some birthday pics

Here are some of the first pics I've received from the babies' second birthday party. We all had a great time, ate lots of cake, broke a pinata, played pin the nose on Elmo and threw bean bag replicas of Elmo's goldfish Dorothy into her fish tank for prizes. The best part was being surrounded by so many wonderful friends. Matthew and Isabella are truly blessed to have such a loving circle of friends. We will miss all of you when we head to Colorado and pray that we will have lots of visitors in our new home.

Isabella pictures

Not to be outdone, here are some great pics of my little Isabella, who is also no longer a baby. Isabella loved the music at the wedding and even danced with her daddy a bit, but when the mariachis came to play, Isabella put her fingers in her ears and refused to listen! I hope she's still adorable enough that the musicians weren't offended... I will post pictures of their 2nd birthday party in a few days. It's been a busy time at our household. Denver, here we come!!

Matthew's growing up

It really struck me on this vacation to Mexico that Matthew is no longer a baby--he's my little boy. I love the last three pictures here. He was playing with me and making faces to the camera. So cute. There's also a picture with his Tio Alejandro, Luis' father's brother. Matthew hung out with his uncle during his grandmother's wedding ceremony. Sitting still and quiet for an hour proved too much for these guys. When the singer stopped singing Isabella let out a loud "Bravo!!" though everyone else had bent their heads to pray. Then she, too, went to play with her uncle at the far end of the garden 'til the ceremony ended.

Cuernavaca's zocalo

We had breakfast one morning at this restaurant on the zocalo. It's not the restaurant that Luis and I met at but rather sits on the other end of the zocalo. The kids enjoyed the vendors who came up to sell us maracas and necklaces and such. While we were busy saying "No gracias", Matthew and Isabella were grabbing the toys and jewelry out of the vendors hands. It was a lucrative day at that cafe for more than one vendedor, I'll tell you.

Acapulco

Here are a few pics from our couple of days in Acapulco.

Mexico--Acapulco

Some great pictures of our time in Acapulco. We divided our time between the pool and the air conditioned hotel room. Matthew and Isa took well to the water and had a great time overall. I'll put up some more pics of our few days there.

Lots of pics

Here is a picture of Luis and Isabella in the yard a couple of days before heading to Mexico. Then there are pictures of our day at Zoofari near Cuernavaca. We got to ride in our car and feed the giraffes, elephants, camels, spider monkey, turtles (Matthew and Isabella kept yelling "Franklin!"). Then later we drove around the lion and tiger area--literally they allow you to drive in to their area but at your own risk. It was too much excitement for me.