LOS MANSUR EN PV

Hola Familia,

Joe and I were in Puerto Vallarta at the beginning of March, and my siblings, Los Mansur, were able to get it together (which is NOT an easy thing to do with SO many Chiefs and NO Indians) to come and visit us for a weekend. They left Mexico City on Wenesday and drove all night (10 hours), arrived in PV at 10 AM on Thursday and stayed through Sunday morning. It was Fast, Furious and Fun!

Here are some pictures.

Welcome Breakfast :tamales, refried black beans, pan dulce, smoothies, coffee. I worried about them driving all night and was very happy to see them.


The Gang at the Marina in Puerto Vallarta:
Joe Sr., Moon, Meli, Felipe, Nora, Jessi, Lety & Armando

Breakfast In Bucerias, which is the town just before you get to Punta Esmeralda, our development.
Don Do Dat, You Bad Thing!

Sand Sculpture Contest On the Malecon (Board Walk) in PV.


Balancing Rocks For A Tip

Sergio Bustamante Sculpture, absolutely Amazing!

OOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!


Felipe & Nora With Sandman (Mime)

Hanging Out With The Alliens

Sut Up Little Girl!


The Siblings

Beautiful, Sweet 16, Meli (Turned heads everywhere we went)

Meli & Jessi Getting Ready To Take On The Waves at The Beach in Bucerias.


Hasta La Vista Babies!

Sin Palabras

Armando & Lety, Romantic Moment at The Pool

Los Hermanos at Dinner


THE END

Hardboil your eggs and get our your dye... the Annual Easter Egg Contest is coming!

Last year's podium

Like many other families, Easter Egg coloring has been an annual tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. The eggs are dyed the night before and then are part of an egg hunt on Easter afternoon. My dad is always the official egg hider and I am always the winner (in my own mind at least). For many years it was just Amber and I (twenty somethings - young neighbor children watching over my parent's fence with interest (confusion?) after their own hunts were over). Several years ago we had the pleasure of our friends Chris and Carol joining in the hunt (my mom announcing, "Ok! Anyone under 30 - time to hunt! Ummm, ok, anyone under 35!" And we were off...) Yet I digress...

Before the hunt the eggs must be dyed. And judged. No prize for the winner other than glory. That, and perhaps your egg gets eaten last, and with a slight bit of remorse. (Ask Amber about Prairie Grassland and her lunch a few days after Easter last year).

This year Joe and I will be in California for Easter but the tradition must go on! We are also opening the competition to any reader of the Daily Avocado. We'll be figuring out a way to host anonymous submissions as well as online voting. Look for more details coming this week. In the meantime, start thinking about your egg, and equally important, its name.

Guarding my submissions

Hard at work..

Final Entries

Genius at work...

Mountain Bike Race!

Hey Guys,

I rode my first mountain bike race this past Saturday. My neighbor Vito (my "coach") is from Venezuela and he races. He told me about this race series and got me out there this weekend to give it a shot.

I'm glad he did. I had beginner's luck with a first place finish. Yeah Baby! The ride was a blast. It was about 18 mile race and I finished in an hour and sixteen minutes. Thanks mama for the strong quads! Couldn't have done it without them ;)

The most impressive thing was the diversity of people that actually get out there! there were high school teams, children age 10, old old guys etc.. Everyone was out there to take on the "Singletrack" (Singletrack is very narrow and typically rather technical bike trail).

Here are a couple photos and a link to the results.

(At the start -I'm behind the guy in red)

Results: http://www.cccx.org/mtb/2008/race2/2008_CCCX_MTB_Race2_Beginner.shtml

January and February News from the Greg and Amy !

Hello family!!! January just flew by and here it is February and I realized I was way behind on putting our news on the Avocado. So here goes…..

January. Amy and Amber both had birthdays this month (?? J?? and 32 respectively). We celebrated both birthdays with the grandparents and as always it was wonderful to be able to celebrate special occasions together.

Amy and I also spent time in our home away from home (Salida) snowshoeing, listening to music, and just enjoying the slower pace of life in a small mountain town.

February. Amy and I attended the, “Learning and the Brain Conference” in San Francisco the first week of February. During the conference we attended seminars about the latest research in how the brain grows, learns, and is shaped by experiences. During the day we attended a variety of seminars and during the evening we took the BART train into downtown San Francisco to enjoy restaurants and museums…….

When the conference was over Julie picked us up at our hotel and we spent the next four days staying with Julie and Joe in San Jose and enjoying beautiful area in which they live. Joe and Julie took some time off work and we spent time sight seeing, eating out, bike riding along the ocean, and sea kayaking. We had a wonderful time…. and the best part of our trip was being able to spend some time with Julie and Joe.

Love,

Greg and Amy

PS--> Happy Birthday Joe Sr. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Dad (Joe Sr.)

Today is the birthday of my very young father. Dad you look damn good for having 31 and 24 year old sons! An exciting year lies ahead and we look forward to seeing what the future brings!



And now to commemorate this past year:

• A personal table at Honig for the best wine tasting ever!
• "Ahhh OK Yoe..... "
• SLR Photographer Joe Morales Sr. presents: The cliffs of Santa Cruz and The Frozen Wings of the Humming Bird
• A true moment of glory out-swimming the New York state swimming champion in Puerto Vallarta!
• Dad vs. Josh: Wii Boxing
• "I gon' work at Wor Worl"
• El Rancho Morales
• You, me, Josh and cigars as the sun sets in PV
• "I can ski... I can speak... I can sing... Oh Japy day Oh Japy day!"
• And... Oh yeah.. All that other stuff you were doing all over the world ;)
• And last but not least! Being a true role model who has constantly shown me that I can always grow and strive for more!

Love you dad..

Joey...

Have a wonderful birthday!

Joey...