Basketball...Argentina Style!

Basketball with a bunch of below-5-feet-tall boys who can sink threes and one wicked fast girl! Scrimmage goes like this: breakaway, score, really-bad-defense-where-everyone-is-stealing-the-other-team-mates-player-and-I-am-totally-confused, foul, yelling coach, repeat. Yah, that is what I'm dealing with!

Cupcakes!

These are the chocolate with cream cheese frosting cupcakes that I made a few days ago.

This is one of the cupcakes I made for Taylors B-day. I liked this one (vanilla with lemon frosting) better. It also looked nicer!

Soccer

A couple of days ago I joined a soccer team and it was and still is  awesome! The team name is Racing Club. I am on a team with about 25 Argentinians. The thing is they are crazy about soccer (futball) here.  It is one of the only sports they play and they are very good at it.  My coach is named Mouro and he speaks no English, so I just follow other kids around and find out what to do.  My practices are on martes, miercoles y hueves (tuesday, wednesday and thursday).  And I sometimes practice twice a day.

Empanadas 2

More Empanadas!

Taylor did all of them himself!

Kitty Cat!

Yesterday, I heard some meowing from the backyard and went out to find a little kitten! He had fallen from the wall surrounding the yard and he was so small and scared! My mom came out with me and we tried to get him to eat some chicken but he wouldn't so we brought him over to the neighbors to see if he was theirs. They spoke very rapid Spanish but in the end we figured out that a lady on the other side of the wall took care of the cats, so we left him in the yard and his mother got him, we think.

Comparison of my finger to the kittens head.

Carnival in Trelew

Last night at 11 o'clock, my family and I walked downtown to see the famous Carnival of Trelew. Although we missed the parade, this late night fiesta had it all, including a live band. Kids running around screaming and spraying Silly String all over the crowd, who could imagine a better party? To bad this rock concert was in a different language!!!! The live band sang very fast Spanish and the only part I could make out was, "Quien comer la roca?", roughly translated to "Who ate the rock?" Of course, it was a very cultural experience, talking about eating rocks and all that!!!  Here are a few pics:

Some crazy costumes!

Sweet tooth

The 'confiterias' in Trelew are everywhere, but this one's our favorite.  On this trip, we had to buy a broad selection ("it's a cultural experience" says Abby).  Many of the cakes are from a Welsh tradition here - lots of cream and nuts and jellies - and others are filled with dulce de leche, which is the carmel spread that's the Argentinian equivalent of peanut butter (in everything, everywhere).  But the best baker in town has to be Abby...she surprised us with heart cookies at the end of the day on the 14th when we had all forgotten it was Valentine's Day! The many episodes of "Cake Boss" and "Cupcake Wars" she's been watching here are paying off big dividends for the rest of us.

Random Things in Trelew

Between the people in our family, we managed to bring 4 brushes!

The line in the Post Office. Friends in Durham, keep on the look out for postcards!

My mom and I recently took up knitting as our most often past time seeing that we have 110 days ahead of us to finish a project.

This is the hat I knit

Playa Union

A few days ago we went to the beach. It is called Playa Union and is different than the one we have been showing you guys in Puerto Madryn.  At Playa, the waves are much bigger and the sand much rougher. Here's some pics.

Rough waves

The beach

Taylor buried in the sand

We like the sidewalks here

It may be only a small thing, but we are enjoying the sidewalks here.  Especially after we learned to watch where we walk, as the level changes in front of every building.  We tripped a lot at first. The designs change too, as each house or store owns all the way to the street, and each owner is responsible for a small portion of sidewalk. While there are lots of places where there is no sidewalk (dirt, etc.), most are elaborately decorated with stamped concrete or tiles.  Here are some from our neighborhood. 

• My favorite is the one in the middle.  
• Taylor's favorite is on the top left.
• Abby's favorite is in the middle.
• Dad likes the one on the upper right

Vote for your favorite! :-)

Sidewalks of Trelew, Patagonia

Our Video About the MEF

This is a video presentation of the MEF that we made.  The MEF is the paleontology museum in Trelew. This is the place my dad is working right now. My sister and I made a video of a lot of the exhibits in it. All of the dinosaurs and other creatures are ones found in Patagonia.  This video was made for my class so some parts probably will not make any sense to you.
Please enjoy!!!



               
Thank you for watching!!!