2019 Florida, NYC, Mexico

 In January 2019, we took a trip to Florida and New York City.  We stayed with Emily's cousins in Orlando and visited St. Augustine, one of the oldest cities in the U.S.. Of course we also spent a day at Disneyland, with an excellent tour guide (Emily's cousin).  

Then it was on to New York City, first with a visit to 90 year old Uncle Zeke's (on Emily's dad's side of the family) house on Rockland county.  Enjoying our time with him and listening to old  family stories was a highlight.  Then onto New York City, staying at his apartment on the Upper East Side.  We visited the Natural History Museum, Lower Manhattan and the tenament museum (in Emily's great-grandparents neighborhood).  Went to see the Big Apple circus as well as Ellis island and we made the hike up to the pedastal of the Statue of Liberty.  A trip to Zabars and we enjoyed knishes and numerous other Jewish delicacies! N. especially enjoyed riding the subway and eating authentic dim sum.

 We had a couple of visits to Ajijic this year.  In fact, we luckily overlapped a few days with Emily's sister and her daughter and spent some time at a wonderful carnival where the kids enjoyed rides.  On this trip, Emily's mom was in a new nursing home, a smaller home where she would maybe get more personalized care.  In Mexico the nursing homes are all pretty small and less institutionalized, more like a home setting.  All private rooms with private bathrooms and home cooked meals.

In December 2019, we met Victor and Linda and her nurse at Melaque, about 1 hour north of Manzanillo.  Victor wanted to meet there because of the nearby handicap accessible beach, the only one in Mexico.  Here they have floating wheelchairs, and after a lot of tears, we pushed Linda into the ocean to float in the wheelchair.  She did NOT enjoy being in the water at all, but she traveled so far we felt she had to get in the water!  She laughs now, thinking back on it, but admits she wouldn't do it again if she had the choice!  After 5 days there, we bussed back to Ajijic to spend Christmas there, where we prepared Linda's favorite, Swedish meatballs with lingonberry sauce and ris crem for dessert.  By this time, Linda had moved into her 3rd nursing home, a beautiful room on the 3rd floor right on Lake Chapala.  Here she can roll out of her room to her patio and watch the birds and see the lake.  This would be the last time we see Linda and Victor for a few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Then in January (2020) the 3 of us said goodbye to Emily's parents in Ajijic and took the bus from Guadalajara to Los Ayala, where we met Luke's family.  We were staying at the house we usually stay at and they rented a big house on the beach to accommodate his parents as well as his brother's family. It was a great time, spent at the beach and our pool, and the kids trying the Mexican cuisine, shopping, and lighting off fireworks on the beach just like the Mexican tourists!