Disc Golfmania

Zach is in love with this sport. He is pretty good at, ok, ok, he is so great at it he may soon be the most famous, professional disc golfer in the whole state! Go Zach!!!

Funny Man!

Last Friday Night, Zach and I went to watch Jim Gaffigan in Boise, he performed at the Morrison Center. I really liked Jim because he was very clean in his language. Most comedians like to curse like they have the devil in their mouths, why? no need to be vulgar to be funny. There are many excellent comedians that dont swear. I like Ellen Degenerous for that reason, Bill Cosby, anyways, a bunch. After the show we stuck around for almost an hour to get Jim's autograph, he was pretty cool, down to earth and I appreciate that in famous people, you know what? famous people are still people, they just have a little more talent at performing, maybe they are lucky, some may be pretty to look at, but at the end of the day they are just people, they get hungry, they have feelings, and so I conclude my Gaffigan shpill with: He was a funny guy, he was down to earth, not the prettiest man to look at, but he's cool (The Sexy Tour, should be changed though because in his skit all he talked about was BACON, being Lazy and the famous Hot Pockets...read that last item with the jingle please for maximum funny effect). Zach had Jim autograph one of his many many discs. When he got it he asked, what is this? Zach said "it is a disc golf disc, you play disc golf with it! Have you ever heard of this sport?" to the which JG said "Whattadaya throw it to a pin or what? I think you're making this up" then in his secondary weirded out sounding voice he mimicked Zach "I'll tell him its a special golf disc and he'll buy it!"

We had a lot of fun. We dont go on many dates so thanks to Paula and Don for hanging out with the 2 coolest kids in the universe, thanks u guys!

Mother nature likes to play with my emotions! At night she sends us crispy cold weather and in the day toasty hot weather, Zach turned on the heater 2 nights ago. Last night I just closed the windows and the house was just fine! I like not having to fire up the heater or crank on the AC. I guess that time is not yet here because I had to turn on the AC.

Franklin is a walking boy, almost a running boy. Last Thursday night he decided to catch himself from falling on the driveway, he got a pretty nice scrape on his forehead. I would say a good 2 inches tall and 1 inch wide. I am taking care of a little neighbor, (one month older than my angel) he too fell at his house, scraping his nose, right on the tip, nice and big. I went to Target and took all my kids, mine and the borrowed ones. That must have been an interesting trip to the store, I didn't get any dirty looks from other customers. Don saw us before we went to the store, he said: "I hope people don't think you beat these poor boys!"
Franklin's forehead is clear, it healed in less than 1 week. Yeah! But now he's got a cold! Yeah! It never ends!

This is why I love my brothers and sisters

My brother Elias Ignacio. I really admire Nacho (Nacho is the nickname for Ignacio, that is the original meaning, the tasty tortilla chips drenched with melted cheese were named after a restaurant owner named Nacho after he served a group of american tourist this quick dish, since it was very late at night and the kitchen was closed and cleaned). The americans liked it so much they called the dish NACHO'S.)
Nacho has also joined in the memory fest. Here is a letter he sent me to share a couple of his nostalgic childhood memoirs.

