a link to Guillermo's pictures from Argentina trip

Here is the link to our Picasa Web Album with all of the pictures Guillermo took on his trip to Argentina with his brother Alfred.  Just click on the picture and it will take you to our album......

Argentina July 2011

We saw rain yesterday!

And that was so exciting!  It didn't rain at the house we're at, unfortunately.

Yesterday we met Sergio for lunch at El Palmito, and I think we pretty much all agreed that was the worst food we've ever had there.  We may not be going back.  After lunch, Sergio went with us to the Tax office so that we could change the title of the truck back over to us.  That cost a little more than we would have liked so next time we do something like this, we'll think twice about turning over the title to someone who's not a relative.  When we left the tax office, that's when it started to rain.  It's nice that we were in the area where it was raining, because by the time we got back to the house, it was all dry out there.

The second day we were in this house, we could have had a real disaster.
We left the house, going out through the garage where the car is parked.  As we pulled away, we used the garage door remote to shut the garage door and we drove off.  We ran a few errands at various stores and when we got back to the house, we tried to use the remote to open the garage and it wouldn't work.  We pressed all the buttons, turned it around, did everything we could think of, and it just would not open the garage door.  The only thing we could think to do was try to use the house key to go in through the  front door.  The only problem with that is that the front door has an extra deadbolt up high on the door and we did not know if we had locked that deadbolt also.  Hoping against hope, I went to the front door and used the key to open the two bottom locks and then anxiously turned the door knob and miraculously the door opened.  We had NOT latched that upper deadbolt for some reason and my goodness.  If we had, there is NO way we could have gotten into that house.  The car full of groceries, the temperature outside about to hit the 100s and no one around to ask for help.  The relief we felt was indescribable.

Living in Helotes for a while

We got back to San Antonio from Dallas on the 16th.  We had a leisurely morning the day we left Dallas and even got to meet the owner of the house we stayed in.  He was very nice and we told him we'd love to stay in his house again some time.

Our drive back to San Antonio was good except for one very scary incident in Georgetown.  We were driving down 35 when all of a sudden we noticed a truck on the other side leave its lane and start careening at a very high speed in our direction!!! We both watched incredulously as the truck drove through the grass in the center and we feared that maybe his truck would come into our lane of traffic and possibly hit us head on or at least go in front of us across our lane.  Guillermo slowed down as best as he could and the next thing we knew, the truck SLAMMED up against the concrete divider right ahead of us, sending a massive cloud of dirt and dust across our side of the highway.  Driving through that cloud of dirt was hard - you could hardly see a thing and we hoped nothing bigger than dirt would fly in our direction.  BUT, we were very grateful that the concrete divider stopped the truck (not too sure if we could have avoided hitting him if he had come all the way across), we were very grateful that the cloud of dirt was all we had to contend with and we felt very sorry for the person who just crashed.  That truck hit the concrete at full speed and the impact could not have been good for them at all.  When we looked back, we saw several cars pulling over on both sides, so we were glad to see that people were stopping to help.  We can't imagine what must have happened to make that truck leave the highway so suddenly.

We spent that night and the following night at Mom's house (spending a lot of time at Linda's house with Jacob) and on the 18th in the evening we went to the house out in Helotes where we're going to live for the next three weeks.

The people we're going to house sit for were still home, but it was a good opportunity to spend some time with them around so that we could get to know various things about how things function around their house.  They left on their trip the next day around 1:30.

We are really enjoying living here in this house.  We keep thinking, "We could live here!"  The living room is all window on two sides so there is a wonderful view of the hill country and in one direction you can see the lights of the city of San Antonio.  The home is two story and our bedroom is on the bottom floor.  The kitchen is HUGE and has every convenience that you could think of.

Our first evening here, we took a walk around the neighborhood admiring the other homes in the area.  Most of the homes here are really big.  The neighborhood is very hilly so we had a lot of going up and down on our walk. Good exercise!  That first evening, the sunset was really nice glowing behind the hills.  It was so nice to be outside walking around in such a lovely area.  We saw lots of rabbits, too!

