Boat Tour, Crystal Lake, and Cousin Diane's Wedding!

Woo Hoo!!  I'm current!  Let's all open a bottle (of sparkling apple juice...*sniff sniff*) and celebrate!  LOL!

To conclude Elias and Linda's trip to Boston, we decided to change it up a little bit and try something new.  We booked a Boston Harbor boat tour that was about 45 minutes long, started at the New England Aquarium, floated around the Boston Harbor Islands, and came back.  It was something none of us had done before (in Boston), and his parents had never seen any of the Boston Harbor Islands.

William and Alex waiting to board the boat.

Joseph, Linda, and the boys walking towards the boat.

Elias, Linda, Joseph, and the boys ready to learn
about the Boston Harbor Islands.  It was a perfectly
sunny day and was just right for viewing the islands.

We stayed indoors for the majority of the trip.  It was
nice because there weren't too many people on this tour
and we had our choice of tables to sit at.

Me and Alex ready to ride!

The boys were getting a little wiggly about half way
through the tour, so I took them onto the top of the boat.

It was a little windy at the top of the boat as you can see,
but it was a beautiful day nonetheless.

The Boston Skyline

The Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown.

Joseph and Alex snuggling with the Zakim bridge
in the background.

Me and the boys (because of course, they both
had to sit on my lap).

Later that evening, we picked up Joseph's cousin Ilias and had a lovely
dinner in Somerville together.  It was very nice to have everyone together
and the boys really lit up with family around.

Since Alex didn't have summer camp for the week, he joined us at William's "My Gym" class.

Alex and William playing in the ball pit.

Time to stretch before the boys work out!

Our little Monk Monk, monkeying around.

Cone heads!

Woo hoo!  Our garden finally started producing!

The next morning Alex tagged along with us to William's free play/music class.

The boys had a blast playing with toys together for the
first block.

The boys doing the Teddy Bear Dance at Music class.

The following day I took the boys to Crystal Lake in Newton.  We had never been and had heard good things about it.  It was wonderful!
William loved scooping sand and water into his bucket (like he always does), and Alex had fun splashing around in the water.  Then after a short adult swim break, the boys enjoyed jumping off of the pier into the water (it was shallow) for about 45 minutes straight.

The boys playing with their buckets and sandy water
at Crystal Lake.

William loves his bucket and shovel at the beach.

This kiddo is sooooo happy in the water.

Our snuggly boys warming up together during adult swim.

Love these guys :-)

Two days later, we packed up these guys and headed to California.  My cousin Diane who lives in Pasadena had a wedding on August 8 and asked if Alex would be her ring bearer.  How could I say no?  :-)
Thankfully, Joseph was able to get the week off, so we made our trip to California a week long to make the most of the long flight/time change for the kiddos.  Plus we used this opportunity to visit lots of family and friends, since we won't be traveling during the holidays this year.

William, ready to get on the flight.  What a cheeky little guy!

Alex was ready to rock and roll as well.

William was my seat mate on the plane and Alex sat with Joseph.
The kids are at the right age where they
behaved perfectly (no..seriously) on the plane.  It was lovely.

On our way to the rental car store, we took a shuttle to get there, and Alex was sitting next to these two disgusting people on the shuttle.  Thankfully, Alex was completely unaware and was reading all of the signs on the road.

These people were despicable and I couldn't believe
they were carrying on like this with a kiddo just
inches away from them.

As soon as we got our rental car, we drove straight to my Tito Bobbit and Tita Elvie's home where a majority of our family were already dining on delicious Filipino food. 

Me, stuffing my face with delicious Filipino food
while William was eating pancit (Filipino noodle dish)
in my lap.

The boys threw an impromptu concert for everyone
once they finished their lunch.
(Thanks for the pictures, Tita Ging!  I was too busy
eating and chatting that I didn't take any pictures at this lunch.)

The boys were so excited to stay in a hotel (it's the
little things I guess), and they loved pointing out
all of the mountains and palm trees.

Woo hoo for free breakfast at the hotel!!  The boys
enjoyed cinnamon buns, yogurt, and fruit, while I
indulged in biscuits and gravy (my FAVORITE) and
a cheesy omelette.  Mmmmmm!

The boys with the Pasadena palm trees and mountains
in the background.

The morning of the wedding we took the boys to Old Town Pasadena to run around in the grass and play at the playground.  We thoroughly enjoyed the perfect, non-humid weather and atmosphere.

The boys running around the palm trees.

Joseph and William pushing Alex around at the playground.

William following in his big brother's foot steps.

William trying his hand at the big kid's playground.

It was a beautiful morning.

