Somewhere in the Middle

Sending Love

Happy Mother's Day to Mommies, Aunties, Grandmothers, and all the women around the world who play a special part in a little ones life. Enjoy your day!

At 86...

my grandfather is still surprising me with stories of his youth, making me laugh with his hilarious jokes and enriching my life with his presence. Papi makes the best pernil, coquito, and dulce de coco you'll ever taste. In his twenties he worked in a bakery in Puerto Rico baking bread and delicious pastries. He later moved his family to New York City where he learned English, worked in the garment industry and eventually opened his own business. You know those custom made plastic covers people used to protect their furniture? Well... my grandfather made them and took great pride in his work. I can remember being 5 years old and sitting on the counters in his shop stamping business cards and writing on scraps of pink plastic with a waxy white pencil. ;)

Now that he's retired he's still working and enjoying life. During the spring & summer he plants and attends to a beautiful fruit + vegetable garden the city of New York donates to local residents. While in the fall & winter he builds specialized food processors which he invented several years ago and sells like hot cakes during the holidays. As the years go by he continues to improve his invention. He's an amazing man!

Happy Birthday Papi. I love you!

love thursday :: Mema

Lil' C + Mema ~ Aug. 26, 2007

I love this snapshot.

At a glance it's just a photo of my Mother & son but if you could take a peek into my world you'd know this photo says so much more.  It symbolizes the closeness they share similar to the bond I myself have with my grandmother.

Look at those smiles. I love how much fun they're having tickling each other, making jokes, and playing with that hat.

I love how when I look at this photo I see how much my Mom truly loves spending time with Lil' C and how silly she is with him. I can just look at Lil' C's smile & see how much he adores his Mema.

And I love how when my Mom calls she still will ask, "How's my baby?

Enjoy more love thursday here.

Welcome to the Family!

One of the best things that happened over the few months is that my sister Giselle got ENGAGED!! I'm so incredibly happy for both of them!

Over Thanksgiving my sister & Ted went to see my parents. It was during this weekend that Ted asked for my parent's blessing to marry Giselle. But Ted made my parents swear they wouldn't tell her. Of course, my Mom told me. ;) We all knew it was going to happen but  we just didn't know exactly when it would be official. But on the 14th of December Ted asked my sister to marry him. Giselle even blogged about it. You can read all the details here.

I'm looking forward to meeting Ted. Hopefully they'll come to visit us in Belgium within the next year. We've spoken and he sounds like a wonderful person. And seeing how happy my sister is I just know he's going to be a great addition to our family! Congratulations!!

Exploring & Playing

Even though the skies were dreary we didn't let it dampen our weekend. Saturday we took Lil' C to Technopolis and had a blast! The place is amazing! Years ago S & I went to an Exploratory Museum in San Francisco that was so much fun so when we found out about Technopolis we knew Lil' C would love it. The place was amazing! There was a whole area dedicated to imaginary play. It was a little city with a bank, garage, pizzeria, supermarket, and a construction site. Lil' C got to change a car's tires and explore the inside of a car and ambulance. S & I had so much fun acting like customers at the Pizzeria as the kids handed out menus, took our orders, and cooked our pizzas. One of the things I loved most about the place was how they printed our money with your child's photo. Very cool! Lil' C used his money to buy a ton of fruits and fish at the supermarket. The checker would scan the food and once the computer totaled the order you paid using your money. We had such a great time and will definitely be returning soon.

S & I never ordered so many pizzas in entire lives! We must have eaten at least 6 a piece! lol! All the restaurant employees were very serious about their work too.

Lil' C changing a car's tire with a little jack too!

This European Grocery Store had fabulous prices! .5 Euro cents for a Tomato! Wow! That's unbelievable! lol!

Today we stayed in and enjoyed the autumn leaves. Lil' C, S, and I raked leaves and had lots of fun throwing them in the air not to mention each other. Lil' C also climbed his first tree with his Daddy's help. And afterwards we warmed up with some delicious hot chocolate. I love family weekends like these. They're the best!

Can this really be.

My Godfather, Uncle R holding me during my baptism.  December 1968

Yesterday my Mom called and told me my Uncle R passed away suddenly from a massive heart attack. I can't believe it. In some weird way being so far away and not physically present makes me feel like it's not really real.  My Uncle R was just a couple of years older than my father. Too young to leave us. His wife and children are absolutely devastated.

My Uncle R was a dedicated father and very involved in the lives of his children and grandchildren. I admired the close relationship he had with his grandchildren.

But what I'll always remember about my Uncle R is his laugh. He was always making jokes.  It's hard for me to believe I'll never see him laugh again. I'll miss you Uncle R.

Cheers Mom!

The second I said goodbye to my parents I knew how much I'd missed them. Everytime I look at the coffee cups I set out for them each morning and the little basket filled with coffee, their favorite sugars, and other breakfast goodies I get sad. My parents are great people and I love being with them. Especially my Mom... she can always make me laugh especially with all her funny photo poses. Now the house is too quiet. Saying goodbye is always so hard. ;(

Traveling with my Mom & Dad over the past three weeks has renewed my appreciation of living overseas. Seeing Europe with them has made me see things in a fresh new light. I didn't realize how many subtle differences I've missed. Differences between our culture and environment that now that I've lived here for a year seem to be completely normal. It's so sad really how so many little things go unnoticed. And of course those will probably be the little things I will miss most when I move back to America.

Here are some of my Mom's favorite European things:

• Taking time out to relax and get together with friends at the local cafes.

• Realizing beer & wine isn't just for the evenings. Drinking isn't a big deal here. It's completely normal and socially acceptable to see people drinking beer & wine for lunch. I think the earliest we saw people drinking was at 11:00am in Barcelona.

• How wide the sidewalks are in Paris.

• The way restaurants serve you all kinds of beverages in wine glasses. If you order beer, each brand of beer has it's own glass with their name and logo. 

• How you can order mineral water anywhere you go. I think it may be more popular than flat water.

• The decorative pavements and cobble stone streets.

• How each city has a centre or plaza where lots of people tend to gather to drink & eat.

Did I miss anything Mom?

So what are the little things you love about Europe or the cities you live in?

Mosel Wine Tasting

The last big event I planned for my parents was a day trip to Germany for a wine taste testing. Originally, the trip sounded like a great idea but what I didn't anticipate was how much I would miss being away from Lil' C. My parents were also a bit burned out. My Mom joked with me... "I'm not packing another suitcase until I leave". lol! Although the next morning we felt renewed and were excited about our wine tasting excursion.

Wine tasting was a lot of fun! After lunch we sampled 13 different wines along with an apricot liqueur and grappa at the Weingut am Rosenberg Winery. After each sampling I made a few notes on my wine list and by notes I mean little circles or stars around the name of each wine I liked. lol! I'm definitely not a wine connoisseur. Sometimes I wrote things like "smooth, semi-sweet & sparkly" or "nice for afternoon". I thought my notes & symbols would help me decide what to buy but after wine #4 every wine was getting a circle AND star which meant I REALLY enjoyed it. So in the end I got a little of everything. At least S will be able to sample almost every wine I tasted. My parents also loved all the wines. Looking at my Mom across the table I could already tell she was trying to figure out how she could bring a few of these bottles home with her.

While we were at the winery the owner also gave us a brief history of his family who has owned the winery for over 500 years. The farthest the family has every lived from their winery during the past 500 years is 6 km. That's almost unheard of in our American society. The owner also gave us a tour of the wine cellars and showed us how they produce the various wines. It was all so interesting.

In the early evening we made our way to a Wine Festival in the city of  Bernkastle and Kues. As we drove to the festival we continued to see the beautiful valleys and vineyards. The Mosel Region is absolutely breath-taking. I've never seen anything quite like it. The festival was filled with numerous wineries selling wine by the glass or the bottle. It was unique seeing people walk around with their own individual wine bottles and refill their glass at anytime.  Along with the wine there were enough food stands to appease our healthy appetites. My parents enjoyed the traditional German Festival food. We stuffed ourselves with spicy bratwursts and crispy potato pancakes which I love. The festival ended with a great firework display near a little castle on the hilltop.

