Flat Number Three

We are all moved into our third flat in the building!  And even though it is much smaller there is still something exciting about something being new that makes it great.  It is also really cute and cozy and helped us down size for our upcoming bigger move.  The upstairs patio is also huge and I am so excited to have a little party on it.  So presenting Lola and my third flat in the building and me and Luis's second.

 It really is quite cute.  Lola is pretty happy with the move, she was pretty nervous at first but she still has a few months until total freak out.

River es Uno

It is hard to believe that it is year since River was born.  It has been wonderful to be such a big part of his first year and see how much he grows pretty much daily.  Yesterday, after 7 hours of crazy moving, we went to his first birthday party.   It was a great celebration full of a million kiddies and us oldies.  It is strange that from July I will not see this little guy so much anymore.  But I am happy they will be in Singapore, a short flight from Phuket.

I cannot believe I have such a short time together with this group of people.  Better make the most of it. Oh and a big thank you to Mark who lent me his phone for pictures, I am struggling without it!

Three out of Four

It is funny how things seem like a good idea months before doing something and then when it gets close it hits you that maybe you were absolutely crazy to think so.  Even when we flew to Barbados I knew it would probably be hard flights, but that did not prepare for me for the exhaustion I felt after wards and I would never do it again.  Six months ago getting married and moving to Thailand in the same four weeks seemed easy peasy.  Even the 'wedding week' seemed doable, I mean it is easy to plan seven events for 120 people when you are thousands of miles away, right?  Well nope, coming back after Easter break it has hit me hard how much we have to do in the next few months.  Moving to another country is not easy and there are loads of things to do, planning a wedding week also has some challenges.  But I know we will manage and get it all done and I need to stop stressing. 
Well last night we decided to move next door, the neighbour is leaving and we will save some money and also helps with people buying our furniture.  So now I will have lived in three out of four flats in the building.  Last night this seemed to make sense, this afternoon I am a bit like 'what the heck are we thinking!'  But hopefully after the weekend I will have new pictures of my third and probably final flat in Quito.

5 Airports, 34 Hours and $9

Well due to the strike that cancelled Luis's flight on Thursday and messed up my plans to get home on the weekend, it took us 34 hours and 5 airports to get back from Barbados.  We went from Barbados to New York JFK and then took a bus to La guardia airport where we slept on a floor until the next morning.  But the fun did not end there we then traveled to Houston and waited there for nine hours before finally boarding a pane to Quito.  In all our return flight to and from Barbados took 60 hours when it should have taken about twelve and a half!  I can say I am now fairly experienced in wasting time in an airport and what to look for in a good layover airport.  By far the best one out of all was Toronto, the newest terminal is amazing with comfy places to sleep and free iPads to use with great WiFi.  By far the worst was La guardia, no where to sleep and freezing cold.  Oh, I forgot to mention we only had $9 to spend. So we discovered great priced bagels in La guardia and bought 5 to get us through the rest of our journey.  Houston is by far the most over priced airport, but it does have free WiFi so that was a bonus.  We managed to only have one little disagreement over bagels, but at this time we had been sleeping or lying on the hard floor for hours.  We passed a few wonderful hours playing cards, Luis's national game, and like usual I won.  I wish I had some pictures but of course my phone is still broken. I must say the last leg was not bad as we got to go in first class, of course they had run out of veggie meals but at that point I did not really expect things to go right.

Bigg Irie and Good Friday

The strike has seemed to be sorted and me and Luis are now all set to leave tomorrow.  We have thoroughly enjoyed our extra days taking advantage of every minute.  The Biggie Irie night was fabulous, Luis really got a taste of the Bajan music and met lots of new people.  Good Friday we were invited to lunch down the East Coast by Kerri and Fabian.  The amount of food was ridiculous but delicious and as Good Friday all fish and veg.  They cooked the fish at least five different ways and three or four different types of fish.

It was a little rainy on the East Coast on Friday so ended up playing Charades, well a sort of version anyways.  We all got up to make a full of ourselves, even Luis which I thought was very brave considering he had never met most people there.  We are enjoying last evening at home, me a little sun burnt and tired and Luis just relaxing.  Cannot wait till our next trip!

Airport Strike

Yesterday we enjoyed a wonderful full day at the beach, in fact the only real beach day we have had.  We have been running around trying to do all the wedding stuff.  It was a lovely way to spend what we thought was Luis's last day.  We have just had the worst luck when it comes to flying this time.  His route home was going to be Here-New York (and change of airports) - Panama - Houston and finally 33 hours later, Quito.  We even booked the first leg of the flight and paid full fare to ensure he was back in time for work Saturday.  But nope, not meant to be, we got to the airport and everyone is on strike.  So Luis gets to stay a little longer, in fact maybe till the wedding as who knows when we are getting out!  And being stuck in a cold place sounds believable, but being stuck in paradise is a bit harder to get sympathy from employers!

 Well I am thrilled as he did not get to meet all that I wanted him too and Biggie Irie is playing at Blakey's tonight and I am so thrilled he can make it!

Ecuadorian Meal with the Bajans

Last night Luis invited some of the family over for an Ecuadorian meal.  He spent so much time and effort and it was delicious.  I cooked the night before and it was not half as well received (not that I am bitter or anything!).

The whole night was great and I am just so thrilled to have him here!

To be fair I was critical for the success of the meal, I was in charge of cutting cucumbers and carrots and it was done perfectly.