Chicago visit part 2

At Dad's surprise party!! I only had a few pictures on my camera - we took a lot more pictures with my Dad's camera but this is all I have right now. I will post more later.

A couple Titas including Tita Maida, Tita Aida and Tita Delly

Allan and John

Zoe and her Ninong James

Ethan, busy as usual:

Allan and Michael (cousins) with Tita Ofe, Zoe, myself, Tim and Elaine


Some of my cousins: Maricar, Kris, Elaine, Abby (and myself)

Me with my two brothers:

At the Science and Industry Museum:

Chicago trip

This year we went to Chicago for Christmas to see all of the Abril family. It was the first time, since I was a teenager, that I spent Christmas with my dad and family (only the third time EVER). It was also the first time that my extended family got to meet Zoe. Here are some pictures on the airplane at 6AM leaving from CA to IL. We all look tired because we got up at 3.30AM to get to the airport on time...(seemed like a good idea when we were booking our airline tickets)...

It was also the first time Zoe and Ethan would see snow. We were expecting a lot of snow - in fact, we were worried that we wouldn't know how to deal with the cold weather (because we Californians aren't used to anything below..say a freezing 50 degrees). The day we arrived, there was a little bit of snow. There was enough snow to cover the ground but not enough to really make a snowman, which we figured we could do later in the week. We played a little bit and had a mini-snow ball fight. Ethan really started to get into it and we assured him that we'd go sledding and make a snowman and snow angels later in the week when there was more snow.

Unfortunately, it rained a couple days later and all the snow melted away. The weather was mild - about 40-50 degrees (except one day, it was 17% and WINDY). So there was no more snow while we were there. We all had hoped it would snow but no such luck. Ironically, it snowed the day we left...7 inches, in fact!!! Guess we brought the mild California weather with us and took it back when we left. Ethan was pretty disappointed but still had a good time. We did get to play in the snow for a little while the next day and even made a very mini-mini snowman.

On that very cold day (the day it was 17%), John and my brothers decided to go snow boarding on artificial snow. They had a blast though. In fact, they went the next day too. The kids and I watched for a little while from the car but there wasn't any place for us to play so we went home.

Here are a couple pictures of us at Wilma's Cafe, a restaurant owned by my aunt and uncle. Even our waiter was my cousin, Michael (great service by the way)! Its always one of our favorite spots when we visit my dad.

We also went to Enchanted Castle, which is fun place similar to Chuck E Cheese - where they have rides and games and food, perfect for kid's birthday parties. We initially went there to entertain the kids, but I think we all had fun. Tita Aida, Jason, John and I continuously played Deal or No Deal which was so much fun, very similar to gambling. The kids went on rides and won prizes. John even got a 'special' coin which allowed one of us to go inside a booth that had a bunch of 'money' flying around. The object of the game is to collect as much 'money' as you can and put it in a little mail slot for a certain amount of time. And then the 'money' is redeemable for tickets. Jason was the one who stepped into the booth and WON hundreds of extra tickets for Ethan and Zoe. It was fun!!

Here is Zoe's model pose:
Here is mine! Hers is definitely cuter. Actually, in this picture, both of us were supposed to be doing the model pose. But she tricked me, only I'm doing it. Trying to learn from the best, I guess!!


More to come...