Culture Wars

Living in another country exposes you to different ways of life. But then again, it might just be different parenting styles. Either way, the below are examples of me shaking my head:

EXHIBIT #1: The announced ward Christmas party was to begin at 7:30 pm so it was already going to be late for our crew. Caroline was a super crankster. While Candace had her most of the night, I took her for a little bit to give her a spell. Caroline, of course, didn't like that and just cried the whole time. A lady in the ward saw me holding the crying baby and opened her arms. Caroline, of course, dove for her. I thought, "that was nice" until the lady took Caroline right over to the dessert table, picked up a brownie, gave it Caroline, and then brought Caroline back and handed her to me. !?!?!?!??!?!?!

EXHIBIT #2: At the ward party, there were tons of kids running around the place. All of the sudden, we heard Sam's shrill cry (the hurt cry) from the middle of a mess of kids. Candace and I rushed over and took him to another room to see what happened. Sam was in Candace's arms and we were trying to talk to him and had at least three other people come into the room and tell us what to ask, where to look, and how to console him.

EXHIBIT #3: Nursery. Caroline is still getting used to the idea of being left for two hours at church and still fusses when we drop her off. I usually reassure the nursery leaders that she will likely cry for a few minutes and then forget all about it. While I was dropping her off, she started to fuss, and I was getting ready to just leave her (as I had discussed with the nursery leader) when the nursery leader pulls out this huge sucker and gave it to her. She, of course, calmed down immediately.

I must caveat the above comments that I have been in a bad mood today, but those stuck out as things as a parent that I'm not sure happen in the culture I was brought up in. Maybe I just look back and wish that I got a sucker or brownie every time I started to cry. I think I just got ripped off.

Sam, on there other hand, cheered us up after church. We had our tithing settlement and the bishop was talking about tithing, why we pay, where the money goes, etc. After the bishop's second question directed at Sam, Sam looked right at him and said, "I want to talk about something else." And that was that.

Life continues to be busy and we are looking forward to some Christmas visitors who arrive at the end of the week. Should be a blast.

Got Gas?

We just returned from a 6-day, 5-night trip to the Argentine Patagonia. It ended up being approximately 1,500 miles roundtrip from our house in Buenos Aires to Puerto Piramides on the Peninsula Valdes in Chubut Province. The drive was so far that Claire asked us (before we got there) if we had driven so far that the people were going to speak English. Unfortunately for her, the answer was no.

Day 1

We decided to leave late morning on Tuesday in order to get on the freeway (where they go about 50 mph) after the morning rush. We left at 10:00 am and were excited to be on our way on our first legitimate Argentine family road trip. We started out lucky as the first two tolls we came to were unmanned due to an ongoing tollbooth workers' strike (SWEET - saved us about $.60 between the two tolls). After making our way out of the city, and getting our kids settled into movies (we love our car), we made great time to the city of Azul, where we filled up with gas. Then we made it the rest of the way to Bahia Blanca to spend the night. Upon arrival in Bahia Blanca, there were long lines at the gas stations (a common and frustrating theme -- see below), but luckily I found a Petrobras (GO BRAZIL) station that had plenty of gas for me. We piled into the Land Plaza Hotel in Bahia Blanca and spent the night.

Day 2

After a relatively good night (with 5 people in the room), we hit the road early. Just south of Bahia Blanca, you cross from Buenos Aires Province into Rio Negro Province, the beginning of Patagonia. To mark its entrance, there are produce/meat controls where they inspect your car to goods that they don't want you bringing into the region. Well, just like California, they don't let you bring fruit. So we lost our apples and pears -- and Candace was really mad. About 100 miles later, they inspected our car for meat, but let's just say that the inspection was very cursory and I was not about to volunteer anything... it was our lunch and dinner we were talking about. As you enter Patagonia, towns (or what pass for towns) are few and far between and you really have to be aware of your fuel levels. Every time we got to 1/2 tank, we filled up at the next station. At one "town" of two gas stations (a Shell and a YPF), NEITHER had gas. The Shell said it hoped to have some in the next hour or so, but there was a town about 5 miles out of our way off the freeway with an Esso station. We tried our luck and were able to fill up.

