Deja Vu for the Second Time

So here we are at the end of another week. We have been looking for things to do on the weekends while school has been out for the summer break. I think I mentioned before that the American school down here has two 7-week breaks, instead of one long summer break. School got out the first week of December and we were able to bridge the boredom at home with the Christmas and New Year's holidays, and now we're down to the final week. I say 'we', but really it's moms everywhere feeling the brunt of having to entertain their kids all day every day. So we have been looking to get out around the city, but who wants to do that when it's 90 degrees outside and super humid. We have made a list of places to take the kids, but will likely wait until fall (March-April).

The benefit of that is that Claire, who only months ago was terrified of putting her face in the water has practically transformed herself into a little fishy. She's swimming all over our pool (which goes 6 feet deep) without her life jacket. She jumps off the sides into the pool, and yesterday donned goggles for the first time and was swimming under water checking things out. We are so pleased at what our pool access has done for the kids. With the heat of the day, the water in the pool is pleasant so we can just get right out there and the kids have thrived.

Yesterday morning, we went to the school (only dog-poopless park around, probably cause it's gated with restricted access) park to play. We knew that the school had been contemplating putting in a bench with a memorial plaque dedicated to Lily, but were not sure when it was going to be done. Apparently, the school superintendent (for reasons not fully explained, in my opinion) did not want to advertise the placement of the bench so as not to 'upset' the kids in the school and bring back the memories of what happened. So they preferred a silent placement to where the bench just appeared over the summer break. Well, the bench is there. We saw it, and with Claire starting classes there in a week, will get to tell her friends that it's Lily's bench, and she will get to see it every day.

The bench was another project (like the tree-planting) that caring people organized and carried out independently. They are both thoughtful projects that have allowed the American community to remember Lily along with us. It is also nice to have reminders found in places we frequent regularly.

Our deja vu moment for the week came when Candace called me at work on Thursday to tell me that someone had just hit our car that was parked in front of our house. Didn't that already happen, you ask? Yes, I answer. A few months ago, someone took off our passenger sideview mirror. They, of course, didn't stop... just left it hanging there. This time, a vehicle passing by had its passenger door open as it passed our car, hitting the back drivers side of the tailgate and breaking the light fixtures and leaving a few small dents. As you can see, the car is driveable and should be a relatively painless fix (and leave no remains of the damage), but it's more of a hassle to deal with a second neglectful incident of someone hitting our car. Twice in six months.

We've got to find somewhere else to park.