Memorial Day Weekend with the Cousins

I spent Memorial Day weekend here in Seattle. I really didn't have any plans, and just thought I'd go with the flow day by day. It would be a very relaxing 3 days off. Well, the weekend played out even better than I expected. Friday night I spent with my family at my parents' condo here in Belltown. I'm so glad they're so close and I can hang out with them whenever they're here. Saturday morning, I went back to my parents' condo for breakfast, hung out at the park with Ardon, and then had a fabulous dinner and perused the city on a beautiful Seattle night with more family again! Yesterday (Sunday), my cousins, Tin, Michael and I went out to Lake Union for a kayaking excursion. The weather has been so beautiful all weekend, so the combination of amazing Seattle weather and such a great family made my Memorial Day weekend memorable. I guess today will be my day to relax. Not bad.

David and Tan.
The last time we went kayaking, Tan flipped. He managed to stay afloat this time!

Tin and Michael.
The rowing for their adventure measured out about 10% Tin and 90% Michael.
It was pretty hilarious to watch.

G and me.
We don't know what makes us row so slow.
We were, by far, the first ones to head back to the docks, and the last ones, by far, to arrive. It's all good. We got our tans!

May Days

It's pretty wild to think that little Mia is already a year old! Mar and Vince invited the whole family to the Mexican restaurant Azteca to celebrate the little princess's birthday, which was pretty festive for a Cinco de Mayo birthday. Since Cinco de Mayo landed on a Tuesday this year, we all got together for the celebration the Sunday before. Filling a restaurant with the whole family is always a lot of fun.

Sometime during the celebration Nishi and Gemma came up with the swell idea of having a cousin dinner at my place. I walked up to their table, and immediately hear, "So, we're going to come over to your place for dinner next time." I say, "Oh, that sounds good! When should we have it?" Gemma chimes in, "Tomorrow!" And surely I agree! It's always fun to break up the work week with something different and fun, so I was all for it. What better company than my cousins? So, needless to say that Sunday and Monday were filled with family fun.

Birthday princess Mia, blowing out her first birthday candle!
She already dove into her cake. You can tell by the little chocolate soul patch on her little chin.

The Picardal-Villa family and friends gathered for the special birthday at Azteca in Tukwila. Feliz Cumpleanos, Mia!

The next day, we moved the party to my place.
This is the busiest my kitchen has ever been!
We had a very diverse menu, including Italian, Southwestern, Indian, and Filipino food.

Michael, Tin, Macoo, Gemma, Sander, Matt, and Mar enjoying the food.

Josh, Tan, G, David, Andrea, Nishi, Raya, and Ty also enjoying the potluck dinner.
I knew my big couch would come in handy!

The little princess and Daddy Vince hanging out.
Poor Mia had her 1 year old shots and was feeling pretty under the weather.

Isaac always up to something. . .