MEEMAW MEMORIES: 2017 Week 28: Event-filled week

Another very full week. Brace yourselves for many photos and stories . . . or not.

One Independence Day week blended into another. I like this ad on Facebook because it represents how I feel about my identity as an ATCK, adult third culture kid.

However, it was a double celebration as July 9, Nueve de julio, is not only Argentine Independence Day, but it is also Leah's adopted birthday! So we celebrated!

Almost everyone had a go on the zip line. This was Leah's valiant effort, eyes-closed and screaming.

I will not bore you with photos of the many other zipliners--Karen, Stephan, Skye, Jimmy. . .

Kristie and kids came by briefly on their way to experience the Rubixcube finals in Fort Wayne. We watched Elijah put together a 2x2 in 6".

And in the evening we had a welcome program at the church for the 6 Basque students visiting for the month.

Whew! That was only Sunday!

We took Jon to Monday Night Dinner where we enjoyed deep-dish pizza and berry pies. Stephan gave him a tour of the ice studio and the farm.

We so enjoy the colorful changing skies on the way home.

Wednesday I left the guys to fend for themselves and traveled north to visit Mother.

Mother and her fancy new walker

We spend every available moment together reading the weekly letters from Mother and Dad to their families back in the US. We read and laughed our way through two months worth (July-August '46).

Very rarely does anyone get glimpses of their early childhood as I am privileged to through my parents notes to their folks about the funny or naughty things I did. For example:

Rita certainly brings lots of laughs for us. Yesterday we were walking along hand in hand to the carpenter shop. She said, "Let's run, Daddy". Se we ran for quite a little ways. Then she looked up at me very sternly and demanded, "Let me walk." Of course, I said that would be all right. Then she began to laugh and said, "I did it. Rita did it." I said, "Rita did what?" She answered, "Rita told Daddy."

And in another letter:

At times Rita is a joy and other times she is a pest. When she wants something, she will stand and call for it with ever increasing volume until we get it for her. She has no patience whatsoever. . . She is as stubborn as her mother and Dad put together.

Hmmm. . . stubborness or terrible-twoness?

Thursday when I got home from the long dentist appointment, Jon had cooked one of his favorite meals for us--lots of veggies, beautifully plated.

The Hulk, a.k.a. Jon, preparing dinner--sausage, mixed vegetables, tomatoes, mashed avo with olive oil, bread

Unfortunately we don't have ready access to the wonderful fresh baguettes we so enjoyed in the Basque region, nor have I been up to making any.

Of course our Basque friends must have the Ivanhoes experience while here. We ended up going two nights in a row. The second time, with Unai (Sam and Kristie's guest) who was persuaded to try the same Jon had enjoyed the day before--Texas burger and Cookie Monster sundae! Ahhh, too much!
These young people have very healthy eating habits. They only drink water, prefer fruits and vegetables, and don't eat many sweets.

Unai spent the night with us because early the next day they traveled to Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis to a robotics competition. I went along and caught occasional glimpses of our PhyXTGears drive team.

This was a totally new experience for our Basque guests. This year's game is complicated and difficult to follow at first. Some may have been bored at times, but they always have their devices to entertain them and, of course, they love hanging out as a group and rattling off in euskera constantly.

To end the day there was a picnic at Taylor Lake. Overall a fun day.

Saturday Michael was up at the crack of dawn again for the second day of IRI (Indiana Robotics Invitational) which has become an elite event, accepting only the best of the best. What a privilege for our little team to be invited! So, even though they ranked 60 out of 68, they were thrilled to be there.

I watched the entire event online, catching occasional glimpses of our people.

The Basque kids were gone till late night, first to a water park and then a concert.

For me it was a long day alone sitting in front of the computer, toggling between screens--robotics matches, and the project I was working on. A nice long walk was in order.