It’s been some time since I’ve posted on this blog, but I wanted to give my take on “paternity week.” For the month of October, we really enjoyed having our mothers help take care of the house, cooking, and children. After slowly being eased in to parenthood, it was time to go it alone. We actually didn’t make the full leap since the Relief Society sisters brought us dinner for the first two weeks of November, which was fantastic.

After we said goodbye to my mother on the last Friday of October, we actually started the paternity week festivities by having our good friend, Dana, over. Having grown up with her since high school, it was great to catch up and see what her family has been up to lately. Anyway, she was only in town for 24 hours, so we said our hellos and goodbyes and then got the children ready for the zoo on Saturday morning.

Work sponsored a trip to the Houston Zoo during their Zoo Boo, which is held every year. I’d never heard of the event, but children dress up in the costumes and go around the zoo trick-or-treating and playing at the various booths that are set up. We made it in time for lunch and were able to catch up with a lot of friends who also happen to work with me.

After a successful outing at the zoo, we decided that we wanted to go out on our Saturday evening rather than sitting at home (which seems to be the trend these days). We ventured over to the Galleria and enjoyed our walk around the shops. It was our first outing where we used our baby carriers and it worked like a charm. Lucy and Evan both slept the whole time!

Unfortunately, as the start of the week began (Monday), we had a tough time with these two little kiddos. I remember Monday being especially challenging as they tag teamed us for hours on end. I quickly learned that holding a full-time job is a million times easier than being a stay-at-home mom.

Fortunately, after a difficult Monday, we were rewarded with a slightly better Tuesday. Since HMNS is free on Tuesday afternoons, we decided to head to the museum for our daily walk. The children behaved themselves for a while, but once they started getting rowdy, we knew we had to get the heck out of Dodge.

By midweek, I was having my doubts on how Diane was going to be able to manage parenting newborn twins by herself with me at work. So, that’s when we broke down and bought the Mamaroo. Initially, Lucy loved it and she would calm down immediately. Evan didn’t care for it so much, but it’s now growing on him.

On Thursday, we hit up Katy Mills because Lucy desperately needed some girl clothes. One thing I learned is that shopping at the mall on a Thursday afternoon is great because nobody is there except for a few moms — most of whom were sporting sweats/PJs.

Overall, paternity week was a lot of fun. I’m lucky to have been able to spend it with Diane and the children.

Clearwater Florida

Fernando flew in from another long stint in Nigeria, only to head out the next morning to catch a flight to Florida to meet up with the rest of his family for a week long vacation. Clearwater is a beach town just west of Tampa. Just like its name, the beach has clear blue/green water that feels more like a warm bathtub than the ocean.  The sand was beautifully white and super soft (unlike the Gulf Coast beaches we are used to in Texas). Since the waves were very gentle, even Grams got into the water which is something that hasn’t happened in years!

We stayed in two condos just shy of two blocks from the beach.  Any further than that and we would have passed out from the heat. And we thought Houston was hot right now!

Fernando’s abuela. She’s doing great after her knee replacement surgery.

Ferd pushing baby Matthew in his new ride.  Everybody loved the Quinny stroller (too bad it doesn’t come in a double).

It was our first time meeting our niece Julia. We hope our kids get curly hair like her. What a cutie.

We spent our time hanging out at the beach, by the pool, and indoors watching lots of Wimbledon during the heat of the day.

Jacob and Elijah were best buds

Between Father’s Day and three birthday celebrations, we all had our fill of cake.

Jacob turned 5, Fernando turned 30, and Julia turned 1.

We went on a lunch cruise around the bay and briefly caught a glimpse of two dolphins.

The view from our balcony looking out at the bay.

Overall we had a great time.

This is me 40 lbs heavier at 24 weeks. Wowza. I’m getting a little nervous about how much bigger I’m going to get since I’m outgrowing my prego clothes.  Braxton Hicks contractions have started, and sometimes I feel like a war is going on in my belly, but its the coolest thing looking down and watching your belly move. Friday is officially my last day of work, then I’m going to grow babies full time and work on the nursery. We’re still holding out until the end to find out what they are.

Last month while Fernando and I were visiting my family in Chelan, we wanted to go to Blueberry Hill for breakfast, but we never made it. This time around I’m happy to report its still as good as I remember.

What we go for: blintzes smothered with peach pie filling.

For those of you who haven’t had a blintze, they are crepes filled with a sweet ricotta cheese filling.

The view from our table

We decided to pick a few blueberries while we were there. They were huge!

I’m sure my mom has some delicious plans for these babies

For the 4th, we spent the week at my family’s place at Lake Chelan along with my entire family.

Here’s how our trip went:

Warning: picture overload

Lake Chelan, WA

Plenty of boat rides

Texas BBQ Chelan style

Playin' in the sand

Finally met my bro's GF, Sara

Hot tubbing

Making s'mores

Roasting giant mallows

The kids digging a giant hole on the beach

The adults playing in it

What a big helper

Our favorite shaved ice

Good till the last drop

Lots of happy campers

Playin' in the water

Some evening wakeboarding

Some hard falls

The big kids table

All bundled up and ready to watch the fireworks

Pizza at the park

The hill in the park

Everybody had the Doodle Jump addiction...high score is Fernando at 74,325!

