Ants and peeling skin, both are brought on with the help of the sun, and both are affecting our lives! But lets not dwell on that, where did we last leave off, oh yes....Miss Rry's bday. Now that was a day that will go down in the history. It had it's high points, as well as some very scary ones. The day started off with a visit from Marie and Stuart, they were heading in to town and would be back for the lift off, Rryla's ascent from the beach that is. Mark started the day off right with a french toast breakfast for us all, than we threw our bathing suits on and headed for the beach. Now i must add this in, because quite frankly it has been ageing me far faster than i ever wanted, but you know when you are thirty something and your slipping into your bikini, looking at yourself in the mirror and noticing the flaws, but feeling not so bad about the overall pkg considering your pregnancy's and all. You walk down to the beach with your kids feeling pretty good, than you notice those looks, you know from the gentlemen, and than it's like you got slapped in the face, or kicked by a donkey, and you realized those boys aren't looking at you, they are looking at your teenaged daughters!!!! Agast!. firstly, im not ready for them to stop looking in my direction, and more importantly, absolutely i am not ready for them to be looking at my girls!, oh, but enough about me and my almost mid life crisis, lets get back to Rryla's birthday. We set ourselves up on the beach and played in the waves for awhile. They were noticeably larger than the day before, too big really for the little ones. Marie and Stu showed up from their trip to town, it was show time. Rry was ready. We headed over to the parasailing crew, camera, and video camera in hand, along with a belly full of nerves, (mine of course). I switched on the video camera and tried to stay calm as i interviewed Rrylas emotions before take off. She was excited, yet calm....inside i was scared. I watched as they gave her the instructions, than,,,,,,,,zooom, she was off, i wasn't ready, but again, it wasn't about me. She was soaring in the air so high, so fast, they had said they'd give her an extra long ride since it was her birthday, was that really necessary?!! It seemed like an eternity before she came down. My heart was in my throat the whole time. She came down gentley, like a kiss on the wind, smiling all the while.....ahhhh i breathed a sigh of relief, thought it was all over really, until Teaghen piped up and said, "i want to try it too", honestly!! Why must they do that.! and if you think it was easier with her up high obove the ocean floating miles above, well your wrong, it was just as hard. Man, this whole mother thing, i just don't know if im cracked up for the nerve of it all. She loved it as well, and floated down to earth like a dream. So their they were too giggling school girls laughing about it all, while i pulled myself together, just in the midst to realize that one of my children was missing.....Aidan, where was he???? frantically we ran around looking and calling for him. I remembered him telling me he had to pee just before Teag hit the ground. "one minute" i replied as i videotaped her descent. Staring out to sea and feeling a sick pit in my throat......i called his name. Marie took off towards the El Manglar (the rv park in which we were staying) with Teag in tow, within seconds Teaghen came back across the aligator bridge to announce that they had found him peeing in the bathroom of the El Manglar. I ran to him, shaking and desperate,.... "don't ever do that again" i said as he sat their on the toilet. " im sorry mommy, i won't ". I glanced at Marie and said something like "im not cut out for this" and as quickly as it started it was over. My ner ves calmed and my heart beat went back to normal. We joined everybody back on the beach and continued the day. The girls were out in the waves enjoying themselves, i was on shore watching as the sea became angrier and angrier with each wave. One big one came and hit Rryla pretty hard, she started to come in, just then another came, one that outdid the last it was about 10 ft high, Rry was almost ashore, but Teag was right below it, she dived under it, the best thing she could of done, but the ferocity of it rocked her and shook her world. At least 4 or 5 men from the shore ran in to help her out, Rryla right there to help her sister as well. She was pale and shacken, and so was i, ENOUGH!! are you kidding me, they call this a vacation!!! We all huddled and relived the moment, than decided to head home. Regroup, and regain strength for the rest of the day. We showered, and got all the sand from places we had no idea that sand could go, and got ready for dinner. We went to the El Manglar for dinner, we had heard the dinner was fabulous, and it was. We ate, we danced, and we sang happy birthday, we ate cake and kissed the day goodbye, and that ended the 15th birthday of my oldest child....... I can only hope the next one isn't as eventful!!
The next day was a tearful and sad goodbye as we hugged and kissed our mamo and papa. What a great time we had with them. Memories made to last a lifetime. We are greatful for the time we spent with them, and for all they did for us, and with us. It certainly makes us all appreciate family, and the importants of it.
We fired up the diesel pusher and headed for Puerto Escondido, our next destination spot. The first night was spent in Alcopolco, the outskirts really. We stayed at a french speaking rv park, which quite frankly was our least favorite spot so far. We did have a refreshing swim in the pool however before retireing for the night. We got off quite early the next morning, around 7 am i think destined to arrive in Puerto Escondido at a reasonable hour. It took us another 8 hours to reach the city, hot and tired we found our rv park and settled in. What a gem of a place this is. WOW, it's perfect. The shopping, the people, the town, the ocean is a bit rough, but i think im a bit tainted now. We have been to 3 different beaches, the girls and i have done some shopping and Mark has put in some hours surfing. We have access to a swimming pool at our rv site, which is a blessing because the heat is unbelieveable. You are drenched within 20 minutes of waking. We have had a lovely dinner out and have enjoyed checking out the town via colectivo's (these are small trucks with bench seats in the back that drive up and down the hwy picking up passengers and taking them to their destinations) the funniest thing about this country is you constantly see signs saying "buckle up" but ever mode of transportation is maxed out with people, no seatbelts to be found. For example if you see a moped going by it's with one adult driving and at least 2 other children holding on for dear life. We've just embraced this, we now fit all 6 of us and our 2 dogs in one taxi and nobody bats an eye, this could be an issue if we carry this on into Canada.
Well thats about it. Easter is fast approaching and everybody in this country is getting ready to celebrate, us along with them. We will stay here for a bit and than carry on south. We have uped our sun screen and gotten some raid so hopefully things are looking up.
Showering has been abit of a concern here though because the facilities are way less than desireable, but hey, we have the pool.
This trip is making us stronger, and more tolerable with ourselves and with each other, at least i like to think so. We do of course realize that their are peices of us that have been left behind and that are missed so extremely. This of course will make us appreciate them so much more when we return. I have learned that one person cannot make up the whole of your being. It is a multitude of special people that make up the depths of one's soul. I feel so blessed to know the people in my life and i thank them for filling up the tiny spaces in my being that make me a whole ptoson. I hope my children will learn as much as i have through our journey together, this one, and others in our lives.
Sleep well all you special people. We love you all, and will close our eyes together under this yellow moon.
All our love.
Mark, Brandy, Rryla, Teaghen, Brooklyn and Aidan.