Hola, compadres!  Como esta?

It's me, Gio (Giovanni) Jose' Miguel Ortiz-Romano, of San Antonio, Tejas!  Hope this finds you well; I am doing muy bueno, gracias! :)

I am still enjoying life:  it's great having Uncle Fat-Face with us.  He still continues to spoil us kids, and drive mi parentes muy loco en el coco!  LOL  As an example, he is taking us on another cruise, this time to the Bahamas and Jamaica!  That's going to happen in June, just a little over two months from now!  I am so excited I can hardly stand it!  That means I get to start my summer vacation early; we're leaving for Galveston on the eighth of June and will be gone for a week!  Oh, it's going to be grand, my friends, simply grand!!

He knows mama and papa have been going crazy with the little kids, so he offered to give them this cruise; it would be nice if the little rugrats would stay with Abuela Rosita, but he paid their way, so maybe they will behave; if not, then no crusera por los ninitos!  LOL

It gives them an incentive to behave themselves. 

School is a drag; the only thing worth looking forward to is summer vacation ... and our cruise!!!! 

Easter is this coming Sunday:  we are going to have an Easter celebration/pinata party in our backyard after Mass; it's going to be awesome!!  We are also going to have a picnic and have some of the cousins come over, so the yard's gonna be full of people!

My friends all think Uncle Fat-Face es muy especial.  They know something I've known for a long time; now that Tio Francisco lives with us, things have only gotten more awesome for our familia!  They wish they could go on the cruise, too, but I tell them, "Sorry; just our family!"

I'm also looking forward to May 5th.  Cinco De Mayo.  Our city has a huge blow-out, replete with musica, dancing, Mexican/Latin food out the wazoo, and so much more!  I just pray and hope the weather holds; last year it rained on Cinco De Mayo; it was a pain having to keep from getting wet!  I will be dancing with the dance troupe I am a member of; I have danced the Mexican folk dances since I was Paulito's age!  (Paulito is one of my little brothers; he's five.)

Well, I gotta go:  am at school as I write this; if the teacher catches me writing in my journal instead of working on my math, he might make me read what I've written in front of the whole class!  Yikes!  So I'd best run along while the gettin's good!  I will write in here again soon; until later, muchachos --  hasta luego!  Adios!

~Giovanni Ortiz-Romano.  :)

*to be continued.*