Puerto Rico November 2014

Our last trip of the year, also our last trip as a trio, and the last time I will fly with Olivia on my lap because little miss sassy is getting her own seat next time! Honestly she wasn't terrible but she wouldn't sit still with me and kept wanting to use my belly as a step stool, but she did behave with her daddy (as long as a constant flow of snacks kept coming). On our first full day in PR we drove to the mountains to get Abuela's favorite longaniza.

We rented a beautiful apartment in Luquillo that had so much room for Olivia to roam around.

It also had its own pool.

It was so close to the beach we love, and Olivia walked into the ocean for the first time!

We also checked out some new kid-friendly beaches, and Vince and I played a game called "What's Olivia going to pick up next: rock or garbage?" 9 times out of 10 it was garbage...

And in case you were wondering how we get sand out of a baby's diaper before we go...

Nothing beats a naked dunk in the ocean to get all the sand out!

 

 

Happy and sand-free!

Olivia LOVED spending time with her grandmothers!

 

And then it was time to go back home

She was like this the entire flight...it was a miracle

Happy Bat-o-ween!

Holy pumpkins, Batgirl! This was a super busy Halloween! I was worried because Olivia refused to take her morning nap, and with everything we had to do I was afraid she'd be a mess...alas, my little darling loves to prove me wrong, so despite the lack of nap she was a champ-o-ween all day long! So after the hourlong fight to try to get her to nap, I got O into her Batgirl costume and we were off to my doctor's appointment.

We had lunch at Panera and then made our way up to Daddy's school (during which she did get in a little batnap). O had a great time walking around the school and seeing all the bigger kids in their costumes! When school let out we all went home together and walked to Newark Ave where there was an entire Halloween street festival going on! We walked around, took pictures on hay bales and admired all the other kids' costumes.

Then we walked to Shoprite to show my coworkers her Batgirl costume, and then to Hamilton park for the costume prade, but by then it was getting cold so we headed home. And finally, Ninang Ta, Tita Rinne and Ninang Grace all came by the house to hang out with O before her bedtime! A great end to a great day!

Olivia's first trip to Montreal

We drove up to Montreal this weekend to watch Tita Rinne and Ninong Gerry run another half-marathon. She did great on the 5+ hour drive up and now she's got stamps from both borders on her passport! Some highlights from that weekend:

Breakfast at Beautys Luncheonette

Playing in the park

Looking at the views atop Mount Royal

 

And running around inside the Chalet atop Mont Royal hugging random a stranger's legs (not pictured, but super embarrassing)

Olivia's First Birthday

Olivia's first birthday was a low-key affair since it was daddy's first day back to school and mommy had work that afternoon, but it was still fun! I made her a tomato sauce to go with her requisite birthday noodles which came out too sweet, so I passed it off as Filipino spaghetti....Ninang Tata came by with Kuya MC who turned 14 same day!  And apparently the party continued even after I left for work!

Olivia's birthday party was also small but very fun. She had her first taste of cake but refused to get messy! Daddy put frosting on her nose and Mama tried to get her to smush her cupcake,  but our proper little lady wasn't having it!