We were able to then make our way to Peninsula Valdes and Puerto Piramides where we were going to stay for 3 nights. The Peninsula is a World Heritage Site and is described as being "mostly barren"... ain't that the truth.

The big draw is that the gulf is the largest breeding grounds for the Southern Right Whales. So we hopped on a boat with two other families we knew who went, and went whale watching. We had done this before--unsuccessfully-in Southern California and so we were hoping to see something. Well, we saw about a dozen different whales, and we saw one and her calf for about 1/2 hour right next to the boat. Not 100 feet next to the boat... like 5 feet from the boat. They were jumping, blowing air, showing off their tails, and just plain hanging out. It was a blast.

After the whales and exploring around the beach, we hit the sack.

Day 3

Having knocked out the big draw to the area, we set out to see some Penguins, and to get gas since the only gas station on the peninsula (a YPF) had been without gas for 5 days when we got there, and the nearest gas station was 55 miles away towards Puerto Madryn. So off we went. After filling up, we thought we would cruise down past Trelew to Punto Tomba to see one of the largest concentration of Magellanic Penguins in the world. It is a desert-like area where the penguins come ashore, dig nests under bushes to lay and incubate their eggs.

While it was really neat to see, the drive was about 90 minutes LONGER than we thought it would be and we likely would have rethought our day had we known. At one of the many Argentine Police checkpoints, we were not only asked for our documents, but also what our gas situation was for going further south into Patagonia. In the end, we saw the penguins, we spent the last 1.5 km of the walk alternating between carrying a crying Caroline, a crying Sam, or a complaining tired Claire. It was AWESOME!!!! We had enough gas to get back to the Peninsula and were pleased that our friends had texted us that the YPF on the peninsula had been restocked with fuel.

Day 4

This was the day set aside to explore the Peninsula. We hooked up with another family and drove to Punta Norte to see a sea lion colony. Then we drove along the beautiful--and I mean beautiful--eastern coast to an elephant seal colony where we went for a nice hike along the cliffs. Afterwards, we went off road to a hidden lookout point that came recommended from some friends who had gone the year before. The point overlooked the whale watching area and we just let the kids dig for shells while we watched the whales from the shore.

We spent about 2 hours there, got a family picture, and finished the trip on a high note. Can you see our car on the cliff?

Day 5

We got up and got on our way. Full of gas. We arrived in Bahia Blanca, found a sidewalk cafe near the main square in the city for some dinner, went back to the hotel pool to get out some energy and went to bed.

Day 6

While expecting most churches to being their meetings at 9am, in Bahia Blanca they all started at 9:30. Not wanting to just sit there waiting for church, I found a ward about 50 miles away (on the way) in Coronel Dorrego. So we went to Sacrament Meeting there, filled up again in the town of Azul, and made it home about 5:30 pm.

It was an excellent trip. It is a popular destination for expats over Thanksgiving because the Argentines don't get the same days off. I think I have mentioned before that when there is a holiday, it seems like every Argentina goes on vacation, so it pays to sneak away on American holidays. Last year it was the beach, this year it was whale watching. Who knows where next year will be?!!??

Our kids were troopers in the car. Sam was a zombie for the last three days... Going to bed late, waking up early, not really knowing which way was up or down, but he had a blast. Caroline was the toughest to please. Our lodging did not have a large living area so there were frequent "No, Caroline"'s being sent her way.

We are glad to get out and see more of what Argentina has to offer. At Punta Tombo we were farther south than all of Australia, including Tasmania. It was a great adventure. On another note, I have made previous mention about the Chilean ash cloud from the Puyehue volcano that erupted in June of this year. It is still spewing ash and still affecting flights in Argentina. Well, for 2 of our 3 days on the peninsula, the ash cloud was very present. It made for gray days. The barren landscape was noticeably prettier with a blue sky. The below picture was taken from a boat about 7pm (still daylight in the southern hemisphere's late spring) straight at the sun. The ash is real.

