Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a nice day. We got to see Mema, grandpa, Izzy, Mary, Larry, Keri, Laura, Ron, Maria and Jenna. Ron and Maria invited us to brunch at their condo and it was great to see everybody.

We love the Valentine's Heart we got from Guatemala! Mayan Families is doing a fundraiser to raise funds to put cement floors in a school in Guatemala. It is called Nueva Esperanza and it is in the town of San Andres Semetebaj (We have been there). The school needs a lot of help but the first thing they need to do is to put cement floors in the classrooms. Right now they have dirt floors and it gets very dusty in the dry season and it turns into mud in the raining season. The children at the school colored hearts to thank the donors and they will be putting the hearts in the classrooms. We made a donation in honor of the whole Weinberg Family and we hope they will like the heart as much as we did.

Norman Rockwell and the Super Bowl

We made it to the Normal Rockwell exhibit at the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale. We went the day before it was going to close and it was very crowded. We had to wait in line for 45 minutes and once we had the tickets we had to wait some more inside because it was too crowded. Carlos and Titi are going to think that going to the museum is always a big event. It was even more crowded at the Frida Kahlo exhibit in Philadelphia.

We thought we were going to like the exhibit more but this was the third time Don and I had seen it, once at the Rockwell museum in Massachussets and once in Chicago. The kids liked it but they only listened to the explanation of the most famous pictures, then they rushed through the rest. The highlight of the visit was seeing the war posters that we have framed in our living room.

After the museum we went to Fort Lauderdale beach. It was also very crowded because there was going to be a free concert as part of the Super Bowl celebrations. I did not think we were going to find parking but we got lucky and we found a great place for only $10!!! We were happy about that. We just sat on the wall and watched people go by.

Since the restaurants were very crowded we had junk food for dinner.

We had gone to the museum, right from Titi's soccer game and when we got there we realized we never put her shoes in the car. Fortunately, we found a pair of Don's sandals and Titi wore them all day. She walked, ran, jumped on them and never fell! She tried sandals at the beach but did not like any and decided to finish the day with these.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Carlos and Titi cannot wait to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure in Orlando. They say it will open in the Spring of 2010. We are counting the days.....

January....

January passed so quicky! Even Carlos and Titi say that the weeks go by too quickly. January was a busy month for us. Lots of soccer practices and games for Titi. Her team has done so well! They played 10 games in the season and won 8 games, most of them 2-0 or 3-0, tied one and lost one. The girls are so cute, for most of them it is the first time playing in a team and they have had to learn a lot but they are so motivated. Now the playoffs are going to start and there will be games during the week. Titi has been playing defense or being the golie and everybody says she is good at it. She really is, she is not afraid of anybody and will try to get the ball every time.

School has been hard for all of us because the FCAT (state testing) is coming and the teachers and administrators have been trying hard to prepare the kids and have given them lots of extra practice to do at home. Carlos is going to have the FCAT writing this coming Tuesday and he is worried about it. I am hoping he will do well, even if it is with the minimum passing grade.

The South Florida Fair was also in town in January and I took the kids on Martin Luther King's day. It was extremely crowded but we had fun. Carlos went a second time with Don. He loves the rides and he can go on any ride without getting sick. Titi prefers to play the games and win prizes. Another favorite activity was feeding the animals. We were there for a long time.....







It was also Girl Scout cookie time. We had a hard time selling all the cookies we got. We had to do three booths in front of stores and Titi sold to some friends and family. I do not enjoy selling but Titi does very well. We are glad it is over!

We are hoping February will be more relaxing. We will see.....

Praying for Haiti

I am so sad for Haiti and its people. They have suffered so many tragedies and now this. It is so unfair.

We spent another New Year Eve in Orlando. This time it was at Universal Studios and we had fun. We had bought tickets during the summer and they were valid until Dec. 31st. so we decided to use them. We arrived in Orlando around 5:30 p.m., went to the hotel to drop off our bags and rest a little and then left for the park. We thought it was going to be difficult to park and enter Universal but it was extremely easy. There was less people than other times we had been there! No wait to search our bags or at the gates. In fact, the park was crowded but not too much. Last year it was very crowded at Epcot.



Titi, trying the seat the new Hollywood Rockin' Roller Coaster. She would never ride it but she likes to pretend. Carlos loves that rollercoaster. There was a 2 hour wait to ride it but he was able to ride it as a single rider. He had to wait a long time but he did not mind.


Titi had her caricature air painted. The artist was very good and she loved it. She had always wanted to do it and I don't know why we never did it.

Happy New Year!

We are very grateful for our health and happiness this year but we are hoping for a little less worrying about the economy in 2010.

We want to wish everyone a healthy and happy New Year! Things will get better!

Love,
Don, Carmen, Carlos and Titi

December already!

I miss posting pictures here but I have been extremely busy with Mayan Families and with work. Yes, I am back at work! I started going to help at Don's office at the beginning of November and I have been working some days at the store in Sawgrass. It is fun to be with adults, doing something different, the only problem is that I am really behind in so many things at home.

I won't be able to work now that Carlos and Titi are off from school so I am still hoping to send holiday cards :-) and to be able to upload some pictures.

The fair is here and Carlos and Titi want to go there every day.

Carlos' favorite ride, the FireBall

Titi's favorite ride:

Busy Saturday

We had a busy day. Carlos did some activities towards his Webelos' badge in Cub Scouts. One of them was "Handyman" and the leader of the den showed the boys how to change a tire, check the oil and do some other maintenance on cars and bicyles. Carlos loved it! He is so proud of himself and he cannot wait to have the chance to change a tire one day. We had to be at the clubhouse at 7:00 a.m. and it was hard for me to get up early on a Saturday but I am so glad we did it.

Titi had her second soccer game and she did very well. Everybody wanted her to play goalie since she did so well last week but she wanted to try other positions and she played goalie only for half of the game. She did great. Everybody kept telling me she was a natural goalie and was very good. Her team won 5-0 and everybody was very happy. The game was at 12:15 and it was very hot! I am hoping we will have some cooler weather for next game.

Halloween

Carlos loves his candy machine. He was so happy to have lots of candy to fill the little spaces.

Titi and Carlos had a lot of fun at the school's parties.

With her best friend Jake. She adores that boy!




We had a great month of October. Carlos loves, loves Halloween and on October 1st we started decorating the house. He would wake up every day with new ideas to decorate. We did not want to spend money on more decorations so I had to be creative and made some "creatures" with old costumes, fabric and $1 masks.

One of the neighbors rented a golf cart and Carlos got to ride it most of the time. There was no room for Titi so she got mad and decided not to trick or treat anymore and stayed home to give candy to kids.