Friends of friends were coming into town and needed a place to stay. So, Conor finished up the cabin and this super nice couple with an adorable kid Tohi's age are our first cabin guests! I think Conor was a little surprised that I said yes to renting out "Daddy's House." haha
For the past two and a half years, Conor has been either building our house or the cabin almost every day. His to-do lists have been long. His days have been full of hammering and sanding; he speaks fluent construction spanish. He has learned skills that he would never have had learned had we stayed in the USA. He can build a small house; a beautiful, sturdy well built home. But, he has been no less busy these past two and a half years than he was in The States working his full time job at the hospital. There have not been daily surf sessions and afternoon fishing adventures with Woody. There has been building and learning how to navigate the logistics of doing that on an island with no cars, no roads, in a third world country. We've had days of family togetherness, but no more than we would have if we still lived in the USA. We moved to Panama to be together more. To be healthy together, in mind, body and spirit. To laugh and swim and explore with our children. To be present, mindful, peaceful, happy, simple. We have been trying to cultivate those feelings, that lifestyle but it hasn't come easily and some days not at all. It has been a long, frustrating, and expensive two and a half years but we are starting to feel a shift. The energy is changing in our home. The cabin is done, the building has stopped. Conor is here with us every day; and not just physically but mentally as well. I can see a visible weight has been lifted off his shoulders. We start our days planning what we should do as a family. Can we fit a family surf in, do some gardening, start a fire to cook lunch on, and get Woody to jiu-jitsu class on time?? We are close to the vision of why we even wanted to move here in the first place. It feels as if we have done more family swimming, laughing, surfing, nature walks, fishing, fire building, gardening and talking this past month than we have all year. We were all missing our main guy. As Tohi reminds us, "Dad's da best."
The Cabin
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| Kitchen |
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| Loft |
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| Outdoor Bathroom |
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| Ladder leading up to Loft |
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| View from our back steps looking up to Cabin |
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| Our helpers checking the water pressure and temperature prior to guests arrival |
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| I just love when the Roselle plant blooms. |
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| A red tailed Boa was resting in our plantain tree for a few days. We finally had to evict him when the plantain tree fell and we could no longer turn the shower on. |
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| Happy little friend has the toy bucket all to herself |
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| This little lady is getting fast going up these dangerous and super hard wood steps |
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| Frank: Try to hang on a little |
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Full Moon
Moon Set
Woody tells me "Mom! Look! There's a beautiful moon set!"
I must have looked confused (and I was) because he says "like the sunset but it's the moon."
Right on, little buddy.
That IS a remarkably beautiful moon set.
I agree.
We are up before the sun most days so we get to see a lot of moon sets. haha |
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| "Why in the world is this door shut to a degree that I can ALMOST not fit in? What sort of new game is Mom playing today???" |
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| Ash on her face, fire poking stick ready |
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| November has been fabulously breezy |
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| Frances is the Queen of the back arm fat pinches. It is driving me crazy so I've been playing around with tricep shields. She finds the blocks as irritating as I find the pinching. |
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| The old sock block trick |
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| November's weather has been fabulous. Beautiful and sunny during the day with cooler mornings and evenings. |
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| This beautiful hummingbird got her beak stuck in the screen trying to fly out a window. Con gently helped her out, unharmed. The kids got to take a look before she flew away. |
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| Lately Bubby has been more friendly to Woody and whenever Bubby lets Woody pet him, Woody is so happy, he always says, "Mom! Quick! Take our picture!" |
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| This girl loves to hang in the rain with her rain jacket on. As soon as it starts to drizzle she runs upstairs and gets her and Woody's rain jackets so they can go outside and enjoy the rain together |
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| I hear Frances talking and milling about in her crib and I look on the monitor and I see this yawn girl. Geez, Frank, just put your sweet little head down and fall asleep. You're tired. |
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| Looks like a totally comfortable sleeping position |
