries after each outing.  So I might put excerpts from their ramblings as well.  Ale actually does a nice job capturing the memories while Dante wants to document each trip to the bathroom because it is obviously hysterical subject matter.  

The kids are adjusting well enough.  They have each other for support both figuratively and literally.  I hope they will treasure the moments that this experience provides.

                             

Labor Day Weekend

Just a test as I'm seeing if this blog should be renamed Lazarus. 

We had promised Dante a trip to Carlsbad Caverns when he had a bat obsession this summer.  (He has since moved on to Greek mythology but that's another story.)  The kids did an amazing job hiking.  We stayed and saw the bats fly out of the cave at dusk.  Awesome.

We also stopped at White Sands and had as much silliness as we could manage in the 100 degree heat.

Great weekend and our quality time with our fabulous friends in Roswell was the icing on the cake.  (The whole alien/government conspiracy theory had to be explained during the course of the trip.  They are convinced of an alien landing but then Dante also believes that Smurfs must exist in at least one dimension.)

it was inevitable

Well, it's pretty obvious by now that I'm not going to keep up with the blog on a regular basis.  So you'll have to settle for some random pictures.

(This was somehow never posted.  I probably had some misguided idea that I would have time for captions.  It has pictures from Alejandro's preschool.  So needless to say it's a bit out of date.  Poor Nadia wasn't even around.  But I just logged in as this blog may need to be resurrected in the near future.  May as well post it!)

time flies when you aren't eating hummus

Well, we've been back in the States for about five months and there are still boxes stacked in the garage waiting to be unpacked. Heavy sigh. The kids are pretty much readjusted to life here except that Dante still asks to go to the sand dunes. I must say the grocery shopping is infinitely easier here although now I never know for sure if the mouthwash is kosher or not. I don't have a final reflection on our relocation. It's hard to summarize a year's worth of experiences and memories into a quick blurb. That said -- I'm really glad we went.

Anyhow, the summer flew by. Alejandro starts preschool next week already. He's really excited especially since they'll be speaking english! Too much has happened to give a true update without taking forever and a day and being that I'm inherently lazy when it comes to spending time on the computer -- I'm just posting a bunch of pictures with captions.

I never remember Mom playing swords with us when we were little...

Dante is finally potty trained! Woohoo!

They still love dress up no matter what country we live in..

Alejandro loves an excuse to wear his "fancy clothes." (This was a cousins' wedding in AZ.)

Dante is so trouble. When he's not putting on my makeup, he's filling the bathroom drawers with water, attempting to flush entire rolls of toilet paper, unstuffing the couch cushions, rearranging furniture to climb on the counters, turning on the garden hose to squirt whatever he can , adding random spices while we are baking brownies, and bringing bugs into the house. It's okay because he calls me "Honey" and tells me he loves me as soon as he gets caught.

A little love between Alejandro and his "Father" (they still won't call him Papa or Dad -- it's always Father.)

Don Quixote de la Mancha (I'm not kidding -- that's who they like to pretend to be. Although Dante says "Don Quixote de la Caca" just to be trouble.)

Obviously not NM!! How I miss the greenery in Ohio (oh yeah, and the family too!)

Dante finally has the attention span for crafts so now I have two of them begging to make things.

Alfonso took the boys camping last weekend. They loved burning marshmallows!

Poor Dante has started having nightmares as of late. We get midnight visits to chase rattlesnakes out of his bed and reports of being eaten by bears.

Reunion with The El Paso Cousins (plus Abuelita)

Reunion with the Ohio cousins (more blond hair, more blue eyes, a lot less spanish dialogue)

Alfonso and I snuck away by ourselves to Arches National Park in Utah.

Anyhow, I'll try to keep the blog updated a bit better now that we are (almost) settled in but no promises.

Love always,

Debi