re: Another Morales in Germany

Gorgisima Julie!

Another Morales in Germany..

That makes three this week :)

I just returned from a week in Berlin (for work). I am too tired to write anything else but thought la familia might enjoy a few photos..

Jenn and me

Kaiser Wilhelm Church

Blog hog

I guess I'm the blog hog, eh? I'm thinking that I need to become mobile, so... I'm putting the word out family, I'm selling the parrots, starting with "Don Octavio De Las Flores", or "Lalo". He is a Blue and Gold Macaw, about 9 years old, was bottle fed by me, was hatched at Texas A&M University, in Bryan, Texas, and I'm asking $1,200.00 for him with his cage. (They normally sell for $1,500.00, and his cage was $800.00) In captivity Macaws live around 80 years. He has a huge vocabulary, as you all know, and makes up his own songs. I'm proud to say that he doesn't cuss as much as he used to. I adore him, but I'm tired, and owning a parrot involves a lot of cleaning. I'd like to focus less on caretaking, and would appreciate any assistance in spreading the word.

Thanks guys!

Cuncu

Wow Joey

The forest photos are amazing. No wonder I had a headache today. Just kidding, but I did have a headache for not eating.

You know that Los Cabos moved around the corner from Curtis to Champa, it is no longer big enough for a Salsa band. Are you saying they had Salsa music, or salsa to eat?

I think the calendar idea is great! I don't know when I'll be back there to sing. I only get called at the last minute to sing Peruvian Waltzes with Manuel Molina. I love singing that stuff. It is so passionate.

Love always

Aunt Suzie

Los Cabos II

Sue -

Sorry you didn't get the Gig. We were sending energy but I hit my head on a giant redwood tree while biking today so maybe I messed up the vibe :( I have a little cut on my forehead as a reminder. Here are some pictures of the amazingly beautiful California trail close to where I had the disagreement with the redwood:




Regarding the peruvian Gig at Los Cabos II. I love that place! When I worked downtown we used to go there for lunch all the time. It's so good! Are you playing there again any time soon? It is also an excellent salsa bar by night. It is very intimate.

Speaking of which - I want to attach a calendar to the blog so we can track people's birthdays and so you can put your gigs out there for everybody to see and for any other reason people can think of. I'll play with this a bit and let you all know when I get it working. I want to make sure it is secure so only we can see and use it. I don't want any outsiders to see our Dates of Birth.

Cuban Play

Hey Jix, "you don't do dat you bad ting". No more speeding Stevie (Steve McQueen). Jay is soooo cute!

I didn't get the part. Maybe it's cuz I don't look even remotely Mulata. Maybe it's because I was too hot to be an old woman. (I like that one) Thanks for the late energy Poloncio. I kicked ass at my Peruvian gig downtown. By the way, if you like Ceviche, and other seafoody things, they supposedly have great food at Los Cabos at Champa and 15th, downtown Denver.

It's my watering day, so ciaosito!

Cuncu

But I don't speken ze deutch...and I can't spell it either!!

Hola Familia,



Wow, I didn't know we had so......many talented writers in this familia. Joe, it was super cool that you and JJ were able to get together to spend a little time in Frankfurt, and thanks for the pics! Joey, thanks for updating us on Julie's whereabouts. Great accomplishment on the mountain bike goal that you've set for yourself...I'll be looking for an update when you hit that 40 minute goal! Sounds like San Jose is treating you all pretty well...



Susie, I gotta tell ya...your story about being in Germany in that same town and walking in the same places where all of those poor Jews walked was very sobbering...thanks for sharing! Oh yeah, I know its too late, but I'm still sending you positive energy and hope that you get the gig in the Cuban play...best of luck, and break a leg!



Well, my only excitement is that I just got into Seattle this evening and I'll be here through Sunday of next week training a new Assistent Manager for our Seattle store..."y para variar...esta lloviendo....hmmmmmmmm...

Moon Raka, parace que ya te conseguiste al proximo "Tom Clancy" ah verdad..........Bueno cabrones, ya me voy por ahora...espero que le signa anadiendo chingaderas al blog de la familia...hasta la proxima....

Pablo

Pictures from Germany, enjoy!!!

This is a piture of JJ on the busy shopping plaza in Frankfurt, he's very tall and in excellent shape.

We asked the guard to take a picture of us at the base, check out J's neck, wow!!

This a picture of J at the Barracks.

One of the many Castle's in Germany

Yikes!!! 200 per hour ... I am holding on the the steering wheel very tight

Warning !!!- Do not attempt this at home ... highly trained professionals were used for this photo documentary

By The Way...

