This is a page to include our loved ones in our daily lives. Follow us in our adventures of love, travel and growth. Not to mention the trouble and laughter our children bring us on a daily basis.
You know the last couple of months we have been slowly but surely redoing the house, room by room, wall by wall, brick by brick and while we were gone my mom had a quite house so she got to work. We are not done but getting closer and no the pool is still not done but hopefully with us back, we are only a few days away from completing it. Im very proud of my mom for all her hard work so here are some pixs of it.
Some of the women in our family, pregnant with the girls in our family Some of my moms grand kids My mom made this of my wedding day and she put our pix in this musical picture frame Hanging the hats of our years won with space for another one, Go Lakers!!! Tiago's room with all his "boy" stuff and even more decor for Tiago's room Looks great mom!!
We used our frequent miles to fly round trip to PA, that right there should tell you, my kids are rookies at flying. They have flown more times than I can count, seriously. They both flew within the first few months of life, maybe even a few weeks and have been flying ever since. I was flying with Thais as a lap child when I was 7 months pregnant with Tiago. I flew with both kids under the age of 2 by myself. You name and we have done it when it comes to traveling. How ever each flight is so different because the kids are always at different stages of maturity. I cant really say which is easier or harder, they all have their tough moments and fun moments. Yes I love that tiago asks a million questions about the baggage but entertaining a 3 yr old who is super active for 5 hours in a very small space is very challenging. Having a 1 yr old who wants to walk and be on the ground all the time is also hard, but they sleep more. Anyways kids did great and slept the first half the flight, watched movies till the battery ran out then did some books, stickers and practiced hand writing and mazes, plus lots of drinks and food. Papa and I on the other hand paid to use the internet on the flight for the first time ever and the sole reason we did it was because the Laker game was on and its the playoffs, win or go home. It also helped pass the time for us more than anything. Since our flight was not very crowded we flew faster and landed half an hour early which meant my family was late because they were not leaving their house till the Laker was over. We didnt mind, the kids played with all the totes. They did great adjusting the time change and staying awake even once we got to my moms even though it was technically 12am. Miss PA, but glad to be back too. One of the longest days for sure, they always are.
At the airport playing in between the chairs you can see our bright blue totes going on as storage
a video of us getting on the small plane (thanks uncle johnny)
My always curious son trying to catch the sunset My family Laker game on my computer 25,000 feet in the air Then on papa's computer because my battery died IN San Diego at baggage claim waiting for our ride, the kids love pushing the totes every where and climbing on them. We have arrived!
Thais and I shared a room every night we were in PA and sometimes I would blog in bed so she would write and this is her entire alphabet. Im so proud of her, as she wrote all of this with out me asking or helping. I left the paper in Uncle Johnny's notebook for him to find but i did snap a photo of it. A few chuck e cheese photo cards of Thais Thais in the pool, yet again! The boys taping up our totes and stuff The last pix we have of our car before we sold it. This was papa's 1st car ever, so it was a big deal to sell it. We bought it in 2004 before we were engaged, married, 1 kid, 2 kid... before it all. It was a great car to us and we are sad to let it go, but life moves on. The boys The family we are lucky to be a part of
Kind of sad when I type that. I love being in PA because we have so many family and friends over here. Im sure going to miss them and for the first time in my life, i dont know when I will be back. We usually come here twice a year, always in between papa's soccer seasons but since papa is playing in San Diego now and not out here, i don't know when we will be back. Of course I will find a way, weather it br spring break or summer visit or holidays, who knows, but this wont be the last time PA sees me and thats a fact.
We spent the day trying to put Mom Aretta's house back in order after 2 weeks of us being here, Toys, books, cars, stickers were every where. Then we packed the rest into those plastic totes and we are checking those onto the plane because it is cheaper to pay for checked baggage then to ship it UPS. So here we come Cali, with 6 totes, 4 carry ones, 4 back packs, 2 car seats, 2 strollers and 4 people. Oh yeah good times!
After all the "business" was taken care of, Mom Aretta got off work early and took us all to Chuck E Cheese. You know my kids loved that, heck we all did. Uncle Johnny and papa took off and challenged eahc other in every game possible as usual. Thais went up in the hamster tunnels and became best friends with every child and Tiago wanted to play the same 3 sports games over and over. Typical day at Chuck E Cheese, i would say. Papa took the camera though, so I didnt get many photos but you know Im still posting too many. Of course Thais had to go swimming one more time as she does every evening, it even got dark and she was still swimming, my camera used the flash. My little fish, hoping the pool at my moms house is done, we shall see.
