Day: June 17, 2018

Welcome to Selvadorada!

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For Hannah’s birthday, we Hugo and I cooked up a surprise that took many months of planning.

The day after she blew the candles off the cake, I dragged her to the airport, and watched her face light up as it dawned on her.

The next day we were in Selvadorada, a tropical destination charged with the history of ancient civilizations and the mysteries that literally came with the territory.

It was Hannah’s first time out of our home country, and we knew when we booked the ticket that it would be perfect for her.

If you’re wondering, the toughest part of planning this trip was deciding who would get to accompany her, and who would stay home with the twins.

In the end, we decided to make it a girls’ trip.

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The first thing you’ll wanna do in Selvadorada, right after putting your luggage down, is heading to the Marketplace, where you’ll find a bar, food stalls, and vendors that will provide all the necessary supplies to get exploring.

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Hannah is READY.

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Since she’s her mom’s daughter and the food on the plane wasn’t all that great, she heads to the food stalls first!

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Only when she tries to order does she remember — she doesn’t know the local dialect all that well.

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Also, I have the money.

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Mom to the rescue! I picked up the basics of the language from books bought in preparation, and I manage to order us some local food.

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Hannah doesn’t wait for me to get my plate — food bought straight at the exotic source makes up for the meh restaurant we celebrated at.

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I opt for a Horchata, a sugary drink elaborated from some type of plant, from what I gathered. Hannah’s got her platanos fritos and since she doesn’t talk for the whole three minutes it takes her to gulp them down, I think it’s safe to say that she likes them.

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Then she heads straight to the vendor’s stall,. Though she has to wait for me to get explanations on the produce, she’s still imagining all the possibilities that this gear offers.

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The statue of the Madre Cosecha is apparently a place of contemplation for the Selvadoradan sims. They have the highest respect for this figure of their history.

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Hannah and I are now done buying aaall of the things from the vendors.

We’re finally ready to get exploring.

A Joint Tombstone

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Mom and Mam surrendered their last breath on the same day.

I was a long way away from home when it happened, so I had to learn about it days later, once the funeral had already come and gone again.

Mom had caught the flu, a bad one, and despite the doctors’ attention, in the end they all agreed it was simply her time. Grandma and Mam were not allowed in her bedroom for fear of getting sick, too, but it didn’t stop either of them.

It was not the flu that killed Mam that evening; it was grief.

Sometimes I wonder if she would have found the strength to hold on if I hadn’t been on the other side of the globe. But Grandma is always here to reassure me: this is how they both wanted it.

Grandma lost two of her daughters that day — she had lived longer than every single one of her children by then. Yet she still found it in her to be a bright, never faltering light in everybody’s world.

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Sometimes Grandma would tell me it was as though she till had talks with Mom and Mam.

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I couldn’t tell how much was true and how much she imagined.

Selvadorada

My oldest child is already a teenager. Already almost an adult! While we have seen the core of her personality slide into place over the years, here come the final touches. The details. The experiences that she forges and solidify her individuality. Her passions. Her drive.

Hannah is becoming an adult, and I intend to accompany her as far as she needs me, in every way I can. Soon she will fly on her own, the fourteenth heir to this old family we were born into.

But she’s not quite there yet. I’ll be behind her during these last few steps, or leading her when need be.

Welcome to this new era.

Throwback

As Cyril, Cleo and Hannah have all aged up, we’re moving on to the fourth era soon. It’s the last era pre-Seasons, and also the last before Hannah turns into an adult and Azalea passes the torch of legacy heir to her daughter.

So I just want to stop there a moment and share some more of the family shots I took during their trip to Granite Falls. I hope you like them ❤

Onto the Teenage Years

Once we’re home, Hanna her dad and I disappear to change out of our soy-sauce stained clothes. Because apparently, though Cyril and Cleo are the youngest, they’re also the cleanest.

On the other hand, they practically didn’t eat anything but the side of rice and sauce-less shrimp.

Then we get the cake out of the fridge, and Hannah blows the candles out.

Welcome to teenagehood sweetheart. It’s gonna be a blast.

Disappointment

Turns out the food was meh.

So Hugo and I decide to go for a good ol’ classic, and Hannah gets to eat her authentic, tasty food.

At a Spice Market stall.

She’s an adventurous soul whose eyes shine as she discovers the lights and colors her dad and I knew as home. She wants to try the whole menu, but we have already eaten after all.

On the way home, she says this was her best birthday yet.

The Restaurant

The day of Hannah’s fifteenth birthday, we head, at her request, to the Shang Simlan restaurant that has recently opened in the Spice District.

It’s actually on top of the karaoke bar Hugo and Shanna fought to save. And it worked! The first floor was renovated and turned into this beautiful place that Hugo and I have also been able to try.

Hannah’s request to go eat there is not motivated by Spice Market nostalgia: she just wants to discover tastes from another side of the world. She’s super excited to try dumplings — and not the kind you can find in food stalls Uptown. She saw Lily Feng try them out and recoil once, and ever since she’s want to get the authentic taste.

They did an incredible renovation here. This used to be a sad, empty space.

The hostess receives us with a warm smile. We’ve made the opening, and apparently we’re the very first clients!

Hannah is thrilled that she’ll now have the same birthday as what she is sure will become her favorite place to eat. She chats with the host about every possible simlan food-related thing she can think of, while the rest of us are already going through the menu.

It all looks so appetizing! We agree on a big family meal with a bit of everything.

And then we wait for the food to come, taking in the beautiful atmosphere of this new Spice Market spot.

Home

The summer ends, and we head back home. The first thing we do is remodeling the twins’ bedroom, to their grown-up tastes.

Somehow they manage to make it a mess in less than a day.

No other room in the apartment has changed nearly as much as this one over the years, not even the guest bedroom that is now Hannah’s.

But some things don’t change.

We still love playing in this room, all of us together.

And the kids feel safe and comfortable here, which is all that matters.

They do wake up in the middle of the night, screaming about monsters under the bed, but I just suspect Hannah is making them watch scary movies when we’re not looking.