Los Abuelos

Senor Julio Paramo and his lovely wife Soledad Gutierrez de Nayarit, Mexico.

When I was a kid and living in Mexico, my mom would gather us children and tell us: " We're going to visit your grandparents". She would pack a plastic bag with a loaf of sliced bread, some ham, mayo, onions, tomatoes and pickled jalapenos. That was quite the treat for us, this would be our meal for the 5 or so hour trip. We then would head out to Zapopan in the bus, to board a bigger bus, like the Greyhound buses, except older and not as comfortable. I cant remember the trips to Mecatan very much, the only thing I recall is that when we were approaching the small town, we would drive through some thick thick vegetation, a canyon filled with an ocean of green. Where colorful parrots flew freely. It was quite pretty. That's the only thing that was pretty. My Grandparents lived in a pretty big property, loads of land with lots of trees.  One time, I saw my Grandpa with an old handcart filled with some pretty plants. Lots of bright red-berry looking plants. It turned out it was coffee beans. They were so beautiful. He grew bananas, papayas and mangos among many other produce. My memory of him was that he was super serious. He also smoked a lot of cigarretes. He was thin and quiet. I dont believe he ever talked to me. As for Grandmother, she seemed so pretty to me all the time, but like her husband, not much of a talker to us Irene's kids. She had cool green eyes and was fair-skin which seemed to make people feel more important in Mexico during those times.
They are both deceased, and have left behing a very big family. I am willing to bet that my mom's family is the biggest! It would be cool to meet the cousins and aunts I have never met.

a leer

The name Paramo is a very unique last name, at least for me. I have never heard of "Paramo's" like you hear of "Martinez", "Garcias", "Smiths", "Jones", among many common surnames. That is why when I heard there was a book out there in the literary world titled "PedroParamo", I became instantly interested. You see I am a Paramo, because of my mom's family. A hard working, very religious, traditional family from Nayarit Mexico. I read the book in english and finished it, it confused me with the back and forth of time changing to the past, the present, the future.

I am succumbing to the advise of my younger brother Elias, (Nacho) to give Pedro Paramo another shot. I started re reading it in spanish last night and I must say it is pretty dang intriguing. It's as if I am hearing my grandparents talk. The story so far reminds me of the infamous don Magdaleno, aka, who should have been my father. The old days of Mexico. There is a line in there from the mother of the main character (who is the son of Pedro Paramo) just before she died, she made her son promise her that he would go search for his father and..."Demand from him that which is ours, that which he was supposed to give to me and never did, make him pay big for abandoning us" (that's my translation, when I find my english copy I will write the proper translation). That kind of demand would be possible in today's times in the U.S. not so much in Mexico, no such thing as "child support" back then in Mexico, and I would even go on a limb and say that even now. I am going to read this skinny book in less than a week. It's smooth reading in spanish.

Don Juan Rulfo quien escribio "Pedro Paramo"

Work and Learn

This last weekend we took a trip to beautiful Utah. We went there for work. The whole family, even Danny. He went to help us with the kids. Danny is so kind to the kids, but I think he had enough kid time to last him the rest of the year. My kids are unstoppable. So if you're reading this Danny, THANK YOU SO MUCH.

We learned a whole lot and ate even more. The biggest lesson I learned was to KNOW your goals, and work toward them, otherwise we're just wishing...Wishing is not a very good business plan.  We also got to hear Jamie Clarke, a super hyper- awesome guy from Canada who climbed Mt. Everest. Talk about not giving up, he is also funny. And also we got to meet Patrick Duffy, the actor from the old TV series "Dallas". I was a kid when that show was popular, all I remember was guys in cowboy hats and all the ladies in the show had way too much make-up and super poofy hair. Patrick was a very down to earth person. Very kind and somewhat funny. There were music bands in the evenings. Of course, the kids were among the biggest dancers on the resort. Great fun. But now it's time to work.

parenthood

Sometimes I just stare at my kids. I cant believe how time flies. I came upon old babies pictures of both the princess monkey and the angel-monkey boy. They are huge now. Franklin is almost (cross my fingers) fully potty trained. Bella will be starting 1st grade in a few weeks. I feel so super fortunate to be a mom. This realization makes me appreciate my mother more.

mi guapeton

Bella on a mountain road

comtemplating lifeH.S. MusicalQue cara, valgame los cielos!

