Our houseguest weekend= success!

It’s Sunday morning, and our houseguests are gone! They left last night.

It all went really well! I mentioned I was apprehensive, because our guests included Ivan’s friend/wife/daughters (who I know) but also his friend’s parents and mother-in-law (who I did not know). Also, we just don’t host people a lot, besides immediate family (which is different!), so it’s not something I’m really comfortable with. I’m constantly worried it will be awkward or what about food and what exactly will we do, etc etc.

Turns out, I had nothing to worry about. The parents and mother-in-law were ABSOLUTELY LOVELY- super laid back, friendly, easy going and fun to have around. They have traveled in the U.S. before, but never in Wisconsin/the Midwest, so they were also excited to be here.

It’s more fun to have people around when they seem legitimately interested in the things you’re showing them, you know what I mean?

For example, Thursday afternoon we took them downtown to the UW Madison campus and Memorial Union on the lake, and they were enthusiastically taking photos, wanted to see everything, and were asking lots of questions.

Yesterday morning, while Ivan, his friend and dad went off to Ivan’s soccer game, I took everyone else over to our neighborhood park so the girls could play. I figured they’d just sit on a bench, but no- the mother/ mother-in-law immediately decided to go walk the trail to “see the pond and bridge up close”, and then when they got back, they even climbed on the big see-saw and were taking selfies. 😅 They also walked over to a garage sale across the street to check it out and came back with a sweatshirt. lol!

It’s just nice when people visiting seem really enthused to see how you live your day-to-day life, what’s around, etc., even if it’s not necessarily that “exciting”! Makes it a little more fun.

They also (forcefully, lol) asked me to play the piano for them and then were like taking videos and sending them to their other kids in Mexico and fawning all over me (which was embarrassing, but also, sweet).

My point is, they were very ENGAGED in the visit, and that made it really fun. 🙂 They were just really positive, talkative, enthusiastic, friendly folks!

From a meals standpoint it was also easy. When you put a couple of older Mexican women in a kitchen, they tend to “take charge”. Haha. Which is fine by me! We went out for dinner at our Mexican place on Thursday night, but on Friday they all insisted they wanted to cook for us. My little kitchen was bursting with everyone making different parts- his friend Samuel outside on the grill, the MIL + mom making soup, the dad making guac and salsa…. I contributed a pan of brownies and that was it. We had music on and windows open and everyone was talking and it was pretty great! 🙂

The steak tacos and soup were delicious and then we all stayed up until midnight talking around the table.

The dad was practically bowing down to me for how much spice I can handle. 🤣 At dinner Thursday night we got talking about spicy food and who likes it and who doesn’t. Ivan and I both said we LOVE it, and he said, “ok, I’m going to make a super spicy arbol chile salsa for you on Friday then!” He did, and it was super spicy, but nothing I couldn’t handle, either (happily!). I scooped a big spoonful on my taco + the also spicy guac and they were like, “Mira! Mira! Está poniendo de las dos salsas!!” (since I was putting both the red AND the green salsa on.)😅😅 And then the dad was sweating and his nose was running eating it and I was basically fine (I mean, it did make my nose run a little too, but nothing crazy), and he was like, “No lo puedo creer! Me gana! Me gana!” (which means, I can’t believe it! She beats me!). Hahaha. Everyone always wants to know “how I learned to eat such spicy food”, and I’m always like, I don’t know! I started eating a little bit in high school, I think, but just table salsa at local Mexican restaurants… I don’t even remember how I started eating such spicy food, really.🤷‍♀️Then they were telling Ivan, Wow, she speaks Spanish, she eats super spicy food and she plays the piano! You’ve got a winner here! 🤣 (To which he replied, I know!! 💗)

The girls (7 and 9) are adorable and super well behaved and also easy-going and were smitten with Charlie.

We were SO proud of Charlie!! He struggles with overexcitement initially, but once he settled down, he was perfect. Snuggled up to everyone and was so good!

Friday Ivan took off while I worked, and it was cool and rainy, so he took them to tour Cave of the Mounds, a huge nearby cave which is SUPER cool. The girls had never been to a big cave before, so this was great and they all loved it.

I was under the impression that they were going to need to hit the road by mid-morning on Saturday morning, but…they apparently didn’t? Not sure- I of course didn’t ask- but they stayed until almost 7 pm before heading out. We had pasta and leftover steak in the afternoon and some people wanted to try out the hot tub. 🙂

All in all- a very fun few days!

I felt a surge of gratitude for our nice little house. It’s nothing particularly large or spectacular, but you know what? It’s a really nice, comfortable, cozy home. We’ve put a lot of $$ and time and effort into remodeling it and making it what it is today, too, even though, sure, it could still use some other updates, too.

When we “use” our spaces more with guests (the bar, the sunroom, the outdoor patio/ hot tub, the yard, etc) it makes me appreciate that we have them and see them in a different light- and it helps to squash thoughts I have sometimes of our house not being “enough” (not big enough, not new enough, neighborhood too old, needs updates, whatever).

Oh, and the sleeping situation was not problem, either! The parents took the basement guest room, and then the family of 4 easily seemed to fit on the King-sized air mattress we set up in the rec room (the girls are tiny!). We had offered the mother-in-law Ethan’s room, but she said she preferred to just sleep on the couch downstairs by everyone else. This meant that all 7 of them had the whole basement space to themselves to spread out (plus a full bathroom down there), so it worked out quite nicely, actually.

I’m glad to have today open and free and quiet though! It was a LOT of action and constant talking. 🙂

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful that everything went better than expected!