La Piscina Juguetea

 Joaquin has become a swim-a-holic this summer.  So much so that he requested some pool toys to play with.  We had a fun afternoon of swimming with some little boys that had these plastic torpedos that he absolutely fell in love with.  Unfortunately we haven't been able to find anything like them ANYWHERE! However we did get these traditional diving rings.  Not only do they work well in the pool, they make great hats. :)  How sweet is my family?  (Also illustrates how Eliana is now very into grabbing faces, especially Joaquin's.)

La Bandera

 Just an ordinary evening at home, but Eliana was so cute.  We've been eating outside, enjoying the lovely monsoon season.  Eliana sits on the table and as she's been getting much more active she always needs something to play with.  Admittedly, the small flag might not have been the best choice, but she had fun with it.  She's getting very good at using her hands and she loves anything she can put in her mouth.  And while she loves to be held, she's frequently wanting to be put down so she can move independently and grab something!  You can see her trying to make a break for it from Daniel's arms here.  A girl's gotta explore.

La Cueva Helada

 We ended our week o' fun with a day trip to the Bandera volcano and ice cave.  We had wanted to see the lava tubes in El Malpais, they're supposed to be very interesting.  But they're unfortunately closed because of a fungus infecting bats.  Isn't that sad?  However the ice cave is a private park so we could still go.  It turned out to be a great outing.  Only an hour and a half away from home, which seems like nothing when you're in a van with mommy, daddy, Eliana, grandma, grandpa and Uncle Matty.  And then, the hike to the volcano cauldera is a short half mile, not too far for an energetic little guy.  And the ice cave?  It's just a few short steps down, and amazingly when you get there it's really cold and there is a huge sheet of ice! Joaquin had a lot of fun, we even bought him a bag of "ore" that he could wash in their sluice and 'pan' for minerals.  He loved all the rocks he found.  It was also nice since it kept threatening to rain and was therefore cool.  (Something to be treasured in this hot summer.)  In fact the outfit I brought for Eliana was a little too summery when she wasn't snuggled in the sling, so she got a souvenir as well..... the smallest t-shirt the limited gift store could provide - a woman's small.  As you can see, she looked precious.  And the final pictures are her watching hummingbirds with grandma and grandpa.  They were very interesting, but we had to keep looking back because it's good to always know that momma is there.

El Cuatro de Julio

 Then our friends came back to our house for dinner, homemade ice cream and fireworks!  We managed to hold the kids off from burning things long enough to eat and then as soon as it was mildly dim we started.  We had a ridiculous amount of sparklers so the fun lasted a long time.  It was made slightly ironic when it started drizzling.  A wretchedly hot June capped by a rainstorm on the fourth.  Go figure.  Eliana slept through it, but the rest of the kids climbed on the top of the truck and we watched the big Balloon Park fireworks.

Nadando con Papi

Last week Daniel took time off, combining with the fourth of July to be a week of stay-cation.  We had a great time doing family things and being together.  On the actual fourth we went swimming in a friend's pool.  Joaquin has become very adventurous in the water, especially with Daddy.  (Probably because Mommy never thinks of things to do.)  Inspired by his friend Maia, Joaquin and Daddy started throwing Joaquin out of the water.  Interestingly Maia is also the person who inspired Joaquin to start being brave in the water last summer as well.  They don't hang out as much as they used to and are semi-shy around each other, but apparently he has to impress her.  Joaquin's "jumps" became quite excitingly high - notice in one photo he's flying out of the frame.  Despite the excitement Eliana got sleepy and just decided to ignore us and fall asleep.  She only took a cat nap, but Daniel decided to be brave and just set her down on the chaise.  She looked very sweet napping away in her towel.

Un Sábado en el Zoo

 Last Saturday we went to the zoo with friends. (As you can see, this is one of Joaquin's very good friends.  They do this obnoxious thing where they try to walk while hugging each other.  Obnoxious because of course they run into things and eventually fall and if you tell them to stop they pout and say things like, "I was just hugging him, mom!")  We altered our normal routine and did the cat house first (it's my favorite and since it was a ridiculously hot day, we needed someplace shady) and then took in the bird show.  As you can see, Eliana spent the show under Daddy's hat.  We're still trying to protect her from too much sun so when no shade is available, Daddy's jumps in to help.  She might also have thought it was entertainment..... She was a pretty good little trooper, letting us spend the morning there and picnic and go to the splash pad before breaking down completely.  Joaquin and his buddy had a great time getting wet (really it was so hot getting wet was the only reasonable thing to do outside).  Joaquin discovered the joy of placing his cap directly over a water jet and then watching it be sprayed into the air.  This was so amusing we spent at least 15 minutes doing it.  Eliana found it interesting too, or at least she found Joaquin interesting as you can see.  She sat on Daddy's lap and watched for awhile before she became too tired to endure.  Joaquin can usually make her smile unless she's super upset - he's just so cool.  I was quite proud of her, being sweet without her nap and in the blazing heat.

Nuevas Habilidades

Best toy ever!  We drilled a small hole in the bottom of a plastic cup and turns out it's really entertaining.  Eliana loves to try and 'catch' the stream of water as it drizzles down.  I love the concentrating face here!  We're also experimenting with new movements.  Now that we can roll over and sit a little bit, time to do other things.  So we tried rolling on Mommy's round pillow.  Turns out it's a good prop for photography too.  And another new skill, laughing.  She's given a few happy grunts for fuzzy Daddy kisses, but real giggles, no.  So when she started laughing at Joaquin and his friend Ben the other night we rolled out the camera.  She didn't give us much for posterity so you'll have to believe me when I tell you she was very amused and giggly.  So cute to hear her so happy.