Nick’s dad moved to Oaxaca a couple of years ago, and we always knew that would be our last stop on this yearlong journey. But a couple of weeks ago when I booked an Airbnb in Mexico City, the place I booked had a third bedroom. We extended an invitation for him to come stay here before our Oaxaca visit.

Millie has been excited for weeks to see him. We even had to make a little countdown paper for the date so she could visualize how many days were left. When she woke up this morning, the days countdown became an hours countdown.

We had a pretty lazy morning doing the usual, drawing, reading, etc.

At 11ish we left the house and walked to the nearby Parque España in search of a playground. Millie played for a while and then got frustrated about something minor that I can’t even remember. She started pushing me so we left the playground, and she continued after being asked to stop, so we took away her juice privilege for juice day today. She then (little lawyer) asked if she could have kombucha instead (little yuppie) and we said no. Cut to: us on a street corner with her repeatedly yelling “Kombucha is not juice!!! Kombucha is not juice!” at the top of her lungs. We had our usual failed attempt at explaining the difference between crying (okay) and screaming at the top of your lungs in public (not okay). All three of us were frazzled.

We walked around for a while as a calm down tactic and eventually came upon Contramar for lunch. I have heard a lot about this restaurant and how great it is, so I was excited when they had a walk-in table available for us outside.

We ordered a fish quesadilla, tuna tostadas, pulpo, and al pastor fish tacos. The food was delicious but we over-ordered and felt too full by the end. The bill was higher than we expected too.

While we were waiting for our food, we played cards. Before we could finish our game, the manager came over to explain that we weren’t allowed to play cards at the table. I’m unsure if this is because it’s seen as low-class or if there are weird rules against it to prevent gambling. It felt weird to be told we weren’t allowed to do it.

We walked back to the Airbnb to wait for Papa Jeff’s afternoon arrival. Millie made welcome signs and cleaned the entire house so it would be nice for him. This was her excited face.

He arrived and she ran out to greet him, and then spent the next 2 hours talking his ear off. She gave him a tour of the Airbnb, showed him all her earthly possessions, told him the entire plot of Boss Baby, and more. It was a sweet reunion.

It poured most of the afternoon but we ventured out at 6 for tacos.

These were just as good as our lunch tacos, and probably about an eighth of the price.

Millie continued to talk nonstop and got frustrated any time our conversation veered into “boring grown up talk, about money and politics”. I predict there will be some adjustment as we transition back to real life and she learns that she doesn’t get to have 100% of our attention, 100% of the time, as she has had this year.

We came back and played multiple rounds of cards as it rained outside.