Watching The Wheels

We're back to a more mundane lifestyle this past week, but it's welcomed after the draining two weeks of medical care. My leg continues to heal and is less of a focus, although it still requires daily cleaning and bandaging. Micah has become a master bug murderer, smashing anything that comes near me since I'm likely to squirm in fear of another bite.

I promise, this should be the last picture. Taken yesterday.

Getting back to the routine, we spent one long day painting Kaiden's room/the spare room/where we sleep. Micah has spent a few afternoons destroying grass with a shovel and machete to make space for the raised garden beds. On Tuesday, I forced Micah to go golfing and offered to be his caddy but once we were told it cost $10 to ride along, I decided I'd rather pay a few bucks more and just play. I ended up playing the best golf of my life, even out-scoring Micah on two holes (both par 3s). He has threatened to burn the scorecard. Thursday, there was a small birthday get-together for one of the guys that works with Angie. We met ~10 people at the employee house after their work day was done and drank some Jamaica Rum in his honor. I happily drank an extra glass to celebrate the completion of 16 days of antibiotics.

Now every big wall in the house has been painted

Celebrating two and a half years old!

Yesterday (Friday) afternoon, Angie and I drove to Managua to buy groceries, spend the night and pick up our parents at the airport this morning. We had high expectations of our girls night out; there was talk of massages, hair salons, movies. Detours and traffic burst our bubbles a bit, and after finishing the grocery shopping at 9:00pm, we nixed all ideas and crashed early in our air-conditioned hotel. My parents red-eye flight arrived an hour late this morning, and our car full of Smetanas, luggage and food arrived back on property a few hours ago. 

Speaking of the property, and since you're all caught up on the weeks highlights, I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you more about this little place we call our temporary home. Angie has lived here at Gran Pacifica for six years and has seen the property grow, especially recently. This gated surfing community is 100+ acres of property and almost 4 miles of Pacific beach. Of all that land, about a third is developed; mostly homes owned by Westerners, a 30 unit condominium and a 9 hole golf course. The property fills up on the weekends, but during the week it's pretty peaceful, with few cars around and long walks without seeing another soul.

Our day to day here at "home" differs slightly, but overall the routine is the same. Since Kaiden was 3 weeks old, Angie has had Sara coming to the house to help out. Sara comes six days per week to play with Kaiden, cook lunch and clean. It is often Kaiden yelling to her in Spanish or singing that wakes us around 7:30am each morning. We're able to drift in and out of sleep until 8:30am when he begins banging on our bedroom door yelling for us to wake up and then yelling in annoyance that we locked the door. Guilt forces us out of bed shortly after and our comfort breakfast usually consists of peanut butter and banana covered toast or yogurt.

Once we're ready to tackle the day, we do one of two things: play with Kaiden or work on a house project. Or the third option: golf. Kaiden is obsessed with tractors and throwing things, so often we're either chasing down the tractor on property for him to sit on, or he's playing frisbee or soccer with us. This allows Sara time to make lunch for the six of us. We love this because it's always a typical Nica meal: rice and beans, served with chicken or beef, sometimes includes a cucumber & tomato salad or fried plantains. Often the meat and veggies will be thrown together into a soup served over rice. Angie and Osman meet us at home for their lunch break around noon and we all eat together, coaxing Kaiden to eat food that is not chocolate.

This is followed by singing and rocking in a hammock before Kaiden falls asleep for his nap. I'm envious of Kaiden's young life for many reasons, the obvious being the ocean to play in and all the land that he can run freely on. But everytime he falls asleep swinging in a hammock, I know he's got it good. With him down, we've got two hours to complete our house projects. Or be lazy and watch TV. Once Kaiden is awake, tradition the past few weeks is that he and Micah will spend the next hour or two in the pool at the house. Micah deserves credit for the unusual children songs that Kaiden knows, farting with his armpit, and fake shaving his "beard." Once my wound is more closed, I'm looking forward to more afternoons at the beach to build sand castles and collect seashells. 

Rinsing off after pool time

Angie is home from work often around 5, and our evenings are spent together like a family. Kaiden always goes for a sunset ride in the golf cart, requesting different company each time. Those not looking for snakes and skunks in the golf cart often make dinner, which tends to be more Americanized than our lunch. Micah leans towards Asian cuisine when he cooks, Osman does a mean hamburger, Angie likes her salads and burritos, and there's often pasta or salad when I cook. I've realized I miss baking, which isn't very common here, so there's been more desserts and breads to spoil ourselves with lately. After dinner, the TV is on while Kaiden burns off the last of his energy and usually ends up being our live dodgeball target. It is a good life.

With my parents here, we were kicked out of the spare room and we are now renting a bed in the empty house next door. We have plans for a family BBQ tomorrow night to celebrate my dad's retirement and there's been talk of golf. Micah and I plan to stay another two weeks to catch up on life and prepare our bodies and minds to return to the road in the future.