San Antonio de Areco

HBomb chases Anne around a monument in San Antonio de Areco

June 20 is a holiday in Argentina.  In order to celebrate Argentina Flag Day, Mark, Anne, Hbomb and 2 friends went to a small town outside of Buenos Aires called San Antonio de Areco.  San Antonio de Areco is probably most famous for the cluster of silversmiths who live there.  You can find a good price on custom knives or even a full set of silverware if you're in the market for such things.  We were not.  But we did have a nice time in this little town.

Seems to defy gravity....

We celebrated a birthday and Father's day in this little pueblo, but also learned a few things.  First, we noticed that the swings in San Antonio de Areco are particularly narrow or else covered in some type of adhesive material.  We came to this conclusion when Mark could not even stand up after his turn swinging.  Obviously, there must be an issue with the swing.

So, would you like beef or .... beef?

Totally unrelated to the swing issue, our group then went to a parilla and ate about 7 pounds of grilled meats.  Happy Father's Day!

But since we were outside of the city, we decided to spend the night at a small farm near the town.  The location was secluded (instructions to get there included the words "turn at the for sale sign") and the air was fresh, so why not?

HBomb tends to feel a little cooped up every now and then in our Buenos Aires apartment, so it was good that he got a chance to stretch his legs out on the farm.  And since the nearest neighbor was miles away, it seemed like a good idea... that was until we realized that the nearest neighbor was a bull.  Maybe you should stay a little closer, HBomb.  But go ahead and check out the corn field...

Children in the Corn

We actually spent the night in a cabin and the owners of the place brought us a 4 course meal.  We passed the winter evening warmed by the heat of a fireplace in the cabin.  The next morning, HBomb checked out the local animal life.  (But before you start getting any ideas, please remember, this was not an estancia.  Mark's pledge to avoid estancias remains intact)


When we arrived at our host's property, we were greeted by a quartet of little pups and one of their parents.  They were our constant companions/concierge service throughout our time there.

HBomb introduces himself to Dulce and Juanito, the two most outgoing pups we met.  I wonder where he gets this from?

After spending a little time with the pups, we decided to get to know the other residents.  We walked out to where the gauchos were riding horses.  They stopped over to see us and got HBomb to pet the horse.  He thought this was quite hilarious, so we escalated to horse back riding.  Although he couldn't reach the reigns on this mount, HBomb appeared to be quite the natural horseman.

Saddles are for the weak

Next, HBomb decided to introduce himself to the smaller horse, which he insisted on referring to as a cow.

The little horse came over for a look at the visitors, much to the excitement of HBomb.  Dulce and Juanito were also intrigued.

Eeeeeeeeee!!!!

After a little "get to know you time," HBomb mounted up and was ready to ride.

Finally, HBomb found the burro, which he inexplicably called a wolf.... ok, I guess I can see it, but I think we might need to work on animals this week.  Anyway, after a short protest from the wolf, I mean donkey, HBomb rode around a little.  Or since it was such a small burro, I guess he was riding a "burrito."

 Little gaucho

But after a long weekend celebrating Argentine Flag Day, it was time to go home and recalibrate.  HBomb decided to do his own flag day celebration, but he is more of a fan of the stars and stripes.

'Merica

Gearing up for the Olympics

HBomb and Manu Ginobli hooping it up

Later this summer, the Olympic games will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (probably - unless the Zika, pollution, impeached president, Russian doping scandal, or something else knocks it off course).  Obviously, in an Olympic year, everyone's competitive juices are flowing.  This was clearly evident on the trip back to the US.

Keep the feet together

Our first example was a head to head match up between HBomb and Uncle Coach in the Olympic event of trampoline.  What's that?  You don't think that trampoline is an Olympic event?  Well, actually it is.  Check it out.  Anyway, Hbomb was not ready for this level of competition and clearly biffed the landing.  The judges could not overlook the egregious face plant.

T-Bone makes the quick turn and change of direction.

Later, Mark got into the act, taking on his niece, T-Bone in a foot race.  Mark was proud of his close second place finish.  Despite a strong start, the race course itself gave him trouble.  The "touch the tree and come back" format does not favor those runners who can't change direction easily.  T-Bone made the quick turn and cruised home for the victory.  Thankfully, Mark did not take down the tree.

