Sibling Farewell & Serious Swivel

I have it on very good authority that there is one very happy yellow lab as well as at least one cat in Cranston, RI today. Their gain is definitely our loss though as Great Aunt departed the tropics yesterday to return home after a very fun ten day stay with us. After knocking out our last sunset together on Sunday, we loaded up the car and drove back to David to spend the night at my mother-in-law’s home. This allowed us to rise at a more reasonable hour to make Great Aunt’s early morning flight to Panama City. She had a healthy layover there but arrived in Boston shortly before ten last night and was picked up by Namesake Nephew for the final leg of the trip home. I’m sure the yellow lab went into orbit when she walked through the door. She’s already talking about returning next year.

Saying Goodbye at The David Airport

Our Last Sunset

Seen From our Condo

As soon as we bid farewell to Great Aunt, we had to swivel our attentions to the inbound mb of granddaughters due in later this week. I re-learned the lesson that my granddaughters and their abuela are an expensive proposition as we spent the last two days scouring David for every possible trinket to make their stay special. It’s not as if I am going to deny her anything when it comes to the FBR, BRS, or BR3 though. The rest of my Favorite Panamanian’s family is likewise in a lather to see the grandkids. It’s been four years for most of them which means only a couple have ever met BR3. The FBR, as the oldest, knew she had to prepare for her “public’ and spent the past weekend getting a makeover.

Spa Time for the FBR

The Nails

Hairdo Time

The Guirl Knows how to Pose

To add additional pressure, the BRS’ birthday is this week followed closely by her abuela’s. I’m guessing there is going to be some serious celebrating, if the presence of all these mermaid decorations is any indication. We made some serious inroads in the food purchasing department, to the point I was getting nervous about our ability to store everything we bought. Those fears were realized when we came back today and despite some serious puzzle fitting skill could not fit everything in the freezer. Three pizzas ended up in our upstairs neighbor’s freezer. My Favorite Panamanian remains in what we used to call in the Army a “low hover” – meaning very excited and focused. Three guesses who is paying the biggest price for this excitement at this point. Those kids can’t get here soon enough.

Great Aunt's Last Walk on the Beach
Wife was Instructed to Take the Picture from my Hand up
So Not my Fault - Love the Picture

We had a fun day back in David yesterday. We learned we are both proud gradates of the Panamanian Driving School that we never had to actually attend. We have our certificates to prove it. The driving test and hopeful licensure will have to wait until the upcoming visit is in the books. I’m not sure how much studying will be going on once those three young ladies hit the beach. David did its usual frying act with all the heat but none of the off shores breezes that make Las Lajas so delightful. It was the usual hot, or as I wrote about my first experience in Panama all those years ago, damned hot. I took my bride, her mom, and one of the PanaGals to the movies last night marking my second movie in a row watching completely in Spanish instead of subtitles. We saw Plane, or as it is titled here, Alerta Extrema!

This was a throwback action movie that relied more on tension and action than an excess helping of the latest CGI effects. Gerard Butler effortlessly carries the movie with a lot of help from a very good Mike Colter, who looks like he has a bright future. Butler sets a record for piloting a plane with the most bullet wounds but it was one of those movies you forgive the gaping plot holes because the action and pace are so well done. Butler flies a cut rate airlines plane across the Philippine Sea only to crash land on a terrorist infected island, don’t you hate it when that happens? It turns out to be bad news for the terrorists as Butler and Colter, as an FBI imprisoned criminal, are soon cutting a swath through them, aiming towards their fun and totally unbelievable climax. Loved it.  

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                     

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course