Happy Birthday, Gabey!

Gabey is now four years old!  We can't believe it that he is growing up so quickly!

As usual for our family, on his actual birthday, we had a low-key celebration and Emily's parents came over for dinner.  He was very happy in the morning to see his presents lined up where they are supposed to be out of reach.  Not so out of reach anymore for this guy!

In the afternoon, he got to open his presents...one was of a photo album with a ton of photos of him from birth until age four!

Another present was of a big fire truck, with a ladder that extends and other features.  Xiao Yu is quite fond of this one.

On their birthday, the birthday kid gets to pick what we have for dinner.  So we had olive pizza (we didn't put olives on all the pizzas) and watermelon (his favorite) and corn on the cob.  It was simple enough to prepare!

Then came time for his cake, which was green with orange frosting.  Kind of a weird combination, but it made him happy!  No, he is not turning 34 years of age; he wanted both candles on top for some reason.  (Because he WAS 3, and NOW is 4!)

It turns out that he has terrible aim with his blowing.  He could NOT blow out the candles for the life of him.

 It took multiple tries.

 And still nothing!  These are NOT trick candles.

On his 8th and 9th try, he was able to blow them out!

 Yummy green cake!

On the weekend, we started preparing for his party with friends coming over.  As traditional in our family, Elvin makes brigadeiros, which is a Brazilian dessert.  It's sort of like fudge in the shape of little balls rolled into chocolate flavored sprinkles.  The kids wanted to help and actually made the process quicker.

They also helped to set the table.  Green table cloth, of course!

And orange plates and napkins.  Can you guess who picked out all the colors?

The kids came over and were happy to play in the backyard.  As a present to all the kids, Elvin's parents bought a climbing dome for our backyard.  The kids love it and hang from it and do all sorts of monkey-like things on it.

Then came time to hit the piñata.  Xiao Yu took some swings at it.

 Then Gabey...

It turned out that the bottom of the piñata was a little loose and about 2/3 of the candy spilled out...and the kids rushed in.

Then it was time to sing "Happy Birthday"!

 And when it was time to blow out the candle...a deep breath, and...

 Nothing!

 Gabey thought that it was a little funny.

 And finally, he did it!

 Then it was time to open the presents from his friends.  One of his favorites was a Paw Patrol dog toy.

And finally it was time to say goodbye to friends.

So there's our 4 year-old Gabey.

First Backpacking Trip!

This year, Elvin decided to take Eliana backpacking to have some quality daddy-daughter time.  It has been over 10 years since Elvin has gone backpacking and Eliana had never been.  Both had a great time!

We drove to a trailhead on Mt. Hood, about 1.5 hours away.  On the way, we stopped at Dairy Queen for a blizzard.  We couldn't think of a better way of starting out the hike!

Here we are at the trailhead for the Twin Lakes trail.  Even though Elvin is carrying the tent, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, etc for both of them, Eliana's backpack did have some weight to is as she carried her own clothes, snacks, some water, and her stuffed cat!

And we set out!  It was about a 3 mile hike up to the site, with a little bit of elevation gain.

 The day was nice and cool--perfect weather for hiking.

Eliana carried an emergency whistle just in case.  And she wanted really badly to blow on it, which Daddy didn't really want.

 We found an interesting looking beetle while out there...

After hiking two miles, we reached the closer of the two lakes.  We stopped to fish.  Eliana learned how to cast in to the water.  It's definitely a learning curve as she got the hooks caught in the trees overhead twice!  Lucky that Daddy brought extra stuff!  We didn't catch anything and actually didn't see any fish of any size in the water...

We finally reached the site at about 3pm.  It took us less than 2 hours to hike 3 miles even with lots of stops.  Once we got there, we started setting up the tent.  Eliana helped out with the poles.

Then she decided to be a circus performer and pretend the log was a tightrope.

One of the highlights of the trip, according to Eliana, was the campfire.  Elvin let her stir the fire with a stick and she was amazed that she could create sparks.

Once the fire got going, we roasted hot dogs for dinner.

And then Eliana got to eat a bowl of instant ramen for the main course.

We then went back to the lake to filter water for drinking--there was no wind and the forested hills were reflecting off of the water.

We then went back to the campsite and had more dinner.  (Dinner was less than a sit down meal and more of a drawn out series of snacks.)  Elvin brought a beef jerky type of snack that was made from bacon.  So we warmed these over the fire and they tasted delicious.

It started to get pretty chilly pretty quickly because we were at about 4,000 feet elevation.  It was probably in the 50's and it would get to the 30's at night.  But our down sleeping bags kept us toasty warm.

Even at dusk, the lake was beautiful.

The next morning, we stoked the fire and had breakfast, which included more roasted marshmallows! These are the special treats one gets to eat during a backpacking trip.

Then we decided to hike the trail that surrounds the lake.  It was nice to hike around without our packs.

Then we broke camp and it was time to start the hike back down.  Eliana was sad to leave the campfire--it was one of her favorite parts of backpacking.

A mile later, we were back down to the Lower Twin Lake.

It was a good 3 mile hike down to the car.  Here is Eliana pretending to sleep.

And we made it!  It was a great weekend where Eliana and Daddy got to spend quality "alone" time together, and enjoying the beautiful Mt. Hood National Forest at the same time!

Visit to the doctor...

Yesterday, Gabey had a regular check-up with our pediatrician.

Besides the fact that he didn't want to cooperate at all, it went well.  He got two shots and didn't even cry this time.  This is in contrast with last time, when he was thrashing around like a rabid tasmanian devil and Emily had to pin him down for his shots.

With school being out, Emily had to drag the other three kids to the doctor's visit as well.  This must have inspired them... because today they are now playing doctor.

Or rather, veterinarian--but still in the health field right?

Karina is the vet and Xiao Yu is the doggie on the table waiting examination.

Here she is taking his blood pressure.  Later on, she checked his teeth, listened to his lungs, and declared him to be in excellent health!

Eliana later on became a dentist.  She is examining Ruffy's teeth and even brushing them for him (with a mallet.)

Now Karina has stuffed her pockets full of toy balls.  They are "candy" to give to kids in case they get upset in the doctor's office.

Books on tape...

Books on tape are getting to be very popular in our household.  Ever since Eliana was little, she enjoyed listening to books.  Although instead of being on tape, these books are downloaded to an iPod. (While cleaning out the house, Emily recently left a walkman on the counter.  When Gabriel saw it, he said, "Whats THAT?")  Eliana carries the iPod around in a little pouch slung across the shoulder while doing other things.

Karina has been less interested in listening to stories but recently has become more.  And so she grabbed a little pouch that she had, put Elvin's phone inside and went outside to listen to her book-on-tape.

We wonder if Gabey will ever be as interested in books on tape as the girls are...