getting reacquainted

The girls and I needed a relaxing weekend to recover from travel and get back on Manila time. Justin took Friday off so we had a nice three days together as a family. The girls spent the entire time rediscovering all their toys in the house and loving on Dad and Lucy.. When we got home from the airport on Thursday night the house as strangely clean and bare. By Friday morning we had it cluttered up and toys were strewn every where. It felt like home.

Addie spent most of the weekend in her fancy dress-up ball gowns. She wanted to go to the park in them but we had to say no, especially now that it's rainy season here and the playground is usually a wet muddy mess. Arabella is now wearing Addie's first pair of Crocs and is so excited about it that she wears them all around the house.Seeing the girls at home again solidified for me just how much they changed and grew during our 6 weeks in the States. Seeing Arabella on the playground so independent and confidant was so sweet. The jet lag hasn't been nearly as bad as it could have been. I attribute our easy adjustment to the lack of sleep they had on our travel day. Some people have a long adjustment period because their kids slept the entire travel time then get home to Manila at 11PM and are not tired. Obviously, this was not my children so they passed out that night and then Friday night were asleep at 6PM with a few interruptions that night. Saturday night they were asleep again at 6PM and slept through until about 5AM. Addie was up at 4 hungry but so was I. We started our day really early but we all had a good amount of rest that night. I'm very thankful we haven't experienced any midnight wakings where the kids are up and want to play. Addie's stubborn nature is helpful because she didn't nap this weekend even with the jet lag and serious dark circles under her eyes. Every night she fell right asleep almost immediately as her head hit the pillow. Sunday night the girls went to sleep at 6:30PM and slept until 6AM. Jet lag over!!! I'm feeling great too after two nights of at least 8 hours of continuous sleep.

Sunday we had a nice outing to the mall for lunch and play. Now that Bella is taking just one nap a day it opens up a much larger chunk of time for us to be out and busy. Justin took us out for Vietnamese food. It's not the first time we've eaten Vietnamese cuisine so we knew the girls would like it. The soup, noodles, and rice was a hit with the girls. Justin introduced me to the cafe and I am in love! Vietnamese coffee is delicious. Justin taught Addie how to "blow it up" with her fist bumping his (I guess it's the natural thing to learn after the hi-five is mastered right?)

Bella had to have a turn too.
Addie trying to use chop sticks
Bella insisted on pushing the stroller and Addie wanted to help. Bella suddenly let go of the stroller and made a B-line into the baby store when she saw the wall of toys. We couldn't stop laughing. After a merry-go-round ride (actually two and they both burst into tears after we said we had to go) and frozen yogurt we hit the grocery store for snacks for Addie's lunches for school this next week and then headed home. The girls were exhausted. Rightly so, it was a busy day.