Panama- Part 2 (March 2011)

Let's see... where did I leave off?

Okay, I left you at the end of our first Monday, when my sweet little bean was at her sickest. She wasn't eating much and generally fussy.

We took it easy for the next couple of days. My parents went to work each day, and Etta and I hung around and napped and sat on the balcony and watched the birds and neque in the back yard and watched Dora/Diego (in spanish) and played in the little baby pool.

neque

parakeets

Etta returned some important emails and answered important phone calls.

I had fun with a very flirty angel fish. He would follow me up and down the tank and stare at me. I thought it was SO cute! He even chased off the littler black angel when it got too close. He didn't want to share. :)

Also, for most of our time there, I had to tell her not to climb in the clay pots at least once a day.

By Wednesday, Etta seemed to have turned a corner. She was acting much more like herself and eating better.

singing into the watering can

Thursday evening, my Uncle Dean (my dad's brother) and Aunt Kim and cousins, Ryan and Brandon came over for a visit. Somehow, I didn't take any pictures of our visit with them, but it was nice to see everyone. After they left, Dad and Chris went out and picked up some Pizzaria Italia for dinner.  Mmmm! Can't get enough of their marinara sauce!

On Friday morning we packed up and headed up to the beach house. Later in the afternoon, after some settling in, we let E get in the pool. She had a great time splashing around for a bit.

The beach house, while usually relaxing, was a bit stressful this trip. I usually like to sit out on the patio area much of the time, but there was not any way to contain Etta while outside. When we were outside, she was either making a beeline for the pool or a beeline for the grassy area, but the grass was all dry (it's Dry Season right now) and crunchy and there were little seeds that stuck to your shoes.  Also, since it's dry season (and drier up at the beach house than the house in the city) and there are lots of allergens in the air and it made all of us a little snifflier. And the "pica pica" made us a little itchy. We tried rigging up some of that orange construction fencing in an area of the patio, but it only worked for about 15 minutes before our determined escape artist figured out how to go under it. SO, we spent a lot of time inside watching Blues Clues and Wonder Pets (and boy is that Wonder Pets music still in my head!).

That first night, when I went to pee in the middle of the night, I came across a huge spider in the bathroom (it's not really THAT big, just.. well... you know.. spiders = eek!). I killed it and went back to bed (sorry Deanne, I just couldn't go back to sleep with that spider so close), but it was totally dejavu for me.  When I was growing up that back bedroom was the "kids room". It is the only room I have ever stayed in at that beach house (as far as I can recall). It had a pair of squeaky bunk beds and a double sized bed in there for a very long time. Anyway, one time when I was about 12 or 13 one of us kids came across a spider in that bathroom just like the one I had to kill. I'm not sure who killed this long-ago spider, but I believe we forced Jason, the "man" of the group, to take care of it. His weapon of choice? An old croquet mallet. Even after it was dead, the three of us (me, Kimi, and Jason) ALL slept together on the top of a twin sized bunk, with that croquet mallet not too far from reach....

And just to give you a visual, Mr. Spider's cousin showed up later so I could take a picture of him. The coin is a quarter.

On Saturday morning we headed up to El Valle to walk around the market and because Dad and Chris had some business to take care of with one of the local artists. So, I got a few shots of the farmer's market and the little shops selling souvenirs.

 

Etta got her very first little Kuna wrap bead bracelet. ;)

Also, got some sweet pictures of Etta walking down a sidewalk while my parents placed their order. Our sweet, friendly little Kuna waved at every car/motorcycle as they passed by.

That afternoon, after naptime, we headed down to the beach to dig in the sand and splash in the ocean.

We just hung around the house on Sunday and played in the pool and watched more cartoons.

We packed up after breakfast on Monday and headed back home in time for Etta to have lunch and take a nap.  While she was napping, Dad and I went out to The Y (remember, this is the place to go for souvenirs) and El Rey (grocery store) while Chris stayed home with Etta.

The Panama Canal

That evening, my Aunt Donna (my dad's sister) and Uncle Fred and cousins Kelsey and Zack came over to visit before dinner.

Tuesday, our last day, was a lazy day. My parents went to work and Etta and I just hung around the house.  I started packing and that evening our family friend, Penny came over for dinner. Then, it was early to bed because we had a flight to catch the next morning!

The trip home was very long and very exhausting! We got up at 5:00am, got to the airport at about 6:30 and the flight left just after 8. The flight to Atlanta is just under four hours. This was actually the best part of the trip. Etta was mostly in a good mood. She started eating again as soon as we were out of Panama (so weird). She ate a ton of snacks! And she napped for about an hour. It was nice really.

Then, we landed, went through customs and went on the hunt for lunch, which we found at Checkers. I had a burger and Etta ate 3/4 of my fries. Here's the thing, Etta and I had nearly a five hour layover in ATL. I kept her entertained with snacks, and potty breaks, and tram rides, and walking... lots of walking. Then, finally, it was time for our flight home to Nashville. Except... psych! The flight to Nashville ended up being delayed for about an hour and 20 minutes. But, then, FINALLY we were able to board the flight and we were off! The flight from Atlanta to Nashville is only about 40 minutes long and I was SO relieved to have this trip almost over with. Until.... Until, about halfway to Nashville, the pilot informs us that the landing gear will not come up and we are returning to Atlanta. Oy!! About two hours later, we get to board our new plane. It's close to 9:30 (our time) when we finally get back in the air. This time we make it to Nashville. Etta slept for the ENTIRE flight (she fell asleep at the gate and didn't wake up until we got to the gate in Nashville). She was SO excited to see her Daddy! I wish I had been more "with it" to have taken video/pictures of their reunion. It was really sweet. Then, we got our luggage and went home. We pulled in our driveway at about 11:30 and put E right in bed. I went to sleep around 1:30. Seriously, the most exhausting day!

I miss my family (and the warm weather) but I'm glad to be home. Etta has mostly recovered from our travel day on Wednesday and is eating normally again. yay!