There won’t be much about Panama for a while since I am currently in the US with family. But, since this blog is about my day to day life, now you will hear mostly about grandchildren!

I am with my older daughter who has a 2 1/2 year old boy and a newborn daughter. Babies are wonderful and this one is beautiful, but for taking photos it is the boy who is the most interesting since he is in almost constant motion. One of his fun activities is blowing and chasing bubbles.

We started with the bubbles in the backyard one afternoon.

This bubble gun is pretty cool and he knows how to work it.

Blowing bubbles from the wand is also fun.

Even more fun is chasing the bubbles that Joel blows.

There was much blowing of bubbles, chasing, running, shouting, and squeals of excitement that afternoon!

My daughter’s neighborhood has this great park that wanders through the neighborhood, containing a playground, flowers, walkways, streams, and fields for people to run and play. It’s a favorite place to go on a nice day.

We walk along the path in the park, chasing bubbles along the way.

Alexander, another friendly kid in the park, wanted to show my grandson his favorite secret places near the stream.

Climbing over logs near the stream is always fun.

OK, onward we go following daddy.

Playtime in the field!

Dad has the great wand that makes big bubbles.

I can do it!

big bubble

Down the slide, and off and running

I am not supposed to kick dirt, or wood chips, or gravel, or anything but it is so irresistible.

Swinging is another wonderful thing

We also had a lovely outing to the St. Francis Winery on Sunday afternoon. Along with beautiful scenery, wine, and cheese there were of course, bubbles!

There is a beautiful statue of St Francis near the entrance to the winery.

This plaque tells about the Italian bell above the entrance.

The back terrace, and bubbles everywhere!

Joel reaches for a floating bubble as he hangs out with the baby.

Chasing bubbles is such fun!

The baby is happy to sleep through all of it.

There were a couple really interesting windmills.

I should have taken a video to show how beautiful the windmills are in motion.

The kids liked the fountain and water pool

Hanging out by the water. I’m getting a bit more acclimated but I still need a number of layers of insulation.

We got the idea to switch the hats around

I have daddy’s hat and he has mine!

I am just here to enjoy the family, play with the kids, and help out a bit around the house but it is surprising how fast the days are flying by. I’d rather watch Pooh, Monsters, and Sesame Street with my grandson than work on the computer, and I’ll hold the baby when she needs an extra pair of hands to cuddle and rock. My grandson is going to Montessori school so he needs to be dropped off and picked up, and there are the usual shopping and errands and chores.

This all gives me a taste of what it is like for so many young families in the USA –  Get up, feed and dress everyone, get kids out the door with back packs and lunch boxes, and hopefully shoes and socks, and then go to work (though my daughter’s current work is 24/7 newborn care). Before you know it, it’s time to pick up kids, prepare snacks and dinner, spend a few quality minutes before bath and bedtime, prepare for tomorrow, fall into bed hopefully to sleep a bit before doing it all again the next day.  It is the rare family who can afford to have one parent home full time, and it is the rare family who has extended family nearby providing daycare and support. Few jobs have the flexibility for part time work or flexible hours, so parents are juggling a lot and trying to make it all work with little time to care for themselves. There are no one size fits all solutions, but I wish there was more support and understanding for families. Thankfully both of my daughters have good jobs, and great husbands who are very involved and hands on with the responsibilities of parenting and caring for the household, but it’s still a lot.

I’m not sure how I got from bubbles to the state of families in the US, but here we are. Nap time will be over soon so I will sign off for now, but pictures of fun outings to a children’s museum are probably coming next.