January 1 - Marie went for a hike with the twins. It was so nice.
January 2 - Another family day. Lots of hanging out. The babies can roll over so easily now and they eat cereal at night. We will start farm egg yolks this month. This is supposed to be good for brain development?
January 3-Was a cold day! -13 during the day. Spent the morning finishing Frank’s HR videos. Afternoon we went sledding because it snowed so much. Then Frank was doing computer work and Marie and kids made cookies.
January 4th - twins are now 7 months! An announcement was made that Schools will remain close for atleast two weeks, due to the wide spread of COVID!
january 5- first day of homeschooling. Homeschooling actually wasn’t that bad. We got into a routine. Teachers posted assignments and we completed them. Alice and Sophia both met with there class via Teams for two hours a day. Peter didn’t get as much attention from me as he usually does, when the girls go to school, but, I think he enjoyed having them home. Him and Alice are really starting to bond. Homeschooling ended Jan 15.
January 15 was an ultrasound appointment for Adam, to check out his spine. The doctor was concerned because he had a little dimple above his bum. We went skating that night too. It was quite cold! Alice was a great skater! We got Pizza for dinner. Alice out of nowhere says loudly in the car “guys I think this is delicious!” It was funny and random. We had Fr. Jan over for dinner too. He is a wonderful and inspiring priest.
January 16th Marie booked flights to Panama! Finally a vacation. We have to go before the 28th, or we would have to be triple vaccinated. We didnt go to Chile, which is what I wanted, because the kids weren’t vaccinated. Also there was a huge snowstorm. The school was closed because of it! It was closed for two days.
January 15-18 Frank cleaned the basement. It is super clean. We can move the treadmill down, currently it is the boot room. It takes up a lot of room. Frank is working on his bubble breakup stuff a lot too.
January 25-26 We we’re intensely getting ready to go to Panama. It was stressful. Frank put up the supporting beams on the porch - with Joe.
On the 26th we got our CoVid tests, we were all negative. We took the tests at shoppers drug mart. The 15 minute test took well over an hour, even though I booked it. It was so annoying! We took the girls back to school, went home, and finished packing. Then we drive to Toronto. We didn’t get to our air bnb until 11pm:(. it was okay. I slept on the couch and the babies beside me in the stroll6e. I think they got a good sleep? It was pretty short though. We had to wake up at 6am the next day.
Jan 27! Probably one of the most stressful days of my life. It started with me second guessing why we are even going! We received ally of negative comments. Not one person is excited for us. Covid is also really bad in Panama City. But anyway we are going! We woke up at 6, at the Airbnb, got ready and were in the car by 7am. We drove to the sky park and dropped off the car at 7:30am. They shuttled us to the airport. We have so much luggage:(. We waited in a long line and dropped it off. It was only checked to Orlando, our layover. Meaning we had to leave the transit area, get our bags and re check in with the new airline. Frustrating, when you have small kids! anyway, we dropped of the bags, and went to the American customs desk, they were okay to us. Then we had to go through security. When we finally got to our gate, we only had 10 min left. Luckily there was a delay for boarding and we were able to get breakfast and I could feed the babies. We got on, Frank had to toe the boggie board to the stroller, so Sophia carried Adam onto the plane. She got a out of comments and weird looks. I think she liked all the attention, and I definitely enjoyed the help. Once we sat down we found out there were a few empty seats around, so we managed to take the whole roll. The babies did great on the plane. Peter was bored and loud. When we got to Orlando we went to get our bags. Frank was in Florida for the first time. We then had to recheck in through Copa. It was so annoying! When we did we had to book a flight home or else they wouldn’t let us board. This is something Panama requires for tourists-proof of exit. It was stressful again to buy the tickets while the kids were crazy. I hate being rushed. We bought them and then we’re ready to go. We boarded and tried to sleep on the plane. No luck for me. We landed and then had to go through custom! The line was so long.”we were so exhaustEd. Luckily the hostal we stayed at sent a shuttle service. It was a small car. We actually all had to sit in the back. The whole family. So sketchy. Finally made it and we went to bed at Casa 33.
