birthday...or birthmonth...

This whole month has practically been an ongoing celebration of my birthday. And I'm not complaining! First, mom came and we celebrated. Then, Elvis took me to the reggae concert the week before my bday. Then, he made me feel really special the actual day of my bday with signs around the house (because he was already at work when I woke up that day...), took me out to eat, and surprised me with my favorite perfume. Perfume was one of those things that got left behind in El Salvador, so it's special to have some again, especially since it's something I would never buy for myself.

Then, last night, we had my official bday party- a picnic at one of the free concerts in the park that Pasadena offers. The music was great (Brazilian), the company was great, and the food was outstanding! Elvis cooked "panes con pollo" (basically the most delicious chicken you'll ever taste, stuffed inside a fresh roll and smothered in homemade sauce and coleslaw. He spent all weekend cooking and everybody loved the food! Suzy had a great time playing with everyone there, which was a mix of church friends, school friends, and Salvadoran friends. When I asked Suzy what we should do at my party, she said "Play ring around the rosies."  And she made it happen! She's definitely the life of any party (or "par-tay" as she has started calling it), being sure to get those that are sitting off to the side involved and feeling included. 

not sure why we were laughing...suzy was most definitely doing something ridiculously cute

Ludwig...our friend from our church in San Salvador, now living in LA!

Ludwig's son is Suzy's current crush....you can see why....

bday girl and the handsome chef

In other news, Elvis got a call last week that he would be switched to 2nd shift now...meaning that he works from 2pm-10:30 instead of 5am-2:30. The good news is that he no longer has to wake up early and now we can go to church together on Sundays!! THis is a huge answer to prayer because we wanted to go to church together, but still have Thursdays free so i can do my world vision internship stuff. With his new schedule, it works! It will definitely take some adjusting (like getting together with people in the morning, not in the evening), but i think we could like it.

No, it's my favorite!

I am loving the summertime in the US....lots of fun things to do for free like concerts in the park and splash pads outside the local library, plus the sun stays out so late this is a whole new world for us! Bedtimes are getting pushed back and mornings are starting later (well, at least for suzy and me) and even though I'm still working with World Vision and Elvis is still plugging away at his job, life seems different and more laid back during the summer. We might go as far as to say it's been my favorite season in CA so far! 

Suzy is loving the whole concept of "favorite"....her new thing this week is that whenever I say that we are only going to do something one more time or just 5 more minutes, she says, "No, that's my favorite!" to whatever activity I am limiting. For example, i tell her only 1 more minute on the playground and she says "No that's my favorite!" or I tell her she can only get up from her nap to go pee pee one more time and she says "No, that's my favorite!" Really Suz? Going pee pee is your favorite? I have evidence of this new trend at the end of this video clip:

What's been your favorite thing about summer so far??

catching up...

Wow, where do I start in this whole blog catching up process? My summer has been relaxing a busy all at the same time- less school work and no classes to go to, but lots of real, hands on experience as a work with the youth in MacArthur Park with World Vision's Youth Empowerment Program. I love that I don't have a computer at my internship, and I am hardly ever "stuck inside the office" but spend almost all of my time out in the neighborhood, talking with people and interacting with the youth. Learning a lot about myself, the neighborhood, and working with youth...especially 2nd generation immigrant youth. Whereas the tension of not knowing whether to speak in English or Spanish used to intimidate me, I am learning to roll with the Spanglish that flows freely in LA.

This past week, our youth hosted a conference and since it was supposed to be an overnight (only ended up being 1 day), Nana came to help babysit!! We had lots of fun with her-a visit to the zoo, visiting the peacocks that roam freely through the streets of Pasadena, a visit to the arboretum with Kelly, eating lots of yummy food and lots of Nana/Suzy time. Nana also babysat one evening so Elvis could take me to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl for my bday (which is this Sunday!) We saw Toots and the Maytals- one of the first reggae bands from Jamaica that started in the '60s, and Ziggy Marley- Bob's son. The ironic thing is that Suzy couldn't go, but she shares a deep love for this kind of music! She insists on listening to rocksteady reggae everynight at bedtime. She is currently busting it out during naptime too. She cracks me up. Thanks Nana for helping out and coming to visit!!! Suzy misses you in her top bunk!

A random cumbia dance party at Olvera St

Eating a Phillipe's - where the French dip sandwich was accidentally created  almost 100 years ago when they dropped the bun in the meat juice

awesome. 

Nana's favorite animal at the zoo-flamingos!

komodo dragon

that's our gorilla face

lounging

at the Hollywood Bowl for my bday concert...see the Hollywood sign up in the distance??

It's nice to have generous friends who have generous friends. Our friends Jess and Deron were invited to use their friend's beach house for the week, and they invited us down to spend 2 nights and celebrate the 4th! (Which, by the way, was major culture shock after not being in the US for July 4th in many years...who knew they made so many starred and striped outfits for all ages and social classes?)

The beach house was awesome...simple, cute, and when you took one step from the kitchen, you were on the sand. The girls loved having their own little beach to play in. The water was freezing, but that didn't keep a certain hubby of mine from taking a dip! And consequently having a literal brain freeze.

I'm learning that the southern California portrayed in the movies is not entirely true. For example, the beach is never sunny here...at least not during the summer. This week, it was about 69 degrees and cloudy, which is about the norm. Not the sunny Cal pictured in the movies.

Also, not everybody in LA is fake and plastic and materialistic as portrayed in Hollywood. That is not the LA we see everyday. However, Newport Beach was in fact fake and plastic and throngs of white, drunk college kids. Just like the OC you saw on TV. That does, sadly, exist in some places. The good thing about having lots of rich kids partying beside you is that they don't care about the $4500 fine for shooting off illegal fireworks, so we got a great private show! Until they started shooting fireworks at each other.....and playing Yankee Doodle Dandy over their stereo system. Seriously. This is what being cool means????

Anyways, we thoroughly enjoyed the trip, especially because Wednesday was the only full 24 hour stretch of time that Elvis and I will  be able to be together for the entire summer because his only days off- Wed and Thurs- are the only days I work at World Vision (so as to be able to use the car and have someone always with Suzy) so we never have a whole day together. We cherished that day on the beach together as a family!

at a 4th of july festival...which included a dog in costume parade

the view from the kitchen sink

the beach is better without pants

jess, deron, elvis

bonfire