Return of the Jordans

We were lucky enough to have Uncle Meej and Aunt Daf come back this weekend.  We were all excited but some more than others. 

 

 
In some serious conversation

 
Saturday the Jordans and friends had a surprise birthday party.  The Alis couldn’t get a sitter so we ordered Thai food and watched J Edgar and worked on our newest scrapbook 🙂  Get you last licks in Jordans!
 
Sunday we all got to check out Pacifica Cantina, the new Mexican restaurant on 8th street, for lunch.  We walked over and saw these beauties on our way.
 
 
 
We’re a harsh judge of Mexican food after our friends took us to the best Mexican in LA a couple years back.  The guacamole and margaritas (says Randy) at Pacifica were delicious.  The food was ok, but it was a fun long lunch followed by a walk around the market and then a nap by some and a drink outside by others.  I’ll let you decide who had which.
 
 
 
The Jordans left Sunday night 😦 I’m always sad when they leave, it makes me wish I lived closer to them.  Daphne is so helpful with Adam, she takes him without me even asking and changes him, feeds him, entertains him.  And added bonus they’re tons of fun.  But I’m lucky we got two visits this month! I’m also so lucky that my sister married someone that not only I love and get along with really well but that Randy loves and gets along with so well.  I can’t wait for lots of visits to the Philippines and lots of fun trips over the next couple of years.
 
Monday was labor day and Randy was off so we decided to make the most of it and head to the National Museum of American History.  But first a blueberry and banana smoothie, which was a huge success!
 
 
Adam was just a little too young too appreciate this, but I loved seeing Kermit and Julia Child’s Kitchen!
 
 
I love how everything is monogrammed.
 
And here is Adam practicing his inaugural address, after all he only has another 34 years and three  months to perfect it!
 
 
 
 
 

Thank you for your votes!
 
 
 
 

D-Town

I remember visiting my sister in Detroit years ago.  I was pleasantly surprised even back then as to how cosmopolitan, fun and interesting the city was. 
 
This time around, Detroit definitely didn’t let me down.    Large segments of the city are being revitalized.  And there’s lots to do, from art museums to great restaurants to amazing ballparks.   There’s a sense of optimism in the city, despite all the hardships it has faced.  I wish more people could experience what the Motor City has to offer. 
 
I was lucky enough to have one of the best tour guides available, my brother-in-law Shawn.  Despite battling some pretty severe exhaustion from his brutal work schedule, Shawn took me on a fantastic walking tour of the city. 
 
First Stop:  Slows B-B-Q. 
 

Now, I’m no bbq connoisseur but I have to think it doesn’t get much better than this.

  

Where else could this be?  Downtown Detroit could be (believe it or not) downright pretty. 

This train loops around the major spots around the city.  It’s cheap (75 cents), fast, easy and comfortable.  And it has fantastic view of downtown Detroit and the river.

 Everywhere we went, I noticed an energy that I simply did not expect. 

And we visited one of the most beautiful ballparks I’ve ever seen.

Shawn got amazing seats to the Tigers game.  They lost. But seeing Fielder up close and  having a couple of hours of relaxing downtime talking to my brother-in-law were priceless.

Can’t thank him enough for his amazing tour of one of the most interesting cities in America. Can’t wait to visit again.

— Randy 

Airports & Airplanes

I can already picture Adam as a little boy getting excited to fly and to see airplanes.  Here is a little preview. 

 
Our flight was delayed two hours but we had a long dinner and by the time we were ready to take off Adam fell asleep and stayed asleep the whole flight! When we landed all of our neighbors on the plane gave him tons of smiles which made out sleepy baby very happy.

 

New Cousins and Older Cousins

Adam has a new cousin! Beautiful little Isla Noor.

 
So we flew to Detroit to check her out and get our cuddles in and to celebrate Isla’s older brother Roman’s third birthday and to spend time with Aunt Sandra and Uncle Shawn.  Grandma YuYu was visiting too!
 
I can’t believe Roman is already three! It feels like we were just visiting Roman when he was born. 
 
 
And now he’s already three!  Time flies by.  I kept thinking the whole weekend that Adam would be Roma’s age and talking and walking before we know it. 
 
 
 
We got in Friday.  The boys (the adult boys that is- Randy and Shawn) went to a baseball game – Randy will fill you in later on his night out! 
 
The next day was Roman’s third birthday party.  It was a pool party with lots of fun details.  Pretty impressive of Sandra to put all of this together with a seven week old and a three year old!  There were adorable favors,  little personalized water bottles, a delicious cake and a hot dog vendor- which was DELICIOUS.  I wish this hotdog vendor would move his cart to DC so I could have these hot dogs all the time.
 

 
 
 

 
That night after the party we headed to a yummy Arabic meal in Dearborn.  We went to Al-Ameer, the same restaurant that Anthony Bordain went to in Detroit. 
 



Adam had some yummy hummous and played with his cousin Roman.

 
 
I guess I’ll have to start getting used to leaving this sort of scene after a meal.
 
 
The next morning Adam got to play with Roman.  He even took a ride on Roman’s truck! He was obsessed with the dogs- Lulu and Oliver.   He crawled after them the whole weekend and would get upset when they ran away.  I think Adam is going to be a dog lover like his dad.

 
 

 
Sandra made us some delicious Trader Joe’s croissants!  They were delicious.  I’m definitely going to get some of these next time we have guests staying over.
 

 
After our yummy breakfast and some dog chasing we had a photo session with all three cousins. It took a little while to get everyone settled in and comfortable.
 

 
But considering we were dealing with three children under three they did great! And we got some adorable pictures of them.
 

 

Despite two teeth coming in this weekend, being around Grandma Yuyu, Aunt Sandra, Uncle Shawn and cousins Roman and Isla made Adam a very happy boy.  I wish we lived closer to the Leys, but it was nice to see them and to see Roman and Adam play together.  I think they’re going to be great friends despite the distance!  We miss you Leys.
 
 


 

Yearbooks

When I was home this weekend in New York I came across my mom’s yearbook from her senior year of high school. 

Looking through I was surprised at how dressed up people were for both their senior pictures and during school days.

Fur coats and pants and ties!

 

Beautiful Gretch!

 
 
These secretaries really existed! I thought they were just in the movies.

I also found our yearbook!  Notice how mine is engraved because I was on yearbook, yup I was that cool 🙂

 
And here is a shot of Randy and me from our yearbook.  So much to say about this picture, mostly relating to our outfits, but I think a picture is worth a thousand words here!

Guess who?

Who do you think this adorable baby is?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
For all of you who guessed Adam – wrong!  This is my sister Daphne at two months old.  I was amazed when I looked at baby pictures this weekend at my mom’s house.  Adam looks so much like Daphne when she was a baby. Hopefully Adam will turn out to be as smart, kind and beautiful/handsome as Daphne is when he grows up!