And I won't even go in to how happy Candace was to return to a clean house. We left in a flurry with things everywhere.... and we came home (thanks to our awesome maid) to a spotless house.

No Double Duty

So my family does a quarterly newsletter and I have not submitted an entry for the last year. I decided to submit something this go round and thought I would just copy/paste it below instead of trying to do double duty:

Greetings from Down Under. No, we didn't move to Australia, but since technically we live further south than almost all of Australia, and south of the southern tip of Africa, and since Argentina has no catchy phrase worth printing on a T-shirt, it will have to do. Argentina and Australia have a lot in common. They both start and end with an 'A' (like all the A countries except for two... answer below).... That's about where the similarities end.

A is for awesomeness. There are a lot of awesome things about living abroad in Argentina and there are some not some awesome things. We have now been here for 16 months and I think we have a handle on what's good and what's a hassle about living here. Both lists are considerable, but when all is said and done, we are happy here.

R is for ridiculous. Working for the State Department means that I follow local politics very closely. We really all blessed to be from a country where law and order are implemented and respected. While traffic laws exist, they are neither respected nor enforced. When the spouse of someone we know had her passenger door window busted and her purse snatched while she waited at a red light, it was about 50 meters from two police officers, who did nothing. She went to ask them to pursue the offender, they shrugged and said, "This is Argentina. These things happen."

G is for guests. We are looking forward to some. Mike and Danielle are taking the plunge to visit us from Germany over Christmas. It will be a blast.

E is for excursions. Argentina has a lot to offer from the northeastern tip of Iguazu Falls to the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia. From beaches to mountains to glaciers to grasslands. As a family, we have done a few smaller trips, but will be going to Patagonia to go whale watching over thanksgiving.

N is for nocturnal. The Argentine culture is much more nocturnal that the American culture. When Candace and I go to dinner, most of the restaurants where we live open their doors at 8pm. When we arrive at 8, we are the ONLY ones there... and it's only when we are finishing that the restaurant begins to fill up. Typical dinner time is about 10pm or so... and teenage kids stay out until 4 or 5 in the morning...

T is for the temple, closed since we've been here. The Buenos Aires temple, built in the mid-1980's was closed about two years ago for renovations. The 18-month project still has no firm ending date. A new temple in Cordoba (8 hour drive from Buenos Aires) was announced and has broken ground, but will be a few years before its ready. So the closest temple to us is in Montevideo, Uruguay. While close on a map, not easy or cheap for a family of 5 for a day trip. Hopefully BA will open in the next 6 months.

I is for international. At Claire's school a couple of weeks ago, we did the annual International Day fair, where the school celebrates the school's diverse international community. I think there are about 40 countries represented at Claire's school. Good food. And it's so neat to see the kids exposed to the world.

N is for nutrition. Food was, and is, a big adjustment in South America. Processed foods are processed differently and it takes a lot of effort to maintain your eating habits when you can't get the foods you're used to. There is plenty of meat and potatoes though... so any Mouritsen would be pleased.

A is for another year. Our initial posting was for two years, but we extended for a third, so we plan to be here until the summer of 2013 in case your travels bring your our way.

What's that spell? A-U-S-T-R-A-L-I-A!!!! Did you figure out the two countries that start with 'A' that don't end with 'A' yet?

Candace surprised me a few weeks ago asking if there were a chance that we could stay in Buenos Aires for a fourth year. Unfortunately for her the answer is now. I'm pleased that she is enjoying herself so much. She does a ton of activities and is always busy with her mostly expat group of friends.

Claire is finishing the first semester of kindergarten and surprises us with how well she speaks Spanish. she'll say things in Spanish (correctly) and then ask what it means. She knows a lot.

