Tuesday, October 02, 2007

BBQ and Bikes

Saturday was gorgeous! We went to Ambassador Baxter's house for an embassy barbecue -- pretty nice place...almost as nice as ours! (hahaha...) We didn't take any pictures, we not only had our hands full, but kinda felt like it would be weird/rude to take photos of their house. It was built in the 1930s for the then-ambassador, and it's modeled after the White House, apparently. I've never been in the White House, but it looks like what I would expect, the big drawing rooms off to the sides, the wide, sweeping staircases in the center, etc. Very, very elegant!

The backyard was huge, and the grass was just a little bit damp. Okay for the kiddos running around, but of course Nuala and Bran insisted on joining in the fun and got their little pants gloriously muddy! I will always maintain that that's one of the purposes of babies -- to collect mud and dirt and the like. They also loved climbing the two stairways that swept up to the large back porch, over and over and over...We had a fun time! The food was good, mostly American but with some Latin goodies. Normal burgers and hot dogs, various salads, and lots of empanadas (yes, the "n" should have a tilde, I don't know how to put that in right now...) and desserts incorporating dulce de leche. I wasn't a fan of dulce de leche originally, but it has definitely taken hold of me.

Later that afternoon, we took the babies out for our very first family bike ride and they seemed to really enjoy it! We kinda think they'd like the little seats that go on the very back of the bike better, they would have a great view -- we could put one on each of ours, but their trailer is fun, too...Bran got sleepy at the end, just laid his little head to the side, stuck his thumb in his mouth, and spaced out. Nuala kept peeking out and grinning at me when I'd ride up beside them, they're such cuties (not biased at all...)!



14 comments:

Rob and Erin said...

They are soooo cute!!! I love their grins, and how they're just peeking out at you. I can't believe how big they are getting. and so skilled too (the stripping:)) I hope you have many more exciting family bike rides. I love that contraption, one of our neighbors at Ymount had one. Anyway, we love you, and your cats. ;)

Rob and Erin said...

The BBQ sounded like a lot of fun too, way to embrace the muddiness!

zachariah said...

To the Smiths: you only say you love the cats because they are now moved out of your house!! Thanks for putting up with them for so long.

Rochelle said...

I'm going to need one of those bike contraptions myself! hhmmm check the blogs people!

foculbrown said...

If you want to do the funny Ñ's, try editing the HTML and putting "Ñ" for the capital, "&ntile;" for the lower case. Ã is "Ã", and ã is "ã". There are also codes for letters with accents over them. All these codes can be found here.

Yes. I'm a geek and I love it.

Andrew said...

They Look so happy! Im going to have to upgrade to one of those. Hmmm.

Molly said...

Oh what fun! I can't wait to get a bike attachment. I would get the seats too...but I'm afraid I'd fall over with the kiddo on the bike. John knows me too well and there's a good chance he'll stick with the safe side and get a trailer like yours. Man though, you could pack a whole picnic in there!

By the way, an easier way of adding the accents and tilde's to your letters... go into MS Word, go to the top menu, click Insert > Symbol pick the ones you want and at the bottom of the pop-up window is the "shortcut key. For example, " ñ " is "alt+0241" . write a few of the essential codes down on an index card by the computer and you're good to go. These codes are generally universal throughout programs, internet, etc.

Much easier and less of a hassle than going into the HTML. I'm sure you know about the symbols box in MS Word Fiona (that's your area of expertise). :)

fiona said...

Thank you, all you helpful people! Now I have no excuse to NOT write things properly in Spanish...

JnR said...

I love riding bikes! And I bet your area is just a beautiful place to ride. N & B look so cute!

Aislinn said...

Look what a cute family! Oh wait...there are no pics of the mommy...how come??? ;o) Glad you had fun...the bike adventure looks like a blast!

Megan and Greg said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Megan and Greg said...

I see that you too have fallen prey to two of Uruguay's most deadly snares: dulce de leche and alfajores! (okay, so you didn't mention anything about alfajores, but I have my sources...)

Missionaries from my mission used to have the members smuggle alfajores across the border from Uruguay... Not because it was illegal, but because the missionaries weren't allowed to cross the border (mission rules). Anyway, you could say I am somewhat of a fiend (in remission).

Glad to see you guys are doing well! A bbq with the ambassador sounds like fun. Sounds like a pretty sweet house too.

--Greg

fiona said...

Oh...alfajores...yummmmmm...!!! Your sources are reliable. Very reliable.

Anonymous said...

What a great post, Bran obviously is not concerned with what others may think. We enjoyed the post and the kids are adorable. Love, Dad (and Mom too)