Hello, how are you? I am fine. Many things have happened over the past few months.

We went to Atlantic City on November 10, 2003. We stayed the night. I spent $5.00 in winnings. I chose a certain slot machine for my Dad to play and he won $5.00. I used the money to play with the games in the arcade.

We went to Tita Ting’s apartment for Thanksgiving. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, ham, and stuffing. Mom, Dad, Kuya, Danielle, Nico, Erika, Lolo, Tita Ting, my cousins’ parents, and I ate a lot.

We had a big blizzard and no school on December 5. The next Sunday we went to the St. Denis convent. We ate and sang Christmas carols there. Mom baked a loaf of banana bread. My friends Monika and Pawel played their instruments (flute and saxophone) at the convent chapel. Later in December, I played my trumpet with Monika and the band at my school’s winter concert. Mom videotaped the concert with our new video camera.

We went to Tita Lela’s apartment for Christmas Eve. We ate food and opened presents. Later we went up to our apartment and Mom gave me what I always wanted, a Nintendo game cube. Kuya received an E-reader and a game boy Advance. The E-reader reads special cards, and lets you play games from the card reading.

On Christmas Day, we went to Atlantic City. We stayed at the Taj Majal because we arrived late. We ordered room service for the first time. We ordered two pizzas and watched TV. The next morning we ate at the Bombay Café. Tita Ting, Tito Jun, and Erika ate there, too. We played at the Ali Baba Arcade. Tito Jun and Erika came with us on the way back home.

We went to New Jersey that Saturday to visit, and Mom and I stayed there. Uncle John was very sick. However, on Monday, December 29, 2003 Mom sent me home. Then later that night Uncle John died. The next day my Dad, Kuya and I picked up Uncle Marc from the airport. He is Mom's cousin and Jeth’s brother. Later in the week, we attended Uncle John’s wake and funeral. Mom read the first reading, Uncle Marc read the second reading, and Uncle John’s granddaughter Tracey read the petitions. We went to an Italian restaurant after, and then we went home.

A few things happened in January. School reopened January 5th. The next weekend we attended the ninth day rosary prayer service for Uncle John. On another weekend we celebrated Uncle Marc’s 26th birthday in Atlantic City, then he went back to California. Swimming classes started at the end of the month. I went up a level in swimming. I’m in level three now. On January 31st I took an exam for a program in Johns Hopkins University. It was easy.

In February, my school had an African dance program. I also joined an art workshop that I go to on Thursday afternoons. We are learning about watercolors there. I am also registered for Little League baseball. I’m playing for the third year now. I also talked to Father George about becoming an altar server in our parish. Father O’Halloran, our pastor, nominated me for a middle school summer program in Regis High School. For Lolo’s 87th birthday we went to Buffet 2000. It’s a Chinese restaurant. Now I am enjoying my week off from school because it’s our winter break. I will write again before I go to the Philippines in April.