12 years ago we welcomed Renee Florencia Nerenberg into the world. We heard and keep hearing how fast kids grow up and it is so true. She is a bright, curious, beautiful, sensitive, sweet, slender, musical, responsible, independent, cat-lover, hugger, book-devouring, back-flipping, bug-loving, Spanish-speaking, world-traveling young lady and a pretty good sport at that. This has not been the easiest experience for her (OK, this has been really hard) but overall she has taken it as it comes thanks to e-mail, skype, e-books, and air-conditioning, when we can find it. We are proud of her!
She had eight friend/family Skype calls on erev birthday Here's Olivia Skyping in the car on the way to dinner - incredible!
A gift of Abuela's butter curler found in Rochester sometime in the 60s - not the typical 12-year old gift but Renee is not the typical 12-year old ;-)
You may ask "what is a butter curler?" Check out: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-butter-curler.htm. Then, you may ask why did she get one? She has often been spied making butter sculptures and has "ooed and aahed" when she saw cool butter curls. Gilly, my mother-in-law, just happened to be a proud owner of one but was ready to pass it on. To watch Renee using her's for the first time:
Breakfast with a submarino (steamed milk and chocolate bars added) and Mama and Papa at a seaside restaurant - La Boca Chica
Lunch in La Barra and a walk with Abuela and Elisa
A real treat - jumping the waves on February 27th!!
What would have been a better treat (thank you Uncle Danny)!!!
The final three days with the cousins were a whirlwind of activities and hanging out. First a trip to Lapataia, a "farm" where they used to milk cows and make fresh dulce de leche. Since we have been going there it has become more commercialized and now includes bungee jumping, paint ball, and a ropes course. We still went for the traditional Crepe con Dulce de Leche.
They don't make the dulce de leche on-site anymore but they do package it. This is seen through a window. We all decided that it would be fun to do the breast-stroke through a vat of dulce de leche with our tongues hanging out, of course.
Renee demonstrating her gymnastics skills
As if that didn't produce enough adrenaline we headed later to the beach and did some bungee jumping and Jonathan discovered go-karting. We ended with a dunk in the water even though it was freezing and windy outside. Jonathan just corrected me "it was not freezing for us."
After a goodbye attempt at chocolate fondue that was thoroughly enjoyed by Renee and Alberto and some last minute playtime, shopping, packing and hugging, Lucy, Rachel, and Ana headed back to Victoria on Friday night (Robert left a few days earlier). We are here until Tuesday night and then we head back to start school next Friday. Yikes!
A quick word from Ana (my niece): I never want to go back home. I want to spend more time with my cousins.
A quick word from Rachel (my niece): It was really fun and I'll miss my cousins and abuelos a lot but it is nice to be going home.
Pumped up from his success on his first outing, Jonathan headed out with Rob again to go fishing. This time with more success.
I believe that the final haul was seven fish.
On Friday we headed out for lunch as a family to give everybody else a break before the storm of caring for everybody. Given that it is tourist season and the dollar isn't doing so well here, we ended up at an Uruguayan sandwich place. The classic Uruguayan sandwich is a chivito and it puts the Chilean sandwich to shame in some ways. Like a Subway, you start with the basic meat and then add things according to your taste until you can end up with a 4 inch high sandwich. Jonathan chose the steak, ham, bacon, lettuce, mayo, and I don't know what else. Yuck!
We have mostly been hanging out with the family, eating, walking in the port, town and beach and just enjoying a vacation.
A lot of lazy mornings (and afternoons) with the cousins
Abuelo with the girls going through family momentos
Taking a walk to the store.
The port
It was too cold to swim but it is never too cold to play at the beach!
The swing set at Abuelos' apartment building.
Regression #1
Regression #2
In the evenings we have been entertained by music and dance shows from the kids (mostly for grandparent consumption):
There are more videos for those who care.
A type of ice cream in Uruguay - think that it would sell in the States? Guarenteed not to be toxic!
My in-laws graciously agreed to watch our kids for a weekend while we headed out to Buenos Aires for a weekend of walking, talking, and eating. Rob lived here for 14 years but left in 1990 so he felt like (and was assumed to be) a tourist as well. On Saturday we walked through many of the tourist neighborhoods. It was a good 95 degrees out and 95% humidity that was not the best weather for a day of walking but we got a nap in the middle of it and hydrated often (my hair finally got some body back). The photos will describe how we each focused on different things as we walked along:
Rob - media lunas and cafe con leche for breakfast at Las Violetas, a restored cafe in a non-touristy neighborhood
Rob - Flan con crema y dulce de leche
Rob - the salad and pasta at dinner. Sarah - the old ladies behind Rob
Rob and Sarah - The old man in La Boca singing a tango (with musicians backing him up and a couple dancing to the side).
Sarah - The old men watching the musicians in La Boca.
Sarah - a cat to show Renee in La Boca
Rob - a famous bridge in La Boca
After dinner of lomo (for Rob) and a pizza (for me), we skipped our wild plans to go out to hear music or something and hit the sack. It rained on and off on Sunday (whew!) so we didn't walk as much but saw some of the embassies and mansions, caught up on books/newspaper in cafes, headed to the Museum of Latin American Art and ate. The only issue is that we will both have sore necks from looking down to make sure we didn't step in dog poop!
We ate so much butter and sugar and two coffees each for breakfast that we remained buzzed the rest of the day.
The men having breakfast together.
A few other things that we noticed:
For any of our bicycle-commuting friends - how brilliant is this!!!
Like McDonalds that offers cafe con leche con media lunas for breakfast, Starbucks caters to the local tastes.
Argentina, like Chile, was trying to capitalize on Valentine's Day. They have the decorations down but haven't quite figured out the cheap chocolate hearts.
