Back from California

Our California trip was awesome. Everytime I go back it just makes me miss being there with all my family and friends. When I come back to Philly I just feel so lonely and boring. What I miss the most is ese sabor latino (latino flavor): the food, the family reunions every weekend, spanish!, music, the fights over my famous Alfajores (peruvian cookies), the inside jokes, the drama and gossip, and above all mis Papitos. They are my grandparents who practically raised me since I was born. After they sent my mother and me to NY we reunited again after 1 year. Its very hard for me to be away from them since I have always been su mano derecha (their right hand). I hope Max and Isela will have a chance to grow up with a fraction of what I had as little girl. All the parties, dancing till 6 am. Tio Raul and Papito on the guitar. All the cousins complaining about why we always have to listen to huaynos. Now I understand why because they make you think of Peru or in my case the little bit of Peru my Papitos brought with them to the states. Viva Peru!


Max wanted to wear a bow just like Isela. Isela looooves Sra. Griselda because she spoils her!

Max and Tio George at Disneyland.






Max is loving the Tea cups.

Max and Tia Teresa


Carving pumpkins.

Eating In n Out after we carved our pumpkins.

Escondido Children's Museum
Spending a day with my friend Diana and her son Derek at Irvine Park. Max and the conductor who kept calling Max Derek. Max and Martin Me, Lizbeth, Teresita

This was a couple days before I left. My Mamita didn't even want to smile for the camera. She gets so sad when its time for us to leave. She's 98 years old. Sometimes I don't know whether to tell her not to cry or cry with her. Its so hard to say goodbye.

P.S. I potty trained Max while I was there. Yupi! No more stinky diapers.

Labor Day Weekend

We decided to visit the New Jersey shore and it was actually pretty cool. We went to Ocean City and walked the boardwalk which had a small amusement park, several miniature golf places and lots of yummy food. We didn't even get to touch the sand but hopefully next time. Being at the beach sure made me miss California. I hope to hit up the beach while its still scorching hot there. Here we are eating superjumbo pizza slices. We also had some yummy frozen custard. We also decided to take Max to Gillian's Wonderland.

On Monday we decided to take the kids to Kids Castle. Here's Max pretending to be an astronaut.

Yesterday we went to Johnson's Farm in New Jersey because they were having free hay rides and half off their Discovery barnyard. It was a lot of fun and Max was so excited about the "appah twees'.


We ended the day with silly faces and icecream.

potato stamps

For the sake of taking a quick shower I decided to entertain Max by letting him paint with some old nail polish that I don't use anymore. I gave him a piece of paper and he painted in my bathroom where I could check on him as I showered. He really had a blast playing with all the different shades of pink so I decided to do a real paint activity with him using non girl colors.



These are potato stamps and they are supposed to be a sail boat and a train. Carving the shapes into the potato was a lot harder than I thought.




Next time I'll use more colors and I think I'll attempt making some simple animal shapes.

Max is so good with his little sister Isela. He is so affectionate and is genuinely concerned when she cries. He always wants to help taking care of her. I am still surprised that he has not exhibited any jealous behavior as of yet but I'm so grateful for that.
I am super thankful for Tia Patti and Tia Teresa who came out to help me the first three weeks. Max misses his Tias and always talks about going to the park with them. We'll be seeing them again in the next couple months.

Strasburg Railroad

Earlier this week we went to the Strasburg Railroad and museum with some of our friends. Max was so excited that he kept saying choo choo!










Max is such a fun kid. We can't wait until we head out to California to spend time with our family and friends.

Halloween

So on Halloween night I decided that I would make a Meal in a Pumpkin. After an hour and a half of baking...this is the result:

Its basically ground beef, sausage, rice, peppers and creamy goodness! All mixed in with some sweet pumpkin pieces. Yum!

Then we headed over to our friends place where we met up with all our other friends and went Trick or Treating.
Here's everyone except Max:



Max dressed up not as a lion or Chubaca but as a MONKEY! Also pictured: Max's friends Nathan and Kyrie.


This is the first house Max went to. By the end of the night Max was saying Trick or Treat!


After an hour or so we called it a night. Max had a blast!