Vielot-Gonzalez

Saturday, March 14, 2009

USVI

So the vacation to the US Virgin Islands that I had been waiting for and looking forward to has passed. We went last weekend and it was excellent. The weather was amazing, the wedding was beautiful and the family had an overall great time.

Papi, Mami and Mateo at the wedding posing in front of a gorgeous sunset backdrop

Mateo strolling on the beach with Mami

Mateo and Papi share a moment on the beach

The moment is over...Mateo is off and running again

Mateo on our first full day. You can see he is being very cautious about the water, but enjoying it nonetheless

Take 2 - Cowboy Mateo runs around the beach with more courage this time

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Cabin Fever - Part 4

Today was the Annual Cabin Fever Festival in Hoboken. The Hoboken Family Alliance puts it together at the Elks Club and there are activities and entertainment for kids of all ages. It was a good time as you can see from the images below. Mateo has now been to two kiddie concerts - Polka Dot last summer and today he saw the Fuzzy Lemons.

Ticklefest with Papi

Mateo and Papi jamming to the beats

The Fuzzy Lemons rocking it out

Mateo playing with a giraffe-print ball - you can see that he doesn't want to give it up

Cabin Fever - Part 3

We should consider ourselves lucky because we had visitors and new toys to break up the monotony of being inside all winter.

Tio Cesar came over to visit and Mateo was so happy to have a new playmate who was willing to play catch.

Mateo is now the coolest kid in town with his new bike which he likes to call "motorcycle"

Abuelo came over to play and help Mateo with one of his favorite past times - putting together puzzles

This picture was too cute not to put in. This is Mateo sporting his Abuelo's Italian made hat

Cabin Fever - Part 2

This video was too funny not to post. We hadn't even seen it until we downloaded it and then we managed to figure out that he is watching "Lazy Town" and is dancing and singing along with the characters. It is a little longer than the other videos, but totally worth it.

Cabin Fever 2009 - Part 1

So since this winter has been colder than normal the Vielot-Gonzalez clan has been a little bit stir crazy. This is a first in a multi-part series called Cabin Fever. The images below may seem a little familiar, but they are actually rejects from his Valentine's Card. We had this "pop-out-of-your-surprise-box" photo shoot and while the little one looked adorable, the background was not so cute.

"HI MOMMY!"

"Surprise!"

"Hey there"

"Cheese!"

First Big Snow 2009

This scene took place in early January during the first big snow of the season. You can see Mateo is enjoying himself. I, on the other hand, was counting down the minutes until it was time to go back in. I guess snow isn't as much fun when you're a grown up...or maybe I was just really really cold.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Winter Holidays 2009

So I know that judging by the lack of blog activity that took place during the month of December one would think we must not have had anything going on to report. On the contrary, December was so busy I just lacked the time to update the blog. I have finally secured some time today to post the pix and comments, so without further ado scroll all the way down in order to review our winter holiday activities in chronological order.

Judging by the smitten look on Madrina's face, I think we all know Mateo's place is secure

Mateo also appeared to be very happy, putting on his most dapper winter look

Since things went so well during the day they decided to go out for dinner at a favorite local spot where Maddie appeared to be very happy with the food and company

It seemed to be a lot easier the next time where, trying to make a good impression, he showered her with his favorite toys

Sharing begins again. Mateo attempts to "share" and parallel play with Maddie

Tia Mirta chills out with Mateo

Cousins - Kleber & Max, Francoise & Mateo, and Yves & Daniel

Mateo meets up with cousins Max and Daniel again and their great-grandfather Papa KeKe and Grand-Auntie Marie

Mateo at Jungle Jimbos (an indoor playground)

Finally we ended the day at Samurai Restaurant where we had dinner with Tia Anissa(not pictured) and family (Christian-not pictured, Jordan, Jonathon and god-brother Kristian)

He also got to spend time with Bis-abuelo Julio (as you can see he was overwhelmed with emotion)

Later that day we went to Hialeah where Mateo met another new cousin, Alejandro (prima Aimara's son)

The Happy Family - Cousins Kleber, Lizette and Max

The day after Christmas we went to visit another new cousin Max Kleber Vielot (cousin Kleber's son) who was born just 3 weeks before Daniel

We took Mateo to Cutler Ridge Park (which BTW has been refurbished to a much better playground than when I was little) to burn off some energy

Auntie Pat (from Maryland) came to visit and met Mateo for the first time

Christmas morning Mateo and Grandma open his presents

We spent Noche Buena at a family friend's house where the themes of the season "sharing and giving" were reluctantly being practiced by two young toddlers - Mateo and Josh

On Christmas Eve we went to visit our new little cousin Daniel Yves Vielot (cousin Yves's son)

Family posing in a sleigh (which was being pulled by flamingos...true Miami style)

Posing with a car

Mateo had a blast at church, there were fun slides

Mateo and Grandma pose at home before she sings in the show

The Vielot-Gonzalez family is all dolled up and ready to go to the Christmas show at Grandma's church

One ride wasn't enough, so Mommy decided to join in the fun for the second ride

After the train ride it was time for the carousel

Here they come

Mateo & Papi enjoy a train ride at the mall

As you can see the bed has enough room for two people, which in the end made it too big for him to feel comfortable sleeping alone. The solution - we put him to sleep in the playpen and when he woke up in the middle of the night Eddie slept with him in this bed. I guess he really needs a toddler bed.

So it turns out that a playpen is no longer the appropriate size for Mateo...it made him feel cramped and he tended to wake up in the middle of the night. As a potential solution we decided to add some guard rails to my old twin sized bed. Mateo thought it made a great play pen.