Don's birthday party

We had wanted to plan a big party for Don and Larry but it was not possible because Laura and Allie have games out of town most of the weekends. I felt strange planning a party just for Don but I really wanted to do something for him. We had the party at Luke and Mimi's and we tried to do it as a surprise. I am sure he knew but he played along. It was hard keeping it as a surprise!

Titi had the idea of having a Grateful Dead party so we planned a hippies party and invited people with very short notice. Lots of people could not come and we missed them but it was still a good party. Don felt funny being by himself and he kept saying he was missing Larry but after a while he enjoyed all the attention. For the first time he was allowed to play Grateful Dead music and dress in tye dye without being criticized so he loved it.

Pictures of April

We had a great time with our friends from the Netherlands, Henny, Gosia, Robert, Patrick and Maaike. They are a very interesting, talented and busy family and we love reading their blog. Maaike seems destined to be famous...

We took them to the Everglades to see the alligators and to look for some lubber grasshoppers. Carlos and Titi had seen them before and wanted to find some more. I do not like those grasshoppers because they can eat certain plants to the ground and once they invade a garden they are very hard to get rid of but it looks like they don't do much damage where we found them.

The kids had a great time picking them up from the grass or the trees and wanted so badly to bring them home and keep them as pets.

It looks like Robert is very close to the alligator but he wasn't. He was standing on a boardwalk.

We also spent some time at the clubhouse. It is so nice there! We should go more often.

LOOK WHO IS 50!!!!!

Today is Don and Larry's 50th Birthday!!!!

It is hard to believe they are already 50! They look much younger (and act younger too).

They had a nice party at the office yesterday and today Larry is away and Don and us are having a quiet celebration at home. Keri and I wanted to have a huge party for them but since Larry was not sure if he was going to be here we could not plan anything.

We are happy because our friends from the Netherlands are visiting. They are still recovering from the time change so we decided not to go out today but we will go to a nice restaurant tomorrow. Tonight we had dinner and cupcakes that Carlos and Titi decorated and I hope Don is having a good birthday.

I love you Domingo!!!!!

Rodrigo is 18!!!!!!

We can't believe Rodrigo is 18! We were very happy to celebrate his birthday Saturday. Mario, Tere and Eli prepared a delicious dinner like always. We feel very proud of him and Don and I cannot believe he is so old :-) He used to be so little.

We can't wait to see him graduate from high school May 20th.

Frida Kahlo

Before we left Philadelphia yesterday we went to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was amazing, they had her most famous paintings on display and we enjoyed it a lot. Carlos and Titi were the only children there but they had seen the pictures before so they knew what to expect. Some of them are very strange and gory. The museum gave each person an audio cassette tour so we were able to hear details about the paintings.

The exhibit was very crowded and the tickets had specific hours to visit it. After the tour they had an amazing store with lots of Frida merchandise and Mexican crafts. I wanted to buy everything but it was very crowded and we needed to leave for the airport so we each got one thing and we left. Carlos and Titi got some cards with Frida's paintings to color and Don and I got t-shirts.

Happy Birthday Mema!!!!

Today is Mema's 84th birthday!!!! Happy Birthday!!! We hope you had a wonderful day!!! We love you a lot and wish you many, many more happy birthdays. We will see you on Saturday..

Pennsylvania

We are traveling in Pennsylvania since Carlos and Titi are on Spring break. It has been a great trip. We spent 3 days in Philadelphia and visited the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the Franklin Institute and Reading Market. Don and I loved the market!! There were all kinds of food vendors, the Amish vegetable, food and pastry stands, fish market, etc. How we wish we had something like that in Florida. We stayed at the Westin in downtown so we were able to walk everywhere. It was cold and it rained a little one day but we were prepared so it was not a problem.

We then went to Amish country and stayed in a hotel near an outlet mall. It has been a long time since we have been to one of those malls and we enjoyed walking around. We ate at the Crackel Barrel and it was exactly the kind of food I was craving. Carlos and Titi love the store there so they enjoyed it too. We drove all around Lancaster county and saw all the farms, lots of them Amish. I love that place and could be there for days. The smell was not very nice, it smell a lot like manure in the countryside but it was so nice to see all those cows in the fields. We took a trip on a train pulled by a steam engine and it was wonderful. We got off in one place to have a picnic and then took the train back to where we had left the car. Some people told us the had seen the Thomas the Tank engine there but we didn't see it. We bought some great bread at the market and I could not resist going into one of the quilt fabric stores and I bought some fabric too.

We also went to Hershey and ate lots and lots of chocolate. We are now in the Poconos. The weather today was great, we were able to wear short sleeve t-shirts. On the way to the Poconos we found a beautiful state park where we took a nice hike along a small river. It was so beautiful. The trees are still bare in most of the state but there, along the river, was very green, most of the trees were evergreen and there was green moss everywhere. We hope to go to another park tomorrow. Earlier in the week we had gone on another hike in Valley Forge and it was so different, the weather was very cold and the trail was all brown leaves on the ground and bare trees. The kids love these hikes so much.

Favorite photos from March

Easter.-
Since Chuck and family were staying with us, we decided to have Easter at our house. It was fun. Chuck cooked some good food and everybody brought something. Mema made her famous chocolate cake. She made a lot of people happy.
Bunny Don busy at 12:00 am. with the eggs.

Chuck, Patty and Katie's visit.

We had a great time with our cousins from New York. Chuck cooked a delicious dinner for us and he fixed many things in our house. Patty and I took the kids to the pool and they had fun together. Carlos and Titi loved having Katie around. They were sad when she left. Hopefully we will see them soon.

One of Titi's many talents.

On top of the world. Don and I went to a very nice party at Pier 66 in Ft. Lauderdale. It was on the top floor. It is a round room with glass windows all around and the view is beautiful.