After that, we had lunch and took the boys back to the hotel so they could get a nice nap in before the wedding.  We knew that it was going to be a full day/night and wanted to stack the deck in our favor.

My handsome men, ready to break some hearts at the wedding.

Me and the boys at St. Philip's church in Pasadena.

Handsome Alex and the adorable flower girls,
marching down the aisle.

Alex is such a natural.  :-)

Our proud little guy, smiling big for all of the cameras.

Tito Bobbit and Diane walking down the aisle. 
What a beautiful ceremony.

Tita Rachel, Joseph, Alex, Me, Kristen,
William, Pete, Mom, and Dad at the church
for the ceremony.  It was so great to see everyone
again.  The boys loved being surrounded by family.

Our family after the ceremony.  It was a lovely ceremony
and we were so happy for Diane and Andrew.

William was ready to play around with Uncle Pete
after the ceremony.

Our silly boys with Uncle Pete.

Kristen joined in on the fun too, of course.

The boys hung in there during the ceremony, but
by the end, they needed to run around for a bit.

The Waples/Lavelle/Franses family at Diane and Andrew's wedding reception.

Alex was famous on the wedding party board!  :-)

My Tito Bobbit (mother's brother) and Tita Elvie at the beautiful reception.
(Photo stolen from my Tito's FB page.)  :-p

Andrew and my gorgeous cousin Diane
Congratulations!!  So happy for the two of you!
(Photo also stolen from my Tito Bobbit's FB page.)

Diane and Andrew had some fun games and toys
for the kids to play with at their wedding.

The boys enjoyed playing with the giant blow-up
bowling pins and ball.

Boom!

Unfortunately, these quickly became weapons and
the boys used them to hit each other.

See?  :-)

Time to play with some bubbles!  Bubbles are safe.  :-)

The boys playing on the lawn.

After that, we got some drinks to cool off and took a break from playing the games.

My mom and her brother Bee-Eye chatting are having
a good time together.

Me and sweaty Alex.  He had so much fun running around
and playing with William.

Dad and Mom :-)

Mom, me, and sissy :-)

Me and Kristen, hanging out  :-)

 

Cool guy Alex got a hold of Uncle Pete's sunglasses
and had some fun.

It was silly William's turn.

This guy...oy!  He's lucky he's so cute!  :-p

Joseph and the boys, hanging out, snacking on hors d'oeuvres,
and cooling off.

Mom and her sister Rachel, chit-chatting.

Kristen and Alex cutting a rug.

They have similar dance moves.  :-p

Dancing around at the cocktail hour.

William busting out some mad dance moves.

My Tita Ging and Tito Tito walking into the reception
as sponsors for Diane and Andrew's wedding.

Since Alex was part of the wedding party, Diane and
Andrew asked him to walk into the reception with
the flower girls.

And BOY oh BOY did this kid put on a show!  :-)
He even surprised me!

He was totally into it.

Our little guy stole the show!

This little guy has a big personality and had everyone
in stitches!

We were so proud of him.  :-)

Me and the big guy walking back to the table.

Then it was time to announce Diane and Andrew.
The DJ had us all whipping our napkins around.

Joseph and William, ready to eat.

Pete and Kristen in a kissing contest at the reception.

Kristen and Pete showing Diane and Andrew how to give the best kiss.

I tried to take a selfie with William, but he was getting
pretty tired towards the end of the night.

Making a goofy face into the camera made him smirk
a little bit.

Joseph and Alex, hanging out at the reception.
Alex was still ready to party and loved all of the music.

Woo hoo!!  You know it's a Filipino party when they
break out the Halo Halo (crushed ice with sweet beans,
evaporated milk, and ice cream) towards the end of the night!

This was the boys' first taste of Halo Halo, and they liked it!

The next morning, we enjoyed a lovely breakfast at Russell's in Old Town Pasadena.  My parents, aunts, uncles, and Kristen and Pete joined us before we all went our separate ways.

Mom, Tita Grace, Tita Lou, and Tita Ging dined at one table.

Kristen, Tito Tito, Tita Rachel, Tito Bobbit, and Pete
dined at another table.

Me, Joseph, Alex, William, and my Dad dined at another table.
It was so nice to see everyone before we left to go on
our next adventure.

William and Alex saying, "Good bye," to Pasadena!

We had a lovely time at my cousin Diane's wedding.  It was so great to see so much family in one place and to have a lot of them meet the boys for the first time.
Thanks so much for your hospitality, Tito Bobbit and Tita Elvie!  We had a wonderful time!
Congratulations to Diane and Andrew!!  May your dreams be realized through one another and may you have many, many years of happiness!
This was a really great first leg of our trip with many more fun times to come in the next post.
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki