We survived the first week of school!

Today felt like four days.

Part 1: This morning Erik finally convinced me to go to Cross Fit with him while the kids were at school. I told him he would need to be the one to drop Stone off because it's too distressing for me to leave him (we agreed to try this anyway - he usually separates better from Erik, so I don't know why we didn't think of that before!). So we all walked to school together like this:

Part 2: Erik said Stone cried a little, but walked in on his own. So he and I rode the bus 4 miles to Cross Fit, which looks like this photo. It was a full class, and a really hard regimen! I can see why Erik loves it so much - it is exactly his style - consistent, dedicated, friendly people committed to being in the best shape of their lives, grunting and roaring with effort.

Next, we picked up Stone, who had a MUCH better day today. We came home for lunch and had reading time, then back to the school to pick up the girls, then home for their lunch and our daily siesta. The kids don't sleep but it's mandatory quiet time in their rooms. This is absolutely critical for us because of the heat, the long walks, and the brain-exhaustion of living (especially school!) in another language. We are exhausted by 3:00 and it's too hot to go outside anyway (and everything is closed). Here is Sophie, too cute to be a warty-nosed witch, but trying.

Part 3: After Siesta (Erik really did sleep - he stays up so late working every night), we headed to a shopping district with movie theaters and restaurants, including a T.G.I.Friday's!! We succumbed to the temptation and all of us ate American burgers for dinner. The girls needed some clothes so we scored some hot-weather school clothes at H&M.

By the time we finished dinner and played Air Hockey at a mall arcade, the kids were absolutely thrashed. It was standing-room only on the bus home, but I got Sophie and Stone a seat. I was standing next to them, and looked down to see this beautiful sight:

 Part 4: As we walked home from the bus stop at 8:15, we saw throngs of people flocking to our neighborhood, some of them in uniforma, carrying instruments. Erik stopped someone and asked what was going on, and was told that there was a religious procession beginning at the church behind our house, the Iglesia de San Bernardo, beginning at 9:00. Erik had to work so I raced to put Sophie and Stone to bed, and told Lindsay and Lucy to wait for me at the front door so we could sneak out and see it. The church bells started ringing right as I tucked in the little ones, so we ran around the corner to the street behind us, like this:

 And watched the procession of a huge, ornate silver float with a statue of the Virgin Mary. The streets were packed with people of all ages, and all the windows were open with people watching from their balconies. I felt like we were at someone else's family birthday party - no one minded that we were there but this was clearly a very familiar and personal occasion for the residents of our part of town and I wish I knew what it meant to them. I suppose I could have asked someone but I didn't want to interrupt. We just took it all in, grateful to observe and be so close, like this: