Summer has been going strong for about a month now and it just hit us, "Hey! It's SUMMER!" So on Tuesday we took full advantage of our pool by swimming in it twice that day, morning and afternoon because, IT'S SUMMER! And we can.
Wednesday was Kiersten's brother's birthday and Mackenzie's 19 month mark! We'll dive more into her accomplishments below.
Keeping up with our New Year's Resolution we played games Thursday night and it is so fun to mix things up from our normal dishes, clean up and binge watching Netflix.
Friday was a super fun day. The girls walked to the Embassy for the first time in a while and Mackenzie walked the whole way which was a first. They played at the play ground and then met Scott for a few minutes. Mackenzie had slept in that morning (until 8!) so missed seeing her Daddy before he went off to work.
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| Swinging! |
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| We found some slugs at the Embassy. |
That evening we had some church friends over for Pizza and our Harry Potter game. They are also Potterheads and they loved it! We lost level three so, darn, gonna have to get together and play again soon.
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| Scott got Mackenzie out of the kitchen so Kiersten could cook and they returned with all her bows on her head. |
In the morning we carpooled with these same friends and another member family an hour north to Piquete Cue where we took a guided row boat onto the lagoon to see the biggest lily pads ever! These lily pads appear every 3-4 years here but hadn't had a boom in almost a decade and were thought to be extinct until last week when they began blooming again. It was such an incredible sight! Mackenzie even enjoyed her first boat ride.
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| Beautiful but you can't tell how big they are from this... |
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| Now you can! HUGE! |
After we viewed the lily pads we took a motor boat out into the river to explore the rock castle that had been built by the Paraguayan Navy many years ago. Mackenzie did not care for that ride.
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| There was this rock in the middle of the river so they built a lookout castle. |
We arrived home around 1 in the afternoon and we were all adventured-out for the day. Once we rested up a bit we went to T.G.I. Fridays for dinner.
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| She's getting picky about her food so we gave her one of Scott's rib's bones. She loved it. Salty and hard for her gums to gnaw on... like a dog. |
Sunday was a busy and taxing day as always. Let's just say the Primary presidency is finally having a meeting this coming week which Kiersten could not be more thrilled about. We spent the afternoon resting, eating and FaceTiming with family. Oh and saying Happy Birthday to Scott's little brother. Everyone's growing up!
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| Captured the artist hard at work during Sacrament Meeting. |
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| She did great again in Nursery. And the kids love her a little too much. Those lip prints are from them. |
Monday, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in American and for the US Embassy so Scott had the day off. We enjoyed sleeping in (sort of) and getting some exercise at Parque de la Salud. Mackenzie had fun running around the park afterwards and when we got home. So much so that when she took her nap she slept just shy of 4 hours! Growing girl. During the nap, Kiersten went with her Spanish tutor Brenda (and friend from Friday night Pizza) to get a much needed pedicure. It was very relaxing and wonderful to know Scott was with Mackenzie.
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| Empanadas are abundant here and there is an empanada place less than half a mile from our house that we always say, "Oh someday." Someday was today! |
Then this evening we had the sister missionaries over to send emails home (P-day is today) and join us for dinner. We love the sister missionaries!
Misadventures in Baking:
- We have a recipe for Molten Chocolate Cakes that we enjoyed making in the States and have made it twice here and both times the middle chunk of chocolate hasn't melted. We blame the oven. Grr!
- For dessert on Sunday Kiersten made an impromtu blueberry-apple crumble which was delicious. The recipe serves two but since our ramekins are on the smaller side, we made a third even smaller one for Mackenzie which she loved. That girl knows how to eat her sweets!
Quirks of Paraguay:
- Victoria cruziana or Giant Lily Pads. The locals call them "alligator lilies" and it makes sense why. These things were enormous! Think plastic kiddie pool size and you've got it. Four feet in diameter was about the average size. They only bloom for about a month so we were lucky to get to see them.
- Restaurants. Not sure if we've mentioned this before but nothing seems to open until 7pm or later so we haven't yet experienced many of the local cuisine because we have a small child who goes to bed at that same time. This is why we keep hitting the American restaurants and food courts because they are always open.
The Mackenzie Update:
- Our little girl is 19 months old! She loves reading books, playing with balls, hugging her "babies" (stuffed animals), making dog sounds (bow wow!), and running! She is working on lots of new words including "I'm sorry". It's never a dull moment with this happy, busy child and we wouldn't trade the last 19 months with her for anything!
Rocking her cute giraffe outfit from Grandma Hammond
and her red Toms. - She's officially got 4 molars in with more on the way? Poor thing. They hit her all at once making the last 6 weeks pretty miserable for all of us but mostly for her.
- Tantrums. She is getting to the point where if she is displeased about something she'll lay herself down and cry while looking up at us with a pitiful look on her little face or with her head in her hands face down. It's adorable and annoying all at once.
- If we are sitting on the couch she can climb up without our help. She can't do it if we aren't on the couch. Guess the cushions are too tall without the weight on them. But she can climb onto the patio chairs alone. She's getting taller!
Enjoying the magic coloring book from Great Aunt Suzanne.
Another exciting week in the books for us. Thanks for reading along! We'll see you next week.
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