Ennio as George Washington!

For his 1st grade "Famous American" school report, Ennio picked George Washington, the First President of the United States. He dressed up as George Washington and wrote down the following (with A LOT OF help from Marcus and me...):
My report is about: George Washington.
He was born on: February 22, 1732, in: Virginia.
This person is famous because: he was the First President of the USA.
Another fact about this person is: he was the leader of the American Revolution.
One question I would like to ask this person is: why are you called the father of our country?
I found these facts: on the internet.

He loved the wig and Lily thought it was hilarious: Ennio looks like a girl! We had a lot of fun dressing up!

Ennio's lost tooth

Ennio lost another tooth on Sunday, January 14. He had lost one last month as well, on December 23rd, but because he couldn't find it anymore after running around with it for a while, the tooth fairy didn't come by. This time, he was excited to put it under his pillow and totally expected a reward the next morning. Unfortunately for him - and big parent fail on our behalf - the tooth fairy must have been very tired, because she completely forgot to stop by!!! Aaargh! In the morning, Ennio was very surprised and disappointed to see that his tooth was still there! We told him, the tooth fairy must have been very busy and maybe that's why she didn't have time to come? Also, maybe he should write a little note and put it next to his tooth? (That way, he could practice his writing a bit, haha!). Lily helped him with the note, and thankfully, the tooth fairy came by and gave him an extra generous gift of $5!

She also wrote back to Ennio:

Dear Ennio, 

This is a letter from me, the Tooth Fairy!

I give you $5, because I know you lost your other tooth around Christmas and I could not come by.

Thank you so much for your tooth! I love it!

Please, be a good boy to your mom and dad and Lily!

❤️

The Tooth Fairy

The beginnings of a pen pal friendship!

 

Dillon is the daughter of Shelley and Ken Rapp, and we see her every year at the Grubb's annual Christmas Brunch in Newport Beach. Marcus knows Shelley from way back when he came to the US in the nineties and stayed at her parents' place, Barbara and Gayle Grubb. At that time they were both teenagers (or early twenties, can't remember exactly). Anyway, now our girls seem to enjoy each other's company! They played at the Christmas party and Dillon wrote Lily asking her if she'd want to be her pen pal! (They live in New York City, so it's not like they could otherwise hang out or have playdates.)

Lily was overjoyed and replied: "Dear Dillon, I would love to be your pen pal!!! You are so sweet & kind and such a good friend. I had a wonderful time at the party with you. Thank you again for being so caring and sweet. I hope to see you soon and your sister. BYE!!! Love, your new pen pal Lily. My favorite color is Purple. What's yours? Please write back."

I remember I had a pen pal too around that age and loved writing and getting letters. Happy to see Lily is starting this too now!

Carnival Cruise to Ensenada!

Happy New Year, everyone! We spent the last week of winter break on a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico! I had booked this deal months ago, and to tell you the truth, I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to go (still not feeling 100%) but Lily and Ennio were begging us to please, please, please, go on the cruise. We had never done this before and they were very excited to be on a cruise ship, especially Ennio, even though he was also a bit nervous that the ship would sink... In the end, we decided to go (I don't think I could have had our money back if we hadn't gone...). It was just 4 days, and maybe the rest and relaxation would do us good... Well, it did! We very much enjoyed our little adventure on the Carnival Imagination and the kids didn't want the trip to end. I liked that I could relax a bit and didn't have to cook (the food in the restaurant was surprisingly good!), the kids liked the hot tub, swimming pool and water slides, and we all enjoyed the excursion to La Bufadora in Ensenada, the second largest water geyser in the world! Our guide Alfredo was really good and we actually learned a lot about Mexico! So, our winter break ended on a good note. Let's hope we will have more fun times like this in the new year! Hasta la vista!

DAY 1 - Thursday, January 4, 2018: We drove to the port of Long Beach and boarded our ship around noon. The kids were very excited to get into our stateroom! We explored the ship (so big!!!) and enjoyed the sunset outside on the deck around 5pm. We got a nice view of the Queen Mary all lit up! Around 5:30pm our ship set sail, we went back inside and had a great meal at Pride Restaurant. And then, off to bed!

 

DAY 2 - Friday, January 5, 2018: Excursion to La Bufadora!
Our ship sailed all night and in the morning we woke up with a view of Mexico from our window! After a nice breakfast, we played a bit on board (there was a library with board games), strolled on the deck, and got ready for our excursion at 11:30am. When we got off the boat, there were tons of photographers taking pictures of us (I know, such a tourist trap). We got the ones with the parrots and the Mayan princess, because they were just too cute! I'm such an easy victim for photos!!! Then, we got on a bus which took us to La Bufadora, about a 45-minute drive. Our guide Alfredo was very funny and besides the jokes, taught us a thing or two about Ensenada, tequila, etc. At La Bufadora, we walked through the flea market and then had lunch by the blowhole (yummy clam shells and freshly baked churros!). On the way back, we stopped by the beautiful cultural center of Ensenada, and were back on the boat by 4:30pm. All in all, a very enjoyable excursion! Lily and Ennio went straight to the room to put on their swim gear and spend time in the water park and the hot tub. I joined them in the hot tub, but not on the slides or in the pool. Too cold! We had dinner on the boat afterwards and then another cozy night in our room!

Parrots and more!

Discovering Ensenada!

La Bufadora!

Clam shells and churros!

The mission-style cultural center in Ensenada!

Water fun on the boat!

 

 

 

Relaxing in the hot tub at night!

Strawberry Bisque for dinner! Yum!

DAY 3 - Saturday, January 6, 2018: It was cloudy when we woke up and the weather stayed that way all day. That didn't keep the kids away from the pool and hot tub... They didn't mind the cooler weather... which resulted into a deck full of kids in the jacuzzi and parents on the lounge chairs! We spent the whole day "at sea", relaxing in our room or outside by the pool. Marcus and Lily also played mini-golf on the upper deck. It was windy! At night, we enjoyed our last meal on board and I am so proud that Lily tried (and liked!) the escargots à la bourguignonne! She's turning into an adventurous little eater. Yay! Now, all we have to do is teach Ennio to eat something else than just yoghurt, pasta, pizza, rice and ice-cream. Seriously!

I loved how the towels were shaped into animals!

Lily was pretending it was a hot day!

In the late afternoon, we went to the mini-golf area on the upper deck. It was windy!

Escargots!

Reading in bed!

DAY 4 - Sunday, January 7, 2018: We had breakfast on the boat, but had to leave ship by 10:00am. We picked up our car from the parking garage and were home less than one hour later! I have to say that I liked that a lot -  that we were home so fast and didn't have to deal with jet-lag or other hiccups from traveling! In that respect, I can really recommend the cruise we did!