Vancouver, BC

At the end of May, we took a weekend trip to Vancouver, Canada. Leaving the country meant a break from internet and phones, which was actually rather relaxing after all of this adoption anticipation.

I am getting ahead of myself though. Before we made it out of Washington, I got a text from my mom about the "I-5 bridge collapse 60 miles north of Seattle with cars in the water." I was confused. We had taken I-5 all the way north and were approaching the Canadian border. We hadn't seen a bridge collapse. We turned on the radio and heard more details. We calculated that we passed over that same bridge less than 20 minutes before it collapsed. We felt so blessed to be safe. That is a parent's worst nightmare with kids stuck in car seats - I don't even want to think about it. We are relieved that there were no fatalities. I was so glad that I was packed and ready when Jason got home from work (rare - I am a packing procrastinator). Also, we had planned on eating before making it over that bridge, but the girls weren't complaining, so we kept going and got dinner just after passing the bridge, before we knew about the collapse.

On the way back, we had to take a detour and could see the bridge in the distance. If you look closely, you can still see cars in the water.

Now, back to happy things: safe in Vancouver.

We enjoyed the views from Stanley Park, but the girl's preferred the playground. (Because, after all, playgrounds are hard to come by in the States.)

They did like walking along the beach exploring though.

We went to the Vancouver Aquarium.

Luckily, it was a nice enough day to eat outside and enjoy a Beluga whale show. It put the girls in the mood to go swimming in our hotel swimming pool that night.

The next day, we explored Granville Island. The kids were allowed to pick one souvenir from the children's market. Gabby noticed nail polish being sold for the first time. (Man! I knew we shouldn't have come to Canada!) We managed to convince her that she could use some of mine at home instead of us paying $15 for nail polish. Of course, then we got home and I discovered that I don't actually own any nail polish. Oops. She survived and I bought a cheap bottle from the grocery store when we returned. Luckily, the girls are happy with their name puzzle souvenirs.

Leavenworth

The weekend before Christmas, we went for the first time as a family to Leavenworth.  It is a cute little Bavarian village, except that it is in Washington.  All of the shops (even buildings like the post office and gas stations) have adopted the Bavarian theme and they sell German food and souvenirs.  It feels like you have made a wrong turn and ended up in Europe.  The best part is that during Christmastime, they go all out with lights and music and snow activities.

Our girls took a little while to get reacquainted with the snow, but once they did, they were literally diving into it with delight.

Gabby preferred going sledding with Mommy because my feet did not kick snow in her face like when she went with Daddy.  At least until our fourth time down when she really got some snow in her face:

 We spent the evenings on the main walking street, enjoying the lights, window shopping, and picking the best restaurant to eat dinner.

When it was time to warm up, we would play games, watch Christmas movies and cuddle in the toasty condo that we rented for the weekend.

It was a perfect way to prepare for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with our family.  We were also blessed to make it safely there.  On our way up the mountain pass, there was a road closure.  A tree had fallen and caused a fatality.  After being stopped for 30 minutes and not knowing what was going on, we almost turned around to add 4 hours to a 2-hour drive.  But they opened the pass back up just in time.  Then the snow hit hard and the pass was closed the rest of the weekend.  We came back the longer way, but we all enjoyed the family time in the car.

Colorado

In October, it was time for me to leave home again.  This time for Ouray, Colorado (AKA The Middle of Nowhere) for a friend's wedding.  

Juliana married a great guy named March that she met in medical school years ago.  He is originally from Thailand, so they had a traditional Thai ceremony, which was unique and fun.

The backdrop was beautiful, with water and layers of mountains behind them.

Lucky for me, I recognized one face among the wedding guests - a girl I had met in NYC many years ago, named Amanda.  It was fun to chat with her and the other guests during the weekend of festivities.

The funny thing about Amanda is that the first time I met her, we were eating at a small restaurant in NYC's West Village when Jay-Z and Beyoncé walked in and sat at the table behind us.  You can see them in the background here (might have to click on the photo).

Once Beyoncé realized that she was in our photo, she covered her face.  :)  The poor girl can't even enjoy an evening out to dinner in peace.

It was a random memory, but it felt like a small world to be able to reconnect with Amanda in Colorado many years later.

Welcome to Miami

In September, I took a long overdue trip to visit my friend, Nicole, in Miami.  It was so good to see her, relax in the warm (and sometimes rainy) weather and mostly reminisce.  

