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

before, after and in between

Right before we left Albuquerque at the beginning of our travels...
A year later, in Arizona, post our trip to Oregon, prior to our journey to Israel...

Ready to return older, wiser, and toilet trained... (Well, Dante's working on the last one.)

jordan

I'd read that Jordan was the safest country in the Middle East for Westerns and very hospitable but I thought that was just relative to the countries that wanted us dead. I was unprepared for how kind and welcoming the Jordanians are. At the border crossing, Alfonso was joking with one of the guards that his reddish brown liquid in a small glass with no handles was Scotch. He got a puzzled look at first as Muslims don't drink alcohol and didn't catch the reference but the guard graciously insisted Alfonso have his tea (which was so saturated with sugar that it began to recrystallize on my teeth when I took a sip.) All day long, people were playing with the kids. The vendors would chat and joke even though we weren't looking to buy. Their English was much better than Israelis'.
In the Arab parts of Israel, generally there is an air of suspicion or distrust (on both sides.) I always feel out of place and uneasy. In Jordan, people were smiling and seemed very happy. It was a really positive experience and I'm glad we went. That said -- when I say "people in Jordan" I'm referring to the males we encountered. The only females (excluding other tourists) we saw were ones we passed on the drive who were hanging laundry or chasing after goats. (I'm assuming they were women buried under clothes, scarves and veils with slits for their eyes.) Although no one treated me any differently (as the sole female member of our entourage.)

Petra, an ancient city carved into rock by the Nabateans, is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Despite weather reports that it would be 60 deg, there was snow on the ground from the previous day. We piled on all the clothes we had brought for the kids but they were still cold.

Our guide stood where the priest would have stood to perform marriages to be blessed by their god (which was represented by a block carved in the wall across from us.) The bride and groom usually didn't have kids yet strapped to their backs.

The gorge, called the Siq, was created by an earthquake and leads into the city.

The Treasury is one of the more intricate carvings. The little pock holes on either side were carved for foot holes so that people could climb up and chip away the faces of the statues during the icon destruction during the eight century.

Some Bedouins welcomed us into their cave to warm ourselves by the fire. Although they had goods to sell, there wasn't pressure to buy like in Jerusalem. The man's family had been living in the caves there for the last 250 years. He said kings, presidents and celebrities all come to see Petra and would visit his cave. He didn't buy Alfonso's claim to be from the States and insisted he was Israeli or at least a Jewish American. He seemed satisfied with the Mexican heritage story. There may have been a contributing factor that our Israeli friend was with us who looks distinctly Jewish (who sat very quietly during this exchange.)

Dante was more interested in the donkeys, horses and camels than in some holes carved into rocks. Go figure!

Alejandro went on a photo strike half way through the trip. Not just refusing to smile, refusing to show his face.

Heading out of Jordan, one of the guards scooped up Alejandro and just as quickly, Alejandro swiped the guy's hat and put it on his own head amidst the laughter of all the other guards.

We stopped at the aquarium in Eilat. Alejandro climbed into the shark and pretended to be eaten alive. But then he couldn't climb out and really started to panic. Poor guy! This pic is from when it was still fun and games.

The park had a really cool under water observatory 100 meters from the shore. There's a bridge that leads out to sea, then a staircase descends down into the midst of coral reef with a huge assortment of colorful fish. The kids just wanted to go to the playground.

What happens when you throw a white towel into the Red Sea?

It gets wet!

Love always,

Debi