N I N E

When our Spanish summer was coming to an end, I was debating how best to celebrate Elisa's birthday and was really hoping we'd make it back home by then. Since my trip to Paris was a last minute idea turned to reality, I pushed back our return until at least the 16th--the day after I landed in Madrid. Loads were looking okay, but not great for a flight home that day, with odds improving closer to the 18th after Spaniards took off on their own mid-month vacations. What I really didn't want to happen was for us to miss a flight on the 16th and then try again on the 17th, Elisa's actual birthday. I figured if we didn't make it home before her big day, we'd have to wait until after. I mean, who wants to sit on a plane for 8 hours to mark the occasion? The family seemed okay with this plan and we took a chance on the 16th and woke bright and early to give it a shot. I was feeling mostly optimistic about it, but without Nacho checking loads every 5 min to give me an update, I was also dangerously out of touch and perhaps delusional. Luckily, we made it on after all and arriving mid-day to NYC on the 16th, I was able to get home, shower and still make it out to Party City for a few birthday decoration odds and ends. Even better, we returned to find the packages that had been delivered in my absence so that Elisa's birthday surprises would actually appear the next day. And just like that, we had a full fledged birthday extravaganza on our hands. Emojis were the chosen theme and Nacho did me a solid and got balloons inflated at the Dollar Store after the girls went to bed. It was nearing 10pm and I was finally ready to say goodnight to this table of goodies for both girls. Since Carolina kind of got the shaft with her vacation birthday, she had her own pile of presents to wake up to. And they shared the new karaoke machine which would be the center piece of their park party later in the month. Yes, it was all looking very emoji-rific and I was ready to collapse. 

The girls woke up bright and early--like 4:50am early--the next day and I was almost ready to jump out of bed. I knew it would be hard to contain them with jet lag and the excitement of birthday presents, but damn, it was a groggy start to the festivities. They devoured their presents and were very eager to build their Legos and play with their Shopkins dolls. Elisa had been asking about getting her own camera and she wanted one like mine that printed photos. So I opted to get her a Fujifilm Instax Mini in the perfect cool mint color she likes. Let's just say it was the first present she opened and her mouth never fully closed again. I think it was a hit.  Nacho and I had already agreed to Elisa's plan that we'd hit Coney Island that day, but after checking online I realized the amusement park didn't even open until noon. It was only 6 a.m. and we'd have a lot of time to kill. 

By the time we made it to Luna Park at Coney Island around 1 p.m., we were ready to hit the ground running. I opted against wristbands for $50 each and instead bought us a card with $100 worth of credits plus a bonus $40 so that we could all use it and take turns going on the rides and even play games. This seemed like a bit of a gamble, but in the end it was worth it I think. The girls loved all their rides, won two Shopkins stuffies at the Whack-A-Mole (operated by a very kind-hearted young man who let us rig it for them) and managed to endure not one but TWO rollercoasters with Nacho and I that probably scared the shit out of them but in reality weren't that bad. I might have overestimated how minor the first ride was, but with its topsy turvy spinning seats and backwards diving motions, it even made me a little nauseous. Carolina was absolutely frozen in fear. But she survived and she even laughed. Elisa was mostly good about sticking with her sister except for a ride at the very end of the day. But by then, we were all starting to show our fatigue and even a brief refueling at Nathan's wasn't enough to sustain us for much longer. No, we grabbed some slushies at the ice cream shop and walked on the boardwalk for a few minutes and then it was time to pack it up. 

We made it back home around 7 p.m. and Nacho began cooking dinner of guisantes (Elisa's request) and chicken cutlets. I had the girls FaceTime grandma and grandpa and it was clear Elisa was drifting into a very sleepy place. By dinner I had to drag her out of her bed and away from her tablet to sit at the table but it wasn't to last. She complained of a headache and didn't want to eat, so I told her to take 5 minutes and go lay down. When I went to check on her, she was out cold. This year there would be no cake or singing happy birthday. She had partied hard all day long but even at nine, she had her limits. And that was fine. I woke her just enough to get her changed into jammies and told her we would save her ice cream cake for the next day with friends and she sleepily said okay. We invited Carmen and José and Irene over the next evening to continue the celebrations and try out the new karaoke machine and it was a big success. I think Elisa was more than happy to extend her birthday and we all enjoyed catching up after our summer vacations. Nine is definitely a number I hope will suit our growing girl as I see a lot of maturity in her some days. It's that funny place of being like a big little kid with all the mixed emotions of wanting to be bigger than she is while reminding me that she's really still so young. More and more she looks the part of a 12 year old but she lacks that mental framework. So we'll ride out 9 and hope that it gives her just a little push forward to get ready for next year and those double digits.