Falling in Love with Paris

The last three days in Paris were absolutely amazing! Paris is just the most beautiful city I've ever seen! It's a city that has it all... history, culture, food, fashion, art, and the Seine. And what did my parents think of this great city? They absolutely LOVED Paris! In fact, my Mom kept telling my Dad how they should move to Paris and learn French. My Mom joked how she could wait tables at the local cafe while my father painted by the Seine. lol! While we drove by the Seine my father told me, "If I would have known Paris was this beautiful I would have visited years ago". I'm so happy my parents finally made their way to Europe and that I am sharing this experience with them makes it so special for me.

The weather in Paris was so beautiful we spent our first day walking around the city visiting the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, Sainte Chapelle, and the Notre Dame Cathedral. We went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and we had a great view of Paris. One interesting fact I learned is there are twelve streets linked to the traffic circle around the Arc. Watching brave drivers make their way around this circle made me realize I never want to drive in Paris. lol!

Visiting Sainte Chapelle was incredible. This church is so beautiful it's hard for me to even put it into words the way I felt when I entered the first floor and was completely surrounding by stain glass windows. The details of the stain glass were spectacular.

And the highlight for my Mom was the Eiffel Tower. We saw the Eiffel Tower every single day we were in Paris. Sometimes we saw her (as my Mom likes to call the Tower) from far, up close and also when she sparkled in the night. Every time my Mom would see the Eiffel Tower she would say, "There she is...". We couldn't get enough of her.

The next two days were spent a bit more leisurely. My parents really enjoyed driving around Paris on the "on & off again" bus. Again it's a great way to see the city if you don't want to walk a great deal. But in my opinion, Paris is best seen on foot. I love walking around and taking in the cafes, shops and architecture.

We also spent quite a bit of time at the Louvre and Musee d' Orsay. For me, the building and pyramid that house all of the Louvre's artwork is what fascinates me as well as the Near Eastern & Egyptian Antiquities. And while the paintings are beautiful I prefer to look at paintings from the late 19th & 20th century. So the Musee d'Orsay was just what I was hoping for. One of my travel books rated the Musee d' Orsay as the museum to visit if you only had time for one museum. And let me tell you they weren't wrong. Just the building itself was extraordinary! And to top it off they had a special exhibit with Picasso & Cezanne that my Dad & I were thrilled to see. The exhibit focused on an art dealer named Ambroise Vollard who discovered and worked with some of the most influential artists of our time. The exhibit is extremely well done and the works displayed are magnificent. One of my favorite pieces was Picasso's "Pierreuse la main sur l'épaule".  Visiting the Musee d' Orsay was the highlight of our trip. There was so much to see that one day just wasn't sufficient. I hope to go back again one day. 

Off and running again...

Barcelona was great! My parents really loved it and felt very comfortable in Spain. The weather was very mild considering it's August. I couldn't believe how cool it was. We did the on & off tourist bus which I thought I would never do but it turned out to be the best idea. I forgot how big Barcelona is! My Mom keeps reminding me that they aren't "young chickens anymore" and able to run around like they used to. lol. So the tourist bus was the best way to get an overall view of the city and see the most sights with minimal walking. We saw most of the usual sites but missed out on Picasso's Museum as well as the inside tour of Sagarado de Familia since the lines were well over an hour long. It was crazy. Somehow I don't remember Barcelona being so crowded when my sister & I visited over 12 years ago.

The highlight of the trip for me was a tour of the Casa Battlo. The first time I went to Barcelona I was captivated my Antonio Gaudi's creativity. His buildings are like nothing I've ever seen. When I first saw Casa Battlo my sister and I weren't able to tour the inside of the buildings he designed but this time when I found out we could go inside I was thrilled! It was an amazing tour! I took lots of photos and will post them soon. 

My visit with my parents is flying by so I'm trying to enjoy as much time with them as possible. After getting back from Barcelona we spent one day visiting  the Chateau de Seneffe and last Sunday we spent the day in Brugge seeing the "Pageant of the Golden Tree". My parents really enjoyed Brugge especially the boat ride.

Well, we're off and running again. This morning we're leaving for Paris!