Elysian Field Day!

Today was Lucia's 1st and Mateo's 4th Field Day at Elysian. What does that mean? Well it means a whole day of playing outside, not worrying about work and a little friendly competition.

"Go Team Green and Team Yellow!" 

Note: Team Green did win the 3rd Grade competition and Team Yellow won the Kindergarten competition.

Lucia's Soccer & Legos

Today was a very busy day for Miss Lucia. It was a day primarily spent hanging out with the boys. A little soccer and then a Lego party for one of her classmates. Not a bad day.

 Although she is the only girl in her soccer class, she doesn't phase her at all. She volunteers to show them what to do all of the time.

 Look at that fancy foot work!

 Now onto the next activitiy - a celebration at Bricks 4 Kids

She is very proud of her motorized Lego creation

 All of these cuties are from her kindergarten class

 Birthday boy, Uri, turns 6 and blows out the candles on his super cool Lego cake

Girl time at last - Twinsies Valentina and Lucia share a moment

Nana Joan Comes for a Visit

Well today was a very lucky day for the Gonzalez family. We had a couple of very special visitors. One we see pretty often and the other we rarely get to see, but when we do it is a very special time.

 As is the case normally, we took the girls to swimming. Valentina has really been a brave girl and has taken to it like a natural.

 Nice back float

 Special visitor 1 - Nana Joan! She came in last night and has been spending all day with us and Grandma (in the background) getting to take in the kids and all their very normal activities. Lucia warmed up to her as the day drew on.

 She and Mateo also hit it off

Our other special guest? Milla! She was having a play date with us while her dad took her mom, Hanna, and sister and brother Alma and Lucas, to the airport because they were off to Europe for the summer. I think this plan was a lot easier than having her go and see all of them get on a plane without her. All in all they had a great time.

Valentina Turns 1!

I can't believe what today is, can you? It is a fabulously wonderful day because it is Valentina's First Birthday!!!!

"Wooo hoo!" She's so happy she's doing a jig.

"It's your birthday..it's your birthday...go! go! it's your birthday"

And we decided to celebrate the actual day with a marvelous cake and the family. Mommy, Papi, Mateo, Lucia, Aba, Abu and Grandma were all there to celebrate

And of course the traditional birthday song

Sibling love

While everyone else enjoyed the cake, Valentina got to feast on her very first piece of cake cast in her favorite Sesame Street character...Elmo

Dear sweet Valentina, Thank you so much for completing our family. You have been my sunshine in the darkest hours and I don't know if I could have made it through the past year without you. People say "everything happens for a reason" and in this case I believe that wholeheartedly. You have been the happiest, most active and loving little baby. You are the cuddle monster, the hurricane, V, Val, ViVi, Peanut, Cupcake and have definitely established yourself as your own person. You are not like Mateo or Lucia you are like Valentina and we love you dearly.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

MLV go to Elysian Year-End Picnic

Well it has been a good year and today the kids, along with their classmates, are celebrating just how a good of a year its been at the Elysian Charter Year-End Picnic at Columbus Park.  Per usual, it was a plentiful potluck.

It was hard to keep track of them, but I got a quick wave from Lucia before she took off on the monkey bars

The entire time, Mateo was on the basketball court playing soccer with his pals

Even Valentina, who is not yet an Elysian Eagle, got in on the fun

Lucia, with her Rasta twists, had a great time

"woohoo!

MLV Go to Boardwalk

Today we were out and about as usual on the weekend and overall it was a good day.

 Who doesn't love fries and a burger from Boardwalk

Love it!

Lucia Goes to Mini's 3rd Birthday

Today Lucia and I ventured into the city to help celebrate Mini's  (aka DiAnna) 3rd birthday. She is the daughter of one of Mommy's friends from business school. Lucia was suspect at first, but ...

...she was sold after she found out there was face painting.

Wonder Woman! 

Lucia was so entertained by the Hippo Playground in the northern end of Central Park

There areas to dangle

And climb

And don't forget the Hippos to mount!!!

This was the coveted spot for all of the kids - inside the hippos mouth

Although you wouldn't expect this fancifully dressed little miss to be athletic, she managed to swing across these monkey bars made of rings without losing her grip. Bravo!

We can't forget the reason we came - little Mini. Happy 3rd Birthday DiAnna