It’s been a weird tiring week with Lowe sick, then better, then sick, then tired, then hungry, then not hungry, then better. Today he is finally better. We think. We’ll see tomorrow.
We popped into Sayulita on a whim because some friends were in town. We thought we’d stay a couple of days and continue on. Somehow, even with all the changes and how much the place has grown, we still find ourselves pretty content here. So a couple of days stretches to three weeks.
Lowe and I both looked great here after a stellar night of sleep.
The fairies gotta eat.
After just over one year on the road in this bus we finally have fire in the oven. I’d tried a few times to get the oven working, to no avail. I had sort of figured the problem was in the thermostat, but couldn’t find a replacement anywhere, and my tearing apart of the old one didn’t work either. Then one day in February while back in Minnesota for the wedding we spotted an ad in a Travco Facebook group for an oven remarkably like ours. Cost, $250. We got in touch and it turned out the lady had been following Bumfuzzle already. Obviously, she had hoped to sell the entire oven, but when I told her we just needed a couple of parts off of it she agreed to sell us just those, and effectively scrap the rest of the thing. Then she gave us a price—$50. So nice.
Today I finally got off the beach, got the parts out of the box, and got to work. Within the hour we had a working oven. The kids got excited because they both know that means more banana bread and cupcakes.
So, what did we have for dinner our first night as proud working oven owners? Spaghetti.
It wasn’t until today that we realized we don’t have any pans, or cookie sheets, or any other cooking thingamajigs one uses inside an oven.
For the record, it was the thermostat. I replaced the gear inside the oven as well, but the real problem was with that thermostat which I had suspected all along.
Playing bus driver.
Today Ouest had her first professional surf lesson. She’s been doing amazing with me, but we figured that someone who really knew surfing could teach her some of the finer points. And we were right. Within just a couple of waves her form had improved so much. She went from sort of climbing up off of the board, to springing up, and doing so in a way that left her feet right where they should be, smack dab in the middle of the board.
When I signed her up I just assumed the price was for one hour—instead she caught wave after wave for two hours. The funny thing was that the instructor wasn’t like me—I tend to push her into the wave and then skip through the water, grab her, and pull her back out on the board. Not today. For the most part she was in charge of paddling her butt back out to him, and if she doesn’t sleep fourteen hours tonight I’ll be surprised. If you’ve never surfed you have no idea how exhausting a workout that paddling is. There is a reason you don’t see fat surfers.
This morning Ouest and Lowe were playing outside when they both started screaming. Somehow they had run into each other, one of Ouest’s front fangs smashing into Lowe’s shoulder. Her tooth had a little blood around it and was a little loose as well. Pretty much par for the course with Ouest. She has spent at least half of her life with teeth that were in the midst of falling out due to some collision.
Fast forward to this afternoon. Some Bum friends who are in town stopped by to say hi. While we were all sitting around talking Ouest started goofing around and climbing into this small space behind a wooden Adirondack chair. Then somehow, while dropping down to hide, she hit her mouth right on the top back of the chair. Tooth? Gone. This tooth that wasn’t even loose this morning was now laying in the dirt somewhere while Ouest cried and blood gushed out of her mouth. This girl is absolutely going to cost us a fortune in orthodontist bills.
She’s got another legitimately loose tooth on the bottom right now as well. A smile only a parent could love.
16 Comments on “Toothless Grin”
I love her smile! Can’t get over what a little hot dog surfer she is becomming SO SO COOL! Hope Lowe is feeling better.
Grinning ear to ear watching Ouest surf, and applauding too as she rides those waves with such ease. Pretty cool. Awesome photos as always. Hope Lowe, Lowe is feeling better.
Love the surfing video! What a little champ Ouest is!! Sorry about the tooth, but it is nothing some banana bread or cupcakes couldn’t help! Yum!
Great video! So glad to hear you have an oven now. That means PIZZA!
I’ve been reading your blog from the start for the past couple of months, and I finally caught up…what to do at work now?!?! Thanks so much for sharing your adventures!
The Tooth Fairy is going to have to declare bankruptcy! LOL Great surfing, Ouest!!!
So cool she is surfing!!! If I could go back in time I would’ve given my kids a life like this.
Might want to consider that black water that flows right into the river mouth if you are wondering about illnesses…..
Not a truly uncommon complaint there.
Awwe man Oust is so adorable what a little surfing chic she is becoming. I also love that picture of her with the tooth out I’m not sure what you mean by ‘ a smile only a parent could love ‘ you mean relating to having your kids when there teeth fall out? Because i seriously hope you don’t mean something else, put it this way, I would say that picture would be worth a million dollars. :-).
Love that grin!
Get yourself a pizza stone or tiles of some sort to lay on the metal plate above the burner in the oven – or everything will be burned on the bottom. (Free advice.) 🙂
Patrick, in the first photo of Ouest surfing, is the large building in the background a hotel? I looked on Google maps and think that it is Villa Amor. Am I correct, and maybe that is where your Mom stayed? Just curious!
Yeah, I think that is the name, though I’m not totally sure. We’ve never stayed there. Pretty high buck place.
http://www.hotelvillaamor.com/rentals minus 40% off-season discount :-).
Way to go Ouest and thank you to Papa for the beautiful video 🙂
I have had a vision of the future. “Air Bumfuzzle” You’ll need it travelling around the world watching Ouest compete in the pro surfing circuit. Lowe will probably end up racing the Baja 500 with GoPro as his sponsor. “GoProLowe” edition 12.
Pat,
Great to see Ouest on the waves! Along that vein, something for the route planning file if your journeying south – http://hipehabitat.com. They’re an ex-pat couple with a young one in Nicaragua. She’s a pro surfer and could be a cool connection for the budding surfer. All the bet, CK