Got a very busy day tomorrow, will try to check in before we leave but i doubt it. We are waking up early to work out and do our p90x, then going to AAA to notarize the sale of our car, then back to the house and loading up 2 cars to get us and all of our things to the airport. Wish us luck and see ya in CALI!!! GO LAKERS!!!!!
Driving Her BFF Chuck My b-ball boy, future Kobe in the making Looking at herself while riding the carousel Whack that mole Bob the builder, yes we can Roller Coster swimming in the day and at night Wont land in SD till 9pm so will post on Sunday. Adios!!!
Be aware these video and blogs are 1 month old and I actually published the written blog on my blog several weeks ago. How ever it is nice to see the video put together with music and such.
There also been 2 other stories published about the web series.
We got a late start and took a few detours but we eventually ended up at our friends house the McPeaks in Maryland. Papa and Tony McPeak were room mates back when we lived in Philly, so we have known each other for a very long time. Back then Tony and Rebecca only had a little girl named Anisa who as you will see in the only photo from our visit, isnt so little anymore. As we sat there yesterdays, now 2 married, moms... we had 10 yr old Anisa, 5 yr old Vincent, 4 yr old Thais, 3 yr old Tiago and 2 yr old Anthony Jr and she is pregnant with her 4th child, another boy. Named not yet picked. It was quite the change from when we first met each other, but an amazing change none the less. I love going to their house, its so welcoming, i feel right at home and the kids love it too. I wish we saw them more often but as long as we get our yearly visits, im happy.
Now on the way to their house, Thais had to pee, of course so i pulled off at the next exit which just happened to be the same exit for the Gettysburg Museum which is only 1 extra mile. So i figured the museum bathroom would be better than a gas station bathroom so the extra mile we went. (If you didnt know, I have public bathroom phobia.) We didnt pay for any of the tours or movies, we just walked around the gift shop and took some photos. The tour is a bus tour i think and over 2 hours for those that were wondering. So we went to Gettysburg and all we got was a lollipop. Thats my kids for ya, lol!
Also on the way there taking many many back roads, i passed a strange farm that had huge robots built out of old cars. I even went home this way, though it was a longer route just to try and take some photos. Supposed to buy tickets or something but i just snapped these from my car since Tiago was asleep anyways.
I also passed Mount Saint Mary's University which has the National Shrine Grotto of our Lady of Lourdes. I posted a photo of this beautiful place on this blog last yr when i drove down but couldnt get a good photo this time. As I have learned from my friend Nancy who lives in Baltimore, this is supposed to be a holy or miracle making shrine. Lots of good stories, hoping to really stop next time.
On the way back we stopped off at a hill that overlooked the train yard and watched trains for a few minutes. Nothing brings my boy more joy than train watching.
I wish I could take photos of all the random things I see while drivin, the irish pub had Margarita's monday, a motorcycle crew with one motorcycle that had a trucks bed attached to the back wheel, a small pony farm, a hair cut placed called shear magic, too many countless cute towns and a dress shop called Cinderellas store. In Central PA there are a lot of Amish and Mennonite people. I didnt know there was a difference before living here but when going to the store and seeing a horse and buggy tied up to the street lamp, is a normal thing around these parts
Oh the fun of traveling... to visit friends and see the good ol' usa.
Showing off their lollipops Love this photo
Belt buckles and buttons from the different states and sides Chillin with Ab Lincoln
My sweet Anisa and Thais farm, after farm, after green rolling hills Random Robot car farm? As it looks in my side mirror, next to the random teepee a beautiful home i saw Back in PA My boy looking at trains
I could show you more swimming and more riding bike videos because if it were up to the kids, thats what they would do all day, every day. But we have family and friends to see and more places to explore. Today we went and visited Chuck & Sara who again have adopted us and our children and are very dear to our hearts and always will be. The kids were tired and it was hot and I am allergic to their cats so we didnt stay long but we did try to get our yearly group photo even if a bit off center. Then we went to lunch at the usual place where everyone knows everyone and the kids did great there and finally we ended our visit with a trip to the lake and feeding some very friendly, almost too friendly Canadian Geese and their babies. Another fantastic day in PA.
Back together again Tiago taking off to find the ducks I thought this would be the high light of our trip, the ducks eating the cracker from the restaurant, that Tiago threw Throwing more food we had found at the park Im a sucker for babies so you know I was excited when I saw these guys coming, baby Canadian Geese This is my fav pix, my babies feeding geese babies Then another geese family showed up with bigger and more babies and this guy was fearless They actually got within inches of us and had their mouths open for us to put food inside. I got creeped out by their friendliness as an over protective mom but it was still a very exciting moment Papa & Chuck Chuck, Papa & Sara. Love & miss you guys already!!!!
