Adalyn Meets Papa and Nina

Even though I culled through the photos, I still ended up with way too many that I wanted to share from when Jon, Natalie and Adalyn came to visit us last month. (In fact, they arrived exactly one month ago today!) So I did what any right-minded person would do and created a few photo collages -- and by a few, I mean eight. Ummm, yeah, you read that right: eight.

Other grandmothers know that when you have so many photos of cute grandchildren... well, over-sharing is inevitable. It's an addiction. And being able to store photos on your phone?! Brilliant! Now I am never without new photos to press on unsuspecting friends. Or even complete strangers. Yes, I am that grandmother who has been known to show servers in restaurants the latest photos.

But back to their visit. It was, of course, an absolute joy to get to meet Adalyn in person. She is such an adorable, funny, curious little girl!

So prepare your eyeballs for some major cuteness...

It was no small feat to travel from San Francisco to Argentina with a toddler! I'm not sure who was more exhausted when they arrived: Adalyn or her parents :)

They adapted quickly to the afternoon siesta, and we just chilled the remainder of the day while they recovered from the trip. Next day we did a little mini-tour of Carlos Paz, which included our old stomping grounds by the lake.

Over the weekend we visited a few friends. Marcela and her daughter Stefi had us over for lunch on Saturay and Adalyn was enthralled by the two-week old puppies. On Sunday she went with us to see Magdalena, Nestor and Eugenia. She charmed everyone she met, and quickly made friends.

Jon and Nat allowed us to keep her while they got away for one night to Cordoba. I'd gathered the few toys we have on hand for when we have kids visit, and they entertained her for a while...

...but quite honestly, she had way more fun with the siphons!

Eventually she grew tired, and curled up on the chair in the kitchen with her bottle and a book while I got supper ready.

I'd worried about whether she'd take to us, since we were, in effect, complete strangers, just those faces she'd seen on the computer screen occasionally. But I needn't have. Within hours she was reaching out her arms for Papa to pick her up. In fact, she took quite a shine to Papa! We think it's because Jon and his dad look so much alike. Who knows?

But she would often climb on Papa's lap for a bit. Never for long, though, because she is a busy girl! 

Monday, November 9th, we picked Jon and Nat up in Cordoba and headed to Sta. Rosa where we spent the rest of the week.

I was pretty bummed that it rained and stormed a lot while they were here, severely limiting our ability to get out and about, but they actually loved it! I guess after living in drought-stricken California for the last few years, they were ready for some rain. One night when a storm rolled in, they went out and stood on the front porch just to watch it. And none of us minded a little mud on our walks around the neighborhood.

The river proved fascinating for Adalyn too. One day we spied a teeny tiny frog and stopped to watch it. As the week wore on, it warmed up and Adalyn was able to splash about in the water for a bit.

I have a ton of photos of Adalyn eating. She likes her food! She's not really a picky eater, although she'll choose meat over vegetables any day, and the funny girl likes lemons! She'll suck on a slice, making faces the whole time :) I had to include one melt-down photo. These were taken at the same meal.

Staying with the tradition to take family photos by the "Familia Hoyt" sign, we did that on Friday. Or tried to... Adalyn was pretty much over the photo session five minutes after we started. Did I mention she is a busy girl?! You can tell we were barely holding on as she tried to get away :)

And I want to end with one of my absolute favorite photos. Taken down by the river, this photo will forever bring back memories of this very special time together!

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P.S. I was "Nana" until this week. Simon, for reasons we may never understand, decided I am "Nina". Tina thinks maybe because he calls a banana "nana", so of course it would be silly to call your grandmother a banana! Whatever, I am more than happy to henceforth be called Nina!