Walk in Bolton, and the nieces

Some shots from a short walk in Bolton yesterday. If it's sunny after a snowfall, this large rock wall right next to the trail will get covered in icicles, making for a very pretty backdrop.

Today, we saw the nieces for a little while. These pictures of Aiyana will be priceless when she hits it big. Here she is showing a tricky finger position on the left hand.

I like the angry look of concentration on this one. Big sister Sena watching over.

Cute big niece.

Some random pictures from the last few weeks

Sisters and cousins: Stella, Aiyana, Sena and Julia

Bath-time:

Stella asleep on the couch

Peace Celebration at Julia's school

Every year, before the holidays, Julia's school has a "Peace Celebration". All the kids put on a show and the parents are invited to watch. After the show, there is fruit salad and cookies. It's fun for the kids and the parents, and I'm guessing the grandparents might also enjoy it, so here it is. The first song is "I am planting seeds of love in my heart", the second is "Peace-keeper".

Julia is in the front row, close to the center, wearing a red dress:

After the show:

Julia hugging her best friend Sidney:

Christmas trip to Montreal

Julia at the War Memorial at the Vermont Welcome Center rest area in I-89.

Visting the Browns. Floor hockey downstairs and lots of cookies upstairs!

A highlight of the week: Marc stopped by to let the kids see his plow up close. All the kids loved it.

Stella:

Julia, skating at the park.

Doctor Fufu, Julia and Vóvó.

Tia Susi, relaxing.

Uncle Andrew: can you explain what was going on?

Vôvô building a Lego airplane.

Jack, with leopard print pajama pants, holding his new treasure.

Vóvó and Stella.

Sledding fun, on Christmas day:

Wendy, the perfect hostess:

The Trindades.

The kids:

(just kidding, Dave)

Two grandfathers, and one tired kid.

Stella's discovery

Stella was very excited when she discovered that she can open the kitchen cabinets - and hey, there's lots of stuff in there! It was all good until she got her thumb caught in the door, right at the end of the video (yes, I put down the camera and ran over). She was fine :).

Julia sleeping

These pictures were taken in the last week. While Stella and I have our afternoon nap, Julia plays by herself in the living room. Sometimes, when Stella and I wake up and walk out to the living room, we find Julia asleep too:

Yes, Julia was actually sleeping in this picture. Stella and I had just woken up from our nap (we nap in the bedroom like normal people do), and the house was all quiet. I went to look for Julia, and could not find her until I looked INSIDE THE TUNNEL. There she was, sound asleep..

The Girls

Julia making cookies.

Stella.

Christmas concert

We went to a Christmas concert at the University of Connecticut (UCONN). It was Julia and Stella's first time at a concert, and it was a lot of fun.

Our friend, Amanda, who was Julia's music teacher last year, did a great job getting all the kids in the audience (and the grown-ups too) to participate and sing along. Here, she asked the kids to go up on stage and help her sing "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer". Julia immediately stood up and walked on stage, without needing any encouragement from us... She is to the left of Santa, shaking his hand:

Julia is the third kid from the left:

Julia's favorite part: the "goody-bag" and the jingle bells that they gave out to all the kids to bring home.

A few more from Bequia

These pictures were taken by our friend Andy (Andy and his wife Marcia accompanied us on this trip.)

This picture was taken from the small plane which took us to Bequia, just as we were about to land.

Julia and I passing time while waiting for our food to arrive at a restaurant.

It was so hot, that Stella spent the whole time in nothing but a diaper, and sometimes a sun-hat, and she was still sweating. I felt a little silly for bringing all those clothes for her, she only wore them in the airport.

A taxi took us on a tour of the island. The breeze in the open-air taxi felt so nice...

Ricardo and I on the ferry, leaving Bequia.