well, it was 15+ MONTHS ago that we joyfully bought the kids new bikes, put them behind a locked gate hidden under stairs behind a 10 foot cement breezeblock wall and the next day….they were GONE….we were pretty pissed.  and could not even begin to get ourselves to buy 2 MORE new bikes….

but then 15+ months went by….and zoe still didn’t know how to ride a bike….nad guilty parent syndrome set in….and they both had christmas and birthday money – so today was the day….

as lovely and life-skill-learning-momentous-occasion as teaching your kids to ride a bike is i am here to tell you that it is also backbreaking and total frustration central.

but then, they GET IT and weeee!  it’s fun!  now the problem is how will i keep up with them? i don’t actually have a bike anymore…..

and the bikes will be kept inside….since not even laundry detergent is safe-more on that in the next installment of panama 101.

This is the book that i read.

This is the book that laid on the floor that i read.

This is the book that laid on the floor that is in spanish that i read.

This is the book that laid on the floor that is in spanish that took me a year that I read.

This is the book – that makes me so proud – that laid on the floor that is in spanish that took me a year that i read.

This is the book that i mostly understood – that makes me so proud – that laid on the floor that is in spanish that took me a year.  that.  i.  read.

1 mama, 2 kids, 1 auntie

12+ hours of driving

7+ police checkpoints

1 portable DVD player plus fleece jackets and JEANS!

finding paradise in panama : priceless

we really packed it in…we had 3 days total to get there, check it out, enjoy the heck out of it and get back.  stayed in valle escondido.  missed the crowds as this is NOT a carnival hotspot.  hit the trail on ATVs (very proud of brave mama and auntie). hit several downtown spots for yummy food.  hit the freezing cold  pool right outside room.  hit the vino and huge wheel of manchego we brought along while the kids played in the pool.  really really enjoyed the friendly people – especially the gal at el explorador garden – where she turned her yard (already a paradise – up in the mountains of Boquete) into an ecogarden where she welcomes anyone and gives a warmhearted tour.  this woman was an angel and i don’t think any of us would have said “no” if she invited us to stay.  one of those people/places that you want to bottle up and bring with you for all the times when you run into grouchy buttheads.  one of those “thank God there are people like her” people

PANAMA 101: this is where I comment, rant, and rave about the quirkiness of Panama.

One will RARELY if ever see a lawnmower here in Panama, even tho’ there is a serious need to cut the grass constantly.  In the wet season you’ve got the jungle growing around your house if you don’t hack it back regularly.  In the dry season, you’ve got grass fires all over the place with ash raining from the sky.

The preferred methods of cutting grass are 1. machetes and 2. weedwhackers.  Mostly, where we live, the weedwhacker is the go to tool of the trade.  So there are these weedwhacker guys covered from head to toe with protective clothing…they even fashion these facecovers out of t-shirts and wear sunglasses and – I must say – look a tad creepy.

The other interesting (and sort of sad) thing about these guys is that they get carted around like cattle in the backs of these stick trucks and take them from place to place.

There is invariably several crews of them working at the path where I run in the mornings.  There are invariably little pods of them taking a break right next to the path and they invariably stare at me with these hard looks as I pass by.  If I am feeling good I will shoot them a “Buenos dias” and that usually surprises them enough that they stop staring.  But on a bad day, like today, where it takes a bloody eternity to pass by the silent staring trio or quad of unmoving faceless men, i want to know how to fly or become invisible.  Today, tho’, as i was walking by a gaggle of gawkers-not feeling up to looking them in the spot where i imagine their eyes are and saying anything- I just picked up my speed a little when one of them said (this is groundbreaking) “Buen dia.”  I just looked at him smiled, sighed and said “buen dia.”  I kind of wanted to hug him and say, “gracias.”

I am not sure i can even get my brain around that.  WHAT a kid.  He is getting to be so funny and so …. COOL!  I love how he still plays Harry Potter outside with a stick (or a chopstick if he can find one).  I love so many things about Liam.

