Dec 29-30

Andrea sent gifts from her adventures in Peru.














Machuca.














The next day we went to the mall. I spent most of my time here. I would have thought Tekken 10 would be out by now, but they are only up to 5. All the games I know how to play are stuffed in the back. There are too many shooting games and not enough joystick based games.














Check!














Later we went to Rack Daddy's, the local jock joint. I was almost turned away because of my ID.

















What do you think?

Fishin' - Dec 28

Licensed and ready to fish, we set off early. We made a few wagers: biggest fish, most fish. Javier and I were in one boat with our captain George. El Suegro, Sofia and Leti were with Cliff.














Sofia was all smiles in the morning, confident in her skills and knowing my defeat was at hand.














Heading out, there was much fog. I think this is one of my better photos.














Spooky.














It cleared up and the birds came out to see us. I think one of them pooed on George.














Coming back Javier was happy because he caught three Red Fish (the max allowed). He was also fairly certain he had the largest fish (25").














I may not look like it, but I was happy too. I also caught my three fish.














Gangsta style fishing. The trout in the middle was caught by George.














Hmm, funny. They don't look quite as excited as us.














Oh, probably because they only caught one fish. Nice one Sofia.

Thanks to "The Dad" for taking us. It was a lot of fun.










After our excursion we ate at Blackbeards, leaving us fat and sleepy for the ride back inland.

No bets have been paid.

Dec. 26-27

The days following Christmas. They are the 26th then the 27th.














On Monday night we had Lobsters with the Martinez Fam. Don't tell anyone but I stole Leti's handpicked lobster without her knowing.



















After dinner, we went over to John and Jay's house. I met Jayden (pictured here with Sofia).



















On Tuesday, I posed.














I have a list of places to eat while I am down here, most of them being fast food. Whataburger was one of those spots. Check!



















After fattening up at Whatafrank, we went to Walmart to obtain our fishing licenses for tomorrow's big fish. Let me just give you a bit of foreshadowing. I rule at fishing.

Christmas

Christmastime has come.














We all got a lot of nice things. We are very lucky. This is Papi's typewriter the Del Castillo family gave to me. Thank you.














Tere got a new car. And that was just what was in her stocking!!!














Check out the King and Queen of Brooklyn.

We had a great Christmas dinner with all the trimmin's. Thank you to everyone here, in Florida, North Carolina and all over this kickin' country. Good night and God bless!

Christmas Eve

If it's ok with you I'll just get to the pictures.














Genius Bar.














Daytime went by fast. Darkness fell and Javier, Andres, and I headed to Mr. G's.














Leti: Take a picture of me.














We sped through dinner to get to the main course, fireworks.














Firestarters.














Andres.














Firewatchers.














Five-0 came.

La Posada - Dec 23

After Maria's we started preparations for the Posada. Click here for Posada info.














Leti and I stuffed the Piñata.














Mami and Tere doing something else.














The sun is setting, time for the Posada.



















The Piñata in a moment of peace.














The kids went first, but didn't get much done.



















Then Leti, still nothing.














La Suegra, she killed it.














Sofia would have done a lot of damage, but she never got close to the thing.



















Chaos.

For some reason I only have pictures of the Piñata. We also sang the traditional songs and chomped on some righteous grub. It was a fine time for all.

Arrival in Brownsville - Dec 23

At 245 AM I awoke to three alarms. The two hours of sleep we got were painfully insufficient. Our cab arrived at 330 AM.














Christmas decorations alive and well at 320 AM.














The plane trip was uneventful, besides seeing a guy who I thought was Chase Terrell. We arrived in Brownsville in time for breakfast at Maria's - Better Mexican Food.














Snuggle Wuggle...














Casa de Sofia's parents. I told them, if they ever move I want to have their house moved to wherever I will be living.














This picture is not good for my tough guy image, but it was the first time meeting Plopy.














Sofia tambien.














Future looks bright.