While Nicole was saving the country at work my first full-day there, I enjoyed the scenery from her apartment and walked to the beach to enjoy a little sun-filled R&R.

The rest of our time involved a lot of "remember the time we...".  The two of us had so much fun being silly together in our NYC days.  We are convinced that no one else saw us as funny, but we had fun, so that's all that matters!

We were always hanging out with random famous people (pictured below: Robin from Gin Blossoms & Brandon from Jagged Edge).  We have random stories of getting on a tour bus after noticing Usher there, my free birthday party at Jay-Z's 40-40 Club, and getting into all of New York City's elite hot spots without ever paying a cent (and without ever drinking, I might add).  I am not sure how we did it - all I know is it had nothing to do with me and a lot to do with Nicole - but I am so glad that I had someone to create those crazy experiences with.

It was fun to see see Nicole again, bring out some dusty old memories and make even more that we can think back on when we turn 80!

Puerto Vallarta

We have just returned from a lovely vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  We spent a week at an all-inclusive resort called Now Amber, which did not disappoint.  There are many advantages of the all-inclusive set up for our family at this stage: it is easy to work Claire's nap in without disturbing the whole family, a variety of food is available anytime, anywhere, the beach and pool are just a few steps from our room and there are no surprise expenses - the entire vacation is paid for upfront.

The girls enjoyed relaxing on the beach and making sandcastles.

But their favorite was the kid's pool.  They spent so much time in that pool, Jason decided that next time we will just go to a Holiday Inn in Missouri, where there is a pool in hot, humid weather.  The kids won't know the difference.  :)

Claire referred to both her swimming suit and the swimming pool as a "swim-in soup".

The endless supply of smoothies were always a hit.  Gabby's favorite was one called "Pink Lady".  One day she asked if next time she could have a "White Lady" since apparently she liked the white foam at the top best.  So we ordered her a kid's pina colada and called it a "White Lady", which seemed to satisfy her.

The resort had what they called the "Explorer Club," a place you could drop your children off at anytime (or for the entire day) to enjoy kid-friendly activities at adult-friendly prices (free!).  Gabby was so excited to get her backpack when she joined, she wouldn't take it off.  It had coloring supplies, a hat, a shirt, and other goodies for her to keep.  She usually went to the Explorer Club while Claire was napping and made cookies, played games, made crafts, had swimming lessons and more.  It was a great perk!

There were always activities going on around the many pools and random highlights for the kids.  The girls even got to touch this baby crocodile.

As we dined and explored, we enjoyed some beautiful views of the ocean.

One day, we went deeper into the city and enjoyed Puerto Vallarta until we couldn't take the heat any more.

Along the Melecón, the oceanfront walkway, we enjoyed some impressive sand structures.  Also this amazing rock-balancer.  He had already stacked six sets of these huge rocks on top of each other and was defying gravity with a new set that we watched him set up successfully.  Each large rock was balanced only by a small rock between the two stones.  How do you discover a talent like that?

Back at our resort, we enjoyed many different restaurants, often with great views.  The à la carte restaurants were especially impressive.  I wanted to take photos of all of our delicious food, but I refrained, for your sake.

We also had free room service, so the girls enjoyed eating breakfast on our balcony one morning.

In the bottom right photo, Claire is taken by some mariachi musicians who were performing at a Mexican restaurant we ate at one evening.  Once we let her out of her high chair, she happily performed a dance for them.

This is either a really horrible photo or a really cool one.  My lens was so foggy from the humidity that it gave it a special effect.

We watched many sunsets from this great view.

I couldn't narrow down the photos....

We all had such a great time that it was hard to leave and return home to reality.  Which is why I've posted so quickly after our return... I am still avoiding reality and To Do lists.

P.S.  One thing I forgot to mention earlier was something funny on the flight.  The girls were the best they have ever been (Claire finally had her own seat!).  Both Jason and I read the entire 5+ hours each way while they watched some movies (mostly Dora the Explorer) on the iPad.  They each had their own set of headphones, which covered their ears completely and blocked out all other sound, including the sounds of their own voices.  This lead to a lot of shouting whenever they wanted to say something.  For those of you not familiar with Dora, she asks you to repeat phrases with her in Spanish (and will even say, "louder!") to go along with the storyline.  So Gabby and Claire (although Gabby wins for being the loudest) were silent and then would randomly shout out phrases in Spanish as loud as they could.  By the time we made it to Mexico, they were practically fluent, as were the rest of the passengers.  :)

New York, New York

In May, Jason had a meeting in New York City, so we decided to make it a family trip.  This was our first time back since we lived there and I was very excited to return to a place full of so many good memories.