Mark was first out of the gate, just for the record....

This also had the effect of wearing out T-Bone, allowing Uncle Coach to pull off a victory in the later heats.....

T-Bone looks a little winded, thanks to Mark pushing her in the earlier heats.

While Mark, Anne and the HBomb were back in the states, they also had the chance to watch nephew/cousin Dr. J run in the sub-section track meet.  This was an historic event as Dr. J and his teammates set the school record in the 4x400 meter relay.  Nice work!

Imagine how fast he would be going if his feet actually touched the ground.

But the competition was not limited to Minnesota.  The spirit of competition burned in Iowa was well.  HBomb's cousin Stitchy used a strong finish to defeat Uncle Jim in the parking lot dash.  This took place after a vigorous bowling competition.

Face forward, Stitchy...

Who had the high game in the bowling match?  Funny you should ask.  That was all Mark.  174.  174?  Really?  Isn't that what the pro bowlers score?  Yeah, on a good day.....

But everyone seemed to have a good time.  HBomb's cousins enjoyed it..... 

But no one had quite as good a time as HBomb himself.....

R&R

Just some good ole boys....

After spending part of March in Peru, Mark, Anne and HBomb reduced the travel for most of April and May.  However, right before the calendar flipped to June, our intrepid trio embarked on a rest and relaxation tour back in the U.S. of A.

Whenever you're away from home, it's always nice to go back.  Anne and Mark have been away since last August.  HBomb really hasn't spent too much of his life in the U.S., so for him, it might be like going to a new place.  And if it is, we can conclude that it is his favorite new place.  In fast, as soon as we landed for our layover at the beautiful Atlanta airport, the HBomb started to make himself at home with a nice bowl of American fruit while still wearing his jammies from the overnight flight.

"Fruit?"  IS that what we call this?

Did he enjoy the US fruit?  Yeah, I think so.

FRUIT!!!

In fact, HBomb's fruit might have been the only food in the U.S. that Mark did not eat.  Not really meaning to, Mark pretty much ate his way through two weeks in the United States.  He had a nice chicken sandwich at the Chik-fil-A at the airport in Atlanta and never really felt hungry again the entire trip.  But that didn't stop him from eating.  

If 15 pound meatloaf is wrong, I don't want to be right.

So, it started off with the meatloaf.  Apparently, this was created on a dare or a bet or a reality cooking show.  Either way, Mark's nephew cobbled today about 15 pounds of meats and arranged it in loaf form.  How was it?  It was ground beef wrapped in bacon - how do you think it was?  Amazing.

You can watch my iPad, but only from the other side of the table and sideways.

HBomb and his cousin got in on the act as well.  That's them sitting at the big kids' table taking down some Happy Joe's spaghetti pizza.  How was it?  It's spaghetti on pizza - how do you think it was?  Amazing.

And of course, you can't forget the birthday cake.  Although it is still months from the big day, HBomb had an early birthday party in Dubuque.  He went with the "handful of cake" method.  How was it?.... you know.  Amazing.

Nom, nom, nom.

When he wasn't eating, HBomb just ran around giggling and having a good time.  In Minnesota he got together with his cousins (see picture at top of post) and they gave everyone a preview of future mayhem.  Somehow, they got control of vehicle.  God help us if they figure out how to get it on the road....

Hey, watch this!

With Anne's family, HBomber was having a great time seeing all the sights of Dubuque.  First, of course, was the ground squirrel field found between Grandpa and Grandma's house....

Then, they found the 4th street elevator and rode it up and down.  For the uninitiated, Dubuque is built on the bluffs along the Mississippi.  As a result of this, some of the streets are quite steep.  Including, apparently, 4th street.  At some point, somebody built a street car that went up and down the hill on 4th street on a rail.  You can still ride it today... if you dare!!!!

Steepest, shortest railway in the world!!! 

yes, the car leaned to the left.

The crew loaded up the elevator and took the plunge.  The two uncles explained to the youngsters that the elevator was actually powered by misbehaving passengers who have to spend the rest of day pulling the car up the hill. After that explanation, we had no misbehaving passengers.

Apparently, HBomb was taking this picture.....

