Annika Corin Velázquez was born May 3rd, 2014 at 755 A.M. weighing 6 pounds 12 ounces and measuring 20 inches. Both baby and mama are doing well. Like to thank Lauren and Katie from Lone Star Midwives for their excellent care and all the staff at St. Luke's Baptist Hospital.
More pictures to come!
Been enjoying the great outdoor weather these last couple of days. Things are about to change...
Seems our little peanut decided to gestate a little longer. To pass the time and to get mama out of the house, we packed our weekend with events. Saturday we met up with my cousin who showed us around his school, The University of the Incarnate Word, where he is studying to be a nurse. On Sunday we met up with Suzan and Tom and Jan from Roanoke, Virginia. It was great to spend our time with family and friends during our stay in San Antonio. To view the entire album of The University of the Incarnate Word, click here. To view the entire album of our Sunday at Bourne, Texas, click here.
Apparently there were 5 Spanish missions in San Antonio Texas during the 1700s, one of them being San Antonio de Valero which was later called the Alamo. No thanks to Siri we stumbled onto the San José Mission. This mission was founded in 1720 by Father Margil de Jesús, a seasoned Franciscan missionary. The Franciscan friars' objective was to convert indigenous hunters and gatherers into Catholic tax paying subjects of the King of Spain. One mission down, 3 to go... To view the entire album click here.
As the peanut continuos to cook (roughly 2 weeks till the due date), Julia and I are passing the time exploring the San Antonio area. First stop, Gruene Texas. To view the entire album click here.
Soon after leaving McAllen, TX, heading north, we could see a plethora of wildflowers along highway 281. Spring time in Texas brings out all sorts of species, the most iconic of which is the Texas Bluebonnet. This past Saturday we drove to Austin to visit Michelle, Vincent, and Suzan, and they took us to McKinney Falls for an impromptu photo shoot. Enjoy! To view the entire album click here.
We had a great weekend visiting my aunts, uncles, and cousins over the weekend of March 30th topped off with some home cooking, dominos, and spending time with the nieces! See you soon! To view the entire album click here.
It's five weeks before our baby girl is scheduled to arrive, and it's clear she'll be well-loved (and spoiled!) by a great group of friends and family. We couldn't be luckier. The ladies of Texas threw me a beautiful baby shower in McAllen on March 22nd. Mom and Michelle came in from Mexico and Austin, and the crew from Brownsville joined us, as well. Many thanks to Nury for organizing a fantastic event, to all of the hostesses for their generosity, to Happiness Cupcakes and Lisa for the phenomenal cakes, and to all of the invitees for sharing in the fun. To view the entire album, click here
We've arrived in Texas after a series of flight delays with kitties in hand. We are adjusting to the humidity, oxygen, and Cubanera well. We took a quick trip to San Antonio to visit our OBGYN and the baby is head down and doing well. Spring is in the air as my sneezing can attest but at least we are able to enjoy Texas' spring wildflowers. More pics to come...
Soon all of our attention will be consumed by our baby girl, entering this world in late April, God willing. To "celebrate" we headed south to The Avenue of the Volcanoes for our BabyMoon over President's Day Weekend and stayed at some fantastic Haciendas. Many thanks to Suzan, Michelle, and Vince for the birthday gift! The Avenue of the Volcanoes was named in 1802 by the German exploreer Alexander von Humboldt. Known as the spine of Ecuador, it can also be thought of as a ladder where the north side of the ladder resides in Quito and goes south several hundred kilometers. The sides of the ladder are where the mountains and volcanoes reside while in the middle is a fertile valley at an elevation of around 9,000 ft. Driving south from Quito, along the Pan American Highway, on a clear day one can see off in the distance Volcan Antisana (18,860 ft.), Volcan Illiniza (17,218 ft.), and the famous Volcan Cotopaxi (19,350 ft). Cotopaxi is roughly 50 km south of Quito.
