Darlene's Surprise Birthday Party

Happy 40th Birthday!

NY - FL Road Trip

Mom's beemer is packed. The twinkies are strapped. Awayyyy we go! Introducing the road trip crew - ready to pull out of the driveway: wing-mom Beth, Anakai-kai, Kacia-roo, and me, your blog hostess and designated driver /camerachick, Sheila (not pictured, as usual).

Day 1
We drove through NY, PA, MD, WVA, VA, and NC. The route we took successfully circumvented all of NJ, and every metropolis (woohoo!! :)

Fun Fact #1: Last time I drove to FL from NY, I met Christopher! :)
Got balloons, binkies, dread locked rasta-bear, snacks, and Dora the Explora playing on DVD. Anakai dons her blanket turban - a sure signal that sleeptime is close by. We were hungry and tired when we finally crossed the VA/NC border, so we asked Miss GPS where should we eat and sleep? She gave us all sorts of options near and far, and found us Japanese food and Elk Inn, in (where else?) Elkin, NC. Apparently we can ask GPS anything - from coffee cups to construction delays - and that still doesn't stop mom from getting into an argument with her.


Day 2
We continued through NC, SC, GA, then FL (yay!) This is where we spent our second night.
This nipa hut is Tito Mort and Tita Luz's bahay kubo (tagalog for home :) It's like driving to the Philippines!

The covered clay pot atop its cooking counterpart is used to cook meals. Its called a palayok. Tita Luzmin made my newest favorite mungo (mung bean stew) without ampalaya (bittermelon) for dinner. Followed by The most beautiful mangoes I've ever seen for dessert - yummmm...ma sarap, eh!

Who is checking out who? This is Kacia-roo with the roo-sters.

The story of
"The Chicken, The Rat, and The Snake"
told by Tita Luzmin

Fun Fact #2: Mom reminds us of the 'Rooster's Call' story. A looong time ago, dad and Uncle Nick heard the roosters in the morning when dad endearingly said in his strong tagalog accent,

"Do you hear the roosters calling 'tok tok ta LAH-ooo'!!"

Uncle Nick (from Armenia) argued, "THAT's not what the rooster said! He said 'koo-koori-cu-KOOO'!!"

Youngster Didi said, "You're both wrong! A rooster says, 'cock-a-doodle-doo!"

Above is a mini-model of an ulog (oo-log) the mountain province dialect for 'honey-moon house'. Its a single room hut perched on special carved wooden stilts. What makes it a 'honey-moon house' is the detachable and retractable ladder feature for the newlyweds! ;^)

Days 3-14 or so: The beach! Pompano was the first beach we hit. The south Florida temperature was averaging in the mid 90's and the Atlantic Ocean was similar. Waves were 1' high, just right for Anakai (yellow vest) and Kacia (pink vest).


Anakai's ready to jai-alai. (Did I mention this playground is perfectly situated adjacent the tiki bar between the pool and the beach? :) :)

Kacia jumps...
... and figures out how to float on her back!

Twin sisters staying cool in the pool.

Kacia chillin' in the half foot waves...

Nap time!

Anakai floats on mama's legs.

Kacia IS Stitch (a cute swimming-monster who is this big terrorizing innocent pool-goers :)

Cuddly Kacia just waking from a seaside nap.

We like to be as safe as possible.

First time to the water park.

Anakai smiling and water sliding.

They lasted all of 45 minutes before the tandem tantrum.

It rained sometimes :( but have no fear, the twinkies will always find something to leap from!!

We visited Lolo and Lola's cemetery.




Our last night. We did it!

Heaven's Right Here

Come on over to my yard,
sit around
let your troubles all disappear.

Come on over to my yard,
because right now
Heaven's right here!

Kacia plays gently with mama's hair.

Hip Hip Hooray!! Two smiles for mama!

Here are some of our favorite visitors - William, Christian, and cousin Ashley (underwater).
The twinkies LOVE Christian!!!

Wills and Ash playing ball in the fire circle.

Gaze into the fire circle and tell us what you see...

Christian, aka the bench.
The outdoor living room. Beth, Brits, Tony, Linda, and Wills.
Grand Den plays with Kacia's little piggies....wee wee weee, all the way home!

Happy the dog visits often.
Mr. Turtle also stopped by to say hi after a huge rainstorm.

So did this thing.

Sister love!

(-_-) (-_-)

As mama (quietly) pumps her fists with victory into the air... they're napping!

(If I were smarter, I would've neatened up their bedroom a wee bit before taking this photo :)~

This is how Kacia naps - with blue ugly doll and all tucked in.

While Anakai prefers being swaddled in her pink blanky, usually like a turban. Hey, what everrr it takes! :)

Thanks for coming by, we love visitors!!

Cocktail Dresses

My latest favorite picture of Anakai and Kacia.

Ahem, ahemmmm!! Warming up...
To us, they're playing among the kayaks and the mast for the catamaran... but for the twinkies, it has converted into a wired microphone on a stage!

Sweet hearts together
Two hearts forever
As one

Anakai channels her inner Mick Jagger...
The Tale of the Twin Cocktail Dresses

There's a reason for the slinky toddler cocktail dresses, and here it is. It being summer, I desperately needed a pair of shorts. So, instead of going shopping, I decided to take an old pair of leggings and cut the legs off to outfit me in my new summer wardrobe. Then I took each leg, (because lucky me, I've got 2!) dressed each twinkie, pulled it all the way up to their chest and ta-dah! :o) (o:

twinkies playing on the hobie catamaran.