Soli as a flamingo on Halloween...

Jon likes to eat 'em... Soli likes to ride 'em....

On Thursday, Jon ate a typical Peruvian dish which is made with dried Alpaca meat.

On Friday, Jon, Soli and I went to the artesanales, artisan crafts of Peru, and Soli rode an Alpaca.

Mountain: Huayna Potosi, Bolivia

Adventures in Peru....

Finally, I am almost caught up with the blog... At least now I'm in the current year.

I went a little crazy there for a while, completely obsessing about updating the blog. Jon even joked about how I was spending more time at night with the blog than him.

So... I took a little break and now I'm back!

We started off this year in Lima, Peru.
We visiting back in December of 2008, and we always talked about going back. After so many events in the end of 2008, the stars aligned and sent us to Lima.

We are staying with my grandparents, which is such a blessing in so many ways.

Here are some of the highlights....

Since we are below the equator it's summer!! (Well, right now it's technically fall, I think, but from what I hear about the climate here, there is only summer and winter, and in winter, it doesn't get too cold) So, we practically got to skip over winter, which was pretty sweet, because we love the beach.

Mikael after retiring from speaking Spanish at the young age of three and half has decided to not only understand what you are saying in Spanish, but now once again to respond. In the beginning of March we enrolled him in school, where along with Spanish he is learning so much, and he loves it! This past Saturday he told my grandmother he wanted to go to school, and was pretty disappointed when he realized that it was Saturday and that there was no school. He even got into his first fight here, which I must add he did not start.

Soli is blossoming so much! She learned to flip over. She learned to crawl. She learned to sit up alone. She's a little flirt and is loving all the extra attention she is getting from everyone. She's babbling and screaming and laughing and giggling. She is so much fun and is always so happy.

I especially love seeing happiness in my grandparents as they spend time with their great grandchildren.

Jon is having so much fun too!! He fits right in with the family and everyone loves him (I mean, how could anyone not, he's AMAZING).

We are really enjoying our experience here and feel so blessed to have this opportunity. 

Oh yea, and the sunsets here are so beautiful!... As you can probably tell.

DECEMBER 2009

Christmas in the District of Columbia

The tree...

Jon and his little girl...

Me and my little boy...

Mikael at the National Building Museum....

Jon in front of the Capitol Building, Washington Monument in the background...

Sole on Toto's (my mom's grandma nickname) lap...

NOVEMBER 2009

November was pretty busy...

Newborn baby...
Mikael with his various activities... Joyschool, Ninjitsu, pottery class, swimming class...
Jon and midterms...

Even with so much going on we still found time to go visit Mimi & Papa where Jon helped his dad re-shingle the roof.

Mikael had so much fun during the whole experience.

OCTOBER 2009 (part two)

And here is the other major event that happened in October....

On the 11th day of October at 4:44 in the morning in a cozy little room at The Women's Birth & Wellness Center in Chapel Hill, Soledad Estelle Leggett came into the world....

Here are some pictures of Soli just 2 weeks old....

Thank you to Ashley Clauss for the beautiful pictures!
You can see more of Ashley's work on her blog... Ashley Clauss' Picture Place

OCTOBER 2009 (part one)

 Two major events happened that October.

Here is one....

Dana's Wedding!!!!

On the 2nd day of October in the year 2009 Dana Leggett married Ishan McCray.

They had a beautiful ceremony and reception right on Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina.

Here is the happy couple minutes after the vows.

Daddy and daughter....

Here are Ish and Maya

We really are excited to have you guys in the family!

Here is the beautiful family....

Ishan - Little Mya - Dana - Maya Christine (or who Mikael calls Big Maya)

Oh yea.... and here is a picture of my belly about nine days before I gave birth...

SEPTEMBER 2009

Once again, no pictures.  =(

No pictures of me in my 8 month of pregnancy.
No pictures of Mikael's Ben-10 birthday cake.

During September Mikael and I started Joy School with three little girls from the ward.

Jon was getting settled into school and enjoying the semester.

So, since I have no pictures of this month available I am going to take the opportunity to show Mikael off a little.
He turned 5 in September, so this can be a sort of picture celebration of his five years of life.

October 2005.

October 2005.

 <3 Papito

October 2005.

December 2005.

December 2005.

January 2006.

January 2006.

February 2006.

February 2006.

February 2006.

March 2006.

 Mikael & Uncle JP 2006.

April 2007.

(Note the rice milk mustache)

May 2007.

May 2007.

April 2008.

May 2008.

October 2008.

October 2009.

AUGUST 2009

Sad, but true, I have absolutely no photographs of August on Jon's laptop. =(

We had quite the adventure in August.

Jon finished his second summer session and we were set on taking a trip somewhere. After talking with family, the stars aligned and pointed us toward Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. My mom needed help moving some stuff down from Ottawa to Washington, D.C. We took it as an opportunity to help out, to visit my aunt Gabriela and her family, and to go back to the city where Jon and I met and experience it a whole other way.

We went to Ocean Isle Beach first to visit Jon's family.

Then, came back to Chapel Hill for a pre-natal appointment.

Then, to D.C.

Then, off to Canada.

We drove from D.C., which can be done in 10 hours, but being that I was seven months pregnant and that Mikael was five years old, we needed to take breaks. The road trip was not too bad.

Canada is beautiful in the summer time!

We went to the Byward Market. We ate beaver tails. We hung out with my cousin Emile and my beautiful little twin cousins Claudia & Estelle. We spent two days in Quebec City with some friends. We went to the Greek Festival. We went camping and swimming at Lac Philippe in Quebec. We got to enjoy my aunt Gabriela's delicious cooking. Jon went running with my uncle Remi. Mikael had SO much fun!! He even put on my cousins goalie hockey gear and them shoot tennis balls at him, which was hilarious and harmless. I have pictures of this back home and will post them as soon as I can.

After about 2 weeks (I think), we had to return to the states.

Our road trip back home was an adventure we never saw coming. As we drove through the mountains of upstate New York we came upon some car trouble. Apparently the trailer we were pulling through the mountains and the summer heat was a bit to much for the Jeep. We ended up stuck in Binghampton, NY. Luckily we had just stopped to eat dinner and a hotel was right nearby.We were all tired and nervous about how this was all going to end up. All except Mikael, he was excited. Sleeping in a cool room with a t.v. that had cartoons and a buffet breakfast with all the bread he could want. For Mikael this was a great adventure. For the rest of us, it was a bit more stressful. Jon's mechanic skills were now being put to the test. After consulting with his dad, who may I add can fix ANYTHING, several times he did it! Jon was our hero! He fixed the car and drove back to D.C. the next day.

We stayed in D.C. for a couple of days but then it was back to Chapel Hill to get ready for school.

Jon started the fall semester at UNC.

Mikael and I were getting ready for Joy School.

Oh yea, and by now I was on super nesting mode, rearranging furniture, cleaning everything and anything.

So... I've decided since I have no pictures of August 2009, I'll post pictures of August 2008.