Scenes From a Birthday Party.

Baby Gray,* successfully turned one on Monday, and to celebrate we had a small party to commemorate his first year. As a treat, Grandma flew in to town, and his favorite auntie was there, along with a few of the neighborhood kids. Gray opened a few gifts, destroyed a cupcake, and spent the better part of the hour trying to figure out why everyone kept singing to him, and taking his picture. In short, it was like any other first birthday. A few tears were shed (mostly by the LM when someone else attempted to blow out Gray's candles) and just like this first year, it was over in a blink of an eye. After Gray went to bed, the grownups stayed for our first barbecue, and we toasted to the little guy with the big smile. 

 
* Now that he's one, can I still refer to him as a baby? "Toddler Gray" just doesn't have the same ring to it... maybe when he's 30 he can stop being the baby? Maybe...

Baby Boy Is 1!!!!!!!

Happy happy birthday to the silliest/ smiliest/ LOUDEST/ sweetest/ craziest/ fattest/ cuddliest boy there ever was. You have brought so much joy into all of our lives, and it's amazing to think that there was a time when your toothy smile wasn't the first thing we saw every morning. This year has gone by in a blink of an eye, and I wish every day that there was a way to stop time, because I know that soon you are going to loose that baby fat, and the next thing I know you are probably going to be 5 going on 16... just like your big brother. I suppose that's okay too, just so long as you promise to still cuddle with your mommy, while sucking your thumb, saying "ma ma ma ma ma ma" all day long. Your family loves you more than you know, and we can't wait to see the little boy you are going to become over the next year.

We love you to pieces-

Nada Mucho.

  I wish I had more to report from down here (or "the face of the sun" as I now call it) but, heading in to week three of our vacation (or trip as I now call it, because really, entertaining two kids all day in the middle of the jungle is a little more work than it is relaxing) we have found ourselves in a pattern where every day is the same, and we have pretty much adjusted to the slow pace of life. Overall are having a great time. 

I can't say, though, that we haven't had our ups and downs. Gray is STILL working on those top two back molars (to match the bottom two that poked through at the beginning of our trip) and the pain + the lack of constant stimulation makes him a bit more crabby than usual. Sometimes a LOT more crabby than usual. Then there is the family time. Family time is awesome. I feel like in a few years we will look back on this time and be so grateful that we were all able to spend an entire month together, completely uninterrupted. No work, no T.V., no obligations... no distractions. It really has been a gift for all of us. That being said, a month is a LONG time to be with your family with no distractions. Seriously. My husband said to me the other night, that he's not sure if people were meant to spend this much time together. Especially people who know how to push every single button on each other. I call it Survivor, Family Edition. I'm pretty sure we will all make it home in one piece, but that's not to say it hasn't been touch and go here and there ;) Thursday, marks 3 weeks since we've been here, and I'm sure during our final days we will again be back in sync, reveling in the beauty of this country, and dreading life back in the city (which from what I've heard is also as hot as the face of the sun.)

I already know the things I am going to remember the most about this trip: Watching the LM pop up on his first wave. Biking down the beach with baby Gray holding on to the back of my shirt. Eating fresh mango's from the tree. Drinking beers with my sister, with our toes in the sand, watching the sun set. Playing Marco Polo with a kid who doesn't understand the concept of keeping his eyes closed in the water...or hiding. Huddling around the laptop, watching Breaking Bad,  (sooooo good) with my hubby and my sis, after the kids have gone to bed. The 10 minutes I spend curled up in Gray's pack and play, yesterday, right after he woke up from his nap. Everyone else had gone ahead to breakfast, and for a period of time I was able to just lay still, next to him, while he sucked his thumb. 

These are the moments that don't exist in our "real" lives. These are the things that get lost in the shuffle. These are the moments that I will remember 10 years from now, when I look at my teenagers and wonder where the time went.

At least this is what I keep telling myself, my mantra, especially on days when we are at each others throats. I'm pretty sure 5 people weren't ment to spend this much time alone together, but I feel very blessed that we were able to do so. 

A Few Things...

A few things that are making me smile today. 

Fresh Mamon Chinos (Lychees) with my morning coffee.

Some early morning brotherly love.

A house with all new hiding places.

The LM's new obsession... superhero legos.

 (These little babies got us through our 12 hour nighmare flight)

Homemade overnight oats, and some light reading... with a view. 

A long bike ride to the organic market.

Our haul. 

I'm pretty sure it doesn't get any beter than this. :)

P.S. Last night we watched the new Bob Marley documentary Marley, and it was awesome!!! I highly recommend it! We've been blasting Legend from my iPod all morning long!

Gray + Bike.

Since we've been down here, right around 4 pm, Gray gets super fussy. It's like clockwork. He gets this look on his face that says "if you try to put me in that giant bathtub (the pool) or that enormous sandbox (the beach) one more time, I am going to have to drop a serious meltdown on all y'all.*" Relying on the LM playbook, we remembered what his favorite pastime was when he was was about Gray's age, and we quickly found a bycycle built for two. Now, every night, we take off on a little tour of the jungle, looking for monkeys, crabs, lizzards, and birds. Gray not only loves our nightly little rides, but now he has begun to sing for most of the trip. I can't think of a better way to spend the afternoon.

 

*Apparenltly Gray is now from the deep south ;)

Just Add Water.

 What do you have to do to make my boys happy? Just add water. 

It took the LM about one day to figure out that surfing is "just like skatebarding." I'm a little afraid of what is going to happen when this kid turns five!

Happy Sunday!!!!

New Day, New Country.

  Holy dissapearing act! Clearly, I underesimated how much time it would take for me to pack for a family of 5, for a month, for a place where very few things are easily accessable... with the LM home from school. At the last minute I was able to pull it all together, and Sunday we embarked on our 36 hour journey that led us to our home away from home; Nosara, Costa Rica. The trip down was not what you can call uneveventful (we were those people stuck on a tarmack with a not so happy baby for THREE HOURS, until I called the FAA from the plane and somehow got the kids and I permission to deplane to a holding cell for another two hours while our plane was repaired) but that was last week, we all survived, and for the past few days we have been living it up, going from pool, to beach, to pool, to beach, to nap, to beach, to pool... you get the idea.

Here are a few pictures from our journey thus far. Hope you all are staying cool (since when does it get 100 degrees in Boston????) and that you all are able to get in a little water time this weekend!!!