Chaotic Recap

They’re gone. ☹ I stayed up late last night tracking the flights that returned my daughter’s and son’s families back to the States. I don’t think the condo has ever seemed this quiet. I had been so looking forward to this past week that now that it’s over I’m a little bereft of joy. I guess I could bask in the feelings I experienced over that week when we received our usual early morning wakeup from three energized granddaughters while their parents safely slept in upstairs. That’s one of the things we do each year to allow the parents that rare, for parents of young children, uninterrupted early morning sleep. The granddaughter’s room quickly became the sun source of chaos turning from the pristine mode my wife had prepared. They found things to play with I didn’t even know we had and liberally distributed them throughout the condo. It also led to some instances where a very sleepy grandfather had to open their door early due to an excessive noise complaint from their abuela. Once there were only two granddaughters present and as I was on the verge of panicking, the BRS emerged from under one of the beds where she needed some alone time after a dispute. The second time I had to report there, I opened the door to a completely empty room, cue the heart attack. I eventually found all three of them in the bathroom where they innocently explained they all had “to go” at the same time.

A Couple Very Happy Grandparents

My Favorite Panamanian and I were therefore responsible for breakfast each morning, which was a lot of fun. I was responsible for corn muffins for the FBR. She ended up consuming most of the corn muffin mix her parents had brought for my wife. The BRS remains the hojaldra queen and tried to set a record each day for the number of those she sent downrange. BR3 was the usual frenetic bundle of chaos and alternated between the muffins and hojaldra, when she wasn’t haunting our balcony which she firmly established ownership over. After breakfast, I drove over to San Felix to retrieve the young Panamanian lady my wife had contracted to cook for the week. The plan was this would allow my wife more time with the granddaughters down on the beach/pools. That didn’t work out exactly as planned as my wife kind of adopted the gal and spent a lot of time mentoring her. The food was awesome all week.

Son at the Grill

Granddaughter Room after a Cou0le Days of Occupancy

Daughter and Wingman in the Pool

Son and BRS

Because I know you all were wondering, the girls named the parking lot iguana. It started out as Abby but the girls felt the pizza cat deserved that name instead of Chow Mein. The iguana was subsequently renamed Sparkles. The most enduring memory of this past week will be the pool hangs. All three granddaughters spent as much time as possible in the pool each day. With the addition of huge new umbrellas, the adults could safely hang out as well without risking immolation from the tropical sun. I was a favorite “toy” of the kids because they thought it was cool to push me under water and then walk on my back. We invented a bunch of games, most of which involved me chasing them and they changing the rules if I became too successful. I wouldn’t trade that time with them for any amount of money (well, maybe a couple mil). We had a couple floating beds specifically designed to allow you to float comfortably. They didn’t take into account my granddaughters. Each time either my wife or I tried to get the promised rest, one of the granddaughters would attack and we were once again, under water.

BRS Playground Time in Las Lajas, Pizza Place Behind Her

FBR

Abuela Pushing

BR3

All Three

Then Gelato Time

When they weren’t in the pool, they were on the beach with the FBR and BRS inventing a game with my daughter. They would wander out into the surf and my daughter would be responsible for lifting them out of danger as the constant waves approached. My daughter got a serious upper body workout. I conducted a boogie board academy and all three graduated. Even BR3 caught a couple vestigial waves and squealed with delight. My son, Wingman, and I got our own boogie boarding in with all three of us achieving a couple spectacular wipe outs when the waves truly showed up one day. That same day I came in with a fairly large crab attached to my boogie board, cool, but I was instructed to insure he was safely returned to the ocean after showing him off.

FBR With Pizza Dog

Hojaldra Queen At Work

Chaos Queen in her Domain

Wife with her Chosen Cook

Our Back Seat Fully Stocked

My son had some bad luck with his rental car. Backing into a parking lot post and then getting a flat tire courtesy of a screw. On Thursday he followed me into San Felix when I was picking up the cook and got the tire fixed in five minutes. Total cost $5. That day we moved the car seats over to our car so my wife and I could take the kids into Las Lajas for playground time and gelato. Any trip to the gelato/pizza place had the granddaughters, especially the FBR, cuddling with the owner’s small dogs who set up shop in the entry hall. While we were having that fun, we encouraged the parents to have their annual date night, this year at the nearby Las Lajas beach resort, home of the best Panamanian cheeseburgers. We hit the pizza place again on Friday and the “kids” go to meet the Panamanian couple from the Seis Amigos. It’s easy when you’re so proud of the “kids” and their significant others.

Arrival Day Linkup in Panama City

Arriving in David

At El Fogon Welcome Dinner

BR3 with Abuela

Son and ABFA with Wife's Family

Hands Full of Granddaughters

Happily So

The other enduring memory I’m taking from this week in the nightly table games we played. Wingman is the acknowledged games master within the family. We had our usual right-left-center dice game which my wife’s mother won for the second year in a row. Wingman introduced us to Uno Flip which became a nightly staple with a lot of very fun conversation throughout. The ABFA coined new words for certain colors, notably “blau” for blue. It’s rare to so thoroughly enjoy every single minute you spend with relatives but that was certainly the case all week and never more apparent than during these nightly games. I’ve said it before and it bears repeating, I am blessed.

Granddaughter Room when they Arrived

Boogie Board Academy

BRS Completes a Run

Unfortunately, Saturday rolled around which called for the aforementioned departure. The granddaughters were finally on the receiving end of an early morning wakeup which they handled with a great deal more humor than I usually do. For the drive to David and their first flight all three granddaughters were in my car because of those moved car seats. I made the tactical error of telling the FBR what time I thought we would arrive at the airport. I was serenaded from the back seat for the rest of the trip with a countdown of the amount of time remaining, minute by minute. I longed for the time when they used to fall asleep as soon as they got in the car. The FBR did finally fall asleep, two minutes before we pulled into the airport. I still miss them all. So much.

BRS and FBR Enter the Surf

BR3 Boogie Boarding

FBR Getting Ready

Heading Out

Big Run

Success

Daughter and Wingman

FBR and BRS with their Great Grandmother

Sunset Strolls

Chow Mein, OOPs, I Mean Abby

Game Time

Grampa, You Are Going Down

Date Night

FBR Beach Reading

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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; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course