Wisconsin - Part 1 - Before the wedding

once upon a wednesday in milwaukee wisconsin, a young adult girl named Aeri arrived in a car with her mother and sister, to her aunt's house of lovely puerto rican family. yes that is me :) i love my dad's family, they are the best <333

the day after i got there was the before wedding dinner, both the brides family and manuel's family were there, and there was a ton of preparing to do!

ti ti janet setting up a table with ti ti madelin

ti ti janet being distracted by the camera xD

she loves pictures :)

 mami helping pin the tablecloths down from the wind

 cousin Baby (pronounced bobby, some call him Benny, short for his real name Benito), ti ti Madelin and Ti Ti Janet, on the move :) me and Bobby and really close, we always have deep talks whenever we meet. the funny part is, i am probably closer to him than all of my cousins, but we've only talked a couple of times. that is the best part about this family, everyone is close no matter how far you go or how long you leave, when you see them again its like you never left. even more ironic, he is the first of the children of my aunts. He is ti ti Janets first child. Before my sister was born, i was the youngest. He's close to both of us, he reminds me alot of my dad. Mami couldnt stop staring because of that xD she's like "he looks like a young Jossie! with hair!" xD

the saez family doing some good cooking :)

a saez cousin, cousin bobby and shakira......shakira is the dog.....idk why ñoño named her that xD

she is a super sweet dog!! she is so friendly, even with babies!!

below is the back yard finished :)

beautiful hihi! now add some people~~

 the little girl is named Odalys, pretty name right? she is so sweet :) she is one of the more caring of younger people i've met, she is sooo nice. she has one of those personalities that she will make you happy whether you like it or not :) she was the guestbook girl for the wedding~~

mami took those pics :P

hehe bad shot of my mom. tehya, me then manual & lauri and my mom :)

ti ti madeline was originally going to put candles in those vases, but we went shopping and couldnt find a right fit, then she saw this flowers and they ended up perfect!

 me and cachetes. tio victor always calls her cachetes or "cheeks" because she has big cheeks xD
me and the brothers called her "evil cheeks" because every time we played video games, she would smile and one of the boys [mostly xavier] would lose because they got "cursed" (distracted lol) by her evil (adorable) cheeks xD

 that is our father :) we are a very short family xD i am only 4 foot 10 inches, i am catching up to my own dad xD his gf is taller than him lol :)

we were looking for glue and we found some. tehya tried to squirt it out and she took off the cap and it came out like that xD gross!!! we were trying to find glue because the tape under for the tableclothes came off from the wind >.<

my mom

me & teh with our dad

 me and my sis xD

papi, ti ti mayra, ti ti janet, lauri + manual, & his aunts and uncles from his dad side

we got food! put out buffet style :) i ate tons of bread xD

traditional puerto rican style rice y gandulas, cucumber salad and bread :)

more pics!!!!

tehya, my dad and me :) glad to see him again...

manuel, his then wife-to-be and his two abuelas. the one on the left is the one that we share. his mom is my father's sister :)

tio victor & ti ti madelin, manuel, lauri & her parents

ñoño (jonathon, its his nickname that means "spoiled boy" cuz he's the baby :P) manuels youngest brother, the best man, manuel, lauri, and more of the saez cousins.

manuel also has another younger brother, Xavier. he was always my favorite because we got along the best. he joined the navy and will graduate in chicago soon. i spoke with him on the phone very briefly. i havent seen him for years... ti ti madelin (his mom) is always really close to me, partially because i remind her of him. he's just like me, we even look alike. the first thing the cousins on their side of the family said was "doesnt she remind you of Xavier?" "She looks like a girl version of Xavier." I'm proud of him for doing what he truely wanted with his life :) and he's gonna get married to his dream girl <3 and she is adorable :)

keep reading :) this is only part 1!