Christmas Vacation

As previously mentioned, we had a fabulous time in Florida with the family for Christmas. We were there for 6 days and every day was a blast. Upon our arrival, we were welcomed with presents for the kids. Mima and Opa had bought a soccer net and soccer ball for Diego and a ride-on firetruck for Alexia to keep them entertained during their time in the house. Alexia mastered climbing on the firetruck and making it move by pushing her feet on the ground - I'm bummed I don't have a picture of her on it. Diego had a blast spending a little bit of time each day playing soccer in the back yard.
On Tuesday we took a day trip to the Everglades which was gorgeous. Diego was enthralled by the alligators and Alexia impressed us with her keen eyesight in picking out the animals amidst the camouflage of the brush. She barked at the alligators and birds and absolutely loved the walk. On our way back to town we stopped by a wonderful fruit stand to buy milkshakes and Alexia downed almost half of Ricardo's milkshake - her first real taste of ice cream. That evening we had dinner at the house and then Roberto and Daniela came over to hang out and we played a game of Cranium which was so much fun.

On Christmas Eve we cooked, hung out, listened to Christmas Carols and got the house ready for the big party in the evening. We went to church service in the evening and then headed back to the house to wait for the guests. The invitation was for 8:00pm, but being on Latin time, the first guests arrived at 9:00pm! We had an exquisite meal and a really special time with family and friends (Diego and Alexia missed the party since it was too late for them).

On Christmas morning Ricardo and I got up early with the kids and had breakfast and opened a couple of presents before anyone else got up. Once the family was up, Diego and Alexia tore into all of their presents and loved every second of it. They scored big time with all of their treasures and had a blast playing with their new toys.
Shortly after opening presents, we packed up all the leftovers from the night before and packed our bags and drove south to Key Biscayne to spend the day with Roberto and Daniela. We have started a tradition of doing a photography contest where each family member brings their best 10 pictures of the year and we choose the best scenery picture and the best people picture for a grand prize of $50 each. It was so much fun to see everyone's pictures and to recap memories of the year. We also sang karaoke, went to the beach, ate delicious leftovers and just enjoyed hanging out as a family. Ricardo, the kids and I spent the night at the condo and the next day hit the beach again. Diego and Alexia were absolutely and totally in love with the beach and swimming pool - it was definitely the highlight of the trip for them.
Our vacation came to a close with a fun dinner out on Friday night at Las Olas Blvd in Ft Lauderdale and then a day at the park on Saturday.

Diego mastered the concept of looking through the binoculars to see the alligators.

In the Everglades

The crazy number of presents under the Christmas tree

Getting ready to open the present from Tio Robi and Tia Dani

His first set of golf clubs - a hit with them both!

Ricardo's grandmother (in red), mom, siblings and cousins

A very happy boy at the beach!

Alexia sat in one spot, playing in the sand while Diego played in his hole

Mima and I jammin' to "Love Shack"

Diego stayed in this same position the entire time we were all singing karoke - he didn't know what had gotten into us!

We set them up in their boosters to enjoy the karoke show!

Hanging out with Tia Majo and Alfredo - he is in love with them both!

This was just a small sampling of pictures, click here to see the full album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=199120&l=9abc5&id=678120522