Rivera Family: 2009

31 October 2009

Trip to VA

After spending time in PA, we headed down to VA for a couple of days. We took the kids to Busch Gardens and Williamsburg and visited my family. It was a fun couple of days.

Two peas in a pod.

Jenna and Big Bird

Michael and Ernie

Visiting Santa at the Yankee Candle Shop

Michael and Annette

Watching the guns at Williamsburg.

Rest break before heading back to NY.

PA Weekend

At the end of July we headed to PA to celebrate Colin's first birthday. We spent the evening at Grandma & Grandpa VanAlstyne and then headed over to Sesame Place for the day.

Jenna and Madison

Me and Michael

Happy 1st Birthday Colin!

Jenna and Madison getting ready to ride the roller coaster.

Meeting Abby Cadabby.

So hard to get a good picture of them.

30 August 2009

Mike had his friends out for a BBQ before we started the construction on the house. Fun was had by all and I think the funniest part of the day was Rueben falling into the kiddie pool. We look forward to next year to do it again :) Thanks all for coming.

Michael ready for the BBQ to start

Hanging out under the canopy.

The kids in the pool.

The kids in the kiddie chairs.

The boys.

The girls.

Madison's 5th Birthday

Swinging into July, brought us Madison's 5th Birthday. She had a pool party at the Hampton Inn in Staten Island. I think the adults may have had more fun than the kids. We loved playing in the pool! And once pool time was over, the kids were able to run around in one of the conference rooms. After the party was over, we headed over to Brooklyn to have some park time with the Van Alstyne Family. I have to say Michael and Jenna were exhausted by the time we got back to LI!

Happy Birthday Madison!!!!

Mike and Michael after their swim.

Jen squared with their 5 year olds.

Jenna did so good with her floaties. She swam all by herself!

Michele and Luke enjoying the pool.

09 August 2009

4th of July Weekend

As most of you know, we moved out to Long Island at the end of June. 4th of July weekend was our first full weekend being Long Islanders. We enjoyed the great weather and had the kids outside all weekend. We went to Port Jeff to walk around and go to the park. We checked out the park down in Patchogue by the docks. And we just relaxed in our own yard while the kids played and enjoyed the pool. It was the perfect weekend....

Michael on a slide at the park in Port Jeff.

Jenna smelling our flowers in the backyard.

Jenna and Michael on a slide at the Patchogue park.

Jenna enjoying the pool.

Michael relaxing on the front porch.

Pre-K Graduation

So with Jenna's birthday, it brought along her Pre-K graduation. It was a happy and sad celebration since Jenna would not be attending St Anselms in the fall. She had made many friends here and will miss them all. The graduation was a lot of fun with the kids showing off what they learned all year long. And the celebration afterwards was just as much fun with the kids running around getting in that last playtime with each other.

The march to their seats.

Pre-K 2 - St Anselms Class of 2009

Jenna and her teacher Mrs. Tormey

Jenna with her grandmas

Michael running around with the kids

Jenna's 5th Birthday

Can you believe Jenna is 5 already??? Where did the time go? She had 3 amazing birthday parties this year. First we celebrated with all her friends from school at the Little Gym. The kids got to run around, play and eat pizza and cake. What could be better than that? Party #2 was at Grandma Teresa's house with her cousins Brandon and Ethan. As always Jenna had a great time. And party #3 was at Grandma Gladys' house with all the usual Rivera family. Again she had a great time with everyone. It was a crazy couple of weeks, but it was worth it. Still can't believe my baby is 5....

Jenna with the amazing cake Grandma Gladys made for her.

On her actual birthday at Red Lobster - her choice :)

Getting some help blowing out the candles from Brandon and Ethan.

Next to her best friend Madison at the Little Gym.

15 June 2009

LSU Crawfish Boil May 2009

What a beautiful day! We spent the afternoon at the LSU Crawfish Boil with the Van Alstyne Family and Kristina and Oscar. Unlimited drinks and crawfish - what more could you want? We had a lot of fun with everyone. We finished the day with the kids playing at the park and dinner.

Diva Jenna at the park.

Jen, Kristina and Me enjoying the sun.

Oscar, Madison and Jenna checking out the Hudson.

Michael walking around.

Mike and Michael

London May 2009

So some of you know that I was lucky enough to cross the pond and visit London. I've never been there before, so this was such a special trip for me. I absolutely loved London. The city and the people were amazing. This is a city I could definitely see myself living in. The city was just flowing with history. Of course I was there on work, so we were required to do hotel visit, but we still had so much free time to see many sights. We rode the "tube", minded the gap as they say over there and rode in their famous red double decker buses and black cabs. We went to Kensingto Palace where Diana lived and it's amazing that people actually lived there! We toured the Tower of London, saw the Crowne Jewels and where they tortured the prisoners. Went past Buckingham Palace, saw the guards, but not the changing of them. It was still amazing to see them in person. We visited Picadilly Circus, shopped at Harrods, took a ride up the Thames River. Finally saw Big Ben, Parliment which was neat since I saw that line from the movie Vacation all the time. Saw St Paul's Cathedral where Diana and Charles were married. And the most amazing site I saw was Westminster Abby. The history in the Abby is just amazing. All those kings and queens buried there. Below are a couple of pictures. Anyone that wants to see more, just email me for the link to my winkflash pictures.

St Pauls Cathedral