So i started to try to plan this big paintball birthday party (what he wanted at first)… I was stressing about getting it done and who to invite – since his 3 top buddies are gone…..finally – i asked Liam (kind of bracing myself for him to get upset) “buddy, how ’bout going surfing with papa – just you and Papa- instead of doing a party?”  … he was almost in tears with relief….”yes, please.”  was all he said.  He just wanted to have a day – a morning where it was JUST him and Papa.  Driving (he gets to ride in the front seat) and listening to music and surfing together, simple and perfect.  Which is how i would describe both those boys…simple and perfect….

Then the rest was the ultra simple (well, becasue Trini made the sauce) Family birthday celebration….SIMPLE and PERFECT… spaghetti a la Trini, gooey brownies a la Mama, and the added perk of Grampa Nolan and Gramma Charlene here to help us sing “happy birthday”.

The story behind the foggy picture of Liam and Eirk is the 6 months of desperate need for a new AC…and it got really desperate right before N &C came to visit (crowded is one thing….crowded and hot is altogether different)….the whole installation process was comical – everytime these guys came it was sith 7 or 8 people – including the extended family…then there were 2 days with no air at all – and then 2 days with the new AC BLASTING us into the Arctic Tundra with no controller.  We hauled out the fleece and the down comforters….Anyway – when you bring a very cold camera out into the very hot….this is the kind of picture you get if you are not patient.

gramma charlene and grampa nolan came to town last week…they stayed at our house for three (crowded) nights and we had a blast…. i have to hand it to them – that is NOT their M.O…I do believe it was I who handed down the challenge a few years back and they really rose to it.  Especially for Charlene – coming off chemo and 6 months in bed (in a comfie spacious home) – straight into the crazy (crowded) house with kids wanting all her attention….it couldn’t have been easy.

they went to the intercontinental resort at playa bonita for the rest of the week (to recover) and invited us for a day and night of playing in the pool and enjoying one another in a more spacious location.  it was heaven!  now we look forward to the reunion and meeting a couple new-ish neices and hanging out on Camano in June!!

our gypsy lifestyle has brought us into contact with some really cool people.

these are some of them – Ben and Carter are Liam’s buddies from school and football…his mom, Nicolle, is as cool as they come.

but – as is the way with us itchy-feet types, they took off.

luckily, tho – they moved back to Evergreen, Colorado.  and we were able to visit them on our trip over the christmas break.

and, look!  Zoe was lucky enough to inherit my ankle strength in the ice skating department.

well.  it sounds as tho Jerry and Ann might be moving.  we will miss Christmas at the Sadler’s …  it just FEELS like Christmas there.

granted we flew in from the tropics…anything would have felt more like christmas to us.

but it’s more than the snow and the cabin-y comfie house.  it’s more than the little knick knacks and same candles they have had for 38 years (at least) that have never been lit….- it’s more than the same ornaments that i hung on the tree as a girl……..more than sitting on the same chair that has been reupholstered time and again.

…it’s watching the kids watch each other open their presents….it’s their faces when they discover santa has come….it’s gramma sitting and smiling as they open their gifts…and grampa opening his socks and underpants that he gets every year.

there is nothing like colorado in the winter time.  we will always go there, i think.

and nothing like christmas with family.

these guys.

this zips us forward to last weekend – right before school started back up – right as i thought i might lose my mind….

a dear friend offered us space at a rental house on the carribean side.  yyyyyeeeees!!!!!

about 20 miles down the road – through Portobello and all the ruins from Drake’s fort and past the church where the Christo Negro is, you can catch a little boat out to where there was SICK surf that day and heavenly beach with shade and grassy areas to relax situated RIGHT on top of where the guys surf.  AND it just happens to be be on the other side of where most people want to go.  so we had it very nearly to ourselves….Isla Grande…it was heaven…

i love the picture of the kids on the boat racing straight INTO the huge waves on a not-so-sturdy-boat to pick up one of the surfers ….i love how i am next to erik taking the picture from very far away in a totally different boat….does that qualify us for MOTY and FOTY?  chime in here, people.  we want to be in the running.

this.  was a great day.

and.  i.  just.  LOVE.  my.  family.