Update Arriaga

Okay, so I apologize to everyone in advance for the lack of new posts here on the blog. Honestly the adventure has become a bit mundane, but I did want to do a quick post to let everyone know what has been happening and what is next to come. 


Alright, so my days are filled with training, training, eating lunch in a really full cafeteria and more training. Aren't you jealous that you are not on this adventure????


As for Alberto and Sofia, their life is alot more interesting. They have been touring the Smithsonian museums, where Sofia has determined that the National History Museum, Botanical Gardens, and Museum of the American Indian are her very favorite. She has been swimming almost daily and so, of course, she has the beautiful and enviable tan that we have all come to expect from her during the summer. 


Since my last post, Dad and Deb came to visit us and we took a tour of Washington DC on a Duck. No, not a Mallard, a WWII duck type vehicle...see below.





The tour was over land and on water. We got to see lots of sights and went putt-putting down the Potomac for an interesting view of DC from the water. Thanks Captain Bucky for a great day of trivia and sight-seeing.


It was great to see Dad and Deb and I am so glad that they got to visit us while we were here in DC.


They left on a Tuesday and then Mom arrived on Thursday. It was great to see her. For those of you who know her well, when I say that we were productive, you will know what I mean. She helped me with tons of projects that were in varying stages of completion, including some shopping that needed to be done; purchasing fabric for some dresses for Sofia, washing sheets, towels, and said fabric in order to pack it up for the move, etc. Mom always helps me to be the best me that I can be. I love you, Mom!


After she left, which I can say was tearful, we had a week of down time before the arrival of my mother-in-law, Maria del Socorro Flores (Coco), from Mexico. We had been looking forward to her visit all summer, since it had been several years since Sofia and I had seen her. On Friday night, before her Saturday afternoon arrival, there was a horrible storm here in this area. The power went out...the power stayed out...it was over 100 degrees. At the height of the crisis, more than 3 million people were without power. Our power was out for 72 hours...no air conditioning...100 degree weather...you get the picture.


Did I mention that my mother-in-law came for a visit the day after this started. She is the most agreeable person. She handled the situation like a trooper. We spent a lot of time at the malls and museums trying to keep cool, but that part was fun, so no one complained. After two days and nights of heat and humidity, Sofia went to stay with Uncle Cliff and Angie. Thanks so much to them for letting Sofia escape to their house where the electricity was still going strong. I reminded myself constantly that this is character building and it would make us all better able to handle the diverse situations that are to come.


Having said that, I would just like to point out that when we are in Africa, we will have a generator and be able to plug in the refrigerator and a fan. Who knew that Cameroon could look like a better bet than Washington DC? Anyway, on Monday at midnight, the electricity roared to life and we all cheered. The crisis, for us, was over. Coco, my mother-in-law, never complained. God bless her!


This week has been pretty standard, although we did have an excellent day for the 4th of July with Cliff, Angie, Aneisa, Andra, Grandpa Henry and Shirley. We spent the day at Cliff's house and took the girls swimming. We grilled burgers and hot dogs and had some really nice baked salmon. Finally, we finished off the night with some really cool fireworks that Uncle Cliff picked up from a wholesaler in Pennsylvania. 


This weekend should be much more quiet than last weekend. Al will be taking his mom back to the outlet mall for some serious shopping while Sofia and I hang out here and go swimming. We will spend some time with Grandpa Henry and Shirley as well. 


On a final note, we are T-minus 6 weeks and 4 days from departure. There is still lot to do, but I will try and take some pictures and do a more exciting blog post next time. Our love to everyone!


Until Next Time...

Shenandoah Valley and Skyline Drive

So another week of training has passed and nothing really exciting is happening on the work front. I am learning lots of new stuff about the government and meeting lots of new people. 


Al, Sofia and I went to visit Luray Caverns this weekend. It is about 2 hours from Falls Church and is a huge underground cave system. There are lots of interesting rock formations. We also got to hike along the Appalachian trail in the Shenandoah National Park. So here are some pictures...looks like fun, huh?

First stop, a city park in Luray, Sofia made some ducky friends!

Up next, we went to the Garden Maze at Luray Caverns. Here are shots of us in the maze. It was fun to run around and get lost.

Now it is time to visit Luray Caverns. The formations all have funny names and stories, but I just liked how these pictures turned out.

It looks like Sofia is eating the stalactite!

I took some shots outside that turned out really beautiful. Sofia is my favorite subject, of course!

We drove along Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park. We saw lots of beautiful vistas...

These black bears were having a snack in the woods on the side of the road. Al was brave enough to get out and take some pictures. We also got a shot of some deer that were on the road as we were driving out.

