Yesterday...

In a small casa in the middle of the jungle in Argentina, the phone rang. I knew the minute the Spanish operator said in very broken English that my little brother was on the line, it was the phone call I was dreading. Through the tears I said thank you in spanish and then there was my brother's voice. No one calls South America during someone's vacation with good news. My grandmom...my favorite grandmom in the entire world...the one who has made such an impact on my life...passed away yesterday. Yesterday...yesterday we were on top of the most beautiful falls in the world. Yesterday...yesterday we climbed to the bottom and got soaked in the falls. Did you see me wave to you grandmom? Did you see the most beautiful rainbow near the point? It was the closest thing I could get to heaven, grandmom...did you see me?...yesterday.

On the road again...

On the road again...I just can't wait to get on the road again...

Oh yes, we are on the move. Today we flew (domestically) about an hour and half north to Iguazu. You should have seen it. As we landed all you could see for miles and miles was a sea of green. The jungle apparently...who knew. Tomorrow we will go into the national park here and see Iguazu Falls. It's an all day tour and we will see it from the Argentina side only (the Brazillian side is quite expensive for all of us to cross over just to see a different angle). We are staying at a small cabin on the grounds of lush tropicalness (is that even a word?). Anyway, it's beautiful. Granted we all smell like bug spray (there is a high risk of malaria here...better to be protected). But we are enjoying ourselves tremendously. So from this smelly bug spray family over and out...until tomorrow...

We made it here!!!

Greetings from the beautiful country of Argentina,

After a two hour flight to Dallas and then a 10 hour overnight flight we finally made it here to Buenos Aires. Today the weather was beautiful. We took a guided tour around the city and it was so fascinating. The city is filled with history and the architecture is much like Paris and Spain depending on which part you are in. They had an amazing cemetary (where Evita is buried) that looks a lot like some from New Orleans which are quite ornate. Our travels so far have been quite stress-free - highly unusual for our family. (For starters, unlike our trip to Ethiopia our luggage made it...so we new it was a good start) Tomorrow we are headed to Iguazu Falls (a short domestic flight North). It will be a sight to see!

South America here we come...

6 little passports lined up in a row,

4 packed bags all ready to go.

4 smiling faces anxious to fly,

If we don't get our bags I know we'll get by.

Because this is our vacation and being together is the best,

No matter what happens, we'll get through the rest.


So come along with us on a journey to South America,

It's going to be so much fun (sorry...nothing rhymes with America).

Keep your eyes on the prize...

October for us is a crazy busy month. We have so many things in "full swing" right now that it's a wonder we get everything done.

The older kids are competing again this year in the First Lego League Mindstorm competition. The practices are three times a week at our house. The actual competition isn't until December but they are working hard on their project now and their robot design.

Our youngest girl is doing fall soccer and loves every minute of it. She practices once a week with one to two games during the week. Along with soccer, both girls are involved in gymnastics once a week. If that's not enough, all of the kids take swimming, piano and are involved in Awanas at church once a week.

Whew...that will wear anybody out. But in the midst of all this craziness, there is one thing our entire family is looking forward to in just a couple of weeks. The golden prize so to speak...our vacation.

This year we decided to take the entire family and go to Argentina and we are beyond excited. We are going to see this... one of the greatest wonders...Iguaza Falls. We are also going to walk on this...

a real life glacier in El Calafate. And play with these...

at Valdes Peninsula. If that's not enough we will see some of the most beautiful countryside and experience life outside of our little world. The best part of all...we get to do it as a family.

So as our weeks get crazier we just keep thinking about what's coming at the end of the month and keep our eyes on the prize...