Happy 1st Birthday, Bri!/ Feliz Primer Cumple, Bri!

We were blessed to celebrate Bri's 1st birthday with our closest family and friends at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. We started off with a picnic for about 30 friends and offered personalized brown bags for adults and children. Everyone had a blast opening their bag and finding cool things inside ...

Daddy and Gramee made a special edible fishbowl cake w/ ocean blue jello and an "ocean floor" of pound cake, jelly beans and "floating" Nemo fish candy. It was a very warm day so everyone enjoyed its fresh, cool taste.

Here's Bri right before blowing out her first candle (yes, she did it!!)

A family pic right after

We love you Bri!!

1st Birthday (a month early)

We decided to celebrate Brianna's 1st Birhday a month early so our friends and family could celebrate with her. It was a great evening with many of Bri's new friends.

11 years ago when I arrived in Argentina, Marcelo introduced Bibi and I to each other. Since then, we were in each other's weddings, we both have daughters and we are still best friends.

Martina is almost 3 months older than Bri. She is a doll.

And Her older sister, Augustina (on the right), is almost 5. Belen (on the left) is the daughter of Diana, the massage therapist that we go to where we are visiting.

Brianna and Camila palying together.

All the kids picked up their fill of candy after the Piñata burst open.

Brianna had a great time with all her friends. It was a great party!

Friends

It was great to see so many friends again.

We stayed with Bibi's best friend, Jenni, and her husband, Cristhian, for some of the vacation.

Cristhian made us an awesome "asado" (BBQ) to welcome us to their home.

It's fun to see all our friends going through the same stages of life with us. Brianna is playing with Camila, the daughter of Cinthia who Bibi played with when they were the same age.

It was also great to hang with Jeremy's best friend, Marcelo, and his family.

Here's Adriana, Marcelo's wife, and their youngest daughter, Martina.

And their oldest daughter, Agustina.

New Year's Day

Early on New Year's Day Bibi & I took a 9 mile bike ride out to this great natural swimming hole. After a long ride it was great to jump into the cool water and relax.

This small water fall created a natural massage.

Just relaxing...

What a great way to hang out on New Year's Day! Bri just loves the water and couldn't have been happier.

Happy New Year!

One Sunday evening we got together with both families of the Bride and Groom to see in the New Year together.

Sandra's brother prepared a spectacular "Asado" (BBQ) of lamb and chicken. All that was left were bones and licked fingers.

At the stroke of midnight the happy couple started off 2007 the right way!

Happy New Year to all! May 2007 bring many prosperity in all areas of your life.

Rony & Sandra's Civil Marriage

One of the reasons we came down to Argentina was for Bibi's brother's wedding. The church wedding is on Jan. 7 but they have the Civil Ceremony on Dec. 29.

It was a small ceremony with just the two families and some friends.

And here's the happy couple!!

Brianna in Buenos Aires

We had a great time in Buenos Aires before we headed off to Junin for Christmas. We went to a park where Bri got to see some ducks. She was very intrigued.

Mommy & Bri... and photogenic as ever...

On Dec. 23 we went to the Palermo Shopping Mall in Downtown Buenos Aires to do some last minute Christmas shopping. Bri had a great time hanging out with Grandpa.

We were at the mall until well past midnight. I was amazed at how busy the place was at midnight... and the mall was staying open until 7:00 am. Here's a quick video to show you how crazy it was at the stroke of midnight.

Christmas

Now that I have a fast enough connection to upload video files I'll get you caught up on what we've been doing.

We spent Christmas with the Italian side of Bibi's family in Junin, Argentina, a small town about 4 hours West of Buenos Aires. Christmas Eve was with one of the sisters and Christmas Day with the other. It turned out to be kind of like a family reunion with Bibi's Grandma, uncle and first cousins joining us. Brianna also got to meet her second cousin, Tuti.

It's summer down here so we enjoyed the pool at the hotel on Christmas afternoon.

Enjoy the video (5 min long).

Brianna walking

Well, after some difficulty finding an internet connection fast enough to upload this video, we can finally show you our little angel's first steps! Enjoy!!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to all!! We had a spectacular day with Bibi's paternal side of the family and it was awesome! We also had a great time in the pool at the hotel.

We got the biggest Christmas gift of all today...

Brianna started WALKING!!!

We were visiting Auntie Angelica's house at about 10:00 pm this evening and Brianna was standing by herself more than usual. All of a sudden she took a little step and stayed standing! We encouraged her along and in a few tries she was walking about 4 feet between Bibi and Grandpa. Of course, the one time we leave the camera in the hotel, she takes her first step. But at least we were all there to witness it.

As soon as we got back to the hotel we took video of her walking. I will upload it when I get a faster internet connection.

We've got tons of pictures to post, so come back soon.