If any of you are looking at the time at 5:15 PM today, MST, send me some good energy. I have an audition for a Cuban American play, and I need the job. My slot is from 5:15-5:30PM.

Cuncu

JJ's Post

I had to sing in that same building a few years ago while doing a Dept. of Defense tour. JJ is on the same base I was. Amazing! Our break room was a room used for storage that was full of old furniture. I kept wondering if Hitler had touched any of it. I remember when I took a train ride to the Chec/Germany border, and had to do the same walk the concentration camp victims did. You could feel them. Tears poured out of our eyes (musicians) as we did the walk from the rickety old train to our bus, lugging suitcases, imagining them doing the same. It was hard to breathe.

I somehow in all of this feel connected to my family. Never mentioned that experience to anyone before now. I never thought anyone in my family would be on that base JJ.

I love you all.

Cuncu

When it rains it pours

Sounds like Dad and JJ had a great time. I wish I could have been there. Strange that hardly anyone in our family had ever been to Germany and now in the same week there are sevaral people there at the same time! (I'll come back to this in a bit)..

As I write this post, I am recovering from a whirl-wind weekend which began with my return to San Jose from Denver Friday morning. Julie and I had a "Date Night" Friday night which consisted of Bogey's Pizza and catching up on episodes of Lost. I got up Saturday morning for an early mountain bike ride. There is a loop I've been riding and I have a goal to finish it in less than 40 minutes. When I first started riding it took me about and hour and twenty minutes. Saturday I finished in 41:58. So close!!! After the ride we cleaned up and headed out for the wedding of Tyler and Sandra Townsend, some good friends we've made in San Jose. They are about Josh's age and a great couple. The wedding was a blast. Here are a couple pictures:

(Me and my lovely wife)

Julie and California "bff", Jenn


Now back to the Germany thing... After this busy weekend, we woke up this morning and packed Julie's bags for a week long work trip to Berlin! Jenn from the wedidng picture is also on this trip - they work together at Ebay. Who could imagine JJ, Dad and Julie (and Jenn) all in the same remote country in the same week! When it rains it pours! Due to work activities and distance (5 hours from Dad/JJ to Julie (see map below), it will probably not be possible for people to join up but it is always a comfort to know that you are close to family...

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&saddr=berlin&daddr=frankfurt+to%3ABudingen&mrcr=1&sll=50.833698,11.777344&sspn=4.968876,10.217285&ie=UTF8&ll=51.6998,14.084473&spn=9.757676,20.43457&z=6&om=1

My Husband The Action Writer

My, my, my .......Who is this Amazing, Exciting, Depicting, Action Writer? I really enjoyed your "weekend In Germany" post and I wish you were here so I could hug you! But, I'll do the next best thing, send you a HUGE Virtual Hug!

I think it's wonderful that you were able to meet J.J. I mean, what are the chances, right ? Had you planned it for two months, it probably would not have come together as nicely as it did.

Thank you for the step-by-step narration of your evening with your nephew, the scout; the interesting (and brief) historical description of your country side sight seeing, AND...........your Autobahn Adventures.........YIAKES.....200 Kilometer Speeds...............DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT !!!!!!!!!!! I won't be able to sleep tonight as I dream of you playing "Astro Boy" on the Galactic Autobahn.......Hijole !!!!!

Familia, I'm loving this BLOG Thing. Thank you Joey and Julie. As you said, It's like having your first cup of coffe and sitting down to read the Denver Post, or the San Jose Mercury OR The Familia's Daily Avocado BLOG...........I'm digging it, it's awesome, It's cool, it's phat, it's sick ! (And you thought I was just an Old Senora....Ah Verdad ???!!!)

Love You All. Con Carino, MoonRaka

May 20, 2007 9:50 AM

Weekend in Germany!!!

Hola Family, it has been an exciting weekend in Germany. On Friday night I was able to get in touch with JJ, my nephew who is stationed at Armstrong Barracks in Budingen, Germany. We chatted on-line and were able to coordinate a meeting in Frankfurt on Saturday . JJ took the train in and met me at the Marriott hotel we then drove downtown to the shopping district and eventually settled down for a nice talk and dinner at the Surf and Turf Steakhouse. Dinner was excellent, we had "red meat", a very lean cut of the Filet Mignon variety, cooked to perfection, which was accompanied by some veggies, fries and onion rings. JJ and I both enjoyed the meal and the conversation and we left at around 8:30 PM so I could drive JJ back to Budingen. Not having had a hell-of-a-lot of experience driving in Germany, we allotted plenty of time to get JJ back before curfew. JJ is a scout in the US Army, so he was invaluable in deciphering the "code" (German map) to help us arrive at our objective. Driving the German back roads is exciting, as the towns are very old and picturesque.

