~ Fiesta ~ Baby Showers ~ Carnivals !

Hola Familia ~

I am going to attempt to finish out the Fiesta 09 info and throw in a few extra things !
May Birthdays (that I have)
Tammy Wong Benson ~ May 4th
Brian White ~ May 7th
Sophia Farias ~ May 8th
Sara Farias ~ May 12th
Marjorie de la Pena ~ May 14th
Tina Flores ~ May 15th
Laura Farias ~ May 16th
X Sr. ~ May 17th
Dylan Maldonado ~ May 20th
As always if I am missing any PLEASE let me know !
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Cuz Erin & Anthony Tristan are expecting!

Congratulations and we look forward to meeting the new cuz!

They are registered at Babies R Us, Target and Walmart

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St. Ann's Carnival ~ In Honor of Aunt/Grandma Bitzy

Come on out to St. Ann's for their annual festival and either donate canned goods or help out in the booth in honor of Bitzy! The St. Ann's Festival is this Saturday, May 2nd ~ 1pm - 11pm (Liberty Band Dance 7-11pm with Kids Movie in the gym so parents can dance) and Sunday, May 3rd ~ 10am-5pm. The Country Store will only be open on Saturday.

We are asking for some help from Los Primos. We are in need of non-perishable groceries and/or working the booth. Please contact Cuz Alyssa or Cuz Nanie
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Well we officially closed out Fiesta Week 09 in good ole SA ! The final gathering of Primos was at the Fiesta Flambeau Night Parade ! It was Cuz Marjories first time so she was very excited, we also had Cuz Tom and his girlfriend Lisa and his daughter Stella join us all the way from the east coast ! We had 65 family members show up for the parade and everybody had a great time ! Maybe next year we could make it even bigger !





To see the rest of the pix check them out!!

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Since I am writing this blog I am gonna put something personal to me....I just got back from San Francisco visiting my girls and I got to see my daughter Hannah in some track meet trials to get her into the city finals. I am especially proud because she is running the same events I did when I ran track ! The 4 x 100 relay and the 400 meter dash ! Her relay team got 2nd in their heat and Hannah got 1st in her 400m heat and moved into the finals on friday May 1st ! Unfortunatley I couldnt get the extra time off to stay for the finals but I know she will do GREAT !


Start of her 4 x 100 relay 2nd leg !













Start of her 400 meter.

Rounding the last corner and winning her heat !

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Well, I think thats it for now.....we are counting down the days until the Port A 09 trip in july !


Luv Y'all like Cuz's

Cuz Andy & Cuz Marjorie

~La Familia Fiesta 09 (part 2)

Happy Fiesta 09 Familia....

Ok here are some more Fiesta festivities that include our familia !

First off we have Cuz Rose Vallejo and Cuz Salma who saw Julian Castro (candidate for Mayor of San Antonio) and he asked if he could take a picture with Rose and Salma (Salma went as a SPURS Silver Dancer wearing her SPURS jersey) at the Fiesta Del Perro Loco.

Next we have Tuesday nights invasion of NIOSA 09 by LA FAMILIA ! As is our tradition we had "Primo night" on a Tuesday....usually when we have done this it hasn't been too crowded when we get there, and then it picks up later in the night. Well this year started out shoulder to shoulder crowded !

Of course it wouldn't be Fiesta without Cuz Alyssa and Cuz Nanies hats ! As usual they used their imagination and came up with some good ones , and this year Cuz Marjorie decided to join in and got a "Fiesta Flower Crown" and a "jalapeno" necklace and earrings ! Its her 3rd year and she is finally submersing herself into the Classic Fiesta traditions !

We also had one of our Primos who has been away from Fiesta for a while, Cuz Tom, join us and brought his lovely girlfriend "Lisa" with him to join in on the nights fun ! Every time we saw them they were eating some good NIOSA foods and having a good time ! Lisa was a trooper out there and fits in good with the familia !We Welcome you in and hope Y'all come back more often !

In fact this years Primo Night at NIOSA was so good that even my favorite Cuz X ended up making friends with a really drunk Fiesta Clown that was running around !

Thats not it for the pictures ! Click on this link and it will take you to the Kodak Gallery where we have the rest of the pics !

niosa09PICTURES

And don't think that's all....most of the Primos are headed back the rest of the week for NIOSA and some of the other hundreds of events happening around SA , the next one we are going to that we will be able to blog about is the Night Parade on Saturday 4/25 ! So stayed tuned for more updates and the end of FIESTA 09 and I promise you that you won't be dissapointed with THIS familia !

Luv Y'all like Cuz's

Cuz Andy & Cuz Marjorie

~La Familia Fiesta 09 ~

Happy Fiesta 09 Familia !

I am going to try and blog about all the Fiesta happenings as we go along here so have patience with me and I will try and get it all in !

As an early start we had Easter 09 at Chata & Lupe's in Helotes .... of course as always there was tons of good food and good times ! I nearly killed myself running after Paul Adrian trying to get hime with "cascarones" after he got me about 6 times ! A good time was had by all and it was a good way to get into the upcoming Fiesta spirit !

Of course in a style all their own the "Maldinas" kicked off Fiesta with their 2nd Annual Fiesta de los Maldinas 09 ! This new event has gotten so big in only its second year they had to get a bigger place to have it , next year they may have to rent out where they used to have La Semana and have it there ! HA ! It was a huge success and go the Fiesta week off to a good start for everyone with good food,good drink and of course Good people ! They had their "Grito" contest and dance contest and some Mariachis for Analissa bday !

