The mexicanos came. And, the mexicanos left.
The 3 days spent with the de Gortari clan went by in a blur, but were spent having fun and enjoying each other. Pati was in Washington, DC for a convention last week and so we had jumped on that opportunity to have a mini-reunion with Nene's brothers and sister for a few days while she was near Lancaster. Mauricio, Amalia, Guero, Barbara, and Pati got here Thursday afternoon and just left today. We had a wonderful 3-day weekend.
Crannie and Beebster had the privilege of first meeting Nene's side of the family last year for Thanksgiving when we went out to Indianapolis, or "Indanaskets" as Maddie still likes to refer to the city. Faith was only just turning 1-year old (and, in fact had her first birthday there in Indianapolis) and Maddie was 2. Maddie has so many fond memories of all of her relatives, including her Super Nene who was unable to come this time. She remembers every person in her life that has impacted her, and clearly they all had a huge impact on her even at 2 years old. She remembers the nights spent dancing and singing, and loves seeing pictures. Faith was a troubled little 11-month old at the time with roughly 7 teeth wanting to cut through during the time we spent there. She was right in the midst of her Momma stage, and was incredibly shy and wary around them all. She therefore earned the nickname, "La Chillona" while we were there. She has now become "La Chistosa" and absolutely loved seeing everybody this time.
My little women had a wonderful time with their Mexican family. We went on Thursday and Maddie took her jewelry box filled with bracelets and necklaces for everybody. She had told me that morning that 'Mauricio' was too hard of a name to pronounce, and that she was going to call him 'Cheese Mouse' and Cheese Mouse became her name for Mauricio. She loved him and Guero. She would go to Guero and ask for 5,000 songs on the guitar and even took her purse filled with coins on Friday to give him as a tip. She spent a good portion of Friday evening explaining to Guero about nature: "Polar bears eat sea lion babies. But, that's just how nature works. And, sperm whales will drag you down to the deep, deep part of the ocean. So, you need to be careful. But, that's just how nature works. It's just like that." It was hilarious. She and Guero had a Beanie Baby parade and chased Cheese Mouse around on Friday night too telling him she was Princess Aurora and he was Prince Phillip.
Faith was too cute the whole time. She was still a little shy at first, but yet completely different than when they saw her last year. Her favorite thing was to dance and dance and dance some more when Guero would play his guitar. She kept telling everybody about 'Booo' and 'Baaa' and showed them her Littlest Pets. We had birthday cake for her on Friday night, and she was in heaven with everybody singing 'Happy Birthday' to her. She clapped and laughed so hard.
Last night, we went to El Serrano for dinner and it was awesome. The entire 3 days was the best just hanging out with everybody including Nene, Gampa, Uncle Schnoogo, Paul, and Tia Rosa and it was great just having that neat atmosphere with everybody at the table. We were quite the audience for Dante, and my little women have never danced so much in their lives. They were in the very front right underneath Dante and his guitar doing their step moves and ballet twirls. They danced with just about everybody, and even together. It was so neat. Of course, we also were serenaded at our table with "Cielito Lindo" which I think is their new favorite song. It didn't get much better than that.
My little party girls were wiped out by the end of each night, and last night was no different. Dan and I left the restaurant a little earlier than everybody else with the intention of getting them to bed. They weren't having that. They wanted to wait, and sure enough when they heard everybody coming into the garage singing at the top of their lungs and carrying on, they both went to the top of the stairs jumping and clapping. They asked for one song on Nene's CD player, and got to dance for their audience again. Faith had her pointer fingers in the air for '1 more song, please!' They of course passed out within about 30 seconds after I put them to sleep.
We spent the rest of the night laughing so hard at all the stories Mauricio, Guero, Pati, and Nene would tell about growing up so long ago. I have never in my life laughed until I have cried, and I had tears in my eyes from Mauricio's stories. It was awesome.
Now I am left trying to explain to two little women about why everybody had to leave, and the party had to end. Maddie's exact words were, "Momma, I loved Cheese Mouse. And, I love the man in the big family with so much hair (Guero). And, the girls are so beautiful. They have blondish hair (couldn't be further from the truth!)." I'm so very glad that the C. and the B. have these awesome memories of Nene's family. We're now looking forward to our next de Gortari reunion, and some more great memories.
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