Breakfast, Lunch, Tea, and Dinner

Happy shortest day of the year!  We get to have three shortest-day-of-the-years in a row.  There's a little part of me that is sad to be missing summer.  But on the flip side, I think it's better for us to be here during the winter rather than summer.  A few days ago we were walking and it was actually quite warm and sunny, so by the time we got home we were all a little sweaty and thirsty.  Going on long walks with hot, sweaty, and thirsty kids, always searching for water, makes everyone cranky and worn out.  As it is, it's just chilly enough that our kids love opportunities to run around.  And it's not really that cold.  Most of the time.

Yesterday and today are holidays in Argentina.  Flag day, I think.  Apparently the country has 13 mandatory holidays every year.  We went with our Texas friends to visit a new park which was very nice with a large pond in the middle and several playground areas.  Bryan and the kids were excited to identify three new bird species.  There were lots of people out and about.

One corner of the park has the Museo de Ciencias Naturales... dinosaur bones!  Apparently there were several new dinosaur species discovered in Argentina.  It was neat, but kids can only take so much museuming.  And remember the not-so-cold part I wrote above?  This place was freezing.  If it had central heating it wasn't working or wasn't on.

A couple days ago we were having oatmeal for breakfast, and orange juice to go along with it (and pastries, of course).  Dallin was guzzling his OJ and I told him to save some to have with his oatmeal.  Next thing I know...

Apparently he misinterpreted the phrase "have with his oatmeal."  But he loved his orange-juice-oatmeal-breakfast-soup.

Dessert for breakfast, anyone?

We were also invited to tea and dinner with another of Bryan's colleagues.  In general, we stick to our American 3-meals-a-day eating schedule.  But when we get invited to join others, we have to adjust.  We've been told they eat a small breakfast in the morning, a big lunch around 1:00, small tea around 4:00 or 5:00, and a big dinner around 9:00.  The two times we've been invited to tea it included cake, pastries, and dessert-like snacks.  So when we showed up to tea at 5:30 yesterday, and our bodies were still on an American eating schedule, we were hungry for a big meal.  Our kids went crazy with the sweets.  Okay, I did too.  And a 9:00 dinner time makes for a very late night.

The bus ride home.

We quite commonly have 5 or more of us squished into two seats.