Dear Family and Friends,                               Christmas 2014

What another incredible year in Oregon. (Astoria, Warrenton, Seaside, Oregon)

Brandon is still living in San Diego with Sophia and their baby Ethan. (born 7/27/13) Brandon works for a company that builds drones (unmanned flying machines) and he has been flying to many places representing his company.  He also flies monthly to DC.  Sophia won a BIG award at her lab, finishing her PhD and continues to take care of Ethan. OUR BABY !!  Ethan is a trip.  Loves the parks and loves all his balls and books.  And he loves his Popi.

Austin got his Master’s degree in Accounting.  He also passed the CPA !! and he bought a house in Tampa.  He is still dating his high school sweetheart Andrea who is finishing law school in Gainesville (UFla).  Austin also got inducted into the Berkeley Hall of Fame.  We are so proud of him.

Kathy is working hard at Seaside Hospital.  Many of my bridge partners tell me she is a wonderful Nurse Practitioner !! (ARNP)  She has really enjoyed the cooler weather of Astoria and the rains.  This place is just beautiful.

Manny continues to sub at the local 5 high schools (Astoria, Warrenton, Seaside, Jewell and Knappa).  He got to teach a Pre-school class that is a story in itself.  He also got 2 NEW knees for Christmas !!  Kathy took good care of him. Manny also travels once a month to San Diego to babysit Ethan while Sophia works in the lab and Brandon travels.

Austin, Andrea, Brandon, Sophia and Manny all traveled to Miami this summer for the Gaston Family Reunion.  They had a BLAST !!  Andrea got to meet the 200 cousins and Sophia introduced Ethan to the clan.

We are so blessed and grateful.  We could not ask for anything more.  PS: Manny’s nephew Alex Mooney got elected US Congressman from WVa.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (2015)….love, Kathy, Manny, Austin, Brandon, Sophia, and Ethan

2010 Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,                                             Merry Christ-mas and Happy New Year !!

This is truly a joyous Christmas as Brandon and Sophia announce their engagement and plans to get married next summer Aug. 20, 2011 in California.  As many of you know Sophia is a MIT grad and D3 national gymnastic champ.  She is studying for her PhD in San Diego and Brandon plans to join her in California after he finishes his Masters at MIT this spring.  Brandon and Sophia have been dating for about two years.  Brandon is putting the finishing touches on their wedding website with many pictures of the happy couple and some stories.  (Mel and Susan will surely miss Brandon as well as Brandon missing his partner in crime in Boston)

http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/BrandonSuarez&SophiaHarrison

Meanwhile Austin also has some exciting news as he transfers from UCF in Orlando to the Fisher School of Accounting at UF in Gainesville.  Austin earned his AA degree at UCF early since he received credit for AP classes taken in high school.  He will miss UCF as they enjoy a tremendous year in sports.  He will also miss many good friends he has made at UCF.  (especially Chad and Jennifer Young a great basketball player from Tampa who took care of Austin in Orlando these past 2 years)

Kathy continues her work at the Clinic.  She has also gotten “back on the horse” but this is a bicycle (too many stories to tell here).  She is extremely excited about the wedding this summer and making all kinds of summer plans.  We had a blast this past summer traveling for 2 weeks through the mountains of Colorado.

Manny is at his 33^rd year at Berkeley.  The big news there is the New Headmaster who will arrive in the summer of 2011.  Headmaster Mr. Merluzzi retires at 70 years of age and 23 of those at Berkeley.  A good friend of the family and a mentor to Brandon and Austin.  He will surely be missed.

Manny is also taking the boys to Cuba Dec. 19, 20, 21 for a short visit.  Their good friend Steve Kitchens is going with them.  Pray that all goes well and they come back safe.  They hope to visit the Suarez house in Havana, one of the sugar mills close to Havana and the family farm.  Manny had to get a Cuban passport since Cuba does NOT recognize US citizenship.

Hope all is well with everyone, love, Kathy, Manny, Brandon and Austin

Family Christmas Letter 2018
Merry Christ-mas Family and Friends,

The year started with Austin and Andrea getting engaged on top of a mountain in Colorado.  We are all so excited for the wedding in April, 2019.  Brandon will be the Best Man and Ethan the ring boy.

Brandon and Sophia and his family (Ethan, Luke, Caleb) flew a 6 seater little airplane to Astoria, Oregon to visit Popi and Grammy.  It was a wonderful visit and Ethan was an awesome co-pilot.  Sophia gets the Mommy of the Year award for traveling with 3 little ones in the back of a little plane.

Grandchild #3 (Caleb) was born in May.  He is a go getter and is ready to walk after only 6 months.  He is already wrestling on the floor with his older brothers.

