Day 261: Still in My Pajamas

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

ssshhh… don’t tell anyone, but I never really got dressed today and loved it. My headaches are still lingering, and it was raining and hailing out. I just wanted to nest and loved the stillness of my house. Good things come when you rest. I enjoyed a lazy morning and went to get a facial before lunch. I’m not one to spend a lot of time pampering myself, and its been years since I’ve had a skin treatment. Today was good.

I went to see a lady who works from her house. Not only did I love that she worked from her home and her charming personality, but the facial treatment she gave me was amazing and relaxing too. She shared stories about how she became a beautician and always wanted to be one since she was probably 3 years old. Her parents thought she should be something more. So she went to law school, but then decided to became a flight attendant for several years. When she started to tire from the travel, she ran into someone who worked in real estate and offered her a job. She then became a realtor for several years, got married and then had the opportunity to redefine herself again. She chose to go back to school and follow her life long dream. And here she was today, providing a service to me, in her gorgeous home office, happy as could be. Her eyes were smiling and her passion was quietly oozing out of her. I just loved her story and that she found her way.

While sitting in her chair alone while my mask was drying, I began thinking of what I wanted to be when I grew up. My dream was simple. I always wanted to be a full time, stay at home mom. I knew I wanted to be independent and have my own money first and be able to survive on my own, but my true dream was to be home one day. I had a successful career, made great money, got married, had my first baby, kept working, had a second baby, stayed home, and had a third baby to solidify my role as a full time, stay at home mama. We chose for me to stay home. So for the past 12 years, I’ve been living my dream, thankfully because I have a supportive life partner. I am content. I’m not searching for something more and I don’t feel like I’m missing out. There is this whole discussion about women leaning into their careers and taking positions of leadership. I love my decision and it works for our family. I believe every woman has to chose what is right for her, and what makes her happy should make her family happy. I know some women do not get to choose, and I hope they find peace in their situation and doing what might not be easy, but what is right for them and their family.

“Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already I am.”
-Thomas Merton

Here I Am. Namaste.

11Apr2013

Day 260: How The Third Culture Kids Settled

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Isn’t that a weird title? Third Culture Kids and Trailing Spouses. Those are some terms they use to describe children who move away from their home land, and for the partners that pick up and move and follow their partner’s job overseas. Yesterday, I shared my perspective on what helped to make me feel settled in our new country. Tonight my kids want a turn to share.

Here is Christian’s perspective.

Hi this is Christian or I am better known as CJ here. I have really been wanting to talk about my experience so far in holland/ Europe/ the world. Literately this has been the best experience in my life. I would have never guessed moving to Holland, like I would maybe think the east coast or Canada but Europe! Wow! Moving here has really been quite the culture shock. Probably the best things that I have done/adapted to here include: having friends from all over the world and accepting other cultures, and adapting to new sports, such as soccer. Some other things I have learned about living here is traveling. The weird part is that I have been every place that I have covered in history last year, such as Istanbul, Turkey, London UK, and Germany. The thing that I have liked/enjoyed most has been friends and school. Here I hang out with a large group. What I think is cool is that we are all from different countries such as France, New Zealand, India and UK. I think that it is so cool to hear about what people’s lives where like in their home countries and how we can all connect. School, most of all, has brought me friends, education and an international understanding of the international community that I am surrounded by. Joining the school basketball team has been a really cool experience. I have traveled to 4 different cities and have played 6 different teams from 3 different countries. Even though getting in 4th, I was still able to have fun and improve dramatically on my basketball skills! From America to Amsterdam and around the world, I will always remember this journey forever.

Thanks- Christian 🙂

***********************************************************
And here is A Q&A with Juliana’s perspective:

Mom: Juliana, why did you want to move overseas?

Juliana: For the adventure.

Mom: How did you feel about moving to Holland?

Juliana: Originally excited, but sad to leave my friends, family, neighborhood, and school.

Mom: How long did it take for you to make new friends?

Juliana: I met friends when I started school a month after I arrived and also a few neighbors in the first few weeks.

Mom: What were your first impressions of your new school?

J: I thought, “Wow, this is big. This is different. This will take some getting used to, I’m gunna get lost.

M: What do you like best about being an expat?