So last Tuesday I was listening through some 80's tunes just to catch up with the old days; those days when people used to have puffy hairdos, wear plastic clothing and engage into who-knows-what other weird things. So there was A-Ha, Tears for Fears, Cyndi Lauper, The Bangles, Duran Duran, The Cure… (Sorry Adan, I still don't dig Ratt), while I was getting caught in this sort of nostalgia about those strange days when we used to live somewhere in California. Believe it or not, although I was somewhere between 2 to 4 years old or so, I have been able to keep memories from those days. Coincidentally, Sol was telling me yesterday that she was looking through some old pictures and that she was enjoying some good old memories of her own.Anyways, I was listening to a Kate Bush's song called Cloudbusting which has some elements characteristic of a good 80's song: synthesizers prevail throughout the song and the rhythm is set by one of those automated drum sets. Still, it's a very nice bittersweet song, but more sweet than bitter, probably the only one I liked from her.
So I remembered the day Sol got her fingers caught in the washing machine. It was one of those old models that had like two rolling pins which spun and you had to put the piece of clothing through them so that the two rollers could squeeze the water out of it. Unfortunately, Sol didn't let go of whatever she was trying to dry on it and her fingers got caught in between. I remember she was crying in pain while her nails were hanging off her fingers (I'm not sure about that part of the story, probably it's just my imagination helping me making it sound more dramatic). So my older brothers rushed on her aid and that's the most I can remember from that.
I remember one day Adan was driving us, Dany and I, to school on a rainy cold day. I can't remember if it was in one of those VW bugs that he was taking us to school. I'm guessing that's what it was, because Adan used to be very dreamy about those cars. Adan was driving and allegedly listening to an eight track, Dany was sitting on the passenger's seat while I was on the back seat, all of us without a seatbelt (it wasn't required to use them because it was believed that the puffy hair and the excessive use of hairspray would cushion the impact). I'm not sure if Adan got distracted or if the car slid off the street, the thing is that we crashed on another car parked on the side of the road. It wasn't a terrible impact, but Dany and Adan hit his head on the dashboard, and mine on the front seat. Dany was crying like a baby, and Adan was all freaked out for what just happened… That day, we missed school. It was a shame because I loved school lunch (back then, I didn't have a sense of good taste).
What about the day a trailer showed up in front of the little house we used to live at during Christmas time. We were very poor back then and it was a real delight to have one of those used G. I. Joe's or He-Man's toy from a second-hand store. So it was my great surprise to find out that the trailer was full of amazing things I only thought possible in my dreams. There was food, Christmas ornaments and, the best of all, lots and lots of toys. I still remember the toy I loved the most, it was a clockwork train, with a smiley face and big eyes. The cool thing about it was that it came with small plastic discs that you could put in it; as soon as you let the toy go, it started playing children's melodies. It was awesome, one of those days you wish you could bring back. I'm still very grateful to all those people who donated those goodies to us.
So there it is and there's more to tell about the past, but it would take me a whole book to do so.
I know Sol is trying to compile pictures and information from our family. That's a great idea. I have a picture from our grandparents I stole from Lety, so don't tell her please. I will try to send that one to her as soon as I can get the scanner to work. According to her blog, Sol believes our beloved mother was born in Morelia, Michoacan but according to my memory, she was born in Puruandiro, Michoacan. It is a small forsaken town full of cows, domestic birds and all sorts of farm animals. I know this because many, many, many years ago I went with her to that place. She was trying to get her birth certificate. So Sol, hopefully you're still up to help me out to write the collection of anecdotes from our brothers and sisters. We can definitely make a more touching movie than the Titanic from our own stories.
I think Leticia will understand, if we borrow that picture of our grandparents!

This is a picture of my beautiful mom. She was born in Michoacan, Morelia if I am correct in my memory. She was raised in the state of Nayarit, she later moved to Jalisco where all her children were born, Adan, if you know otherwise, let me know so I can correct this.

ROOTS

For the first time I watched the series ROOTS, the family history of Mr. Alex Haley, I was so intrigued from the very first scene 'til the last second of the movie that I watched the extra video titled: "Roots, a year later"; and the DVD extra features. It was a powerful piece of film. Everyone must watch it and learn the past so that it will not happen again, to no one in no place of the world. Of course I was enfuriated by the horrible way Mr. Haley's ancestors were treated and hundreds of thousands others. However, more than that, I was moved to want to know where I come from. In the extras, they mentioned the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the church had an enormous demand from people everywhere wanting to research their ancestors, that is sooooo wonderful!
Sadly, where I come from, records were not kept properly. For example, the exact date of my birth is not correct on my birth certificate. I am not sure if I was born in Zapopan, Nuevo Mexico, or Guadalajara, all I know is that I was born in Jalisco, Mexico. My mother's name is Irene Paramo, she is a powerful woman, so tough and hard working, she could outwork any man! I have 9 siblings living and for sure I know of one beautiful young boy who past away when he was 10 or 11 years old, I dont remember him, at that time I was 1 or 2 years old. The story of his death is worthy of a book.
This is a picture of Magdaleno Castro Castro, he was my father, I hardly knew him. Appearently he was the president of a small town in Jalisco named San Cristobal de la Barranca, from 1950-1952! He was not a young chicken when I was born, perhaps, therein falls the reason why I am so wise, yeah, maybe the other way around!
Later I will post a photo of my late brother Magdaleno Castro, (I guess he would be a Jr. if he were alive).
That is a little bit of my family history, I am really going to get to work to find out more about our family, I really believe that knowing where you come from will strengthen the way we see our future.

Last week Bella didnt want to go to bed, it was late, she finally went kicking and screaming. I checked in on her and I found her, I LOVE MY GIRL! She went to sleep praying. Good Job Chabelita!

More cool Great Grandchildren!




Grandma with a few granddaughters

yes, more!

My Main Men!

Carolyn and her Idaho Granddaughters, we miss our beautiful cousin Jackie!!(Wish you were here!)

Don and Paula say CHEESE!


Here is Barbara is her all her 5 kids, all grown, this is neat!

MORE B-DAY PICTURES

Here is Aunt Carolyn Crawford with her lovely daughter Barbara Taylor. The Crawfords are super cool!
Aunt Lana Vaterlaus with here celestial blue eyes!

Belli and Jazzie, cute!

Zachy Bennett with his biggo beautiful eyes!

Jaxon the Great!