Gwendolyn reads

Our roles have flip-flopped. Now instead of being read to, Gwendolyn likes to read to us.

Her book of choice? David's Spanish textbook. Apparently full of exciting stories we'd missed along the way.

Turtle Beach

Here's an old post - in mid-September, the Seids invited us to join them on a trip to see nesting sea turtles. It's never clear exactly what day the turtles will come to the beach to lay their eggs, so we weren't sure we would see anything. Nevertheless, we packed up our tent and two day's supply of food and water, and set off for the Azuero Peninsula, to a beach called Playa Guánico. I carried Gwendolyn, which meant that David carried everything else.

This was our first backpacking trip since Gwendolyn was born, and it was wonderful. Thank you to the Seids for getting us out!

The tricky part of the hike was crossing a large tidal river, only possible at low tide.

Here are the triumphant kids, river crossing accomplished!

We set up camp near the turtle research hut, and ran out to the beach to find...

nesting sea turtles! And this was only the beginning. As night fell, more and more Olive Ridleys waddled their way up the beach to lay their eggs. A long, exhausting process. When the eggs were laid, the turtles would cover the holes and thump down the sand with their legs and bodies. At the height of the laying the whole beach seemed to be shaking. These mass nesting events are called "arribada", and our timing was nearly perfect. The night before, the beach had been covered with thousands of nesting turtles, so the peak was already a bit past but we still saw hundreds. So many it was hard to turn around, there were turtles everywhere.

The eggs looked like large ping pong balls. Many of the females would lay their eggs by the river rather than on the safety of the upper beach, and their eggs would very quickly get washed away. Several of these doomed nests were salvaged by the turtle researchers, and buried in an enclosure to keep them safe from predators until they were ready to hatch. But a huge majority washed back out to sea.
 

 Here is an egg that Gwendolyn found the next day.

During the night, we watched the incredible process of turtle nesting. During the days we explored the coastline.

Around the point, there was a beach that did not have nesting turtles. We spent a lot of the day playing in the black sand and surf, in and out of rain.

Exploring a nearby cave.

And taking long naps in the tent - here her friends Tomara and Sobria are stopping by to see if Gwendolyn had (finally!) woken up.

And then the hike back. A wonderful trip, in great company, so much fun!

  

The Seids later put together this great video, with the video clips they'd taken over the weekend. It's funny, I was about 3 months pregnant when we went on this trip. What a weekend of fecundity and reproduction - quite a portend of our own baby to come!

Wedding!

Gwendolyn's first Panamanian wedding! And an extreme honor - Gwendolyn was asked to be a "florista," a flower girl. Luckily she was in good company, there were about 4 of them. And one was her very good friend Isa, Graciela's granddaughter. The wedding was for Alina, Graciela's daughter, Isa's mother.

Here's Gwendolyn and her handsome dad, waiting in the pews.

And here's a video of the flower girls' entrance. It's a bit long, but captures Gwendolyn's relative lack of focus fairly well:

The entrance--and the exit! :) We realized after the fact that having "Baby Dog" part of the ceremony was not a very good idea. With her flower basket in one hand and Baby Dog in the other, Gwendolyn had no free hands for throwing flower petals.The other girls tried to help. Then Gwendolyn decided her task was done, and it was time to take off running.

 Here she is later, sitting with the other flower girls. So grownup!

Isa, presenting the rings.

The wedding party (note, Gwendolyn is being physically restrained, a short moment later she was again running at top speed).

The highlights? Blowing bubbles.

Sharing her lollipop with Jesse (Alina's sister, Graciela's other daughter).

And dancing with the bride.

This was a wonderful event, and Gwendolyn was great. She enjoyed herself so much, seemed so outgoing and independent, and made a huge impression on everyone. Felicitaciones Alina y Manuel!

Rain Rain Rain!!!

We have been getting so much rain in Gamboa! It's the rainiest year on record in Panama (which is really saying something!), and the last few days seem to have been the pinnacle. Yesterday, for the first time since it opened almost 100 years ago, the Panama Canal was closed due to high, turbulent waters from the Rio Chagres. Here is some video footage (not ours) of floating islands, including entire upright trees, passing under our little one lane bridge - where the Chagres meets the Canal - a bridge I suddenly have a great deal of respect for! Meanwhile, we're laying low, staying dry, wondering if the rain will stop.

