My Big Fat Cuban Family: A Cuban-American Blog

Why Kikita thinks Spain Will Win the World Cup

Kikita here.

At some point I'm sure Mami has mentioned that we don't have TV. If you didn't know that, well, now you know. We live in a valley, so we can't even get basic channels without basic cable. We watch movies and are big Netflix fans, but that is not important right now.

Not having cable has made watching the World Cup games quite an adventure.

I have had to go to great lengths to support my Top 3 picks (USA was in my Top 5, but not Top 3) and get my fill of soccer (aka "fútbol").

I took my laptop to a local cafe so that I could work and support Uruguay against the Netherlands.

I have exploited various friendships for their television and recording capabilities.
(Thanks Atkinsons! Thanks Michelle!)

I was up and at a German pub (wearing Argentina colors) at 6am only to watch in horror as Argentina was led to a slaughter.

I changed into Spanish red and relocated to a Spanish bar to scream at the top of my lungs as Carles Puyol made World Cup history.

Of course, it is 1000 times more fun to watch a game on Univisión because when any team makes a goal there is that classic "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!" sound that only the Spanish announcers know how to make so I have tried to make it a point to see the games at places showing them in Spanish.

I am ready for Spain to win on Sunday. They HAVE to win.

Since the Germans couldn't score against them, we know that Spain must have a great defense, but here are the Top 5 Reasons why I KNOW Spain is going to win:

Reason #1:Xavi Hernandez

(I like to call him Xavi Hotness)

Reason #2: Sergio Ramos

(Oh, I'm having a surge alright!)

Reason #3: Fernando Torres

(Fernando TorYES!)

Reason #4: David Villa

(According to FIFA "David Villa is currently one of the world's hottest striking properties." See? Even FIFA understands what I am talking about!)

Reason #5: Iker Casillas

(Every great time needs a gorgeous goalie.)

And while I've heard people complain about how obnoxious the sound of the vuvuzelas are, I can't help but love them. They look like so much fun! I haven't been able to get one of my own, so instead I got an app for that!

VIVA ESPAÑA!! GO SPAIN!!

With reasons like these, how could we lose?

Teenagers in the 70's. Your thoughts?

Amy and I were in L.A. last week. I took her to see Dirty Dancing at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood.

Yes. A totally chick flick umm... I mean stage show night and we had a fantastic time. ("Nobody puts Baby in a corner!")

Of course, being in L.A. a week after the Lakers' Championship win was interesting and I made a few observations about that which I mentioned to Amy.

ME: "Can you believe all the murals of Kobe (Bryant. Lakers Guard and M.V.P.) all over the city?  L.A. is All-Kobe-All-The-Time-Town now!"

Here's Kobe and his five story face covering the Staples Center:

This next mural takes up the entire side of the Upper Deck building. (Which incidentally happens to be on Hollywood Blvd. across from the Pantages so how could we miss it? I'm pretty sure it's done by the Mr. Hope-and-Change-Poster guy, but that's not important right now.)

ME again: "Look at all these cars flying the Lakers flags. They look like Diplomatic Vehicles Gone Bad."

(And excuse me? Mr. Uber-Laker-Fan, sir? We have a hands-free law. Thanks for caring.)

I grew up in L.A. and now that we were chatting about the Lakers, I mentioned to Amy that I hadn't been to see a live Laker game since they used to play at The Fabulous Forum in Inglewood.

Those were the days. (I was waxing a little nostalgic...)

I remembered the Laker players of the early 70's: Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Gail Goodrich, Wilt Chamberlain, Happy Hairston, Pat Riley.

And how cool it was to sneak into the Forum to watch the games, and...

Oops...that was probably an over-share.

She pulled the car over and stared at me.

"Sneaking into Laker games? Who are you?? And what have you done with my mother???"  (Her question mark usage totally escalated as her questions grew more and more pointed.) "What else have you never told me????"

In my own defense, I wasn't quite the young vandal this makes me sound like.

I had a friend (okay, a boyfriend. Shut up.) who worked there who opened a door for a group of us occasionally (okay, every Tuesday night, but that's soo not important right now).

So now that I was on the spot I felt like I had to bare my soul and confess to her my other teen indescrecions, such as going up to the Griffith Observatory on concert nights at the Greek Theater. We would then hike down and sit in the trees and listen to whoever was in concert.

NOTE: My Cuban parents were fine with me going out as long as I was in a group. And because as a teenager I always traveled in a pack, I guess it was okay. In retrospect, I think they were either really evolved, or (more likely) just tired of parenting (I am the youngest of six). ;-)

I remember the Greek Theater nights fondly. In fact, sneaking into the trees at the Greek was on our list of things to do every summer. I know. Shut up.

