Mmmm...

Yesterday the boys and I were playing upstairs. I sneezed, and Taye told me, "you have a lot of boogers Mama!" I looked at his nasty nose, and told him he did too. I told him we should wipe his nose. He said, "I'll clean it up!" and...

Earning their keep...

I've decided that its about time the boys start pulling their own weight around here. Money doesn't grow on trees and all that business. So I put them to work making Super Chunk Toddler Crayons. They didn't seem to mind :o)

Plate-Lickin' Good!

Today Taye kept telling me, "I'm hungry Mama!" I tried to think of something he would like, but he vetoed every suggestion. Then I remembered a favorite snack - caterpillars!

I credit my Aunt Amy with introducing these to me. I can remember her watching us one time, and asking what we wanted for a snack. She joked around, suggesting dirt, rocks, etc. while we laughed and screamed, "no!" to each suggestion. When she said "caterpillars" we assumed it was part of the game, but she was serious, and made us one of these guys:

They have been a favorite of mine ever since. I mean, really - banana and peanut butter, how can you go wrong? I prefer what I like to call a 'lazy caterpillar' - take a banana, a jar of peanut butter, and a knife. Stick a little peanut butter on the end of the banana, and bite. Chew, swallow, repeat - yum!

Taye, on the other hand, prefers the old fashioned way - down to the last bite!

The long road home...

When we left Peru for the first time, Luis' mom and brother Jose came to see us off at the airport. Its always hard spending that time, knowing that it is so limited. I think it would have been easier in a lot of ways if they had said goodbye at the house. Then again, we didn't know we would be back so soon! Anyway, we found a nice place to sit together and just hang out. When it was finally time to leave, Taye actually gave Mamitita a kiss, which I am sure thrilled her.

We went through the airport fee checking site, the passport checking site, and security, and finally made it to the gate for some more waiting. Darius found a scrap of paper, and decided to do this:

Look familiar?

The first flight started out really well...almost too well. So Darius threw up all over Luis and spiked a fever, just to make things more even. I remember being stressed out about the next flight, figuring the way our luck was going they would both be throwing up by the end of it. But at least I knew we were going home...

And the clouds were pretty at least. :o)

The rest of that trip has been discussed and dissected, we are honestly tired of thinking and talking about it.

Once we finally had everything set for the next trip home (for real this time) we had to pack everything up again. We had a feeling we were forgetting something, though we still can't figure out what it could have been...

We also had to clean up the room, including the spoon stuck to the wall behind the dresser, of course.

We had a flight scheduled home from Lima to Atlanta, and then on to Boston on Saturday at 1am (the boys both slept almost the whole flight, thankfully). We landed in Atlanta at about 8am, and learned our 11am flight had been canceled, and they moved us to a 1pm flight. We were OK with that, just a couple more hours. Then it started snowing in Atlanta (I hear that happens about once every 10 years). Our flight got pushed back to 2pm. When they finally loaded us all on the plane, the pilot told us we would have to be de-iced, and were 14th or 15th in line. We sat in the plane, on the ground for 2 1/2 hours! I wanted to scream, it was so frustrating. It was supposed to be a 1hr. 45min. hop over to Boston, I could not believe our luck. But we finally made it to Boston at about 6:30pm, and after stopping for dinner, made it home around 10pm. I cannot tell you how good it felt to fall into my own bed again!!

As we were traveling around in the airports, Taye found the best way to travel:

More Pictures from Peru

Just a few that got lost in the shuffle :o)

Bath time...

 

for everyone!

Sword fighting (Taye totally kicked his butt!)

Tio Torture:

 

Stylin'

On the way home from the beach, we decided to stop by Yanina's house to ask her mom if she would be able to cut the boys' hair the next morning.  She insisted that we come in and have some arroz con leche (rice pudding - someone spread the word that I like it...)  She told us it was all ready, and to come in and sit.  She went into the back of the house get the rice.  The next thing we knew, she went running by the front door, to the neighbor next door who sells arroz con leche!  We were cracking up, she is too funny.  "Come in, sit, have some arroz con leche!  Homemade, its all ready!"  Maybe if I go in the back door and out the front, they won't notice I'm getting it from the neighbor's house...  Yanina's mom is one of the nicest people we know.  We felt bad she was going to all that trouble, but she seemed happy to have company.  We ended up staying and visiting for a while. 

Taye wanted to play in the horse kids chair that she has in her shop.  While he was sitting there, we joked that she should sneak over and start cutting, and she decided to give it a try.  He actually didn't mind at all.  After Taye was done, she cut Darius' hair too. 

She is the only one besides myself who has ever cut the boys hair, and as usual, she did a great job.  These pictures don't do them justice.

San Bartolo

Last Monday, we took the boys to the beach in San Bartolo.  It is one of my favorite places in the world.  The first time I went to Peru by myself to see Luis, I stayed with our friends Ana and Beto.  Ana's sister was renting a beach house in San Bartolo that week, and we stayed there with her family.  The house was so crowded that Luis and Beto had to sleep on the living room floor, but it was worth it (I can say that because I had a bed!)  Anyway, it was a great week, and we always talked about getting back there.  The house where we stayed is the white one at the bottom of this hill on the left, not a bad location!

We took a boat ride one afternoon with Ana and Beto, which is where we took one of my favorite pictures of the two of us.

And here we are in front of the church up the street with Ana, her sister, and her niece.

It was so nice to be able to go back with the boys.  We took Jesus with us too.  On our way out, we asked him to take a picture of the four of us in this same spot.

It was a gorgeous sunny day, perfect beach weather.  Jesus has a blast, I don't think he stopped smiling the whole time. 

Neither of the boys wanted to go in the water.  Taye would venture down to the edge, and then run away when the waves came in.

Darius had a lot of fun in the sand.  Luis and Jesus started burying themselves, and he couldn't wait to join in.

In the end, he won the "Sandiest Kid" contest - the grand prize was a nakey dip in the Pacific Ocean.

Jesus won second place - his prize was a cold shower at home.  :o)

Taye had the most fun with the spray bottle we bought on the way over (I had a hunch he would like it).

We stayed for a few hours, and then got cleaned off for the bus ride home.  We left feeling happy and relaxed, and beach-sleepy.  It was a good day.

Having fun again

So the first few days after we were sent back to Peru were terrible, no doubt. By Friday we were resigned to the waiting game. No more dead ends to pursue, nothing open all weekend, nothing to do but enjoy ourselves. We spent a couple of relaxing, uneventful days at the house before boredom struck. Luis decided to take us to the mall in Lima. Malls are a very new thing in Peru, and let me tell you, for entertainment value they put our malls to shame.

This one had a petting zoo, rides, even bumper cars! The petting zoo was free, but the rides were actually more expensive than Chuck E. Cheese. Luckily for us, our kids don't seem to mind whether we actually put money in them or not, they just like to climb up and pretend they are 'driving.' We did spring for the bumper cars though. :o) Luis and I had a blast, but the boys were surprisingly unimpressed.

Darius wasn't so sure about these cows, but since Daddy was helping him, he figured he would give them a chance.

In the end, he thought they were very funny!

On the way out, we stopped to sit for a while near the water fountain. Darius, who we cannot get to bathe at home, apparently thought this would be a good place for some washing up. I am sure the other people around us were as amused as we were (the mall is in a *very* upscale, snooty part of Lima - haha).

I can't get the video to load on here for some reason, nor will it link from YouTube, so you'll have to click here to see it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmDIj-3Kojw