Almaguers in Monterrey, Mexico

Years ago I received Email from a young lady searching for Information on the Almaguer name. She is an Almaguer. Her first name is Estrella. Through our conversations over the Internet I learned that her father was also in law enforcement in Mexico. Also, he is from General Cepeda, which is where my father was born. We are probably related.
Through the many Emails exchanged over the years I have gotten to know her and she has gotten to know me. I have sent her pictures of my wife, sons, parents, sisters, brothers and grand daughters. She has also sent pictures of herself, parents, sister and brother. Through the Internet we have gotten to be friends and our families have met. Any time I get an Email from Estrella I read it to Elfida and to Dora. I have told my mom about Estrella's family and the possibility that our families are related. Estrella and her family live near Monterrey, Mexico.

Monterrey is famous for its industry and for the mountain which the city has grown around. Estrella sent this photo of a sculpture which represents the "Serro de la Silla". The last time I was in Monterrey was in 1976 or 1975.
This photo shows Estrella in front of a monument dedicated to the immigrants which have lost their lives trying to find the American dream. It is called the "2501 Migrantes". She wrote that there are 2501 statues on the ground. She sent me photos of her excursion through Monterrey. A virtual tour of her city. Dora was visiting the day I got the Email, so Elfida, Dora and I sat in the living room and read the Email and looked at the pictures. It was a great tour.
This is Estrella with her parents. Her father has the same first name and middle name as my dad. Her father is pretty close to my own age.
This is Estrella and her sister and brother. Estrella's sister is married and expecting her first child.
Through the years I have exchanged Emails with many Almaguers, some from Spain, some from Mexico, some from New Mexico, California, Del Rio, Texas, and many other places. None has been as long as my friendship with Estrella. I think my wife is as excited as I am any time we get an Email from her. Dora will ask if I have gotten any Emails from Estrella whenever she comes to visit. The Internet has brought many Almaguers together.

Soccer again

Our grand daughter started playing soccer this year. We hadn't been at the H.O.T. complex in about seven years. That is Isabelle running ahead of the pack. The picture is kind of miss leading since most of the game she would trail behind the pack. She is having fun and we are keeping pretty quite on the side line. She is still too young to figure out the competitive nature of the sport. Right now its chase the ball and kick it.
I enjoyed watching the game but what I really liked was seeing Carlos playing soccer with Isabelle after the game ended. He made some spectacular slide tackles, always sure not to touch Isabelle so as to avoid injuring her.
He dribbled against her, always making sure she could steal the ball from him. They looked great playing together.

Isabelle was getting very confident going against Carlos. She even went into the goal to try and stop some of his shots. I think she had more fun running around with Carlos than playing in the game.
After a while, even Maiko got into the game. Isabelle had a great time out dribbling and out shooting her uncle and her dad.
All that running had Carlos sweating in the Texas heat. He was relaxed and care free. Being home was good.
Isabelle's biggest fan also got into the running. Lily can be hear during the games yelling, "Go sister!"
It felt so good being out there with our two boys and our two grand daughters. Oh yeah, just like with our boys, Isabelle couldn't find all her soccer equipment until right before the game started. Some thing never change.

Carlos came home

On September 11, 2007, Carlos arrived at DFW airport. We hadn't seen him in a year and a half. We were met at the airport by members of the Southern Cruisers Riding Club, Scott Rasco, Mike and Ron. Scott and Ron are from the Ft. Worth Chapter and Mike is from the Denton Chapter. Their group tries to have members present whenever a member of the US military returns home from over seas.
Southern Cruisers colors.

Scott holding the coin they brought to present to Carlos.
Carlos was suppose to arrive at 1800 hrs. but with the time spent going through customs it took him longer to make it out to the waiting area. The Southern Cruisers were very patient and helped us indure the wait. Every time the doors opened and someone walked out from the area of the international flights we expected Carlos to walk out. That door must have opened 30 times!!
Then Ron said, "There's a Marine coming now!" Elfida took off running!!! Carlos was wearing his uniform and looked great. He hugged Elfida and picked her up. His luggage cart kept rolling down the walkway.
After a few minutes, Elfida let go long enough for Carlos to meet Scott, Mike and Ron. You could see Carlos' appreciation for the support shown by the members of the Southern Cruisers. He received the coin and some very heart felt hand shakes. We really appreciated their dedication and support in showing up at the airport even though Carlos' flight arrival had been delayed for three hours. Originally he was to have arrived at 1500 hrs. but the flight was delayed for unknown reasons in Tokyo, Japan. Carlos called us at 0200 hrs to let us know, Elfida let Scott know of the time change at about 0800 hrs. Scott had to let the other members know about the change that same morning.
Ron, Mike, Scott, Carlos and Elfida.

Me, Elfida, Carlos, Maiko and Angie.

Angie and Elfida pushing Carlos' luggage cart to our truck.

Somewhere along the way they dropped the luggage, but quickly picked it up. Angie had taken the day off to go with us to pick up Carlos. She had been the one who had picked up Carlos on two other occasions when he had come home from Florida and from North Carolina..

We stopped off at a restaurant along the way to eat dinner. Carlos ordered a 22 ounce steak! Yep, he ate it all. He also picked up the dinner tab for everyone. He had a restless ride to Waco. He said his back and legs were hurting from his 14 hour flight and the time change. His body was having to adjust from what use to be night time now being day time. The first 3 days he spent mostly sleeping.

Carlos accompanied Elfida and other members of the Central Texas Marine Family Support group on Sunday when they went to support the Marine recuits that were shipping out to the San Diego Marine Depot. Carlos will be here for a couple of weeks and another fellow Marine is coming down to visit him next week.

Thanks again to the Southern Cruisers Riding Club for coming out to meet Carlos with us.