Vegas, Baby

Woooo-weee! We were on a Vegas vacation for a few days, and could not have had a better time. Edgar's cousins Elsa & Tony got remarried at Mandalay Bay-- that was the official "reason" for the trip, but it was really just an excuse for Edgar's Chicago & Michigan relatives to wreak havoc in Vegas. We brought Chamina with us so we were more *ahem* low-key, but it was still great to get away for a bit.

We stayed at Edgar's Auntie Ida's house for most of the trip. She and her husband (Uncle Mike) retired to Vegas (from SF) a couple of years ago. They bought a one-story house in one of the many new developments mushrooming there these days, and are now enjoying casinos and buffets to their hearts' content. They were SO wonderful and accommodating to us! We had a fantastic time with them.

Cham & Lolo Mike chillin' on the couch

We also got to spend some time with Armi & Ron Abiera at their house in Summerlin (a suburb of Vegas about 30 minutes away from the Strip). Cham got to play with Maddie, and we met baby Sophia for the very first time. Maddie had plenty of toys, so she and Chamina were kept very busy while the grown-ups talked and caught up. Sophia wanted so badly to play with the "big" girls, but alas, she couldn't sit up without support yet!

Edgar, Ron, & Mark

Dress-Up Princesses

6-month-old Baby Sophia aka the Harp Seal =)

Then it was off to Mandalay Bay for pre-wedding, wedding, and post-wedding activities with Edgar's cousins! Most of them drove to California a day after the wedding, so we were able to take them around in the week following Vegas. But that's a whole other post...

(Re)Newlyweds: Elsa & Tony

Chamina & Hannah

Dormitorios roll deep

Chamina's New Haircut

Chamina's had a good headful of hair ever since she was born. In fact, she was all hair and limbs when she came out, and this has not changed yet. I've been half-assed "trimming" it since she was one, just snipping here and there in a vain attempt to contain the madness, but I finally looked at it the other day and couldn't take it anymore. The urge to cut it finally took over. I got a pair of sewing scissors, a popsicle for Chamina to suck on (so she could keep still) and I chopped 3-4 inches off the bottom.

Now, this isn't the only time I've messed with her hair. I once took it upon myself to "fix" her bangs when she was a year old. They were getting kind of long, and I thought it was time to get them out of her eyes. Yikes. I trimmed them to within a centimeter of their lives. They were crooked, too. She looked like a little Bettie Page wannabe. Oops, sorry!

That incident was on my mind while I was snip-snapping today, but not so much that I stopped or anything. Here is the end-result. Oh, well. It's a free haircut for a reason.

Sunday in the Sand

We high-tailed it to Newport Beach to escape the horrible 100-degree heat this past Sunday. I don't think I was ever so grateful in my whole life to be living near the ocean! It was a beautiful day, and we spent more time there than I believed was possible (especially since we had Marley & Chamina and I thought they'd be completely fried after two seconds in the sun). The evacuees included us, the Triple Ms (Melon, Manny, & Marley), and the "prinings" Abu & JJ.
Marley and Chamina had a plethora of sand toys to play with this time, courtesy of Melon & Manny. Uncle Abu showed them how to make a birthday cake, which took about 15 minutes to build and 5 seconds for Chamina to smash.




Edgar, the resident sand sculptor, also built a sand train while Chamina jumped around it going "Choo-choo!" and pumping her fist up & down.



Melon, that wonderful Earth Mother that she is, also brought a TON of food! We gorged on sardines, canned oysters, chips, etc. etc. It was 5 minutes of exercise in the water, then hours & hours of eating. What an awesome ratio. Of course it was Taco Mesa afterwards, which meant more eating. I love those kinds of days!

Who's the old lady with JJ?

The crew

Nonna & Poppy's Day Off

Dear Nonna & Poppy,
Thanks for taking the afternoon off to eat sushi and play with me in the new park. I practiced singing "Happy Birthday, Nonna" all morning that day, but I decided to switch it to "Happy Birthday, Poppy" by the time I got to San Diego. Poppy, next time we go to the park, I want you to take me on the big-kid slide, ok? I'll probably be too scared to go through with it, but I'll want to try anyway. See you soon.
Love,
Chamina Elise

Wow, I have two yayas!

Happy Birthday, Bobalicious!

Here's a recent photo of Boba & her Lola Tess

Yay for birthdays! Chamina's cousin Katrina just turned the big 0-1 and had a party to celebrate her milestone in San Diego. The big loser that I am, I totally forgot my camera and, therefore, have no photos of the adorable birthday girl. Suffice it to say, she was darling and the party was fun, fun, fun. Chamina is still playing with all the toys in her goodie bag (although she hasn't yet forgiven me for leaving her bubble bottle in the park). Happy first birthday, Katrina Miree!

