Ali’s mom and our niece, Lea, arrived today. Ouest was understandably excited. The kids warmed right up to Grandma and then Ouest zeroed in on Lea. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so excited to play with somebody. She was smiling from ear to ear the entire afternoon. Man … Read More

Today was a landmark day for me. Ouest and I were out walking the neighborhood. We were a couple blocks further up the hill in the locals neighborhood when a car pulled up alongside us, rolled down a window, and asked me in Spanish how to get back down to Centro. … Read More

Ouest has never been the type to ask for stuff. We can still walk through Walmart, browse the toy aisle, and leave empty-handed without a fuss. Same goes for the check-out lines at the grocery stores, littered with stuff designed to turn kids into slobbering messes. Ouest just organizes the … Read More

Ali and I have sort of an unofficial competition going on to see who Lowe gets hurt the most with. This one was my bad. I swear he can be going along just fine and then BAM!, before it even registers in your mind he is on the ground face … Read More

A couple days ago Ouest and I went out to the boat to check on things. Everything looked good, dock lines, fenders, bilge pumps, and no water leaks. Then I went and did something stupid. I pumped the toilet. Figured I’d just pump the water through for a minute before … Read More

“Grande!” is Ouest’s latest word in her ever expanding Spanglish dictionary. What’s the opposite of grande? Small. The kids devour mangos. So much so that I’ve made up a song for them based on that beauty of disco, Dancing Queen. They of course are the Mango Queen and Mango King. … Read More

Ali cooked a meatloaf today. How’s that for midwestern? Yes, it’s another first. There has been more and more cooking going on around here lately and I blame it all on the kids. And before you chefs out there get all uppity in our face about it, let me just … Read More

We said goodbye to Grammy and Aunt Beth this morning. But first we climbed up the fake lighthouse up the block from us for some family photos. That went well. Yeah. Lowe was struggling to break free of Grammy’s arms and dive over the railing while Ouest just decided she … Read More

Ouest and I tend to disappear in the mornings while Ali puts Lowe down for a nap and takes care of all the other stuff there is to do to keep us all clean and fed. Last night there was a beauty of a storm so today’s walk was cool, … Read More