Granpa and Grandma Allen come to visit

It was a wonderful treat to have Grandma and Grandpa with us for almost 3 weeks in December they spend alot of time with the kids and Grace loved having Grandma read to hear and Grandpa color along side her. Cristian got some extra special cuddles from both of them.

Christmas in March

OK, so I am feverishly making an effort to catch up.. life is just more hectic with two little ones running around.. So Grace got her art easel, that I shipped from NYC and Cristian got a cute little farm that we fell in love with, it even came with a tractor. Baby Jesus was really good to the kids but the real gift and surprise was having Grandpa and Grandma come to visit..

NYC Family

While in NYC I could not pass up the opportunity to see my "old" old friends from HS.. I grew up with them and to me they are family.. we only had a couple of hours together but it was so much fun. Paul was great, he took some time off and came shopping with me into the City and shop we did.. later we met up with Ed, Sibi and Harold and went out to eat and dance at this great place in Queens.. It was a special night and hope I get to see them again, real soon.. it had been about 10 years or more since we were all together. What a joy.

Flash from the Past

Talk about a blast from the past, on my way to D.C. I met up with my cousin in Maryland and got to meet her adorable little girl.. she stole my heart. We took the Amtrak into the City and then off to Jackson Heights. OMG, Seriously I had not been in JH in forever. We walked by the bakery I had worked in as a teenager. It was still in business and looked exactly the same, it was freaky, like a time machine. Later that nite Ingrid and I went to a play, it was so much fun to walk around in old neighborhood and look back at the place where I grew up in.. and had such fond memories of.

Family Reunion

In late October I had the chance to go to the Mainland for a Perio meeting in DC. I started the journey early so I could attend my brother's 50th Birthday Celebration. It was so great to see my Nona, I had not seen her in a long time and I got to meet my first grand-nephew.. at least I think that is what he is, he is my oldest niece's son. My mother's great-grandchild. His name is Adam and he is only 23 days older than my son.. confused? don't worry so am I. It was awesome spending time with my family. My sister was suppose to fly in but was unable to do so last minute due to a babysitter emergency. I got to eat my favorite food. Colombian food.. bandeja paisa, chicharron, frijoles.. you name it.. it was no time to diet. I also got to do some shopping and spend time with my younger niece Johana.. and I almost forgot, I got to dance the night away at John's Big Birthday Bash with Mariachis and everything.. truly a memorable experience.

Halloween: Still catching up!

Cristian was a farmer. Originally Lori had another plan however it is difficult to come up with outfits that aren't too hot.
Gracie was Dora, however she had worn the shorts the night before playing dress-up and got them dirty.
Lori wanted us to do the farm theme, however, she couldn't find the cow outfit from last year, whew, it was a good thing as she was going to have me wear it!

Lori was in the mainland for Halloween and returned several days after. She had planned to have a Halloween party for a month before and so the saturday after we had a party at the house in the early evening. The children had a great time!

At the Hotel

Channel surging in luxury. Can we find some Barney Mama!

Teaching Gracie how to play backgammon. She is really good.

What's a vacation at the hotel without pop tarts!

Wrestling with the little guy in the fluffy pillows.

Catching a ride to our room!

One of the fabulous, specktacular views, and it's in our back yard practically.

Whew, that juice is good. Mama, Dora is hungry!

Little guy loving the bed. His favorite past time is wrestling with pillows and head stands. The bedding at the hotel was very nice feather comforter, great for frollicking.

Cuddle time Mami!

Hiking out at Bonsai

This is the little trail that is just northeast at Bonsai. We met some hikers on the way in, otherwise it is a fairly private nice little hike. Oh the little guy is still at home napping.

Ahhh, somebody got tired on the hike back.....wasn't me.

Looking down at the turtles!

Some beautiful plants I noticed, looking like a butterfly.

Doing the tourist photo.

Catching up with last summer

Ok, so I've been in school most nights and weekends and Lori has been busy organizing our life with everything from A to Z that our blog has been dead. My goal is to catch you up if we can.


This past summer after Gracie's birthday we took a family vacation here is Saipan. Lori and I had a nice hotel at the Mariana's and the children came over during the day and we did family outings and then in the early evening they went home and the Yaya stayed with them while Lori and I did some fun adventures out on the town.


Here we are on one beach excursion with Gracie. The little guy was at home napping.

Grace's 3rd Birthday, Late Posting

Party goers chatting.
Eating the cake, YUM.
Sally is helping herself to a drink.
Blowing bubbles.
Cristian is swinging, whee.

Ready to eat the cake.
Playing in the sandbox.
Nina Nancy hanging out with Cristian.
Cristian going for a swim. He's a bit spoiled and doesn't like the cold water.
Tio Paul hanging out with Harper.

We had her birthday party on the weekend after her birthday. It was a swim & play in the sand party. We had pizza and the cake was a chocolate double layer with raspberry filling from the Hyatt, it was a hit.
Her summer classmates had made her this poster at school on her birthday. We took a homemade cake into her class, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. The kids do not like carrot cake except for Grace. She ate all of her piece. Next year it's chocolate.
Working on that family pose at the blowing out of the candles. Please mom's can't I just eat the cake!
We had placed the slide so it landed in the kiddy pool. They are cheering on their friend to go down the slide.Mama is adding cold water to the pool, brrrrr, there was ice in that from the sodas.