The Fourth of July 2007 in Madrid!

Álvaro, Ana, Tamara, Eduardo, Luz Marina, and Javier



Here we are again! This was a great Fourth of July in a park in a neighborhood called Vallecas. If you ask even the natives, they might respond with many different names for this great park: El parque de las siete tetas or El parque del Mirador, etc. Whatever its official name is, it is definitely my favorite spot in all of Madrid. The park consists of many hills with a great view of Madrid. At night with all of the lights it is absolutely breath-taking! Our Fourth of July this year consisted of tomato salad, tunafish sandwiches, homemade applesauce, and cider. We had lots of laughs and we even saw fireworks in the distance - a great time indeed!



Me, Tamara! See that flag wave! USA we love you!

A Visit to Florida, 2007

This is the view from outside my mother's window in Lighthouse Point, Florida. Isn't it beautiful?! If you look carefully you can see the golf course, the barbecue, and the club house. Beyond the club house is the swimming pool and shuffle board courts.



Me and mi madre! This picture was taken before dinner one night. We were having fun with the camera...Te quiero mamá!

Lee's friends in Florida!

We are all at a Polynesian restaurant, yummy! The entertainment and dancing was also very exciting!

At a Saturday dinner. Arthur, me, and my mom.

At the Lion Country Safari. Lee, Marie, and Judy. This safari is one of a kind, where you drive through the zoo with your car. All the animals are found in Africa, and since your windows up, they come right up to you!

The Coral Castle! Homestead, FL

Here my mom is in front of the Coral Castle. This small place is being considered for the 7 wonders of Florida and you don't doubt that it will win once you have been in it. It is a house made out of all coral, a task that took one man 28 years to complete. Ed, the man shown below was only five feet tall, weighing 100 pounds. As an immigrant from Latvia it is obvious that he knew how to work. It is said that perhaps the same physics used to create the pyramids could have been applied to his house. To this day, no one knows how such a tiny man could achieve such a great accomplishment! It was certainly inspiring!

Above is Ed's building. Even the windows were positioned at different sections of each wall to create a very nice circulation of air. On a 90 degree day it could be only 78 degrees in his bedroom.

This is the whole house, no roof of course. Look carefully to see the chairs, the dining room tables, and even beds made out of coral!

Susan!!!!!!!!! Summer 2007 !!!!!!!!!

Susan and I are out on the town...the town being in Wisconsin!



Susan and her boyfriend Pao!



A trip to Wisconsin and a visit with Susan would not be complete without a little Culver's! It is what we do: ice cream, movies, more movies, more ice cream, curb sitting and eating ice cream, talking and ice cream, Barnes and Noble, shopping, a stop at a café place for maybe coffee maybe ice cream!!! Oh, how I MISS you SUSAN! Te quiero y te echo de menos muchísimo!



Oh yes, Susan's chocolate chip cookies! I think the only thing better than Susan's chocolate chip cookies are more of Susan's chocolate chip cookies! There is no point in making only one batch; you must make two at the very least!

Brillion, Wisconsin...a walk down memory lane!

Elmer's barn! Who could possibly forget this little barn Kerrie and I spent so many hours playing in!?



Dahle (very left) made us a wonderful dinner. Left to right: Dahle, Faith, Grandma Enneper, Ken, and Kerrie...I'm taking the picture and Jonathan is working.



In this picture, Kerrie and I are with old family friends. Julio (on the very right) used to be our doctor is this little town of Brillion, and both Bonnie and Julio have been to Madrid many many times! Hasta muy pronto!

Mis hermanitas!

Jennifer and Emily sure are little performers! Ask Jennifer to sing the Twelve Days of Christmas any time of year and Emily just might play it on the piano, the flute, or do a gymnastic routine to it! Very talented girls if I do say so myself!

Dinner with the gang

These are some old friends from high school (left to right): Maria, Emily, Nikki, Me, and Nicole. Some Italian, a little wine, and lots of memories!

A visit from Amy and Greg!

