Bayside, Bungy Bouncing and Family

Since the kids were out of school, I took the kids to Miami to see the family.

Here is a picture of us at Bayside, with a shrimp from the restaurant Bubba Gump.



A picture of a one man band...
The kids went bungy bouncing. It was the highlight of their day!
Here is Lauryn...


Here is Natalia...
and here is Anthony...

Then we went to my grandmother's house and visited with family. This is my sister, Karin!
with Nati...
and somehow, I can never say no to her "funny face picture" requests.
Here is Lauryn with the cousins...

Dania Beach

Karin and I wanted to take the kids to the beach and she suggested Dania Beach! I had only been there once and I was a small child then, so I remember very little.



I know this is corny, but hey give me some slack my name is not very common. I decided to have a little fun with it!






Here are some pictures of the kids at the beach. We had fun building sand castles, bathing in the beach and eating. It was very relaxing and fun at the same time.




This is my youngest niece, Kailynne.




Dania Beach Pier...


Arianna and Kailynne.
Highway view of downtown Miami. Does not do the city justice. Miami has a beautiful skyline.

A Trip to Hair Healers

Every time we go to Miami, a visit to Hair Healer is inevitable. I have tried several salons, but ultimately, the finished look that we get when we go is second to none. Natalia and Lauryn both had their hair cut. Natalia got her haircut with Kiki and Lauryn with Dania.

Natalia was really excited to cut her hair. She wanted it shoulder length. Kiki took quite a bit off, but we decided that a little longer than shoulder length would be ideal. After they washed her hair Kiki went to work...
She is wonderful with kids and made Natalia feel very comfortable... All done with the cut, now the real beautifying begins!

Blow drying her hair...
Like I said before, the finished look is amazing. We decided to have the front trimmed a little bit curving up.

They made her pose...
Oops we forgot...let's add a little blush and lip gloss to the princess... Yeah Kiki really won her over with this one.
Here is a picture with abuelita Zoe, my mom.

Now it's Lauryn's turn...
A good wash goes a long way. Chirino took good care of Lauryn.
Then Dania parted her hair and gave her a wonderful cut. We wanted to leave hers a little longer so she can put it up for sports and cheer leading.

There is Lauryn's finished look...
And here is a look at the back. Believe it or not, I have taken her to places where it's not even. But here, I never worry. It always comes out perfect.

I have been debating on what to do with my hair and have been contemplating cutting a substantial amount. In the end, Danilo doesn't think that is a good idea so I just had Dania trim the ends a little.. I have had it red for a couple of months now and Danilo thinks it's hot, so I won't be changing the color any time soon. Maggie was the one who styled my hair. She blow dried it and then curled my hair with hair iron not a hot curler.
I don't know how they do it, but every time I go my hair turns out very shiny and manageable. The style always lasts for several days.

Sushi Maki

After the salon, we headed out to Sushi Maki across the street from Sunset place in South Miami. This was the kids' first time eating sushi, so it's cause to document. Here is Anthony and I.




Here is Lauryn and Adryanna...

Lauryn ordered a garden roll...

Anthony and I ordered pho soup...

We also ordered a California roll to share...


Adryanna ordered a crunchy roll and by far it was the best! Next time, that is what I will order!


For desert we had tempura ice cream. The ice cream is covered in fried batter. Yummm...

Natalia was staying with her cousins so after Sushi Maki, we went to pick her up. Here is a picture of her. She is our little clown.

A week in the life...Mellow, band concert, birthday, and Twilight.

Today was Anthony's band performance. They did great and I was very impressed at the size of the band. The first ones to perform were the six graders and there were about 120 students. They sounded amazing. It really took me back to my years in the band. I remember being on stage and looking out into the audience looking for my mom. After their first song, I caught him looking at me and smile as he saw us clap. It was very touching as I remembered the feelings I had as a young girl, excited to show my mom our performance. The first picture is of the percussion quintet. They were fun to listen to.

This picture is of all the six graders. The frame did not capture the whole band.
After the performance I made him stop for a picture. He was somewhat embarrassed and didn't want to include any other family members. Quick snapshot was the name of the game. LOL
This picture I took Sunday after church. He was practicing and needed someone to hold his music. Natalia did the job. I should buy him a stand...ya think?
Last Saturday was my birthday and I had an amazing time. Danilo worked the night before so in the morning I woke up to him coming to kiss me with my gifts in tow. We dropped off the kids at Cindy's and he took me to a restaurant I had never gone. It's in little harbor, on their private beach. It was the best. We had planned to have lunch and then head to Busch Gardens, but we were having such a great time just us that we decided to take a stroll down the beach. We ended up walking up the pier and sitting on the edge. We were pretty much by ourselves. It was awesome. We were really enjoying the peace and tranquility the beautiful day had to offer so we decided to go buy Twilight (which we had already reserved), and head home to watch it. We later picked up the kids and went to eat dinner at SinIgual. It was pretty good. I really wanted to eat Mexican food their carne asada with grilled shrimp really hit the spot.

This picture is of me and kids before heading out to SinIgual.
This was improvised. Anthony is such a sweet son.
On Friday, I wore my Twilight shirt to work. For those that don't know I work at an Elementary school. One or two people commented on my shirt until I went to the cafeteria while the 5th graders were having lunch. It was pretty shocking to have kids want to worship my shirt. I felt like somewhat a celebrity and wanted to just hide. Very odd experience. Now I have some of them calling me Mrs. Twilight. I tried to nip that in the bud today. We'll see.
Last week we had the pleasure of pet sitting Mellow. Mellow is the Garcia's dog. She is the sweetest and best chihuahua I know and we were counting down her arrival for about a week. Needless to say she was very spoiled while at our house. Here are some pictures of her with the crown. Yes, she is the queen.