J: I think it makes me really appreciate what I have back home, like good weather, my friends, the food, etc. I’m grateful I get to travel while I’m young and while I still don’t have to pay for an adventure- they are expensive!

M: How did you find fun things to do?

J: I volunteered for student council, and I joined a lunch time sewing club I just finished sewing a bag that I’m really proud of; I have also made wine bags and an apron. I made the volleyball and basketball traveling teams and experienced things I wouldn’t have the chance to, like spending the night with host families in a different country than my parents, an unknown family, and even in cities my parents haven’t been too!

M: Do you enjoy school?

J: No, because I don’t feel like I’m learning anything new. The school is nice, but I feel like my school in California was way ahead of what we are learning here, and I like the learning style better there.

M: Do you want to travel when you are older?

J: It depends. I prefer beach vacations over historical tours. Traveling is fun but it is tiring and kinda stressful sometimes- i definitely make the most out of my bed after a long day of site seeing. I’ve become a better traveler, I know what to pack and can pack in 30 minutes!! But the adventure you get out of it is priceless, especially while I’m young and can absorb it.

M: Do you have many friends?

J: Yes, I like to hang out with a group of friends. They come from USA, Hong Kong, Turkey, UK. Germany,France, Nepal, Belgium, Holland, Cambodia, Egypt, Czech Republic, and Japan.

M: Where is home?

J: America!! California.

M: What has the been the best part of your experience?

I really like seeing the world. It’s cool. But maybe one of the reasons why I don’t appreciate it as much as I should,not saying that I don’t appreciate it, but we traveled and did so much back home that it feels normal to me. It doesn’t feel that different. I know I am very lucky and am thankful, but I’m ready to go home.

*****************************************************
And last but not least, here’s Charlie’s view:

I did not want to move here. I did not want to leave my friends or my basketball hoop or my house and baseball team and soccer team. I liked my school and my teachers in America. I didn’t understand why we had to move and I want to go back. I like my friends that I’ve made at my new school, and will miss them too when we do move back someday. I don’t like living upstairs and like a one story house better. Sometimes I like traveling, but would rather travel in America. What I like best about Holland is my friends, but that’s about it.

*********************************************************
I’ve learned so much by asking these questions of my kids. I have to say I’m somewhat surprised and hoped for a more positive response, but I accept their opinions and value what they had to say. I wonder what other kids think of their expat parents’ choices. Hmmm….

10Apr2013

Day 259: 7 Ways We Quickly Settled as Expats.

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Now that we’ve been in Holland for 259 days, I’m realizing that there are several factors that helped us to feel settled living abroad rather quickly. Here are a few things that come to my mind.

1. We hired an excellent, personal, relocation manager. Lion helped us to pick our rental property that would suite our family best based on our needs. He did the walk through with the owner and got the keys before we arrived. He referred us to rental furniture companies and met them at our house to let them in and set up our furniture before we arrived. He was here to meet us at our front door the first day we arrived with our 15 suitcases. The day we arrived was so hot, that he arrived early and opened all the windows to air out the place. Once we got settled, he drove us to the grocery store so that we could have a few things our first day. He has supported us every step of the way, and has been very humble, kind and generous and a true help to us.

2. Our Dutch Relatives. My mother was born in the South of Holland and her cousins still live here. Jeff and I have good relations with them and have visited each other both in Holland and in the States several times. When we arrived, Gerard and Anita and Dorine and Nadja helped us to shop for hours and buy furniture and assemble it. We have been to each others homes for dinners and birthday parties and they made us feel welcome and a part of their families. We also were invited to Rio and Helma’s dairy farm and to spend time with them too. Franca and Henk came to see us, along with all their kids and everyone enjoyed chatting and playing and getting to know one another. When you’re far away from your own home, family and friends, having a new family to welcome you is the best feeling. We didn’t feel alone and it was comforting knowing that they knew the language, culture, norms and could help us navigate the process of getting transportation cards, and such, and could help us if an emergency occurred.

3. New Friends. One thing I love most to do is to connect people to friends and knowledge and to help one another. It’s what I used to do in a past life, and a skill that I think has helped me to find my way. I was able to meet and connect with friends through PEO, a philanthropic organization to which I belong. that supports, celebrates and motivates women to achieve their highest goals. A Dutch friend of mine who worked with me at Stella & Dot, introduced me to one of her friends who lives in my new home town. Before I moved, I had a Dutch coffee at my house and invited my Dutch friends over. One of them had a Dutch friend that worked in the US Consulate. Another one had a sister in law that lives in my new home town, who brought us a house plant once we got settled.

