As American as apple pie
There greatest of all American traditions is the day after Thanksgiving shopping. Nothing is more American then over shadowing a family day with good ol' free capitalism. So in true turkey day fashion we got up early to hit the sales, but not early enough. We thought we would wake up around 8am and hit the stores by 9 and get some deals.



Well when we arrived the lines were long, and all the stuff we wanted was out. They lure you in with the cheap prices, run out of those items and then try to take you into something else. Best Buy was the worst, lines around the entire store, piles of DVDs and CDs all over the place, people rushing to get as many $29 DVD Players as possible. It was insane, it was crazy, it was a purely American Holiday!



The rest of the day was spent with Novalí. She warmed up to Andres (Tio Candy as she says) and ran around the house with him hunting the cats. Later my mom and dad bought her a new outfit and got her pictures taken for Christmas. Now we are winding down the night and she is playing and drawing pictures with grandpa and fighting her bedtime.

Tomorrow we go back to Allendale, then Sunday I run to Chicago to take Novalí home. It was a fun trip!

El Corte De Pelo
Novali got her hair cut. At first she did not want to. We went with Grandpa who needed his hair cut as well. Grandpa went first and she watched and kept reminding me that she didn't want to do it... "Papi no lo quiero." When dad was done I just grabbed her and hoped into the chair with her on my lap.



She was fine, she let the lady cut her hair. I was surprised that she did not cry or anything. She sat there, eating her sucker and getting her first hair cut. Once we got home she had to show everyone. She wanted to call her mom and tell her about her hair cut. "Mami me corte mi pelo!" It was funny.



We have had a blast the last couple days. She got more toys, a cooking set, more stuffed animals and just hangout with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma loves giving her baths, and like any goood Grandma insists we take pictures of her in the tub.



The family is over now. Kelly and I got some McFlurries while we wait for the turkey to be done. I love McFlurries... small Oreo McFlurry please. My dad, Andres and I fought over the last piece of shrimp, no you can have it, no you can have it, no really, you can have it... Now Andres and his fraternity Brother Manuel got the ads from the paper and Andres is planning the attack for cheap electronics tomorrow. Ah, Thanksgiving. Turkey Day has arrived.

Novalí on Tour
Well we arrived in Saginaw tonight. Nice 2.5 hour drive and here we are spending time with the family. I am planning on posting all the pictures from the trip at once, and updating the blog as we travel. So here goes, let me recap the last few days.



We had a blast in Allendale, MI. The Brothers at GVSU and all the people from work were excited to get to meet her. We had fun at the house, she played with Hermen, Ramon and Ramiro for two days and watched tons of movies with them. She also got to meet Santiago and Oso on campus as well, so all the Brothers got to meet her. Ramon will also be happy to hear that she played with the chess set this morning... at least someone is using it.



On Monday I took her to work with me at Student Life. She had fun in the morning and sat in a meeting with me. Then she hungout with everyone from my office while I ran to a meeting for Compucraft in downtown Grand Rapids. She was well behaved and loved the Sapo (frog) in the office. Heather and Andrea came over from ARC and played as well. She even sat at my desk and pretended to be papi. The day was a big swarm of people and Novali was very over whelmed. However, as usual, she was very well behaved.


She slept the entire trip to Saginaw, which was good for papi. When we arrived she excited to see my parents and Kelly. She was also very good with Daniel, Kelly's boyfriend. Of course my parents got her tons of new toys and she was very entertained.



Then we ate dinner, she got more gifts, clothes from my mom, and then we watched Finding Nemo... again. I have seen the movie at least 5 times in the last four days I think. Novali has a few parts memorized I think.

Thinking of getting Novalí her first hair cut tomorrow... exciting stuff!

Novali and Papi
Alright... this weekend was a ton of fun! I don't have much time to write, Novalí is playing with Ramiro and Hermen and getting tired. I want to recap the weekend and download some photos quickly. Here goes.



Above are some pictures of Novalí with Hermen, Becky and I at Chucky Cheese. She had a ton of fun and wore us out! She rode every ride there, and watched us win her tickets at Skee Ball. We saved enough tickets to get her a little flower and a hopping frog... ribbet ribbet ribbet... is what she said all the way home.



Novalí warmed up to Hermen right away, and in no time warmed up to Becky as well. Novalí loves to copy anything someone does, monkey see... monkey do all weekend. The other two photos are our trip out with Becky and her friend Reggie from DePauw. He was cool. We also meet up with our friend Cressie, her boyfriend and another friend of hers from back home.



From Chicago Hermen and I took Novalí to Kalamazoo. She was very shy around the new environment. When she started to warm up to everyone it was time to go, no worries she will see my fraternity Brothers at WMU more often and remember them more. It was great to see my Brothers and the Gammas.

Now we are in Allendale, she just got done chasing Ramon around the table and now she looks very tired. I got to get her to bed.

I am excited. I get Novalí to play with all week. But for now, Good Night.