Jan 28: Day 1 in Panama City. We had a nice slow morning. We went and had brunch - Fried fish or chicke. It was really good. We walked to a playground and the kids played, it got super hot after! We decided to go back to the hotstal and we hung out for a few hours. Then we cabbed it the National Metropolitano park. It was only 10min away. It felt like we were in a different world. We did a short hike. It was so great. The kids enjoyed the abundance of leaf cutter ants and the infested turtle pond. Then we walked to get food. Then we cabbed it home and I went to grocery store with Sophia. Groceries are more expensive at this store then back home. I think I’m going to like Panama. The people seem real. At the hostal we took showers and played go fish. The people here like our kids…
January 29 - Day 2 in Panama. We are still in Panama City, and today was a little bit of an eye opening day in two ways. First, Panama City looks modern and safe, but we walked from our Hostal, in La Exposicion area to Cisco Viejo area. It was pretty poor in some areas and smelled a lot like pee. We were pretty sketched out so we decided to walk by the waterfront. The waterfront is super nice and felt very safe, but just steps away felt very poor and unsafe. Second, our kids, seeing them all day long without the home routine and now jobs/school is for me a kind of a learning experience to see what kind of kids I am raising. Generally they are very great, but there are areas they they can definitely improve o . I am excited to work with them and get to know them more. At home I feel we get so focused on ourselves and they get into a routine that focuses on them, there school and friends, and this trip we can focus on our family relationship. Anyway, the morning was nice. We made some eggs and had bananas. The ladies in the hostal, loved hanging out with the babies. It was nice, because it gave me a chance to clean up and get the other kids ready. The walk took about and hour, we started at 11. Frank carried Peter on his shoulders and pushed the strollers. I hung out with the girls. We stopped in the park by the water. It was so hot and sunny, but we found some shade and took the babies out. They crawled around. people stopped to take pictures of Alice. It was kind of weird. Then we had lunch at the fish market. It was so loud and overpriced. Would not recommend it. Then we finally got into Casco Viejo. It was so pretty, very shady too! The architecture seemed very European. We spent hours walking around. Then we went to the market area and bought some groceries for dinner. We cabbed it home. It was cheap and cost us $5. At home we made dinner and fed the babies. The kids hung out, the owners all love our children. They are very kind. We went to bed early because it was an exhausting day. We are all pretty happy.
January 30th - Day 3 in Panama city. Today we had a larger breakfast, that Frank cooked, and then started our day. I played go fish with the kids. We went to the ruins of the original Panama City - it was called Panama Viejo. It was really pretty. A nice museum too. I breastfed in the museum while a tour group went by, it was kind of awkward. We saw the ruins, they were pretty large buildings. Then we took a taxi to the market area. We ate some items from the bakery, it was good. Then we had some street meat. Also very good. We had beef and sausages. We walked home fast because we didn’t want to stay out after dark. At the hostal I fed the babies and the other kids watched Netflix. It was a great and hot day.
January 31. What a day! It started in Panama City, where we woke up at the hostal. we are breakfast and then walked to get our rental. There was some confusion with me and the rental agreement, but we sorted it out. The price they were quoting me online didn’t match what they made me sign for - $600 dollar difference. I made them realize this and after about an hour, he finally validated me and printed off my quote. I hope that is what will be charged to my credit card. we tried to go to the Panama Canal, but it was closed on Mondays. we then started driving to our new air bnb. Outside Panama City was pretty America, lots of stores that are at home. As we contined, it got more and more poor. It was nice to see culture and breathe fresh air. The van we got was big and I was able to sit with the babies. Sophia got to sit in the front. We drive up to El Valle. It is so beautiful! The landscape was picture perfect, lush green mountains! We picked up groceries and then an hour to our air bnb. It was so step to get there. We made it just past dark. We couldn’t really see everything, but what we did see, it seemed very beautiful. Frank wanted to back in the van….but he got stuck, like really stuck. At first there was one guy helping him, but, because we don’t speak Spanish it was really hard To communicate. I had the kids at the air bnb. Then we went to get some food so I can cook, and there was about 5 people helping and a truck. An hour and half later, they got it out. We then had dinner and went to bed. What a day!