GWOF part II and III

GWOF continued on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we headed to Nana and Grandpa's house. Maria had fun playing with Griffin and splashing her hands in the pool water (and one of her feet, with her shoe still on - my bad!). We enjoyed some tasty tri-tip and Maria thoroughly enjoyed the b-day cake made by Nana as you can see in the pics below.

Today we had Greg's in-laws (my family) over for lunch. Everyone loved the homemade salsa, taco soup, and chocolate cake with ice cream.

Maria and the birthday boy enjoying their beverages of choice...

Maria loved having her cousins over. Here's the only group shot we got of them today! They are playing in the box that Greg's gift came in. Unfortunately, Maria wasn't a fan of being squished in there, so we don't have a better shot of them!Here are some pics of her playing ring-around-rosie with Aidan (anyone got new words to this song, since the original version is pretty morbid?!)

Abuelo had fun playing horse-y with them (you can kinda see part of his head in the first pic!) and he and Abuela helped tire Aidan out by having him run back and forth into their arms :)

Aidan liked looking through one of my picture books of Latin America. Unfortunately for Maria (who also likes the book), Aidan was not as willing to share the book, as he was to play ring-around-the rosie. I'm sure that Maria laughing at Aidan's refusal to share the book with her was not the response Aidan was expecting to get!

So, GWOF 2009 has come to a close. Hope you enjoyed every minute of it, Greg!

GWOF has begun!

Greg's Weekend of Fun (GWOF) has begun! Years ago my friend Melissa Y. started Melissa's Day of Fun to celebrate her b-day, which soon transitioned to Melissa's Weekend of Fun and eventually (in some years) to Melissa's Week of Fun. I adopted this lovely tradition for my own b-day (although now with kids I'm sure Melissa can agree that it's back down to Day of Fun) and often got teased by Greg. Well surprise, surprise, Greg has now adopted this idea and was looking forward to his own GWOF to celebrate his b-day this year :)

Today is his b-day and he is kicking of GWOF with a guys-night-in with his buddies in the man cave. They've got the craps table set up, Mexican food, brownies, cookies, and even home brew compliments of Patrick. Here's a shot of them, early in the night, before the craziness began.

Here is an update with some action shots a couple of hours into the night...

Happy Birthday Greggy - have a fun time! Love, Alina and Maria :)

I'm not Irish...

...but kiss me anyway! :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Kite Festival

On Sunday we spent the day at the Kite Festival. I think it was Maria's first time seeing kites and she really enjoyed it. Our biggest challenge was avoiding novice kite flyers and their kites falling from the sky. It was a beautiful day at the beach - and Mommy got to enjoy a yummy churro at the pier - yummmm.

Cousin Isabella, Auntie Yaya, and Uncle Billy joined us too.

Here Maria explores the beach with Daddy. She hadn't seen sand since Maui last August, so that took some getting used to!

Not too sure what she's up to here, but with her tongue out like her Daddy, she's up to no good!