Last day in Dallas

Our time in Dallas is coming to a close.  Here's what's been happening the last few days.  I really should name this blog, "Nothing but yesterdays and the days before".

Anyway, going back to Friday, August 12th.
Grocery shopping at Tom Thumb.
In the late afternoon, we visited Grapevine's Aquarium.  We loved the big tanks that held the sharks and had water above and below where we walked.  After going through the aquarium, we met Jason's brother Brian and wife Katrina out by the food court of the mall.
In the evening, the rest had a rehearsal dinner to attend, so Guillermo and I looked forward to visiting Grapevine's Botanical garden but we were disappointed to find out when we got there that there really wasn't much to those gardens at all.  There were a few pretty spots, though.

Saturday, August 13th
In the morning, Jason's father came over and enjoyed a nice breakfast with us of pancakes, bacon, fruit, juice and milk.  It was nice having a group here for breakfast.
In the afternoon, we had a cooking session!  Guillermo, Rebeca and I worked together to make Guillermo's famous chicken and rice dish.  We had thought John and Elaine were going to be joining us for dinner, but they weren't feeling well and decided it'd be best not to go out.  So, we enjoyed the chicken and rice and garlic bread ourselves, along with some absolutely delicious Sangria that Rebeca made.  QUITE tasty!!

In the evening, Rebeca, Katrina, Guillermo and I walked into town.  There were quite a few other people walking around, too so it was nice to be walking around looking at all the restaurants and businesses that Grapevine has.

Sunday, August 14th
Busy morning with everyone getting ready for the wedding of Jason's mother.  The wedding was at 2pm in an old church that was converted into a wedding chapel.  It was a pretty setting.  After a lovely wedding, we all walked across to the reception area.  Thank goodness it was close since it was another very hot day.  Jason's grandfather sat with us at our table (along with Rebeca, Jason and some of his cousins).  Good food, good wine and good cake, so it was a great reception and it was nice seeing some of Jason's relatives again who we hadn't seen since Rebeca and Jason's own wedding.

After the wedding we all came back and pretty much crashed for several hours.  We didn't do much the rest of the day.  We thought maybe we'd get together with John and Elaine this evening but that didn't work out since John still wasn't feeling too well, and it'd be a long drive for them.  So, we all just took it easy.  Rebeca started packing up later that evening since they were planning on leaving for Tucson at around 5am the next morning.  These were taken while taking a break from packing up.

So, as I'm writing this now, Guillermo and I are by ourselves in the house we all rented.  It's a nice house, one we'd consider having if it was in a better location.

For breakfast this morning we had Guillermo's famous chicken and rice and fruit, for lunch we had Guillermo's famous chicken and rice with fruit and for dinner this evening we'll have Guillermo's famous chicken and rice with fruit.  We made a big pot of it on Saturday, thinking we'd have more company, but that didn't materialize so we were left with just enough to feed us all day.  We also finished at lunch the Sangria Rebeca had made on Saturday- and it was delicious.  Oh and after breakfast this morning, we walked into town to pick up a shoe that I was getting repaired.  Extremely hot morning.....  Some picture of the house we rented:

This was a nice place in the yard to just sit around but during the day, it was too hot.

We'll start packing up our stuff this evening, and will head back to San Antonio tomorrow around 11am.

Around Dallas

So, now we're living up in Dallas for a few days.  Here's what's been going on the last few days.

Monday, Aug. 8th
Continued packing up stuff in the rental house, took a box full of computer stuff and some garden supplies to store at mom's house, and had lunch at IHop with Mom, Linda and Jacob.  In the afternoon we made a reservation at a nearby hotel for when we get back from Dallas.  In the evening, we made one last trip to our storage unit and now all that's left is to move out tomorrow!

