October

I can't believe we are already in October. Carlos is very excited because he loves Halloween and has been waiting all year for this month. He loves going to the stores to look at all the Halloween decorations and we always end up buying him something. Don took him to a couple of stores and waited patiently for hours while Carlos looked at everything. He is a great daddy! Today we put some Halloween decorations inside the house and will try to decorate outside during the week.

In the afternoon I worked in the garden and Carlos and Titi played with some soil and water. They love looking for earth worms and other critters. They love getting dirty.

Mexican and Guatemalan Independence Day

Guatemala celebrates its Independence Day on Sept. 15 and Mexico's is on the 16th. Mimi and I wanted to go to Miami to the party that the Mexican Consulate organizes every year but it didn't work out. We still wanted to have some Mexican food so I decided to cook some pozole. It is a soup made with pork, hominy and chiles that you eat with some lettuce, radishes, oregano and lemon. It is cooked on special occasions and we love it. The one I made was ok, not the best but it satisfied our cravings. I also made a flan. Don was in Boston so Carlos, Titi and I went to Luke and Mimi's and we had dinner there. Roc tried it too. We also played loteria, a Mexican version of bingo, that Carlos loves playing.

Lisa's Bat Mitzvah

Don is back from New York. He went with his parents to Lisa's Bat Mitzvah. He said it was a great party and Lisa did very well. I am sorry we missed it but I decided to stay home with Carlos and Titi. It was going to be a very short trip with lots of affairs and I didn't think the kids would be able to sit through everything. It sound like everybody had a great time.

Carlos and Titi were very happy to see Don, they missed him a lot. Carlos baked some chocolate/banana muffins for him. He loves cooking. Titi was busy painting. She loves making crafts.

Guatemalan Charities

Somebody asked me about the charities we know in Guatemala. These are some of the ones we have supported. Don and I have met some of the founders and we can testify that they work incredibly hard to help people.

Project Safe Passage - Helps children and families from the Guatemala City's garbage dump http://www.safepassage.org/us/SafePassage.html
Orphan Resources International - Helps orphanages. They can receive material donations in the U.S. They also make Christmas boundles for the children http://www.orphanresources.org/index.html
Potter's House International - Helps children and families from the Guatemala City's garbage dump
http://www.pottershouse.org.gt/
Partner for Surgery - Help people get medical services, mainly surgeries for cleft lip and burns
http://www.partnerforsurgery.org/
Vamos Adelante
http://www.vamosadelante.org/
Foto Kids
http://www.fotokids.org/
Guatemala's Stove Project - Builds masonry cookstoves for Mayan families.
http://www.guatemalastoveproject.org/intro.html
Transitions Foundation - Helps disabled people
http://www.transitionsfoundation.com/Transitions_English/index.html
Casa Guatemala - Orphanage
http://www.casa-guatemala.org/english/frame2.html

Pictures

Don and his idol, Jerry Garcia

Playing with flour. We were going to make pizza but the kids started playing with flour and made a mess.

Pictures taken at Epcot

I was looking for something in my computer and I found these pictures.

Tropical Storm Ernesto

We spent Monday and Tuesday getting ready for a possible hurricane. Thankfully, it never became a hurricane, only a tropical storm so it didn't affect us much. We just got our accordion shutters installed and we were ready. What a difference from the other shutters. Last year it took us more than a day to install them, with lots of people helping us, and this time it took only an hour to close them all.

Schools were closed Tuesday and Wednesday and they will reopen tomorrow. The kids were happy to be out of school but they are ready to go back. Today it was windy and rained from time to time so we stayed home. We spent the day playing board games, cards, reading and watching TV. Don went to work both days so for him it was just normal days.

Luke and Mimi's surprise

Ok, now we know that Luke and Mimi like their patio's makeover. We did a "While You Were Out" kind of trick on them. Mimi knew I was going to start painting the patio and she picked the color but she didn't know that I wanted to redo the whole back patio while she and Luke were in Atlanta. It was fun and a lot of work. Keri helped one morning and Don installed a new fan and took care of the kids while I painted. Carlos and Titi helped paint and clean the floor. We were kind of nervous wondering if they were going to like it. The funny thing is that they were supposed to fly home last night but they didn't. They only came home this morning so last night we went to bed wondering why they had not called to say something. Don said that maybe they were mad and I started believing it. We were relieved when they called this morning to say they liked it. (We hope it is the truth!).

