happy mother's day / miss you Bis-y

Well, to catch up this blog up to our lives, I'll mention that March 16 was Dylan's birthday and he had a nice time with us at home that night and then the following weekend with family and friends.

When April started, we discussed what we might do on my grandmother's birthday which was May 2nd. Sadly, she got sick, then was in the hospital for 2 weeks, and she passed away on April 19th. April was a cruel month this year and we are all still recovering and missing her.

One good thing, however, as we look back on her life, we can know that she was loved and cared for. She had been living with my parents for over 20 years now and she was always around family and doted on by her two sons. For years she bugged me about having a baby (for many, many years). Finally, we gave her a great-grandson. And they soon became good friends. Dylan spends his weekdays at my mom's house so he played with my grandmother every day. He called her "Bis-y" (pronounced Beesy) -- short for "Bis-abuela" which means great-grandmother. On the weekends, she missed him so much, she would call my cell phone to ask me if he was eating OK (because "he looks so skinny"). She would get up and out of her bed so that she could sit on the couch and watch him play. He would bring his little toy cars to her and turn on the radio and ask her to dance with him. She probably danced more sitting down on the couch this last year than she did in the past 20-30 years. Dylan made her laugh and gave her energy and I think he brightened up her life so for that I am so grateful.

This picture is the last picture we took of my grandmother on Easter Sunday. It was a beautiful day and we all ate outside and then just lounged and enjoyed the weather. My grandmother said it felt like she was in Uruguay...with everyone eating a nice long meal and then relaxing and listening to a soccer game on the radio. Though I keep wanting to go back to that moment, I guess by remembering it and cherishing it, in a way I can keep going back. Today is our first Mother's Day without our grandmother and I think the lesson I'm taking is to really enjoy those moments with our family when we have them. Today I'm going to do just that with my own mom, with Keith's mom, and with my sweet darling baby who calls me 'mommy.'

Uruguay cont.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=146806&id=650388930&l=34d9bcf096

So much has happened since the last post, but I will add some more details from the Uruguay trip. The link above is to our facebook album of pictures. It should open for anyone, though. First off, I remain amazed at how well Dylan handled the flights to and from Chile/Uruguay. We got some funny looks boarding the plane because toddlers on overnight flights understandably make people nervous. Luckily, Dylan was his sweet little self and didn't cry once during the 15 hour trips going and returning. We had a ton of toys and snacks to entertain him and he managed to sleep most of the night both ways, so that was a huge success on its own.

Once we arrived in Uruguay, we spent the first night in Montevideo. We went out for "chivitos" (best sandwich ever: thinly sliced filet mignon, with ham, cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, egg, red peppers, and mayo.) The next day we set out for the cross-country drive to visit my mother's family. Again, Dylan was a trooper for the 6 hour car-ride. We spent 3 days and 2 nights in the town of Rio Branco where most of my mom's 14 brothers and sisters live. It's definitely got a small-town country feel but because it's on the border with Brazil, and it was Carnival time, it was insanely festive with party buses driving around blasting music at night. If it had been a few years earlier, our trip would surely have been different...but unlike our cousins who invited us out with them, and unlike what seemed to be the entire Brazilian town of Jaguaron, we actually went to bed while it was dark out and woke up in the mornings. This isn't to say we went to bed "early" -- we did have dinner out at 11pm, and yes Dylan somehow managed to stay on our crazy schedule. We had a family reunion for my mom's side of the family at one of my cousin's farms. It nice to catch up and especially nice to see my mom with her brothers and sisters.

On Tuesday, we left the Brazilian border / country-side town of Rio Branco and drove to Punta del Este, which was seemed like another world altogether. This is the richest resort town in the country and the residents liked to tell us all the American movie-stars and singers that had just passed through that summer. My parents' friends had rented us a house for the week as a birthday present to them (they both turned 60 within 2 months). That's gotta be the nicest gift I've ever heard of and it was an amazing time. My brother and his girlfriend had had their flight cancelled because of a storm, so they finally met up with us after having missed the more rustic part of the trip. Now we were in a very upscale beach-town and we had fun on the beach during the day and going out at night, though Keith and I always went home early while my siblings and cousins stayed out until the morning...we passed the torch on to the next generation I guess!

On Friday, we left Punta del Este and left for Montevideo again. My mom's big birthday bash was at night and despite a torrential downpour that caused some issues (the party was planned to be outside and the inside space was not quite big enough to comfortably accommodate everyone)...after the food came out and the music started, the party turned out great and a ton of my parents' Uruguayan and American friends (lots of people traveled to attend this party!) were together in one place. It was very fun. The party ended at around 3 in the morning. Again, Dylan had fun and when he got tired, he fell asleep in his stroller and slept through the band, the carnival/candombe drumming, and all the craziness.

Saturday we went to my cousin Diego's birthday party and spent some time with our family there. We walked around the neighborhood my dad and uncle grew up in and had dinner in the patio of my grandmother's house, where I lived when I was very small.

Sunday, we went to the fair and had some lunch but that was the last day of our trip -- it went by pretty fast.

On the way home Dylan made a friend at the Santiago airport, which had an indoor playground/area for kids that really helped our long lay-over there. Less than a week later that airport was destroyed by the earthquake...pretty crazy. I took some video of Dylan playing with kids at the airport and when we showed my grandmother back home, she laughed as hard I had ever seen her laugh, watching Dylan running and holding hands with his little friend. Watching her laugh and enjoy that video is a memory I'll now keep and cherish forever.

so that's our trip to Uruguay in a nutshell. It was a wonderful trip whose only drawback is that it was too short. I really can't wait to go back again.