Happy New Year!

One year ago ....

and today...

Wake-N-Play Movie

Happy New Year!

Pajama Party

Somebody is jetlagged! Somebody has been getting up at 5:30am, but then gets cranky and tired and goes for a nap before the sun rises. But by then somebody else has already had her coffee and can't go back to sleep. Oh well, at least everyone has new pajamas....

Hvala, Baka Dragica!

Mobile blogging

This is a test of the emergency blogging system. This is only a test. Beep!

Maybe Painted Pink

This blog needs some holiday cheer, don't you think?

There, that's better! Nina experienced her first taste of Christmas at the annual STAR Lab Christmas party.

As you can see, she didn't quite know what to think of it all. She is, however, a smart little one and quickly discovered that Christmas involves lots of cookies.


Of course, no holiday party would be complete without a visit from jolly ol' Saint Nick.


But you won't see any pictures of Miss Nina sitting on Santa's lap. Um, yeah, she freaked out into hysterical tears whenever she so much as looked in his direction. Oh well, maybe next year.

"You know, Santa Claus, and ho-ho-ho, and mistletoe… and presents to pretty girls…"

Thanks to Prof. Kahn for the pictures.

Mexico Part II: El Pueblo Pequeño

The weekend we arrived in Mexico was a holiday celebrating the Mexican Revolution of 1910. The beach was packed with families soaking up the sun for the 3-day weekend. On Tuesday, the village celebrated with a parade through town featuring children from the local schools. It was a treat! Waves of dancing girls and then children dressed in traditional peasant garb. Adorable. The float was my favorite, Emiliano Zapata fights for the people!

Nina and I joined the fun in our traditional outfits.


When the heat of the day was too much for the beach. Nina spend time running around on the lawn at Palapa Joe's. That is before crashing for her long afternoon nap.


In the early evening, we strolled through town, with many stops to look at any passing dogs of course!

Nina also got to experience traditional Mexican transportation.

We rounded off the day with a sunset cocktail hour.

Yay!!

Bye-bye sun!

Mexico, Part I: La Playa

For Thanksgiving, we packed up the family and headed south to Mexico! Our friends Willy and Kimberly are living in the small beach village of La Manzanilla and graciously hosted us for our 10 day visit. La Manzanilla is located on Mexico's Pacific coast about 3 hours south of Puerto Vallarta.

Nina started each day with a stroll along the beach. Of course this rather quickly turned into the morning nap after a few minutes of listening to the rhythmic sound of the waves crashing on the beach.

But after that it was time to play! We are happy to report that Nina took to the beach like a duck to water. She absolutely loved the sand, the water, the rocks and the sticks. And the dogs, and the birds, and the other little children! So much for her little brain, it was amazing to watch her soak it all up.

Nina quickly made friends with the children staying across the street (who actually happened to be visiting from our neck of the woods). Here is Dallas showing Nina how to use the shovel.

Nina's excitement even pulled Mirko out of the shade - for a short while.


If you can see behind the binkie, that is one enormous grin. Yep, she was in paradise!