We stayed at 2 haciendas, each with its own history. The first was Hostería La Ciénega. To paraphrase from Insight Guides - Ecuador & Galapagos, its main house "is a stone mansion with huge windows, stone-cobbled patios and Moorish-style fountains". It was built in the mid-1600s for the Marquis family. The bell in the stone chapel, installed in 1768 after 20 years of devastating eruptions from Cotopaxi, is still rung every Sunday morning. It is said that the Maenza-Lasso family plotted Ecuador's independence from Spain here in the 1800s. The food here is fantastic and the menu contains a wide variety of dishes.
For our second hacienda we stayed at San Agustin de Callao, one of the 5 best haciendas in Ecuador. Again paraphrasing from Insight Guides - Ecuador & Galapagos, it was built on an Inca palace site. Its chapel and dining room are built "entirely within the original Inca stonework". The Hacienda offers horse-back rides around Cotopaxi that I'm sure are with impressive views of the volcano on a clear day. We opted out of the ride given Julia's belly but we thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic meals!
During the day we headed to the Parque Nacional Cotopaxi. Upon entering the park we noticed pine trees on both sides of the highway. The Monterrey Pines were brought in from California and grow much quicker than the native trees, perfect to supply the demands for lumber in the area. The problem, however, is that this pine spread quickly and overtook the native vegetation. Continuing our drive into the park, and ascending in altitude, the road turned from paved to gravel. At the visitor's center we stopped and did a small hike overlooking what appears to be a gorge created by lava flows from Cotopaxi. We then continued the gravel road up the mountain eventually stopping at the parking lot just below El Refugio. This is where nearly 15 years ago Julia stayed a couple of nights acclimating before climbing up the volcano. Roughly ~14,000 feet high high we could see El Refugio and the glaciers Julia had to climb to get to the peak. The view down was impressive. We later drove back down and somehow veered off into the off-roads heading towards Volcan Sincholagua. The off-roading was fun with Mars-like terrain and massive rocks dotting the area. It was quiet and surreal with just the occasional contact with other off-roaders and wild horses. Eventually we stumbled on a creek from which Julia recalls drinking 15 years ago -- this is most likely how she got Giardia given she saw a dead horse further up the creek.
The next day we returned to the park and took a nice hike around Limpiopungo Lagoon. On a clear day one would be able to see Cotopaxi but on this day clouds again blocked our view.
We will be returning frequently to this incredible park and hope to capture the volcano unobstructed by clouds. Obviously this is the most I've written in a blog but the area is just fantastic.
To view the entire album click here.
http://svelazquez.smugmug.com/Qutio/BabyMoonCotopaxi/i-CM9mQdc/A
We woke up Sunday morning with the sun lighting our bedroom like clock work at 6:30 a.m. Given that it was a sunny day, we decided to take another stab at Reserva Yanacocha. As we got closer to the Reserva, the visibility began to drop -- we were upon the cloud forest once again. But this time there was no rain but just clouds so we decided to park and go for a hike along the flat trail. We were glad we did. The vegetation along the Inca trail was impressive. I've never seen lettuce that big! Because of the constant dampness from the clouds, the flowers seem to be constantly blooming. This provides enough nectar to feed the plethora of humming birds.
To view the entire album click here.
Julia and I decided to drive to Reserva Yanacocha, a reserve near the Volcán Pichincha just to the west of Quito and home to a wide variety of humming birds. The trail was near Quito and although the trails were at high altitude, they were relatively flat -- perfect for my pregnant wife and her out of shape husband. It took us only an hour to get there thanks to the directions we found on a great blog. While driving up the mountains west of Quito to the reserve, we noticed clouds hanging around the peaks. We turned onto the roughly 10km dirt road that leads to the reserve, at an elevation of ~10,000 feet, and soon we were in the clouds. Duh! So this is what a cloud forest looks like! When we reached the reserve rain was coming down at a pretty good clip and the temp was near 48F. Today was not a good day for a hike after all. We regrettably decided to drive back down to Quito and try again some other time when the weather cooperates.