Our children’s school made it very easy for us to build a community of expat friends very quickly. Once the children started making friends, I was able to meet the moms and dads of their friends, and friendships were formed. We started sharing experiences and new relationships have grown. I love my new tribe and am so thankful for each and everyone of my new friends.

4. I filled my time doing things I love and got out of the house. I met people who played tennis and found a group of women to play with indoors and they connected me to the right people to take lessons and play in tournaments. I found yoga and yoga friends. I sought out a place to paddle board and met the owner of a Dutch company to paddle the canals with across Amsterdam. Now if the weather just warms up! I took up running with my husband, something I’ve always wanted to do, and now found the time and place. I went to all the social events I could the first few weeks at school to get out and see the town. The school is so good at making newcomers feel welcome, with coffees, and outings and having an open door where parents can sit and socialize while waiting for their kids. And as I started making friends, we’d have girls’ lunches, and girls’ nights out, dinner parties and happy hours, celebrated a baby being born, and birthdays and all that is good. Bottom line is I’ve stayed busy and productive and happy and love the friendships that have blossomed through all these shared events. I am so lucky and never am bored.

5. I have a very supportive partner. I probably don’t say enough about my husband, who works hard day and night, working to build his global business and support our family. He worked so hard behind the scenes to get us here, without a support staff to do all the work for him, as he works at a start up company, and they don’t have these type of resources. He researched everything, set up our legal documents, bank accounts, car transfer, cell phones, drivers’ licenses, cable and internet services, etc. all while setting up a European company. He is smart and loving and supports me and laughs with me and makes me coffee every morning! I am blessed.

6. Social Media & Technology. Having Facebook, Skype, Email, Google Voice, What’s App, Instagram, Magic Jack, my blog, Apple TV and a VPN have helped me to feel still connected to friends and family and America. I’m able to share and see and connect with those I love every day. When I feel lonely, I can always check in – just sometimes have to wait for the time zones to be in alignment where we’re both awake at the same hour.

7. A thirst for adventure. We wanted to do something fun as a family and to learn about the world. Having something to look forward to every month is very exciting. Whenever we feel down or homesick, someone is coming to visit, a trip is planned or a package arrives. We aren’t bored or stagnant and there is a lot of excitement and adventure awaiting us, if we so choose, and most weekends, we’re choosing to see and explore and enjoy this journey as much as we can.

If you’re an expat, what has helped you to settle in to your new home? What makes you happy? Thanks for reading and sharing this journey with me. 😉

9Apr2013

Day 258: Spring Sprung a Leak

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Walking through the forest today and it started to rain.

water drops on our new outdoor spring stool

rain art on our new bench

admiring yesterday’s closed bulbs blooming open today. so pretty. gotta love nature.

ain’t this the truth?

6Apr2013

Day 255: Zaans Schaans and Alkmaar

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I like coming home from vacation with still an extra day or two of vacation time left before we have to get back into our routine again. I love having a routine and then shaking it up and recreating it again. We came back from Dubai on Thursday and still have another day to play before Monday returns.

Today we enjoyed a lazy morning. Juliana and I got out our Smash books and started organizing all of our postcards and receipts and entrance tickets and bus tickets etc to smash into our scrapbooks. The boys soon joined us and we spent several hours gluing and writing and remembering where we’ve been so far. It’ll be interesting to compare our books to see what made an impression on each of us and how we chose to represent and document our journey. I opened up my blog pages to recall the details and order of events. Looking at all the posts made me really happy that I’ve taken the time to write a written log each night, otherwise there is no way I’d remember it all. We sure have been busy!

After sitting for a long while and doing several loads of laundry, we ventured out to see something new. We went to Zaans Schaans, an old, Dutch, 18th century working village. The highlights were the working windmills we got to go inside and the wooden clog factory.

We wandered through the museum and learned about the 100+ year old bisquit baking and chocolate factory, Verkade. This company was very successful and one of the first companies to successfully create and market their brand name. They had art contests and created collector cards and albums that people could collect and create. They also used tins with the company name on them, that people would collect and reuse.