Actually, I lied.  I forgot that Jason and I were in NYC just a month earlier, in route to Kenya.  We had a 5-hour layover and since it was dinner time, we thought we would grab some pizza at one of our favorite places in Brooklyn, called Grimaldi's.  We hopped on the subway and thought we were making great use of our layover, until the conductor informed us over the intercom that our stop was closed and the train was going straight to midtown Manhattan.  So we got off early, walked in the rain the rest of the way, discovered that they moved locations, walked to that (not too far, thank goodness), and finally enjoyed our delicious brick-oven pizza, reminiscing on past experiences there.  By the time we were finished (and we are not slow eaters), we didn't have time to walk back to the closest functioning subway stop.  So we took a cab.  No big deal.  Until we paid the driver and realized that our pizza basically cost us $80!

The night we flew in on our family trip, we met up with Dave, Susanne and their daughter, Claire.

On the left, you can see the men bonding with their Claires.  On the right, you'll notice a family photo with one daughter still consumed by her airplane surprise: a Hello Kitty notepad with small pen.  Gabby was so attached to her notepad that she would write as she walked, bumping into people and large objects... like buildings.  We eventually had to confiscate it until the flight home.

The next day, while Jason was in meetings, I was able to meet up with my old boss/friend from CMMB.  We had lunch at Max Brenner, a required stop on our NYC visit.  Max Brenner is basically Willy Wonka's chocolate factory disguised as a high-quality restaurant.  Gabby was very pleased to get a chocolate treat from their store following our lunch.  For dinner that night, we met up with an old friend, Mala.  Then we discovered a new treat at a place called Holey Cream: it involves a donut with your choice of frosting and topping, sandwiched over three scoops of your choice of ice cream flavors. It's pretty hard to go wrong with something involving fresh donuts and creamy ice cream.  Delish.

Jason's brother, Marcus, and his family, are in the process of moving from Pennsylvania to upstate New York.  They were nice enough to make the drive down to the city for a visit.  Cami, Jason's sister, was even able to fly in from Denver.  It was a mobile family reunion and we were quite the scene with 7 kids under 10 in a city like that.  

The cousins enjoyed bonding over lunch in Battery Park.

At Times Square, Gabby met her current obsession in real life: Hello Kitty.  She was ecstatic from a distance, until Hello Kitty got too close and she realized that she prefers kittens to be less than six feet tall. 

The gals enjoying our free boat ride on the Staten Island Ferry.

Loving the view of the Statue of Liberty and the company of good cousins.

For dinner that night, The Dugans invited us to The Metropolitan Club's rooftop restaurant to celebrate Hugh & Victoria's birthday.  I wish I had taken some photos from the balcony.  The building is on the SE corner of Central Park (close to The Plaza Hotel).  The view of the park in the spring, surrounded by crowded buildings on all sides is remarkable.

It was so fun to see the Dugans.  While I was in grad school, I worked as their nanny and they have always treated me like family.  This photo is from 2005:

Victoria & Evelyn then:

Victoria & Evelyn now (on the left).  I can't believe how much they have grown up!

Gabby was awesome for dinner, thanks to that Hello Kitty notebook again.  Claire was not crazy about missing out on the excitement of the adult table until the chocolate sufflés entered the scene at the kid table....

The next day, we combined all Boyers + Dugans for a picnic in Central Park.  The kid's CP favorites were the carousel and the playground.

Gabby had a good view of some entertaining street performers.

 My practice daughters:

What is amazing to me is how similar Victoria & Evelyn are to Gabby & Claire.  Gabby & Victoria (the oldest) are both sweet and reserved.  Evelyn & Claire are more extravert & energetic.  They are all learning French, they like ballet, and Claire even tried to copy Evelyn on her red hair.  In fact, Claire's middle name is Evelyn (literally).  I just think it is great that I got a trial run before I had my own girls!  I hope I didn't mess them up too bad in the process of learning.

Emily & Claire.

King Kong & Monkey Marcus take to the streets of NYC.

It was a short but sweet trip and we are so glad we got to share it with amazing family & friends!