smart little lady

real americans

squid-et

I was just informed that the spanish word for "squid" is "squid-et." Interesting.

CA trip

We did it!!! Our family of 6, with the help of Lolo and Lola (Lou's parents) journey'd out to San Diego for a week of fun, food, and memories.

As I mentioned before, the kiddo's did great. We had very few major melt-downs considering they spent a good deal of time in the car and eating food. We were blessed to have Lou's Aunt (lola mahin) and Uncle (lolo leo) help us during the week and enjoyed meeting lots (and lots) of cousins.

Below are random shots....

mommy had packed special goodie bags for the trip to CA...

what? I can't hear you....

view from our car...driving from one spot to the next

kiddo's with their lolo's

kiddo's with their aunt's michele (left) and tammy (right)

our arrival in cleveland - home of rock n' roll

lou attempting to manage 3 kid's...

hollywood sign, CA

mary had just woken up form her nap...

lola mahin, lola, lolo, and lolo leo
gabby, abby, mateo, mary

sea world... san diego, CA

SHAMU....SHAMU...

san diego beach (La Jolla shores)

what is wrong with us? Both Lou and I missed the fact that Toe had his swim shorts on backwards... poor boy was "crack'n" it the whole time!

seaport harbor, CA

La Jolla shores

There is a small beach along La Jolla shores that is home to the california sea lion... I could watch these sea lions "beach" for hours... It is so amazing to see that they pick 1 area of the beach to all meet up, sun-bathe, play with each other, and birth their babies. So beautiful...

san diego birthday party

One of the Mistica cousins, Michael John, turned 7 and had a birthday party while we were in town. As you all know the trio...they LOVE other kids and making new friends.

all the mistica cousins...(minus Danika...4mo)

Toe... peeking doesn't seem to help, does it?

san diego zoo

There is a reason why the SD zoo is rated one of the best zoo's in the nation... it is huge! We spent the day there (although in fall/winter the day ends at 5pm) and only saw 1/2 the zoo!

the polar bears were way too cool... we actually saw one jump into the water from the under-water observation area. If we could have "felt" the earth shake - we would have... it was the biggest splash I had ever seen.

the garcia 4

changed the photo to give it a more "artistic" flare... the whole garcia clan

our most favorite part of the zoo - the panda's!!! (see below video's). We were so enchanted by them that we visited them 2x during our visit. And of course, everyone had to take home a pretend panda as a remembrance!

unfortunately, half way through our zoo time, Gabby began to feel sick. Poor sweetie ended up with a fever and had a crummy night. Luckily, she was much better the next day.

just a teaser

The kids did GREAT on our trip to San Diego!!! And I have a lot of good shots... just don't have the time to post right now. (Lou is out of town for the next 5 days and I am treading water with the kiddo's).... so pic's (and stories) to come soon. For now, here is a taste of CA... notice the hollywood sign in the background?

can you tell that they were enjoying all the pictures? ha!

taste of fall

The wind whipping your hair... the crisp, cool, air....and lots of leaves. Fall is here!! One of the things my mother loved best of all was the changing of the seasons - and so do I! What better place than in Cleveland to enjoy (and appreciate) the four seasons. The trio are really getting into the spirit with hot apple cider, leaf fights, and all the fall activities. (But of course this doesn't mean that on a 40 degree morning I don't miss FL just a little bit!)