These Days

We had a family-only affair on Ela's actual birthday but we did celebrate again with close friends the following Saturday at Maggiano's. Incidentally, the following day was our 11th wedding anniversary so this was a double celebration. Sally and Agui The Villacortas With Anne and Mavic All of us Happy birthday, Ela!

Last week, Ela turned 1 year old. We made it through a year of interrupted sleep, diaper changes, baby feeding and limited mobility. BUT it's really not about those. When I look back on the year, I remember more family time, giggles, scrunchy funny faces and just more joy every single day. Babies are naturally gifted to make us appreciate the important things in life. On her actual birthday, it was just the four of us at home. In the afternoon, the family picked me up at work  and we went to Party City to grab some balloons and decorations. Then Neil went to karate with Rich and they came home with a small cake for smash cake! Ela enjoyed smashing the cake more than eating it. So it was a very simple celebration as far as first birthdays go but we had a birthday lunch with Filipino friends the following Saturday. Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude for this litte girl's life. She is a bundle of positive energy and has done a great job of rolling with the the

Atlanta has so many festivals celebrating different things. This one is for lemonade .=) We come to this park often but it was crowded on this day, with the rides, musicians, food trucks, etc. The lemonade was probably the best I've tasted.

*2016 project to take and post photos of the kids every week. Watching 'The Flash.' She turned 1 year old this week.

For our third day in Orlando, we went to Aquatica Waterpark . I think Neil enjoyed this more than the theme parks. We went on the slides, wave pool and lazy river, which was his favorite. Ela did not like the sand at first but she came around.

For Day 2, we went to Disney Hollywood Studios. We've been to Disneyland in Anaheim with Neil so we skipped Magic Kingdom thinking many of the attractions would be the same. Plus, Hollywood Studios had Star Wars! We did not do any of the rides on this day, just watched the shows. Frozen Sing-Along and Beauty and the Beast were great.  Star Wars was the main attraction with storm troopers patrolling the grounds. Fantasmic and fireworks to end the night.

The whole family traveled to Orlando from April 6 to 12. I attended the INFORMS Conference and took three extra days before the conference for vacation with the family. This took a lot of discussion with Richard because if we all stayed together, Neil will miss two days of school. Then there's the question of driving or flying. Driving is cheaper but we were concerned that Ela might not take 7 hours in the car very well. The days leading up to the trip were stressful because of work, decisions and packing but we're glad we made it happen! Note to self: Things that are worthwhile are rarely easy. Rich and I are generally wired to be (overly?) concerned about expenses but we consciously decided that for this trip, we will spend on the experiences -- buy the tickets, eat the food, etc. This will be a treat for the whole family. Neil wanted to go to see Sea World so that's what we did on our first day. He was brave enough to go on the Atlantis ride with me. We did not atte