Page 16

Bright Lights

Our time in Detroit was super short and before we knew it it was time to fly to New York. The Detroit to New York flight was without a doubt the easiest flight of my life. At only an hour and a half long, it passed by like nothing. Miral was super pleasant and slept the entire time and these two sat in a row by themselves in front of me and were great. Randy and I chatted the whole way and before we knew it we had landed in New York!

Grandma Yuyu met us at the airport and we all headed to Aunt Das and Uncle Nooj’s house.

This is the first time we were back in New York for Christmas in 5 years. We decided to get out and see all Christmas in New York has to offer, well…when it wasn’t too cold, my blood has gotten pretty thin after five years in a tropical country.

A Fresh Santa

Living in a developing country has many perks (all the help, please) but it also has drawbacks. One drawback is that our Santa pictures are always with a Marine who kindly volunteers to dress up in the 10 year old Santa suit that the community liaison’s office has. So, as you can imagine I was pretty excited to take the kids to a real Santa! And apparently the U.S. has gotten fancy. You can now make an appointment to see Santa and not have to wait on line for hours and hours, thanks Uncle Shawn for waiting on line to make an appointment!

We got to the mall, had some dinner and headed off to meet the big guy himself. Malcolm told me all day he was scared and didn’t want to see Santa. I told him he didn’t have to talk to him if he didn’t want to. Adam was prepared. He has been asking for a roboraptor that he saw on our trip to Kohls and Malcolm wanted a robodinosaur also spotted in Kohls. Thank you Kohls, one trip to find winter mittens and Christmas list sorted.

After a short wait it was our turn! Malcolm all of a sudden wasn’t scared and went right up to Santa and with some help from Adam told him what he wanted. Adam was ready and went right up and sat down on Santa’s lap. He was so sweet and helped Malcolm remember what to ask Santa for. I loved looking at these pictures later and seeing Malcolm feeling Santa’s beard. Malcolm loves soft things and loved rubbing the beard. Santa may not have been so pleased, but luckily he was a patient Santa.

I wanted to get a picture of Miral with Santa and she nailed it. She’s too young to have stranger danger so had no qualms being held by Santa. I was a little nervous she would slide off his big lap but I’m guessing Santa has a lot of practice holding babies.

And then I even got a picture with all three kids and no one is crying! Miral is trying to eat Santa’s fuzzy sleeve but I’ll take it!

Snowy Days

Oh Detroit, you were magnificent with your beautiful white snow and yard for the kids to play in for hours. Even better is that Uncle Shawn, who has a MUCH HIGHER cold tolerance than me, was there to patiently play in the snow with the boys for hours!!

I was able to come out and take some photos and pop in to warm up when needed. In my defense, i didn’t have waterproof boots. Neither did Malcolm, so we improvised with some plastic bags. It’s amazing that Adam and Malcolm, my two tropical boys could spend so much time in the snow. They loved every cold minute! The boys built a snowman, had a snowball fight and Uncle Shawn even pulled them on a sled. Oh, Detroit, we only had a small time with you but we really got to enjoy every minute! Don’t worry Ley Family, Adam and Malcolm are already planning their next trip!

Guess who LOOOOOOVED the snowball fight. Free reign to throw stuff at people, Malcolm was ALL IN!

Motor City

When we left for the US we were all hoping to get to see some snow. Well, Detroit did not disappoint! After our trip was over I asked the boys which part was their favorite, both answered with a resounding Detroit. When I asked why, they both answered snow! Seeing all of these cuties sure didn’t hurt. Who would have ever though Randy and Sandra would be luck enough to have all of these cuties between them.

Of course when you have this many kids, this is the best photo we could get of all 7. The good news is these 7 were all so happy to be together, play basketball in the basement, do all the fun activities Aunt Sandra had planned, and that is way more important. I sort of love this photo because each child is doing their own thing and other than Adam that thing doesn’t include smiling at the camera.

The babies went to bed and we did get these awesome pics of the older kids where it really shows how much they love each other, even though they haven’t seen each other in years.

Following our photoshoot the kids all got to decorate cookies that Aunt Sandra made for them! This of course was a big hit.

I also love how these two managed to squeeze in a picture cuddling each other’s babies!

I still remember when we came to meet Roman at just a few weeks old. I remember thinking how sweet Randy was with him and excited to have our own babies. Three babies later I still love seeing him with babies and kids.

18/52 Four Month

Week 18- I’m a little behind considering Miral is six months this week(!) but I want to remember her every week, so back to week 18, which was also four months for this beauty.

