Day 29 - And that's a wrap for month 1

It is crazy, crazy, crazy, but as June comes to a close, so does my first month on sabbatical. I feel like I have used my time wisely, doing the things I want to do and really enjoying my time with the girls, but it is still sad and crazy how quickly my time is going by.

Day 29 - Wrong sister

This afternoon, when I went to pick up the girls from camp, one of Bella's friends walked towards me and asked: "Did you have your baby already?". I got confused for a second (Did I look chubby with this shirt? Had I gained weight lately?) but quickly realized she was thinking of my sister. "Oh, that's my sister. And no, her baby is not born yet, but he will be soon and I am sure you will get to meet him", I said. She stared at me with a suspicious look on her face, as if I was trying to hide the baby from her, but then a smile flashed across her face and she walked away. I think she realized I wasn't lying to her, and remembered that indeed there are two of us that kind of look the same.

Day 29 - Another cleaning day

Today was a very "blah" but productive sort of day. The girls went to camp, and I continued cleaning the house from the moment I came back from dropping them off, to the moment I had to stop to go pick them up. Once again the trash can is full, the recycling bin can't possibly hold another piece of paper, and I dropped off a bunch of stuff at St Vincent de Paul. This is a tiring and time consuming process, but it needs to be done. Tomorrow I should be able to finish the living room, since I came very close to do so today, which will leave me with the places I have been dreading the most: The bedrooms and the office.

Day 28 - Laundry room: Check!

At last, today I finished decluttering the laundry room. Actually there wasn't as much stuff as I thought, but it certainly needed to be organized. And even though it was a pain of a process, it is nice to see that everything has a place now in the new plastic containers in the closet - and that I can actually see the top of the washer and drier ... for now anyway.

Day 28 - More treasures

As I continued cleaning the laundry room over the weekend, I also continued finding more treasures. I found a floppy disk, my old walkman, some old IDs including my college one, a calling card from when we used to call my parents from the public phones when we were in college, and plenty of "rollos de camara". Even though I have been tossing a lot of stuff out, these were all keepers.

Day 28 - The game, a family affair

Today my family got together to watch the Mexico-Netherlands World Cup game. It was a nail bitter, and Mexico deserved to win in my opinion, but alas it was not the day for us. It was a very disappointing loss and we are now OUT.

Day 27 - The concert

Yesterday went by way too quickly, in part because I got up late. I ran for 3 miles, went to tennis class with Sofia, came back, had lunch, continued cleaning the laundry room, took a shower, and left for the Beyonce and Jay-Z concert. The concert was good, and I enjoyed some of the songs, but it is certainly not the same when it is not your favorite artist.

Day 26 - Around town

Today we went to the neighborhood pool, followed by lunch at Panera, followed by a quick visit to Michaels, followed by a stop by Target, followed by Piano class. Tonight I have a dinner at a friend's house, but it is just for us moms. The girls are staying with Dad.

Day 25 - UNO!

Today we switched it up a bit and instead of Scrabble we played UNO ... Spanish UNO that is.

Day 25 - Keepsake Stones

Today we put the girls keepsake stones we made the other day outside in the yard. Bella's is next to our vegetable garden, and Sofia's is next to our tomato plants. Let's hope they last.

Day 25 - Back to Woodland Mound

Today we went back to Woodland Mound, and this time around we brought our friends with us!

Day 25 - Cartwheels!

In an attempt to show my girls how to do it correctly, I just did my first cartwheels is probably over 2 decades. My efforts were welcomed by Sofia with a "Wow, that was better than I thought it would be". That is right little girl. Your mom knows about these things!

Day 24 - Sofia's gymnastics show

Today was Sofia's turn for her gymnastics show. I was bummed that I wasn't going to be able to attend because the training was scheduled until 5:30pm, but luckily the training ended early and I was able to make it. I missed the very first part of the show, but it appears that so did Lionel, Sofia, and Bella, because Lionel got lost for a few minutes on the way there. The format of the show was exactly the same, and once again the most experienced kids helped me relive my childhood dreams of becoming a gymnast. Ha!

Day 24 - The training

Today was my training and just like I anticipated it was familiar and strange at the same time. It was familiar because that is where I work, we were in a room I have visited multiple times, and we were discussing topics very relevant to what matters to me when I am there. But it was also strange to be there just for one day, have to stop by the front desk so they let me in, feel like I was back to the routine, and all of that.

Net, I was happy to be there for the day, but I am also happy to now disengage again.

Day 24 - Back to the office

Tomorrow will feel a bit strange, I know it, as I will be heading back to the office just for one day to attend the second part of a training I first took in May. This training is a chance to learn more about being successful in an ever increasing leadership role, an opportunity not everybody gets.  A requirement to attend was to be able to be there for both sessions, so I figured it was worth sacrificing a day of my sabbatical to take advantage of the unique opportunity. Of course I have been on the go for a full 3 weeks now, so I hope I do well sitting there all day.

Day 23 - Bella's gymnastics show

The girls had their last gymnastics class of this session last week, but today there was a showcase for all the 5-6 year olds in Level 1, which Bella is part of. Sofia's is tomorrow. They were organized in 4 rotations - as in a real gymnastics competition - and one by one the little girls showed us their routines. After each rotation they got an "Outstanding effort" ribbon, and at the end all of them got a medal and got to stand at the made-up podium. Then, to closeout the night, the older girls - that have obviously been doing it for a while - also showed some of their routines. As a kid gymnastics was always my favorite sport, so I really enjoyed that they did it. I didn't make a video of it because I thought it would be creepy to make a video of somebody else's kids, but I wish others had been there to see it.

I didn't know ahead of time that the flow of the day would be like this, but I liked how they did it. I think every detail had a purpose, which was to give the girls a sense of "what could be one day".

Day 23 - Back home!

When I finally made it home, this nice little note from Sofia welcomed me back. 

Day 22 - Seattle day 3

Yesterday was our last day in Seattle, so we took advantage of it and did a lot of touristy things. But first, in the morning we met my friend Christine at one of the multiple Starbucks to say hi real quick. She used to work with me at P&G, but just a few weeks ago made the move to Seattle to start over with a new company. We then walked around downtown a bit more, and headed to Seattle Center to have lunch at the space needle. In there we had an interesting dessert, and afterwards we did one of those duck tours. It wasn't my first choice, but the others wanted to do it and I decided to be a good sport. And it was kind of cheesy, but not as bad as I thought.  We then went to a baseball game, and from there headed to the airport. The game was actually nice - except for the last couple innings that lasted forever - but my favorite part was when it started to rain and the moving roof started to come in. As a closet Engineer, that was interesting to me. Unfortunately our flight back was the red eye one and we had to connect through Minneapolis, so I barely slept last night. When I finally got home I took a 2 hour nap, which helped me get through the rest of the day.

This was a good little trip and I had fun with my friends, but I was also happy to be back home and see Lionel and the girls. Even though I enjoyed my "me" time, I also miss them when I am not with them.