Upon arrival at the base, JJ tried to sign me in to see his barracks, but since I did not have my USA passport with me, they declined. JJ gave me some history of the base, it was a German military base during WWII and Hitler actually gave a few "pep" speeches from that location, thank God they failed. The USA took over heaps of bases in Germany after the Allied victory and to this day, many are still manned by our Military forces. This particular US Army base is being decommissioned later this summer and JJ will be heading back to the USA for his next assignment. JJ, we look forward to seeing back in the USA soon!!

On Sunday, I woke up very late (finally over the jet-lag) and since I had missed the breakfast that ended at 11 AM, I had a few Cappuchinos and fruit .... the caffeine made me do it!!! I decided to test my driving skills on the famous Autobahn. I picked a nice town south of Frankfurt that was not to far or too close and plotted the course, I had decided to drive to a beautiful town called Heidelberg, about 60 miles away. Well, well, well ... at first it is somewhat intimidating being in the fast lane going about 75 mph, when all of the sudden you see a Mercedes closing on you at probably 125 mph. At those speeds one has to adjust quickly and I got out of the way.... but only for a moment as I had realized that I wasn't in "Kansas" anymore. So I finally gave the Audi A6 what it wanted and hit 112 mph and with a brief excursion to 125 mph. It was exhilarating, so much so that I missed the exit to Heidelberg, it's hard to make the exit when you only have a kilometer to react. I turned around and made the exit and drove into the town to get some gas a take a few pictures. I wish I could tell you more about the beautiful German Castle's, Churches and architecture, but since parking is a conspiracy and I was still on my speed mission I only stayed for about 30 minutes and headed back to Frankfurt, ie... Autobahn. Call me crazy, but I actually made it back to Frankfurt in 40 minutes, hitting max speeds of 125 mph (200 kilometers per hour), I have pictures to prove it, which I'll share when I return to the USA . . . . "this is strictly prohibitted for all offspring reading this blog".

Well I know this is a long entry, but I felt the urge to share. You can blame Joey for unleashing the action writer in me by opening the B.L.O.G.

Cheers to the Family,

Joe Sr.

Hola

Hola Familia,

I guess two old dogs can learn new tricks...I hope this works. Just got back from a nice ten day vacation to San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato...I needed the rest!

Espero que todos se encuentren bien...sigo entrenando para volver a competir en triathlon, pues mi meta es hacer el Ironman Brasil en mayo del 2008...ya veremos...

Jessica, que padre que ya te metiste al maraton de Chicago...felicidades en tu cumple, y buena suerte en tu maraton en Octubre...mandas fotos a la familia ok?
Pinche Joe....N mames guey, y ni suquiera he pisado al continente de europa, y ya tengo ganas...ya consigueme chamba chingon en Monterrey, no? Tiene que haber algo no crees? Y me quiero regresar a mi Mexico lindo...

Bueno cabrones...ya me voy, pero estare pendiente del bolg Daily Avocado...nos vemos...
Pablo

Re: Guten Morgen

Hi Jix! Just in case you didn't know, English was derived from German. I think it is sooo awesome that you're going to see J.J. I'm glad you get to go sight-seeing. Germany is gorgeous!

Guten Morgen ???, Gute Nacht!!!

Hi Family:

I am in Frankfurt, Germany and have been since Monday. Spent 3 days in a Castle (Schloss Reinhartshausen Kempinski) built in the early 1800's, which happens ot be right on the Rhine river. It is very beautiful and supposedly in some of the best wine country in Europe, so they hosted a wine tasting for us and we had a chance to smoke some Cubanos. It was good fun!!! It is now Friday night and the company had an Audi A6 sitting around, so I am borrowing it for the weekend to do some sightseeing and hopefully to visit JJ, my nephew, who is in the Military stationed in a town called Budingen, 50 to 60 miles outside Frankfurt. If it works out, I'll take some pics and post them on our BLOG. I will be here one more week and then back to Denver for a few weeks and then Raka will join me on a trip to Athens, Greece in the middle of June with an extended stay back in Frankfurt until the middle of July. I should learn German, but it is a tough language, I'll still try. OK familia, just wanted to post something to prove to Joey that you can still teach a old dog new tricks. Two firsts for today, driving in Germany and entering and posting something on my 1st BLOG. Stay safe and Cheers to all.