Outside, we walked through the cheese factory,

pigment windmill,

spice windmill, and baking museum.

We also watched wooden shoes being made and played outside with old fashioned toys like stilts.

The museum closed at 5 pm, so we decided to venture into a nearby town called Alkmaar.

I love the quaint feel of the small Dutch villages with locals out and about, enjoying each other. The shops were all closed by the time we arrived, and the weather started to become very cold as the sun went down and the wind came up. The cold is now officially old! It was hard for us to even want to go out today, but I didn’t think it would be fun staying inside with stir crazy kids either! We were going to go for a bike ride but were afraid we’d freeze.

We walked through the streets and past old churches. There must have been a farmers market today as vendors were cleaning up and taking down their stalls by the time we arrived.

We found an Indonesian place called Cafe Bali for dinner. The food was delicious and the service great too. My favorite dish was the sayur lodeh. It tasted like the one my Opa used to make when I was a little girl. I am part Indonesian, part Dutch and part Italian. Did you know that? 🙂

At dinner, Charlie was so cute. He said, lets play the I love You game. You have to swirl your finger around and point to someone and then say what you love about that person. It was very heartwarming to hear all the nice things we had to say about one another. I felt proud that everyone actually likes each other. I knew that and see that every day, but it was nice to hear. And to keep it real and funny, afterwards he said, “lets play the what I don’t like about you game!” That little rascal! He is so funny, and we all cracked up. Luckily nothing was said. Phew! Keep focusing on the positive and hopefully that’s what we’ll keep creating, right?

I hope you’re having a good weekend!
Love, Adriana

5Apr2013

Day 254: Super Nanny Needed

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Let’s just say there has been a lot of togetherness and today I was close to running out of patience. I love having kids but their little idiosyncrasies and constant noise making skills start to drive me crazy.

We still have a couple days left of spring break!

I took all three of them with me to the grocery store this afternoon and warned them before we left, that they needed to cooperate and be quiet and to work together as a team. The peace lasted maybe 30 seconds before they needed another reminder. The littlest one just had no idea what I was talking about or maybe I was speaking a different language. He just didn’t get it.

At the store, I asked him to share the hand held scanner with his sister. They both liked scanning the items and putting them in the cart. The oldest one was helping to make dinner with me tonight and was interested in picking out the ingredients and occupied himself. The littlest ones were in constant competition.

Everything I asked was ignored. I gave him another warning, asking him to stand behind me and to follow along quietly, but he couldn’t control his little body. If I said stand behind me, he went ahead. When I asked him to be quiet, he had a question. When I warned him there would be consequences, it didn’t seem to matter and he just asked for a hug. Good tactics, huh?

He wanted what he wanted and I wanted what I wanted and we were at war. Not really, but do you get it? Did I tell you I was short on patience before we left?

So when we came home, I told him he had to stay in his room for the rest of the night, for disrupting the family and for being disobedient. He still didn’t understand and wanted to be with the family. I don’t think he got the connection between his actions and the consequences that were bestowed upon him. I had him write sentences while he was in his room to explain why he was acting like he was and what he should do differently next time. You see, it wasn’t just at the store that he was being irritating. He was irritating all day to all of us.

So after we made dinner and he finished writing and begged to come out, I said absolutely not. I told him we’d take a family vote and decide whether we should change the punishment. All four of us voted no and explained why. All of us were sad with the decision but it was the right thing to do.

Learning together…

How do you teach kids how to behave properly without hitting them or giving in? This parenting thing sure is challenging. I hope tomorrow we can start over again and all enjoy each others’ company again. We’re still learning.

Namaste.

4Apr2013

Day 253: Goodbye, Dubai

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Believe it or not, I’m tired! All of us are pretty exhausted. Jeff’s actually already asleep on the couch! We are not ones to come home relaxed and refreshed after a vacation because we try to fit in and see as much as we can wherever we go. My motto is “we’ll sleep when we’re dead.”

Last night the kids were in bed after midnight and Jeff and I around 1:30 am. I always like to sit and chill in the quiet and write my blog before going to sleep. We were up at 5:15 am to catch an 8:30 am flight to Holland. I think the lack of sleep might be killing me – or at least my head! Maybe that’s why I keep getting headaches.

