A couple of weeks ago my parents flew in for a quick visit the day that Seth flew out for his Amazon trip. I will let him post about his adventures. But we had our fair share. Jackson, myself and my parents along with a friend and her baby flew to the coast to spend 4 days in the sun and warmth!

I had done tons of research on where to stay and since hotels at the coast are so expensive we decided to look into a business here owned by an American that rents out people’s apt’s for them during seasons when they aren’t using it. We found a good place in our price range, asked tons of questions and then signed the paperwork. When we arrived in Cartagena it was HOT. We got out of the airport quickly and made it to our apt smoothly. The only problem was that the A/C in 2 out of the 3 rooms didn’t work….there was no hot water…one of the rooms had a toilet that didn’t work…and it was scortching hot. We had paid good money to have at least A/C.  It was hot enough that cold showers might not have been too bad. In addition we were told it was on the first floor and right in front of the pool and beach. turns out it was all false advertizing!  So, after going back and forth with our agent we got her to agree to move us to another of her properties. The second was amazing! It had a view of the bay and working A/C and hot water! It was a place that cost far more than the one we originally rented but we got the original price because of all of the problems. So, we re-packed and moved across town. Luckily, we were all too overwhelmed to take pictures of the first disaster place so years from now we might be able to just remember the good stuff!

Once we were settled in it was great! We enjoyed our view and each other’s company. Jackson was a bit too excited to have his grandparents along so woke up at 5 or before each morning looking for his friends. Naps were sparse because of all of the fun to be had!  Here are some pictures…

Jackson’s early morning “attempting to stay quiet at 5AM” activity

Jackson loved it when Ben out “get him”

Ben just chillin’

The pigoen whisperer

The toucan at the Santa Clara hotel where we stopped in to cool off with some lemonade. This was the absolute highlight of Jackson’s trip! If only he could have brought the toucan home with him!

We arrived back home Wed afternoon a few hours before Seth was going to land. I felt kind of quesy on the ride home but figured I was just reacclamating to the altitude. Within a few hours I was the sickest I have ever been in my whole life. By the time Seth walked in from the airport he was home for about an hour before he had to take me to the hospital. We called the doctor and he recommended taking an anti-vomiting med but when I couldn’t keep that down or even water we were on our way. We spent the night there for me to get an IV as I was so dehydrated. They had a hard time getting in the IV. I have bruising all over my arms from them pressing! By the middle of the night they decided they would have to keep me and would not be able to put me in a private room because I was needing nursing care every 5-10 mins. I was so sick I didn’t care where I was! I got to come home mid-day the next day.

My dad felt under the weather as well but luckily we think his was altitude sickness and his never progressed like mine. We spent another day and half together before they had to head back to Texas.  The night they flew out we made a fancy dinner. Beef is so good and  reasonably priced that we went to the butcher and bought a huge beef tenderloin. We had it with melted blue cheese on top! After our feast they headed to the airport! It was so nice to have them around! And such a blessing to have them here when I was in the hospital!

So, our getaway was more of an adventure than I anticipated and it will be a LONG time before I travel without Seth along but it was good to get out of Bogota for a few days and have a nice view!

Here are a few videos from our trip to Texas.

This one is of Jackson seeing a horse up-close.  He’d seen horses before, but never like this.  Notice his reaction when the horse finally appears in his window.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy3oYxIuxQE]

The next one is of Jackson, Mia and Grandan out on the lake at the Farm.  It was quite cold that day, especially out on the lake with the wind.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ohMLkFYDGM]

The final one is Jackson with Nama at the Ft. Worth Zoo, checking out the monos.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU996iLbzLU]

I have spent the last day unpacking and catching up on everyone else’s blogs. I am finally sitting down to sum up our last week. You might want to just read it in installments because it might be overwhelming!

We left for Ft Worth on Friday the 3rd. The flights went quite well with Jackson. We gave in to the temptation to buy a mini dvd player to take along. It was a life saver. Jackson actually sat back for a few minutes and watched Elmo! We arrived in Ft Worth, got to have dinner with my parents and Graham and Tina, and got to congratulate Graham and Tina on their engagement.

We woke up early Sat morning to drive to the farm where I spent Sat with the ladies of the Kolb family having a girls reunion and Jackson and Seth spent the day at the farm. That evening we met up with some of Seth’s aunts and uncles and cousins and their children for dinner.

(jackson with his second cousins once removed or whatever you call your cousins kids)

We spent the weekend at the farm where Jackson could not get enough of the cows and horses. Ever since we left the farm Jackson has a continuous stream of “Old MacDonald and E-I-E-I-O” in his head.  He mixes the lyrics with his Elmo songs which makes it hard for us to sing along.

The highlight of the weekend for Seth was shooting a wild pig. He cut off the ears to bring back to the lakehouse so that we would believe him. The next day we all treked out to see his victim!

We headed back to Ft Worth on Monday afternoon and spent the rest of the week there. We went to the Ft. Worth Zoo, ate at our favorite restaurants and had lots of fun times with Nama and PopPop Seckinger. Jackson loved Noah, my parents dog, and could not resist the urge to grab his tail whenever it was near.

On Friday we went to the Dallas area for a few hours where Jackson met my co-workers from the Infant and Toddler Intervention Program that I used to work at. It was so much fun for everyone to meet Jackson. After our visit there we met Jonathan, Meredith and Luke for lunch.  On our way back to Ft. Worth Seth started to get a bit green with some kind of stomach virus. He had a rough rest of the weekend with roadtrips and a flight.

On Saturday morning we got up, packed up and drove to Houston. We were in Houston less than 24 hours. We squeezed in a quick visit with Bo and Leigh who were visiting from Germany. And we were surprised to get to see Bonnie too who flew in from Florida. We had a family birthday for Lizzy’s 3rd birthday on Saturday evening.  Jackson enjoyed being around his cousins again. (we can’t wait to live in DC near cousins soon) After the party we drove across Houston to Friendswood where Seth’s parents live.

Sunday morning we enjoyed Easter in Friendswood with both sets of grandparents.  We went to church (leaving Seth at home on his death bed).  Jackson did an Easter egg hunt with Tommy and Ella which was a highlight.  After lunch we rushed off to the airport to catch our flight back to Bogota.

It was a fun getaway! We needed the fresh air and time to rest! We had so much fun seeing family and friends. We are officially on the countdown for our Sept 10th departure!!! We will have a month then to see people before diving in to German. We look forward to seeing friends and family that we haven’t gotten to see on our quick trips home!

Seth turned the BIG 30 on Friday! We headed out of town to the finca with some friends for the weekend and celebrated there! We didn’t take many pictures of the birthday festivities but have a few.

Jackson and I are so thankful for Seth! He is such a loving father and husband! He is the most wonderful friend and I really cannot imagine living life without him!  My friends keep warning me that turning 30 can bring on an early mid-life crisis. So far Seth is his normal cool, calm and collected self! Maybe just a little bit sassier than he was a few years ago!

We celebrated Seth’s birthday a little early (since we were going to be out of town) last week by going to dinner at an Argentinian Steak house

We had a wonderful dinner with grilled beef tenderloin, etc and our friends Nicholas and Kima brought desserts from a wonderful bakery!

Jackson had a great time at the finca this time! He did last time too but was old enough now to really enjoy it!

snacking on the porch, EARLY in the morning!

a little grumpy on our hike

Ben and Katie, our fellow travelers

All geared up!

Valentine’s cookies!

Reading on the way home!