Summer Staycation

This summer the Guilars made the decision to take Tiago out of his preschool (after all, he is officially a pre-k "graduate").  Since we no longer have to "hold" a spot for him, we thought we could save a little money and stay local for the summer.  We also decided to defer our traditional east-coast tour in the name of saving a few bucks.  The positive: Grandma Naomi even offered to fly Tiago up to Oregon.  So, Tiago was able to keep his frequent flyer-wings!  The negative: we found out that we would be spending all of our hypothetically saved money (and then some) on taking down our beloved Cedar.

The Positive:

Tiago had an absolute blast with his grandma Naomi and PaulPaul.  (Turns out Nate got a mini-vacay too!)  The Guilar guys enjoyed exploring museums in Portland, stomping around daddy's old haunts and kayaking/canoeing the Oregon coast. (Thanks grandma Naomi--for the trip and for sharing these pictures!)

(Our ninja turtle traveler had a blast! Below: Tiago's hand-painted TMNT suitcase)

Upon Tiago's return, we braced ourselves for The Negative:

We said good-bye to our beautiful old Cedar.  We didn't want to see it go but it was diseased and leaning toward our house.  So, alas, we had to bring it down.  At least we now have an abundance of fragrant woodchips to keep moths away for days!

Pirate Tiago paid homage to the tree, saying, "I love you, tree.  You were a good tree."

 Tiago and mommy spent the remainder of their summer vacay working on home-improvement projects, baking cookies, taking short road trips to the central valley, Monterey bay and around the San Francisco bay area to see friends and relatives. (See Blog Post: Summer Fun with Friends and Family for more pictures of the aforementioned)

(Together we painted the dog-house and the storage shed, to experiment with possible house colors.)

(Tiago loves elephants and chocolate.  So, naturally, he and mommy settled on "elephant grey" and  "bitter chocolate" trim.  )

Tiago was proud of his handy work and frequently admires his paint-job saying, "It looks so delicious--I want to eat it!"  This led us to determine: It's time for COOKIES! Nom-Nom-Nom!

 (Above, while donning a USA soccer jersey and pirate bandana, he pragmatically stated, "I'm a pirate that loves America!" ...and cookies.)

 

On the weekends, daddy also completed some home improvement projects.  In fact, he completed the last of 61 windows!  (Spiderman helped.) We're officially insulated!  Thanks Daddy!

Oh, did we forget to mention another of our favorite summer-time staycation activities? You got it! We watched a lot of World Cup soccer games.  And, because Tiago had a particular tio who was in Brazil at the time, Tiago became a mega-soccer-fan!!!

(A patriotic, pirate, soccer fan)

(Sorry team USA.  Maybe next time.)

Summer Fun with Friends and Family

Tiago and Mom enjoyed their entire-month-of-July vacation together.  After he and Dad returned from a great trip to Oregon, to see his grandma Naomi, Tiago discovered that his abuelita Susan had come for a surprise visit!  That's right, everyone got some mommy time this summer!

We even drove to Sacramento to visit great grandma Emily.

(3 generations on the Portuguese side!) 

Before leaving, Abuelita took Tiago to pick out a pair of fancy new kicks for school (the new-tennis-shoe-tradition continues). He went for the camouflaged green because they looked like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  The catch was that these shoes do not come with the Velcro option.  So, we dedicated a few days to practicing tying his shoes. 

 

(Above: He's now mastered the "double knot.")   

 (Above: Fun at Sacramento's Funderland with cousins)

 (Practicing swimming at Manor pool with friends. The boys apparently got the memo: you gotta sport tie-dye when in Davis.)

 (A visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium)

 (Tiago and his good buddy, Diego, practice offense at a park in Vacaville)

(At Tilden Park, in Oakland, the little ones square off for a World Cup stalemate.)