Argentina's Independence Day

We spent the middle part of this gorgeous day participating in the Independence Day activities going on at a nearby plaza. It is always fun to get involved in local festivities, and doing so helps us appreciate how similar people are no matter where they come from. Later, we had a picnic and played at a small park in another, quieter plaza. It was a wonderful day, and we are so glad we got to be a part of it!

Meat upon meat
(And locro, a traditional Andean stew,
which is the main dish on this special day.)

Lots of sweet treats

Joining the crowd in the plaza

Marching Band

Dancers

Enjoying the Bubble Man

Clay was chosen from the crowd of eager kids
to put his arm through a bubble.

When National Wine Day corresponds
to Argentina's Independence Day

Picnic in the park

Big fun!

Round and round....

...And up and down

The boys found this dilapidated soccer ball and
gave it several hours of new life.

Any good Independence Day deserves a good BBQ.
These two were the fire starters.

And this one was the head chef!

Depot Days

As luck would have it, our time in Cheyenne coincided with the city's Depot Days, so we spent the day amongst a myriad of trains, big and small. We got to visit the museum and learn all about the building of railways by hand and the necessity to build to a rythm to keep things moving efficiently. We also got to tour the steam shop, where they work on the locomotives, and the round house, where we saw some massive engines. Additionally, we saw a ton of model trains and got to chat with train enthusiasts from all over. We had lunch at a fun little train-themed diner, and then before leaving the downtown area, we popped into a local brewery for some refreshments. When we got back to our campground in the late afternoon, the boys took to the onsite miniature golf course and played until after dark, while the rest of us read in the warmth of the RV. It was a lovely day, and we were glad we got to be a part of the Cheyenne Depot Days.

Cheyenne Depot Days

Train table fun

Max was particularly fascinated
with the model trains.

We loved learning about the snow blades!

One of the big engines

Luxury Diner

A special treat from Luxury Diner

Samples at Freedom's Edge Brewing Co.

Silver Dollar City

 Part county fair, part historic village, part theme park, and part variety show, Silver Dollar City is all fun! And, we were fortunate to get to visit during the Bluegrass and BBQ Festival, which meant good food and great music were easy to come by. Additionally, the kids got to ride all kinds of thrilling rides, and we got to watch some artisans, like glassblowers, blacksmiths, and woodworkers do their thing. It was such a wonderful day!

Just a swingin'

That time my seemingly innocent son unbuckled his seatbelt while the ride was in motion "because it was a slow ride, and there wasn't really a reason to wear a seatbelt," which caused the operator to shut down the ride, call park management, write up a report, recheck everyone's seatbelt, and restart the ride, and almost caused me to lose it from the other side of the fence.

The boys got invited into one of the food kiosks to help make succotash. If only they had had some big pans to work with!

The boys loved watching the blacksmith work.

Frog Races

A hand-powered ride

I'm pretty sure someone is going to get wet!

At the last show of the evening, the kids were invited up on stage to dance with the performers.
When Clay saw them break out the hula hoops, he made a beeline for the stage.
However, he reversed just as quickly when he saw all the hula hoops were already taken. 

Family Fun

We had the opportunity to visit parents/grandparents this weekend, and we had so much fun! On Saturday, we got to visit a "canstruction" event put on by a local university, and then we had lunch at the food truck festival. Many laughs, good meals, and fun times were shared this weekend! We are so thankful for our extended family and the fun times we have with them.

"Canstruction" Zone

Food Truck Festival

Making banana pudding with Nana

State Fair

Even though Jeff and I both grew up in Texas, neither of us had ever had the opportunity to visit the state fair. Now that we practically live in the fairground's backyard, we really had no excuse not to attend. So, yesterday we declared a school holiday and took the kids down to the fair. We avoided the crowds by going on a weekday and arriving early. We ate as many ridiculously unhealthy things as we could manage, rode rides, played games, and enjoyed gawking at all the sights. We were so thrilled to check off this Bucket List item and experience this truly iconic Texas tradition!

Icons of the fair

The boys had a blast participating in the gigantic bean bag toss! Each had his own technique.

Car Shopping

Obstacle Course

We did not, by any stretch, try all the unhealthy fair foods, but we did try several, including:
corn dogs (of course!), mango-on-a-stick, fried Twinkie, footlong corn dog, footlong hot dog, chicken and waffles, cotton candy, pretzel crusted queso pollo balls, deep-fried, bacon-wrapped chili cheese dog with tots, and fried avocados. 

The little boys tackled the New York, New York funhouse.

And the older kids tried out the swings.

The last hurrah of the day was the log ride, which all the kids thoroughly enjoyed.

Weekend

On Friday, we celebrated the first real fall-feeling day with lunch at La Madeleine, a place we never eat at unless the temperature outside requires outerwear. After lunch, I took Clay to the dollar store because he had some birthday money burning a hole in his pocket, and he was dying for some dress-up clothes. He bought up all the boy choices they had and left so very happy. He loves that he can be a ninja-firefighter-chef, while still maintaining his Batman persona. Plus, he has all the weapons. So, don't mess with him.

Weston had a game yesterday, which ended in another Rebel victory. Woohoo! Then, the Aggies managed to give every single one of their supporters a long, slow heart attack but ultimately put another mark in the "W" column. We are all thankful for the bye next week, so we can recover.

Today, we decided to take in some of the local culture by attending the FloMo Food Truck Fest, which was such a great way to spend a beautiful fall day. We enjoyed lobster rolls, BBQ, pizza, hot dogs, and ice cream, along with craft vendors, bouncy houses, live music, and free tchatches.

And the crowning achievement of our weekend was that, after living in this house for two whole months, we finally got some decorative things hung on the walls, put our house numbers up, and got the boys' loft beds delivered and set up. Because we can be regular, normal, non-nomadic people.

Ninja or Ninja Turtle?

#99 with the catch in the endzone for 2!

FloMo Food Truck Fest

New Beds

House Number Helper

My favorite additions to the house

Viva España

The first class of the day was interrupted by a pod of dolphins making their way across the sea outside our apartment. There were about six or seven, and they were so fun to watch! Eventually, they were out of sight, and we refocused our attention on Math and Literature. We have not had an interruption quite like that before, and it was a fun diversion.

This afternoon, we drove over to Fuengirola for the Three Kings parade. In many parts of the world, Santa is not that big a deal, but the Three Kings are the gift givers of choice. They show up with gifts for kids on January 6 every year, and many towns in Spain have parades on the 5th to welcome them. Since we didn't have any experience with a parade of this sort, we showed up early and were able to run some errands and play at a neat playground while we waited for the celebration to get under way. This was not your typical small town parade. The floats were quite large and carried internationally recognizable characters. And, there was more candy thrown from them than I can even conceive. One article I read in preparation for the event said that somewhere in the neighborhood of 11 tons of candy was thrown out at one of these parades in the past, and I don't doubt that statistic after what I saw tonight. It was a spectacular event, and we all had so much fun!

When the parade was over, we drove back to Benalmadena and headed over to the marina for dinner. We found a wonderful seafood restaurant and ate some truly delicious food. It was a wonderful day in a wonderful place!

Dolphins in our backyard

Working out at the playground

Waiting for the parade

Plaza de España

This man actually caught a piece of candy in his mouth (by accident)!

The Three Kings

Clay being tough with the polar bear at the marina

This boy LOVES fried sprat, a fish similar to a sardine.
He ate the majority of what you see on the plate!