Boricua en la Lima

We just came back from the most amazing trip!  Definitely towards the top of our list -- it was so much fun for us and despite the fact that we thought "Amsterdam isn't for kids" the kids enjoyed it a ton too!  Particularly the Heineken experience.  Who'd thunk it but it was so well designed for kids they felt like they learned how to make beer and that they experimented making beer themselves and that they were even "made into beer" (there was a really cool "ride" demonstrating this).   We got up on these bikes and made t-shirts with these pictures, they love the fact that Sebas looks like he's sitting in one of the beer crates! I just wish we could've spent more time there, or I hope we can go back there in the future!  It was so much fun.

I was able to transfer my gym membership at work to the mall gym for not too much money so I've been trying to work out as close to daily as possible. I'm sore, my arms are spaghetti and I can barely move. But it feels good. If I can continue to brave the language barrier (by just following everyone else along) and bear being all the way in the back of the class it should be a productive use of my hiatus. I finally tried Zumba for the first time ever (yes I know, where have I been hiding all this time? At work that's where) and it was so much fun. The music was awesome, I sweat like a pig, and the feeling of dancing again after so long was incredible. Only problem now is that my body's in that stage where it thinks it needs to eat so much in order to keep up with all the exercise that it actually ends up consuming MORE calories instead of less. The fact that I'm not working doesn't help either because I'm at home constantly surrounded by yummy snacks. ...

I'm currently on a mini getaway with the husband. I think the last time we did this was in 2006! Well in October we went to Miami by ourselves but it was really to hang out with friends so this is the first time in a really long time we've gone away just to be by ourselves. Sorely needed! We've gone only about 30 minutes away from home to spa in France and it's beautiful. The most we've done is eat (bad for the diet, good for the soul!) and read Hunger Games. I'm on book #2 and Jose's on book #3. It's unfortunately still too cold in Geneva to hang out outside but we're doing just fine with the pool, jacuzzi, food and our books. And my iPad of course. :) Here's a couple of shots from where we're staying. It's called Jiva Hill Hotel and it's pretty amazing. The first picture is a view from the pool and the second picture is a view from our hotel room -- straight out into the golf course. Of course no one is playing golf. You...

My little baby boy is all grown up. Woke up today and said he wasn't going to suck his thumb anymore or drink milk from a baby bottle. He is super excited as we wait for our flight from Budapest to Geneva so he can open his big present which we hauled all the way from target in Cincinnati. He's gonna love it! Had a celebration lunch at hard rock cafe in budapest and he couldn't believe the staff knew it was his birthday. ;)

Attempting mobile blogging from a Cuban restaurant in the heart of Prague. We've had an amazing trip so far despite the fact that it's been cold and rainy in the beginning and end of the trip. We are sad it's almost coming to an end. Tomorrow we take a train from Prague to Budapest and then we fly from Budapest to Geneva on Monday. I also begin a new chapter of my life -- in the span of one week I am officially unemployed, I finished the last installment of the millennium trilogy and one tree hill is over. I feel empty! But I am renewed in my focus to exercise especially after eating so much cinnamon bread on this trip so hopefully between exercising and being a soccer mom I will fill my days until I can figure out what's next for me career wise. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy what I am dubbing maternity leave without actually having a baby...