Miss us???

Its been forever since I've updated the blog...here is a recap since my last post.

We had a great summer! I was pretty much working from home for half of the summer which allowed us to swim almost daily at the cabana club down the street from our house. We had such a great time and we all got so dark. Then I took a new job and the last half of the summer, the kids spent with their Tito Joseph who continued to take them swimming and to local amusement parks. The summer was great and I will never forget the quality time I had with the kids. Hoping that next summer I can spend some QT with the kids too.

Zoe started kindergarten and Ethan started 2nd grade at the same school (goodbye 2 pickups and 2 drop offs!). So far they are loving it, especially Zoe who was lucky enough to get the same kindergarten teacher as Ethan.

John started a new job as well which sent him to Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana on a one week business trip. Luckily though, he is home more often because he doesn't work in the city anymore.

We spent Halloween at Disneyland which was fun since we haven't been there in a while. Here are some pictures from there:

Movies edited by Ethan Castillo

Ethan has just learned how to edit videos. He did these all by himself! Here are the first two he created...Enjoy! I must say I am impressed...but then again, I am biased.

Kindergarten...here she comes!

Our little Zoe graduated from preschool and will be entering Kindergarten in the fall. Although she is so excited to join her Kuya Ethan at his school, she is also a little sad to leave her old friends and teachers. She has been with Ms Trudi since she was 2.5 years old and has known her for even longer, since Ms Trudi was Ethan's preschool teacher also. She has only been out of school a little over a week now, and she is already saying she misses her teacher and wants to visit.

Check out her little preschool graduation ceremony. Look how supportive and loving her family is-they all came to watch little Zoe get her 'certificate'.

Ms Trudi and Zoe
Her BFFs, Mia and Ava

Zoe gets her 'certificate' at around 1 minute to 1 min 10 seconds - around there somewhere...sorry for the long video...

James and Allan's visit

In April, my brother James and cousin Allan came for a little visit. We packed in a lot of stuff considering they were only here a few days... We went to Napa, SF, and hit up a few San Jose favorites. We did a lot of eating as you'll see in these pictures...

Goofing off at Falafel Drive Thru:

They made a new friend at Jollibee:

Of course we had to get some In and Out burgers:


Comic Convention - nerd stuff...


Zoe posing for the camera in SF:

James will always be my baby brother but I guess this little couch is just too small for him:

Sharks Game...

Visiting LetLet in SF

World Famous Henry's Hi Life BBQ

Ethan's first grade performance

Ethan performed with his first grade class and sang his little heart out. He is in the front row with the orange 'tiger' hat on. We had fun watching him and the other kids sing and dance. Soooo cute....

Enjoy the pictures and videos too

Here is another video...sorry about the shaky camera...



A little video of the last song where he is extra cute because he is singing a song about how much he loves us! Then the kids go into the audience and hug their parents (or in Ethan's case, his grandparents, and aunt and uncles too).

Zoe's Ballet Recital

Zoe had her very first ballet recital last Friday. She was so excited to perform with her cousin Isabelle in front of the family. It was also her first time wearing makeup and wearing her special costume. She was so excited to wear makeup - probably even more excited than the actual performance. Here are a few pictures and one very raw video. I will post the official video (and more pictures) when I get them. Enjoy!

Zoe is the smallest one on the right side.

Zoe is in the very front on the right side...

Ballerina

Zoe started a new ballet school with her Tita Sheeree. Last Saturday was Zoe's last class of this first session so her Tita Sheeree made a quick dance so the girls could perform for us...

Let's Play Ball...

Baseball started up again. Ethan is no longer in T-ball and is now in A-ball! Saturday was his first game and first time hitting a ball thrown to him. Here are some pictures of him. John is an assistant coach and enjoying spending time with his boy!

Also there are a few videos of him hitting the ball (thrown by his coach). He did great!!

Ice skating

I used to love to skate when I was a kid and had been planning on taking the kids too. So I was so excited when Zoe and Ethan were invited to their friend Mattison's birthday party at an ice skating rink. This rink is actually where the San Jose Sharks practice!

Zoe was very nervous and cried the entire time on the ice. Although she never fell, she felt more comfortable keeping John company off the ice!

Ethan enjoyed it though! The rink offered the kids buckets to help them learn how to skate. Ethan fell several times, but just got back up and tried again.

Ethan and Zoe...looking at eachother thru the glass. Ethan is on the ice and Zoe is off the ice...so cute!


Zoe's video:

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Ethan's video

Cruisin...

We went on a 4 day cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada Mexico. I haven't been on a cruise since I was a kid but it was John and the kids' first time on a cruise. We were a bit nervous about getting sea sick and luckily it wasn't too bad. John and I felt the boat moving a little bit but the kids didn't seem to be too bothered by it. We had a great time and enjoyed relaxing and doing something a little different. The kids really enjoyed Camp Carnival - where they got to do kid's activities and hang out with other kids their age. John and I went to the casino (and lost!), went to the comedy club, played a competitive game (or two) of ping pong (I lost big time!) and just hung out. As a family, we played Bingo (nope, didn't win that either!) and played mini golf, saw a show and pretty much ate, ate and then ate again...

Captain's dinner on the cruise was a treat. Zoe really enjoyed getting dressed up.





It was 60-64 degrees so it definitely wasn't warm enough to get me into the pool. But since the pool was heated, kids had a great time. John and I sat and watched the kids while we drank our pina coladas!

Kids convinced John to get into the hot tub once...

The food was one of our favorite things about the cruise...here, Ethan is eating our favorite dessert - the melting chocolate cake. I ate it every night...Ethan and Zoe skipped it once I think...

Here is a friend we made on the boat:

Our cabin steward put a few towel animals in our room to visit us, a pig, an elephant and a sting ray:

Here is a picture of our cabin:

Catalina Island was one of the ports we stopped at. We had to take a little boat from the cruise boat over to the island. I've never been there before so it was fun renting the golf cart and driving around the island. The weather was beautiful too...









We went to Ensenada Mexico where we explored a flea market and La Bufadora, a blowhole or a pretty cool marine geyser that explodes upwards sometimes as high as 80 ft. above sea level. Ensenada was not the prettiest part of Mexico but the La Bufadora area was beautiful and we're glad we went.