Surprise Visit From The Cousins

Last weekend, we were very blessed with a surprise visit from my cousin Manuela and her beautiful family. She left me a phone message saying she was in DC and we got to see them for a whole day two days later. Daniel still remembered his 3 little cousins from our trip to their house in Florida this past summer and when I told him we would see them again he said "Yay, I love it!"

We were so fortunate that it was a beautiful fall day and we went to the DC National Zoo to enjoy the first part of the day. This was only the second time we had gone to this zoo and it was a lot better this time - not very crowded and so we go to see lots of animals.

Uncle Paul and Jonny with the 4 cousins

The kids looking at the monkeys

For me, seeing the Orangutans was a highlight! There was one in particular that wrapped himself in a blue blanket and later went to sleep with it on a hammock. I was fascinated watching them; so human-like!

Daniel really enjoyed the zoo this time too - it was the first time he really stopped to look at the animals.

Daniel loved to know he was inside the head of a dinosaur! He loves to say "rarrrrr!" when talking about dinosaurs!

What a sight this was!

We were able to get a photo of all the little ones together (including two other kids who were the children of my cousin's friend who also came along).

After the zoo, we went to visit my other cousin Josie and her daughters and spent a lovely afternoon and evening together.

The three boys played so well together. This was the first time Daniel "played" a video game - his cousin Nicholas was actually the one driving, but Daniel and Lucas both believed they were driving too!

We all had fun - not just the little ones!

Daniel also enjoyed watching a DVD in bed with the cousins!

San Antonio And A Morning In Baltimore

I had hoped to blog more consistently again, but life has still not slowed down... So tonight when I saw an opportunity to go through some recent photos and write a post, I just went for it!

I was recently in San Antonio for 3 days to participate in two evaluation-related workshops (my area of work). It was the longest I had ever been away from Daniel and I tell you, I found it painful -- literally. The first two days went well, but on the third day, when Jonny sent me a photo of him via text, I felt pain in my chest, I missed him so much (now it's funny, not at the time though! :-))! Thankfully, he didn't' miss me much at all and had a blast with his papai and at school -- it was just me. The workshops were great though and the highlight was that I got to see an old friend from Europe, Cristina, who had come all the way from Italy to participate in the conference too. We even got a photo of us together by the "river walk" in San Antonio (I found it artificial but at night on my way back to the hotel, it was quite magical being by the water and walking past restaurants with live music - nice atmosphere).

This past weekend Jonny had a meeting in Baltimore in the morning and so Daniel and I decided to enjoy the city too. We went to Port Discovery (a children's museum), using groupon coupons I had bought months earlier, and Daniel had a blast. I wouldn't pay full price for the museum, I thought it was a bit run down and not that exciting, but it was still a fun morning.

Daniel loved the Bob the Builder section:

And the moon bounce!



He loved playing in this train and pressing the whistle button (the noise scared him at first but he quickly adjusted)


The coolest part of the museum was the Diner, in which the kids pretended to cook the parents food and serve them. Daniel loved this - and I loved watching his enjoyment!

We then met papai for lunch at the inner harbor. It was a beautiful warm fall morning. It was special to be there again, especially since it was across from the building I worked at for four years - lots of memories... Seeing my son enjoying himself just outside my old office, was special...

Playing outside my old office building...

Daniel loved seeing the ships and boats

A nice lunch outside at a place I had eaten at often - Chipotle!