Sam is a giant. The youngest, and biggest, kid in his preschool class. Funny as can be... and unfortunately for him, he looks more and more like me every day.

Caroline is mobile. Enough said.

I'm enjoying the work down here and we are keeping busy. We recently passed one year since Lily's passing (on 1 October) and miss her tremendously. It is hard to see Claire grow into Lily's clothes and perfect the tasks (like tieing shows or brushing teeth) that Lily was also practicing. From a temporal perspective, those who say that time heals all wounds have not been wounded deeply enough. From a spiritual perspective, while tears are still shed, we look forward to the day when we are reunited with our little girl who can teach us of heaven. We are so grateful for the knowledge that she is not gone, but has rather taken a commanding lead on us in our family's quest for eternal life together.

ANSWER: Afghanistan and Azerbaijan

What Did You Say?

Can you believe it's already November? I think I mentioned that our pool/lawn guy moved back to Brazil at the end of September. We have an electric lawnmower, but still no extension cord... so, um, it's a good thing that we only have a back yard to worry about. What's worse is that it's getting warmer and warmer and about time for us to start using our pool, but it's not clean. We've called around... and I think we might have found someone... so no need to fret about our situation. I think we'll be OK. Our maid is going strong, we were just having trouble with the lawn/pool guy. It really is a tough life, you know.

I took a few notes the last couple of weeks of a few silly things the his have said. During a Family Home Evening, both Claire and Sam said something worthy of repeating. Just like any other three year old who is trying his hardest to pay attention, Sam is hilarious.

CANDACE: Sam, what does it mean to be an example?

SAM: Flashlight.

Um, OK, I guess we'll go with flashlight. I wonder if he would have phrased it as a question if we were playing Jeopardy. Needless to say, he did not collect go or collect 200 dollars. We talked about it a little bit more.

The lesson was on how people believe different things, and that it's OK and we need to be friendly and nice to everyone just the same. Claire jumped up and gave us a perfect example. She proceeded to give a very long description about how her and her best friend "Maggie" believe different things. (Maggie is also in our local LDS ward.) Claire explained that Claire thinks that the saying goes: "Liar, liar, pants on fire, hanging on a telephone wire" but Maggie thinks the saying goes "Liar, liar, pants on fire, stuck up on a telephone wire." Claire said that even though they believed different things, it was OK because they were BFFs and were made for each other. We were happy that message had sunk in.

The below picture is from Sam's school on Halloween. Guess who the youngest of the group is? That's right.... the giant pirate.

This and That

Who is going to clean our pool now? Our cheap, awesome, dependable pool/lawn guy moved back to his native Brazil. Now we're hosed.

U.S. candy vs. Argentine candy = CLEAR U.S. VICTORY. There is an Argentine candy called "sugar" and one called "sugar MAX". The good thing about halloween in Argentina is Candace and I will NOT be stealing much of our kids' candy. We had a neighborhood halloween schedule from 4-7 pm on Sunday. We went out at 5:15 and a few of the houses were already out of candy. Another family we saw had a bowl on their stroller giving out candy (or trading it) to people they passed on the street (the family was Argentine). It was weird. Novices. So tomorrow is actually halloween, but we're all done.

Claire had a school halloween party on Friday morning.

My work had the halloween party on Friday afternoon.

School had "International Day" fair on Saturday morning.

Expat trick-or treating on Sunday night.

Private neighborhood (not ours) trick-or-treating Sunday night.

Sam has a school halloween party on Monday.

We would be much better off if the Argentine candy was worth its weight in sugar... which it isn't.

The other night, Candace and I stayed up until 2 am watching several episodes of Season 1 of Alias. While Netflix lost a ton of customers due to the raised rates for streaming... we are still happy customers since we can't stream to Argentina anyway.

The weather is getting warmer and the humidity is being felt.

Caroline and Claire are really good friends.

Claire speaks Spanish randomly and we are always surprised at how well she does.

