Varela

The first few days of our trip were spent in Florencio Varela. After a long flight it was nice to relax there. This is the hometown of my mother and my birthplace. We stayed in the Mandirola house, which was originally built by my mother's sister. In fact, the family owns much of the block. Varela is a town of roughly 500,000 people and is pretty lower class in general. That said it is home and has lots of family and good memories for all.

This is the backyard of the house. My parents were married here.

Amalia with the family dogs, Juanita and Lola. They certainly loved getting attention from the kids.

The kids in the house. From L-R: Amalia, Viviana, Camilo, and Anacelia.
Abuelo Tom reading a story to Camilo as they both get ready for nap time.
Breakfast included pasteries, the most popular were stuffed with Dulce de Leche. Lisa and Amalia ate a boat load of these.
There is a playground a few blocks from the house and it included this little merry-go-round that the kids (Camilo, Anacelia, and Amalia) rode.
Amalia even grabbed the ring (not in this pic) and got a free ride.
more to follow.

travel recount- the Smithsonian.

We spent the last two weeks on a trip around Argentina. But to start with we spent a few hours at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum near Dulles Airport in Washington DC. Quick recount, we flew from ROA-IAD and had a long layover before flying to Argentina. The kids and I took the opportunity to visit the museum which is a quick bus ride from the airport. Its the BEST way to spend a few hours near the airport. Lisa decided to stay behind in the airport and guard the baggage. There are oner 100 planes and such in this hangar and it is amazing. Here are a few quick pics. There are too many great planes to show them all but seeing a P51, the Enola Gay, the Concord, and countless strange small planes is too cool.

The kids in front of the space shuttle. The space shuttle is huge and amazing!

These two pics put things in perspective.

The SR71 Blackbird is simply imposing and scary looking... and fast!
Hard to beat a Corsair! This is one of the first planes you see when you enter.

bike ride for Amalia

The kids and I have been riding the huckleberry trail all summer. Typically, Amalia rides her bike and Camilo rides in the stroller. Usually I push him but sometimes Lisa comes with us and pulls Camilo behind her bike. Today I put the GPS on Amalia so we could see how fast and far she rode. Here is her track.

Amalia's soccer season

This fall Amalia played in the Under-6 soccer league. Her team, the Green Gators, were great and they had a lot of fun. I finally remembered to bring the camera to her last game, which was tonight. Here are some pics, in no particular order.

Awards after the game... including green cupcakes!

Camilo didn't want his pic taken.
Amalia scores a goal!
So fast she blurs in pics.
And scores again!
OK, I like watching sometimes.
Practicing kicking goals.
Fast!
Which way should I go?
Nice pass.
Practicing dribbling.

pic update

Here are some pics from the fall to go along with the update above.

First some pics from Ecuador.

Inca Jay

Blue-gray tanager
Leaf-cutter ants

Sunrise above the jungle

Silver beaked tanager

Turqoise necked tanager

Amalia getting ready for the first day of school!

Finger painting fun!

a little update

This has been a crazy fall and I haven't updated as planned. I was gone to Ecuador for two weeks. Then Lisa was in Panama for a week and now she is in D.C. for a week. Then she goes to Phoenix for a week. So lots of traveling and general hectic life. But its all good. Amalia is doing great in school and loves her dance class on saturday mornings and soccer on friday evenings. I got to be a substitute coach a couple of times and that was fun. Camilo plays in the dirt while Amalia plays... he seems to think construction trucks are more fun than watching his sister play soccer.

Amalia in school

Amalia has been getting some VIP story readers recently.

You can see her about 5sec into this video.