Candlewood Lake

We were very fortunate to spend one day of our last weekend in the US with our good friends, Josh and Naomi, and their girls, Hillary and Maya, at their house at Candlewood Lake.

We had a lovely swim in the lake, and a yummy lunch. Our nephew Seamus took the opportunity to dig into some fantastic watermelon. While his mom (Brianne) is chatting with the others, Seamus and I are having a staring contest. Check out the rest of the photos of him here.
It was wonderful to spend an afternoon with such good friends and beloved family.

Yale and New Haven: White Clam Pizza!

My parents drove to Connecticut/NY to spend some time with us and with my siblings. On Monday, we continued the Connecticut tour by visiting some very important places from Peter's past. First, we went on a tour of Yale University (guided by Peter). Here we are at the Maya Lin-designed Women's Fountain.
We continued onto the Sterling Library, where my parents translated the ancient Chinese text on the facade.
At the Yale Art Gallery, my parents and Peter toured the very nice collection. I told them I would catch up to them after I rested a bit, but all of a sudden I opened my eyes and an hour had passed. Oops. Peter kindly took a picture so that everyone could see the random pregnant Asian woman sleeping in the museum lobby.

And our last stop was the most important: Pepe's. For people (like me) who didn't know about this very important bit of New Haven culture: the city is known, not only for being the home of a great university, but for its own style of pizza. There are several fantastic pizza places, but the two most famous rivals are Pepe's and Sally's. This time we tried Pepe's.

Peter introduced us to a regional favorite: white clam pizza - a huge sheet of delicious pizza crust - crunchy and chewy in the right places - covered in tons of fresh garlic, mozzarella cheese, and fresh clams.
We compared it to a veggie pizza as well:

Winner: white clam.

We also conducted several highly scientific taste tests to see if the non-natives (myself and my parents) could distinguish between birch beer and root beer (not really).
Next time, Sally's!

BBQ in Westport

The day after our baby shower/cocktail party, Jeff and Brianne threw a great party for us at their home in Westport. My parents had driven out from Illinois and met all of us there. The food was amazing, and the kids had a fantastic time in the wading pool.

Kirsten risked cutting off the blood supply to her extremities by squeezing herself between two car seats (in a small rental car) for the long drive from Brooklyn:
Frank and Roxanne brought their three boys over. Gabriel is in his dad's lap while Alexander (in the green shirt) is about to make a break for it.


Here are Gabriel and his older brother, Nicolas:
Peter spent some more time honing his parenting skills. Roxanne eventually took pity on him (and on Seamus) and provided some welcome guidance.



We all enjoyed the yummy food (thanks, Jeff and Brianne!).

My cousin Grace brought her family:
Here are Ellen, Mel, and Kirsten:

My sister Sarah and brother-in-law Christian:
Jake wants some of my dad's steak.

My parents enjoyed some quiet time on the sofa with Ellen's dog, Bow.

And Seamus made the rounds to say good-night.

It was a fantastic party, and we are super grateful to Jeff and Brianne (and Seamus and Jake) for throwing it for us!

Family time in Westport / New York

In late July we got to go home for a short, but very fun visit. We stayed with Jeff, Brianne, Seamus, and Jake (Peter's brother's family) and loved seeing everyone. Seamus was very patient with us as we practiced our parenting skills on him:

There are many more photos of our visit at Seamus' blog here.

Our first weekend there was very busy, as my sister, Kirsten, and Mel hosted a baby shower /cocktail party for us. Thanks to my friend Laura, we were able to hold the party in my old apartment in New York. And we were thrilled that friends from all over the country were there, including Kiesha and Brad and their little cutie, Dylan, from San Francisco:
Corey and Ashlee made it out from Chicago:
My sister Sarah and her husband Christian flew out from the SF Bay Area (here's Sarah with my brother Henry):
And here I am with Henry:
Sarah and Henry very kindly bought me the classy decorations we deserve, including a plastic tiara and a glossy unicorn balloon.Matthias visited from Brooklyn:

We ate nearly all of the yummy sandwiches from Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches, and the tons of crazy ripe peaches, blueberries, and cantaloupe from the Union Square Farmer's Market. It was fantastic to be home.

Fourth of July Parties

Lest you think all we do is travel, we want to include some posts from Swaziland. In contrast to our Sundays in Liberia - grilled fish and cold beers on the beach - now we sometimes go to parties where there are lots of cake and sweets and face paint!

My friend, Jinty, had a great party for her son Leo's 3rd birthday:
Check out the school bus cake she made, complete with little faces in the windows!

And later that day, we went to a barbecue (or braai, in local parlance), at some other friends' home. There were only a few little ones there, including our friend, Natalie, and her daughter, Tessa:


Natalie's husband, Uriel, and their son, Liam:
And of course, ours!

Mini Moms' Group

Our friend Jessi gave birth to a son, Asher, about six weeks ago. Before she left for Jo'burg (where she had the baby), she had a little going away dessert party. We took the opportunity to compare bellies:

She was at about 38 weeks, and I was 8-9 weeks behind her. (Note that I am already unable to see the bottom of my belly - and the food stains there. Oops.)

For the party, I tried a new recipe, but didn't have time to find the muffin tin:

So a few days later, I tried the recipe again.

Much better.

Ok, so two new moms isn't quite a group, but it's better than nothing! The wife of one of Peter's colleagues is also pregnant, so if we can recruit her, we'll be up to three...