shopping & marrying a la mexicana

We're back from Mexico City! All went well. Bill's sister Gretchen and Mundo had a beautiful wedding in the party room at her condo. Being a Party Planner Extraordinaire, the setting was stunning and the food was delicious. They were married by a Justice of the Peace, and according to Mexican law, no alcohol may be served until after the ceremony, which we found amusing (what? You can drive like a maniac but you can't drink before a wedding?) but a tad inconvenient. It turns out that the law is because of grooms who have experienced post-marital buyer's remorse and blamed it on a-a-a-a-alcohol. So rather than having to go through all the hassles of annulment etc, better to just ban premarital boozing. The justice of the peace was a piece of work, as he babbled on and on about how they were now captains of a ship and as time went on there would be other passengers on board so they had to keep that in mind with their decisions, etc. Meanwhile, Mundo already has a 25 year old daughter (who is an absolute delight!!) and Gretchen a 6 year old son, so they are fully aware of the trials and tribulations that accompany captaining a ship. Anyway.

Other than the wedding, we played lots of Mexican Train Dominoes with Bill's parents, drank lots of Negra Modelo beer, had a great morning at Bazaar del Sabado, which in Jackie's words is "the best shopping experience in the world," spent a few delightful hours at Las Caballerizas which has delicious food and a petting zoo and fields that made me long for my ultimate frisbee buddies back home. Once again, the schedule was too packed for me to be able to see my childhood friends or take the kids to my old school or other stomping grounds, which is a bummer - the kids would LOVE my school there, the American School. Next visit there I will definitely make it a priority to show them some of my background, and to see my friends.

All in all, a successful weekend. We loved Mundo, Gretchen's husband (we'd never met him before) and wish them much happiness. We also got to see Jaime, her ex-husband, and that was great. He's Willo's godfather and he and Willo had never met, since they were separated before the baptism.

Returning to Vieques was a bit of an adventure since we were scheduled out of Mexico at 11:00am and found out at 6:30am that the flight was canceled and we'd either have to fly out the following day (impossible for Bill) or at 9:45am. So we somehow managed to get out the hotel door in 30 mins and to the airport in 30 mins (record time by far). When we landed in San Juan, Jackie surprised me by sighing, "It's great to be home."

Fortunately, home for us for now is beautiful weather and gorgeous beaches, but it also means no school to which to ferry the kids so I can unpack, do laundry, and work on some photography orders I'd had pending. So the first day back was an utter disaster every moment that the kids were not doing schoolwork (because that's when they were fighting). It was one of those days where I really wondered how the heck all those moms homeschool, without resorting to mommy pills or vodka, or succumbing to violence. We ended up walking down to the beach when I'd finally finished my project, and the salt water somewhat eased our nerves. Today was far better as I got in a hard, hot run, the kids caught up on some much-needed sleep, we tackled the local supermarket (they had fresh spinach!!!! And pineapple!!!), and after math we started an art project (I'd brought back some canvases and fancy paints) which is like instant therapy. Oh, and I have a girls night out to look forward to tonight :)