Ready for Christmas

This morning we put up the Christmas tree. Ismael helped put the ornaments on the tree, then off the tree so he could play with them.

We made a Gingerbread house this afternoon from a Wilton kit... ok, I did it and Ismael tried to eat all the candies....

Trip to Paraguay

On the flight from San Diego to Atlanta, Ismael was invited to the cockpit by the pilot which he loved of course. The pilot even acknowledged him over the loudspeaker when he introduced himself during the flight.

Of course it didn't take long for his to find the lawn mower and insist on getting on...with the dog of course, his new best friend.

Lining up the piggy banks....

He gave a tour of the grounds on day, wanting a picture in front of everything. Here he is in front of the pool with the house in the background.

Here is Papá with Pelusa the dog, Ismael and Hugo the turtle. Ismael wanted to do everything with the dog, eat, sleep, watch tv, read books... From the moment he woke up to the moment he slept he wanted to know where Pelusa was.

Here we are at the playground at the park. It's not exactly up to US standards. It was made out of wood with a few slats missing and a few nails protruding. He ripped 2 pairs of shorts on the nails while going down the slide, but the maid fixed them right up!

This is Francisca the wonderful maid. Ismael always wanted to know what she was doing.

He also liked playing soccer with dog and sometimes even the turtle.






Los novios...Fernando (aka Funny boy per Ismael) and Pilar after the wedding in front of the church.

Mamá and Papá at the reception.

Me and Ismael who was a bit tired by now. The wedding started at 8pm and by this point it was late and he had run around with the other kids at the wedding.

Here he is again posing with everything he saw...

Halloween

For Halloween Ismael picked out a Buzz Lightyear costume. They had a party at school, but as I expected he did not wear his costume for more than 5 minutes. At night we went to the mall to go trick-or-treating, and again, he would not wear his costume. He wore only the legs and still went to get his candy. The next morning he lined up all of his candy on the floor, again, because everything must line up....

Ismael's 3rd Birthday

Ismael got to celebrate his birthday twice this year. Grandma Yaya came to visit a couple weeks prior and so he got to open presents early. Of course, they also made cookies.

As requested, Axel made Ismael a blue airplane for his cake (he was/is still crazy for the Blue Angels from the airshow).

He opened his presents like a pro...here he is with the computer he wanted so much.

Here's Ismael with his airplanes, all lined up, because he lines everything up, in front of the track he rigged up for his cars.

Air Show & trains

The first weekend in October was the Miramar Air Show, which is apparently the largest military air show in the world. After walking 1.5miles to get to the entrance, we enjoyed the "super fast" airplanes and even the Blue Angels. Ismael is still talking about it and likes to "read" the program guide they handed out.

We also found a free train museum that's above a produce store we go to. It even had a track that Ismael could run. It wasn't very big, but he didn't care, I'm lucky to have gotten him out of there.

Visit to Phoenix

Labor Day weekend we visited uncle Trav in Phoenix. These first pics are from the Children's Museum which was really nice, even better than the new one in San Diego if you ask me, mostly because it was bigger and Ismael enjoyed all of it.

We spent about 4-5 hours there and practically had to drag Ismael out. I think his favorite parts were the supermarket, the pizza making and of course the race cars.

We almost melted, but we did visit the zoo, another favorite past time of Ismael. I also took him kicking and screaming from there, as I was about to pass out from the 100 degree heat.

Mexico fun

So here are a few more adventures in Mexico. We went to a water park that was partially indoors, so it didn't matter that it wasn't that hot outside. There were only about 15 people in the whole park, so when we wanted to go on a ride, we just had them turn on the water for that ride. It was pretty nice not to have to worry so much about where our stuff was & where the kids were going since they were the only ones there!!

Here Ismael's getting his first driving lesson...

And here they are dancing to Dora the Explorer making "silly faces" to get past the grumpy old troll...

Another Zoo

After visiting cousins in KS, we headed to Mexico to visit. We even went to the zoo again. Here's Ismael with cousins Briana, Ximena & Tia Schere in front of a white tiger.



Ismael was also very excited to get to sit on yet another tractor & then he got to ride the horse up & down the street! I was actually quite impressed that he wasn't too scared to get on!

3 Little Monkeys

Three little monkeys playing at the zoo.... and trying to stay dry. It rained hippos & elephants while we were there, but the 3 monkeys didn't care.

We had a little better weather at Gage Park in Topeka. Ismael rode the train about 4-5 times, even though he would have gone more if we'd let him. He was talking about it for days how he went in the tunnel & on the bridge.

Ismael was too scared to pull the whistle when the conductor offered, but once he left his seat, Ismael ran up for his chance.

Tractor ridin'

Everytime we visit Grandpa, we have to ride on the tractor. Not just once either. Again. And again.... this was no exeption. This time, however, we rotated between the tractor and the motorcycle, over & over again.

This time he even got to ride the tractor tricycle that Travis & I rode a long time ago....