We did it! The toilets in Arroyo Seco flush on Feb. 1!

For those of you following the progress of our building in Arroyo Seco this year, we've made real progress.

First showers! First flushes! First fiesta with the new outdoor kitchen.

A lot of firsts.

Yesterday we celebrated the completion of all the concrete construction with a lot of food for the concrete Maestro and his son, Antonio, who is headed back to school on Wednesday. It's hard to imagine the adjustment of returning to the high school classroom in Sayula after six weeks of really hard work with his father. Perhaps it will feel like a vacation?

The outdoor kitchen has a new brick floor but not much else yet. But yesterday my friend Francisco, a former cook in Napa, and my neighbor Chena pitched in and saved the day.

I was flying solo since Michael has been down and out sick for a few days and unable to help. His soaring fever had me researching all kinds of potential tropical diseases.

Fortunately there is good medical care here and the doctor in Careyes diagnosed him with a lung infection and an early case of pneumonia. He's already on some strong drugs and hopefully on the mend.

So, the construction status is as follows:

• Almost all the tiles in the bathrooms and laundry room are down --- and would have been finished today had I bought enough floor tiles. Ugh. Another trip to Manzanillo coming up.

• The new, low water, high velocity toilets flush occasionally. We'll make some adjustments to these high tech things tomorrow and I think they'll be fine.

• My kitchen is getting pretty usable but I have to figure out how to keep the dust down and the flies out. All guests will be required to submit their design ideas on their cocktail napkins, prior to dinner.

The next step? Landscaping! It's a lot more fun here when you stick something in the ground and it just about starts growing that second.

My brother David is visiting right now. Dylan arrives Friday. Cousin Ruth arrives Sunday.

Hopefully that means the construction phase in Mexico is offically transitioning to the vacation stage....