Well, The weekend before last we celebrated our boys 2nd Birthday. My how it goes so fast. We had a huge celebration that involved about 50 adults and 20 kids. We are so in the kids birthday circuit now. We rented a train bouncer and obstacle course which was a pretty big hit. It even had a slide. I cooked burgers and dogs and we got pizza for the kids. Everyone seemed to have a great time especially the kids. We received many gifts and thanks to all for overloading our house with even more stuff.
It has been amazing how quickly 2 years went by like the blink of an eye. It feels like yesterday we where sleep deprived giving medication every 3 hours and dealing with apnea monitors. It feels good to finally be here. Aiden and Chase are very strong and healthy and I attribute that to the whole family and everyone who has lent a helping hand. I just love these little guys and it seems like their little personalities and flourishing every day. They are talking a whole bunch and putting words together. They can even get stuff for me when they ask.
Every year Christine and I discuss about having a small intimate party with family but that usually flies out the door when we make the invite list. I guess I should just stop fighting it. And besides, there birthdays are on the same day. I guess I can have a big blowout once a year. Till next year when they turn 3. Toodles!

You can see the gallery of Pics here! 

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.

Quote by John Adams

This year as the previous few we headed over to Doug’s house in Corona.  Although it was hot there was a nice breeze to alleviate the heat.  We took our kids along for the festivities.   We ate lots of food.  Unfortunately the first few hours there I was taken ill by some previous Taco Bell I had ate.  I was hitting the bathroom every few minutes.  Jaclyn took a look at me and told me I was pale and sweating.  I did not feel very good.  In fact I haven’t had that much pain in many years.

After I recouped  we went swimming at a neighbors house.  It is a beautiful lagoon type pool with a small waterfall.  Chase kept hamming it up by jumping into my arms because he enjoyed everyone clapping for him.  Aiden spent the enrire sitting on Doug as he floated around.  They where very sad to leave.

We drank all day and played darts.  In the evening I put the kids to sleep in Dougs room.  Christine played cards with the girls and had a really good time.  Doug, Geoff, Davey, and myself enjoyed our cigars and pipes around the fire and told stories and reminisced about Disney.  It was a very enjoyable time.  Also, I had the itch of lighting something off.  Doug procured a 12 shot mortar box and set it off.  2 seconds later a cop rolled down the street.  Every years seams like I and Doug get closer and closer to getting a fine.  I’m sure it is inevitable.

BTW,  The quote above from our founding forefathers explicitly says to Blow Shit Up.

I’m just sayin

Christine Took me to the West London Hotel off the Sunset strip to eat at the new Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised about the whole experience. I am not big on fine cuisine but this was amazing. Each course was to quote Doug, “an explosion of flavor in your mouth” When we arrived at the hotel we where “greeted” by Larry King who was waiting for his driver. We arrived early for our reservations so I asked the hotel manager if we could go upstairs to the rooftop where earlier I had seen a bunch of people gathered. She quickly found a bell hop and he keyed us to the roof top. When the doors opened we where visually thrown into some sort of weird trendy Hollywood party. There where girls in bikinis by the pool. and a bunch of movie stars wandering around eating and drinking. We got some good margaritas and enjoyed the view. Ron Jeremy was there with some girls and I thought to myself it is really strange that I keep running into this guy. It does help that I go to the porn convention every year. I’m sure that has something to do with it. we also saw the lead winger to Fall Out Boy and Roman from Big Love. One of our favorite shows.
We left the rooftop and went down to Ramsey’s for our reservation. The Dining room was decorated out of the 80’s. It was interesting but definitely appealing. We ordered dinner and the play commenced. Each course was brought by a team of well groomed waiters. The are held at a staging area and are all lead at the same time to your table. As soon as the last fork is set down anew team comes immediately to pick up your table and reset for the next course. Everything we ordered was delicious. The portions are tiny but the food is not about filling yourself. It is about enjoying a unique and interesting blend of flavors. After dinner a cake was brought out for me and it was delicious. In all, I was shocked at what a great experience it was. Dinner took 3 hours. Amazing!
After Gordon Ramsey’s we went to The Standard in in Downtown LA. We quickly jumped into one of the rooftop water beds and relaxed with a few cocktails. after we secured an awesome spot for people watching and a couple of bottles of wine. We hung out and talked for a while until we got sleepy. Damn I am getting old. Chrsitine did a wonderful job setting everything up and I thank her immensely. It was definitely a great evening. You can view the images here!

