La Boca

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful, so we decided to be tourists in a La Boca, home of the Boca Juniors and birthplace of the Tango. Steve commented no less than a dozen times that he should not have worn shorts because they scream, "TOURIST" and many tourists are known to leave the area without the belongings that they brought with them. The area is quite shady, but definitely a must-see tourist trap during daylight hours.

I laugh every time that I see this quote of my friend's blog:

"Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city." George Burns

Empty Carts

All too often, I spend hours looking through websites, making flat-rate shipping really worth it - trying to get the most for my money. I have planned wardrobes for the kids for a season and created lists of the things that I have to buy online. As I think that I have mentioned before, most of the clothing here for children is Walmart quality for Janie and Jack prices. It is also impossible to find anything for someone who is 6'5" tall. It is for this reason that, as much as I do not like shopping online, I really take advantage of our APO box.

Back to the point at hand... I spend all too much time filling online shopping carts, just to simply get up and walk away without actually completing the purchase. I often walk away with the intent of returning when I have a few extra minutes to browse through the clearance items, only to find that when I return, they are sold out of what I originally had in my bag.

So I wonder, is this saving us money, or actually costing us more? Or just cost me way too much time and frustration?

Baby Barlow

is 2270 +/- 227 grams today according to my ultrasound. Nearly 5 pounds even...

She (yep, no doubt after the third confirmation) has hair, overly chubby cheeks, and a set of lips that I have no idea who she inherited from.

To read or not to read

Do I watch the Olympics that are soon to end, or read my new Stephanie Meyer arrival from amazon.com?

You might suggest that I do both except that our lighting is so bad in the family room at night, that I just can read in here.

Oh, what a dilemma.

A Few Random Photos

This is one of my favorites...



Abe came home with this parting gift from one of his many birthday parties. It provided 15 minutes of laughter!



The kids love our "inside" scooter. We inherited it from a friend who recently moved.


Now that we are settled in our new house, I think that the kids favorite room in the house is our master bath and jet tub. We pour in just a few bubbles, turn on the jets and suddenly we have meringue.

Youth Dance Festival

Our youth participated in the Stake Dance Festival. Each ward represented a different country and we were assigned Italy. We made the skirts for the girls, put together the hisotry of the church in Italy, provided samples of Italian food, painted a backdrop of Venice and had a great time. It was debated up until the week before as to whether or not we would participate due to the lack of interest (quite literally, most of the youth stopped attending mutual), but we managed to reluctantly convince four to dance and one more to help logistically. They really did pull it off... I think that we were all a little surprised how well it actually turned out.

La Granja Chocolatada

Yes, this translates to "The Chocolate Milk Farm", but in fact it is a petting zoo and a Steakhouse for adults. We spent the afternoon with about 20 other Embassy families. We all had a great time.

Abe bungee jumped on a trampoline and managed a few flips...


and Peyton rode a pony.


Abe milked a cow, while Peyton ran away in sheer terror of the mooing cow.


Abe couldn't get enough of the zip line. It was easy to hold onto, but actually ran a good distance. It was a hit with all ofthe kids.


As we waited for Abe's last turn on zipline, Peyton ran around the side of the barn to watch and landed in a stream of mud, and a pile of manure which she hit at about her knee as she fell. After calming her down and convincing her that she would live, as it was just a little dirt, I couldn't help but take a picture. If you look closely, you can tell where the mud ends and the manure begins. It was the perfect end to a perfectly dirty afternoon.


If only we didn't have a Dance Festival in an hour...

Explorotorio

We finally made it to the highly anticipated Science Exploratorium. I have wanted to take Abe for some time, but they are only open to the public for 3 hours on Sunday afternoons. We even tried to go once with much confusion over the published winter break dates. Our school happens to be on a slightly different schedule than other Argentines schools. During the Winter Break (July 28-Aug 11), they opened daily.

Although the exhibits and building were not as impressive as you might have expected from a museum in the States, the staff really interacted with the kids to teach them concepts.


This was Abe's favorite exhibit. There had to be enough water in the upper tank to create pressure to pump it into the tank below, which spun a wheel creating energy to turn on the lights located on the side.


This is Abe's good friend who was braved the static machine. Abe lost interest after he touched it and was shocked. We're not sure that Abe even has enough hair. :)


The kids also loved the bubble maker. I mean, how often is it that you can stand inside of a huge bubble?

Blanca Nieve and Los Siete Enanitos

As a Stake Activity, each Ward Primary performed a Disney skit. Our ward was assigned Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Lidia and I made the hats and beards for the dwarfs. Abe marched around to "Hi Ho, Hi Ho" and looked adorable. It was the highlight of the performance and everyone had a good chuckle. One onlooker from another ward even commented that I should have been cast, as my belly would have fit right in.

Dia de la Bandera

For those who believe that the US is the most nationalistic country in the world, you should definitely visit Argentina. June 20 was National Flag Day and everyone displayed the flag in many forms. I even saw taxis drive by with signs displayed prominently in the rear window warning potential commuters that you would not be picked up if were not sporting National colors. Dia de la Bandera is the anniversary of the death of Miguel Belgrano, who created the current flag.

The kids each had "performances" at school. It was a great opportunity to experience the Argentine National pride. Teachers and parents also displayed pins and flags on their clothing and flying from their cars.




This is the Kindergarten. The 3's wore National Soccer Jerseys, the 4's wore panchos to represent the campo (traditional Argentine apparel) and the 5's wore fabric creating the pattern of the flag.

Our Blogging Vacation

A combination of pregnancy, moving, and waiting for Photoshop have kept us from blogging, in hopes of having more time later when I can I make up for my lack of natural photography skills. I still don't have Photoshop on our new computer, but I have decided that it has been far too long since I have kept up with my attempt to have a decent family journal. If I don't do it now, I will also have a new baby in the mix and yet another excuse for not posting. I will wait for Photoshop before I post our Mexican vacation photos, but here is everything since then...

Naming Our Angel

What is it about naming a baby that makes me so nervous and frustrated? I want her to have the perfect name and one that will fit her personality. Scientists have been debating for years as to whether or not it is the person that defines the name of the name that defines the person. Study after study has been conducted and many conclude that your name determines success.

What is a mom to do? There is so little time left and we just can't seem to find a perfect name that we can agree on. And the worst part is that you'd think this wouldn't be as difficult because we have previous experience, but it just seems to makes it more complicated.

Please, oh please, I pray that we settle on one sooner than later....