All Fun and Games Until an Explosive Cyclogenesis Blows your trampoline into the Neighbor's Yard

I always feel like when people ask how I'm doing, well, there's not that much to say.  Things are good; same old, same old...
That is, of course, until I sit down to write a blog post, and can't think of how to cram everything that's been happening lately into a somewhat concise post.
It can really be almost impossible when I look back to when I wrote in my last post, and think of everything that has happened until since then.  I'll give it a try, though.

A few days after the last post, the girls from the Escoleta started working hard on fixing up the place where their new escoleta will be.  I planned on going to help them clean and paint, but when I arrived the first afternoon, after having picked up Eric, I found out that they weren't going to come until later on.  So, we went home and decided we would go help some other day when the girls were going to be there earlier because otherwise it would get too late for Eric and his dinner and bedtime.

The next day they told me they were going at 4PM, so Eric and I got some work clothes on and went to the new place to help clean and paint.  My plan was to help paint some vents near the ground, but Eric had other plans for me.  He kept climbing on me and crying, so I eventually had to look for something else to do.  I asked if I could do something in which I would be standing up, so that Eric wouldn't be able to climb on me so easily, and started cleaning the patio ground with a pressure cleaner.

It turns out that Eric thought it looked like fun, and he decided to help Maite out with the cleaning when she took the job back over.  He also decided to help sweep up the patio.  It's fun to see how he likes to try to be a good little helper!!
While they planned on continuing to work on the patio that weekend, I had other plans of my own.  So, I warned them that I wouldn't be around much, but that I would help them out again the following week.

So, going back to the cyclogenesis, the weather has been a bit crazy, and summer doesn't seem to want to come.  Normally the Calvin students that came to study here each year had been going to the beach almost daily for weeks by this time of year.  This year, though, beach weather has been rare.  I almost even feel crazy for wearing short sleeves or sandals out during the day most of the time.

The weather hit it's strangest point, though, a little over a week ago when the "ciclogénesis explosiva" hit.  Honestly, the name is so absurd that I thought that the weather man had made it up, but when channel after channel was talking about it, I decided it must actually exist.  So, what is it?  We found out the hard way a few days later when the neighbor came over one night complaining that our trampoline was sitting against his house.  (Mauri turns to me- How did you not notice that?!?!?  In my defense, I had been gone most of the day, and even had I seen it earlier, what was I supposed to do about it???)

As they start to push the trample back over to our house.

That same day the winds brought Elle back to us with a little bit more bad weather and a loss of our internet and phone connection.  (Coincidence?)

As you can see, Eric still loves his avocados.  

With the weather not being at its best, we took things pretty easy, and, after a trip to the mall, mostly hung out at home.  It was good to get caught up, though, and have someone else around for a change.

No sooner had she left than I had received a message about another visit from another former student and friend, Lee.  Elle's return to Madrid also coincided with a short-lived return of the nice weather and our internet.  So, of course, we had to place the blame on her for the weather and internet loss.  That was until a day later when the clouds came back out and our internet was down again!!! The weather started out nice, though, and Eric and I went to have frozen yogurt on the main street with Lee and some other old friends that I hadn't seen in awhile.   With it being so sunny, there was a huge line and wait for our frozen yogurt.  I had to run to save us the only free table to eat at, too.  Once we sat down, though, the clouds covered up the sun, and things got so windy that everybody around us ended up leaving.  Eric refused to try the frozen yogurt, but did drink some of the shake that Mauri bought when he arrived a little later after work.

My favorite Captain America's.  Notice the big boy's molars coming in!!!

On Saturday we had plans to go see Aunt Carmen and Uncle Roberto.  So, we headed off to Alicante for lunch after a quick almuerzo in Denia at which Mauri and Eric wore their matching Captain America t-shirts.

Seeing Aunt Carmen and Uncle Roberto again was nice.  It had been awhile.  They seemed to be doing pretty well, at least better than Eric was at lunch.  Not sleeping what he normally does, he had only slept for a little while during the hour-long trip to Alicante, and he was pretty tired when lunchtime came around.  After a quick stop at Carmen's house in which she gave him a gift, a Pocoyo baby computer, we headed out towards Carmen's favorite restaurant for seafood rice.

After a few appetizers, Eric was already tired and fussy.  One of the waitresses came to bring him a piece of paper to draw on, and when Eric started to draw, he stained his hand with the ink, and he got very upset about it.  Mauri tried to clean his hand, but couldn't get the ink off.  So, every time Eric looked down at the palm of his hand, seeing the ink again, he started to pull at his hands and cry.

We finally had to take turns, one of us going outside to walk around with Eric while the other took a turn eating.  He calmed down for long enough to come back in and let us quickly finish our dessert, but I suggested that we move out as quickly as possible to continue our talking in a nearby park.  I figured that that way they would be able to see Eric in his more usual, happy state.  After playing for a little while, we headed back towards home, and Eric once again fell asleep in the car.      

The weather has improved drastically since then, and we finally have our internet back.  It still doesn't feel like a normal spring/summer, though.  I'm looking forward to the nicer weather so that we can dress Eric in his little shorts, and so that we can start to play in our pool again.  Eric is finally at an age where I will be able to better know if he enjoys the water or not.

I was going to write a little bit about What Eric likes to do these days, but I think I'll save that for my next post which I plan on writing very soon...