Awesome Nature at Hume Lake

These ducks came straight out of the water towards us and were unafraid of hanging out by the stroller.

Beautiful deer family sitting by the path we were walking (our whole family did the loop on the lake, about 2.5 miles). We couldn't believe our luck! Brianna was so excited she wanted to go up and pet them.

Bri's patriotic swimsuit ... getting ready for 4th of July fun with Abu Nino and Abu Ivon this year. Yeah!

"Sorry boys, Daddy won't let me date till I'm 30"

The shirt says it all!!!

More pics of our trip

Bri with Tio Marcos (they love each other!)

Tio Martin also adores Brianna (and has two little girls of his own as well)

Kiara at 8 weeks (wearing Tia Jenniss' adorable dress)

Bri & Lea enjoying a summer treat after a playdate at a nearby park

The Crystal Cathedral

Bri posing with her favorite Bible characters. Jesus in a manger remains at the top of all stories for her!

"Amanecer Vocal Group" in action

The guys being photographed for the cover of the Adventist Review North America magazine.

Bibi's parents' good friends Marcelo & Liliana Ferrando with sweet Kiara

Trip to the OC last weekend

We spent Memorial Weekend down in the OC to see our Argentinean friends from "Amanecer" singing at the Crystal Cathedral. Here Brianna attended an African drum class out in Tustin. Music is just in her blood!

Our two most beautiful princesses

Look at those blue eyes!

Beautiful Bri outside the Crystal Cathedral

Our little fish is back in the water!

Bri is enjoying some fresh & yummy apricots. She's back in the pool and swimming everywhere by herself. She puts the floaties on just when she gets tired or for a quick warm-up. We'll see what exciting new things she'll do in the pool this summer!

10 lbs and sleeping almost through the night

Chunky Kiara weighs 10 lbs. now and, as you can see, continues to eat very well! Luckily for Mommy, as Ki keeps gaining weight Mommy is losing it! Bibi is back into her pre-pregnancy clothes and starting to train for the half-marathon in San Francisco at the end of July.

Last night she slept for almost 7 hours at 7 weeks, just like big sis Brianna. By 9 wks. old, Brianna was sleeping thorugh the night, as we hope Kiara will too. We're following the guidelines of the book "Preparation for Parenting," found at www.gfi.org. It's proven a great Bible-based resource for our two girls, especially in teaching them the value of a routine from early on. We highly recommend it!

Come sit down and enjoy our latest adventures

Please click on the TV screen to enlarge pictures. Enjoy!

Here’s the elevator story. We were staying at the Hyatt in Long Beach a couple weekends ago and were headed to the elevator to go out on Saturday evening. Brianna was ahead of us and stepped inside right ahead of us, we were trying to get the stroller and our stuff too. The elevator was older and the doors started closing, Bibi put her foot between the doors so they would open but they didn’t. Then Jeremy stepped in and tried very hard to keep the metal doors open and was barely managing to. Brianna was crying out inside and a lady from housekeeping helped us call Security. Another guy from one of the other elevators also tried to help Jeremy hold the door open and create a space big enough for Brianna to get out but to no avail. Brianna also tried to open the doors from the inside but the doors didn't respond.The assistant director of security came, a GREAT man named John. He had a book and crayons brought in for Brianna and managed to calm her down for about 30-40 minutes until firefighters came to release the door. He not only held the door open (resisting the great force of metal doors) but kept Brianna entertained by talking about Disney, princesses and a bunch of other things. Hotel maintenance came before the firefighters but were told not to intervene due to liability reasons. Finally firefighters came, released the door and helped Bri stepped out. Once she came out she cried for a while but we believe she was excited to see firefighters come and rescue her. They gave her a sticker and praised her for doing so well for so long inside the elevator by herself. The hotel arranged for Brianna to have some ice-cream of her choice and sent some goodies to our room too. Our stay ended up being free of charge. It was stressful but thank God nothing bad happened. Later on we went to eat Ethiopian food and Brianna was back to her old self, socializing with everybody and making new friends. We felt very blessed!

A brush with Greatness...

Brianna and Jeremy had the privilege of having dinner tonight with Ruben Gonzalez, thee time Olympian, motivational speaker and author. He has an amazing story of triumph.

In 1984, at the age of 21, Ruben decided he wanted to compete in the Olympics and started training to compete in the Luge at the 1988 Calgary Olympic Games. And he made it!
Then he qualified again for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, and again for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games.
He is now in the process of qualifying for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancuver, Canada, and if he makes it he will be the first person in history to participate in the Winter Olympics in 4 different decades.

Here is a video of one of his motivational talks.

I followed him on stage in Memphis this past weekend and it was a privilege to share the stage with such an awesome winner. It just happened that he was talking at some local schools in Visalia this week so we were able to meet for dinner tonight.

Kiara's first Swim

Today Kiara had her first swim at 33 days old. We warmed up the jacuzzi to about 92º F to see what she thought.

And she loved it!! She floated all by herself with Daddy only holding her head for support.

Brianna loved having little sis in the pool with her. This was a totally new experience.

There will be many many years of great memories made here...

1 month old!!!

Kiara turned 1 month old this past Sabbath. Our church had a rose for her, commemorating her birth, as well as an announcement in the bulletin. Pr. Chad had Bibi stand up and show off Kiara to the congregation. It is a neat ritual our church does for all babies born to members.

Sisters for a month and going strong! Brianna is a wonderful big sis. She's doing much better about being gentle with baby Kiara and loves to hug her and give her kisses. Kiara keeps on eating well and gaining weight and has smiled a few times. Her neck is very strong and she is very alert. She's already looking around and staying awake for longer periods of time. We ARE LOVING having two girls!!!