[Note: The video embedding isn't quite right. Here's a link to see it without cropping: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnFB6yMOKy4]

Big Sister

We have some exciting news. I'm pregnant, the baby is due in March! We're a little nervous, but very excited and very happy.

Gwendolyn is taking the news well. She has been proudly telling her friends that she's going to be a "BIG SISTER!" We're not sure if she quite knows what this means. There are a few Dora the Explorer episodes about being a big sister, but Dora's baby siblings have magic blankets and can fly. I hope her expectations aren't too high for her little brother.

ABCB

Wren sings the alphabet....and then attacks her mom with licks!

Happy Birthday Max!

We tried really hard to get Wren to sing in this video, to no avail! But we still are wishing Max a very happy first birthday - from your cousin Gwendolyn, Aunt Rachel, and Uncle David. :)

Trip to Austin

This week we flew to Austin, Texas! Gwendolyn is still flying for free (though at 21 months, she will be a lap child for only a few months longer).

David lugged all our bags, stowed them overhead, and when he was finally ready to sit down, noticed that the Wren was happily buckling into his seat.

Lucky for him, she was persuaded to spend most of the flight asleep on my lap.

By the time we reached Houston, raced through immigrations and customs, and realized we'd missed our connecting flight, she was pent up with lots of energy to spare. She spent the next hour like this - dancing to airport music and smiling and waving as we raced around, helping her dodge the throngs of moving people and honking carts.

Happy Thank You

David's birthday was this week! Gwendolyn was really excited to discover his birthday morning donuts.

Less excited to relinquish them for his birthday wish.

David - thoroughly enjoying his favorite present, a tempurpedic pillow from my mom. A perfect gift, right in line with one of his all time favorite pastimes, sleep.

Gwendolyn - happy that candles and cake reappeared in another form in the evening. I really worked on teaching her to sing "Happy Birthday Dad." She got pretty into it, but it came off sounding more like "Happy Thank You." Harder yet was trying to capture this on video - here's a try:

Night at the Beach

Gwendolyn has a great children's book called "Bats at the Beach." When all the daytime beach goers disappear, the bats arrive with their picnics, their beach toys and their bathing suits. So it was for us. After we released the bats at Shumen, we continued east, arriving at the Black Sea coast after midnight. After sitting out under the stars, drinking wine and watching for meteors (Gwendolyn asleep across my lap), we climbed into our tents for the night.

A few short hours later, Gwendolyn was awakened by the sunrise and was ready to climb out and investigate.

Her first encounter with sand, her first shell!

Her reaction? Delight!

Until this moment. Mouthful of sand. Bound to happen. But she took it pretty well.

As we explored the beach, the others continued to sleep.

Here's David stretched out in the tent without us - oh the joy of a few moments of uninterrupted sleep!

First Birthday

Gwendolyn's first birthday - June 25, 2009 - fell shortly after we arrived in Bulgaria. As somewhat overwhelmed parents who had just driven three days across eastern Europe, we have to admit we were not very prepared for the event. Mango, Stefan and Ivo were the only ones at the station at the time. They surprised us - and the Wren - with a complete birthday celebration! Cake, candles, presents and good friends. What more could a baby ask for?

Not only was this the Wren's first birthday, it was her first exposure to chocolate. She seemed a little bewildered at first.

But bewilderment was soon replaced by delight.

The birthday celebration included the unwrapping of gifts...

...singing, clapping, and blowing out candles.

This was truly a birthday to remember. Thank you, guys.

Morning Bath

After breakfast came the Wren's favorite part of the day. The morning bath.

When we first arrived in Bulgaria, this took place in the bathroom in our apartment, where there was a shower but no tub. We tried squeezing the Wren into this wash basin, which worked, but wasn't a lot of fun.

Then Leyla Stefka had the inspiration of having Wren's bath outside. Much, much better! Leyla Stefka would fill this pink basin with water each morning, and by the time we had woken up and eaten breakfast, it would be warm from the sun. Wren loved it.

For us, it was lovely to stretch out in the sun to wake up gradually.

As the summer wore on, Gwendolyn got more and more adventurous. She began standing up in her tub by herself, and climbing in and out. Not always without mishap. Here's one comical turnover that had Leyla Stefka and I laughing for days. You can hear the two of us alternately cheering her and then consoling her. But don't worry! Gwendolyn recovered from this event nearly instantly - she was smiling and laughing again within moments.