On Thursday I cleaned bathrooms and mopped floors and wiped down kitchen cabinets and appliances. I don't think the later needed to be done before leaving for 6 weeks, but it's what my ADHD brain settled on accomplishing. We fed siblings chicken and rice and started our goodbyes.
On Friday we fed other siblings the last of our chicken and rice. and fish that had been hanging out in the freezer, because despite our dislike of it, we can't throw away perfectly good and healthy food that wasn't cheap to begin with!
On Saturday we made sure we were still feeling good about the clothes we had packed the week before and made lists of last minute things to pack Sunday evening (toothbrushes, hair brushes, phone charger, etc.). I cleaned out the fridge and freezer, not just of food and condiments, but of crumbs and drips and drops.
It worked out perfectly that two of our siblings fed us dinner Saturday and lunch Sunday. Miller parents let us use their milk for Sunday's cereal breakfast and accepted our mayo, ranch dressing, and left over frozen vegetables.
On Sunday we went to church as usual and said lots of goodbyes. "Everyone knows, Mom!" one of my kids said excitedly. "Well we didn't want them to think we died or something!"
We sent our fish home with a sibling in a pitcher of water and tucked our open-shelved dishes in for 6 weeks.
We vacuumed and watched McGee and me and ate ice cream for dinner (typical for Sunday, but larger portions to empty the containers this week).
We put the boys to bed at normal bedtime but woke them up again at 10pm!
Carrying a sad and sleepy Charlie to the van despite his insistence that he not go along to Guatemala.
Our aunt and uncle that live near enough to Dulles to get roped in to airport drop offs had been in town that weekend, so they met us at our house before 10 and drove down with us to take our van home with them.
Midnight at Dulles International Airport!
Feeling much more on board with going to Guatemala.
Escalators: our favorite part of airports!
We breezed through security and had 2 hours to practice sleeping sitting up or play games. Games are a little trickier at 2am so we ended up using screens.
Here's Os "being and old man" and dreaming about breakfast at 3am.
If it were just Husband and I, we probably wouldn't even have eaten the snacks we packed. But our kids ate all the snacks we packed and convinced us they would feel much better after Subway for breakfast in San Salvador. They were right.
Dawn before landing in El Salvador.
Our second flight was only long enough to go to up, use the teeny tiny airplane bathroom, play one round of Uno, and come back down in Guatemala.
Off the airplane, out of the airport.
Os finally getting some sleep in the van on the way to our friends' house. Despite my suggestions that they lift the arm rests and snuggle on each other, my kids insisted on the 16" of personal space that the airline allows. And none of them slept, except Charlie who was happy to lay on Mama while she laid on Dada.
There should be a volcano in the background, but it's too hazy to see it because of smoke from forest fires. This is the end of the dry season here and the fires are on the (extinct) volcano, making them the hardest to fight because they can just travel straight up.
More Uno at a much more reasonable time of day. Our Airbnb wasn't ready for us to check in, but there are plenty of parks to hang out in while we wait.
Back in an airplane practicing his cardinal directions (Geography, check).
Last time it took me weeks to be ready to drive out to the markets by myself. Did it on day 1 this trip. A nice perk of going back to a familiar place. This haul was under $10. Many things here are comparable prices to the U.S. but fresh fruits and veggies are definitely tastier and cheaper.
Somehow we made it through the day without naps despite getting a shared total of about 5 hours of sleep between all 6 of us. We put the kids to bed as soon as the sun started setting at 6:30 and followed behind them ourselves at 8.
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