Little Mario

Here are some pictures of the littlest Morales. He is so cute!!! Carlos and Titi are crazy about him.

End of Summer Vacation

We are back from our summer vacation. Carlos started school on Wednesday and Titi will start tomorrow. She is very excited to be going to kindergarten at Carlos' school. She is going to have the same teacher that Carlos had so that is great. She has become good friends with us. Titi is very comfortable with the school because she has been there many times. She is going to be one of the younger kids in her class so we will see how she does. She has started to read some words and loves to do simple additions.

I don't know if she will be able to sleep tonight, thinking that she will take the school bus for the first time.

Happy Birthday Carlos!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARLOS!!

Today is our Carlos' 7th Birthday!!! He is sad because he lost "Spanky", the stuffed animal he has had since he was a baby. We might have left it at the last hotel and we hope to find it. We felt so bad for him last night.

We are heading to Orlando and will celebrate Carlos birthday there. We have been doing things to celebrate all week and will celebrate more when we get home.
Celebrating Allie, Andie and Carlos birthday

We also celebrated at home

Vacation

We are on our summer vacation, driving to Atlanta, Ga.

Our first stop was at Cocoa Beach. We stayed two nights and visited the Kennedy Space Center. We took the bus tour and saw one the IMAX movies about the International Space Station, very interesting. Carlos and Titi loved the pool at the hotel. It had a children's play area and they spent a lot of time there. We saw dolphins in the ocean, very neat. We also visited the pier, where some people were fishing. A nice couple let the kids touch the fish and helped them put the smaller fish back in the water. Carlos loved it.



Our next stop was Daytona Beach. We only stayed there for some hours. We didn't go to the beach because it was very hot outside. We did go to the beach later in the day, in St. Augustine, my favorite city in Florida, and we spent the night there.



The next day we drove to Savannah, Ga. I loved the city, specially the historic district! It is beautiful, I love the houses and the streets, full of trees and plants. We took a tour and drove to the beach area. That night we had a complimentary dinner at a great restaurant. Annie's family is from Savannah and one of her relatives invited us to his restaurant. The kids behaved well. The food was great. We stayed right by the riverfront and we loved it. I want to go back around Christmas time, I am sure the city looks great then. I can't wait to see once again the movie "Midnight in the garden of good and evil". It was filmed there. They also told us of another movie filmed in Savannah,


After a couple of days, we went to Atlanta. Carlos has wanted to go to Six Flags since he loves rollercoasters and he got his wish. It was fun but he didn't like the rollercoasters that much. He went on Free Fall and and then decided he liked the kids section better. The also loved the water area. We went to Stone Mountain, great view from there.

On the way back we stayed in Orlando. We didn't go to the parks but Don took Carlos to Disney Quest and I

Nice day at the beach

We went to Fort Lauderdale beach with Nico and his parents. Carlos and Titi had a great time but they got sunburned again. We put lots of sunblock but they still got sun. Next time we will go later in the day.

Carlos and Titi's first sleepover!

Carlos and Titi finally had a sleepover. They started saying they wanted to have one a couple of weeks ago. They kept dragging their sleeping bags and kept asking us to take them to their cousins or to Mimi and Luke's house.

Mimi and Luke were very nice and invited them to sleep over their house last night. Don and I were not sure the kids were going to stay all night but they did. They were so happy about it. They kept saying they had a great time. Don and I went to downtown Delray and had dinner at a Japanese restaurant. It was great! We felt funny without the kids. This was the first time we were apart at night. The house was very quiet and it was good and bad at the same time.

