A day with the Mennite's

Our trip to Europe was amazing. Paris was everything Monica dreamed of and it super exceded Peter's expectations. The french truly know how to do it. They have a reason to be arrogant....their food and wine are like heaven. People kept telling us that french people were rude and did not like Americans, however we disagree. The french are amazing, they are accommodating, hospitable, friendly and giving. Monica kept saying that she wanted to take a french person home with her due to their fabulous nature, amazing cuisine and ability to make fine wine. Monica had chosen France as her part of the trip and after departing Bordeaux we all left with great memories of that country. Now it was time for Spain, Peter's choice for the trip. We all thought Barcelona would be the highlight, the pinnacle of our trip. All the web searches, travel books and travel magazines suggested that Barcelona was in the "must see cities before you die". Barcelona was even rated numbe...

So quick funny story.... It might be one of those "you had to be there stories" but I will try since it caused a lot of laughter for us. Last sunday we were at Sam's club buying our monthly stuff. We knew we needed detergent so we went to the cleaning aisle and looked for the gain detergent that we have been buying for many months now. It was such a great deal, we would get 133 onz for a little over 9 dollars. That's many many many loads of laundry. So as we walked down the aisle, I realized Peter had overlooked our great "gain" bottle. I yelled down the aisle "Pete it's right here, this is the one". Peter turns and smiles, holding in the laughter. He then said, well....now I know why our detergent has been sooooooo inexpensive. He then continued by saying, look at the bottle a little closer. We had been using the same bottle for such a long time now that I felt I knew every color, every letter, felt like a could describe the handle...

A couple of months ago, we went to visit my brother Felipe, sister-in-law Liz and adorable nephew Mario. Mario took the camera from me and actually took some very good pictures, which I will post below (first 4 pics were taken by him). Peter and I enjoyed a weekend of having adult fun at night with Felipe and Liz and waking up very early to a little man wanting to watch "toons" and the movie Cars about a million times. Another clever thing I experienced, that only a mom could come up with, was when Mario decided he wanted ice cream cake for breakfast. Instead of starting a never ending battle or having Mario get cranky, she cleverly said "Mario let's go have cereal cake for breakfast". She served him his usual bowl of cereal and as she was pouring on the milk said..."Yum I am putting on the milk frosting". Mario without a tear or a complaint, happily sat and ate his entire bowl of cereal cake. The main event was when he would say something was ...

We were in Bora Bora when Peter pulls out an envelope. The envelope had one of those musical cards and it was a birthday card because apparently no anniversary card comes in a musical version. When I opened the card, Pete had blacked out the places where it said Happy Birthday and replaced it with Happy Anniversary. The card was very sweet and very Peter and the song he decided to record in it was "My cover girl" from New Kids on the Block (NKOTB). Oh how do I remember being a "tween" and just loving the NKOTB. For those of you 80's babies, remember the HUGE buttons, the pillow cases, and the infatuation with 5 guys who were the coolest ever. Behind the card was an additional piece of paper. Paper is the traditional gift that married couples give to each other on their first anniversary. Poems, cards, books, paper copies of their vows etc, are some of the examples listed as potential gifts for the first married anniversary. Peter gave me a piece a pape...

Have you ever had a night or two, where you just can't sleep? Why is it that on these nights your brain does not relax but instead decides to process every single thing in your life. It is almost as if your brain overdosed on five hour energy drinks. Side quick story: Peter and I knew a girl in Augusta who took three 5 hour energy drinks in a row in hopes of getting 15 hours of energy. True story, she did indeed get ALOT of energy, as well as the sensation that her heart was going to explode. Anyways back to sleep or the lack of in this case. So according to physicians, insomnia or problems staying asleep can be caused by factors such as sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, excessive caffeine, having a big meal at dinner or prior to sleep time, jet lag, and stress. They also suggest behavior and lifestyle changes or short term use of medications for treatment. One night when I couldn't sleep I did a little research on the topic. Some recommendations were: 1. Positiv...