Pop! goes the elbow! (that's an icky title, isn't it...?)

We have now bid adieu, or, I should say, chau to Grandma Buttons and Poppie. N&B will have some great memories of them, though. Helped, of course, by the bajillion pictures we have. Liiiiiiike, these ones...:

For some reason, Poppie's knees were sore a lot... Bran just loved, LOVED playing so much with him. He even wanted to sleep with him. Speaking of which, Bran was nice and tired out every night. Poppie probably was, too...

Grandma Buttons and I took the kiddos to their playgroup on our bikes. That was great! Usually I have to walk them in the big 'ol stroller since Z takes the minivan to work, so if playgroup's not in walking distance, we don't go. That day it was a little too far to walk, but since we had an extra big person, we rode! (Not an extra-big person, an EXTRA big person ;) Nuala was pooped and fell asleep on the way back. I don't know why, it's not like she was pedaling against the wind for 15 minutes... Poor kid, doesn't she look super-comfy? GB tried to prop her head back up, but to no avail. Eh. Kids are flexible...

...for the most part... And now THIS day! Day of Days! We went to the Pan de Azucar animal reserve, the one we tried to go to the previous Saturday but the wily jaguar had escaped...yeah...Anyway, my poor little Bran Man. See his nifty little blankie/sling? The boy fell off a horse and hurt his arm. It didn't swell or anything, but he complained when he had to move it and was just generally in a very unhappy mood. So I pretty much got to carry him the whole time, silently cursing whatever had possessed me to remove the handy dandy baby carrier that I keep for emergencies from the van. Bran weighs 31 -- sometimes 32! -- pounds. And boy did I feel it. I did not take very many pictures. In fact, it was very hot and humid, AND -- get this -- the capybaras were not hanging out in their usual spot!! *GASP* That's the highlight! All the friendly little capybaras coming over to say hi to us. They're gettin' a good talking to next time we come...

And here Bran is, back on the playground after we looked at the animals. Pretty tough climbing one-armed. Didn't stop him from trying.

And the culprit!! Oh, slippery, wooden horse that you are! Nuala, as usual, is dancing with danger.

So, after emailing his doc and determining to wait the night, we took him in the next morning. I was so dreading hearing the word "broken." Zachariah was out of town, and though my in-laws were luckily still around, the thought of everything involved with getting a broken bone taken care of was not fun. That is one of my fears. Z being gone while I'm in another country and having some sort of medical emergency with the kids. But I was ready. I even steeled myself to brave the traffic to the British Hospital. First, though, it was just to his pediatrician, which is way closer and much easier to get to.

And hooray!! Bran only had a dislocated elbow!!! See how happy he is? He wasn't that happy while Dra. Bregante was twisting and pulling it back into place. Neither was I, but what a relief! It only took TEN minutes! I thought the whole day was going to be devoted to his poor little, must-be-broken arm! ¡Qué bendición! What a blessing! I'm so glad he's back to normal, it's so sad when your little one is hurting. Though when we got home, the thought (somewhat guiltily) crossed my mind as he was chasing Nuala and very enthusiastically whacking her with various owie-pokies, eliciting ear-splitting responses: "hmmm, it was kinda nice when he was just sitting there..." I know, I know! Horrible. I didn't mean it, but you know... it was kinda nice.

So, to celebrate, we went to the beach. Just the close one. It was fun. Nuala pooped in her swimsuit, but nothing a little burying in a quickly-dug cat hole and some bum- and swimsuit-swishing in the waves couldn't fix. (If you go to Pinar, I'm sure it's all washed away by now.) Besides that, we played in the water, and built castles, and dug (normal) holes, and explored. By the way, it's officially Autumn here! Sad... especially since we won't be here for another glorious, beach-filled summer... sigh.

Awwwww...how sweet! And you know you're a good grandma when you don't mind a bare, probably still kinda stinky, bum on your arm.

I liked this shot, the two of them peeking over my shoulders. It's actually not too bad carrying two 30-pounders; you can just clasp your hands together and they balance out. For about 3 minutes. Then your arms feel like they're going to pop from their sockets, you hear your back groaning in agony, and your wrists go numb. But your "babies" are happy.

We had fun, fun, FUN with Poppie and Butt-Butt! Now we're going through withdrawals but luckily will see them in not-too-far-away July. Wow. That's really not far away. Dang it...we have a lot to do...