Busy as usual!

Hi all, we have been puttering along with our usual activity-filled days here in Florida.

On Sat we had a visit from Miami friends, Eloy and Ileana, Cuban-Americans whom we met through our neighbors in Algorta!  Such a small world!

The girls were fascinated to hear about their daughter, Ileanita, who not only is a successful architect, but the US representative for the Swim Paralympics.  She herself has swum in the London Paralympics in 2012.  She gets about in a wheelchair, but lives independently in Colorado, drives and obviously, gets to travel the world!  What an admirable person! 

We shared another great paella made by Icho and enjoy the company of these fantastic friends.

On Sat. evening Icho and the girls were invited to the birthday party of the grandfather of a friend of Paulita!  It was in a gorgeous country club, fully catered and with music- how could they resist?  They all went and had the time of their lives, marvelling at American hospitality!

Here is a pic of the girls in the country club pool with all their new friends- notice Belen right out front!

Then on Sunday we were invited a dinner with our Italian friends, Camila and her daughter Matilde, along with their visiting friends- Francesca and her daughter Annamaria.  We all went to have pizza in a nearby restaurant (prounced very good by the Italians!) .  We were all good friends by the end of the meal, these ladies and girls were so warm and friendly, we felt like we´ve known them forever.

Doubtlessly, a trip to Verona on our part, and a trip to Spain on their part, is on the agenda in the near 

future!

On Tues we had the great pleasure of attending a talent show at the big girl´s camp.   After a few (less than talented!) piano and violin performances,  came the best- Paulita and her friend Emerson had choreographed a dance on their own and and performed it with great aplomb! Shoes with flashing lights and all!  Our star! Here is a clip from the video we took:

Then in the evening we attended an event at the Paley Institute.  First, a pizza party (pronounced not so good by the Italians!) but after, we had the treat of a lifetime!  Nick Stasanatasso, famous blogger, fitness guru and inspirational speaker, came to give us a talk about his life.  Nick was born without legs and has only one arm and yet he has achieved so many goals he has set out for himself.  His mission is to help kids (or anyone), especially those with handicaps, to recognize all their potential and to give their 110%, as he says.  I loved his sentence "Failure is your best friend", as an incentive for us to try and try again.  He was entertaining and certainly will have touched the lives of the many of us present.  We all got the chance to get up and talk and hug him.  The local TV newspaper and TV station were there too, so maybe we were even on the media!

• More news to come!  Keep on reading - our love to you all!!!!!