The good thing is that we know the route and even though we were technically less then 10 miles away from Quito, it felt as if we were hundreds of miles away. Stay tuned to our next attempt at this reserve!
It has been raining a lot over the last couple of days but thankfully we got a break today. We decided to take a little road trip to a farm south of Quito named Hacienda La Alegria. This charming farm is free of car alarms and other city noise, and instead has only sounds of the wind blowing against the leaves. Juan Luis was kind enough to give us a tour of the place, showing us the rooms in their western motif with spectacular views of the country side. He showed us the horses, cows, and more importantly the llamas. They were comedic in appearance with their hair and teeth and always weary of Jessica the German Shepard who was nearby and known to chase them.
They provided us with a fantastic lunch -- a traditional Ecuadorian soup (forgot the name), chicken with rice and green beans, and a lemon mousse for dessert. All were delicious!
Given that it only took us 45 minutes to get there, we definitely will be returning.
To view the entire album, click here.
Thanks to all those that came out to our gender revealing party. We had a great time and being able to share this moment with the family was special and meant a lot to us. Vince was the only person who knew the gender of our baby and he stuffed the piñata with the appropriate color of paper, bows, and ribbons. Once Eduardo broke the piñata, pink items fell to the floor revealing that our baby is a girl. Holy shit! I'm going to be a dad!
Also, thanks to Lisa from Happiness Cupcakes for the great cakes!!
To view the entire album click here. Thanks to Vince for capturing Vivian's excitement over her coming niece as well as capturing the piñata hits of several Major League Baseball players. You'll see what I mean when viewing the album.
I'd like to thank Michelle and Vince for hosting Christmas this year. We had a fantastic time during our week in Austin and the food was delicious. From Vince's bacon and pancakes, Michelle's Kimchi, to Suzan's pecan pie -- they all were delicious! Thank you for the gifts and we will be seeing you shortly. Below are some pics of our week in Austin. To view the entire album click here.
With all the goodies we have been eating lately, we were in need of some exercise. A beautiful day for a hike along McKinney Falls where we got to enjoy some fall colors. A video of Vince sketching the landscape.
http://svelazquez.smugmug.com/XMAS2013/Austin/McKinneyFalls/i-VBTngBg/A
Below are some pictures. To view the entire album click here.
Michelle landed a job at the Lady Bird Wildflower Center as part of the Ecosystem Design Group at the University of Texas at Austin. As part of her work, she does prescribed fires for research and to inform restoration and regenerative practices. The fields for their research contain a plethora of Juniperus ashei -- a perfect specimen for a Christmas tree. With approval from her office, Vince, Michelle, Suzan, Julia, and I headed out to the Lady Bird Wildflower Center in search of a Christmas Tree. Afterwards we treated ourselves to some Texas BBQ at Salt Lick and then Julia made her very special snickerdoodles!
Below are some pictures of our adventure. To view the entire album click here.
Our first "San Giving" in Quito and it was a great one! Lots of great food made by Suzan and Julia like homemade green bean onion casserole, apple and cranberry turkey roulade, and hickory smoked turkey drumsticks. Desserts were excellent as well. This year, like years before, we have a lot to be thankful for -- we are in good health and have a great family and friends. I'm getting hungry creating this blog...time for leftovers!
To see the entire album, click here.
After 5 months of living at my parents house, temporary housing, and hotels, we have finally moved into our new home. We haven't done a whole lot of exploring because of the move, unpacking, and cleaning but we finally cleaned up the lower floor so I got my camera out to take some pics. We have a lot of light compared to our place in Mexico. Many thanks to Suzan for finding us this gem and to my parents for letting us -- including our cats -- stay at their home!
Today Julia, Suzan, and I took advantage of Parque Metropolitano, a park in Quito roughly 10 minutes away - no traffic what so ever! The park has some nice views of Quito and Cumbaya and is large enough to get away from the crowds. A lot of folks walk their dogs here so if people/dog watching is of interest, this is the place. At one point we even saw a cow grazing underneath the native eucalyptus trees.