We sat in the trees and listened to a very young Elton John (his first U.S. tour - Take Me to the Pilot and Your Song days), Neil Diamond (Hot August Night Album), and Chicago (when they were still cool and only had one self-titled album). 

No alcohol. No drugs. Just a group of innocent teenagers (and yes, such beings existed!) wanting to listen to music under the stars.

I told Amy my teenage sneak stories and really, they sounded pretty innocuous once I explained.

And I laughed and shook my head as I remembered how silly and innocent and fun-loving we were as teens. And I realized that after Amy's initial shock had worn off, that my Parental Coolness Quotient had gone up just a few notches.

Was I sneaky? Probably.
Was it fun? Totally.

And yes, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.  (Go Lakers!) =D

"I was so naive as a kid. I used to sneak behind the barn and do nothing."
                                                                                    ~Johnny Carson

Angels in the Outfield

I love baseball. Duh, I'm Cuban. Of course, I love baseball.
Correction. I love live baseball games. Eric says that's quirky. (I think he means it in a good way...)

So tonight we went to our first Angel game this season. Sadly, the Angels really stunk and the Colorado Rockies wiped the field with them 11-1, but that's not important right now.

So, baseball game quirks...

I love watching the live games, but I can't stand watching games on TV. Seriously. I'd rather stick a fork in my head than try to follow the action on a screen. I don't care how big that screen is.

I think I prefer the live games because we always have a blast. So we (Eric, the kids & I) try to get to at least a few games each year (and not just for the free cooler and hats, either).

We like to sit at the end of the first base line where we usually get a long foul ball sent in our general direction. Which was exactly what happened tonight. The big guy in the visor caught the ball and we cheered him as One of Our Own. I loved that.

There's also the vendors hawking their ice-cream and churros and peanuts and giant red we're-number-one hands and there's always one little kid who HAS TO HAVE IT and the parents always give in. I just love that.

I love when we do the wave. 

And tonight the wave traveled around the field 8 times - EIGHT! (Eric counted) How cool is that?
This made everyone in the entire stadium absolutely delirious. I think we were getting a little bored watching our team get trounced and this made for a great and noisy diversion.

Cannot even describe how cool this was.

Of course, we had to have hot dogs. I swear, I never even think of hot dogs in my real life, but the minute I walk into the stadium all I can think is Must. Have. Hot Dog. Totally Pavlovian, I know.

I love the 7th inning stretch when the guys in the straw hats throw out peanuts and crackerjacks while we sing at the top of our lungs. It just doesn't get any better than this!

And because our team is the Angels, we totally do the flapping-angel-wing move like from the movie Angels in the Outfield when the kid sees the real angels and he starts flapping and then everyone starts flapping and then the Angels start winning and well, I'm not really a big Tony Danza fan, but I really enjoyed him in that movie and okay, yes, I concede that this might be a tad quirky....

But the coolest part of going to Angel games for me?

We all get to wear RED.

And don't we all look just fabulous in RED??

I know. Shut up. =D

Luza & the Baseball Player

One of my nephews, Raphael (aka "Rafa") was celebrating his 40th birthday this weekend. 
(Hi Rafa! Happy Birthday!!)

His beautiful wife, Lisa threw him an absolutely fabulous birthday bash.  Of course, all his friends were in attendance, as well as his big, fat, Cuban family and his big, fat, Jewish family. (I should probably clarify at this point that Rafa's wife, Lisa, is Jewish, but that's not important right now.)

I had my mom this weekend, so it fell to me to make sure she was taken care of, got fed and stayed out of trouble during the party. 

I know what you're thinking:  "She's 94, Marta.  Exactly what kind of trouble would she be getting into?"

Okay. I'll tell you. 

But first, some background....

My mom is a Big Baseball Fanatic.  She will proudly tell you that she has NEVER missed a World Series for as long as she can remember.  When there wasn't a tv, she would listen to the games on the radio.  BIG FAN. 

In her personal collection of baseball stories, she likes to tell the one about how her father always said that he liked almost all American professional teams EXCEPT the Dodgers.  (To any Dodger Blue fans out there, just get over it. She's 94, okay?)

That's her line.  "I like every team, EXCEPT the Dodgers."  She likes to pull that one out as Series time approaches.

So back to the party... and the TROUBLE....

Lisa's brother, Shawn is a recently retired professional baseball player.  If you read his bio, you'll learn that he started his career with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993,  until 2000 when he went to play for..... (you guessed it!) The LA Dodgers.  (To be fair he also played for the Arizona Diamondbacks 2005-06, and then the New York Mets 2006-07).

