russ ran in the jacksonville gate river run which is a very popular race here -- actually it is the largest 15k in the United States! the winner came in under 45 minutes (INSANE) and russ ran the race in 76+ minutes, which was a minute slower than last year but unfortunately he wasn't able to train like he wanted to. his goal was to beat his cousin michael in the race but as it turns out michael beat his time by 15 SECONDS!!! that was tough to swallow. there's always next year :)
later on saturday afternoon, my sister and i took the kids to a little park right up the street:
my aunt mildred flew to orlando to visit her daughter and fam. for the week and they all decided to drive up here to visit with us on sunday. we had a lot of fun catching up and of course ate lots of delicious puerto rican food thanks to mom and dad! natalie even helped prepare the tostones (tos-toe-nez) (fried plantains). she had fun being in the kitchen with us older girls! 
it was russ's first time meeting my aunt mildred and now there are only two aunts (out of 9) to go -- mercedes (my mom's oldest sister) who lives in NY, and my dad's sister abby who lives in venezuela. rumor has it that we are planning a [soto] family reunion in spain some time this year and maybe they will have the chance to meet then. also, russ and i keep talking about taking a trip to NY since we both have family there so maybe that will happen one of these days!
so far this week has been busy yet, slow. i haven't had specific plans set but i've been busy catching up with things like bills/tax stuff and cleaning. looking forward to getting our tax returns...
for st. patrick's day the kids wore their green, of course, they had fun working on a holiday craft, and we ate spinach with dinner last night. it's the weirdest thing: both of my kids LOVE spinach!!! of course i mix in some parmesan cheese and garlic salt so i'm sure that helps, but even my picky natalie can't get enough of it! they must have inherited that from their mommy and daddy, b/c that is one of our favorite veggies :)
now that i have kids, i think it's neat to actually learn about each holiday and teach them what they mean, so they understand that we are not just spending money and celebrating for no significant reason, aside from the fun :)
so, because i just recently learned these tidbits, i will pass them along to you!
st. patrick is the patron saint who brought christianity to the country of ireland. he used the shamrock to explain about God and compared it to the Trinity. each of the 3 leaves represented the 3 devine beings, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. and we wear green to represent the beautiful green countryside in Ireland. plus we don't want to get pinched!
hope you all had a fun st. patrick's day!
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you're such a cute, festive mama. I am wishing I could eat your spinach right now. oh, and I had what I believe was tostones once...although it may have been mofongo? (dont laugh if I am way off...LOL)...anyway, it was plantains and garlic mashed up and it was DELISH!!! ok, I am now thinking maybe you were with me when I ate it...? I dont know. you know my memory. well, with your memory you probably dont remember either so let's just say you were there and it was good...
ReplyDeleterolling on the floor laughing over here... from this comment AND your last blog post, which i truly am sorry about :/ u just have a way of turning a horrible experience into something to laugh about-- after the fact of course!
ReplyDeleteok, MAAAAYBE i was w/ you when you ordered mofongo but personally i do not like it but my whole family does. btw,we should go eat at that spanish restaurant again :)
yum, the spinach does sound good. oddly enough, my girls like spinach too!
ReplyDeletethanks for the st. patricks day info! i never make a big deal about it because i'm not irish. i didn't do anything with the girls to celebrate or even wear green myself. it's cool to know that there's a Christianity link to the holiday. maybe next year we'll have to do something to celebrate it!
oh, and btw...when i went to Venezuela, i tried plantains cooked at least 10 different ways and HATED them all! maybe i'll have to try some of yours one day to see if they really are worth eating! :)
ReplyDeletei almost didn't care to celebrate st. patty's day too, for the same reason. i'm really not a big fan of commercialized holidays...lol
ReplyDeletethats funny about the plaintains. i didn't know they made them in so many different ways! we make them two ways, the sweet ones which DON'T look like flat patties,and the crispy ones, which are the tostones. those are the ones that i recommend you try if you haven't already. i know in venezuela we ate them there and they were slightly different, plus the "sweet" ones were more popular, so maybe that's what you tried... in any event, i don't even cook plantains, but i need to learn (esp. since i have natalie to help me!) and maybe we can get together one of these days! :)