Spanglish Accent: Groundhog Day

I feel like I am living in the movie Groundhog Day. I wake up each morning and can already tell you what is going to happen from that moment until the time I go to bed that night. The only thing that breaks up the deja vu is sometimes we add a few new characters, or even a new location on rare occasion, but then it is back to business as usual. I will explain...

We have now been on Home Leave for a bit over 2 weeks. The first long weekend was all go, go, go. It was a lot of fun - see here - but tiring. Especially after coming off of this (think overnight flight with two kids under 5 - without spouse).

Since that weekend ended back in June (25th to be exact) we have been camped out at my parents house in Austin. Save a trip to the Outlet Malls one day, a morning at Target/Best Buy another and a day long trip to Sea World, we have spent these two weeks doing {almost} the exact same thing each day...

7 am - The little's wake up.
7:01 am - Send girls down to Grampa while I get a few more minutes of sleep.
7:30 - 8:00 am - Wander down for a cup of the finest Costa Rican coffee money can buy (Thanks Nana and Grampa for bringing it back last month AND for sharing it).
8:30 am- Tell the girls for the 200th time that we will be heading to the pool/lake in just a few minutes. I couldn't possibly not drink every single drop of this sweet nectar that has been shared with me.
9:00 am - Girls are in their suits, teeth brushed and telling me how could I possibly not be ready yet. Can they go find Nana and Grampa because maybe they are ready and will take them to the pool.
9:01 - we are in the pool/lake - until Lunch.
12:30 - Lunch. Sustenance is not tasted, nor is it chewed. It is swallowed whole so that we can get back to our swimming or up to the movie theater for the afternoon showing. (Stinkerbell is down for a nap).
1:00 - 5:30ish pm - Movie/Swimming/Tubing/Jet Skiing
5:30 pm - If we are down at the Lake or up in the Movie Theater we now move to the pool. Swimming and general horse play until dinner time. This is also the time the adult beverages and hors d'eouvres come out.
7:30 pm (usually called bedtime when we are in Santiago) - Dinner.
9:30 - The kids fall into bed, happy, tired, and ready to do it all again tomorrow.

I cannot complain about this schedule. Yes, we are exhausted at the end of the day. But just from too much fun, sun and family (My brother and his wife and my two nephews came up for the 4th and have been here ever since). We have eaten too much, drank too much and swallowed way too much lake water. But we have also taught the 3 oldest to water ski (not to perfection, but they are still so young), taught MadHatter to swim without her floaties (at least in the shallow end) and started some friendships with the cousins that will hopefully last a lifetime.

We leave again tomorrow for the next leg of our trip - 2 weeks back "home" in California. Until then, here is a picture peek at what we have been up to...