Boricua en la Lima

Lots of people are doing the "gratitude posts" all over social media this year.  I myself tried to be good about posting something daily on Facebook, and I also downloaded this cute little iPhone app called Gratitude . I'ts pretty obvious that family and friends are usually at the top of the list for most people when it comes to giving thanks this time of year, and I am indeed very grateful for that. But I quickly add a "but" in there -- I am so grateful for spending Thanksgiving with family BUT I wish I could spend more time with them .  Guess it comes with the territory of living away from family.  So I keep trying to find a "BUT-less" gratitude statement and I guess it's this...that my incredible three year old son showed an amazing amount of bravery on Friday evening after getting into a losing battle with his sister and slamming his chin against the corner of a wooden sofa in the apartment we were staying at Tignes, requiring four stitches and...

Well I guess it was too many straight weekends at home (two!) so we took a short trip to Morocco this past weekend.  The weather didn't want to cooperate too much the first day but we braved the elements and went through the street market for hours and hours. So cool!  Next day we traveled 3 hours to the Atlantic Ocean and since the weather did decide to cooperate that was an even better street market experience! Now we are waiting for Thanksgiving to go skiing at Tignes! One thing I loved is how many cats there are in Morocco, amazing!  And they were so nice too but you had to be careful not to feed them because otherwise you were bringing them home! And finally I loved my little iPhone 4S camera, it took such great pictures!  Like this one...And with Instagram filters, I'm in photography heaven. :)

That won't last long though... My sister is coming on Friday and I'm going with her and her husband and my nephew to Morocco for the weekend.  All I care about is that I heard my sister say it was going to be 80 degrees F one day.   Then for Thanksgiving weekend we are going to attempt skiing in Tignes, France again like we did last year although the snow forecast is not very encouraging.  I'm fine just staying at the base of the mountain eating fondue and drinking hot chocolate. Here are some pictures of the weekend with the kids modeling their H&M loot from last weekend... They are so excited that Titi Ge, Jakey and Uncle Tom are coming in just four days!!! (or maybe I am, or both).

I tell you, when we look back on our time in Geneva and count how many weekends we were actually at home in 2011 we'll probably come up with only half of the weekends in the year or so.  It makes it a little hard to keep up with grocery shopping which I can pretty much only do on Saturdays as well as Gabi's swimming lessons. But it has been well worth it.  To quote Green Day "for what it's worth, it was worth all the while".  This was an enjoyable weekend at home though! Gabi had a birthday party on Saturday and on Sunday we had front row tickets to the Dora Show!  Funny that here instead of Dora being mainly in English with a little Spanish it's mainly in French with a little bit of English.  It was a good French lesson for me since they speak more slowly than most people and they translated into English every once in a while.  :) Here is Sebas dancing up a storm at the Dora show... And here's a beautiful picture I took with the iPhone 4S (Instagram ...

This weekend we went to london to visit jose's sister who's been living there for a few months now. It was the kids' first time so we tried to make it kid-friendly. Despite the cold and rainy weather on day 1 we did the hop on hop off bus and saw the london eye and walked around quite a bit. For dinner we had indian food which the kids tried for the first time. On day 2 we went to the aquarium and the m&m store (massive!). And then saw wizard of oz which the kids loved (but I think I loved more). On the last day we went to bedford, the town where paloma has been living in. Overall great trip - fun, family and food. :) Now no more airplanes until Lima in December!

On Friday Gabi turned 6 and we went to her school with some cupcakes to celebrate with her friends. I'm glad we did that because her party wasn't as well attended as we would've liked, largely because there are school vacations all this week (which I didn't realize at the time I set the date of the party) and everybody pretty much checked out of town early.  Once enough kids showed up at the party she had a blast though! And I think Sebas probably enjoyed himself more than anyone.  We had a Scooby Doo theme so Gabi was dressed as Daphne (sans the wig because it was too itchy) and Sebas was dressed as Scooby Doo.  He held on to the hat for as long as possible after a while he was just too sweaty to keep it on! Here are the two of them dancing with our neighbor Lola while playing something similar to musical chairs. And here is Sebas thinking very strategically about his musical "rings" game -- he was staying pretty close to the rings so that when the musi...

I guess it was too long without traveling because lo and behold Jose got ants in the pants and took us all to Strasbourg for the weekend.  Strasbourg is considered to be located in the very center of Europe and this is a primary reason why it's the seat of the European Parliament.  We took a little boat tour on Saturday morning (which was a little cold but still very pretty). We did some walking around all the streets and found a beautiful Christmas market , so cute we had to go back again while Sebas was napping.  And because Jose was back with Sebas at the hotel we got lost for like an hour trying to get back to the hotel. Maybe Ivette 2.0 comes with GPS as Jose likes to say...

In honor of my friend Ida's 40th birthday I re-did the lyrics of Lady Gaga's Edge of Glory to be "Edge of Forty". I don't think she appreciated the old jokes in there but I think I was projecting myself just a tiny bit. Anyway, hope you get a kick out of them! We sang them during the party and gave out the lyrics for people to sing along with us. "Edge of Forty" There is a reason you and me just feel so old tonight yeah baby tonight yeah baby. I know the reason you and I should get so drunk tonight. We need a girl that tells us what we're doing wrong tonight yeah baby tonight yeah baby. Give her some spirits so she'll grab the microphone tonight. It's hard to feel the rush, to see the big 4-0. I'm gonna run right to get some clairol too so we can both turn back the time. I'm on the edge of 40. And I'm sagging like a day old balloon. Out on the edge of 40. And my eyes look like they're on a raccoon. I'm ...

Jose left for Cincinnati yesterday for a week of work meetings. If all goes well I will meet him in Miami on Friday for Ida's 40th birthday party. Only good thing about Jose being gone is that I get to watch chick flicks I've had stored in my DVR for eons and eons. Oh and that he's buying a bunch of stuff in Cincinnati to bring back for the kids -- clothes, toys, medicines, etc. But other than that we definitely miss having him around and the kids miss him (and they behave quite erratically as a result!). They are making me sleep with them (or rather they are sleeping in my bed) and I'm squished in the middle between the two of them. But it feels soooo good to have a kid reach out in the middle of the night to touch your face to make sure you're there. That and being able to smell them have to be some of the best feelings in the world. But I'm already exhausted after ONE day of Jose being gone and looking forward to the Friday plane ride where hopefully ...

If my count is correct this is the first weekend at home in about 10 weeks. We were able to do grocery shopping, get school supplies for kids they were still missing, go to the movies, and catch up on laundry. Phew. Jose complained at times that he was bored and that we shouldn't go another weekend without traveling so he planned another two trips during the weekend! Go figure. Me? I was happy to actually be able to relax a little. Yes I think the kids were probably a bit restless especially because it was rainy and cold (looks like summer is officially over) so they weren't able to go outside much. But I am grateful for being able to take a breather to catch up and even go through the closet and take mental note of Fall clothes I had bought and didn't even remember I had! But of course next week the traveling starts again. Jose's going to Cincinnati for a week of work travel and if everything goes well we'll meet up in Miami the following weekend for a good ...

We spent a couple of nights in Lake Como in a wonderful little apartment that had enough space for everyone, and then some! As well as a great pool and jacuzzi for the kids. We ate Italian for breakfast, lunch and dinner and rented a boat to hang out on the lake, total peace! Then yesterday we drove to Monza for the F1 qualifier. It was a lot of fun and definitely something you need to say "been there done that", but it was so hot all day long today we decided to head home early so we could watch it from the comfort of our own couch. I guess the fact that our hotel room in Milan last night didn't have air conditioner and it was like 100 degrees didn't help either. Happily though I was able to see my friend Vicky from college, even if only for a little bit this morning during breakfast.

Another weekend, another trip (I swear we're almost done with all the traveling!). This weekend saw us taking a 2 hr. plane ride to Malaga, Spain and then driving 3 hrs. from Malaga to a beach town called Huelva , where we proceeded to eat ham and cheese for approximately 72 hours straight. We also enjoyed the pool, the beach, and great birthday surprise by the kids (live performance + cake). Good to have the day off on Monday too so we could recover from all the activity! We were super happy to see Jero + Elika plus their kids Ava and little Gabi who we hadn't been able to meet yet. Now back to work and back to the diet. :) Tomrorow my Mom arrives from Puerto Rico so the kids are really excited! They are loving school. In fact I always show up at school too early because they're hurrying me out the door in the morning they don't want to miss a single second.

We had hoped to travel to Venice on Thursday so that we could spend all day Friday and Saturday and then drive back all day Sunday. But Jose had a meeting scheduled at Friday at 5 pm so we had to leave at 6 pm. We drove like bats out of hell in the middle of some pretty nasty rainstorms so by the time we made it to our hotel in Venice it was 2 am. But we spent all of Saturday walking around, eating and shopping. Despite the crowds our gondola ride was peaceful and Piazza San Marco in the morning and in the evening without all the crowds is a beauty! On the way back from Venice on Sunday we stopped at Milan for lunch. I wish we would've had more time but it was still enough to remind me how much I love both Venice and Milan. Next up, Spain to meet up with Jero and Elika and I guess celebrate my birthday a little! I've been so crazy I can't even remember how old I'm going to be. Today my mother in law and sister in law are leaving after almost two months so I thin...