Popi continues to go down to San Diego and babysit whenever Brandon travels.  Brandon and Sophia moved into a 4 bedroom condo, so now there is a Popi Room (also for Grandma Karen).

Kathy and Manny took a cruise to Alaska.  We got to see some floating ice (kind of scary when they hit the ship) and we saw plenty of bears and visited Canada.

We also took a trip to Lake Tahoe (after a visit to San Diego).  It is a beautiful Lake, but not where we want to retire next.

We continue to have friends from Tampa visit us in Oregon and Kathy's nephew also stopped by.

Manny lost two sisters this year.  Tia Ely in Miami and Tia Margy in Seattle.  The Circle of Life.

2019 should be a Big year with Manny taking 10 bridge friends from Astoria to Cuba in Jan. and the Austin & Andrea wedding in Tampa in April. (also a Suarez-Gaston reunion in Miami)

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon,

Love, Kathy, Manny, Brandon & Sophia, Austin & Andrea

Learn to play Bridge (World Wide game of cards)

some family members have told me in the past that they might want to learn how to play bridge

wouldn't be fun to get together for an hour one nite and play a little bridge with your siblings ??

i play once a month with some doctors from Tampa (and my Indian friend who took me to Cuba) on the internet and play bridge....but THEY are serious and we play for 2 hours

i am also able to play with my Chinese student who is off to college

and my director plays with her daughter in South Africa often

there are million of people around the World playing bridge on the internet....it is a game the British taught India and China

anyways the first thing about bridge is that you need to know how to play SPADES

in Spades, you have 4 people....each person gets 13 cards (4 X 13 = 52 cards)

in Spades, the person sitting across from you is your "partner"...you two are a TEAM

there are 13 possible "tricks" or "rounds" of cards play

the object of Spades is to Predict how many of those 13 tricks you think your partnership will win

now what usually "wins" a round or trick ??

Aces usually win...and Kings....and sometimes queens (if you are very careful)

the #1 rule in Spades (and Bridge) is that YOU MUST follow the "lead"....whatever card is "led"

so if a person leads a HEART....everyone MUST play a heart....the highest Heart wins the trick

(wow, if you can FOLLOW all that....with words like "trick" and "lead" you are well on your way to learning Spades and Bridge)

BTW  the basketball players at JU all played Spades....so ANYONE can learn how to play spades

i have taught most of the nephews and nieces

now what happens if someone leads a Heart and you have no more Hearts left ?? then you can "Trump" with a Spade (Spades is a "wild suit".....that is why it is called Spades)

the 2 of spades can beat the Ace of Hearts

but be careful....if someone else is also out of Hearts....they can play a higher spade and win

and that is the basics of Spades

try to learn THAT game BEFORE thinking about playing Bridge

if you can not learn how to play Spades....then forget Bridge

and thus ends the FIRST lesson from the Tall Cuban

2011 Christmas letter

2011 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years

Dear Family and Friends,

Well we really have to start with Dec.18, 2010 when Brandon, Austin and Manny went to Cuba.  (our good friend Steve Kitchens also went with them…”Esteban Cuisina”).  After being away for 50 years (Manny was born in Havana, Cuba in 1955 and his family left in 1961 after the Bay of Pigs fiasco), it was very emotional.  They were able to visit the farm “La Finca” and the sugar mill “El Doloras” and finally the beautiful beach “Varadero”.  It is a trip that they will always remember and a great cigar story to boot.

In January 2011, Austin transferred from UCF in Orlando where he got his AA degree early to UFla in Gainesville.  He was admitted into the Fisher School of Accounting.  We have enjoyed driving to Gainesville for basketball games and football games this fall.

In May, Austin flew to Boston to help Brandon move from Boston to San Diego.  They rented a U-Haul and drove across the country.  There are good Niagara Falls stories and Las Vegas too.

This summer Austin and Manny went back to Cuba (this time with the ex-Georgetown coach and his two sons).  Again they had a blast and this time it was more of a tourist like trip.

Of course the big event in 2011 was Brandon and Sophia getting married in California in Aug.  It was a beautiful wedding in LaJolla, California.  About 10 of Brandon’s MIT bball players flew across the country and many of Sophia’s gymnastic friends too.  We did play the traditional Suarez basketball game before the wedding.  The church was glorious overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Father John from Boston flew in for the ceremony. The reception was a lot of fun and the newlyweds were truly radiant.

This Fall Austin and Manny along with two alums Russ and Richie won the Berkeley Open golf tournament.  They shot an 11 under par, 61.  They have their names etched onto the Merluzzi trophy.

Kathy still works for Tampa General (she took a second trip to Colorado and loves it there) and Manny is at Berkeley.  Berkeley celebrating 50 years and Manny being there for 34 of them.