We hiked down to Dark Hollow Falls in the Shenandoah National Park. It is about 1 mile down, and I mean almost straight down. We got some great pictures, but the hike back up was a doozy!

This shot is my favorite!

I took this shot from underneath a flower while we were hiking on the Appalachian  Trail. I don't know what it is, but it is really beautiful.

Finally, while we are certainly not hiking aficionados, we hiked almost 5 miles over the weekend and we had a very relaxing mini-vacation. All in all, a successful trip sharing nature with my family.

Until next time...

Happy Mother's Day

Here we are, on a beautiful Sunday morning that is dedicated entirely to saying thank you to the people in our lives who have influenced us and helped us grow into the people that we are. 


I am so lucky to have an amazing mother, who is a great friend and is always there to "make lemonade" for me.


I also have the blessing of a second "mother" that has been friend and adviser for a long time. 


What did I do to get so lucky? Two amazing, beautiful women that I can call my own.  It makes me smile when I think of some of the trouble that we have gotten into, the three of us together. Here's hoping that more trouble is in our future!


Today I went to church with my wonderful family and have felt like the queen all day! I know that it won't last, but I will enjoy it while I can. The laundry can wait until tomorrow. 


I got some beautiful drawings from Sofia 

and some beautiful flowers from Beto. 

Today, I even wore a dress. I know, stop the presses. I had Beto take a picture so that everyone would believe me. I know that no one will, if they don't see it.

Enough about me and the dress, here are couple of good shots of us from after church.

We went out for lunch at La Tasca in Clarendon. It is a Spanish Tapas restaurant and Al & I really loved the music, food and the adult beverages. The Sangria menu is absolutely amazing. They had a special for Mother's Day and we got to try lots of different kinds of tapas. I love any place that makes it affordable for me to taste lots of new flavors. 


All in all, it has been a great week and a really nice Mother's Day. I hope that all the mothers out there have a great day. 


Until next time...

Let our new life begin!

Al and Sofia got here this week! Yeah! I can not be more excited! They made it safely on Thursday evening after a couple of days of focused driving on Al's part. The apartment is full of boxes and we have lots of work to do, but it is worth it just to have my family together.


We spent some time doing Washington DC stuff yesterday and had a lot of fun. We toured several of the foreign embassies during the Around the World Embassy Tour. In one afternoon we toured the globe stopping in... 

BOTSWANA

So for anyone who was around us before I actually came to Washington DC, you know that our running joke was that we were going to end up in Botswana. Well, I guess we did, in a way. By the way, Alberto ate a massive worm during the tasting of the "delicacies" from Botswana. It was really large and honestly, it was pretty disgusting. He told me that he was facing his fears. He tells me that it was basically like the caterpillar from Alice and Wonderland. Yuck!


Up next, we toured past Trinidad and Tobago and then on to Peru. Sofia posed for a couple of pictures and they are really cute.

After the photo op with the llama and her mama, we toured the art exhibit in the Peruvian embassy. Alberto found a distant relative.

So although at this point we have been to Africa, the Caribbean and to South America, we aren't done yet. Up next, we headed down under to tour Australia.

It was interesting and we got to see this guy playing a didgeridoo (sp?)...

Finally, where could we finish our tour of the world but....

YEAH!!!!

MEXICO

A beautiful example of the Talavera room in the  Mexican  Cultural Center

So all in all, our tour of the world was excellent. We saw lots of places and ate some interesting things. Sofia was a trouper, letting the grown-ups do some pretty boring stuff, even though she said that she had a little fun. So we decided to take her to do something fun, just for her.

It was a great day and I am looking forward to sharing our new adventure with you, now that we are finally together again.


a bientôt...This is French for Until next time. BTW, they speak French in Camaroon.

Same old, same old in DC

I have found that everyone expects an update on the blog, even when nothing new is going on so I wanted to post something really quickly. 


Work - I am still in training. Nothing exciting so far, but there is always next week. Also, I am still trying to work out travel dates for when we head to Africa, but it looks like it could be late August.


Sofia and Al - They had their first recital on Saturday. Sofia played two piano pieces and Al played his guitar. By all accounts, it was excellent. I am hoping that I will get a CD or DVD of the event, so that I can at least hear how they played. Al said that he was pleased with his performance and Sofia was very brave and didn't get nervous at all. Here is a picture of them.

Don't they look great! Here is another one of Sofia. I know that there are lots of pictures of her on this blog, but she is the cutest person I know.

