I’m back from Newport with the kids and mother-in-law, and the brave sailors are somewhere out at sea. (Scroll down to “Detail” and click on “direct page” for a more detailed view.)
I enjoyed our time in Newport. We did some sightseeing (“we” being me and the kids, as everyone else was embroiled in boat repairs and provisioning). Went to the Breakers, a mansion built by one of the Vanderbilts in the 1890’s. Very snazzy, especially the hot and cold running seawater in the solid marble bathtub. We also went to the Higgins Armory, where a friend of mine gave us a personal tour and let the kids try on armor and play with swords. Well, hold the swords anyway. That was a huge hit. On Andrés Miguel’s birthday, I took the kids to Mystic Seaport and they loved exploring the boats. Andrés Miguel said, “Mom, this was the best birthday ever!” Warmed the cockles of my heart.
The men set sail Saturday, and we didn’t get to wave good-bye from the dock as we were flying back to Denver, but that was probably better for my emotional state anyway. I was a little concerned when I didn’t hear from Andrés via email or blog for the first 48 hours, but since I could see the boat was headed in the right direction, I didn’t worry too much. Just enough to have a little lump in my stomach, not enough to have a full-blown panic attack. He called this morning, and they hit very bad weather and strong winds as they were leaving, and he was hit with a pretty strong case of seasickness. I believe “puking his guts out” is the technical term.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…all goes well with the kids, MIL and me. We took the kids to see “Finding Nemo” yesterday and I was surprised at how much I liked it. Sure, it starts out with a typical Disney, tear-jerker, Bambi-eseque opener, but it’s all uphill from there. Some parts are extremely funny, especially Dory, the fish with short-term memory loss (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres).
I spent some time this morning trying to do whatever it is Andrés usually does around here: calling people and trying to get them to do things (fix our landscaping), freaking out over bill-paying (I couldn’t sleep last night because I was worried that I couldn’t remember how to pay a bill online in Quicken). I can’t believe there is so much to do – school paperwork, gardening, meal-planning, cooking, kid’s homework, planning for our trip, car needs an oil change and a lugnut replaced, not sure lawn sprinklers are working right, carpet is dirty, windows are very dirty, need to find an art class for Lucía, garage is disorganized, must have Andrés Miguel write thank-you’s for birthday gifts, need to take snowblower in to have electric starter installed (yes, I know it’s June). Probably I’d do most of those things myself even if Andrés were here, but somehow without him here it’s much more overwhelming. Also, MIL and I are trying to go on a healthy food kick so meal-planning is going to take a little more energy than usual. Tonight I’m doing to make some kind of braised chicken in my new LeCreuset oval Dutch oven which I found at a great discount at Marshall’s.
Ah well. In three weeks I’ll be in Spain, eating seafood and relaxing on the beach, whether or not all those things get done.
1:33:41 PM 
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