Today our boys got baptized. it was done at St. Johns Lutheran Church in the city of Orange. All our family was there and all the god parents also. Cameron and Eric, Meghan and Laura had accepted the responsibility and made it to the church to support our little guys. It felt really good getting them baptized and the whole ceremony went off without a hitch. Aiden had fallen asleep during the actual sacrament and chase fell asleep immediately afterwards. We held them through the mass and we were delighted on how easy it was. Coincidently there was another set of twims that got baptized at the same time. One of them was even wearing the same sweater vest as Chase. After mass we went to our home where everyone drank and ate and had a good time. We ordered the trendy sprinkles cupcakes and they lived up to the hype. I highly recommend the red velvet kind. The food was Lebanese from Open Sesame and again I ordered too much. Maybe its the Cuban in me or the need to over count but I thought we would not have as much leftovers as we did. Aiden and Chase had a really good time and loved running around with all there friends and family in our house. They boys received many gifts which Christine and I really appreciate but thought it was unnecessary. Although baptism is referred to as a your birthday in the Lord I do not see it as a gift giving occasion. But thank you all very much if you gave the boys a little gift. I also want to give honorable mention to Cameron for getting the boys college accounts which they will receive when they are 18. Every little bit helps and it pleases us very much that people are so selfless and realize the importance of education. The evening concluded great and Christine and I cleaned up and relaxed with the knowledge that we did something nice and will remember it always. I also want to say thanks to my parents. Without their help I do not think we could have planned a better party. You can see all the pics from the day here.

At this time I will go into explaining where my beliefs lie at this time. If you wish to stop reading here I understand. I use my blog as a journal and sometimes I like using occasions like these to write down my feelings with the hopes that one day in the future I can read these and follow through the progression of my feelings towards subjects. I also do not like writing to much personal information on these things because they can be used for harm so when I do it is because I feel it is important.

I was born and raised Catholic and the teaching of Cathol. [Eddie reference] After High school and my confirmation I struggled with my faith and what exactly I was doing as far as the dogmatic practices of my church. At that time I started experimenting with other religions and seeing what was out there. I even attended a sweat lodge and particpated in several Wicken ceremonies. It left me with a greater appreciation of other religions and It allowed me to speak intelligently on the subject. I kept on going back to my Cathol roots during times of crises. I then met Christine and she opened me up to the worlds of Protestant churches. Although it was completely new to me because I did go to a baptist preschool. I was too young to know the difference. She started teaching me about Lutherens and the world of the Protestant Reformation. At this early stage I still went to some other churches as well as a non-denominational Christian church with my friend Angelo. It did not appeal to much to me due to the lack of ceremony and it’s feel good music. I like somber and structure. At this time the world started to become a crazy place with Islam becoming a large influence here in America. Religion started to become more important to me or at least understanding it. Christine and I then started going to a Lutheran church by our house. Unfortunately the people started getting way to much in our business and I hated being asked for supper every weekend. we left the church and had no real yearning to go back. Which leads us to today. I realize that I do like the Christ religions and the Catholic church is my preference, but I am not too happy with it these days. Lutheran’s are great because they are the closest to Catholics. We baptized our kids Lutheran because I personally don’t believe it makes a difference what church they are baptized at. No religion is the end all be all. I look forward to maybe going back to church again and even talked about going to the church we baptized our guys at with my wife. I think it would be nice.

This Weekend I participated in my first No Limit Texas Holdem Tournament.

A neighbor of mine holds annualy a large tournament in his driveway and garage. I have seen it the past of couple of years and always thought it looked fun. I fancy myself a mediocre card player since I have been playing from birth. I joined this year and made it down to the last 2 tables right before they were going to be joined. I am not sure of my ranking yet but I believe I was somewhere between 7th and 10th. Out of 60 people I thought that was pretty good. It gave me a good confidence boost and I have really been thinking seriously about entering some more tournaments. And who knows. maybe go Pro!

Last night we celebrated Sam’s birthday by going out to dinner and a few hours of bowling. It seemed like everyone had a good time. We ate at Claim Jumper and then proceeded to bowl at the Irvine Lanes. I suck at bowling and don’t really enjoy it but It was fun to be surrounded by your friends and being goofy. Afterwards we headed to casa de Floyds and played some rock band and apples to apples. I know! sounds a little old to play games but hey. we all have kids damn it. You can view the photos here!

We invited over our old roomates from Seal Beach to dinner at our house. Jen and P.J. arrived on time and brought a wonderful salad and a green bean casserole. Although I hate green beans it was pretty tasty and Christine loves that casserole. They also brought a friendly gift of wine which I love. Nichole and Rob of course were late. Nothing ever changes. Also, she was going to make her dish at our house. I had timed the ham I was cooking with their on time arrival. I guess I’m an idiot for thinking everything would go smoothly. The table looked great and once everything was prepared we had a great dinner. The most enjoyable part of the evening was having all the kids play together. I realized how lucky Christine and I are to have 2 babies. Chase wanted to hug Olivia and Avery and they would not have anything to do with some physical affection. Avery and Olivia are better talkers and Avery is a superior walker, but my kids are alot more social because they have to be. So what I’m trying to say is that every child is different. Even when I get frustrated because I think my children should be doing this at their age they are doing that better than some.

We had a wonderful gift exchange and drank alot of wine and my specialty drink Evil elves. It’s an egg nog drink. Thanks again to you guys for coming over and enjoying dinner at our house. You can view the photos here!