Joyeux Noël

Merry Christmas from Victoria, Canada!

 Natasha and Tiago waited patiently for the adults to wake up on Christmas morning, allthewhile speculating what might be under the tree.  Aaand...

 ...let the unwrapping frenzie commence! See above for expression of tween opening a coffin-shaped box of Monster High make-up. (Then, check out below for the full transformation)

 (above: our little Ninjago-turtle-Ironman-crossbow-shooting super-hero.) 

 (Monster High goth-girls... + Tiago photo bomb.)

 And, for the grand finale, Grandpa Josh buys Tiago his very own set of elaborate wheels.  (It wasn't long before Tiago was honking his horn at people to move out of his way, like a real-life-self-entitled-Benz-owner!)

 After playing with all of our new toys and testing out new gadgets, we settled in for a delicious Christmas dinner with the Guilar clan:

 It was a great Christmas!

OBX Beach House

When Korah found out that she would have an entire week off from work, she decided to hop on an airplane and visit the NC family.  Tiago, of course, came along.

 Little did we know, when planning our trip out there, that abuelita Susan would be leaving her job to permanently re-unite with abuelito in Georgia!  Tiago was fortunate enough to be a guest student-for-a-day at abuelita's school on her last day there.  He practiced ordering from a menu with pretend money, he learned about analog clocks, he met some delightful students, and he attended his very first school assembly.  And, we were also lucky enough to hear the staff sing abuelita's praises and tell us what an amazing teacher she is and how they would miss her!  

His cousins also joined us at abuelita's school before we all headed out to the beach house.  And, from minute one, he and his cousins played, laughed and...

...you guessed it.  They fought crime.

Tiago and his cousin Mateo learned that they have, not only the same fashion sense but, the same idiosyncratic need for clean lines and straight-legged jeans!  Tiago fondly referred to Mateo as "bro" from then on.

Fortunately, the cloud cover actually delayed some anticipated icy weather just long enough for everyone to get their toes wet and play in the sand for one day.  We saw dozens of dolphins just along the breaks, heading south.  The following day was a high of 30 degrees!!!  The dolphins (and the little rug rats) got out of there just in time.

After building a sand fortress with abuelito, the children headed back to the beach house to refuel and re-energize...

...Sometimes hours would pass and Korah would think, but for an occasional blur of super-hero-colored pajamas, "I haven't seen Tiago lately."  Don't be mistaken, there was never a doubt that children were present.  The noise alone was confirmation.  That and...

...the sudden disappearance of every sheet, blanket and quilt in the entire place had gone missing.  *THE SECRET HIDE-OUT* (see above picture and insert whispered giggles and an occasional bickering about fairness and turn-taking)

The following day, was sunny and bright-- and below freezing temperatures.  For one final pirate hoorah, Tiago dressed as Jack Sparrow (with multiple layers of warm clothing and a bomber jacket near by for good measure) to dig up some treasure on the atlantic coast, not far from where real pirates had been before him.  While he didn't care for the photo-shoot, he did actually enjoy the buried treasure part.  

The Last Supper...at the Raleigh House

It was Korah's and Tiago's first time visiting North Carolina in the fall in about 5 years (so, really, Tiago's first visit).  That meant that Korah was finally able to check out her painting up in the UNC, Chapel Hill gallery (which is usually inaccessible during the limited summer hours).  It was fun to see it in an official encasement, with a tracking device and artist's description next to it.  Fancy.

Tiago found his abuelitos' house almost unrecognizable without the lush summer landscape or the inflatable swimming pool out back.  Instead, he found an abundance of colorful fall leaves on the ground, and discovered that he could see his breath in the cold.

  (Wait! Don't jump!  The leaves aren't that abundant!)

 It was a lovely last Thanksgiving dinner with the La Serna clan in NC.  But, if you look carefully, you'll see that Tiago isn't so impressed with the spread.  He just wants to fill every moment with playing and having fun.  (Ok, maybe, he'll sit for a cookie or two...or five!) 

When I asked the kids to pose for a serious shot and then a silly shot, they took me a little too "seriously."

Or, maybe it was the five cookies?  

Before we knew it, our trip had come to an end.  Tiago wondered if leaving was up for debate.  He said that he wasn't ready to go home.  Then, the U-Haul showed up, and I said, "Well, I'm sorry son.  I know it's hard but it's time to say good-bye."