Sunday, September 20, 2009

Hot Apple Pickin'

Having moved from hot-weather TX to mild-weather DF, we are excited to be in the Mid-Atlantic for its full 4 seasons. We were so anxious to usher in autumn in fact, that we headed to a local orchard to pick apples on Labor Day weekend.

Mama and baby, armed and ready.

Apples, sweat, and mosquitoes.

We also met up with Bookie and Michelle for an outing to the National Zoo. Since it was a holiday the crowds were out in force. But a nice thing about DC is that everything is free so it's never a big deal to cut out early and come back another day. We tried the monkey house...

Not pictured: Bookie & Michelle (d'oh!)

Later on he gave us the finger.


Eventually we just visited cows.

We also got to celebrate the 1st birthday of Ivan's DF buddy William, who is in DC while his folks train like we do.


The funny hat fits!

Let's party!

Back at the homestead, we continued to enjoy our backyard as the summer fades.




Monday, August 31, 2009

History and Chocolate


What?

So the funeral of a certain "Lion of the Senate" happened about one mile from our house. Not wanting to miss out on sucha closeby historical event, we took the Dude down to see EMK's final resting place the next day. If you've never been, Arlington Cemetery really is a beautiful, tranquil place.






Then we introduced Ivan to the joy that is the Fudgsicle.


Hopped up on the non-fat dairy.



YES! That's what I'm talkin' about!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

So we're back


To our loyal readers we apologize for the long delay in updating. Setting up house has taken a bit of time, but after just about two months now it really feels like home here in Arlington. The whole transition has been so much easier thanks to Ivan's grandma Kathe, who has been staying with us.

In fact, Ivan and his "Nony" have formed quite the bond, making the rounds of our many neighborhood parks during these hot summer months. The one closest to our house features a "sprayground" where the little tikes to cool off.


Wait, how does this thing work?

Oh, I see.


Even better, after two years of city living, we once again have a backyard, so in a pinch we can set up a sprayground the old-school way.

This one's just for the adults.

Paging Calvin Klein...

No one is happier about the yard than old Loopy.

But it's not all naked watersports these days. We've also had the chance to re-connect with old friends and relations, both those who are full-time in DC and those who are just passing through like us. First we got to introduce Ivan to his great uncle and aunt (and cousin), the Pachecos...

Ivan really was happy to see them, trust us.

And Ivan finally met his local lady-friend Azra.


We gave our best effort at some local backyard eating, and some old DF pals came by to help us with the crab boil...

He has no idea what he's doing.

Or does he? (No.)

And let's not forget Sasha's big get: she is now a commissioned officer of the Foreign Service just like her old man. The State Department has lucked out again.

Sworn-In.

Sasha works at the Department downtown while Sergio brushes up on his politics, economics, customer service and public speaking (he talk pretty one day) among other training topics. Meanwhile we're enjoying the chance to show Ivan the good old U.S. of A. and all of it has to offer, such as avoiding pants:


sitting on stuff:

Big Boy Car Seat

and more sitting:


It's great to be back in the saddle.

Monday, June 29, 2009

DC Days?

Just a quick update since it's been so long. The Morenos are now officially stateside once again. We're living in Arlington as faux NOVA yuppies until we leave for Poland just short of a year from now. Sasha started her FS training and Sergio is taking his home leave, hanging with the Lil Dude. Kathe has also joined the fun.

We would post some photos but our usually reliable camera decided to stop working a (just a few weeks after its warranty expired, natch). So the next few posts will be text-based, and sporadic. Stay tuned.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

A Day with the Countess


We're really delinquent on the old bloggity-blog lately but it's not our fault. We are exactly 2 weeks away from the end of our DF Days and so we are knee-deep in preparations for another international move -- in fact the movers come tomorrow so we're deep in the weeds of HHE, UAB, customs forms, veterinary certificates, etc, etc, etc...

For those who don't know, Sasha will attend the Foreign Service A-100 training class that starts June 22 so she and the dude will fly to DC a week early to settle in to our new digs in Arlington. Meanwhile, Sergio will be trailing behind doing "Travels with LouLou" across Texas and the South in the old station wagon.

Lucky for us, Sasha's mom has agreed to be a grand-nanny while Sasha gets schooled in diplomacy and later as we learn Polish. And to give you an idea what we're in for there, check out the Embassy website here, and then click on the word "Polski" at the top to read it in Polish. Done? Crazy, right?

Anyway, the posts might be a little sparse in the weeks ahead until we get settled in DC. IN the meantime, here's what will probably be our last day wandering around Condesa.

As usual, food was the main agenda. This place is famous for liver tacos.

We passed on the liver. We've eaten enough weird meats in our 2 years.

No afternoon in Mexico is complete (for Sergio) without ceviche and a michelada.

Dude agrees.

Mariachis always seem to find Ivan. Perhaps because he's fascinated by them.

There's a great playground in the Parque Mexico.

Sergio appears to have enjoyed it a bit too much.

Dang teenagers.

Dude's hair is, as usual, on point.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Catching up on winding down

So things are speeding along here in Mexico City--we've got less than a month left before our departure. Instead of documenting our last days like crazy, we seem to have forgotten how to take photos. Distracted maybe?

So to recap the last month or so, we've dodged the H1N1 flu, Ivan has started walking like a champ, Sasha committed to joining the Foreign Service and we found a really super house to rent in Arlington.

Other highlights included celebrating Sasha's first Mother's Day. At her request, we made our first enchiladas verdes at home and went out for Coke floats.

Tomatillos!

Coke Float!

In other food news, we recently had a fun night making pizzas. We have a ways to go before perfecting the crust, but were sufficiently inspired to start researching pizza stone options.

Square pies are best.

We promise to be a little newsier in our last few weeks. We'll sign off this time with some shots of our very dapper babies...


Clearly employable.

Ivan Rotten.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

And then, there was influenza...

LouLou likes to fit in.

So you might have heard, there's a bit of a bug circulating around here. We're fine, but obviously things are a little weirder here than normal. The news started coming in last Friday, and as the stories of sick people and deaths started to increase, the numbers of the people on the streets started to decrease. By Saturday, the streets were practically empty and what people were on the streets were wearing surgical masks. Now we're both fans of zombie movies, generally speaking, but living in a zombie movie is a different thing altogether.

The latest in influenza chic.

Then again, there's always room for PDA in the park.

He doesn't love the tapaboca.

COOKIE!

Being shut in though, didn't stop the neighbors from congregating. First, there was a BBQ for Shelly where Ivan got to see his new girl-neighbor Ruby.

Dig his shirt.

Then there was a dinnertime-breakfast birthday party for Ben, where folks set up a pork shrine to ward off the flu-formerly-known-as-swine.

Okay, so things are getting a little weird around here.

By this point, Ivan decided to get serious. There was only one hero to fight this menacing micro-organism...

SUPERBABY!

Able to temporarily stave off boredom with a single outfit.

Ruby went there too.

So here we remain, a little stir crazy but healthy and safe. Not much to do but we do have each other. One thing having Ivan has taught us is the importance of family to help you through a rough patch. And also, the joy of wearing no pants.