Sunset on Cozumel

I was in our room staying with Alexa, who was napping. Stepped out onto our balcony, looked out into the ocean, and saw Arturo and Emma kayaking. They both looked very content



Lots of happy people at Sunset:

Last Day in Cozumel

Our last day in Cozumel... The girls all buried Gabriel in the sand...



...and then he proceeded to emerge from the sand like a monster and chase the girls. It scared little Montse half to death and she refused to get near him for the rest of that morning. I like this picture, because if you click on it, you can see a terrified Alexa, clinging to Pau...

Abi with all her grandkids...

Arturo caught Alexa in mid temper tantrum. The child loves melodrama - it's really just a little cute:

Shot of our room from the beach:

Enjoying our last lunch of the beach:

Hanging in Abi's room and enjoying the view:

Snow Day in March

We woke up to about 6 inches of snow on March 2. No school! Here is our back deck, with the snow piled on the patio furniture...

The girls are bundled up and ready to go out and play in the snow!

Gotta eat the donuts...

The girls' gymnastics place is right next to a Dunkin Donuts. When we have to do weekend makeups there, Arturo takes them for donuts next door after class. Here they are chowing down:

Goofy and Studious Girls

This picture cracks me up. One weekend afternoon after lunch, we were all hanging out. Emma had been quietly working in the art room for a few minutes, when she came to us, wearing this:
(click on picture to read the sign she is wearing)

In case you cannot read a 5 year old's handwriting, she has written, "To the USA people. I love the USA people." We have no idea what possessed her to write this, but she even made holes and put string to complete her sign... Cracked us up!

And here is Snow White (aka Alexa) working on her journal; she actually got some homework to take home from preschool. She is working on her letters here. She worked patiently and slowly on this page!

Sydney's 6th Birthday at Imagination Stage

In January, we helped Syd celebrate her 6th birthday at Imagination Stage. Sydney invited a few friends and we all watched Zomo the HipHop Rabbit - a very cool play for kids.

Arturo helps Ginny with the cupcake bouquet

The girls look beautiful here!

Ginny gave all the girls boas and the boys got top hats. They were definitely gussied up for the "Theatre."

Playing Hooky

One afternoon in mid February, Arturo and Emma took the day off and went skiing at Whitetail. There were no crowds, and they had the mountain to themselves. Emma was enrolled in Ski School for the full day and she happily skiied with her teacher, Claudia. She is now skiing greens all by herself and loving it!

She is the pink dot in this next picture



The video is shaky, on account of Arturo skiing while taking a video. Is it just me or do I see a future USSA member?!?!

Happy Birthday Jujy!

We all helped Julia celebrate her 3rd birthday at the beginning of January. Frankly, the kids looked a little embarassed to be seen with the adults...

Snow Day!

The Gay family was welcomed into the loving arms of the Fairfax County Public School System on Wednesday, when - due to 1-2 inches of snow, school was closed for the day. (Incidentally, this followed Monday and Tuesday which were closed due to "Teacher Work Days) I think that as a child, had I known that FFX was like this, I probably would have lobbied hard to move from NY down to Virginia.

In any case, Alexa is the big winner in all this - because since we are home with Emma anyway, it really makes no sense to bring her in to Chesterbrook - so in effect, she gets a snow day too! We all donned our snow suits (again) and went outside to play in the snow.

Here are Emma and our next door neighbors playing in the snow, on our playset. It was actually pretty funny to see them sliding down the slide, and swinging on the swings... in the snow.

Hanging out Slopeside

We had a slopeside townhouse - which was ideal for skiing with two young kids. They could rest and eat lunch comfortably - and, most importantly, get some good QT with my mom and dad! Here is Emma, showing my brother - aka, Chowie - how to play Wii. The girl's got some game...

Chao Family Picture. Awwww.

** all these pictures were taken by Chowie

Snow Play

After skiing a few runs, the girls wanted to play in the snow, so we copped a squat and played for a little...

...And they're off!

Day 2 of Skiing - Emma was skiing on her own for about half of it!

Ski Bunny 2

Alexa also liked skiing, but I think it tired her out a lot quicker than it did Emma. She skiied for about 2 hours and then called it a day. But still, she was singing as we went down the mountain together...

** these pics were taken by my Bro.