So, that is all I have for today. Sofia and Al will begin the drive towards Washington DC tomorrow. After a stop off in Philadelphia, they will be en-route. I can't wait until they get here. I am so excited!


Until next time...

So what's new?

I know that everyone wants my life to be super exciting now that I am officially sworn in as a foreign diplomat...and I suppose in some ways it is. I really enjoy meeting all these new people. I have enjoyed my training and I am learning some pretty interesting stuff. But honestly, I am just in training...it really isn't anything exciting enough to put in the blog. 


But I had a request to do an update, so here I am. 


Al packed out the house today, which is great, and sad, and great! He had to do it all by himself with the movers and I know that it was really hard for him. I can't tell you how lucky I am to have such a great husband. He is such a trooper. 


And speaking of troopers, now that there are no dishes or silverware in the house, Sofia gets to eat at a restaurant every night. She is in heaven! I told her that she had to eat at least one vegetable everyday. She proceeded to tell me that if her daddy would take her to Samurai (favorite sushi place) every night, then she would eat Edamame (steamed soybeans) every night and that could count as a vegetable since its green. Well, I am impressed that she is willing to eat soybeans everyday.


They have to stay in Mississippi this week and next for Sofia to finish the required amount of school and then they will be making their way to Washington DC. I am so excited and can't wait to see them!


Last weekend some of my friends and I took a tour of some of the major monuments in Washington DC. We saw the White House, the Washington Monument, the Capital building and many others. Not only did we take this tour, we took this tour on a Segway. This may truly be one of the coolest things that I have ever done. Here are some pictures so that you can see what I am talking about.

Here we are at the Capital building.

Look the Washington Monument is coming out of Mandy's head!

Here we are acting silly in front of the White House.

So, that's a look at what I have been up to this last week. I have lots more training to do and we are going to be here in Washington DC until at least August, so I am sure that I will have many more cool and interesting pictures to show you.


To leave you with one final picture, I found this sign while we were out walking around and it made me giggle. I hope that you enjoy it too!

Really, Slug Pickup, Really?

Until next time...

Al & Sofia's Spring Break trip to Washington DC

So I don't have anything exciting to say about work, except that I am in training and it is very interesting. I love my HRO colleagues and I really think that this job is going to be an excellent fit for my family and I. Since nothing new and exciting is going on with the job, I would like to take this time to show you all the fun things that Al and Sofia did during their Spring Break visit to Washington. I got to participate a little, but since I was working, well, you know how that goes.


We went to the National on Sunday, when they arrived. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Al and Sofia found this bear as we were walking up the hill toward the zoo. I got them to pose by it.
Yes, I know, I am crazy, but you know that you like it.

We saw several interesting things at the zoo, but my favorite pictures did not include any animals. 

And here is a picture that Sofia took....she did a pretty good job.

We don't get many pictures together so we enjoy them when we do.

Next, we went and watched the Gorillas. The zoo keepers put out a lot of food and then let the gorillas out of their cages. I didn't take any pictures, because honestly, I was too busy watching them. So, we have this instead.

Queen of the Apes

This may be my favorite zoo picture. It doesn't have any animals in it either but it does have the two people in this world who make me the happiest. They are watching an elephant show. They were very engrossed in what the trainer was saying about the elephants when I snapped this.

They are very focused.

We had tons of fun and it was wonderful to spend a day with my family.


The weekend could not last and I had to go to work so Al and Sofia saw the sites in Washington DC. Al didn't take lots of pictures but when he did remember to take the camera, he got some excellent shots.

Does she look short or what?

She is holding up the whole thing!

What is she doing?

So obviously Sofia had fun making funny pictures. She seems to know just what to do to make the monuments/fountains/buildings pale in comparison to her.


This was a great shot that Al took. I am not sure where they are or what they were doing, but it sure looks nice.

So beautiful!

On Friday, Al and Sofia spent the afternoon with my Uncle Cliff and his wife, Angela. They live in Ashburn, VA, which is pretty close to where we are living. Angela's daughter and their granddaughter are currently living with them, so Sofia had a great afternoon playing with another energy-filled little girl. I joined them after work and we had a great night of wine, sushi, and conversation. Much thanks goes out to Cliff and Angie for making us feel very welcome and at home.


Well, Al and Sofia had to head back to Mississippi but they only have a few more weeks before they join me for good. We had a great time this week and I was so glad for the time that I got to spend with them.


In closing, I would like to leave you with the most interesting discovery that Al and Sofia found while at the Museum of National History.

I want to draw specific attention to the name of this dinosaur. We have found Al's ancestors...this explains so much.

That's it for now...until next time.