M&L - Someone Comes to Visit

Since Papi is away for another few days, a visitor decided to come in early to keep Mommy, Mateo and Lucia company. Who could it be? Hmmm let's think?

Lucia got on the horn to announce the arrival of a special person

"YAYY! - It's Grandma!" This moment needs to be captured so our new Junior photographer Mateo VG decided it was his duty to do just that. The next few photos are from his portfolio called "Grandma Comes to Visit"

Here is an up close and personal of little sis Lucia

Here is Aba trying to work my old camera - "Amateurs"

Mommy took this one while I was asleep. Apparently these are the cookies she and grandma had made for Lucia's "One-derland" party. It is a good thing I didn't know about these or they would have been gone..."yum, yum"

Lucia Riding Solo

Eddie has been in Brazil since the beginning of the week so I have been a single parent. I have got to say that it is a tough gig. All week Aba has been asking if I am ok and to call whenever I need help. I must admit I was proud of myself for handling them, but I finally acquiesced and allowed her to take Mateo for a sleepover. That left Lucia alone with Navita during the day and with me during the mornings and evening. It was nice girl bonding time.

"I am a lone wolf"

" I do enjoy having my pick of any toy in the house"

"But don't tell Mateo"

" Now I get to choose the bedtime book also - this only child thing isn't half bad"

M&L Visit Thomas the Train

Today was a "happy! happy! joy! joy!" day for Mateo. He was actually going to get to ride on a real live Thomas the Train Engine with his cousins Ayden and Antonio and of course his little sis Miss Lucia.

Engineer Mateo is ready to roll

Here is Thomas the Train waiting to be boarded

Mateo, Ayden and Buzz got to take a picture with an adult-sized train engineer

Lucia, Mima, Abu and Aba (not shown) got to enjoy the ride too

Mami, Mateo and Buzz are all-aboard and ready to go

Mateo insisted I get a close-up photo of he and Buzz

After the ride Mateo and Ayden received their very own Jr. Engineer certificates

And before we left the boys took a quick pic in front of Thomas the Train

M&L Finish a Loooong Weekend

After the 4th of July wrapped up we had nothing to do but errands and that is what we did. A little of this, a little of that and then we were done. I think we were all exhausted by the end of it.

We had no food in the house, so off to the grocery store we went. Mateo and Lucia decided to share the responsibility of riding shotgun in the shopping cart.

Feeling a little loopy - Mateo decided to channel the masked crusader and Cypress Hill

Feeling super exhausted from this super long weekend, Lucia passed out in her highchair with a mouthful of rice still stored in her cheeks.

Being the horrible parents that we are, we insisted on recording for our own personal entertainment

M&L Celebrate The 4th of July 2010

Today Mateo and Lucia celebrated our country's birthday. Last year at this time Mateo had his first memory of fireworks while Miss Lucia was still in utero. What a difference a year makes. This year we were not planning to go on any roof decks, but we were planning to celebrate with family, friends and food. Happy Birthday USA!

Mateo (Buzz) , Papi and Lucia are ready roll

Mateo (Buzz), Mommy and Lucia were all dressed in their red, white and blue for the festivities

Mateo also decided he wanted to rock the fisherman look today

Chi-town visitor, Richie, was visiting with his mom and wife. Lucia enjoyed the goatee and the tattoos

Mateo, Tia Stacie, Antonio and Ayden cooled down by taking a dip in the pool

And finally the fireworks started. This year they were higher than last, so we actually could see some from Aba and Abu's deck

Lucia enjoys her first fireworks with Erich, Antonio, Papi, Stevie and Aba

M&L Celebrate Ayden & Antonio's 4th and 7th Birthday

Today the duo went to their cousins' house to help celebrate Ayden and Antonio's birthdays. There was a lot of entertainment for the kids (see below) and also some good food and drinks for the adults. Everyone had a great time.

Mateo takes a dip in the kiddie pool with Antonio, Ayden and their next door neighbors

Later on, when it was time for the entertainment, Mima held onto Lucia and stood back. You will soon see why.

The party entertainer was an animal wrangler who came to share. It started out rather harmless. Here is Mateo petting a turtle.

For the next animal we felt better putting Lucia back into the house. Here she is behind the sliding glass door feeling trapped and unhappy.

Mateo was intrigued with this next slippery, cold animal- a king snake

He also took to this albino snake, but of course it doesn't stop here

It took several hands to hold on to this huge boa constrictor

All that wrangling left the kids with an appetite so it was time to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake

Lucia got a little to eat with Yolaisy

and then played a little inside with Janzel and Yolaiky

You know it is time to leave when Iron Man comes out

M&L Get a Visit from Ryan

So it seems as if people are coming from all over to join in on Hoboken's fun for kids. Today, Ryan, Navita's son, came for a visit. You may recall he has been here once before with his brother. Today he was riding solo and the kids became fast friends.

"Hey welcome to my park"

Ryan poses with Lucia

Lucia gets caught climbing

Lucia's energy, curiosity and at times stubbornness has tended to match her brother's. I do think she is a lot more of a risk taker which scares me and delights me. She is definitely turning into her own person. Happy 11 months Miss Lucia!

The kids end the day dancing and laughing to Alvin and the Chipmunks