Oh, beautiful Lake Chelan! See you next year.

For my family vacation we headed up to the lake house in Washington. On our way we briefly stopped by Leavenworth to show Fernando the German town.  And of course ate a Bratwurst.

Leavenworth, WA

A typical store in Leavenworth, with hundreds of nutcrackers

After passing through Leavenworth we made it to beautiful Lake Chelan!

It was super hot, but a relief compared to Houston

Here’s how we spent our time…

floating

Boating. With lots of kids on the bow

and on the back

roasting mallows

wakeboarding

eating pizza in the park

posing: all the grandkids

making rockets

posing with our rockets

blasting off the rockets

posing for the photographer

eating

cliff jumping

couples wakeskating

old skool kneeboarding

digging for gold

drinking guava

crashing really hard

soaking in the hot tub

eating the twins birthday goodness

laying out

playing in the water

playing in the sand

punishing each other

monitoring inappropriate swimsuits

did I  mention eating?

After Chelan, we headed back to Seattle…

Ballard locks

the needle

Just one more post on Alaska.:-D Diane already thinks that there are too many.

Chocolate fountain

Stone Man

Ghost Forest

This bear needed to get a better view of its surroundings

Not a truly wild bear, but the closest I got to seeing one in the *wild*

Bison

Baby booties in the Conservation Center gift shop

View from the Crow’s Nest

(Alaska’s only 4-star restaurant)

Delicious avocado salad

Iditarod Monument (starts in Anchorage on 4th Ave and D Street, I believe)

Anchorage is really far away from the rest of the world

OK, so let’s all flash back to June when I was in Alaska. Here are some pics from the Glacier Cruise and other fun things I was able to do…

The journey begins…

Grass runway behind people’s homes

The train hugged the coastline

View across the inlet

One of many glacier sightings

Floating chunk of ice

Wildlife was minimal on this cruise, but I knew that going into it

Another tour group checking out Prince William Sound

Love how glaciers have a bluish hue to them

As you approach glaciers, you’d see lots of small chunks of ice due to ‘calving’

Glacial calving begins…

Starting to fall…

It’s pretty cool when you see it in person

Small calving…but large calving has created waves up to 20′ high in recent years

Over w/in a matter of seconds

Glacial ice

One cookie to fatten me up

Local joint in the small village of Whittier (pop. 182)

On the way home

After Christmas, we call got attacked with the flu. Nobody was spared. It was a rough couple of days, but we still managed to have fun.

RSM Lake

Diane happy by the lake

Sunset after one lap (i.e., mile) around lake

Pink’s Hot Dogs in Hollywood

Sadly, one of the worst hot dogs I’ve ever eaten

Diane’s coleslaw dog was better

When I’m home, I love taking walks around the lake. Boy, do I sound like an old person nowadays. Oh yeah, we also went to Pink’s Hot Dog stand in Hollywood. We waited at least 45 minutes in line and the food was NO GOOD! Seriously, I will never go back. The Food Network recommendation was a total let down for me. Diane enjoyed her dog, but I sure didn’t.

Moi

UCLA

My lover and me

Santa Monica Pier

Our poor tree!

Yes, can you believe it? We came home from LA and this is what the living looked like. Our poor tree lay prostrate on the ground. Fortunately, few ornaments were lost and the piano wasn’t hit. Anyway, that’s our vacation in a nutshell!

OK, so we’ve been terrible about blogging for the past two months. Things got busy and we’ve been spending a lot of time house hunting. Anyway, here’s a 30-second recap of our Christmas vacation in SoCal.

Wahoo’s Fish Tacos with the Sumans (Eric/Laura and Mark, Sara, and Makenna) and the Hopes (Jason/Elise)

Christmas Eve Dinner

Diane opening some gifts

Christmas Day dinner before making its way to the dining room

Laguna Beach after Christmas

We had a great time celebrating Christmas and once the rainy weather left (Christmas Day), we hit the beaches: Laguna, Newport, and Santa Monica.

After spending the first half of our trip traveling throughout Switzerland, we decided to slow things down and do day trips from Geneva. Wednesday was the most beautiful day. We had a terrific time visiting the International Olympic Museum and Chateau de Chillon.

Diane at the Olympic museum

Montreux

Chateau de Chillon

My lovely wife

Gotta have a pic in front of the Chateau

Thursday, we lingered around Geneva, played some checkers in the park and then hit up the European UN headquarters and International Red Cross Museum. I loved the UN and Diane preferred the museum. To top of the night, we made a Thanksgiving dinner at home: Geneva style! We ate ham, mashed potatoes, freshly cut tomatoes on fresh mozzarella; all with a little bubbly. Oh yeah, don’t forget the freshly baked bread!

Checkers in the Park

European UN Headquarters

Thanksgiving Dinner