Week in the Life :: Day Two

Sunday was a beautiful, sweet day. The kind of day you want to remember forever and ever amen.

I completely forgot to take photos for most of the morning, because I was cleaning the house. There was a ginormous mess in the kitchen, partly from the night before, when we had dinner together and then I left for the market, and partly from my messy Sunday pancake making. Which I forgot to take a photo of.

The kids get video game time on the weekend, so they played video games and I put music on and cleaned to my heart's content.

Then it was suddenly one o'clock and we wanted to eat lunch at a beach shack, but we weren't at a beach shack yet. I was so tired from getting home so late the night before and being woken up very early by the Leafy boy, and I couldn't make myself get moving. So I sliced some cheese and the kids had a snack.

This is what Chinua did all day. He had a concert to play that night, and had no time to practise for many days, so I told him to take all of Sunday. Normally it's a family day, but while we're preparing to move, nothing is normal.

The back stairs.

He did take a break to be a Jedi for a while.

Chinua made lightsabers for the kids out of PVC pipe, which boggles my mind. They just have these rods, but they're going to make a movie and put the special effects in themselves.

Does that look like PVC pipe? NO. What a man.

Finally I got it together and we headed off to the beach. First we walked through here.

And then here.

And then here. And the reason I show you three photos is because this coconut grove has occupied so much of my life for the last four years. Walking through the coconut grove when it's hot, or when it's dark. With crying kids, or happy kids, or kids who want to stop and examine everything, or kids who have to stop every ten steps because they have sand in their shoes. We live in the coconut grove. It's like a wall that we have to climb over to get to the beach.

Oh, here's one more.

Lunch. It was 3:00. We were being wild and unconventional. I had already eaten a giant bowl of raw tofu with sesame oil, soy sauce, and sriracha (I couldn't stop myself), so I only had a lemonana, which is blended lemon and mint, sweetened, and is the best thing in the world.

Kid A had fish fingers and naan, and everyone else had spaghetti. Kid A loves fish, and for our Sunday lunch out he always orders fish fingers or calamari golden fry. (That's the way it's written in the menu.) And the debate continues between YaYa, who is a strict vegetarian, and Kid A, who likes his meat and fish. "Why do you have to kill things to eat?" she asks. And Kid A defends himself. I appreciate that they are different in this way, that they stick up for their points of view. Chinua and I are not vegetarian, but we eat very little meat. Actually, in the last six months, I think I've eaten meat once. And that was only because my sister-in-law was here. I do love fish. We'll see what happens in Thailand, where there is a lot more meat on the menu.

A beach dog came to join us. Of course.

After about twenty-three hours, we were all finally finished, and we headed down to the water. This boy. I could eat that little person up.

The game of the day was seaweed and beach dogs. There were giant piles of seaweed washed up on shore, and happy beach dogs who wanted to play.

They were so happy. These people really like us! they were thinking. It must be because we're so interesting and good at jumping up to grab the seaweed!

Leafy floated. He is a SUPER sensory kid, and he loves to just lay around in the water.

Wrinkly watery toes.

These ladies were out in their lovely, colorful saris.

Kid A kept asking me to bring the seaweed home and cook it. I declined. But he tried a taste.

Fast forward. We have reached home, we have all showered, and I have made the daring and rare decision to bring ALL the kids to Ash, a nearby concert venue, to watch the concert. It was a collection of guitar performers.

(Kid A is sitting with me as I type, and he would really like me to tell you that we had a crazy dinner that night. We had popcorn and cookies and icecream, because it was a wild and unconventional day.)

Kid A brought a book. Of course.

It started quite late. We waited for a long time.

This photo is blurry and terrible, but I love it. The kids all got a stamp on their arm to show that they could come in, and Solo was very impressed by it. He showed our friend Jabar, who is from Turkey and is one of the Turbans. And Jabar made such a big deal of it, shouting and being amazed and calling a friend over to take a picture of him and Solo with his arm stamp. Solo was very proud. It made his whole year.

The first performer was a fusion classical guitarist. Very nice.

This is our friend, Darlini.

And then Chinua played. And he played a song for me that he's never played before, and I sat there with kids all around me, one on my lap, one sleeping beside me. Full of love. It was one of those moments, as the kids clapped really hard for Chinua, and YaYa looked back at me, happy to hear Chinua singing a song for me, that I felt the true rewards of mothering. You know how it is, lots of work, sometimes grumpiness, but then you realize you are blessed beyond belief.