First family vacation

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Our friends Tricia and John decided to get married in Trinidad where Tricia is from so we decided to join them to celebrate such special occasion. It was sort of a “family reunion” for me since I know some of Tricia’s relatives that are my friends and I was able to meet her parents, sisters, aunties, uncles, grandma and to see why she is such an amazing person.

We packed like never before – I think having a baby changes your packing skills and number of luggage you carry … I can say that out of the 7 pieces of luggage we had (counting diaper bag and pump), 5 of them where Adri’s luggage.

The easiest way to get there was to drive to the US, then catch a flight to Houston and arrive to Trinidad around 8pm after leaving home around 4am on the same day. It is good we like to travel and seems like Adri is fine following us on that path.

Sunday, July 19 we arrived to Port Spain and there were waiting for us at the entrance, Tricia, John, Steve and Pat. It was so nice to finally meet the parents of the bride and to see my good friend. They got to meet Adri in a so so mood but then she started to cry for sleeping so that was it for that day.

The next day and with Matthew in town we went to see the city, of course as many of you know, if you are with Matthew you need your best walking shoes, so we put them and were ready to see the city. We walked thru downtown and went to a place for breakfast, really good local food – the Breakfast Shed. The rest of the day we took it easy and relaxed at the hotel. Dinner was also at the hotel enjoying a pretty good chat with Matthew about a bit of everything.

On Tuesday we took Adri to her first visit to the beach. We drove from the city to Maracas Beach, the most popular beach in Trinidad and really nice scenery going there and absolutely beautiful once we parked and found a shaded spot for Adri. Matthew and Tomas enjoyed the water while Adri and I enjoyed the sand. Then Tomas took her into the water and we didn’t really know if she was sad, happy or scared, her face was so weird at that point but since she didn’t cry we figured it was ok for her to feel the sand and the waves coming to her.

After that we went for the also famous and popular bake and shark – this yummy breaded shark sandwich.

Wednesday we went to visit Matthew’s relatives, we started the day by having lunch in a Caribbean restaurant where we enjoyed seafood and great dessert, then Tomas drove half the country to the Southern area where most of Tricia’s relatives are from and visited (and meet) Andy’s parents. They are such nice people that we could’ve stayed there talking longer but we still needed to go visit Auntie Grace and Tricia’s parents.

After that we drove to another city to meet Auntie Grace who was waiting for us with Rotti, chicken and goat. It seemed that everywhere we went, there was food waiting for us. So nice of them!

Auntie Gracie shared a few stories with us and then showed us her altar outside of her house. She also showed us Ganesha who drinks water from the trunk, it was quite an experience to give the statue water and see how the water evaporate or the trunk absorbs it. No explanation to it, so Tomas is in the search of a reason why…

Next in our busy schedule was Tricia’s parents, we made it just before the family had to go out and leave John in charge of the house. It was crazy and so much fun to see how the Baldeosingh girls were all talking at the same time – so I had to join! Tomas was thinking OMG!!!

Adri was in love with Tricia’s dad and vice versa, they seemed to get a long pretty well. It seems that SOMEBODY is looking forward for the grand kids (Tricia and John this one is for you guys…)

Thursday was a day off for us, we spent the entire day at the hotel relaxing. Tomas had to work and Adri had a day without heat and car trips, she was able to do her normal routine – eat, burp, poop, sleep – Mom was able to go to the pool for a few minutes and we took a loooong nap with Adri.

That night we went out for dinner with Andy, Matthew, Shaina, David, Simone and Sophie. We had such a great time that Tomas said I was all over talking nonstop, and I was really happy to see them all, to meet Sophie and Shaina and to just be there.

Friday arrived and it was rehearsal dinner day, we also had to leave the Hilton and move to the Southern part of the Country – San Fernando – where we had a hotel room to be closer to the activities of the weekend. It took us pretty much the whole day to move with Adri. But we still managed to be on time at the rehearsal – actually for about an hour it was only us, Matthew and Shaina…The party started and the families enjoyed a great evening, great food and delicious desserts!

Adri had a fit and cry while being introduced to everybody – probably too many people at once – so she cried and cried until she fall sleep for the rest of the evening.

SATURDAY – wedding day – we got up early and start preparing everything because we were leaving that hotel to move to the third one of the week. We decided to move the same night after the party to a hotel closer to the airport since it was quite a drive from there – about an hour. Rather do that around 8pm than at 3am.

The ceremony was really nice and Tricia was absolutely gorgeous, and John looked to happy and in love that you can “feel it in the air”. Tricia’s parents were also showing how proud they were of their daughter. Adri managed to be quiet during the entire ceremony and only cried a little bit when the newlyweds left the church.

Reception time!!! Steve and Pat did an amazing job as wedding planners, the reception area looked really nice and everybody was ready to party and create unforgettable memories for the couple – and for us too.

The couple was introduced to the room by Hindu dancers and drummers. Happiness was all over. The speeches were full with nice things about the couple and auntie Grace made everybody sing “que sera sera” to the entire reception to honor the couple.

We left right when Tricia and John were dancing, it was time for us to say good bye or more than see you later. We took about an hour just to say good bye and thank you for an amazing vacation and for all the love everybody showed us for Adri.

We cannot thank enough Matthew, Tricia, and their families for welcoming and taking care of us. You all made our first family vacation an amazing one, filled with many first timers for Adri, Mom and Dad.

We left Sunday morning and in one day we managed to be in 3 countries, landed at home ready to unpack, laundry and sushi.

In general Adri behaved pretty good, she did awesome on the planes. For some reason she didn’t eat that much during the entire trip and of course cried more than ever between the heat and being out of her routine, but she let us do everything we wanted, even had dinners without worrying about her since by then she would be comfortable sleeping in the car seat and relaxing wherever we where.

The first night back at home she was crying in her crib, we let her cry a little but then we went to her room and carried here, explained that she was back at home and her own room. For that night we put her swaddle again (she stopped using it about a month ago or more), after some extra kisses and hugs she went to sleep no problems.

Now she is eating normal and relaxing more. Only little issue is that today when I left her with Yolanda, she cried nonstop up to the point Yolanda called me thinking there was something wrong with Adri, but it seemed all she wanted was mom, because once I came back and held her she calmed down. I hope is only because of the adjusting back home situation. Yolanda is great with her and Adri is always fine staying with her. We were playing the 3 of us to let Adri know that it cannot be everything mom and no other people. It didn’t work when I tried to leave them alone, but at least she didn’t cry when Yolanda was talking and playing with her and I was holding her on the back. Will see what happens with the days…

So that was the end of the first vacation and the trip and adjusting back home. Now we are counting the days for the Peruvian grandpas to visit us. Adri can enjoy them and Mom and Dad can go to the movies every night if they want :).