Sam is going to be a big kid.

Out and About

So I skipped a week... big deal. When I started the blog, I committed to Candace that I would do it every week. What I meant was I would do it every week that I felt like it. Some Sunday afternoons are better served relaxing and NOT doing the blog than actually doing it. On the positive side, there are two weeks worth of activities to document.

First, Candace is fond of taking Sam and Caroline (or sometimes just Sam) to Claire's school to pick her up, where they can hang around the playground for a little while and get out some energy. Once when they were playing, Claire palled (or is it paled) around with an older girl. Claire would copy everything the older girls was doing. At the end of the playtime, Candace asked Claire what she was doing, and Claire said that the older girl was training her how to be a 4th grader. We thought that was pretty funny. Unfortunately, we will not be in Argentina when Claire is in 4th grade.

For Sam and Caroline, have you seen the Berlitz language commercial with the German Coast Guard guy manning some communications equipment? After a second, you hear a British accent saying "We... are... sinking. We... are sinking...." The Coastie leans into the microphone and asks, "What are you sinking about?" It's pretty funny. Well, having seen that video several times, I ended up watching it again recently after seeing a link to it. The same day at dinner, we had the following conversation:

CAROLINE: Blafgel vlkjw vlkj;vioi osnelkn nrlkn;ls.

SAM: Caroline, what are you talking about?

Made me laugh. If you haven't seen the Berlitz clip, you should find it.

We were lucky to have a long weekend for Columbus Day and we ventured to a place called San Antonio de Areco about 90 mins away. It's a traditional sleepy Gaucho town. We drove up with another family, bopped around the main square, toured an old ranch, found some horses for the kids to ride, got some lunch, and finished with ice cream. It was a great day trip.

The old house:

Argentine Family Mouritsen:

Claire taking care of her little sister. For the overprotective parents, don't fret, we didn't send them off by themselves. And they had a blast!

And nearing the end of the day, this is what happens when you don't let an 18-month old pick up horse poop.

Anniversary

One year has passed. We miss you, Lily.

Shoeless Joe? No. Shirtless Sam

So for some reason, Sam has taken a liking to going shirtless. He doesn't seem to know why he likes it, but the nanosecond he gets home from school, off comes the shirt. He just likes it. He spent all last Sunday (the one where we didn't go to Stake Conference) at home with no shirt on. What a goof! Claire asks if she can go either shirtless or pantless and the answer is always no, but there is Sam running around showing off. If you don't know who Shoeless Joe is, look up the 1919 World Series.

Sam made Candace and I chuckle early in the week. During Family Home Evening on Monday night, Candace prepared a lesson about consequences. She explained that there are consequences for every choice we make: some good, some bad. As an object lesson, she hid four things to taste under some cups and had the kids choose one. Once chosen, they had to close their eyes and open their mouths to see if they made a good choice or a bad choice. Sam went first. He closed his eyes (with some help from me) and opened his mouth: Salt. "Sam, was that a good choice?" Through a contorted face, he said, "Bad choice." Claire then got a bite of an apple: Good choice.

Then it was Sam's turn again. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth: Lemon juice. "Sam, was that a good choice or a bad choice?" As if gasping for air, he whispered through a sour face, "Bad choice." The tone and the face was one of those times as a parent that you don't want to laugh at your child, but I think we did. "Bad choice." I don't even remember what Claire had to finish off the lesson, but I know she made a good choice.

DON'T EAT ME, POLLY!

As much as you might think that there is always going to be something new and exciting happening week after week to a family living overseas, the reality is that we are just living life. When I was here on my mission, just like many missionaries, I always had an affinity for the country in which I served. You are living next to the people and are fully involved in the community. What you don't see is what it takes to get to maintain the cupboards stocked, how to pay the phone bill, how to do beat traffic, among hundreds of other every day activities that are sometimes mindless.

