Memorial Day Weekend// Howe Caverns

It rained for several days last week and into the weekend so once we realized our hopes of beach bumming were gone we decided to go underground...in Albany! After some good food and some rest..we headed to Howe Caverns to let off some steam..we had warm fudge, cinnamon coated almonds and some sugar straws for Arie. A boat ride and some walking and we were good..Staycation!

Sweet Little

Stop in and see us! Thanks for your support. You can read about where this began here.

10 Months Old

Evalie..I don't know how to even describe you in a words. You are the funniest little person I've ever had the pleasure to meet. You have developed such a great sense of humor and love to smile at all times. I look at you and smile and you return it so gracefully. You give your light like morning...You are happy, you are still working on your walking, you take about five or six steps before you revert to crawling, probably because it helps you move as fast as your sister does. To my amazement, the two of you play like there isn't three and a half years between you. You are two peas in a pod! You guys bathe together, eat breakfast together, your cuddle each other ( when you let her) and I'm sure a lot more when I'm at work. 

You've got so more teeth coming out, now maybe about 51/2 teeeth. You've been eating more solids than drinking milk..partially because we were forced to ween and transition to formula last week. Luckily, you have absolutely no problems with it. whew! You like quinoa, ground turkey, you recently tried turnips which went over very well. Your hair has grown a bit more but its still slightly to short for a real pony tail. Its getting a bit tougher to photograph you because you are always moving, laughing..etc. You do the funniest dance when a song you like comes on..it looks like you might take off because of how hard you fla your arms. I love you smile, your big eyes get squinty like half moons, and your cheeks    become even more pronounced..it the easiest way to lift my spirits.  

Although you had an ear infection last week, you are doing well. You are still in the 75th percentile for weight and 90th for height. You really don't like the doctors office ( you cried through the entire visit from the moment Dr. Dietzich walked in the door!) I look forward to your next month and I love you beyond words...but you already know that.

Nigeria Trip // Day 9-Lagos Easter

We spent a lovely day in Ikoyi with my cousin and his family starting with Easter brunch at the Wheatbaker hotel. The brunch spread was quite extensive with continental cuisine on one side of the dining room and a buffet of Nigeria food on the other side. I have never seen two kids so excited to see salad, olives, cured meats and such. I guess 8 days of Nigeria food was their limit! The hotel itself was beautifully decorated, nicely kept and the service was on par with the nicer places in New York. Certainly it had to be because it plays host to mostly Nigerian elite and foreign nationals. The funny thing is its owned partially by someone we referred to as uncle, growing up, he was a family friend or a friend of my father..funny how times have changed and how life has changed since moving to New York. I sometime still wonder if moving to New York was a good move for our family, I feel like things could have turned out differently if we had stayed in Nigeria but no use in dreaming about the past right.

I sat at the kids table while the others all sat at a table adjacent to us. I think I was getting to be a bit overwhelmed by the trip myself. I hadn't spent this much time in such close quarters with everyone in a while. Mom had left early that morning and was on her way back to New York so it was really just me, my three sisters and our husbands and kids...oh and my cousin, DT.

Sim invited us back to his house for some chit chatting and several bottles of champagne which consisted of catching up on life and my aunt telling us to keep having kids before it was too late. She the best, she tells it like it is and doesn't hold back her thoughts. The kids played, his kids had never met us in fact I hadn't seen him since he moved back to Lagos after grad school. It was nice to finally meet his wife and kids. Its never enough time but we take what we can get. We spent so much time together growing up that it never seems like we've been away for so long.

I was intrigued that its a normal occurrence to perpetually have several bottles of chilled champagne in your refrigerator in Nigeria. This is proof for why Nigerians are said to consume the most champagne in the world..well I can understand that.