From the top, you can see all of Dubuque.  Which, of course, gave us ideas of what else we needed to do while in Dubuque (it can't be JUST eating).  In no particular order, we went.....


to the arboretum...

We tried this picture 15 times.  This was the best HBomb could do.

to the River Museum (and lizard petting zoo?)

She's going to be surprised she did this some day.....

and back to grandma's house to see if we could all fit in the toy box!

Talk about getting a wild hair

Anne Drops the Dead Weight

As readers of this blog may have gathered, Anne is pulling around a lot of dead weight (mostly in the form of Mark).  But every once in a while, she breaks free and goes off on her own.  One of these days occurred in Peru.  While Mark and the HBomb waited for KP and Jo Jo at the hotel in Ollantaytumbo, Anne hopped the train and went to Machu Picchu unencumbered.

How does visiting Machu Picchu without Mark and the HBomb differ from visiting it with them?  Well, first of all, there are a lot fewer clouds without Mark and HBomb around.  Anne ended up hiking Machu Picchu on a perfectly clear day.

Eagle-eyed viewers might also notice that visiting Machu Picchu without Mark and HBomb involves some slightly different views.  This is because Anne decided to do something that Mark, despite his well-known affinity for hiking, decided not to do: hike Huayna Picchu.  What is Huayna Picchu?  This is:

Huayna Picchu, or "young mountain" overlooks the ruins at Machu Picchu.  Hiking it is limited to 400 people per day.  And it is not the easiest hike in the world.  For one thing, it is pretty steep:

And it's not just that, there are also some tight quarters before you get to the summit.

Although Anne passes through it with ease, Mark realizes that he probably would still be stuck in this passage if he had tried to climb Huayna Picchu.

So far, we have established that when Anne was on her own, the day was brighter and sunnier, the hikes were longer and more impressive.  What else was different between the visit of the whole team and Anne's solo visit?

As you might expect, the majority of Anne's pix contain HBomb when he is around.  When he's not, she takes pictures of llamas and alpacas, obviously.

B.A. in a Day

Not on vacation

KP and JoJo had a mantra during their whirlwind trip to Peru and then to Argentina (and then to Uruguay and back to Argentina, actually): "We don't go on vacation, we take trips!"  And they weren't kidding.  For example, on Saturday, they did absolutely everything there is to do in Buenos Aires in one day.  More or less.

Swing batter, batter

Sounds like a tall order, and it is.  In order to get it all done, you have to start early.  First thing on the agenda - tennis lesson.  Argentina is loaded with clay courts and tennis pros, so why not have a lesson first thing in the morning.  JoJo was complemented on her softball-style swing and KP picked up a few pointers on his backhand.

After that, did they take a rest?  No way, this isn't a vacation, it's a trip!  Next stop, bike tour!

Nothing helps you blend in on the Plaza de Mayo like getting your picture taken in front of the Casa Rosada (roughly the Argentine equivalent of the White House) while wearing bike helmets!

We also took the bike tour through the Boca neighborhood.  We stopped outside the famous Bombonara soccer stadium, home of the Boca Juniors.  It's a weirdly shaped little stadium, but venerable and part of the experience of attending a Boca Juniors match.

More mate please!

As long as we were in Boca, might as well go ahead and stop for some mate.  KP is maybe the biggest fan of mate ever.  He loves it.  Couldn't get enough.  Anne and Mark are already making plans to send the first shipment to him in the states.

You can't see River and Boca stuff in the same store!

While in Boca, KP and JoJo picked up some souvenirs in one of the shops near El Caminito (a street made famous by Carlos Gardel in the hey day of tango, now the center of the tourist experience in La Boca).  KP played it safe by focusing on national team and Boca Juniors souvenirs.  Mark thought it would have been more bold to grab a River Plate jersey and wear it in that neighborhood.  In fact, why were they even selling River stuff down in La Boca?

Next it was on to the polo grounds to catch part of a polo match.  As mentioned El Paso and Navidad played for the Copa Libertador.

To finish it off, Mark took KP and Jo Jo to the tango show with the rocking guy on the accordion.  Unfortunately, Capt. Accordion was way more mellow this time around.  C'est la vie.  Anyway, the trio then bought some dulce de leche ice cream to check the final box on the B.A. in one day tour.