Our Casa Lennon is your Casa

We are thankful to celebrate all birthdays, but there is something special about the milestones.

Abuela appreciating her birthday collage

Casa Lennon’s abuela, sometimes know called Juana Antónia Lennon Gutierrez Magro Ibañez Alonso Palacios Barona Ruano García, delighted everyone by turning 70 years young. Much of the family converged on Las Tapas in Old Town Alexandria in what unexpectedly turned out to be a surprise party. More a function of the Lennon clan’s well communicated inability to communicate well.

That said, it was really fun. People came from Florida, North Carolina, New York, and even Maryland to take part. The primary “gift” abuela always wants is the time spent with her family – namely the grandkids. That is what she wants more than anything else. That said, Michael coordinated a gathering of lifetime photos and stories to put together for abuela. I highly recommend viewing the awesome collage that was the product of that effort.

ASIDE: We had the good fortune of being at the Spanish restaurant while Spain was beating Paraguay in the World Cup. (In case you hadn’t heard, SPAIN WON!!!! VIVA ESPANA!!! )

One last thing, we’d like to thank our niece Chloe for snapping so many candid photos.

Pictures from the Celebration

Here is the photo album gallery.

Here you can view it as a slideshow.

It happened less than a month ago, and I am actually posting about it. The careful reader (i.e.; only Daddy Dave) will note that I have yet to post anything about Sophia’s first birthday. I am utterly delinquent. But you gotta start somewhere.

As may very well become our custom, we hosted an open house for Sophia’s birthday. The event serves the dual purposes of getting to see many of our friends that we haven’t seen in a while and celebrating Sophia’s birthday. Aside from the fact that the sun decided to be an active participant in this year’s festivities, we all had a really good time. Most importantly, Sophia had an absolute blast. We also were able to get several of our friends together that we have been trying to introduce to one another.

Of course, this format may not work as well for Alexander’s birthday, since he is in mid-winter. Oh well, I am sure his celebration will be great, too.

Note to all other parents of young children: We got a lot of feedback that the “format” worked very well. We opened our doors in the early afternoon and invited folks to drop by whenever they wanted for as long as they wanted. This definitely helped with toddler/infant nap schedules. Some stayed for 30 minutes as they squeezed us in between competing weekend events. (Thank you!) Some stayed for hours. It was great to be able to see people for any period of time.

We are so blessed with so many wonderful friends who would take time of their hectic lives to help us celebrate. We are genuinely grateful.

We are especially grateful that Dave’s parents (a.k.a. abuela and grandpa) made the trip down from DC. Especially since two days prior they had just arrived back in the country from a month in Spain. WOW! We love you.

Photos from Sophia’s 2nd Birthday

Here are the pictures from Sophia’s second birthday.

Videos of Sophia’s 2nd Birthday

Terrible recording of us singing happy birthday to Sophia. Direct Link to YouTube video

Sophia having fun, as usual, with the Mackes. Direct Link to YouTube Video
(Forgive Daddy’s awful singing)

Sophia is as much of a ham as her daddy

Sophia made her inaugural solo bike ride. Admittedly, it was almost a month ago, but she now asks to get on her “bici” all the time. (Spanish abbreviation.)  It’s an amusing back story.

We were shopping for a bike trailer that Dave would pull behind his bike.  We really liked the Burley Honey Bee. We found a good deal on it at the Bicycle Chain. Alas, after taking Dave’s bike there, we learned that the trailer would not attach to his bike. While Dave was trying it all out, Michele entertained Sophia by letting her ride various kids bikes. Sophia loved it. So much so that, well, we left with a bike. It’s actually used (though you would never know by looking at it). The best part is that we’ll be able to trade it back in later. Apparently young kids grow out of things.

Well, see below for more pix of the first ride and a video to boot.

More Cycling Pix

The collection of shots from her bike ride.

Video leaving the garage