Another fun filled weekend traveling across Europe. This last weekend we spent time in Paris taking in the sights and then we hung out at the happiest place on Earth! :) Sebas says his favorite part was the Walt Disney Studios tram where there's a big fire and an earthquake, and Gabi of course probably only remembers princesses. :) She was pretty brave and went on a couple of "medium" roller coasters, and I overcame lots of fears and went on Space Mountain, Tower of Terror and a few other thrill rides!

We stayed at this incredible place on Saturday night after spending the day at Excenevex Plage . We had the "dungeon" which is that huge tower in the middle. Our room was like 3 stories tall, it had 3 balconies all around, and it was just one of the most spectacular experiences. We had dinner and breakfast there and hung out in the lakefront and jacuzzi. Gotta chalk that one up to another once in a lifetime experience we are lucky to have by living in Geneva. Next up: Paris and Disneyland Paris!

We had to cut our weekend short this weekend because Jose's neck was really bothering him, but we did enjoy one beautiful night and morning at La Clusaz in France . We had been here before for skiing, but it's truly beautiful in the summer with all the green in the mountains and all the houses full of flower boxes in front. We arrived Friday evening and had a great meal followed by a fun round of La skiing-inspired mini golf. Saturday morning we woke up and had enough time to take some of these pictures before heading back to the clinic to get Jose's neck checked out. Between P90X and carrying Sebas on his shoulders everywhere we go it was really taking a toll on him. But thankfully now with the medicine and hot/cold compresses on his neck he's been getting better and better. So yesterday we spent a little time at Fetes de Geneve as well, a really big festival here in the city. Sebas loved finding his famous Ferrari! :) I cut Sebas' bangs right after this...

Just got back from the most amazing vacation aboard the Royal Caribbean Vision of the Seas! We sailed out of Stockholm, Sweden and visited Helsinki (Finland), St. Petersburg (Russia), Riga (Latvia), Gdansk (Poland) and Visby (Sweden). The weather wasn't always the nicest in the places we went to but the experience was once in a lifetime. The kids loved the kids area and spent tons of time there which gave us a break to enjoy ourselves reading, going to the casino, enjoying a quiet meal or having a few glasses of wine! We were all really sad to get off the boat. But we have yet another vacation to look forward to! Well not really a vacation but a weekend in Disney about 2 weeks from now. I'm sure the kids will love it even more than last time! Now to hit the gym to lose all the weight from the cruise.... Here are a few pics of the kids during the trip.

This weekend we had tickets for the Ziggy Marley and Alpha Blondy concernt in the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux . The Montreux Jazz Festival is apparently the biggest jazz festival in all of Europe. I was very jealous of my work girlfriend who say Ricky Martin and Ruben Blades last Wednesday. We took advantage of the weekend and spend two nights in Montreux - where one of my Mexican restaurant finds is located (I haven't been able to find many good Mexican resturants in Switzerland). With Jose's Mom and sister we did quite a bit of walking - to Chateau Chillon on the first day, to the chocolate and cheese factory tours on the second day, and then on Sunday the weather wasn't all that great so we came home early to enjoy the rain and sports on TV. :) Here are a couple of clips from the concerts on Friday night, I ended up missing the beginning of Tomorrow People from Ziggy Marley for the SECOND time in my life! The first time I was in Indianapolis when my sister w...

We just came back from what I believe is truly one of the most beautiful places on earth. It was the perfect combination of wonderful people, beautiful views, a great beach for the kids, amazing food and great drinks. Definitely on top of my list of cool places to retire. We went back and forth every day from the hotel to either the beach or the center of town to go to restaurants and shopping, which helped at least partially offset the effects of all the food and drinks. :) And the kids thought it was so much fun to travel on bike all the time. This morning when we left the hotel Gabi says to me: "Mommy, I'm going to miss this hotel, and the bikes". I think that means I definitely have to take the bikes here out more often!

The school year is officially winding down which means a lot of end of school activities! I think we've had 3 birthday parties in a week's time and I'm pretty sure we have another double birthday party this week.  Last Friday was Gabi's ballet recital.  It was nothing like the ones in the US because here they do that with the slightly older kids.  But Gabi still was very excited about her performance and loved the flowers her baby brother gave her at the end of the show (last year I was a horrible mom and forgot to give her flowers).  Beyond the ballet recital we had tons of other stuff going on too; birthday parties, dinner at a new friend's house, beach on Sunday, etc.  Now the kids are very excited that after this weekend's trip to Barcelona when we come back Abuela Patty and Titi Paloma from Peru will be joining us for all the summer fun.   :)