Singapore: Part 3

For our last full day in Singapore, we headed to the aquarium!  We first stopped by a Maritime exhibition, about the Asia trading practices around the 1500s/1600s…

Ezra and Diego were really interested in this exhibition Then: the Aquarium! Those are sharks in those little pods!  They said 3 can fit into one little pod.  Talk about invasion of personal space… Then, we walked over to do the Luge!  You can read more about it HERE.  Basically, you start at the top of the mountain, hop on a little cart, and coast down a 1.2 kilometer track to the bottom.  You can go pretty fast though, as Ezra almost tipped his over on a turn 🙂

Photos from the chairlift to the top… By the time we finished it was around 4:30, so we had a light lunch.  We shared a bowl of Taiwanese beef noodles, and Ezra and I each got a Thomas the Tank Engine bowls because they didn’t have any clean bowls that were large enough.  Although I suspect the waiter just thought it would be entertaining to make us eat out of those 🙂 Wednesday morning we headed back to Dongguan, and enjoyed the rest of the holiday week watching movies, and relaxing!

Singapore: Part 2

Monday morning we got up and walked to a nearby place called Wild Honey for brunch.  We saw this along the way…

An apartment complex with spaces on the same floor for your car!  We heard the cars, when parked, actually sit in your living room…

Wild Honey had a really great atmosphere for brunch, but the service was a little slow….

Luckily the food was amazing, so all was forgiven 🙂

A short stack of super fluffy pancakes with canadian baconToasted brioche with scrambled eggs, sausage, mushrooms, bacon and hash browns
Ham and cheese quiche with an arugula saladOlivia, just waking up from her morning nap!
We decided to take taxis to the Zoo, since trying to take the bus for all 7 of us would have taken 1.5 hours and been the same price.  20 minute taxi ride instead?  Yes please.  First thing to do: hold a snake! I couldn’t bring myself to hold one, or even touch it!

Zoo photo dump…I saw these two tigers and took a picture of them because they were so graceful. and then Ezra saw them doing THIS:Gross! These brown monkeys were the weirdest looking monkeys I’ve ever seen.
Check out that NOSE!
Flying foxes Lemurs One decided he wanted to get super close to the action… My favorite animals!! After the Zoo, everyone was pretty tired so we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit.  Ezra and I went out later for a “hawker” meal  beef satay lots of vegetables and more Indian food!  Singapore has the best Indian food… We made it a fairly early night, so we could get up early and head over to the Aquarium the next morning…

Singapore: Part 1

For the Chinese holiday, we went to Singapore with our friends Debora, Diego and their 3 children, to celebrate their son Arthur’s 13th birthday! The first day we arrived, it was already in the afternoon, and we had arrived a few hours earlier than the Silvas, so we met up with Ezra’s friend Stefan and his girlfriend Samantha.  They took us to National Geographic exhibition that was happening at the Art Science Museum. They were displaying NG’s 50 greatest photos…

Then we walked over to a hawker center to grab some food to eat.  Photos along the way…

The famous Marina Bay Sands! The food was amazing…we started with some beef/chicken satay (which we ate too fast for me to photo)

Then we sampled some Indian food We made it a fairly early night (back to the hotel around 11pm), so we could have an early start at Universal the next morning.  We also lucked out with the weather in Singapore, it would rain every morning until about 9:15, then the sun would come out!

On our way to the park entrance… It wasn’t as busy as we thought the park would be, which was a relief.  We didn’t need to stand in ride lines for hours, just 2 minutes, tops!  Of course it also helped that we purchased express line passes… Kung Fu Panda!Our first ride was Madagascar (like It’s a Small World at Disney), which was basically a smooth boat ride.  Initially Alex was a little scared.  He had seen some advertisements for the Halloween Fright Night, so he thought everything in the park would already have scary stuff.  I think he finally relaxed after the last ride of the day 🙂Debora and I alternated babysitting Olivia so she could enjoy some rides tooWe also saw a show based on the movie Waterworld!  Loved that film….

and the day finished with little Alex driving a car.  You can see the whole family was thrilled about that 🙂

Surprise Seattle

After the wedding in Maine, the four of us drove back to New Jersey. Ezra and I had a flight the next morning to head to SEATTLE!  We had been planning to surprise my family since May.  It was my dad’s birthday on September 20th, so we figured since we were in the U.S. for the wedding, we could swing by Seattle on our way back home 🙂

My sister picked us up from the airport (she knew we were coming), and took us to my dad’s law firm to surprise him. Steff just walked into his office and said, “I have an early birthday present for you!” Dad was definitely surprised to see us…because we came to the office at 12pm, dad still had a full day of work, so Steff took us up to the top of her building to see a 360 view of Seattle!

