Boricua en la Lima

This was our last weekend in Geneva for the year. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. We had another busy weekend, trying to fit in some packing time for the four of us in between all the activities. Packing this year has somehow been very hard. Last year I packed everything for the kids and myself for five whole weeks in just one suitcase. I honestly don't even know how was I able to do that. This year somehow we've got two pretty big suitcases for the four of us and they both seem to be bursting at the seams.  Anyway, yesterday we went to La Clusaz again. We'd been there last January and now that it's been raining a lot in Geneva it means lots of snow in the mountains.  Jose took a skiing lesson while the kids and I did some sledding at the base of the mountain. After a while I couldn't feel my feet though, so I was more than happy sitting in a restaurant looking out at the crazy skiers... Only four more days in the office before beginning

There's a well-known Genevois tradition every first Sunday in December called L'Escalade , which celebrates the defeat of a surprise attack to Geneva by France back in 1602.  Because Escalade means "climbing of the walls", there is a short race around the old town (which is all walls basically) every year.  I was excited to sign up Gabi for her very first race and she was excited that she would be running with some friends from school.  She did a 1K in the morning and then with zero training and just after having had lunch I did 5K in the afternoon.  It was a very fun activity that we had to miss last year because we were already on our way to Peru (can't complain about that!). Gabi was a little lazy about it (every time we saw her she was walking instead of running!) but with a little prodding from us she completed her first race. I think she was proud to be like her mommy who likes to run but I also have to remember she won't always like what I like. And tha

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.   :)

While there are many "boulangeries" where you can have a nice croissant or pain au chocolat in Geneva, we were really looking for something more like American brunch for Father's Day. I did some research online and we ended up going to this place called O Calme in Carouge, which is near the center of the city. While I can't say the food was exactly as yummy as I would find it in Sunday brunch in the US, the brunchy vibe was definitely there (the Calm in the restaurant name is actually an acronym which means "Comme A La Maison" ("like at home")). We got pancakes for the kids, I got the full brunch (eggs, pancakes, oatmeal) plus coffee and Jose got this thing which was basically smoked salmon on top of pancakes. So we were happy with our find! Not a place to go every weekend, but definitely a cool place for special ocassions. And a huge plus was that our kids were not the loudest people in the place. :) After brunch we went bowling, then w

Thanks to my Dad who shared this link with me. Lake Annecy was just voted as one of the top 12 most beautiful lakes in the world . We were actually there last Sunday! And I have to say while I haven't seen the other 11, I definitely have to agree that this Lake is a piece of work (just like my kids!).

Since this weekend was a long weekend in Switzerland Gabi had three days of vacation so we took a trip to the French Riviera.  The first two days were a bit of a washout, cold and rainy throughout.  But then on Friday afternoon the sun finally came out and boy what a difference the sun makes.  As a result I think the prettier places were the ones we were in when the sun was out (Monaco and St. Tropez over Cannes and Nice).  We ate like pigs, enjoyed the beaches as much as possible, tried to give Sebas the feeling that he was Fernando Alonso racing for Formula 1, and walked a TON.  We stayed at a hotel in Nice and from there drove to all these different places.  We also walked around Nice for dinner and stuff like that.  Last night dinner was at a Spanish tapas places were we had to stay way longer than anticipated because of a flash thunderstorm, but they had live music (and dessert!) so that was A OK with us.  :) Here is us when the sun finally came out in St. Tropez. We had lunch a

Well, Memorial Day isn't celebrated in Switzerland.  Here the long weekend is NEXT weekend (something about Ascencion and who knows what else but hey I'll take it especially because it's longer than Memorial Day Weekend). In any case, we had our own unofficial kick off to summer by attempting the beaches around Geneva for the first time this year.  The weather was great and the kids had so much fun, mostly because this beach is so shallow they can walk around on their own for a really long time exploring the little "islands". Here is Gabi coming back from one of those little "islands". Next weekend we are going to the Cote D'Azur which kicks off our "crazy summer of traveling".  The husband has planned so much travel I don't know how we're going to fit it all in, but I won't complain!  We gotta take advantage of the fact that we're here for another year because we don't know what happens after the year whether we stay

