New England, Beer, Kheir-packages, and La familia Vargas: What do these have in common?
Well, as we passed through Scranton, PA (paying homage to The Office) we headed up the coast to Providence, Rhode Island to stay with our friends extended family. We spent a week there with "la familia Vargas" and we spoke much Spanish! It was fun experiencing life in New England and I must say there is a Dunkin' Donuts every 5 ft. Not kidding. I'm not sure what the southern equivalent would be: dollar stores, or gas stations, or maybe even stop lights?! Yep. THAT many Dunkin' Donuts. Here are some pix of our friends:
B carrying Sophes
Samy carrying James
treehuggin' whiteds
Both sets of kiddos going for a bike trailer ride
Chase & Sophie with their alien faces
And what about beer? Well, Brian's cousin-in-law took us for a tour at
the Sam Adams brewery near Boston where we heard the entire process of
beer-making and even got a free tasting at the end. Sorry Sam Adams, but
the Boston Lager is not my favorite. However your sour stout was quite
delish.
Pretending to hold hops which actually stunk but which Brian loved the smell of and was contemplating rolling around in as a testdrive for a beer-inspired men's cologne
Beer tour (I'm trying to take mental notes so next time I am in a conversation, Brian will be impressed with my beer terminology like "wert", "finish," "alpha acids," and "tannins." Yeah your wife is cool.)
Who is feeling hoppy now?
Sophie getting in her baby snuggles
I also got to reunite with my DEAR friend Laura who sends
me care-packages or what I like to call "Kheir-packages" with a ton of
ADORABLE hand-me-downs for Sophie. I finally got to meet her kiddos whom
I have only seen in pictures and prayed for since they were in her
womb. I loved seeing where she resides and just how life is done in
Boston. I don't know if I could do "city-life" but man am I proud of her! Laura and I go way back... Maracaibo, and even JMU! I think she was the
first among my college friends to get married! I have learned a lot and
laughed a lot with her during all those years. And thankfully, we still
keep in touch over the years. We share a lot including that our kiddos
are mixed and quite exotically adorable if I do say so myself.
Laura & me and our clans (are mixed kids the cutest?)
Betcha can't guess which are half-Egyptian and which are half-Indian?
Mary & me
La casa de la familia Vargas (just kidding)
So if I look no more tan after vacation, think "rain every day except for this picture"
and think cliffs, not beach (believe me if I could've laid out on the rock I would have)
but we still had fun (contrary to Chase and Evi's faces)
Sophie deciding she was done with walking
Chase flying a kite
Me sporting white capris and enjoying soft dry grass which seemed kinda hard to find in a rainy city. There was something therapeutic about running around soft grass barefoot even though it wasn't the beach.
Eating outside which was fabulous!
la familia Vargas
... and we're done.
