Audrey's first day of preschool

She did a great job! She was excited last night (she picked out her clothes, decided how she wanted her hair, and selected her breakfast menu) and this morning, but I was afraid that when it was time for Avery and I to leave her there, she was going to be sad. Nope. She kissed me, hugged Avery (Avery started crying because she thought she was getting left there also) and then walked to the other side of the classroom to start playing. Not even a glimmer of a sad look, which was a little sad for me, but mostly makes me ecstatic!

When we picked her up, she wanted to stay for an extra 30 minutes to have lunch with her new friends. Awesome!

Here are some pix of her before school eating breakfast, some before-school trampoline play, pushing the button in the elevator, and standing next to her cubbyhole.

A little late

First, happy 2nd birthday Avery (2 weeks late)!! She's been walking around singing Happy Birthday in both English and Spanish for the last 3 weeks (she even sang it for the doctor on Tuesday at her 2-year check-up). As soon as I can find the video camera, I'll upload some video of her in action. She's obviously the 2nd child ... I think Audrey's 2nd birthday pix were up within hours of the action... =)

Second, Iain's first day of class was on Tuesday, and so far, so good. Again, as soon as I find the video camera, I'll upload the video of him on his way out the door (at 5:57am to catch the bus to the train to the next train to walk a few blocks to school).

Third, Audrey's favorite new thing to do is to set Avery up so that Audrey can tell on her. As background, Avery almost always says "yes" or "uh-huh" to anything Audrey asks. So earlier this week, Avery was drinking water out of a cup we were all sharing. The conversation went like this:

Audrey: "Avery, are you going to drink all the water?"
Avery: "Uh-huh"
Audrey (in a tattle-tale voice): "MOMMY, Avery says she's going to drink all the water."

Then, this morning, Avery and Audrey were standing in the kitchen while I was getting breakfast ready. Audrey said she wanted to help and I told her okay. Avery was standing there, minding her own business. Then Audrey says "Mommy, I just need to ask Avery one thing." The next part:

Audrey: "Avery, do you want Mommy to do it by herself so that I can't help?"
Avery: "Uh-huh."
Audrey: "MOMMY, Avery says she doesn't want me to help!"

Lastly, a couple of pix of the girls from this afternoon on their new roller coaster.

Happy Birthday Iain

We're home and we had a great time! We had a bad storm the week before we left and the internet wasn't working, so sorry for the lack of blogging. Hopefully I'll get back around to posting some pix and stories from our last 2 weeks. In the meantime, here's a video of Iain's birthday on Monday night (this was the pre-cake singing).

Avery Praying

From dinner tonight.

Fun with Daddy

From last night.

Cows in the road, tire swings and the beach

A few videos from our weekend. The first one is from the window of our bus on the way to the coast (this was the second herd we saw from the bus; I'm sorry I didn't get video of the first herd because there were about twice as many and they were taking up the entire road). The second is in a little park where we stopped for breakfast. The third is the beach where our hotel was (and was within 5 minutes of arriving).

When we were on the boat, we explained to Avery and Audrey that if they fell overboard, not to panic. Their lifejackets would keep them above water and Daddy would be in right behind them to get them. We told them this every time we got on the boat, and they always nodded but didn't say anything. When we got home last night, Audrey was telling Elmo about our trip (she always likes to brief him about the things she's done and have him ask her questions). So the very first thing she started telling him after he said "what did you do this weekend" was "yeah, if you go in the boat, Daddy will help you put floaties on and then if you fall in the water, you don't have to be scared. You'll float and Daddy will come get you, so you don't need to worry, Elmo."

The Pacific Coast

We left early Saturday morning for a trip to some islands off the Pacific Coast. We went with a group from our school that, to Iain's disappointment, only wanted to speak English. However, the beauty of the places we travelled more than made up for the lack of Spanish.

We rode a bus for 2 hours to get on a small boat to take us out to a big boat for a 20-minute ride (think fast and fun!) to get on a little inflated dinghy to take us to the shore. We arrived at an island in the middle of nowhere, where a couple of Americans had built a house to take people on chartered fishing trips. I guess there were no fishermen this weekend, so we took advantage of their beautiful house and awesome cooking (it was 3 guys doing the cooking, so we weren't expecting much, but the food was way better than anything I've ever made). The 4 of us all slept on a full-size bed (it was the worst night of sleeping I've ever had, but the girls seemed to do fine).

Anyway, after we got off the dinghy, Audrey just wanted to strip her clothes off and run in the waves. It was awesome to watch her (and as soon as Avery saw what was going on, she was quickly following suit).

We saw a crocodile swimming in the water (the lagoon behind the house is apparently where about 10 of them live) ... don't worry, it wasn't swimming close to the beach. =)

On Sunday, we took the boat to another island which, again, was in the middle of nowhere. It looked exactly like the image you would conjure in your head of a tropical deserted island. On most of the island was thick vegetation. Then, in one little lagoon, was a perfectly white sandy beach with coconut palms in the background and crystal blue water. We had to climb down the boat ladder and swim to shore, which Audrey wasn't so crazy about, but both girls had their flugles on the whole time and did a super job. We just sat on the beach making sandcastles and running around, drinking coconut milk, and Iain and I took turns snorkeling. It was so much fun! And I think we managed to escape without any sunburns, which if you know our pasty white family, is quite a feat! =)

The entire trip was about perfect (3 minutes from arriving back home, Avery threw up on the bus, but as soon as we got off, she seemed to be fine, so I'm thinking maybe it was carsickness).

Pix are below. The pic of Iain and another guy (Gerardo) in red shirts are them showing off their Spain pride for the WorldCup final. (Yes, Iain quickly abandoned Brazil after they lost and became a die-hard Spain fan.) The pic of Audrey and the young Panamanian girl is from Audrey sitting in the front of the bus on the way home. She was SOOOOOOOO excited to sit up there and we could see her talking non-stop for the first hour (the second hour she slept). Anyway, we think she was speaking completely in English, and we don't think the girl understood anything Audrey said, but they seemed to be having an awesome time.