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!

Chinatown

At the end of June, Mike got tickets to the X Games which were going on at the Staples Center. He decided he wanted to take the kids up first to Chinatown for a little exploring and an early dinner before heading to the X Games. He really "talked up" Chinatown with the kids prior to getting there. They were on board and it turned out to be such a fun afternoon. We checked out the little shops and I managed to talk the kids out of wanting to buy any of the junk they sold. We did purchase some 'Pop Its' and the kids had fun with those. We tossed some coins into the fountain, watched the "Chinatown's Got Talent" show that was going on in the center, ate some yummy Chinese food and scooped up some ice cream for dessert. It was a great day. Oh, and the X Games were pretty cool too. 

We even did a little Geocaching on our visit and we found a geocache hidden on this old school phone booth. William found it. It was magnetized on the back. Very cool find for the G Finders Four.

Easter 2012

Our Easter festivities started at home, as usual. The Easter Bunny hid eggs all over our house. Maddie and William woke up to colorful eggs in the hall, down the stairs and... everywhere! Easter baskets were filled with fun goodies... Alvin and the Chipmunks Chipwrecked, HOP, markers, stickers, cars and of course, candy filled eggs. Yum! 

After church, we went to the Flores' house for a yummy potluck lunch and Easter Egg Hunt. It was a beautiful afternoon and we had so much fun hanging out with our family and our extended Flores family. We are grateful for their friendship and hospitality.