the wrap up

An amazingly awesome day spent with good friends and lots of littles on a working dairy farm.  Heaven.

let's say marcus is imitating andres' face whenever he saw a cow or a horse.  he was t.e.r.r.i.f.i.e.d.

 our friend vaquero & jose tomas

 this one was in his element.  latent gentleman farmer genes + finnish farmer genes = one happy boy.

 we spent a lot of time just watching the cows go from pasture to milking back to pasture.  sounds boring, but if you're under 8 it's fascinating stuff.

 llama

 babies were a big source of entertainment as well.... with Fran.

 marcus and javier in the field forever...

 checking out the guinea pigs.

 the boys and agus

 emi and julia rode horses in the afternoon together.

 bunny feeding.

 tire swinging.

 tractor driving.

 a valiant and epic failure of an attempt to take a group picture.  

Back at home...

This is Liliana, one of the girls who takes care of my kids when I go.  Every morning Javier would come downstairs after his own breakfast and sit with Liliana and have breakfast with her as well, stealing nibbles of her bread.  She's awesome and giggling in this picture.  Why?

because apparently she taught a certain someone to sip a little coffee in the mornings as well.

great.

ahh... yes... where were we?

Warning: there are an a$$load of pictures in this post.  It's November and I'm still blogging about summer stuff.   Some of these pics have been edited, most haven't.  We're plowing through.

this is Marcus' bestie and our dear friend "tio Carlos"  We love him.  So does Javier.  I blame him (and his wife) for nine years of marriage and 3 children.  

 this is the amazing summer camp E has gone to the past two summers.  You can't tell behind the cinderblock wall, reinforced steel door, and security cameras, but behind here is a little heaven of a preschool any kid in the States would die to go to.  Open classrooms, a mini petting zoo, a small pond, delicious meals and an amazing playground.  Oh, and all the kids learn in English and Spanish.  Much as I love our preschool here it looks totally low-rent in comparison.  Mind blowing.  

 On the road to the zoo with the in-laws.  Javier didn't enjoy the car rides.  

 she's so w.e.i.r.d.

 post-zoo lunch.

 post-Sunday-lunch with A.  He ate more than I did.  Swear.

 beach bound.  no Wal-Mart for floaties?  No problem.  They sell 'em on the street!!

Disclaimer:  Following are a couple of pictures I'm saving for when I receive my "excellence in parenting" award.  My children enjoying frosty bubbly strawberry flavored sodas on the street standing in front of what looks to be the town dump (we'll call it a construction site, ok?)  Just know this was my Grandpa's favorite drink of all time and after a certain someone had gotten violently carsick, bubbly strawberry soda was just the ticket.

 gotta love glass bottles - recycle!

After 100 years (or 8 hours over the Andes mountains and through the rainforest) we made it to the beach where we met up with our friend Dolo (Carlos' wife) and their daughters.

 in our hands?  the best ice cream you've ever eaten in your entire life.  coconut (e's got chocolate of course).  you've never eaten anything so yummy in your life  

 yes, it's 7Up.  don't judge.  

 someone really enjoyed his ceviche de camarones.  

that's right, we went all Latino at the beach and the boys rocked the speedo.  great pic to show his future spouse i figure.  

 best. beach nap. ever.

 another day... another ceviche.  this one set us back $5 I think.  

 breakfast at the beach.. eggs, rice, and beans.  yum. 

Eventually it was time to come home.  We were tired of driving (we went in two cars) so we decided to let the boys drive...

the girl guzzled a coconut water on the ride home.  

The era of time outs...

... has begun for a certain small person.



and he's none too happy about it. But hitting (and kicking!) are time-out-worthy offenses.

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