Bus Tour and Toddler Selfies

 The other day, the boys were preparing for the babysitter to come over by dressing in all of Shelley's most luxurious clothes.  I wish you could see Theo's exercise glove better, but one must wave it around when one wears it.

Theo wanted to see the picture, of course.  This lead to him taking numerous selfies.

Naturally, Jett had to get in the action. 

By the way, Theo's outfit didn't last long, because he dumped out an entire bottle of rubbing alcohol onto it and the floor.  At least he didn't drink it, right?

Shelley and Rick took me to a fancy stake house for our date, La Cabrera. We got so. much. food.  We  had some traditional Argentine food for appetizers- empenadas (meat pastries) and churipan (sausage sandwich). For the main dish, I got crazy huge raviolis, Shelley got a bacon wrapped stake kabob thing, and Rick got the giantest cut of stake I have ever seen!  The picture above doesn't do it justice. There were also all those little bowls filled with sauces, mashed things like potatoes, carrots, and pumpkin, potato salad and corn chowder.  And all of it yummy.  We all looked at the dessert menu, and couldn't imagine eating any of it.

On Friday, Rick came home from work early so Shelley and I could have a sister date to do the bus tour of the city.  Bless you, Rick.  And we were very impressed when we heard that he took Jett, Theo, and Mora out for a walk all by himself.  I wouldn't have dared in a hundred years.  Bravo, Rick.

A sweet tribute to Evita

Apparently Shelley has tried several times to get on these buses, and for one reason or another their plans have been foiled.  But she and I had luck, and made it on! We were on the bus for two or three hours, enjoying the sights and each other's company. 

Casa Rosada

One of my favorite things was the Casa Rosada, which means the pink house. It's their equivalent to our White House.  The voice in our headphones said it has been traditionally painted pink since it was built, to symbolize the coming together of the two political parties, who's colors are red and white respectively. I think that's pretty cool.

Casa Rosada

The tour took us through the fanciest part of town, Boca, I think it was called.  It was so clean, and the sky scrapers were so shiny and tall.  It was right along the Rio as well, which was cool. 

Inside the mall

 We finally got off at the big fancy mall.  We strolled through a little park area before we actually went in, but quickly ditched it to use the bathroom in a McDonalds. Pregnant ladies, the nerve.

On our taxi ride home, we saw the building that (we thought) Rick works in.  Shelley also explained to me that he used to work for Farmers, but now works for Zurich, who owns Farmers. I feel so in the know.  Accept he doesn't actually work in that building, but another one that's close.  It should have been part of the tour!

It was the perfect day to tour, too.  Sometimes it was sunny, sometimes cloudy, always warm and beautiful. 

After we got back to our neighborhood, we stopped at a cafe on the corner and got dinner.  Our service was really quick, because it was only seven o'clock, so obviously no one else was eating dinner.  I guess people don't eat until eight or nine on most days, sometimes later.  So interesting.  

Anyways, our food was delicious.  We had originally planned to go to a different cafe after and get dessert, but there was no way our tummies could have accommodated all that food.

At one point during the afternoon, I said, "Is it Friday, already?" And Shelley said, "I don't want to talk about it!" We've started preparing for our journey home.  So bitter sweet.  In many ways, this month has gone by in a flash. 

Today the boys and I went on the balcony just to enjoy the sunshine.  We ate ice and looked at the cars.  We laughed about Mora "rosting" in the sun. I stopped Theo from playing with the pooper scooper. And I thought to myself, "I wish I could bring some of this summertime back with me."

There are lots of things I'll miss.  Like staying up til all hours of the night and talking with Shelley.  Or being able to peace out and take a nap while Theo is still awake. The sunshine. Having a doggie to play with. Eating crazy delicious food all the time. Snuggling Jett and reading stories. 

I feel so blessed that the Allisons have been so generous and lovely to Theo and me. I don't know if or when I will be able to repay them. Maybe in a lifetime supply of cheese-its if they never come back to the US. But I will sure miss getting to be with them every day. I love Shelley, Rick, Jett, and Mora!