After dad finished work, the four of us carpooled to my parents’ house to surprise my mom.  My sister and dad walked from the garage, through the mudroom and into the kitchen.  We hadn’t exactly talked about how we wanted to surprise mom, so Ezra and I just stayed hidden in the mudroom.  Well, Steff and dad didn’t say anything for a few seconds, they just stood there!  I didn’t know what to do, so I slowly stuck my head into the kitchen when my mom saw me.  She screamed, dropped the baking dish she was washing, and just started to cry.  Then she threw a dish towel at Ezra and said, “Oh, you two!”

It. Was. Hilarious.

We had a yummy salmon meal at home, and a good’s night rest for the next day!

For our wedding gift, our friends Ryan and Kate (who’s wedding we just went to) treated us to an amazing lunch at Elliott’s Oyster House.  We asked my mom to come, which turned into my sister coming on her lunch break, and my dad too! It worked out great, especially since everyone was already downtown and free to join us.

We started by sharing some fried calamari…
crabcakes Ezra and I also shared a dozen oystersSteff had the shrimp sandwich with white chowder
Dad had the fish and chips Mom had the noodle stir fry Ezra had the wild salmon and I had the salmon sliders with white chowder! Then the waiter gave us THIS (it was hilarious, he kept saying Eura instead of Ezra!)Ryan and Kate also got us VIP tickets for the GREAT WHEEL!  Before we got this, I was literally telling Ezra that we have to go there because it’s next door!  We walked down the pier and got our tickets.The little cabin we got was amazing, it had a see-through floor!  We had super comfy leather chairs to relax in, AND it had speakers in it, so we could hook up my iPad to play some music!

BEAUTIFUL views of Seattle.  We lucked out with the weather, it was sunny and clear the whole time we were there!
While in the U.S., I realized how MUCH candy America has in it’s stores….Scary.

Then, later that week we celebrated my dad’s birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! LOVE YOU!

Maine Wedding: Part 2

The morning of the wedding, Ezra and Ryan wanted to jump into the lake.  Mind you, the water was about 65 degrees.  That’s FREEZING.

Doris and I walked over to the bridal suite where Kate and her party were getting ready.  We arrived just in time to see them heading out into the forest to meet Ryan for a first look!
I snuck between some trees to snap a few photos of my own 🙂 Then it was back to our cabin, which doubled as the groom’s cabin for the afternoon.  A few last minute drinks before the big ceremony! The ceremony was beautiful, here’s the groom walking down the aisle with his mom!Then came the bride with her father It was a fantastic place for a wedding. The view was amazing, and the ceremony itself was really wonderful.  Here’s a shot of Ryan and Kate, when Ryan’s best friend Tigner was playing guitar and singing.  I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. I have to say, weddings are the place where you really feel the love from everyone!  Ryan and Kate had about as many people as we did for the wedding (around 100), and it was the perfect amount.   The best man, maid of honor, bride, groom, and their dog Liberty! The Goldmans Time to dance 🙂 I love this photo.  I snapped this just as Ryan and Kate told Ryan’s parents that they were giving them a slice from the top of their cake.  Eric and me dancing.  Apparently I thought I was a better dancer than I really am… Noah, busting a move… Doris and Ezra and the bride and groom.  I think this may have been Ryan trying to “twerk”?  Really great weekend.  The weather ended up being perfect for the wedding day (after raining all the previous days)! Congratulations to Ryan and Kate.  We wish them all the best!!!

Maine wedding: Part 1

Thursday, September 12th, Noah, Danielle, Ezra and I drove up to Sidney, Maine for our friends’ wedding!  Ryan and Kate both went to Oberlin College with Noah, Ezra and me.

Ryan, Ezra and Noah, upon our arrival 🙂

That evening there was a small get together at Kate’s parents’ house.  They live just a short drive away from the music camp that we were staying at (NEMC: New England Music Camp).

