the Dominguez 5: We're Still Here!

Yes, yes... we are still here... I AM still a blogger... and now that August is already halfway over, I figured I should probably share a little bit about our July!

Cesar's sister Karen, and her husband & son flew in from Chile on July 4th and stayed for the WHOLE month! It was so great! the last time Karen was here was 5 years ago... Cesar and I had just begun dating at the time... and while we didn't do anything super exciting, it was just great to have them around for a whole month! Poor, poor Cesar worked A LOT of late nights, but we did manage to sneak in a quick get-away to Myrtle Beach.... (For whatever reason, we hardly took any pics and I don't have any of Karen & her fam! Lame, I know!) We were there for 4 days & nights... It was just what we needed... and, man, I got one great tan!

Our drive home was quite the adventure... If you're interested, read on, otherwise, you can check out the pics! So, its time to make the 12 hour drive back... We knew the day would come; we just didn't realize how quickly! I woke up not feeling well AT ALL and threw up before we even left town. Cesar wasn't himself and neither was Maria (my mother-in-law). Apparently, neither was Milo, cause while we were fueling up (after about only 30-45min on the road), poor Milo pooped all over himself & HIS CARSEAT!!! It was a mess in the back seat! Well, I was NO HELP! I could barely walk; I had no energy to deal with my child... all I could do was change his diaper - and that was draining! So, my dear sweet mother-in-law & sister-in-law (Karen) cleaned him & the carseat up. As they're standing outside, allowing the poor child some fresh air, he puked all over the place (thank goodness that wasn't in the car!). I felt so bad for my little stinker. No worries; after that, Milo was great! Good thing, cause the rest of us (at least in that car) were a mess! We managed to go another 4 1/2 hours or so before Maria realized that she wasn't doin' so good and we had better stop... We managed to get off at the next exit and stop at a supermarket... A spanish supermarket... owned by Koreans... in Maryland. As soon as Cesar parked the car (or at least attempted to park it), it stalled! The clutch was stuck! He opened the hood and there was oil everywhere... With the look on his face, I knew we were in trouble! He figured out that the valve for the clutch (or something like that) had basically burst... He tracked down a Mazda dealership (that was an hour away) that had ONE left... He went to go get it. Meanwhile, the rest of us (that would be Karen, Hernan (her hubbs), Hector (her son), Maria, Romina (sis-in-law), Wyatt & Yeshua (Pamela's -other sis-in-law- boys), Milo & myself) waited at this spanish supermarket, owned by Koreans, in Maryland. I was a mess. I hadn't eaten all day (I don't remember what time it was at this point) because it would only make me more sick... and I was of no help to my child cause I had no energy to take care of him and ALL HE WANTED WAS ME! I felt so bad... There came a point when I managed to escape his view to run into the store so that I could, ya know, hurl again and when I came back they just kept me out of his view so that he wouldn't cry for me. WE WERE A SIGHT TO SEE!!! We had originally been hanging outside the front of the store with only a bucket and a crate to sit on, but when we realized that we were gonna be there a while, Karen pulled out the big guns and took charge! They decided to set up camp on the side of the store so the sun wouldn't beat down on us. The gang pulled out some useful stuff from the trunk... beach chairs, the stroller for Milo, the cooler, pillow & towels - with which they made a little place for me to lay on the ground! We were gonna be all right, we really were! Uh oh, my phone is dead; Romina's is on its way out... what are we gonna do if Cesar needs to call us for anything?? No problem, we'll just go inside, borrow an outlet at an unused register and charge our phones!! After about 4 1/2 hours of hangin' out at our new digs, MY HUBBS CAME BACK TO SAVE THE DAY!!! The stupid part only cost $15... well, and 4 1/2 hours of our time, but what a blessing! Cesar fixed it and off we went! My Cesar, the HERO!!! Its a good thing he's handy, seriously! Hernan took some pics of us that day... I'll have to get them from him... Its not something we'll be forgetting any time soon!

Milo loves to brush his teeth...