Asian Festival

Yesterday Titi and I went to the Asian Festival, to see Mimi dance. It was a wonderful show, with lots of performers and of course our favorite was Mimi's group. The girls looked beautiful in their costumes and the organizers asked them to perform a second time. We were very proud of them. Titi had a great time, she took pictures and clapped a lot. Her favorite acts were the Chinese acrobats, a man that made sounds with his throat and the dragon dance.

I liked all the performers. Their costumes were incredible, so colorful and with the most beautiful fabrics. Lots of people came with their traditional clothing and it was so nice to see so many colors around. I don't know why we don't wear more vivid colors

Animal lovers

Last week we went to a children's festival and there was a booth with some animals. Carlos and Titi spent a lot of time there, holding the animals and wishing they could have them as pets. I did not get close because they had a rat. I am not afraid of snakes, spiders or most insects but I cannot get close to a rat even if it is in a cage.

Carlos was ecstatic because he got to hold a tarantula. He always says he wants a tarantula as a pet but he had never been able to actually hold one. He even held a giant roach! I told him he could get one when he was in college and living on his own. Titi loved the skunk and all the furry animals. Don liked the snakes and the other reptiles.

Luke's birthday

We had a great time at Luke's birthday party. Mimi said it was going to be a small party but it was not small at all. They bought lots of food from Lucille's Bad to the Bone BBQ and we ate a lot. It was very good. Vicki made a red velvet cake with a happy face. It was good too.

Carlos and Titi had a lot of fun and it was great seeing little Mario, he is getting so big.

Cows

On Saturday we went to Parkland and we saw some cows on the side of the road so we stopped to take some pictures. They were very friendly and I guess people feed them because as soon as Don and Carlos got close to the fence, the cows came from the middle of the field to be close to them. They were dissapointed when they saw that we didn't have any food and one of them yelled at us with a big Moooo! There was also a nice horse and he kept licking Titi. I was afraid she was going to get bitten but she loves animals and she was not afraid at all. Seeing the cows made our day! We spent the rest of the day close to home. Don took the kids to swim at the clubhouse and I worked in the garden for a while. It is very neglected.

Mana

Yesterday, Luke and Mimi gave me an early birthday present. They took me to see the Mexican group Mana!!! The concert was at the American Airlines arena in Miami and Mario, Tere, Mario Alberto and Elizabeth came with us too. We drove in my mini van and it was fun. We even had a Mexican snack. Mimi brought some chips and salsa!

It felt good to be among so many Latinamerican people. I think Luke was the only "gringo" in the whole arena. There were lots of Cubans, Colombians, Venezuelans and of course Mexicans. It was good to sing and dance to "Rock en Espanol".

Don stayed home with the kids. What a good husband!! I got home at 1:30 a.m. but I was able to sleep enough because I went back to bed after the kids went to school.

Lunar Eclipse

Last Saturday we went to the beach to watch the lunar eclipse. We got there around 5 p.m. and Carlos and Titi decided to get wet. I kept telling them they were going to be freezing but they didn't care. Actually, the water was pretty warm and they had a lot of fun.

There were Portuguese Man-o-War (a type of jellyfish) on the beach and the kids were careful not to step on them but once it got dark, they could not see them and Titi got stung by one. She cried for a while but I put some hydrocortisone and she was fine.

We were able to see the eclipse well. It was not as pretty as in some other parts of the world but we could see it perfectly.

The funny part is that Mimi went to the beach to watch it too but we didn't know. She was only a half block away from us but we only knew when we were leaving and she called us on the phone.

Street Painting Festival

One brave artist even let Titi "improve" his painting.

Once again we went to the Lake Worth Street Painting Festival and it was great. People are so talented!! They work so hard and then their work is washed away... We met Luke and Mimi there and we had fun together. We ate at one of the restaurants, in an outdoor table and it was good.

Carlos and Titi were happy to paint too and they got very dirty from kneeling down on top of their work.

20 Years!!

Twenty years ago today I came to work for Disney! I can't believe it has been so long. Back then I thought I was coming for a year and then was going back to Mexico and from there I was going to try to find a way to live in Europe for some months. I never lived in Europe and I only went back to Mexico for 4 months and then came back to Florida and I have been here ever since. I am so thankful for all the wonderful things I found here, especially Don!!!

Bob and Patricia

Our friends Bob and Patricia came to the house last night! We had not seen them in 8 years. We used to spend a lot of time with them when they lived in Cooper City, but then they moved to New Jersey and then to Texas. We missed them so much because we used to spend Christmas and Thanksgiving together and we felt lost when they left :-) We always say we are going to visit them but we haven't done it. Maybe next year. They look great.

Teacher for the Day

Today Carlos will be teacher for the day in his class. He is very excited about it and for the first time, he actually planned what to wear to school. He usually wears a uniform but his time he was allowed to wear any clothes he wanted and he took some time deciding. I told him he could wear his collar shirt (the only one he has) and his black suit and he said, "No, I am not going to be Principal of the Day, just teacher". He knows! Only a few kids are doing it so he is very excited. I hope he will have fun.

Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy had to carry a lot of coins last night. Titi lost one tooth in the morning at school and then another one right before she went to bed. She was happy to get a lot of coins.

Happy Valentine's Day

Carlos and Titi had a great Valentine's Day. Last night Don and I decorated the breakfast table in red and we put a little basket with some small presents and candy for them. They were happy to see it in the morning. They had been waiting for Valentine's for a long time and could not wait to get to school and give their valentine cards to their classmates and to receive theirs. I went to their classrooms today and saw all the cards and candy they got! They ate candy all day... Titi gave her teacher one tomato from our garden.

I made cupcakes for breakfast and lasagna and a lemon cake for dinner. I got a great present from Don and the kids! A new camera! Mine was not working well anymore so it is perfect!

Open House at the vegetable farm

On Saturday we went to the vegetable farm's annual open house. The day was beautiful and we had a great time. I thought we were going to be late but we got there right on time. They gave us a plastic bag so we could pick some things. Carlos and Titi were not very enthusiastic at the beginning but they loved it.

The couple that grows the vegetables do it throught a Community Support Agriculture system, where people like us buy shares of their crops at the beginning of the season and they give us a box with produce every other week. We are called subscribers. They also grow food for local chefs and give the surplus to food banks and other charities. They don't own the land, they lease it from a couple that used to farm there but are now retired and live in a small house in the farm. The owners could make so much money if they sold the land to house developers but they don't want their farmland to become houses. Real heroes!

We picked hot and sweet peppers, eggplants, lettuce, kolrhabi (sp?), edible flowers and carrots. We especially liked picking the carrots, they were real baby ones. I had some for dinner last night and they were very good.

People brought food for a pot-luck lunch and we enjoyed it a lot. Don loved a lemon cake and I liked everything!

Laura's team won!!!

Yesterday we saw Laura's picture in the front page of the Sun Sentinel's sport section with a very nice article and another large picture inside. Her team had advanced to the finals! Carlos and Titi were very happy to see their cousin Laura in the newspaper!

Later in the afternoon we went to see her play at Lockhart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale. It was a great game. The St. Andrew's girls soccer team won the Class 3A State Championship after defeating Lake Highland Prep from Orlando. Laura scored one goal and had an assist in another one. She was named MVP! We are very proud of her.

There is a huge picture of her in the paper today. Very nice!

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/highschool/sfl-sppbstandrews11feb11,0,4495945.story?coll=sfla-highschool-headlines

Congratulations Laura!

Congratulations Laura on winning such an important game! We read in the paper that it was a very close game and we are happy that your team won.

100th day of school

Today was the 100th day of school and the kids had a little celebration in their classes. They also had to do a project where they needed to bring a collection of 100 things. Titi did a collection of 100 paper hearts and Carlos did the number 100 with happy faces' stickers. I did most of the work but it was ok, it was supposed to be a family project :-)

Both are doing very well in school. Carlos brough his first school report with grades and he had all A's. He doesn't really care about grades yet but we think he will be more interested once Titi gets grades too. Hers doesn't have grades, only if she is meeting grade level expectations. She is meeting them in all areas so we are very happy about that. She is reading and writing more everyday. Carlos is supposed to write a paragraph with more than 8 sentences for homework tomorrow. He can do it but he still needs a little help.

Carlos has a cold and has been coughing a lot. I hope he will sleep well so he can go to school tomorrow.

January events

I am still very behind in everything so I haven't had time to use the computer much. At the beginning of the month, we celebrated uncle David's 80th birthday at Morton's. It was good seeing everybody and we feel so lucky to be able to celebrate events like this with family.

The next day we invited Don's parents and brothers to our house. It was fun seeing everybody again.



My father was visiting so we spent some time with him. He came to see the garden and Carlos was happy to give him a tour. We also went to Butterfly World and we all liked it. The kids had a guide with pictures of birds and butterflies and they loved searching for them.



We also celebrated the 50th wedding anniversary of Jennie's parents, Chuck and Sheila. It was a beautiful party and we danced and ate a lot. Larry was a little wild!!

Hanley Denning

I am so sad. I just heard that Hanley Denning from Safe Passage died yesterday in a car accident on the way to Antigua. I can't believe it, she was so young. I never met her in person but I corresponded with her a couple of times and it makes me so sad to think that such a good person is gone.

She started Safe Passage in Guatemala when she was only 29 years old, after she travelled there and saw the needs of the children at the Guatemala City's garbage dump. She worked for them every single moment she was awake. She had done a lot but she was looking forward to doing more. She will be greatly missed.

http://www.safepassage.org/welcome-to-safe-passage/welcome-to-safe-passage

http://news.mainetoday.com/denning/