Four Years Old...

... and living life to the fullest... :)

Diego turned four today, so we had birthday celebrations all day long... and all day yesterday (see Part 2)... and potentially all day tomorrow, too... lol. These kids all know how to make birthdays a HUGE priority... Chelsie, you would be in heaven... ;)

PART 1:

The many faces of Diego on his birthday ~

(Left) Trying to clean cake frosting out of his nose after the "mordita" (little bite) of his birthday cake... the kids got him really, really good... lol. (Right) Posing with his new toys... one of which is already broken, of course... ;)

The birthday cake... what else but el carro McQueen?!?

(Left) Diego, Candi, Jenna and I went to Lupita's Taqueria for lunch today, and both kids were quite fond of the radishes. Jenna remarked that they looked like pink baby rats, and I agreed... (I don't even think I can type the disgusting sound I wanted to make there, so we'll just leave it at "gross"). (Right) Diego poses with the centerpiece at Lupita's... notice the strategically photographed shooting star that looks as though it's going right up his nose... ;)

Tonight at supper, Candi thoroughly enjoyed the pizza as well as Diego's birthday cake... I thought everyone might enjoy a photo of her amazingly dirty face (and this isn't even the worst we've seen... lol). Have I mentioned that we are slowly getting to the topic of table and eating etiquette???

PART 2:

Pre-Birthday Bash (actually written yesterday, and not posted until today because of "technical difficulties" a.k.a. "high, high, high levels of frustration with electronic gadgets"):

The Party-ers: (l-r) Julissa, Jazany, Blanca, Ezequiel, Tania, Lupita, Poncho, Aaron, and Diego (in the center)

Pictured above: Part of the birthday surprise... Mud Cake.
MMMMM... if you didn't have this as a child, then you definitely missed out... ;)

Tomorrow, Diego will be turning 4 years old, but some of the kids decided that he needed to have some birthday surprises early... hence, our pre-birthday bash that took place in the front yard this afternoon!

I was cleaning windows when suddenly I heard, "ahem... ah, ah, a-HEM" behind me. Turning, I saw a chorus of kids (Lupita the ringleader, of course...) bearing a "chocolate" a.k.a. "mud" cake, and grinning from ear to ear.

"Is Diego up from his nap yet? Can we go wake him up? Are you sure he's not awake? Do you want us to go check and see? We have the best birthday surprise for him... wait, we need to practice... don't let him come out yet! Let's go... quick!!!"

And off they ran to practice a song that was an absolute must to put the finishing touches on their "surprise"... ;)

I went inside and got both Candi and Diego up, and as we walked into the living room, kids ran at Diego from all directions, yelling for him to put his shoes on, that he had a surprise, that he had to hurry up... c'mon, you have to hurry up! Slightly overwhelmed by the wall of noise coming at him, he looked at me helplessly and then allowed himself to be ushered into his McQueen sandals, clutching a slightly crushed flower (recently picked from the bushes around our house that will never, ever be able to grow flowers for long, because they are constantly - and consistently - "gifted" at least fifteen times a day), and then "blindfolded" to receive his present... it was an amazing sight, and Diego was completely thrilled... ;)

I was going to add a video to show the "gifting" and song, but it won't upload... sorry... :(

Saturday Swim

Today was the first Saturday that we haven't had a team on campus (or one arriving later in the day) for almost a month... and everyone seemed to want to take advantage of the break... ;)

Limon had taken the boys to visit Enrique's ranch (and to check out some prospective bovines for our growing granja here at CVE), Jenna left with her clan to go fishing, and Gloria suggested that we should let the girls and the little kids pull out the water slide for some afternoon fun in the sun...

And indeed it was. :)

(Pictured above: Our backyard grass-watering method... big water toys... lol)

Lupita gets ready to jump into the very cold water...

I was completely impressed with all the kids for sticking it out as long as they did!

Karla and Aaron try piggy-back down the inflatable slide... (this generally turned out with Aaron falling off halfway down, and then ending up under his "ride" or somewhere along the side of the slide in the mud... lol)

Poncho had a lot of fun being "in charge" of the hose, and sprayed as many people as he possibly could. However, under threat of imminent death, he "cease and desist-ed" from trying to soak me as I snapped photos... ;)

We did have a few "fraidy-cats" who held off as long as possible from getting wet... here Michelle was trying to convince me that March is still way too early for swimming... even if you live in the Mexican desert...

She still got wet... ;)

Lili had some incredible flips and some not-so-incredible flops in her journeys down the slippery slide...

Here she is, proudly displaying one of her plunges into the mud and grass...

Blanca posed for the camera after her first descent down the slide. Even after I went inside to download pictures, I could hear her high-pitched squeal of laughter interspersed with splashes (and most likely crashes) in the water...

I love to hear that sound... ;)

Por fin...

... a post!

Believe it or not, some of the non-blogging stemmed from having lost my camera a few weeks ago... the rest stemmed from a slightly more than lackadaisical attitude... ;)

This past Easter weekend, Tif and I headed to California to visit friends... and here are some of the photos from that fantabulous adventure... :)

The "journeyers"...

Tif got a fun shot of this fruit, and at left you will see the greatest face I've ever seen on a dog. It just made me smile to look at him, even though Jim did observe that one would probably go crazy with that much hair in your eyes... :)

Jim and Tif on the shore at Hermosa Beach...

A sign that I saw as we were driving and involuntarily let out an indignant "hmph"... which Tifani then proceeded to scoff about... ;)

At right, enjoying s'mores (and roasted bananas... lol) in the backyard of the Klotzle home...

(L-R) Braden, Andrew, Suzie, Joey, Ryan, me, Tif, and Jim (photographer) went to see ComedySportz... an improvisational acting troupe that works off suggestions from the crowd to "compete" against one another in improv games... good times!

Ryan atop a rock photographing me as Tif (in the background) photographs kids jumping down the side of the cliff to land in the bushes/ocean debris. No worries, Mom... Tifani didn't try it.

At right, a statue looks upward in prayer...

Walking into a structure in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park that houses The Crucifixion by Polish artist Jan Styka. The painting is the largest mounted to canvas painting in the world at a length of 195' and a heighth of 45'. We visited the park on Good Friday with the Klotzle clan...

Thomas and Jodie Klotzle (Tif and I's hosts) clasp hands through the Ring of Aldyth, a legendary symbol of happiness and devotion for lovers of all ages.

At right, Tif and Ryan walking down the beach in Malibu...

"Completemente impressed" were my words as I watched these guys on what looked like large surfboards paddle themselves through the water (standing up) to catch and ride waves... they made it look so easy... ;)

Tif demonstrating that perspectives are always, always changing...

Jim looks over the water in a creek that we walked by... it was slightly chilly at this time of year. If you can imagine... :)

We headed to Malibu on Saturday to visit Braden at Pepperdine University, and were able to catch a performance of his... here are two of the many, many faces of entertainment we discovered Braden had hidden inside him... ;)

The Altadena church has a tradition of heading up to a hilltop that overlooks L.A. and surrounding areas on Easter Sunday to have a song-service. Tif and I were able to join members and friends in song and prayer as the sun slowly rose above the blue mountains behind us and seeped across the valley below. It was absolutely beautiful.

The following is just a short clip of the surrounding view...