A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend!

After a day to recover and a day to catch up, it's time to update! I do apologize, but we don't have many pictures to show! We just have the experiences and the stories to talk about. When I get pictures from Inay and Nikki, I'll upload them then. For now, I hope you enjoy the story!

What a whirlwind weekend we had! I guess I should start off with the beginning, since every great story has a great beginning. Thursday morning, I had the pleasure (or task) of making sure the house was clean, the bags were packed, and everything we were going to take with us was in the van. I failed miserably... Not only was I super busy with work, but it was flipping hot to boot. Being in hot weather makes me feel like I'm doing everything in slow motion! I picked up the girls and we were home by 3PM. Joy gets off of work at 430, so that left me a good one and a half hour window where I could make sure the girls were ready and give myself a quick nap before the long drive ahead. Things wouldn't go so well. Eden wasn't packed yet, Emma didn't take a nap, and Sophie needed a diaper change AND was hungry! Needless to say, I spent the remaining 90 minutes calming down Emma and feeding Sophie. Did I mention that Emma and Sophie were both coughing and had runny noses? They did, which added to their uncomfortableness. It's now 415PM, and it's time to get mama! We dropped her off in the morning so we could just pick her up and drive from there. We arrive at 425, and wait... and wait... and wait... Finally Joy comes running from a different direction that she normally doesn't come from, and in a panic. Her boss left his Blackberry on her desk, and left for the day! So we took a minor detour to his house and dropped it off. Not only that, but my mom called while we were on the way there and requested that we bring the Bumbo and the bouncer for Sophie.

FINALLY! On the road at 515PM. We made good time, and stopped at our normal places. We arrived at 3AM, and like the good son that I am, I brought Sophie (car seat and all) into my parents room and woke them up! After that, it was hugs and kisses around, and bed at 330AM, with Joy and I looking forward to sleeping IN. However, it was not meant to be for me. After 4 hours of sleep, I was awake! I got up, took a shower, and got Sophie ready. We went on a little trip down to Auntie Doy's house to see Kuya Oliver, Joy (another Joy, not mine!), and Nikki who all flew in last night (albeit different times). I walked in and surprised Kuya Oli, who was on the awake and on the computer. He got to meet Sophie and hold her, it was really special seeing that. Again, being the good cousin and nephew that I am, I took Sophie (sans car seat), and put her on Nikki's face! That woke her up! The Navs haven't seen Sophie since she was born, so it was a nice surprise to see how big she had grown. Poor Uncle Junn was still at work, but he'd see her that night!

Dinner Friday night was the best! My dad made a HUGE prime rib, and my sister and mom made a whole bunch of comfort foods for everyone to dig in to. It wasn't just filipino food, it was a melange of foods from around the world. The Navs, Kuya Oli and Joy, the Rubins, Monzons, and Acles all came down, along with Otts and Bennett. It was so great to have the family all here to see us again! A couple of my friends came down to see us as well! Myk, Jon, Joegene and Michelle all came up to see us. Michelle brought her three kids, and it was so fun to watch her kids play with mine! She has a two year old who is 6 months older than Emma. THEY LOOK EXACTLY ALIKE! I kept watching them run around and I just couldn't not get over the fact of how similiar they looked!

Keilana on the left, Emma on the Right

It was just such a great night, and a great time to catch up with friends and family. I had a special surprise also for my cousins! I had something to announce to everyone who was there... and NO, Joy's not pregnant! I had a list of my cousins who Joy and I picked for Eden, Emma and Sophie to be their Ninong/Ninang. After announcing it, I could tell that many of my cousins were touched that we would do this. It was another one of those special moments that I'll always remember! For the cousins who were there in spirit, here's the list:

Team Eden:

Lara, Inay, Nikki, Laura Jane, Joel, Kuya Rodney, Ate Joy, Nini, Kuya Cesar, Jun Jun

Team Emma:

Lara, Inay, Nikki, J-Lee, Ate Lizzy, Kuya Edsel, Ate Jaymee, Diko Jeff, Jomar, Ara

Team Sophie:

Lara, Inay, Nikki, Leah, Otts, Kuya Royce, Kuya Oliver, Sangko Teddy, Jarom

You'll notice that Lara, Inay and Nikki are on all three, and it's because Lara is Joy's only sister, Inay is my only sister, and Nikki's an only child, but what that really means is that they have to buy ALL three girls presents! :) There were some people who we changed, but we had to make some last minute trade deadlines to clear cap space! I think everyone is happy with who they got, and we appreciate everyone for wanting to be a Ninong/Ninang!

Saturday Morning - I wake up to this. I love my girls! Eden slept over at her newly appointed Ninang Jane and Ninong Joel's house. She came back looking like this:

Look how old she looks! My goodness! Joy started having a mid-life crisis right then and there! Ninang Jane gave Eden a bunch of clothes and shoes that she never wears anymore. Eden was ecstatic to say the least.

Saturday night was a date night for Joy and me. We went out for dessert at Skates by the Bay. We spent the evening just reminiscing about great memories that we had and eating dessert. It was VERY yummy. We had a chocolate torte with vanilla ice cream on the side.

Sunday was another great day. We went to Hillcrest Baptist Church to see all of our "old" church buddies. We missed them so much, and it was such surprise to see how old the kids were getting. Thaddeus is so mature now! Pastor Ted and Leah look the same though! :) It was great seeing all of our friends at Hillcrest! We'll visit you all soon!

Sunday afternoon - the BBQ! J-Lee, thanks for cooking up some awesome grub! What's a beautiful day outside in the backyard without some BASKETBALL!

I wish I had some pictures to show for this (insert comments to Inay and Nikki to get me some pictures!). We played a game of HORSE, 21, and a pretty spiffy dunk contest. You'd think since I'm the tallest, I'd be able to throw down those dunks pretty easily. Unfortunately, I'm not as coordinated as I used to be, so every dunk I did was LAME! Joel and J-Lee still got it though. They were slamming down dunks like it was nobody's business! After cooling off inside, it was time to watch the Orlando Magic kick the Cleveland Cav's BEHIND! Once the game was over, it was time to head on to my parents house and get packing. We packed up a bunch of our things that were still in my parents' garage and put it into our van.

Monday morning rolled around and I felt like this weekend went by really quickly. Jane and the Navarretes came over to say goodbye. Just like all of our goodbyes, it lasted a good hour and a half. :)

Here's how it was in the van on the way home... for MOST of the ride... all 10 hours of it...

I hope to add some pictures when I get more from Inay and Nikki, and whoever would like to send them over to us. *HINT HINT* Thank you to our wonderful family for a great and memorable weekend. We love and miss all of you. We'll be seeing you soon, but never soon enough. Thanks for reading!