More firsts

The kids started school last Thursday. Exciting stuff. Maddie had her first day of 2nd grade and William, his first day of Kindergarten. New backpacks- clean and bright. Fresh school supplies- perfect erasers and sharp corners. New outfits- laid out and ready for the first day. Wow. How did this happen? It makes me so happy and so excited and so sad, all at the same time. They are growing up so fast. I constantly worry about whether I am savoring every moment I can to the fullest. I just don't want to forget these wonderful years and wonderful times. I never want to look back and wish I would have done things differently. These are the best years they say.

Madelyne Jeanne Ciriza- 7 years old.

William Michael Ciriza- 5 years old. 

Dad- 39 years old. Wooooow!! :)

Mom- 37 years old. Eeeek!

Santa Barbara Weekend

I don't know why I feel the need to explain myself every time I post... but I do. Life is busy and I'm trying to stay as committed to this blog as I can. Ok. There. I said my peace. Although I have way more pictures of our trip to Minnesota to post and a couple fun ones from our time at the Circus, I've got to just jump right in to recent events. The summer seemed to fly by and we ended it with a fun weekend in Santa Barbara with our good friends the Kuo's. Our weekend consisted of beautiful warm weather, swimming in the resort pool, a two-hour surrey adventure, eating at yummy restaurant's (Sly's, Wine Cask and of course, Mesa Cafe...not once, but twice), and a lot of "geocaching". It was so nice. I think the Kuo's are officially hooked on  geocaching now. Roger is a natural. I think our grand total for the trip was 6. We went 6 for 6...no signs of mugglers which was a rarity for Team G Finders. The kids had a great time and they were so good. Great at dinner, great with their friends, very little referring which was awesome for us, and just plain fun. The Kuo's are such a great family and have become good, good friends of ours. Jordyn and Maddie met in Preschool. Jordyn was one of Maddie's first friends.

We all fit on this ONE Surrey if you can believe it! 

Don't fool yourself. The Dad's enjoy geocaching just as much, if not MORE than the kids. 

East Beach 

Mikos and his boy

I think Maddie is goooorgeous in this picture. :) 

This one too...sorry, can't help myself. :)

My honey.

Hopeful future grads. 

The rock outside of the library. Remember that rock?

Minnesota

We love Minnesota. What more can I say really? I feel so blessed to be from such a beautiful part of the country and to have such wonderful and loving family to go visit every summer. I love that our kids are going to grow up with fun memories of summers spent in Minnesota. We flew out early on the 4th of July and arrived just in time for dinner and a swim in the lake. The kids are great little travelers and every year just gets easier and easier. Mike stayed through the weekend and the kids and I were able to stay through the following week, 10 days of lakeshore fun!