Asleep in the taxi on the way back home

Before I pass out, here are a few quick observations about Dubai:

Weather
* It’s so nice and warm, even at night. It was very comfortable at the beginning of April, but I hear it can get unbearably hot very soon.
* The air feels humid and warm, like Hawaii. And the feel of the town feels like a mix of Miami, Vegas and the Middle East.

Shopping
* You can use a credit card anywhere you go, unlike in Holland. I miss being able to use my credit card.

* You can find anything you could possibly want. There are large malls everywhere around town.
* Stores are open until 12 or 1 am and people are out shopping.
* Stores are open on Sundays until late too! Love it.
* Customer service is available in the malls. People actually help you, and acknowledge you. In Holland, it’s hard to get help or the attention of those working. I don’t understand that.

Food
* Any type of food you like is available in Dubai. We ate Ben’s Cookies from London, Baja Fresh, Baskin Robbins, Starbucks, and drooled when we saw PF Changs.
* We ate Lebanese food for Easter outside on the patio with mostly locals on The Walk — that’s a first!
* Coke cans have the old fashioned tops with the pull tabs – so retro and cool!
* NO alcohol is sold in stores or restaurants. You have to go to a hotel to buy liquor.

Retro Coke can pull tab top

Entertainment/Culture
* Since the culture/religion doesn’t believe in alcohol, you will see people out later in the malls and restaurants, smoking hookah pipes and watching soccer games on big screen tvs, cruising The Walk in really fancy cars with plastic covered leather head rests which was so strange to me.

Hookahs at the sports “bar”

* There are very few people walking dogs, and we might have seen one or two cats – unlike in Istanbul where they are everywhere! Signs are posted by the Marina especially that you will be fined 200 DHRMS if you don’t pick up after your pet’s doodoo.
* Outside of the Walk area, we heard the Call to Prayer from the mosque towers.
* Prayer rooms are available at the airport.
* Expensive cars are driven by the locals up and down The Walk. One dad had his 3 year old boy sitting on his lap driving with him in his ferrari.
* The women dress differently. Some are covered head to toe. Some have their faces completely covered, and some show only their eyes. Most have their heads completely covered. Some of the burkas have sequins or designs on them, but most are all black for women. The men walk in white thobes with a white headcover and typically white open toed sandels. What you’ll especially notice is that for the women covered completely, most carry an expensive designer handbag that rests on their forearm and designer shoes, which is all you can see of them and differentiates one woman from another. You’ll also notice that they wear beautiful eye makeup to highlight that part of their body that you might see.
* Most don’t wear wedding rings.
* Women can drive.
* No beggars or homeless people were noticed.

Transportation
* We took taxis most everywhere and most prices ranged from 30 DHRM to 80 DHRM which is about $7.50 – $20.
* Seat belts were not required.
* The metro system is especially clean and modern, yet moves more slowly than the metro system in Holland. It is also not completely connected to all or most areas of town.
* We tried to ride the bus, but we had to have a special card to ride and they didn’t sell them at the bus stop nor on the bus.

metro map Dubai

Souqs
* We visited the Souqs late at night last night to see what they were like. We got a feel of how the working class lives and walked through the narrow connecting streets along the way. We bought a couple souvenirs, but no gold or textiles, for which they are known.

* We probably didn’t get to see as much as we would have liked because we got there late and were very tired and hungry when we arrived after 9 pm.

* The boats on the creek would have been fun to ride if we hadn’t been so hungry or tired.

gold bracelets in the souq

gold prices in Dubai

And that’s all for now, folks! We’re back in Holland again where the temperature was a mere 3 degrees Celcius. Home COLD home.

3Apr2013

Day 252: SUP Dubai

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

The warm weather, water, sun, sand and SUP made me happy today. I love being on the water, especially when it’s hot out. We took a taxi out to the one place we could find where we could rent a board. The municipality laws changed in Dubai two weeks ago and they’ve outlawed rentals on public beaches. Luckily for me, Jeff found this place that I had missed in my Google search for Sup in Dubai.

Life is good!

When I’m out on the water, I just feel at peace. Usually I’m alone taking in the sites, feeling the sun, working up a sweat, listening to the sounds of the water lapping at the front of my board, and enjoying the mysteries of the ocean, and feeling the water on my toes. Don’t you want to come supping with me? It’s the best!