Joe Sr.

The Elephant Man

Hey Guys,

Apparently my coustin Gabe has been trying his hand at painting. He's recently painted "The Elephant Man". To me it looks like something really cool and inspired in Sri Lanka. Check out the following site that gives info on Sri Lankan elephants. They have a lot of cultural and religious importance in Sri Lanka and even carry the death penalty if you kill one...

http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/species/about_species/species_factsheets/elephants/asian_elephants/sri_lankan_elephant/index.cfm

Cool painting Gabe. Hope to see more of them. You and your mom should start selling your art on Ebay!

"The Elephant Man"

Una idea genial !!!!!

MI FAMILIA Ya los encontre y me da mucho gusto que podamos platicar y saber
mas de nosotros. Gracias por felicitarme hoy en el dia de mi
cumple. La pase todo el dia come y come. Mis hijas me
cantaron y me festejaron muy bonito. Estoy feliz porque por fin tengo mi boleto para participar en el maraton de chicago este proximo mes de octubre. fue mi regalo de cumpleaños y estoy muy entusiasmada. aprovecho para invitarlos a nuestra casita en mexico para cuando puedan y quieran venir. los esperamos con mucho gusto. saludos a todos. los quiero mucho mucho mucho...........................!!!!!!!!!!

WOWA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joey & Julie,

This is SO cool! What a wonderful way to stay in touch with the Familia , And today, Mother's day 2007 is a great day to start the Daily Avocado Blog ..........!Muchas Gracias!

Joe leaves for Frankfurt today so we are on our way to the airport. We are stopping by Josh's work (he gets off at 2 pm) so we can have lunch with him before Joe leaves.

Happy Mother's day to all our Wonderful Mamacitas!

Con Carino,

MoonRaka

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's day to all the wonderful moms in the family! We love you!


Amy Reed
Deb Morales
Estelle Martin
Jean Morales
Jessi Manzur (Feliz Cumpianos Jessi!)
Polly Reed
Raquel Morales
Suzanne Morales

Has it been a year already?

(Tiny, Adrian and Alaina Valdez w/ Julie)

We were new to California. My new friend Jenn invited us to the Berryessa Art and Wine Festival.
She said that her family goes to the festival every year and then continues with a barbeque at her mother-in-law’s house. We accepted.

One of the biggest lessons we have learned this year is that you never know what will happen when you try something new. Not that going to a festival and a barbeque is a new experience, but accepting an invitation from someone you don’t know that well, agreeing to spend the afternoon not only with them but with their children and family – that could go either way. Will you be sitting politely at the table, making ‘tea talk’, scanning you brain to think of things you might have in common, commenting how lovely and well-behaved the children are, wondering when the time will come where you have stayed long enough to be polite and can then excuse yourself, claiming that you have a big day ahead tomorrow, there is more unpacking to do?

The day didn’t go like that. In fact, quite the opposite. I tend to judge how good of a time I have by whether or not I remember the conversations that take place. The sign of a fun evening is that I leave thinking “That was great!” but can’t recall a specific conversation that I had. I think it’s a sign that I wasn’t searching too hard for things to say - that whatever I said and did came naturally.

And that is how it's been since then. The Valdez family has opened their home and their family to us. They have woven us into their lives like we've know them forever. There is a comfort and a familiarity to our friendship that is rare.

Yesterday, at our 'friendship anniversary', we all laughed and said 'who knew?'. Nobody. That's the point. You never know what the day will bring.

Welcome Morales and Reed Families

Hola Familia !

Last summer I had an idea of creating a website where we could post family events, photos, experiences, shared recipes and anything else we could think of. At the time I thought I wanted to develop my own website to manage this. As it turns out, companies like Google and Yahoo have many more resources for creating this type of thing so I've decided to simply use what they've already built. I've been playing around with it a bit and I think everybody will really like it. www.dailyavocado.blogspot.com is the URL for this website.

You will all get an email inviting you to be an "Author" of posts on the website. When you get this email, please take a couple seconds to create a profile (hosted by blogspot.com) and accept the invitation. If any of you have a google, gmail or google groups account, the login you have for google will also work on blogspot (google owns blogspot). You will then be able to create new posts, upload photos etc. It is pretty easy to do but please email me if you have any problems.

Please add it to your Internet favorites! We hope to see tons of postings so we see what the family is doing! As the Internet gurus say: "Happy Blogging"

Love,
Joey and Julie