Cleveland Boyds: The Last Six Months....

We have been busy the last six months, namely with selling our house, buying a new home, moving, going on vacation and conceiving a child in between.

We hadn’t planned to sell our beloved Jay home, but we ran across another house, not too far away, that was larger and had a great yard. We decided that if we were able to sell the house on our own, without a realtor, then we would do it. Joe created a great website with information on the house, of course, but also info on Ohio City and other nearby amenities. Reading the site I wondered why we were even selling, since our house was so great!

It was on the 2005 Ohio City Home Tour, as you may recall:
www.2915jay.com and we did conceive two children in that home!

Nonetheless we proceeded and marketed the house through listserves and word of mouth. Luckily we had several interested couples and one couple in particular seemed to love it. Franklin and Maggie bought our home and moved in August.

W. 47th St.
Our new home, another Century house, is much larger, with nice, big rooms, lovely wood trim, hardwood floors throughout, a full basement (where my poor cats are now housed), a great master suite on its own floor and a wonderful yard! We hung a little toddler swing from a tree and Sofia loves being pushed high by daddy. We also bought a little slide and the previous owners left us their sandbox, so we created our own little park.

Oaxaca, baby!
Just two weeks after moving in, Joe and I went back to Oaxaca to vacation sans Sofia. Sofia split the two weeks between Joe’s parents and mine. It seems she had a great time and adapted very well.

Joe and I met up with Gavin and Stacey at O’Hare and spent the first few days in Puerto Angel. We rented a Jeep as the hotel owner strongly encouraged a 4x4 to use on the dirt road that led to his hotel. The drive to the area was fine, but the off-terrain road was pretty steep and full of holes. Joe expertly avoided our descent off several cliffs and we made it safely to the beach. The hotel, Bahia de La Luna (www.bahiadelaluna.com), while rustic (read=cold shower, bats in the room and mosquito nets over the bed), it was amazing. It sat on its own small bay, so it was isolated from any other hotels or people. The first night we were the only guests. French honeymooners joined us the next morning and promptly made out all day on one of the hammocks. Reto, the owner, a Dutch ex-pat, made all our meals from scratch, as well making amazing margaritas. I had a sip :)

A few days later we drove to Puerto Escondido, about 40 minutes north up the coast. Puerto Escondido is a well-known surfing/hippie town. The waves are legendary and tournaments are held frequently. Our hotel was a little less rustic, but still simple. The rooftop pool and hammocks, and view of the ocean, was a pleasant surprise however.

Joe borrowed Stacy’s boogie board, while Gavin refreshed his surfing skills. I read quite a bit and went through three books by the time our vacation was over.

Listos, ready, listos!?

After a few days of watching surfers and drinking micheladas (at least Joe did), we drove back to Huatulco. We stayed at the Gala Resort, where we had honeymooned. After the last two hotels, it was very nice to stay in a modern facility (read=hot showers, 24-hr room service, mini-bar, TV, AC, etc.). The Gala is all-inclusive, so we had lots of food all the time, drinks and plenty of activities. The Gala Entertainers, a group of 20-something year olds, tried to entice guests into playing tequila volleyball, water football, beach volleyball and water aerobics, among other games. Their constant refrain was “Listos?!” or “Ready!?” It was amusing to see them try to convince guests to tear away from their beach chairs to join the festivities. They finally convinced Joe, Gavin and Stacey to play tequila volleyball and watch them get drunk. Stacey also participated in water aerobics, which was very amusing when the “instructor” had them hug their neighbors and kiss on the cheek. I’m not sure what that worked out.

Most of our days were spent playing, or watching others play, all sorts of water sports. We lounged, worked on our tans, read, ate and drank. The evenings we ate some more, played billiards and tried to stay up to make it to the Gala Disco. We actually did go out one night to the Papaya Club, which played great music…oh and soft porn on the TV screens. Pretty strange.

Despite the great weather and wonderful vacation I was anxious to get back to Sofia; especially with so many toddlers running around the resort. We promised ourselves that we’d return in a couple of years with the kids and hope we can drag some friends with us.

Back in Cleveland
Once we returned, we continued unpacking and settling in our new home. The big news, of course, is the new baby. I had my first ultrasound right before we left and the due date still holds as March 16th. As with Sofia, my first trimester was painless. Just a little tired, but thankfully no morning sickness or any other adverse symptoms. At 20 weeks, I’m certainly showing. I had another ultrasound a few weeks ago and everything is fine, but we also found out the gender. It’s a girl! The first ultrasound seemed to show it as a boy, but it was very early. Regardless it was a surprise to hear we’re having another girl. Now we have to figure out a name…

Halloween Hurrah
Keeping with tradition, we held our annual Halloween “bash” albeit a little early. We invited, pretty much, every toddler (and their parents) that we know, including Sofia’s classmates. We had about 12 or 13 kids attend, all in their costumes. They were adorable. Unfortunately, for them, it was 80 degrees, so most discarded their fluffy costumes after an hour. The backyard was a hit and it was fun watching Sofia play with her friends. It was also great meeting some of Sofia’s classmates’ parents, as well as chatting with our friends.