Washington

June has been a busy month. On the first weekend of June, we took a road trip to Washington to go visit Uncle Nacho and go to my niece's high school graduation.  My oldest nephew, Alfredo took an even longer trip up there (driving) with his whole family to have his little baby baptized. I saw this trip as a mini family reunion since all my sister's children were going to be together for a little while. The trip was nice. On the way up Mr. Franklin 'tossed his cookies' which delayed the trip a bit longer.

It was so nice to see family and old acquaintances. There was lots of eating and lots of catching up.

Something somewhat miraculous happened to me just before I got into the car to head south to Idaho. On Saturday, I was chatting with Leno, I was admiring his cool ring and I even tried it on. That's all I remember. Later in the day I realized I wasnt wearing my own wedding band. My wedding band is so plain, white gold  no rocks nothing fancy but to me it's special. I looked in my pocket, nothing I looked in all my bags, I looked and looked in the lawn where I knew I last had it. Nothing. So the whole evening I was a bit sad that I lost my ring (*note I have lost that darn ring a good 5 times and everytime it turns up) This time however I gave it up for lost forever. So as I had the kids strapped in the car, I went to start the car and DEAD, the battery was old and it died every other week. I walked to some of friends  that were parked behind my car to ask them if they could help me by giving my car a jumpstart. They happily agreed. As I walked back to my car, looking to the ground, still bummed about losing my ring; I saw a perfect circle  about 3 centimeters from a big pile of sand/dirt. I reached down to see what it was and VOILA my ring. I screamed and jumped. People around thought I was drunk or crazy. I dont care. I was so happy to have found my special ring. I am going to take care of it a whole lot better. How's that for a miracle. Yeah!

The Graduate,

These pictures were taken by my friend Kelli. She has a son in Bella's class. Bella is the tallest girl in the class. Tyler, Kelli's kid is super tall.

Today, June 2nd was a mini stepping stone in my daughter's life. She and her little kindergarten class had their "Kindergarten Celebration" which is kind of a graduation from K. I sat there as they practiced their program, and I was so emotional. They sang "What a Wonderful World"...bwahh booo hoo. It was so sweet! I am so proud of her. She's a sharp monkey.

The children who bring a whole lot of joy to a whole lot of people:

Adorable!

Bella and her personality, always camera ready!

Happy child, Franklin turn around!

"I love what you have done with your garden, Chabela!"

Going to Grandma's house thru the woods, :o) Jesse and Danny

Beautiful Boise

Eventhough we've been having major cloudy skies and light rains, I decided to go to Boise and show Danny and Jesse how pretty Boise is, well its parks. Check it out, we had fun.

Franklin showing us the rainbow trout. He gives them a 'thumbs-up'

Silly owls. I love the little chicks.

Bella's 6!

Bella scored some fun gifts: Gramps and Granny sent her a super cool card with beaucoup money, as much as I am years old., Papo got her walkie-talkies and a video game, tio gave her a super cool movie and her favorite singer/barbie doll. Franklin gave her a hard time and a little winnie the pooh watch. He also helped her blow out the bday candle even before the singing was over.

Holy Sticks! Bella's finally 6. She's been bugging and bugging us about her birthday and finally it's come and gone. She is the cutest 6 year old in the planet. She had uncle Danny visit her and our friend Jesse. We had a very sudden bday party, thanks to my procastination skills. It was fun.

                                                     this looks pretty mild compared to how it really appeared!  His scrape is scabbing up. I hope it doesnt leave a scar. I need to wrap this little guy in bubble wrap!                                                  

Little Franklin fell right on his gorgeous face! Ouch! He also scraped the back of his hand. (He was holding his Curious George doll and didnt let him go)