Tuesday, Aug. 9th
Hardly slept last night, too much thinking about what the next day was going to bring.  So, we got up early and started getting everything together by the front door.  We were packed up and ready to go by 10:50 - a little later than we had wanted, but not too bad.  So, we don't have a long-term place anymore, again, it's going to be moving from place to place for a little while now.  So, next place we're going to is Dallas.  We were kind of tired on the drive up, Guillermo said that the drive from San Antonio to Temple was particularly rough because he just felt so tired!  But after getting a coke (with a burger and fries) he felt a lot better.  It's a long drive from San Antonio to Greenville (which is close to Dallas).  We were so happy to see the Best Western that we were going to be staying in for the night.  Very nice place - our room was very comfortable and it felt good to just relax for a little while.  We called John and Elaine and they said they'd meet us at our room and then we could all go to dinner.
We had dinner at a really good Indian restaurant that was inside a Shell gas station.  Kind of a strange set-up, but it works.  The tables all were cloth-covered and it looked every bit the restaurant.  Everything that was ordered was delicious.  James and Amy met us there, also, so it was nice to be able to have dinner with everyone.
After dinner, we drove to John and Elaine's house and we moved Fernando's car into its little slot that it's going to be in for the next 4 months.  Put its nice new car cover on - looked so nice and snug.  Too bad that in a few months it'll be all loose (though John will tie it down) and mice will probably have started eating on the cover.  Fernando will be finished with his year in Costa Rica in December and will then fly to Dallas where he'll pick up his car and go back up to Canada.  We are so appreciative of John and Elaine for letting us store Fernando's car at their place.

Wednesday, Aug. 10th
Today we met up with Jason and Rebeca in Grapevine!  It was a long drive from Greenville to Grapevine, with construction practically all along every highway we took.  We met them at a restaurant that they were having an early lunch at.   Of course, this restaurant was by the highway where more construction was going on and we almost had an accident really close to the restaurant.  They have drivers going in all sorts of crazy directions around barrels and cones and not being from here, it was hard to know exactly how the lanes were set up.  Anyway, nothing happened so we were very grateful for that.

After they were finished with their lunch, we drove with them to the house we'll be staying in for the next 5 days.  It's an historic home in Grapevine and we are quite comfortable here.  Even though it's an older home, it has all the comforts so it is really like ''being at home".   We drove to the grocery and picked up snacks and food for the next few days.  In the evening, Rebeca fixed taco salad for dinner.  It was quite good!

Thursday, August 11
Today we drove to Grapevine Mills Mall, then went to the Gaylord Texan Hotel where we did a 15 minute parking so that we could see inside this hotel.  It was actually quite impressive and very beautiful.

                    From there, we drove back into downtown Grapevine and had lunch at the Fish Grill.

An interesting fountain in a plaza in downtown Grapevine

We stopped by the Farmer's Market, where we bought a small basket of peaches.

On the streets of Downtown Grapevine.  But look at the sky in the background.  It was starting to look like maybe it could rain.  It never did, though, it got dark, the wind kicked up, but no rain.

At a pioneer home.

When we got back to the house, we just relaxed around the house.  Although Rebeca was actually doing "work" on her computer.  She is shown here with Jack (Diablillo) in her arms, Scrappy on the couch and Duke on the rug on the floor.  Jason was having lunch with his mom this day.

Guillermo messing around with Mr. Scraps

Day after tomorrow, we move out of this rental house and head up to Dallas to meet Jason and Rebeca.

Today we took some things to storage, and gave away a few plants.

Today, yesterday and before

Thursday Aug. 4th - Sarah and kids left, dinner with Marta and Marino, family at Barbaresco's.

Friday Aug. 5th - dinner at the Ehler's house

Yesterday and today

Yesterday we went to the Alamo and to the Riverwalk.

Today, we went to Kiddie Park and afterwards had lunch with Oma at Chili's.

Kohl's shopping

Took the girls to Kohl's today to get them some fun outfits.  It was hard trying to get a picture of them, though.

In the evening, we walked down to where our house used to be.  The girls seemed to enjoy the walk down there.