Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday Honey!  You are a wonderful husband, an awesome Dad, a dedicated firefighter, a blossoming businessman, a fantastic commish, a faithful son, a devoted brother and friend, a fun, happy person who makes our house a fun, happy place.  We love you!

More Summer Fun

A sweet ending to our summer - Disneyland!

 

 

There is something so magical about Disneyland - at any age.  We have not been since Paolo was a baby.

 

 

Ava looks a little unsure!  This reminds me of a picture we have with Mary Poppins when Jules was a baby.  Same face :)

 

The only teacup I can handle - one that doesn't move!  What a sweet cup of tea.

 

It was fun to hang out with Bryce - or Brycey as he is known to Ava.

 

I think I took a picture of every princess that went by.  It was so fun to watch Ava's face because she is so in to princesses right now.  This is Mark's favorite :)

 

 

I could not resist a picture of the chimney sweeps.  Diego used to watch Mary Poppins and do the entire dance of "Step In Time".  I have it on video somewhere and maybe someday I will find it and insert it here.

 

I really enjoyed the time I had with Ava when the others did some bigger kid rides.  She would have been content to ride the Merry-go-round and the Dumbo ride all day.

 

 

Mark's Dad and Lorraine were so helpful all day - sittting back with kids that were too small, saving seats for the parade and even taking kids back to the hotel that wanted to leave early (you know who you are Diego!).  It was every bit the fun, exciting, exhausting day we expected.  Thank you Tata Joe!

 

After Disneyland we decided to head south to San Diego for a couple of days.  We surprised the kids with the news about the boat. 

 

 

 

They made themselves comfortable right away!

 

Sunset Cruise.

 



 

 

We got to see some old friends.....

 

The Gomez family was staying on Mission Beach so we got to spend some time with them.  They are just like family.  The kids played and played and played.

I don't get many photo opps with this cool cat anymore.  He was missing having his big cousins with him at the beach. 

 



 

I guess this was the best I got with Elise!

 

I love goggle shots.  She wanted to wear them while she played in the sand - love it.

 

Looking so grown up.

 

It was nice to have a little trip with just our family.  We are so blessed to have cousins or friends around when we go out of town, but I think it is good to take time with just us.  On the day we were leaving, Mark was getting the boat all cleaned up so I had the kids off the dock and out of the way.  They spent a good hour perfecting this....

 

 

Now if I can just photoshop Ava in there :)

 

 

 

Sweet Lucia!

 

LUCIA MARIE GONZALES

July 31, 2012

 

 

We are sooo excited to have our first cousin on the Gonzales side. She is tiny and sweet and beautiful and we love her so much already!

 

 



Let the Good Times Roll

So I think we have officially spent over a month total up at the cabin this summer - what an amazing blessing!  I think our trips up there this summer are over so I thought I would do a post to wrap up the good times we had.

Egg Roulette with cousins

An afternoon at Summit Gymnastics - thank you Jay and Karen!

A Little Tennis....

Enjoying simple pleasures - cool air and green grass.

A day at the pool complete with ice cream cones.

Ever since she took a photography class at art camp last summer, Elise has loved to take pictures of flowers.  I love that she has a sense of natural beauty and she really does take some good pictures!



We love when those afternoon storms build up.

It was so nice to spend time with our sweet God daughter - Maren James. 

Homemade 4th of July shirts and decorations - neither came out as planned but we had fun shopping with Grandma and making them!

It worked out for me to have some friends up there too.  My parents are so generous to give up a few days so we can have the place to ourselves.  The Pagones came for a night which was so nice because we do not get to see them very often any more.

And our annual cabin time with the Fahrendorfs!  I am always amazed at how well the kids get along and just how silly they can be.  I hope as they get older that we can still do this.

 

 

 

Amazing that all these kids come from just two families!  I love it.

 

 

 



A Birthday to Remember (or forget!)

I am pretty sure Juliana will never forget her 12th birthday.  It started out in the middle of the night with her and Elise throwing up again and again.  Ava joined in shortly after and we spent the entire day on the couch passing the bowl around.  A crazy contagious virus whipped through with 18 of the over 30 family members of ours who were in Pinewood getting sick in the following days.  Big bummer ending to wonderful gathering.  When our crew had recovered, we headed back down home to properly celebrate.  Nana and Tia Linda had decorated the house which was so sweet and uplifting!

 

Good ol' apple pie.

 

 

What a 12 year old girl wants.....

 

 

and the perfect gift from Uncle Chris.

 

 

 

 

 

We love you Jules and we hope you have a great year!  You are sweet, smart, funny, creative and we can not imagine life without you :)