Hard to believe they start out so little.

Beach Blanket Bingo

The Hugging Bandits strike again

"A Surf & Sand Drama"
Featuring: Marley Manalo, Isagani de la Cruz & Chamina Elise Dormitorio
Setting: Corona del Mar beach
Release Date: Monday, July 3, 2006
Plot: Fighting ensues over a pail and shovel, causing friction among 3 sand-loving toddlers. One pail and shovel aren't enough! What were the silly parents thinking, not packing more sand toys?? Sharing is proposed but rejected soundly by the demanding tykes. Will there be an impasse? An all-out turf war? Will they ever be friends again?
Thankfully, the brilliant daddies distract the wee ones by building a-- well, a distraction, while mommies silently confiscate said pail & shovel. Peace is restored to the beach once again. All's well that ends extremely well, with a trip to Taco Mesa for dinner. THE END

Busy weekend

Whoa! Lots of fun with the cousins this weekend. We watched the Paquiao fight at Edgar's Auntie Nena's house in Torrance on Saturday, where Chamina had a blast dancing and playing hide n' seek with her cousins Maeva & Gaby. Bina, Perci, and Gani were down from SF too, so there was some celebrating to be had in West Covina on Sunday. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

In her Lolo Dormitorio's pool

Dance party in Lola Nena's livingroom

Hangin' with Jillian at Lolo Art's house

Gani in a panty! =)

Marley & Chamina: The Hugging Bandits

And, of course, everyone's favorite activity when it's 100 degrees and sweltering in Wes Co... swimming! Hmmm, 16 summers ago, you would've seen the same 3 girls in that same pool every afternoon from 2-6 PM. There are just more little people joining us these days. =)

$%*@

Grreeeaaat. I knew this would happen sooner or later. Chamina's got a new word in her expanding vocabulary: $%*@. One syllable, rhymes with lit, pit, or female mammaries. I uttered the word quite casually the other day (hey, I didn't think she was paying attention!) and lo & behold, she caught hold of it and won't let it go. Now she says it all the time, sings it even, like she's mocking me somehow. She's in her crib right now, supposed to be napping, but instead I hear "$%*@, $%*@, $%*@". Another bad mommy moment.

Finding Nemo

Our first summer excursion! We hit the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach last Sunday for a family day out. The last time we took Chamina to the Aquarium, she was too chickenee-nee to be involved in most of the exhibits. What a difference a year makes! She was much more interactive this time, wanting to know what each animal was, waving "hi" and "bye" to them, and calling all the orange fish Nemo. She liked dipping her hands in the petting pool, but wasn't quite ready to touch any of the animals in it yet.

Getting to the Aquarium was a whole other adventure altogether. That area of Long Beach is CRAY-ZEE poppin' these days! The crowds can only be described as "Disneyland-ish", and it took us almost 30 minutes just to find parking (and that was in a parking structure). There's all this construction going up around there with tons of new shops and restaurants, so it's quite the tourist magnet now. At least we saved ourselves the headache of admission lines (not to mention the $$). You feel so special when you can bypass a line and go right into someplace, like they do on "Entourage"! (Except, in this case, it's into a measly Aquarium, not some hip club like Butter or Koi. *sigh*)

Here's one from our first visit-- notice, mommy's wearing the EXACT same shirt. So much for fashion...

Hail the Conquering Graduate

Karla graduated from Mira Mesa High School!! EGADS!!! Wasn't it just the other day when she was that tiny gal who said "I'm sick of bread!" for our Christmas play? Or the one who pronounced squirrel "squirt-el" for the longest time? I still remember that picture of her as a pumpkin for Halloween (she must've been about 3?), with a sour look on her face and a scratch/bukol on her head because she face-planted walking out of the restaurant the night before. Why do they have to grow up?

Graduation not only reminds one of how old "the kids" are getting, it also serves as a solemn reminder that YOU are getting on in years as well. BLEH. As Abu & JJ were kind enough to point out at Karla's graduation, it's been 14 years since I was a senior. Yikes! Actually, Abu kept insisting I was from the Class of '85. (Beeyatch!) I can hardly believe he & JJ have already been in college for 4 years. Man, time stops for no one...

And now, some pictures of the soon-to-be-SDSU freshman:

Hey, Karla, is that your older sister?

Sibs