Kate’s dad making a speech…
They live right on a lake, so the four of us went down to take some photos before dinner
Friday afternoon was the rehearsal dinner.  Ezra was the best man, so I tagged along to take some pictures of the bride and groom.  Kate’s mom officiated the wedding! The rehearsal dinner was held at the camp, and included lobster!!!  We ate SO much lobster on the trip, it was ridiculous…Kate and Ryan!The four of us and the bride and groom!Then we had to get one photo of all the Obies that came to the wedding.  Including Ezra’s dad!!

A US visit: Part 2

 

We met up with some other friends in NYC, one of whom is a food historian, author and AMAZING chef!  She made a beautiful pasta with seafood for lunch, using black spaghetti that she received through an Italian company called Felicetti.    Francine is also coming out with a new cookbook…if you’d like contemporary, authentic Italian pasta, this book is the way to go.  You can purchase this book and many more of her books HERE!
In the evening, we met up with Noah and Danielle (after they finished work) for the Book of Morman!  It was both obscene and hilarious, and I highly recommend seeing it if you ever stop in NYC.

For Ezra’s birthday, he wanted to keep things low-key.  Since his birthday was on a Wednesday and Noah and Danielle were working, he decided brunch would be great, so I took him to Sarabeth’s.  We both enjoyed fantastic omelettes and shared a short stack of pancakes.   For dinner we kept it close to home and went for Mexican food in Hoboken.  We started with drinks at the W, then slowly made our way to the restaurant…

Fresh guacamole, table-side!

Needless to say we left stuffed, but satisfied!Up next: a Maine wedding!

 

A US visit: Part 1

At the beginning of September, we visited Ezra’s brother and sister-in-law in New York/New Jersey, went to a friends’ wedding in Sidney, Maine at a beautiful music camp called: New England Music Camp, AND surprised my parents in Seattle for my dad’s 63rd birthday!

Let’s start with the New York/New Jersey visit…

We stayed with Ezra’s brother and sister-in-law in New Jersey, and almost every morning I was able to go out for a run and see this…

This is during one of the long walks we took on the weekend!

One evening, the four of us met up with Diane and Bart for dinner at the Strip House.  Best. Steak. Ever…Oysters to start!After dinner, we went to the Canal Room (owned by one of our friends), and got to hear a live 80s band!  They were amazing… 

We also did a “touristy” walk across the Brooklyn Bridge 🙂

Randomly saw some street performers along the way

And had a walk through Central Park!

On Monday, September 9th, I surprised Ezra with his early birthday gift: tickets to the final match of the U.S. Open!

He was super excited 🙂 We sat pretty high up, but luckily even those seats were great!  We were able to see every point clearly, and we didn’t feel so far away from the action.

Nadal (in grey)

and Djokovic (in red)

By the end of warm-up, the stadium was completely filled!

It was a PHENOMENAL match, and Nadal (ranked 2nd after Djokovic) won! 

The pressure’s on…

SO…I’m back to blogging!  Again 🙂

We recently became godparents to our good friend’s daughter: Olivia!  She was born on the morning of July 9th.

Here’s one of Olivia’s first moments: when Debora (mommy) got to hold her for the first time!Debora and her parents, Flavia and MarioProud godparents 🙂Mom and baby looking very fit, 5 short hours after Olivia’s birthGodfather!  In Portuguese, the godfather is called Dindo…And yours truly, the Dinda 🙂Dad, Mom and Olivia!Debora only needed to stay just 3 short days in the hospital (C-section recovery time).  About a week after everyone was settled back home, Debora and I took an afternoon to take some more “professional” photos of Olivia…A couple photos in the couple weeks following…Then earlier this month, we did a 1-month photoshoot for Olivia…This book one didn’t turn out exactly as we had hoped, because Olivia kept waking up and crying because she didn’t like the position we’d put her hands.  We finally resorted to putting them at her sides…After being born at just 2.2 kgs (roughly 4.8 lbs!), Olivia’s finally at a healthy weight: around 4 kgs (8.8 lbs). Can’t wait to see what she’ll look like next month!

First time at Karaoke

Friday night we went out to dinner with some friends, at my favorite lamb place!  Then we stopped by our favorite bar: One for the Road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ezra and Dozier having a laugh 🙂

Saturday night was my first time ever doing karaoke!  I have to say, I was a little nervous…until Cher’s Believe came on.  Then it was all over.  FYI, karaoke is much easier when you have a beer beforehand.

Or two.

TOTALLY rocked it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hair whipping was involved.

Also, the music videos that the karaoke played while you were singing, were NOT the actual music videos…Instead, they were 90s-style hippie videos!

An awesome time had by all.