I was so excited to have Amy, Greg, and the five kids come and visit me in Wisconsin. Kaitlin, the newest and "last" addition to the family, can be seen in my arms in the picture above -- a very good baby indeed! Joey would introduce her as follows: baby Kaitlin...he, of course, introduces himself as peanut!

The KIDS...count them, there are five now!

Kristin is demonstrating her great fishing abilities on Goose Island, where we all had a picnic one Saturday. She is growing up having completed a whole ten years of life! I just couldn't believe it!



Joey has certainly grown as well, four years old in this picture. Despite a hearing problem he had had at birth, this kid can tell you things that you never imagined a four year old would know. Ask him to tell you how a blood transfusor works, or something like that!



This one is so cute that I am sure he will be a heart-breaker one day! Johnathan is just as much of an angel as he looks!



Kayla is one and defends herself quite well. She is still cute now, so only the terrible two's will tell!



Kaitlin really can't do anything wrong! She was born in April 16, 2007, and I saw her the for the first time in May. Being the youngest of the bunch, she doesn't know what she is in for!

Aren't they all just precious?!

Texas 2007

I would say that these two photos are my favorite ones taken during my trip to Texas. We are near my aunt and uncle's new house. There are wild flowers all over Texas, and they are absolutely precious! Just close your eyes and imagine fields of these flowers, put a few houses in here and there, a few buildings, some roads, and you can capture the beauty of Texas...at least this part of it anyway.

Many events stick out in my head about this trip. It was a short trip, but it was full of its own little delights and adventures. The food was delicious from the Mexican restaurant (some of the best enchiladas I have ever tasted!) to the traditional barbecue eaten with all the motorcycle noises and bikers included, hehe. The house was lovely and very enchanting with its view of the lake. The boat ride (and driving it) was unforgettable. The early swim and the movie-watching was very relaxing in this peaceful place. Perhaps, however, the best part of my trip were the parts of it that I just couldn't capture with a camera: the laughs, the jokes, the stories, and the conversations. I will forever remember the definition of irony or who I would invite to a party if I were to invite three people (one dead, one alive, and one of my choice): Edgar Allen Poe, Dali Lama, and Robert Frost.

Watch Out Texans -- Here I come!

Steve taught me how to drive a boat and it was A LOT of fun! Try stopping, I dare you (since there is no brake!). Leslie would later give me lessons on how to drive a manual car, so I guess this trip was all about driving! Let's just say I was more successful with the boat, hehe! How I LOVE those automatic vehicles!

Wine Tasting!

This was a great little wine tasting discovery of Leslie and Steve's. We stopped after some shopping in a little German-founded town called Fredericksburg. The wine was excellent and the company even better!

Just: LESLIE...and sideways to get the full affect of her leg!

Leslie was certainly the star of the show with an object we were all "jealous" of...a cast! Pobrecita! I must give her credit for hopping all over Texas with those crutches. I think they were fun for me for about 2 minutes!

Leslie has no legs!

Look carefully and you will see that Leslie is legless! Luckily, they came back soon after this photo was taken...a close one!

La CASA de mis tíos!

This is Leslie and Steve's house as it looks from the lake. It is as big as it seems and as fun as it may appear. The waterfall is a great favorite of mine, but can you spot the gorilla??? You can only see his back side...I'll give you a hint: he is brown and near the waterfall!

El Puente de Mayo 2007

This great group came to Spain for a mission trip. Vangie (not shown in the picture) is a friend of mine from my old Associated Bank days. We helped teach the little ones in a casa in the country (Azuqueca) for a few days, then the group came to Madrid for a day. I took them around to all the normal sites and to enjoy some flamenco dancing that evening. Here we are all eating lunch in the center of Madrid. It was great to meet such wonderful people and have such good ole American fun for a weekend in Madrid!

Aren't they adorable?!!!!

Lauren, me, Savannah....I remember when Savannah was five months old and she is four years old in this picture!



The Mitchell family, old neighbors of mine in Holmen, WI!