Briam's Family Blog

Its that time of year again.  Halloween is just around the corner.  The kids start changing their minds every day as to what they want to dress up as... But we got lucky this year... or at least Paola did, and was able to pin the choices down for the dress up day at the girls school.

Here we have Sophia as a doggie and princess Megan.  Pink is all the rage I hear.... Ok.  Maybe not the rage, but it was definitely hitting hard this day.  Now if we can just get Matthew's costume before he has to dress up...

I finally got a chance to scan the pics that were bought on the cruise.  Some of them are a little wack, but some were pretty neat.

Click on the Pic or click HERE to see some more pictures.  I was able to put these on the Picture CD I made for everyone.  (All except for the one Ivana is hiding from us).  Good times... Good times...

A few weeks ago, my younger sister Ivana was in town visiting.  My dad was out of town on a missionary trip, so we kidnapped my Mom and went to have have a little seafood.  You know the old joke... Seafood... Seefood? 

I know ... I know, thats horrible.  The broccoli on Matthew's plate had mysteriously disappeared, and i had my doubts that he had eaten it.... "Matthew, what did you do with your broccoli?"  Well I guess he showed me.

We had a great time... The kids got jacked up on black sugar water.  My mom seemed constantly amazed at the crazy things my kids would do.  As if there was some sort of divine justice for all the torturous things my siblings and I did in our childhood.

While my son worked off some of the sugar high by flying around the room, my little princess Megan tried to con Aunt Ivana out of some candy money.

Once the realization that this little girl was working the con, I think my sister was able to defend herself a little better.  Its hard to think that a sweet little innocent three year old would have such devious and deceptive intentions...

Amusing as the lunch was.... with good conversation with family that I love.  Sharing time with those we care about.  Amusing as all that was, the look of the smiles and my family... the shared laughter... who am I to deserve all these blessings?  My cup runneth over...

Paola's cousin Marcus swung to town for a couple of weeks, and we got a chance to sick our kids on him.  They were gentle, and Marcus did survive the ordeal.

 We took him around to see some of the sights.... we did spend a lot of time doing geeky stuff.  Movies... games... and a lot of eating.

One night we did get a chance to go get some Hibachi.  Marcus had never seen the show or tried Hibachi so he was in for a treat...   He was a bit spooked when the cook set the room on fire.... he also seemed a bit reluctant to believe that it was on purpose... so we asked the chef to do it again.

From there it was unto the volcano.  The onion volcano on the mushroom veggie island....  An island that I like to see, but I don't think I would ever live there...

We took Marcus to the airport this past saturday....  Heading home.  We had a great time with Marcus, and we hope to see him soon, and wish him the best in all his future decisions! 

So during the last bible study at the church, while the kids were all tucked away in the nursery area reeking havic.... there was a little incident.  The kids formed a couple of teams (gangs) and started a friendly (not so friendly) game of dodge ball (death-ball).

If you look above Matthew's left eye, you will see a bit of a bump/bruise.  Apparently while doing some Matrix style lunge in the air, there was a collision of heads... and like most head attacks... there are no winners.  Matthew seems to take it well, and he has really made a fast recovery.  We knew he was hard headed... and now we have proof.

Ah ... back to work.  The weekend almost killed me.  I think we were doing too much.  Paola's cousin (Marcus) is in town visiting, so we have been trying to keep him entertained.  He is a bit geeky like me... so it has not been too hard.

It was a beautiful day on Saturday.... So, we grabbed Marcus and the kids, and went to the Greek Festival.  It was huge!! And tons of fun.   There was music, dancing, some performances, shops/stores, games, food, more food, and a little more food.

We met some of our friends out there (Aaron and Jacqui and gang).  It was a very good time.  Click on pic or HERE to see more pictures!

Before our little get away cruise, we got a chance to go to our friends son's birthday (Gabriel).  I think he was turning either two or twenty... I cant remember.  Probably due to my advanced years.

Well, a few of the kids wanted to play with the cars on the cake, but once they were put back ... and we rounded up the kids... we were able to properly celebrate and sing Happy birthday to Gabriel....  then they destroyed the cake.

Of course, this was a huge party, and there were tons of kids.  Getting them all together was pretty easy once they realized there was candy and cake... and a pinata... I think that on the next party there should be some kid tranquilizers or sleeping gas ... or perhaps some riot gear, in case they get out of control again. 

Of course the real master minds behind the chaos distraction was the girls... I am sure it was just part of their plans to get their hands on more candy than the boys...  We gotta keep an eye out for them.... their tricky!

Ok, so I put all the pics together.... and there was over 700!!  Yikes.... well that was from four cameras... Well, some of them were dark.... wacked.... cut heads...  (and some of them were bad just because I had taken them)

So a few days later here they are.  I finally put them in a gallery.  Check them out.

With so much family (and so many kids)... I think I need another vacation just to recover.... 

A couple of weeks ago, we were at a friends house for a barbecue.  It was several of our friends and their kids... well one of these little angels was Elena (Johnny and Amy's little girl).

Well, Elena chased Matthew around a bunch and declared to the world that they Matthew and her were getting married.  The first few times she said this I thought she was playing around... but after looking into those eyes... I think there is definitely some determination there...