August Visit from Abuelo & Finks Move to the U.S.

During August we had the pleasure of a few family events on the Santiago side. Abuelo came to visit, help with the house, and help Helen move to the U.S. After thinking about the move for much time Helen and her family finally made the big move over the Atlantic and are stateside again. During their first week and hotel living we got together several times. During the weekend we visited Glen Echo Park in Maryland. It's a really great park that I've meant to visit many times but had not yet been to.

The girls and Oscar and I enjoyed a turn around the Merry-Go-Round, and very old one at that. The horses were beautiful and it was a nice little ride.






After lunch Oscar and I took all three girls (Luli, Fiona and La Luz) into the puppet show. It was a really cute show with really beautiful puppets. We had our picture taken with one of the puppetteers after the show.

Another night that weekend we went out to dinner to a Spanish restaurant in Bethesda. The food was very good and the paella was lovely. But the food was just a lovely side to the family time together. It was a very nice evening to welcome more family to the area, the girls were relatively good, but could have been a wee bit better. This is the best picture we could get of the group before the battery died.

Leeya Engel Tea in the Garden Guest Giveaway

Leeya Engel Tea in the Garden Guest Giveaway
Love this ring! I've entered other giveaways from Grosgrain but never won yet... Fingers Crossed!

4th of July!

It's official, we have a set Fourth of July tradition now. Each year the family converges on the great state of VA and celebrates the holiday. One thing I do love about our family is that we've always opened our hearts to friends and treated them like family. It is very special to come from a family who looks out for each other and regardless of our distance would crawl through fire to help one another. I think of my cousins more as siblings than cousins. I love them each dearly and each one is certainly his/her own person, we are all very different but we all love each other because of it. The festivities started on Friday, but our portion of the family had just driven back from the outer banks and we were a bit tired and not ready to party. Though Saturday we had a great time. Some of the ladies ventured out to Bluemont Vineyard to do a wine tasting. Aunt Joan and I have decided that this should become part of the tradition. And next year I think we're going to investigate a limo and multiple winery stops...thoughts ladies? And LISA YOU HAVE TO COME NEXT YEAR! I will drive you to Anthropology another time! Oh and the boys went golfing.

After that it was pool time and family enjoyment. The girls really came out of the "pool shell" this weekend. It started with Fiona venturing out in the pool in her inner tube and "floodle." She was a wild woman kicking around the pool. Then Luli decided she might leave the stairs if I held her inner tube tightly, within five minutes she was kicking around the pool yelling "LOOK AT ME, LOOK HOW GOOD I'M DOING." She was ridiculously proud of herself, and I was ridiculously proud also, she may actually learn to swim before she's 30!

Sunday we ventured back to Tom and Joan's in the afternoon for more pool, family, and fun. Then back to our house in the evening to take in the fireworks. Gosh I love my house, it is seriously the best seat in town for the fireworks. A few neighbors came by to join us and we laid out lots of blankets and pillows to get comfy. Patrick has pics of the fireworks, hopefully I'll get some from him soon (hint hint).

All the while we were missing a very important member of our family. Cousin Ryan, he's currently flying helicopters in Afghanistan and due to be back home in November. We miss him a lot but he surprised us all with a phone call on July 4th! We think of him every day and pray for his safety and that of all the armed forces abroad.

I know I have other pictures but I guess I haven't uploaded them yet.

OBX 2010

The last week of June thru the first week of July we ventured down to the Outer Banks for our ocean get away. This year it was a big family affair with my parents and my brother joining the fun. We had a lovely house on the ocean and a week to play in the surf. We did a lot of playing in the water and picture taking, but not a lot else. I'm going to upload some pictures into an album and put up here to the right to check out. In the meantime, here are a few of my favs!

Happy Father's Day

For Father's day this year we did exactly what Oscar has been wanting to do for awhile, take a trip to NYC. It's the firs time we have brought the girls and it was a lot of fun (no matter how skeptical I was regarding bringing them). We were in NY for a very short time, we arrived Saturday afternoon and departed Sunday afternoon. Saturday was lovely, we went to central park and had pizza in the sheep meadow, then walked through the park to see the sights, share some ice cream, and enjoy. The girls loved it, of course it's a park! After a lot of walking we got to the hotel and cleaned up for dinner.

Oscar wanted to go to this cuban restaurant in Jersey, we were staying over there. It was very good, but we got way too much food. After dinner we drove by Oscar's favorite view of NYC. I can't argue with him, it is a fantastic view. Luli passed out as soon as we left the restaurant, it was a long day for them and it was really late. Fiona on the other hand is always ready to party! So I stayed in the car with sleeping beauty (seriously a beautiful sleeping face) and Oscar took Fiona to see the view and take some pictures.













On Sunday our mission was to find the cemetery Oscar's grandparents were buried at and pay our respects. After some driving and asking at convenience stores, we found the cemetery and with the assistance of very nice people in the office we were guided to their resting place.
After that we had plans to do a few other things but the girls lack of sleep caught up with them and this picture is how the day felt, at least she looks cute when she's crying (in this pic)...Unfortunately the first reason we decided to go to NYC was because a lovely friend of Oscar's family had passed away. Lazlo was an amazing man who had survived so much in his life, including Nazi occupation, Russian occupation and finally life in America where he raised his family and friended the Santiago's in NY. We were not able to make the services however our hearts still ache for this loss and we think of Lazlo's wife and son daily.

CSA

This year we decided to become members of a local CSA. After researching many I decided to go with Great Country Farms because the membership also provided us with membership to the farm and bonus u-pick items each week. I thought it'd be a great activity for the kids through out the summer, and it really has been. We've been out to pick strawberries, tart cherries, black raspberries and soon we're off to pick peaches. The fruit that we've received in our boxes have seriously been the best fruit of my life. The strawberries were amazing, I'm not exaggerating, they were AMAZING. The peaches have been heavenly! But the best thing about the box is probably what Oscar worried about most. That we would get vegetables that we never eat. It's true we have gotten things that I have never made before. But it's been great, we've branched out! We've made ethopian kale called "Hamli", it was amazing. We made a "version" of my friend Monsio's grandmother's Liberian Collard greens, it was amazing. I made cabbage with beans and shrimp. I mean we are really enjoying the CSA. And much to Oscar's surprise and joy we have not wasted one single leaf of the share!

Luli's Preschool Graduation

Wow, I haven't worked on this blog in awhile, we have a lot to catch up on! Let's start with Luli's preschool graduation. Due to her being a winter baby, Luli had three years of preschool and all at the same school. This year her pre-k class worked hard to prepare for kindergarten. Luli is starting to read, has been introduced to each subject area, loves to go to school, and is a social butterfly. She's still quite sensitive when it comes to how others treat her and hopefully she'll remember that when it comes to how she treats others. The school has helped her bloom into a super smart lil lady, or as my Upstate NY roots want me to call her- WICKED SMART! Seriously this kid is smart, and I'm not just saying that because I'm her mom. As my father and mother say, she's thinking while the rest of the world is sleeping.

Anywho, the ceremony was so sweet. The kids sang songs for us and then the teachers talked about each of the children and what they wanted to be. Staying true to last year, Luli continues to want to be a gardener. Though she has now added on, a teacher, and an astronaut. Miss Dawn added how Luli has tirelessly fought to reinstate Pluto as a full fledged planet. It's true, she's on this crusade at home. Hopefully she'll continue her fight for the little guy.

We are so sad to close this chapter in Luli's life. And it is sad that we are also closing the book on Farm School. We loved the school for many reasons, but after so many years there the little things that nagged us grew in intensity. So we've found a new school for Fiona in the Fall also.