We've got our plane tickets

Well it is set in stone now we are coming home. We got our plane tickets and we are going to arrive in Miami on February 24th at 6:05am. I am very excited to be coming home but Johanna is a little hesitant. These tickets are round trip so I have to make sure I hide them when we get back or Johanna may use hers to return to Peru. Johanna’s take on this whole trip is kind of interesting and something we wish we would have thought about before we started our journey. Before Johanna moved to the United States in 2003 she was living with her parent’s and even though she was 23 years old she was still under their roof and therefore had to follow their rules. She did not go out with her friends a whole lot and had to check in with her parents before she would go out. Not a lot of freedom. Now let’s jump ahead to today. She has her own place and can come and go as she pleases. I do not like to go out dancing as much as she does so she has a lot of girl’s nights out. That is okay with me though because like I said she likes to dance a lot more than I do. So, she has more freedom now and she is really enjoying this new Peru. It is a lot different and more fun than it was before so now it is going to be a lot harder to leave than it was before. So on February 24th please send good wishes and lots of love Johanna’s way because she is going to need it. I will be sure to have a full box of tissues for the flight home and a second box for when we touchdown in Miami.

Christmas Holiday's

This is going to be a long one. We went to visit some family in a small town 3 hours north of Lima called Barranca. First we went to the beach and then the memorial. One of Johanna’s second cousins died one year ago and on the year anniversary everyone got together to celebrate his life. There was a ton of good food and a lot of laughter from everyone remembering the good times.

Johanna and I with Tia Isabel & Cousin Raquel

You can not really see but Sonia, Aliah and Ameer are in that blue mototaxi

The race was on. Aliah and I started to race and Ameer did not want to be left out so he joined in the fun.

Johanna and Sonia layed on the beach and caught some rays but where is the fun in that. Me and the kids did what you are supposed to do at the beach, dig a big hole and build a sand castle...

bury each other in the sand...

and just have fun.

This was the food for the memorial. Can you tell how big these pots are? Take a look at the spoon.

That is cousin Gabby with the same spoon. These pots were hugh. Can you guess what is in them?

The three little pigs. Not quite the same fairy tale that you remember.

Sonia, Cousin Gabby, Cousin Carmen, Cousin Raquel, Cousin Mary, Johanna

A step back in time. Tia Isabel and her kids all live on one piece of land that is about 2 acres. As you can see in the picture this part of the property where they make adobe bricks to build their houses. They have just recently hooked up their electricity, and built a bathroom with running water, and just 2 months ago they got a refridgerator. It is like something you see in a National Geographic magazine. Barancca is a poor area and the people have very little possesions but they are some of the happiest people I have ever met. Very eye opening.

For Christmas we celebrated at Johanna’s parents. The tradition here is to stay awake until midnight and at the stroke of 12:00am Christmas day we open presents. I was getting a little tired as we got closer but at 11:45pm the fireworks started and I woke right up. It sounded like there was a war going on outside. No one could sleep through something like that except Ameer. As excited as he was to open his presents he fell asleep a little early and did not open his presents until the next morning, the US way of doing things.

Look at that spread for Christmas dinner.

Johanna and I with Sr. Juan and Aliah

Ameer just could not stay awake.

Sra. Sonia, her mom Asuncion, Tia Liana, Tio Jorge (Coco), Carlos

For New Year’s we had a party at Johanna’s parent’s home and invited the family. Our invitation was a little late so only about 20 people showed up but we had a good time. We got started around 10pm and can you guess what time we went to bed? Johanna and I hit the bed at 7:30am. What a party. We did not wake up until 6pm later that day and needless to say it was a very, very lazy day.

Happy New Year

Johanna, her mom Sonia, and her sister Sonia. Aren't they beautiful.

Johanna dancing with her dad. Look out the window, it is daylight.