Love, Kathy, Manny, Austin, Brandon and Sophia

Merry Christmas 2013

Hello Family and Friends,

Well 2013 sure was interesting.  It really started in Dec of 2012 when Manny decided to move to Seattle to join up with Kathy in Edmonds, Washington.  The house in Tampa finally sold (thank you God) and Manny spent some time in the DC area living with Mane and Tony Diez.  Christmas 2012 was spent with Brandon, Sophia and Austin in DC for Paul Hamm’s wedding.  A good time had by all.

Then Mel agreed to drive with Manny across the country.  We made it in 4 days.  Too many stories to recount here.  Margy is also in Seattle.

Manny and Kathy settled into the Edmonds routine and spent some weekends with Brandon and Sophia’s parents.  Manny also played a lot of bridge and we would take ROAD Trips into the mountains.

In May, Austin graduated from UFla with a degree in accounting and got a summer job in Tampa at KPMG.  He also got accepted into the USF graduate program and lives with our good friends Dr. and Catherine Marston.

Kathy’s best friend Janet visited and eventually moved her family to Seattle too.  Kathy and Janet went to Oregon to see some Whales and Kathy fell in love with the Oregon coast.  It was on our bucket list to live near the beach some day.  So in July we moved to Astoria/Seaside Oregon where Kathy was offered a job.

On July 27, 2013, our first grandchild was born.  Ethan Immanuel Suarez to Brandon and Sophia who are now living in San Diego, California.  What a BIG beautiful baby.  We have visited several times and also Skyped on the computer.  We look forward to the Baptismal in Feb. 2014.

Manny is now still playing a lot of bridge and subbing at the three local public high schools: Seaside, Astoria and Warrenton.  Kathy loves her new little house (rental) and has spent a year decorating it.  We still take our Road Trips.  We got our first BIG snow storm in Dec. and learning how to drive on icey roads.

Hope everyone has a safe and warm Christmas.

Love, Kathryn and Manny Suarez in Oregon, Austin in Tampa, Brandon, Sophia and ETHAN in San Diego.

 

Christmas 2004

Christ-mas 2004

Merry Christ-mas and Happy New Years !!!

Well it has been another exciting year. It started last Feb. when Brandon’s basketball team made it all the way to Regional Finals. Those were an exciting three weeks. It even goes a little further back, when Charlie and Xavier and some nephews drove to Gainesville to see Brandon play in a national Christmas tournament. We even drove to Daytona to go swimming in the Ocean and of course play some ball at the nearby playground.

This has been a whirl wind year with colleges recruiting Brandon. Most recruit him because of his high SAT scores and 4.0 gpa. Others recruit him because he is Hispanic and some for his basketball. We have to wait until Dec. 15 to hear from his first choice MIT where he met the coach and went out with some of the players. The coach (who calls him once a week) says he is in, but we still have to wait for the admission committee. If for some reason he does not get in, then Cal Tech is high on his list (coach still calls Brandon). Amherst was nice enough to fly him to visit, but they do not have engineering. Ga. Tech is his third choice (Manny’s personal favorite) and of course U.of Fla. would be FREE and a strong alumni association for jobs after graduation (but he could not play ball for Ga Tech or UF).

Of course the highlight this summer was the family reunion in Miami. Brandon and Austin just love meeting and talking to the cousins and hearing all the stories about Cuba. Brandon used those stories in several of his college essays.

Kathy signed her new contract with Tampa General for a second year. She really loves her job and likes the free dinners at all the expensive restaurants around town put on by the drug reps.

Austin grew about 4 inches and is 6’2” now and made the varsity team as an 8th grader. In his first varsity game he scored 9 points, hitting 2 three point shots. This has always been a dream of Manny’s to have Austin and Brandon on the same team. Austin passed it to Brandon in the corner for a beautiful three. When the coach asked Austin why he wanted to play varsity, Austin said because I want to play with my brother (Austin passed up the leading scorer position in the JV team).

Manny continues to teach Pre-Cal and Calculus and of course run the summer programs with over 2,000 campers. He was able to find two more scholarships for two minority kids to enter 9th grade. And the girl that we drove to school for 7 years graduated from Berkeley and got a full ride at Northwest University.

We know many of you did not vote for Bush, but Brandon got to vote for the first time and he went 2 for 2: Bush for president and a Cuban Martinez for Senate.

Well we have truly been blessed and we continue to look forward to hear news from our family and friends,

Love, Kathy, Manny, Brandon, Austin
(PS: almost forgot, Brandon bought a motorcycle for his 18th birthday, it is a beautiful 1982 Honda 500 and Manny gets to ride it too.)