We also rented one of those banana boat inner tube things and all five of us went out behind a ski boat for 20 minutes. I laughed and smiled the entire time. I can’t say the ride was experienced quite the same way for someone else on the banana! The views from the water were amazing and bouncing around on top of the water just made my day.

Tomorrow we are heading home, where the weather is more than half the temperature of Dubai’s. :-(. Goodbye, bathing suit. Hello, down coat.

2Apr2013

Day 251: Burj Khalifa and Desert Safari

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

The challenge with writing a blog post every day, usually late at night, is that sometimes I fall asleep while writing, or my blog posts on its own before I can edit and spell check. Sometimes I go back and read what I wrote, and my writing is so basic… Please forgive me! I have a goal to end every day with a summary and some days I’m so exhausted that its hard to produce something with more spunk!

Today we had such an adventure. We crammed into a taxi and road over across town to see the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. If you ever want to go to the top, you have to buy tickets online at least a week in advance, otherwise they sell out. It is expensive for what you get, but then again, it’s the tallest building in the world and we had to go up to the top. What amazed me was how fast the elevator ride was. It took 70 seconds to go 124 floors! The view from the top was interesting, but not exciting. Dubai is growing and there is construction going on everywhere, however the town around the Burj is not full. There are a lot of empty fields and empty buildings and the landscape is not dense.

The Dubai Mall is attached to the Burj and I believe is the biggest mall in the world. There are 1200 stores in one location! They have every shop you can imagine and more. They also have an aquarium, waterfall, ice skating rink, movie theater, Sega theme park, and KidZania – a place where kids can be dropped off for hours and get to be industrious. The high end luxury brand stores were everywhere, with children’s stores for all the high end fashion brands. How many people shop there? I was fascinated by the sheer volume of choices.

After we shopped around a bit and had some lunch, we were picked up in two land cruisers for the touristy part of our vacation – the Desert Safari. We road out to the desert and went four wheeling through the sand dunes. It was such a thrill ride, more thrilling and scarier than a roller coaster! Patti Beth and I were so sick from motion sickness that we thought we were going to lose our cookies! Luckily we stopped for a photo break at the top of the dunes before driving off into the sunset!

They drove us to a camp where we got to ride camels,

have henna art done on our hands, watch two dance shows, and eat a delicious buffet dinner. We also got to dress up in burkas and thobes and take pictures and feel what it’s like to have your face covered. I found it to be stifling on my face, although I think the full body cover would simplify choosing what to wear each day. And would be quite comfortable. The boys also loved hiking up the sand dune and running and jumping all the way down. I think they had a fabulous adventure. It reminded us of a Hawaiian Luau but desert style!

The driver took us back to the mall from where he picked us up. The malls stay open until midnight and they are packed late into the evening. Since there isn’t alcohol served, I think the mall provides entertainment for locals and tourists alike. We stayed and watched the musical Dubai Fountain show and walked around the mall a bit more before heading back to our condo.

We had quite an amazing experience together today that I think we’ll talk about and remember for quite some time.

1Apr2013

Day 250: Living It Up at The Atlantis, Dubai

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Who would have thought when we decided to move to Holland that we would get to discover so many other parts of the world? I Am amazed!!

Today we spent the entire day at the Atlantis Hotel with Patti Beth and her family. We started off at the Aqua Adventure water park and stayed there until it closed at sundown. We all had huge smiles floating down the lazy river, falling down huge slides, and dropping in on the sharks. Everyone was warm and happy in the water.

Afterwards, we explored the Lost Chambers, an aquarium inside the hotel that was amazing. Every display was interesting to see and watching the sharks swim with schools of fish was mesmerizing. There were a few touch tanks where we touched sea stars, horse shoe crabs, and small rays.

The hotel itself is like Disneyland. I especially loved the Chihuly glass display in the lobby. The kids and the adults were all having fun together and still wanted to hang out, so we ventured out to the Royal Pool and let the kids go night swimming until they closed it down. It was a gorgeous warm night, so we chose to sit outside and enjoy a Mexican dinner together.

We enjoyed our day in the sun – not too hot and definitely not cold.

Life is good.