So I think it was Shawn's mom, Judy (who thinks that my mom is a kick even though Judy speaks no Spanish and my mom, Luza, speaks no English - go figure) who swears that Shawn speaks Spanish.  How the trouble began...

"Come here, Shawn-Honey, and talk Spanish to Rafa's grandma." (okay, if you haven't already surmised, the alcohol was flowing pretty freely at this point in the festivities.)

Obediently, Shawn starts speaking his broken high school Spanish to my mom asking where the library is. She in turn, who's pretty deaf anyway, thinks they're talking about baseball, because it's logical, he's a baseball player.

Se we take a huge detour from the "where is the library" discussion as she remembers her hatred of the Dodgers and feels compelled to share this with the former Dodger Right Fielder who is now practically family.

"Oye, Shawn, los Dodgers no sirven pa' nada!" she tells him and he understands that her opinion of the Dodgers is not a good one.  (we should have discussed the directions to the library, but that's not important right now. SIGH)
 
Two things are happening in this picture:
1) Shawn is sending me Vulcan mind messages that involve removing my mother forcibly from his body.
2) My mom is proudly telling Tony what she said to Shawn about the Dodgers sucking.
3) I collect my purse and my last remaining shred of dignity and announce that sadly it's time for us to go.

Kiss, Kiss, Everyone!
Yes, sorry. We have to leave. 
"Vamos, Mami!!"

Go, Dodgers!!   ;-)

Ay, Dios Mio.

(it will take me days to recover from this one.  Thanks Shawn, for being such a good sport!) =D

"If everybody had an ocean..." or How I spent my summer vacation.

"If everybody had an ocean...across the U.S.A...."

Crystal Cove, Laguna Beach.

"...then everybody'd be surfin'....."   The Montage Hotel, Laguna Beach.

"...like Ca-li-for-ni-aaa..."  San Clemente Pier, North Side.

"You'll see them wearing their baggies. Huarache sandals too..."

San Clemente Pier, South Side. 

"...Bushy, bushy blond hairdos. Surfin' U.S.A..."  Crescent Bay, Laguna Beach.

"... You'll catch them surfin' at Del Mar...."  Del Mar, San Diego.

"...Ventura County Line..."  "...Santa Cruz and Trestles...." 

Trestles. San Clemente.  (Way to go, Josh!)

"...Australia's Narabine..."  "All over Manhattan... and down Doheny Way..."

Doheny Beach, Dana Point.

 

"...Everybody's gone surfin'.... Surfin' U.S.A..."

As I was starting to write this post, and I was looking through my pictures, I just now decided I'd make a film. It will take me a while to compose, of course, but the idea is there.  I'll be sure to post it when I'm through.

These pictures and captions are just the beginning of my really rocking storyboard for this project. 

So, besides taking pictures, and having this Beach Boys song playing in my head every single day....
I managed to leave my own mark.....

 

"Everybody's gone surfin'..... surfin' U.S.A...."

(Thanks especially to my beach buddy, Jana, for sitting and just enjoying those deliciously long summer beach days with me.)

Our motto? Laugh. Eat. Play.

The kids are out of school and in this part of the country it's like a feeding frenzy trying to get kids signed up for "camps."

Yes. That's the hip thing to do.  (of course, I am anything but hip -  sigh)

If you don't know how to just be with and enjoy your child or help them entertain themselves for the summer, you sign them up for "camp."  (Not a criticism, just a fact in my South Orange County white-bread world)

They can choose soccer camp, sailing camp, movie making camp, swimming camp, acting camp, art camps, theater camps, etc. Not only that, but a parent could easily spend thousands for that happy and memorable experience for their child. And you usually get a cool camp shirt, too. Good stuff.
I'm thinking that with those extra thousands I could be saving here, I can buy that little Mac Mini beauty and maybe just come up with some clever ideas for "camp" myself.  ;-)

I'm thinking theses could be really fun:

• Surf camp (for sure, Dudes.)
• Painting
• Cooking
• Swimming
• Stargazing
• Science
• Scrapbooking
• Movie Making
• Teen Fitness
• Sewing
• Improv - definitely
• Then of course, there are movie nights. I'm thinking a Danny Kaye film festival. (or maybe the Marx Brothers?)

I have tons of ideas for these and more.
Let me let you in on my secret:  I'm just pretty darn childish myself. 
Seriously. I come up with ideas for stuff I'd like to do and suggest it to my kids.

I've pretty much got all the resources I need including the willing victims students campers.

The truth is that we do something like this every year.  We like to call it. . . "summer."  ;-)

Now all we need is a cool camp song. . . hmmm. . . =D