Boyar Love.

There are a few perks to having a job where I travel as much as I do.  One of them is that on the weekends between jobs, I have the option to either go home or travel anywhere for a comparable price (I've done this to visit Brin in LA for the past 2 years) This past February, I was working on a job in Gainesville, Florida a mere 4 1/2 hours from Boca Raton- the land of the Boyar Family.  So, I decided on my open weekend, I'd head down to Boca and spend time with my Brother, Adam, his wife Luciane, and their 3 kids (Chase, Alexa, and Bella).  Two of their girls live in Brazil and it just so happened that Eduane was visiting when I was down there so it was a nice treat- if only Mariane had been there, it would have been perfect.

We had a blast all weekend, full of churros at the bakery, baseball, basketball, and TONS of football.  There definitely isn't a dull moment when there are 3 kids running around all under the age of 7, they certainly keep you on your toes in the best way possible.  The funniest memory of the weekend was when I arrived on Friday evening, Chase and I decided to play a little baseball, here I had made the grand slam and was making my way to home base- when I unintentionally slid into home plate and bumped my head on the toy chest.  Pretty hilarious if you ask me.  It was then when Adam came out of the kitchen and said that he thought maybe we should put the baseball game on hold- I didn't argue with that one. haha.  So, Chase and I decided to move on to Basketball- and apparently, I'm the worst basketball player in the world.  I was "teaching" him how to play horse and I couldn't make any shots.  I got slightly embarrassed, especially when my 6 year old nephew turned to me and said the following:

"Aunt Cristina, you really need to practice everyday.  You're not that good."

If I hadn't been so mortified that my nephew was ACTUALLY beating me, I wasn't "allowing" him, I probably would have asked him for some pointers.  Maybe the next time I go there we can have a training session.

Luckily, we found where I shine was with Football- surprise surprise- its my favorite sport and surprisingly enough, I have quite the arm.  Chase would run to what felt like the other side of the world and I was expected to yell out "GO LONG" and then proceed to throw the ball to Japan for his heroic touchdown.

Meanwhile, we have Alexa riding her little car and pointing out all the purple flowers she could find.  What a difference it is between playing with the 6 year old boy and the 3 year old girl- both a blast, but one is much tamer.  But she made some great comments as well.  I swear these kids are the cutest, such a blast and honestly say some of the funniest things I've heard in a long time.    The best thing Alexa said to me was right after my shower I was letting my hair air dry and she peeks her head out of the house door just to veto my outfit and hair style with the comment "Aunt Cristina, I don't like your hair like that".  And proceeded to put bows and ribbons in my hair like hers.  Thankfully, I was able to get her to approve of my hair style sans bows and pigtails before we left for the day at the park.

We had such a great time that weekend and it was wonderful to play with Chase and Alexa.  Bella was only 2 1/2 months old when I came to visit, so she is such a beautiful and sweet baby girl- chilling with a big smile on her face.

We ended the weekend with grilling out on the porch and skyping Mariane in Brazil.  They are a beautiful family and I hope I get to go down there again sometime very soon.  Here are some pictures from our weekend adventures.

(Our little international jet-setter)

(It's hard to see, but there is a little purple flower in the bush)

(We made birthday cakes for everyone using my Cake Doodle app on my Phone and emailed them to G'Ma and G'Pops)

(We ended the weekend at the beach)

And when I returned to Philly, I was graciously welcomed by this: 

(home sweet home- this is what my car looked like at the airport parking lot)

As you can see our weekend was full of fun and a whole lotta love- the makings to a wonderful weekend.  Can't wait to see you guys again. xoxo Aunt Cristina.