I finally did it! Best thing about the half-marathon yesterday? First, that it's over. Second, that I can rest for a couple of weeks before getting back into running. The weather was terrible on Saturday so we had no idea what would happen on Sunday for the race.  But we got really lucky because we got PERFECT weather -- not too warm, not too cold. And the rain held off until the moment I literally crossed the finish line.  There were actually moments when the sun was shining bright where it was actually a bit too hot. I had my iPhone GPS to help me keep pace (since all the markers were in KM and I still get confused about that) and I was doing really well.  I think I was on pace to finish between 2:03 and 2:05.  At mile 9 I saw Jose and the kids and that was so exciting I had to hold the tears in (cause otherwise I get kind of an asthma attack while running if I'm too excited).  Then right after I saw them my iPhone died.  There went my music, and there went my pacing.  

The best thing about Mother's Day yesterday was Jose letting me "sleep in" (even though with the kids screaming it was actually impossible to do) and then letting me nap with Sebas while he was napping.  Which of course I wasn't able to fully do because I wanted to read and stuff.  But I think I did get in about a 20 min. nap in there which is better than most days! We had wanted to make it a beach day but the beginning of the day was cold and dreary.  However, after we woke up from the nap it looked like an amazing day.  But by that time it was too late to go to the beach and next week I have the half-marathon so hopefully in a couple of weeks we can actually go to the beach.  After nap time we went to Scooby Doo Live, not my idea of how to spend a Mother's Day but at least the kids sat still for 2 hours! Gabi made me this card at school together with a really nice framed "painting".  My favorite part is that I've officially transitioned from &quo

While my friends back in Cincinnati were getting ready for the Flying Pig yesterday morning, I was in the middle of my longest run before the half marathon a couple of weeks from now.  12 miles.  I went for a morning run this time just so I could try to get it over with earlier.  At the beginning Jose called me and by picking up the call I kinda messed up the whole GPS so the whole time I wasn't sure what was going on from a pacing standpoint.  But from the looks of it I was able to keep up a 10 min. per mile pace which I'm comfortable with for training.  Now I don't know if I'll be able to take that down to about 9:30 during actual race day so that I can beat my last time of 2 hours 10 minutes, but I'm honestly less concerned about the time than I am about actually finishing.  Because let me tell you my biggest lesson from this year's training is that doing those long runs solo is a really painful experience.  A very challenging mental exercise.  Half of the ti

We are back from an absolutely wonderful vacation in PR. We had the best weather - in fact we here hiding from the sun towards the end!  Here's a video of Sebas dancing to Lady Gaga at Kaplash, our favorite restaurant in Rincon, Puerto Rico (where we can always see the absolutely best sunsets in the world -- also pictured below). Now we gotta get back into the swing of things -- school, work, dance classes, swimming lessons, and everything being closed on Sundays! (And Monday today too because the Swiss celebrate Easter on Monday instead of Sunday not sure why...)

This weekend our little angel/devil turned 3.  While we didn't nearly make as big of a deal about it as we have done with Gabi in the past, this is the first year where we actually set out to buy him presents (the last two years we figured he'd be happy with presents he got from family/friends).  We woke him up on Saturday morning and surprised him with all his presents and it was soo cute to see how he kept saying "I so excited, I so excited!".  While he had a few meltdowns throughout the day due to lack of napping (who can nap when it's your birthday?!) he enjoyed the weekend to the fullest - he played non-stop with the neighborhood kids who sang happy birthday to him, he had water fights, got into fights, scraped his knees, etc.  In other words, now we really have a HANDFUL! :) Here he is with his Toy Story 3 cupcakes I got from this place in Geneva, they were yummy!  I'm still recovering from eating so much cake and then having to run 10 miles yesterday

