A Surprise Visit to Ana

Marisa, Maria, Sofia, Ana, Mariana, Ana and Lucia in front of Blair Arch, Princeton Campus.

Hello family and friends!

This past weekend I had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to surprise visit my sister, Ana. I hadn't seen my sister in almost two years and during this time, she had given birth to her fifth child and had moved to a new home. My aunt Marisa and her three girls were planning a trip up to Princeton, so when they invited me to come along I absolutely jumped with joy at the opportunity. Ana knew that relatives were coming to visit, she just didn't know that I was tagging along too! The surprise was a huge, happy-tear-filled, success.

Ana met us with her five kiddos (Lucia, 8, Mariana, 6, Felipe "Pepe", 4, Belen, 2 and Daniela 3 months) at the hotel, where we proceeded to reek havoc in the hotel bedroom, throwing pillows and chasing after the kids! Suddenly, we heard a forceful knock at the door and we all got very quiet, fearing that we were already being reprimanded by the hotel staff for the riot. However, it was Diego (Ana's husband) who had joined the reunion. He has this very cute ritual whereby all of his kids (save Daniela) run up, jump into dad's arms and they do this "ta-dah" pose, as seen below:

Tummies were rumbling by now and so we headed to "Magma Pizza" -a terrific little pizza place nearby for dinner.

9 girls and 2 boys: that's what you call an "Estrogen Pizza Party!"

Day 2: A Tour of Princeton University. Friday our plan was to see the Princeton campus, which by all objective measures is probably one of the prettier university campuses in the U.S.

We had terrific weather (a bit chilly but sunny) all week, which made walking a joy. We walked by several of the dorm rooms were Ana and I lived (above, middle-left, you can see Ana's window from junior year -the ornate one smack in the middle of the top floor of the stone building). To Marisa's disbelief, Ana proceeded to tell us how she had to scale up the outside of the building to her third story window one time when she locked herself out. Indeed "Tarzana" has been tamed by motherhood and her five bundles of joy, but this takes nothing away from her risky and glorious past!!

We found it comical that Marisa's daughters kept saying "this looks just like Harry Potter!" -indeed, Princeton found inspiration in the architectural designs of Oxford and retains much of the rich, traditional English college style.

Good ol' Nassau Hall is above (the ivy-covered building) and is the Princeton icon, below left is the University chapel and to the right is Chancellor Green (classes are held here). Being back on campus brought wonderful memories and also surprises as to the new construction that has taken place in the last ten years.

Day 3: Saturday -a day trip to New York City. Being that Ana lives an hour from New York City, it is easy to go in for the day by train. Above we are walking to the university train station, called the "Dinky."

The plan once we arrived was to go to Central Park to have brunch and then walk around the upper-east side of Manhattan. Both Ana and I agreed that it was such a great trip, unlike so many others to NYC because it was so relaxing and stress-free. We didn't really do any touristy things, we just strolled around and lived a day as a typical New-Yorker -very fun!!

Brunch at the Boathouse was outstanding. The ambiance was terrific (complete with gondolas passing by on the lake) and the food was both delicious for the eyes and taste buds.

We were nearly-stuffed as we strolled out of the Boathouse, with only enough room for a small macaroon from "Laduree" -a French bakery that is all the rage in the city right now. When we walked into this little boutique bakery it was filled to the brim with people and after tasting the macaroons I know why- delicious! From there we stopped to see street performers, went to the Crown Plaza and the Eloise store for fun, then tried to go into the beautiful Synagogue of Emanu-El but it was closed. Shopping was also on the agenda and as was Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Afterwards we had just enough time to snatch some hot dogs on the street before catching the evening train back to Princeton.

I'll end the retelling of this wonderful and so memorable weekend with a few more pictures of my darling nieces and nephew. We really hope you all can come down and see us in Houston this summer!!