4 small kids in one bedroom

On Sunday, February 24th, Tomu’s friend Scarlett (age 5 ½) and her family came to visit us for 12 days. Tomu and Scarlett met at Chavitos, the outdoor Spanish school in Tacoma, and Tomu put me in the awkward position of having to ask a complete stranger if her daughter could come play, right now. Marie accepted gracefully, and began coming over to our house sometimes for lunch and play dates with her 2 daughters. We had a few family dinners before we left town, but had only hung out with Christopher, Marie’s partner, twice.

When Marie said they were coming, and would like to stay with us instead of in an Airbnb, we started to brainstorm how we could make it work. We live in a huge house here (maybe twice the size of our house in Tacoma, 3000 sq feet or so?); however, it has only 3 proper bedrooms, which were already in use by Luz, Tomu & Jade, and Riki and I. So we had a crib built for Iyla to use (who turns two March 14th), and put another single mattress on the floor between Tomu’s and Jade’s for Scarlett, and voila! 4 kids between ages 2 and 5 sleeping in one room.

Our kids normally sleep with a lamp on at night, and Scarlett & Iyla sleep in complete darkness, so we had to adjust, putting our little solar camping light next to Jade’s bed. Iyla had the unfortunate habit of waking between 5 & 5:30 am, and she usually woke up Jade with her crying, so that meant early mornings for some of the parental group.

Marie and Christopher slept in a double bed in the common area outside all of the bedrooms—not exactly private, but it was the best we could do.

Tomu was over the moon to have his buddy Scarlett here. They would often walk down the sidewalk holding hands. Scarlett went to school with Tomu & Jade for 4 days. The Horan family generally just did what we normally do (school, soccer practice, swim lessons) and they were very keen to bike everywhere, as we do.

Marie took some Spanish lessons while they were here. Other than hanging out in Cuenca, we went up to Cajas one day, went out to a fancy 6 course dinner (sans les infants), visited the zoo with friends, and went to the Cañari ruins in town at the free Pumapungo museum. The Horans continued on to the coast for the rest of their vacation, much to Tomu’s chagrin. 🙂