Some Wedding Pictures

These are courtesy of Diego (aka Tio Gogi)

Padre Diego and the front of the chapel
Dad and Olwyn entering the chapel
Followed by Carmenza and Domingo


And then us!

Bela being Blessed
And now the Holy water - note how she's looking at me

At the end of the ceremonies with Padre Diego

And outside the chapel after the ceremony

First dance
And then the party begins

Married! (Again)

Juan and I had took our Sacrament of Marriage yesterday in a beautiful ceremony. The chapel was decorated beautifully and we had a pianist, violinist and cellist playing music as we entered. The ceremony itself was short, followed by mass and Gabriela's baptism. She cried a little when the holy water was poured on her because the water was a little cold, but other than that she did great.
After the ceremony we were greeted by all the family and then had a small reception with juice (many, many kinds) and some appetizers (fried plata, roast beef, tomato salsa, and fried potato/cheese balls). Then we had some toasts - from both families - followed by dinner! More food! The food was great. To start was a seafood coconut chowder served in a coconut bowl (I had an asparagus coconut chowder) followed by an antipasto plate. Then to cleanse the palate we had tangerine sorbet. The main course was beef tenderloin, fish, potato wrapped in phyllo and an assortment of vegetables. We were all stuffed by the time the main course was over (or half way through). Dessert was our cake which was either poppy seed or apple and almond. Both were very good. The hall was decorated beautifully. The chairs were those fancy ones you see in fancy receptions on TV with a small white organza bow tied to them. The tables were covered in an orange table cloth and a white embroidered cloth over top. The centerpieces were wonderful flowers of tiger lilies, dark pink gerber daisies and lime green button daises - absolutly gorgeous!
During dinner the band was playing and after dinner they turned up the music and everyone started dancing! It was great to see everyone on the dance floor and the band was very, very good. It was like being at a concert. About half way through they surprised us with a carnival! We had hats, masks, noise makers and confetti! It was so much fun! The evening wrapped up around 7PM (after all it was on a Sunday). Everyone seemed to have a great time. Juan, Bela and I are so thankful for everyone who attended (and those of you in spirit :)) And a special thanks to Carmenza and Nena for putting this party together. You did an excellent job (we will be hiring you for upcoming birthdays! HeHe)

And I know most of you are now asking - WHAT ABOUT PICTURES?? - I tell you if I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I'd be rich. Anyways, we should get pictures later on this week so stay tuned!

Hitched!

Gettin' hitched tomorrow!
Who-hoo!!!!!!!!!

Eloisa's Baptism

Eloisa was baptized on Saturday the 14th and Juan and I are her godparents (padrinos). The ceremony was lovely and Eloisa was patient and happy through the whole ceremony. Here are some pictures to mark the occasion.

Eloisa in her outfit (this is similar to Bela's dress)

The proud parents


And family - Giacomo, Ale, Samuele, Angelica and Elosia



Blessing Eloisa



With her padrinos and prima, Bela


And her hermanos (brothers)


Proud Abuelo!


Abuela with me and Bela after the ceremony


And Tia Isabel, Tio Pablo and los hermanos


Before our celebratory lunch, Bela and Eloisa wore the same outfit.

Here, Bela was smiling and clapping while Eloisa was crying ... poor Eloisa, she was just hungry!!

Update from Colombia

We've been busy down here in Colombia with wedding stuff, with baptism stuff - both Gabriela and Eloisa, and with good ol' family fun.
I went to get my dress altered at the Pronovias store (the brand name of my dress) and I tried it on and two things happened. The good news is that my dress fit and I didn't have to pay for more alterations! The bad news is ... my dress fit. In other words, I'm the same size I was when I was 5 months pregnant! Ouch. But I am going to a gym here, which is very nice with Isabel, Pablo's wife. But going to the store was not such a waste of time because they directed us to a good place to get my dress cleaned. And tomorrow we pick it up. Also tomorrow, we pick up Bela's dress! I'm excited to see how it turned out (its being made and of course pictures will be posted). And on Saturday, Juan will get measured for his suit. So the clothes portion of the wedding is almost complete!
Picking up Bela's dress tomorrow should be an adventure. Here, because there are so many people and cars, they have something called Pico y Placa. Pico meaning pick hour and Placa is your license plate - so only certain license plate numbers are allowed on the road at a time. For example, our car is only allowed on the road on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday - not Wednesday and Friday. So we have to take a cab on Friday to pick up the dress. Now the cab is not expensive at all - like $5 or something ridiculously low like that - but the cab drivers are sort of crazy! They swerve in and out of traffic and speed really fast. As long as you don't look where your going - you're fine ... HeHe.
Diego, Juan's younger brother, arrived on Tuesday. It was so exciting to see everyone's face light up when we were all in the room together. I think it has been a long time since all the siblings were in the same place at the same time. For dinner that night we went to Archie's - PIZZA! And of course, like all places we go to, the food was most excellent (another place we should consider exporting!). Also, most nights Juan, his Mom, Ale, Nena and I play rummy. I think sometimes we play until well after midnight. But it's always fun. I was winning until yesterday when I gained like 400 points in one hand ... ugh ... not good.

That's our update from Colombia, we hope everyone is doing well and will see you soon enough.
Ciao!

Yesterday

My new outfit - Gracias Tios y primos!



Lookin' cute


Hangin' with Papi before bedtime

Mangoes!

Someone likes mango!

Crepes & Waffles

Now there is one thing that the rest of the world is missing - ok, maybe just Canada. And that is Crepes & Waffles. This restaurant is so delicious and that is where we went for dinner tonight. I think I weigh 10 pounds more! It was so tasty. Whats on the menu, you ask? Well, crepes and waffles - both savory and sweet. With fruit, with ice cream, with chantilly cream. Or you can have it with cheese, pesto and dried tomatoes. Mmmm ... so good. This place also offers every kind of juice on the planet. My favorite? Feijoa! (For those of you wondering what that is, go down to the Farmer's Market and go to More than Mangoes and buy some, very unique taste, well worth it). You can also get "straight from the orange" orange juice. And all for a price less than you would pay at McDonald's. One word - Fantastic!

This was my dessert (underneath all that was a crepe - if you were wondering)


And I almost forgot. Bela is such a show-stopper. In the restaurant every person we passed literally stopped in their tracks to look at our little darling girl. Everyone basically stopped what they were doing to look and admire our little Ms. It was quite shocking and totally flattering. We have such a beautiful girl.

El cumpleanos de la Tata

It was Juan's grandmother's 90th birthday yesterday. It was a big event. I think there must have been 90 people there! The party was held at her house (which is a beautiful stone and brick house surrounded by a beautiful garden) and tents were set up in the backyard where we had appetizers and dinner. The tents and her house were filled with roses. Now, us Canadians do not know what a rose is until you've 'experienced' a Colombian rose. These are the roses that cost $100 dollars on Valentine's Day. They are big, full and perfect. The tables had red and white rose arrangements and her home had several vases full of red roses. It was incredible. As I said there were like 90 people there - tios, primos, abuelos, sobrinos, etc, etc. And Bela was quite a hit! She smiled and greeted everyone. She had a very fun-filled day, being passed from primo to tia to abuelo to tio to abuela to prima and back again. And everyone said she was divina y linda y hermosa (divine, pretty and beautiful) and that we had the most beautiful and friendly daughter. All in all it was a wonderful day full of family and laughter - definitely a foreshadow to our wedding!