They're Here

Sonia, Aliah and Ameer arrived late Tuesday night. Sra. Sonia, Sr. Juan, Tia Chela, Johanna and I headed for the airport to give them a big welcome. A few of the other family members joined the welcome party at the airport and we all waited patiently with our big welcome banner. When the plane landed we all got very excited and eagerly started to look. They eventually walked through the gate and we all started whistling and waving to get their attention. They finally saw us and we all ran down to say hello and the tears started to flow. The kids were excited but Sonia was the most ecstatic because this is the first time she has been home since 2001. We all went back to the house and stayed up talking until 2am.

Here they come with all of their baggage.

Ameer, being a very energetic boy, made a beeline straight for the toys.

Sonia was a little different but just as energetic and went straight for the fruit.

Aliah is so easy going, she was just happy to be here.

Sr. Juan and Sra. Sonia's Anniversary

Sr. Juan and Sra. Sonia celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary last Friday. They were not planning anything special so Johanna stepped in. At the last minute Johanna decided that she wanted to do something for her parents so we headed for the restaurant on the corner. We picked up some rotisserie chicken and then stopped at the market for some flowers and headed to her parents home. When we arrived Sra. Sonia was surprised and decided she wanted to dress up a little for the occasions and Sr. Juan was on his way home from work so we had to hurry. We set the table and Johanna made some chef hats so we could welcome Sr. Juan when he arrived. When he came in he was surprised and we rushed him right over to his bride. Johanna and I served their dinner and quickly left so the love birds could spend a nice quiet evening together.

Happy Birthday to Me

Ursula, Ivan, Carla, Michelle, Johanna, Me, Alejandra

Javier, Giovanna, Me, Ivan

The great food Causa, Carapulcra, & Aji de Gallina

My mother-in-law, Sonia, teaching me some dance moves.

Deysi, Me, Arturo

Me with all of the woman. Where is Johanna?

Johanna threw me a birthday party on Saturday and we had a blast. Our friend’s mother cooked a fantastic meal for us all and fortunately there was a lot left over so we have been eating like royalty all week. We tried get started at 7pm because I do not like to begin my night when I normally go to bed. It is not out of the ordinary to go to a party at 11pm and stay out all night. So our invitations said 7pm but people still did not show up until much later. But that was okay because we passed the time with our friends Carla and Ivan. Even though we tried to have the party start and end at a “reasonable” hour we did not go to bed until 5am. Not a problem though because neither of us had to work the next day so we laid in bed all day and recovered from the exciting night. At least I laid in bed, my wonderful wife cleaned the entire house and by the afternoon everything was back to normal. Johanna is the best.

Party Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYldgc611KA

We are Comming Home

When we decided to go on this adventure we said we would stay for at least one year. We originally wanted to wait until January to make the decision to stay or not but due to some issues with our apartment we had to decide a little earlier than expected and we decided to come home. It was a tough decision but we both think it is the best thing for us to do. We are not exactly sure when we will be flying home but I will probably return in late January or early February and Johanna will probably not go back until March. We are very anxious to see everyone when we get back.

A Day of Celebration

On Sunday I was excited about sleeping in when I was suddenly awaken at 7:00am by cannon fire at least that is what it sounded like. I got up to investigate and I found people in the streets decorating everything in purple and white balloons and streamers. They were getting ready to celebrate the day of an important Saint here in Peru, I am not sure who but everyone else seemed to know, and they were launching fireworks to commemorate the day.

A guy drew the design on the street with chalk and then a bunch if people filled in the entire thing with flower pedals and colored saw dust. All done the morning of the big day.

Johanna and I went out later to grab some lunch and all of the decorations were ready and the people were sitting in chairs in front of their houses talking and waiting. When we returned was saw that this is what they were waiting for.

This group of people walked all around the area carrying this “float” and playing music. They stopped every once in a while in front of groups of people and they would all pray together. It was quite a site.

That is sheet music on their backs for the guys walking behind them.

The group walked over the art masterpiece as they went down the street. I would have been a little upset if this was my work but apparently this is how it is done.