It has been a while since I have written one of these. I have been going through some issues lately. Namely my Grandfather passed away a couple of weeks ago. I will probably be writing a whole blog post on that. But in the meantime, Halloween has came and passed and I realized I have not posted any pictures due to my grieving time. It is very hard to stay focused these day especially when holidays force us to be happy. But regardless I have kids and there pretty f’ing cute these days. So without any further adieu.

We took our boys to go to the San Diego Zoo.  It was amazing to see how much they have grown.  Everything went smoothly and they had a really great time.  They followed direction and repeated every animals name that we came across.  Chase really loved the Elephants and wanted to stay there watching them for a while.  We also fed the giraffes which was pretty cool.  Aiden dropped his pacifier in the koala exhibit and we had to get someone to fish it out.  We ate dinner there and the went to the reptile area.  Man there are some pretty cool snakes.  U was sad that the polar bears were a little sleepy but there was some good monkey action.  In all it was one of the best trips yet. You can see the pictures Here

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! 

Well,  after my early departure from Softmirage, I was faced the daunting task of having two weeks off.  Oh what a glorious time it was.  I never once opened up a 3d program.  I spent many days with my kids.  I have a much better appreciation of all the hard work there grandparents put in during the week.  At times a was going a little brain dead trying to come up with activities for me and the boys to do.  Needless to say a few Disneyland trips where in order.  I braved the park by myself and them and realized watching two kids is hard.  On one of our trips I went with our friend Jen Fassoth and her girl.  We ended up having a blast but I must say that my arms are tired from carrying the boys in the queues.  I did take a couple of days off from the boys and hung out with my friends.  It was therapeutic.  I saw Iron man with Fulton and Angelo and I had forgotten how much fun our witty banter was.  I spent an eveing with Miss Ramos and we ended up drinking…  Alot!  I got a few drinks with James and had a night out with the boys Cam and Jeff.  I completed my landscaping job in the front yard and I must say, It looks scpectacular.  I put in so many sprinklers it looks like Fantasmic!

I developed a new bond with my kids.  It really is amazing watching these little guys grow.  They are talking so much and their little personalities are shining through.  It really is amazing being a dad.  I am really looking forward to knowing them and raising them for a long time.

I look forward to my new job with excitement and intimidation.  I have no ideas what to expect considering that I am moving into a larger firm with many more talented artists.  I hope I do well.  I will be carpooling to my new location and hope that we do not get on each others nerves. I think it will be fine though.  My new job offers me a 9 80 schedule which gives me every other Friday off.  I am really looking forward to spending more time with my kids.  Also,  it will start alleviating some of the pressure of my parents having to watch my kids 3 days in a row.

Well,  Thats it for now.  I also took the kids and Christine to the Huntington Library a couple of days ago.  I will post those pictures up soon and write a full story.  Wish me luck. I’m out

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.