A bit more SPRING in our step!

Ahhh, spring... we get whiffs of it here and there and sometimes all day, it's not quite here. Here are some pictures in honor of spring!

  

Colombia, The first time around...

THREE Generations!

If I had to summarize our Colombia trip, I would say it was refreshing and eye opening. Having a dish of freshly cut of AMAZING mango set on the table almost every morning for breakfast, was refreshing ( and amazing). Being able to meet so many of Elias' extended family ( and his root culture) was eye opening.
There are so many things I'm thankful for that made this trip amazing. I was nervous about our short layovers between flights going down. With 2 kids and JFK being one of the airports, a hr and a half is a little short to eat and do the potty thing AND get to our gate. We get off from our Pitt-JFK flight and we discover our next gate was across from our arriving gate. :)
When we arrived in Bogota, they just let families skip to the front of all 3(4) of the security lines. God really worked things out for us, it was wonderful!
I'm really grateful Elias has an uncle in Bogota. His family came and picked us up from the airport and brought us to a very cozy hotel/suite they found for us to stay at. Also arranging van transportation through out the trip, from getting to the airports or traveling to the Abuelo's from the airport.
I was able to relax and know we were well taken care of!

A lot of the trip was basically a family reunion, so we didn't do too much sight seeing this time, which was fine. Birthday and family was why we went down and with Brianna being so little still, I was glad not to have to travel around too much. I did wrestle with motion sickness from all the crazy traffic. Lets just say lanes are optional but the car horn isn't. :) The stop and go motion is always the worse for me, but we bought some motion sickness pills and that helped A LOT.

I definitly want to bring more shopping money with me next time, Lots and lots of things to pick from...and cheaper, for my American dollar anyway.

I never got around to photographing all the strange looking fruit they had in Cali. I mean REALLY strange looking, but all very yummy! Lulo ( no idea how to spell it), became a new favorite. It's a common fruit they use for juicing. It looks kind of like a tangerine with little hairs. You cut it open and the flesh is greenish gel ( probably why they juice it a lot of times). So when you pour a cup of lulo juice, it's green and I personally think it taste like really sweet strawberries! YUUUM!

I loved the food down there in general, I even tried some black beans and I liked them! They don't eat spicy which suited me perfectly. Tastiness!

Joshua was a hit with all his new found cousins and aunts and uncles, but when is he not a hit? The elevator in the house was a hit with Joshua as you can imagine. Because the house is built up, the elevator helps Elias' grandparents to get around. It really was a neat house. It was kind of designed like several apartments together, but it still felt like one home. Lots of room for visitors, which I was grateful for. There is a pool....but it's REALLY cold. Buildings block all the sunlight that might have warmed it up.  The pool was cold, so I hung out on the hamocks by the pool a lot. Cali had perfect weather, the warm breeze was almost always blowing. Ahhhhh.

Well I guess I should at least post this much. :) My photo album will have to probably tell the rest of the story. :)

Four Generations

I love this picture. Everytime I see it I am reminded how BLESSED I am. One, that I'm even able to take this picture. My gram is in great health and was able to visit, I hope brianna ( and Joshua) will be able to remember her. Two, I'm reminded that we have good relationships, so many families are not whole or  don't get along that a picture like this is unpleasant or just not possible. Thirdly, the fact all of us can worship together is wonderful, to be part of a Christian family that extends outside my immediate family is such a blessing. Not to mention the picture itself came out very nicely! :)

Cast update!

I thought I would take a moment and say that Joshua's foot is completely better and the cast was only on for a few days ( huge sigh of relief)! At the follow up visit, the older and wiser Dr put him in a walking boot and told me to just keep and eye on his foot. A few days later, Joshua wasn't limping at all. I guess he just needed to be forced off his foot. It was an adventure...and I'm glad it didn't last long.

A Step Up

Joshua has finally graduated to his new bed! He totally thrilled with it. It is pretty awesome to be up off the floor on a loft bed. He can even look out the window some, though not enough for Joshua's taste. Which is how he fell out of it the other night, leaning waaaaay over trying to see "the cars" and "moon". It is a child's loft bed, therefor not too high off the ground, so he's alright. Hurt his foot a bit and has been hopping and crawling his way around yesterday and today. He's already putting pressure back on it.

Salsa, salsa!

Salsa making is Elias' thing. Blending the perfectly ripe tomatoes with onions, cilantro, lime and vinegar. Adding just the right amount of seasonings. Of course to get it right he has to taste it with the perfectly fresh tortilla chip. Not to mention the Jalopeno's and Habenaro peppers that join salsa in a smaller bowl. I get to stand back and witness this, my donation was the slap chop to hasten the tomato chopping. Joshua has started to join in and help the salsa making process. Of course his goal is to taste the salsa with Elias. Unfortunately this pregnancy does not like salsa. But it's still a fun process to watch my  men enjoy it!

Life Thrills!

Can there be anything more exciting for a 2.5 yr old boy who loves trucks to be allowed to sit in the driver's seat of a Fire Truck and explore the back and touch knobs on the side of the truck?

A little Family Time

We went down to the Waterfront for a little Chick-Fil-A, and a nice walk aftewards.

Fun in the Park

We have a small War memorial down the street. It makes a triangle and is inbetween 3 different streets. You can imagine Joshua was thrilled when we sipped our Starbucks in this little park. There were buses, big truck, small trucks and cars of all shape and sizes zooming by him.









The "special drink".



Watching his beloved modes of transportation. :)



"ROAR!"

A New Start

Spring is here and has woken me up from my blogging siesta or maybe it's because now that I feel the house is starting to get to the point of organization I can actually sit down and write again! I also decided I wanted to switch to a more up to date blog space and hopefully easier to use site.
Life is as busy as always, between Elias recently starting a new job, and both of us helping with youth group and Joshua "exploring" as his world expands and an addition coming at the end of August. It seems as one thing settles down, another kind life upheaval happens upon us. God is faithful as these new challenges come, and I can never say life is "boring".

Our family joined a gym pretty recently which probably is one reason our life seems a little crazier as Elias and I both try to get to the gym and exercise. I've been enjoying the access to a pool again and Joshua is always excited to go swimming. It's great to go where we do since quite a few people we know go and we can go together.

Youth group has been really good, we're going through John Piper's "Whats the Difference" series on Manhood and Womanhood. It's been challenging as he really questions and challanges our thoughts and our thinking of what we really believe and how it plays out in our daily actions and life choices.

Joshua is getting big! 2 and a half yesterday and he's needing another haircut. It makes me a little wistful everytime I cut his hair, he always looks so grown up and these days he looks grown up without it, I'm scared to cut it...even if he DOES make him look a little scruffy hooligan. :)
I could go into his latest and greatest hobby of seeing how many ways of "not touching his poop" as he sits on the potty, he can come up with. But you may not want to reeaaallly know about all that.

Little un-named girl del Real is getting big and so am I....I'm amazed how much faster I'm showing this time around. Ahhh well. It's interesting how different I'm carrying #2 then I did with Joshua. Even with the clothes I had from last time, a lot don't fit right.

I guess I'll end here, hopefully the blog will be more interesting as I update more often now. :)