An Inconvenient Truth

I was able to see Al Gore's movie yesterday and I hope more people will get to see it. I am already a fan and believer of Al Gore so I knew the movie was going to have a big impact on me. Last year, after reading his book, Earth in the Balance, I tried to change and I became a little greener. I stopped eating meat (although I buy it for Don), worked harder in my garden, tried not to use many products made with petrochemicals, etc. Now I am hoping I will be able to do more because I don't want Carlos and Titi to have to suffer the consequences of our denial and opposition to change. I wish I could stop driving but there is no public transportation in our area. I wish we could move to a place where we could walk or use public transportation. The only thing I can really do now is to get rid of most of our lawn. It is cut with a giant gas mower and I have read that it pollutes the air

Fourth of July

We had a nice 4th of July. We stayed home most of the day and then went to the Sound Advice Amphitheatre to watch a concert and fireworks. The first group played horrible music but the second one was good. Carlos and Titi had fun playing and running on the grass. We were very close to the place where they launched the fireworks and it was neat.

Happy Father's Day!!!

Carlos and Titi cooked breakfast for Don this morning. They were very excited. Carlos made eggs and bacon and Titi made pancakes. Carlos set the table and he proudly served Don. He was so cute. Don enjoyed his delicious breakfast. We gave him some new clothes and I think he liked them.

We also had a very nice time at Steven and Janie's this afternoon. The food was delicious and we loved seeing everyone, specially grandpa. Carlos and Titi played a lot with Laura, Allie, Hailey and Andie.

World Cup

I can't wait for Mexico's game this afternoon.

When I was young one of my cousins used to take us to watch professional soccer matches. He lived with us while he attended Mexico City's University and didn't have many friends in the city. He would take my brother and I. We used to go a lot. Now I am one of those people that only watches soccer in the World Cup.

Last week I was able to see Mexico's match against Iran. I was very, very happy when Mexico scored the goals and won the match. It makes me happy because I know it means a lot to Mexican people. I remember how exciting it was when Mexico hosted the World Cup in 1986. The whole country stopped to watch the games and celebrate. The company I worked for had tickets and they raffled two of the seats for each game. I won two times. The best was watching Argentina-England at the Aztec Stadium. People were so envious of me.

Don and I have very good memories of the match we watched in Orlando in 1994, between Mexico and Ireland. Mexico won and it was a wonderful feeling. I sweated so much, because it was extremely hot in the stadium and of nerves. We had soooo much fun that weekend. We also watched most of the games at the Consulate during that World Cup.

That is one thing that I miss about working at the Consulate. We used to attend most of the games the Mexican team played in Miami. I saw Mexico-Brazil, Mexico-The Netherlands, Mexico-North Ireland. It was fun.

I also watched The Netherlands match last Sunday and I was happy for Henny when they won. Today they are playing again and I am sure they will win.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!

Today is Grandpa's birthday!! We want to wish you only the best. You are a great father and excellent grandfather. We are lucky to have you! We love you a lot and hope to celebrate with you over the weekend.

Lots of love,
Don, Carmen, Carlos and Titi

Orlando and Disney once again

Carlos and Titi were off from school last week and we decided to go to Orlando, for the weekend. We stayed at the condo and went to the Disney parks only one day. The other days we stayed at Bahama Bay, relaxing. The kids love the beach and children's water play area.
I was so happy to go back to Epcot to see the Flower and Garden Show once again. This was the last weekend so I was lucky! I never get tired of seeing all the plants Disney have and this show is amazing. Don and Carlos went to Test Track like always and Titi and I walked around some of the countries' pavillions. Titi liked the Great Britain's topiaries and France's fragrant garden. She collected fragrant leaves and even "stole" a lemon from a tree. We also listened and watched some of the performers. We saw the group that dresses and sings like the Beatles and Titi was so happy to hear "With a little help from my friends". Her class sang that song at Graduation and she was very happy to sing along with the group at Epcot. We also went to the Herman's Hermits concert. I only knew a couple of songs but it was a lot of fun. Most of the people at the concert were English and they loved it. We saw lots and lots of people from England, at the parks, at Bahama Bay, at Wal Mart.

Chasing butterflies

Carlos and Titi went to a party at Hailey and Andie's yesterday and they got some neat presents. This morning, as soon as they got up, they decided to go out and catch some butterflies. They got dressed (Titi was wearing the clothes she borrowed from Andie) and got ready. I didn't think they were going to get anything but they did catch two Monarchs, a brown moth, a small white moth, some ladybugs and they found more yellow Sulphur caterpillars. We also saw bees and wasps and I got bitten by red ants.

If you click on the pictures you can make them larger.