Next was the "Taste of New Orleans" at Sunken Gardens which is what the "Los Primos" Vollleyball team has worked a beer booth at the past couple of years ! This year we had a welcome addition to our group for this . We had Cuz Fabian and Cuz Erin with us and while Cuz Thelma and Cuz Erin walked around and went to an Art festival we had our way with rookie beer booth operator Cuz Fabian ! Unfortunatley he was assigned to another booth and we werent able to help him with advice on how many "breaks" one should take and he came back to us "very much" in the Fiesta Spirit ! After we were done with our shift we all walked around with our well earned tickets and got "Shrimp on a stick", "funnel cake" , "corn dogs" and of course more beer ! FIESTA !!

Sorry Cuz Fabian I had to do this to ya....as a rookie you have to pay the price , but next year you will be considered a seasoned veteran !

Ok so thats a quick post and there will be more as Fiesta 09 goes on ! If you would like to see the whole set of pictures which include some of us watching the Spurs in Game 1 click on this link > FIESTA

Luv Y'all like Cuz's !

Cuz Andy & Cuz Marjorie

Just born Cuz's and New Cuz's due in April !

Hola Familia ~

Just to give you an update on Cuz Tammy and Eric , our new little Cuz Marley Wong Benson was born March 11th a happy and healthy boy. Mom and Dad and baby are all back home and getting used to each other , Tammy sent me these pics and thought iI would post them here.

We also have another Cuz on the way soon to Madelyn Stribling , she is due in April and as I get any more info I will be sure to pass it along to everybody !

It seems this is going to be a busy year adding new little cuz's to the Familia so stay tuned !

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Just a quick announcement too that "Los Primos" volleyball has officially started last Sunday...they actually canceled the games because the fields were flooded but game time this sunday is set for 545pm at Time Warner Sports Park off of Wetmore Rd. behind the aiport ! Hope to see ya there!

http://www.theparkonline.com/Main_Volleyball.html

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Thats it for now but with FIESTA and the SPURS winning another Championship and Port A trip coming up there will be lots more blogging to come !

Love y'all like Cuz's

Cuz Andy & Cuz Marjorie

March Birthdays

Hola Familia !

March Birthdays are :

Marc Rivera ~ 5th
"Nena" Helen ~ 5th
Chata ~ 6th
Lydia Wong ~ 11th
Bitsy ~ 16th
Gloria Vasquez ~ 17th
Paul Camero ~ 21st
Stephen Hunt ~ 21st
Alissa Medina ~ 26th
Ashley de la Pena ~ 28th

Ok so far this is who I have, again if I am missing anybody please email me !

Luv Y'all Like Cuz's
Cuz Andy & Cuz Marjorie

Tammy Wong Benson's Baby Shower

~ Hola Familia ~

I just wanted to write a quick blog to fill everybody in on Tammy's recent baby shower in SA and let Marjorie get some pictures in !

Big THANKS to Tammy's mom Irene and to Uncle Xavier and Aunt Rachel for taking care of the set up and details for the party at Ft. Sam Houston Golf Club !

Tammy and Eric and "baby" are all doing good and Cuz Tammy is looking good as a new mommy !

There was good turnout from both sides of the family and they received many good gifts needed for the little one and proud parents . There were "finger sandwiches" and some delicious cake. And everybody had a GREAT time . It was good seeing Tammy and Eric and everyone else and I will hopefully be able to break the news of a healthy and happy new Cuz being born as soon as I get the word !

Some of the boys...Xavier , Greg and I headed out to the driving range to knock a few outta the park.......

Luv Y'all like Cuz's

Cuz Andy & Cuz Marjorie

~ La Familia Port A 2009 ~

Hola Familia ~

We know this sounds early but in actuality it really is not. I think that everyone has been reading the family blog and noticed the countdown for the coast trip to Port Aransas in July. With the way that the months have been flying by, 6 months really is not a long time to prepare for this. SO HERE GOES!!!!

We would like to get a family coast trip together and would like for both sides of the family to get together for somewhat of a family reunion type trip at the coast. We did this last year and had a great turn out and had alot of fun. The following is what we are looking at as far as details are concerned.

DATE: JULY 24, 25, 26 2009
ROOM COSTS: $420.00
PLACE: SEASHELL VILLAGE IN PORT ARANSAS
GO TO WEBSITE TO VIEW ROOMS: WWW.SEASHELLVILLAGE.COM
Look for the "Deluxe Kitchen Unit"- this is a one bedroom- has 2 queen size beds in the bedroom and pull out sofa sleeper in the living room.

We have already reserved one whole building which consists of 10 rooms. So what we are really needing to know is how many families or people are going to go so that way if we need to get more rooms, we can. I know $420.00 sounds like alot for a room but when you look at it, depending on the family, you can fit as many as 8-10 people in one room. 2 people to each bed or more if you want and 2 people to the sleeper sofa and then sleeping bags for the kids or even blow up mattresses. You are more than welcome to ask the other family members that went last year regarding the rooms and they will tell you that these rooms are worth the money.

The money deadline for each room will be May 31, 2009- that will reserve your room for you and your family.

Everyone will be responsible for bringing their own food and drinks and liquor and beer for their rooms and families. There are bar-b-que pits there, where we can have a family bar-b-que and everyone bring items for this bar-b-que.

If you have any other questions please email me ~ Terri or Greg .

Again- this will be alot of fun for all and the area we will be staying at is very isolated so the kids can run around with no problems.

Luv Y'all like Cuz's