On the run

     It's been a while since I felt at peace with the speed and fluctuations of my life. It seems that there is a drama, something critical and urgent to do at every step. I do wish for some down time and some quiet and it just doesn't seem to come soon.

    I had to go to a conference for work in Newport Rhode Island. It was an amazing opportunity for me and I wanted to take full advantage of the science presented there. Marius and Catalina joined me, since my work paid for all expenses. And, to accommodate Marius' many requests, we stayed at a hotel far away. This meant a lot of driving, a lot of missed seminars for me and continuous and absolutely absurd complains from Marius. Catalina felt the tension and asked to go back to Philadelphia the second night we were there. It was a hard week, I was intellectually exhausted every night, only to come home to a little girl who was bored of watching too much tv. Nope, Marius did not pass the babysitting test, not even close.

To summarize shortly the very few smiling moments :

 In a brewery, after the first night of seminars. Catalina was happy to see mommy and she gave me the prettiest smile for this picture (while waiting for daddy to buy beer...)

Breaker's back yard. Absolutely impressive mansion, but definitely useless from my point of view. It just makes you see how far waste, prejudice and decadence can go. Very close to being obscene.

From a scientific point of view, the next picture makes the whole trip, frustration and pain worthwhile. Standing there, right next to the guy took the Nobel prize for the biggest 21st century discovery: Dr. Watson, the guy who gave us the DNA structure.

One of the biggest attractions in Newport, the Cliffwalk. Pretty views and a girl who hugged me continuously made the day brighter.

Waiting for lunch in a very fancy bed and breakfast.

Bathroom in said B&B...

Nope, not a museum. Still the same B&B...

Very few family moments. Frowns not due to sun 100% :(

 The Rosecliff. While still wastefully obscene, but it showed some taste and it was less stuffy.

While not at the hotel, listening to continuous complains, I was hanging out with two fun girls.

And fun we had!

Last day we took a trip on the beach. Meaning that while Marius took a nice dip in the ocean and chatted with my friends, I had to feed my kid. She's absolutely awesome, so we had fun! Fries and chicken nuggets on the beach!

Making a shark in a small aquarium on said beach.

And this concluded our not so perfect vacation. To put the cherry on the top, the drive back was close to Chris Rea's song "this is the road to hell". 8 hr drive instead of a predicted 5hr one...

So, after getting home on a friday night exhausted after a week of intense scientific seminars, horrible traffic and just really low moral, I was waiting excitedly for a nice relaxed weekend at home.
Marius felt he needs some fun after a week of doing nothing, so he dragged Catalina and I at Sesame Place. The park is nice, lots of kids had fun, but for the girls in our family is was just annoying noise and rude crowds. Still awake for the shows, Catalina enjoyed seeing Elmo close by

Waiting (not so patiently...) for the parade

When we finally got home we were exhausted. And we slept and slept and Monday we were still tired :).

And then daddy's birthday came. And of course, we had to follow his wishes and went to see Catalina's first movie in a theatre. And daddy really wanted it 3D, so against everybody else's wishes we went for the 3D theatre. I was worried Catalina will scream, that she won;t keep the glasses on and get a head ache. She did not cry and she kept the glasses on. She also fell asleep halfway through the movie.

 After the movie the real fun began. A small place for kids under 5 was exactly what Catalina needed. Soft spongy surfaces, easy climbing and pretty flowers are definitely on her favorite list!

Things got better little by little and our weekends started being a little fun once again. Farms start having crops, and we picked some blackberries, blueberries and cherry tomatoes. Catalina loves it outside and she skipped and jumped and played till tired. By that time we had out little baskets full, so no problem!

And this where we are now. Getting ready once again for one more trip to visit my sister and Catalina's cousins. Cautiously excited, hoping for a really good time. We'll be there for Peter's birthday party so hopefully we'll have plenty of fun.

Summer is almost over. Waiting for fall. Waiting for peace :)
Till then, we'll recharge with Catalina's smiles. Love all around this cutie pie.