Cha-cha-cha-changes

Turn and face the strain, cha-cha-changes. -David Bowie

We arrived in Arlington, Virginia on Tuesday Sept. 30th. Things are definitely different here and I'm already a little homesick :( This post is about all the good memories that were made in the weeks before our departure.

Me and Linus had fun living with my folks while Mattias was driving to our new home here in Arlington. Grandpa (Lolo in Tagalog) bonded with Linus and even invented a new style of babysitting- watching golf while rocking baby with a putter. Auntie Malou played with Monkey (as she calls him) any chance she could, even though she often worked overnights.



A visit to Auntie Amy's in Oakland brought about shopping, adventures in public breastfeeding, and a $70 parking ticket.


I even had a little going away party thrown by my friends at work. These are some of the best people I have had the pleasure to work with- they bust their butts and deal with lame people just to help homeless animals.



My good friend Steph (roomie from freshman year of college) and her hubbie Mel even stopped by to say goodbye.

Even though Mattias' parents were busy packing for their move to Arlington later this month, they threw us a little going away party! They had just finished re-landscaping their yard, too.



I insisted on having a pinata and wanted to fill it with Twinkies, but they wouldn't fit through the hole :(



Here's Mattias and Linus with Mattias' buddies- this group has been gettin' into trouble since the 6th grade!

We even went to our 10 year high school reunion, which I helped plan. Here we are with Jade and Mel, posing like we did for senior prom. We had an awesome time, but I won't post those pictures on my family friendly blog...

And because I'm crazy, I insisted that we visit the new California Academy of Science since it just reopened and I was dying to go. The new building houses a biodome rainforest (below), a planetarium, and a Philippine coral reef! We all had an awesome time and we highly recommend it.

Then before we headed back down to Milpitas we had lunch for one last time with our good friends Mel, Ken, and Evren. Evren and his wife Jenny had baby Clariza just weeks after Linus was born, but we hadn't met her until this day (a surprise!) Very cute indeed. Notice how much bigger Linus' head is- it's gigantic!


Quick family photo at the Botanical Garden.

The family the night before we left.

Saying goodbye to my family was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Not only because of how much they are gonna miss Linus, but of how much I'm gonna miss them. Many tears were shed the morning we drove to the airport, but frequent visits and video conferencing are already in the works.

We are settling in OK- being home alone with Linus is an adjustment, since he is now very interactive and wants to play all the time. We think he is also going through a growth spurt, so he feeds constantly! The packing will have to wait... Gus is not quite used to having so many dogs in the building and guards the front door constantly, while Minners is back to her old shananigans.

Please call, email, or comment frequently so I don't get lonely! Next post will be pics of our new digs.