Heather and I just recently returned from a whirlwind and amazing trip to the Italy and Spain, with a brief stop in Washington DC. It was an memorable trip and the most noteworthy part is that we were kid-free for the duration of the 9 days! Abuela took amazing care of our kids, and we enjoyed our first extended time together as a couple since we had kids...We experienced 90+ degree weather in each place we visited, and easily ate our weight in Gelato and Spanish Tapas...Here are some of the photos of the trip...

Washington Monument

Coliseum -Rome

Vatican- Rome

Town Square- Siena

Some bad acting in front

of Leaning Tower of Pisa - Italy

Riomaggiore/Cinqueterre - Italy

View from our hotel in Riomaggiore

FC Barcelona vs AC Milan-

Barcelona

Barcelona won on penalty kicks

Barcelona

Catedral - Barcelona

View from Parc Guell- Barcelona

Quatre Kats Restaurant- Barcelona

Picasso and Gaudi's hang out location

100 years ago

Gaudi's Casa Mila- Barcelona

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia- Barcelona

La Bogueria Market- Barcelona

Heather, Ellis, Avery and I recently embarked on Avery's first trip to Maui and a much needed vacation. We again ate our weight in papayas, mangoes, and shaved ice. My mom also made the trip and it was such a great and recuperating time to hang out with the kids and catch up on some much needed sleep...We had some funny things happen along the way, such as Avery having to take her naps in a pack n play that was placed in the master bedroom shower because we had a crew remodeling one of the bathrooms...to Ellis continuing his quest to catch up to a "diddie" (birdie). We must report that he was unsuccessful once again this trip...but, not for lack of trying...Ellis also took major leaps in his comfort level in the water, and reported on our way home that he missed the "poo" (pool). Here are some of the photos...Mahalo!

This was our second annual trip to Neskowin, Oregon for the 4th of July Weekend. Once again, we participated in the Neskowin Annual Parade, this time as Pirates. Huge thanks once again to Bryan and Nancy for their amazing hospitality and generosity. Congratulations also to Bryan for an amazing job in not only crafting the pirate ship from scratch, but the beach house looked amazing! If that were not enough (and it is), he was kind enough to accompany Heather and Ellis on the road back to California. Here are some of the photos from this year's great trip. As you can tell, the family has grown a bit since last year and is set to grow once again!

Swashbuckling Hunter

Chris and Caden

Jamie and Hannah

Michael, Stacey and Colt

Superman in his later years...

Bapa and Nana

Uncle Sam aka Mark and Brittany

An award winner

Colt

The entire family

Our boy is growing up! Ellis just celebrated his first day of preschool...He brought his way cool lunchbox and spiked his hair just in case he were to meet some ladies...and was ready to go..in fact, he has not wanted to go home from "Jesus' House" since we started taking him...the preschool just so happens to be on the grounds of our church...if we can just get the hang of properly making his lunchbox, we will be happy!! We have found out the hard way that when they say not to pack peanut butter in their lunch, they also mean almond butter...and nutter butters...and anything remotely resembling a nut...we will probably figure it out by the time Ellis reaches 3rd grade...here are some photos...