We've gone out to dinner (just Jose and me) a couple of times in the last weeks so Gabi decided she wanted to be a grown up and join us for dinner one night. So yesterday after Sebas went to sleep (way too late because of the DST time change, now it's light way past 8 pm) we went out. We had wanted to try this place because it looks so pretty (and we thought we'd take advantage of the outing to try a new place) but as soon as we walked in we were told there was no space. By this time it's already 9 pm and Gabi is already getting tired, so we went to a place we'd already been to before because it was tapas and therefore relatively quick. It's a Spanish tapas place called Lokesea and it was yummier than I remember from the first time - we had croquetas, patatas bravas, queso manchego, chorizo and calamari (with a little bit of red wine). Gabi was all over the chorizo! And as soon as she finished the chorizo she said "OK I want to go to sleep now".

My friend Tom turned me to TED for the first time a few year ago.  Then another friend said on Twitter that the TED iPad app was awesome.  Since I have little TV to watch here in Geneva TED has become my 20 minutes a day before going to sleep where I try to see an interesting video to make me think about something else other than work and the kids (then I try 20 min. of meditation right before going to sleep).  So last Friday night I saw this TED video on running and was very intrigued by the Tarahumara story .  I didn't know whether to believe the whole TED speech by Christopher McDugall or not but my friend German had been trying to convince me for a while to try barefoot running which I was honestly too scared to try (I've always had either knee or ankle problems and have felt that I need all the protection I can get in the form of really bulky but stable shoes). But last night after I saw ANOTHER amazing speech from TED on running , I decided to download the book Born

She is so excited because she is now "officially" a big girl!  I thought this would happen later but apparently she's a little ahead of the curve on this one since she tells me she's the first one in her classroom to lose one tooth.  She was very excited that she shared this special day with her Dad's birthday.  But she was even more excited by the Tooth Fairy visit.  She says she actually SAW the Tooth Fairy even though she didn't have a wand. This coming from a girl who was actually to scared to put the tooth under her pillow so instead put it in Sebas' little training toilet.  Weird place for a Tooth Fairy to leave money.  I wonder where the "Toilet Fairy" will leave money when Sebas starts going to the potty full time?

On Sunday we were scheduled to go skiing but I guess we all didn't sleep very well because we woke up not wanting to go.  Which I guess was a good thing because later on Sunday Sebas developed a fever (which was way worse Monday morning) so I think skiing would've just made things worse.  Instead we went to this little place called Signal de Bougy  which was less than an hour from home.  It was a cute little park (obviously much nicer in summer!) with animals, mini-golf, a huge playground, etc.  The kids loved the "fast cars" and the "mini golf".  Gabi says as a surprise for her dad's birthday (this Sunday) she wants to take him back. I hope it's nice, sunny and warm. They also have special events throughout the season - like Easter parties, Halloween parties, and a big fireworks show on August 1st which is the Swiss Independence Day.  Hey, it's no Disney, but it'll be a nice place to spend sunny Saturdays and Sundays this summer. Oh, and Gab

I can't believe it but I have a little grown up girl!  Gabi's first tooth came loose yesterday. Even though every time I say to someone "Gabi has a loose tooth" she corrects me saying "I haven't lost it yet!!!".  :)  My only "benchmark" was my nephew Jake who lost his first tooth when he was 7 so even though the dentists had told me between 5 and 7 I wasn't expecting it to happen this soon! She's quite proud of it so here's a picture of that (even though you cannot tell at all the tooth is loose from the pictures of course).  But she was talking to EVERYONE about this yesterday and first thing today when she saw the nanny she wanted to tell her!  Although I don't know how she communicated "I've got a loose tooth" in Spanish but somehow she got through.  She also thinks that the process only takes 24 hours because that's the one benchmark she has, so she's quite impatient for the tooth fairy to arrive.  L