Week 18- It was another big week for you. You went to Detroit for the first time and met Uncle Shawn, Aunt Sandra and cousins Roman, Isla, Grant and Tamer. So many cousins to love and cuddle you! You also saw snow for the first time (Malcolm did too!) and met Santa for the first time! And it doesn’t end there, you went to New York for the first time and met Grandma Gertch and Grandma Yuyu for the first time. The Grandmas were so excited to meet you and hug you and give you loads of love.

You also rolled over for the first time! We are waiting for more, but it seems like for now it’s just that one time. You are still super smiley and love when people talk to you and play with you. You are no longer sleeping well…but looks how cute you are 🙂

365 Countdown

I still have a lot of photos from our trip to the US and I will get to all of them, but meanwhile life goes on.

You all know I love a list, and a countdown, and photos. What I don’t love is Randy in Pakistan for a year. But circumstances came about and it ended up being the best option for us last year. It seemed like a far way off but before we knew it, it was time for Randy to go.

So there are a few ways I’m coping. One I send him presents and packages as much as I can and it makes me feel better. Second is my pet project of having a photo countdown. Hey, whatever works people. When i made these the first week..I just couldn’t imagine having another 360 of these to go. But you know what, Randy was right time would pass and here we are already a month on…only 11 more to go. Here is a snippet of our first month with Randy in Pakistan.

Friends and Fish

Our last week in California was full of friends visiting us. Randy’s college roommate and his wife Jenn and kids Harrison and Lily came towards the end. We took all the kids and went to the Santa Cruz aquarium. It was a teeny one compared to Monterey but lovely. It was full of hands on things to do. Adam got to touch a shark (Malcolm was a little nervous) and both boys touched starfish, a shark egg, and played operation on a sea otter. The best part, was the beautiful path behind the aquarium.

Friday's

I met Gabby the first week of Freshman year at college. Our resident adviser took our whole floor out to dinner at Fridays and I managed to spill a whole coke on her. Despite that we ended up being best friends. She was my voice of reason in a time if life when there is little reason. She was my roommate for most of college. The person that would sit on the couch with me for hours watching crap TV, drinking coke (well that was mostly me) and gossiping. Even though she would never pay attention to the show it was always better with her there. We could spend hours talking about our families, or getting ready to go out (the getting ready part was often more fun than the being out part), or dissecting two line interactions with boys. She had such nice clothes and would never think twice about lending them to me (she even lent me a shirt this trip and it made me think of old times). I was always happy when she borrowed something of mine, it made me feel like I finally had nice stuff. After college, I would often end up at Gabby’s apartment on 13th street. Even years after college the minute I got there I would feel safe and comfy.

It still blows my mind that we’re not getting dressed up in our tube tops to go out in freezing Binghamton and have five kids between us! It warmed my heart to see our boys playing together. I can only hope when Adam, Malcolm and Miral grow up and go away to college and are far away from their family, they find friends as good as Gabby to be a part of the rest of their lives.

I Love You, Easy When I Don't

I always love my children, even when they drive me nuts. As Malcolm always says, Mommy- I love you, easy (Malcolm speak for even) when I don’t. It’s pretty sweet because he says it entirely in earnest, usually right after a time out and a few mad faces. The same goes for me, I love my kids even when they are all driving me nuts and with three, one is almost always driving me nuts! But then you have those rare moments when all the stars aligned and you end up somewhere amazing, your kids are completely well behaved, the food is delicious, you actually have am enjoyable, meaningful conversation with your husband with kids around, and all the stars are aligned.

We had one day in between visits from friends and we decided to go have lunch at Benches on the 17 mile drive outside of Carmel. It was a short drive from Capitola. We were all in good moods when we got out of the car.

We headed down and were greeted with this view. Well worth the drive!

Wait, here is a better angle.

Ok, here is the best view.

This one was a doll the whole time.

These two were also great, with the help of a few electronics.

I’m adding this picture, to commemorate both the awkward way I’m holding Miral and Randy’s awkward leg lift 🙂 and because it a rare photo of all five of us a random Chinese family all worked together to take.

Goodbye Benches, we love you, easy when we’re not having wine on your awesome back porch!

Jellies, Otters and Stingrays

The Monterey Aquarium was high on our list for things to do in California. It’s a pretty special place. I still remember everything about it two years later and that’s saying something for someone with two small kids and not a lot of brain space.

The best part about the aquarium is how interactive it is. There are tons of area to touch animals, make bookmarks, experience waves, and watch beautiful tanks full of fish. The boys loved it and wanted to see everything. They are so much older this time then last time, when they were 1 and 3 and so into everything. Aunt Das and Uncle Nooj were there and it was Laurel and Miral’s first time in an aquarium. We didn’t get any pictures of them but trust me, they were there and we all loved it!