Laughter

Today was Saby's birthday, so we celebrated by having a barbecue out at one of the nearby parks on Bush Lake in Bloomington.

Two moments that I hope I never forget, because they will surely make me smile even in the worst moods:

1. One of the more fun Mexican birthday traditions is shoving the birthday person's face into their cake. Because Saby's cake sported this wonderfully done crest of Club America, the club she supports, she was only going to put her face in one of the corners. Well when Lacy and Sonia went to push her, she resisted, so she barely got any frosting on her face, and the girls insisted that she cut a piece out and redo it. So she did, and the result was much more satisfying. But then she ran after Cecy and literally chased her all over the park to smear cake all over her. They sparred in the parking lot, and then Saby just slapped Cecy in the face with a handful of frosting. It was absolutely hilarious and I thought I was going to keel over laughing.

2. Cecy's sister, Yadi, headed home a bit early, taking her son Dylan and their mother back. She starts to pull out of the parking lot, and as she does, we realize there is a police car a few blocks up the road, probably pulling over a speeder or something. Yadi has Dylan, who is perhaps 5, in the front seat. So Cecy goes running barefoot through the parking lot to try and stop them before they get out of the parking lot. She gets to them just as they're pulling out, and they do a U-turn right back in. Then, after explaining the situation to them and getting things changed around accordingly, she got in the car and made them drive her around the lot back to where we were, so she didn't have to hurt her feet anymore. I almost died laughing a second time.

In between seasons

Winter football is over, at least for me. We left the Saturday Mexican league after a fight two weeks ago that our opponents instigated but which we somehow came out of with more red cards than they did. The league director wasn't willing to adhere to the league charter which states that any team which starts a fight in the pitch is immediately expelled from the league, so we forfeited the rest of our games and made a decision to leave the league entirely. This summer we're just planning to play in the Ecuadorian league on Sundays, which will free up our weekends for more time to hang out and do stuff around the cities, maybe go out on Friday nights.

It's nice to have a break, give my knee a rest and do some bicycling to keep in shape without putting so much stress on the joint, but I have to be honest, I'm already itching to get outside and start the season.