VIZCAYA

Today we went to Vizcaya that is a very fancy old house in Miami that was built in 1916. It was the summer home of a millionaire, after he died the County bought it and made is a museum. It has a couple of interesting thinks inside but outside it has great gardens with tons of places to take pictures. I went with Lily, her mom and daughter and my family to the adventure. I just had to say that yesterday was one of the hottest days in south florida ever! but I had a great time shooting shooting shooting. My semi cooperative model was Ana Paula who sometimes helped and other not much, Santi and Oscar were my models too, but Santi never stopped as always and Oscar was running after him. We were there for more than 2 hours and here are some of my favorite pictures. I have a cou[le of Julianne that I like a lot!

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more Vizcaya

Craby crabs

One of Santiago's favorite activities when we go to the park is see the crabs. The park we go is a seaside park and the grass has several holes. first we thought that another kin of animals lived there like gophers or something but Santi discovered that the owners of those holes are crabs! Every time we get to the park, he drives his bike all the way to the holes, he always wants to see them out but when they see him getting closer they run into the hole. Today I took my camera to the park to take pictures of this, he is so funny. And I was lucky enough to shoot one picture that shows exactly how my wild child is. This is one of my favorite pictures ever (the bw one).

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here are a few more

Princess Cinder-Beauty, Ariel and Adrian Wade

Monday I had the pleasure of photographing this family, well the kids of this family and I have to say I had a blast! The two little princesses are mazing, they have so much personality and thier eyes, OMG they express everything with those eyes, I couldn't stop shooting close-ups of them. The little one is princess Ariel and the older one well I found out there is another princess her name is Cinder-Beauty! that little one was the perfect model, and you can't believe the attitude she can have with only 4 years! On the other not so pink side of the house I met with Mr. Adrian Wade, a 10 year old who had more interesting things to do than possing for my lens but after a brief basketball chit chat we connected and he was more that happy to pose for my lens. I took some pictures of his favorite thing too basketball!
Well here they are some of my favorite ones slip in two posts.

ZACK

Well we finally did it. Ana Paula had been asking for a dog for years and finally yesterday we gave up. We were thinking of it and we told them that when I came back from Mexico we will start thinking of it seriously. Ana Pau wanted a Golden Retriever, she saw one in a movie and fell in love with him but we said that a big dog wasn't in our plans. We (well I thought we but yesterday I found out that it was only me) were thinking of something like a maltese or a french poodle and we thought to adopt one from a shelter. Yesterday as we were on our way to Target to buy part of the school uniforms we decided to stop by a place that someone told Oscar to see the puppies. We saw a lot of miniature dogs (do I have to say how expensive they are?) but in the very last cage we saw Zack. It was funny because we all discovered him @ a different time. First Oscar saw him, then Ana Paula ans Santi and I was the last one to see it. I was playing with a cute miniature maltese that I knew I could never get (it was $1000.00 plus plus plus!!) but when I saw Zack I fell in love with him, then asked what kind of dog is this one? Ana Paula said a she wanted it and then Oscar said a golden retriever! We put him out of the cage and that was it, he stole our heart. Oscar talked to the guy about the price (this is not a good moment to spend a lot in a dog) but they really wanted to sell him so they gave us a HUGE discount. We said we will think about it and that we will be back. We went to Target and on the car we talked about having a big dog, I discovered Oscar wanted a big dog and not a small one... Ana Paula was aboslutely sure and Santi... well Santi had one of the miniature ones in his hands and dropped him 3 times... I think one a little one can't survive with Santi around. I had to use the money I was saving for my camera... that was the bad part but what's money for? to make your kids happy and today I understood it when I saw how happy and excited they are with Zack, how loving they can be with him and how they are trying to be responsible and take care of him. I will start to save again for my camera, it is going to take me much longer to get it but nothing can be compare to those kid's smile and in this one I am including Oscar too. He is so happy, life has been tough for him lately and he deserved to have this happiness too. Well here he is, the new member of the Bravo Family: ZACK. He is 4 1/2 months (he was born on March 10th.) Today we took him to his frist park adventure and of course I had my camera with me.
I sugested the name to Pau while we were in Target, I don't know where I got it from but when I saw him I thought of that name, then we talked to Oscar and Santi and they liked it too so Zack it is. Oscar wanted to name him Blitz because he had a dog named like that when he was a kid and he loved him but he prefered Zack.

here he is...

isn't he adorable? I am going to have a lot of fun taking pictures of him!

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here are more of my favorites

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here are some images of the beginning of a romance. They are so happy... especially Ana Paula who waited a very looong time for this moment.

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All the things you can think.. when you think about Seuss

Yesterday was Danceworks's Summer camp show. The girls did a great job putting on stage Seussical the musical. Ana Paula was part of the Whos from Whoville and she did great. I am so proud of her, she made a huge effort learning her dance and all the songs. She was very nervous but finally everything was great, she danced and sang very good. The show was great both teachers and campers did an excellent job. I did a slide show with the music that can be seen here just click on photos and then on slide show.. All the pictures can be seen in my gallery just click under the slide show and password is seuss, but here are some favorites of my Who.
Thanks Miss K for giving my little girl such a great summer! By the way Oscar says he deserve an honorable mention and an attendance prize for driving her every day to camp!

MEXICO

last week I was in Mexico, I traveled to help my sister with some legal affairs regarding my parents will. She sold my parents country house and now she is finalizing everything. We had to go to the house and I was really surprised, the guy that bought it changed it all. It was very sad to be there and see that place that was so important for me and my family no longer exists. The hardest part was to see that all the trees that my mom and dad planted, grew, took care off and enjoyed are no longer there. While inside the house I went to every corner and I couldn't help it, I sat down in my mom's closet and started crying for a long time, How many memories I have from that place, memories of when we were a very happy and united family. I miss them so much, I still can't believe my parents are gone.
Mi aunt Alicia organized a dinner with all my cousins, we only missed Sylvia (I don't know why she wasn't there), Miguel that lives in Cancun and my brother Jose Luis that lives in Phoenix.
We had a great time and laughed a lot. I also met Luisa, my cousin's Alejandro new baby girl, she has great big hands and of course I couldn't help it and made a mini shoot with her.
I went with Karla to some Dr. appt. too and went to visit Oscar's cousins, I met Diego and Mary Jose, they are 6 and 4 monbths old now so I had to organize a mini shoot too. And of course I had the pleasure of photographing Mexico's flag. This is a huge flag that is in the middle of a highway so I had to shoot from the car and the car was moving @ 60 mph aprox! I just love this flag, it is near of where I used to live so I saw it everyday. I came back on friday after waiting for hours in mexico's airport.

some picture from Mexico

The first Baby is Luisa, my cousin's new baby girl, next is Diego, Oscar's cousin son, the next picture is my parents country house and how it looks now, then Mary Jose, another Oscar's cousin daughter and the last one is all my cousins (except for 2 and my brother) and the wifes and husband of 3 of them) my aunt Alicia is also in the picture.