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.