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more moments from my trip to southern california...
my parents and i took max to see A Christmas Carol (thank you, gina!) and afterwards we got to look around the set (thank you again, gina!). this is our little mexican bob cratchit.
next stop: santa ana. my tia chelo makes amazing menudo.
i had a couple of bowls just to verify.
cousins vincent, aline, and lauren with la baldy.
my dad and his sister and for some reason, a pack of corn tortillas.
two rarities in southern california: the mountains have a lot of snow and it's actually clear enough to see the mountains.
anaheim hills: we descended upon cousin monica and her husband, justin for a delicious lunch. their son, colin, gave my niece, maya, a big dog. strangling must be maya's way of showing love.
maya gave colin bubbles and he couldn't get enough of them.
looking into the sun makes us pretty.
another precious moment.
cousins tricia and monica, the empty-haired one, and my sister, deanna.
is it just me, or do i look like a character from blade runner?
the big kids invade colin's little bachelor pad.
this is justin's mom, the fabulous kris. an ovarian cancer survivor and all around stand-up human, she cheers me on and shows me the way.
the paparazzi series starring my mom, sally, and her youngest sister, charlotte. every single time i framed the shot, they would step back. charlotte was cooperative, but my mom kept insisting that i was too close. you can almost hear her saying, "back up!"
can i just say that i think my hair is starting to show signs of new growth?!! if i let this stubble grow, i may have enough for a comb-over! finally! i won't have what my 4 year old nephew, max, calls "empty hair" forever!
while ej and i were in orange county, we got to see my young cousin, jeremy, in a christmas play.
that's right, he played Turkey Kid.
he did a great job!
we also were able to attend our friends' white elephant party. our fabulous hosts, sonja and albert, call it the "broke dick" party because when this annual tradition began, they were quite financially challenged. many years later, throngs of people are showing up with a wrapped present, eyeing/haggling/stealing their way through the high decibel turkish-bazaar-meets-the-stock-exchange process, and leaving with a "treasure". after the "gift exchange", i had to document a few of my lucky friends and the items they took home.
deirdre and her shell lady.
ej and his annette funicello cassettes.
nancy and her monkey.
osvelia and her hillary.
and the triumphant danuta with what was perhaps the most vied for gift of the night: barack obama riding a unicorn in the nude.
this deserves a closer look.
the gift exchange was so much fun, but it was even better to be back in the fold of my l.a. friends.the next day, ej and i visited the gene autry museum with my parents.
the exhibit was about fact and fiction regarding the role of latino "noble" bandits.
a detail of an old movie poster in the exhibit. don't you just love rodeos?
on christmas eve, my family visited my tia rachel and uncle tito. a group photo with assorted relatives was one of the few permanently lost in the recent "holiday photos deleted while uploading" fiasco, but i do have a shot of the tamales.
me and my cousin, bea. when i was little, i loved hanging out with my cool cousin "bea-bea". she would tell us scary stories. i loved it!
back at the ranch, the boys deflate the air mattress.
it's the little things in life.
on christmas day, ej made a big batch of salsa verde. que sabroso!
we were lucky enough to have ej's mom, hanna, join us for the christmas festivities.
attempting to wrangle kids for a photo.
well, you get the idea.
on christmas night, things were settling down. the kids were bathed and pajama'd.
i don't know what was in the milk, but all of a sudden, the little people started bouncing off the walls.
which led to a pillow fight.
which was followed (at max's suggestion) by a giant group hug. the kids were smooshed in the middle and although i don't have a photo of that, i think i'll always remember our love fest of christmas '09.
christmas was a busy time in southern california. other than the highly inconvenient hot flashes, the setting of medical appointments for my return to ny, and the confusion that is medicaid, my time was filled with friends, family, and lots of mexican food. and i mean lots.
max during his karate test to move up from yellow belt to orange belt.
waiting as instructed to see if he earned his orange belt. he did!
have i mentioned that maya is now 2 years old and has learned to wield her "no!" and "mine!"?
an impromptu jam session
we took a trip to disneyland. the morning was with the kids. my sister was feeling the happy of the happiest place on earth.
max wanted to get on thunder mountain, but he sat in the fetal position with his eyes closed and his hands covering his ears through the entire ride.
i'd forgotten that disneyland is Stroller City.
our people are represented in the clock outside the Small World ride.
Small World was the one ride that deanna had requested we go on. this is the back of her head as she videotapes each precious moment and lives the magic.
at night, the big kids had fun in the magic kingdom by ourselves.
i think the high point for ej was his first ever ride on space mountain. he doesn't like rollercoasters.
and deanna doesn't like fireworks. isn't disneyland fun? i wanted to take a photo of her as the fireworks exploded above the matterhorn, but she was running too fast with her fingers in her ears.
stay tuned for plays, parties, and more fun behind the orange curtain.
yesterday morning, ej surprised me by recovering virtually all of the holiday photos that i'd lost recently. i was thrilled! he worked most of the night to do it and i am eternally grateful. perhaps i can now get my act together and post some photos from our whirlwind trip to southern california. (we're in the bay area now.)
here are a couple until i get organized.
maya the artist
max models some holiday finery given to me by my cousin jeremy.
