Nirvana

No, no that rock group. I’m talking about the past few days surrounded by family and, most significantly, granddaughters. Because time has been completely consumed with the whole frolicking thing, I’ve been left with very little time to write, because, let’s be honest, it is better to frolic. I’ll tell the story mostly through the accompanying photos because my limited writing ability will fail to capture the amount of fun we’ve managed to accomplish since their arrival last Friday. My daughter and son’s family journeyed from New York and Boston respectively and linked up in Panama City for the flight to David (much to the delight of the aforementioned granddaughters). Upon arrival in David, we met them with a representative group of my wife’s family and we adjourned to El Fogon for a welcome dinner after sorting baggage, rental car, and serial hugging.

Welcome Dinner at El Fogon

We journeyed to Las Lajas and took up residence in our condo a well as the Upstairs Neighbor’s. The granddaughters were housed in our condo with their parents upstairs and my wife’s family liberally sprinkled into both. I was assigned the couch so my mother-in-law had a bed and the granddaughters took a fair amount of glee in waking me up and demanding a beach visit before breakfast. The rest of the weekend was a blur with birthday cakes, a cookout using charcoal in a gas grill, and wave jumping while being chased by boogie borders. My Favorite Panamanian had arranged for a local gal to do the cooking for us during the week and that is working out extremely well. This freed up my wife to spend more time with the visitors instead of being tied to the kitchen. There’s a lot more to tell but time is, again, at a premium, so I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

Cousin Linkup at Customs in Panama City

Flying to David

Arriving in David

BR3 Finds Abuela

Then All 3

Saturday Morning Pre-Breakfast Pool

Then Outrunning Grandparents to Beach

Chasing Birds

BR3 Stopping for Mudpies

FBR Beach Boarding at Sunset

Celebrating February Birthdays

Pizza in the Village

FBR Pool Time

BRS and her Dad, my Son

BRS and ABFA Watching Cake Cutting

BR3 Attempting a Hand Stand and Faceplanting
An Event that Will Enter Family Lore

BRS and FBR Wave Jumping

Starting Small

Abuela Joins In

With Abuela in the Pool

Rare Picture of them Out of Pool

Breakfast with a View

Then Out to the Pool

Saturday Family Photo

Wife with her Two Sisters

Cake Time

Las Lajas Sunset

BRS and FBR, Inseparable

Causing Traffic Jam at Gelato Counter

Full Moon

Over Condo Pool

BR3 Loves the Balcony

FBR With her 342d Watching of Monster High

Sunset Granddaughters

Sunset Wanderings

Sunset Gathering

Wife with her mom, Tia Loca and Favorite Niece

Saying Goodbye Tuesday to Tia Loca and Niece

Sunset Girls

Beautiful Ladies, Wife and Daughter

So Happy They're Here

A Beach Dog Finally Showed Up

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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