When we were given the opportunity to come back here, we jumped at the chance since we were both familiar with South American culture (me having served here in Buenos Aires, and Candace having served in Santiago, Chile). There are definitely some really neat things about living overseas, and there are a bunch of things that regularly have us wishing for more frequent visits to the United States. We are, however, very happy where we are.

Now I'm going to move on to a confession... Let's talk about Stake Conference. Consider that while living in the U.S., we always went to Stake Conference, found a nice quiet overflow room, and enjoyed the meetings. Where we are now, the Stake Center is an hour away (not due to mileage, but the zigzag nature across the suburbs). There is parking for approximately 50 vehicles (this is the Stake Center, mind you), there are no overflow broadcast rooms, and it's all in Spanish. Taking all of that into account with three small children, I must say that I was less than enthusiastic and took the opportunity to brush up on my April 2011 General Conference at home. As a family, we have committed to go next time and just deal with it. I think that we faced what many families with young children face... and that is -- What would we get out of it? The answer this week caused us to fail in our responsibilities. As Caroline gets older, we'll get better.

We did get a chance to visit a nicer suburban bio-park as they call it, which is really just a nice, private zoo called Temaiken. It's about 40 mins northwest of us and we have annual memberships. The first time Candace went a year ago, she said that it was the first time she felt like she could have been in the United States.... We went with another family and had a blast.

PARROT 1: I hope that kid in the orange jacket points a finger at me.

PARROT 2: Me too, I'm hungry.

Temaiken September 2011

And since I have been lazy on adding pictures to the blog, the below are all within the last couple of weeks.

America the Beautiful

One of the interesting things about living overseas is that you find that you miss out on a lot of current events, pop culture, and media coverage of things you might have followed very closely in America. While we keep up on CNN.com and have access to DirecTV Puerto Rico, people here aren't talking about the GOP debates, the current candidates, what Paris Hilton was wearing last night, or any number of things that might interest us. Also, when syncing my iPod to iTunes, sometimes I'll look at the top songs and won't recognize any of them. Why? The best (in my opinion) radio station here plays a mix of 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and some 2000 rock. So the playlist might look something like this: New Kids on the Block, Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Bangles, and on and on. They do not, however, play the latest Maroon 5 or Cold Play songs.

I would like to follow the campaign news a little more closely, it just takes a little more effort. On a positive note, BYU's independent status and new contract with ESPN allows me to follow the football team better from afar. Not that it did me much good last night after we gave the game to Texas after not putting the game away. As much as I liked Doman as a player, he's got to get in the end zone and learn to play to win, instead of playing not to lose.

This week we finally partook of an interesting phenomenon in our neighborhood that I will call the 'car wash on a bicycle.' So I always see this guy cruising around our neighborhood and washing my neighbor's cars while they're parked on the street. He spends a ton of time on each car (inside and out). So I talked to him and he's going to start washing our car once a month. He just needs a spout and a plug and he's set. The spout because he brings his own bucket, hose, pressure washer; and the plug because he brings his own vacuum. He showed up about 8:30 Saturday morning and spent just over an hour and a half on our car, washing/vacuuming every nook and cranny. Cost for us was about $15 and worth every penny. He'll be coming back in a few weeks to do it again. The guy was telling me that he used to work for a veterinarian washing the animals. When he quit working for the vet, he had a client who lived by us who wanted him to keep washing her dog. He did, and word spread so he has enough clients to keep busy all week washing animals. Then he began washing the original client's car on the weekends... then word spread again... and now you have to plan a week in advance so he can fit you in. We know folks in other neighborhoods who also have their "guy"... Awesome.

The kids are back into their routine and are doing great. We were getting a laugh this week as every morning Caroline will walk around the house yelling 'Paula', our maid's name. When she wakes up, she starts with the general moaning and complaining... then it's the occasional 'mama'... then a stronger 'MAMA'... then she cries and will scream 'MAMA!'... If nothing still, she'll yell 'PAULA! PAULA!'. It's hilarious. On Saturdays, she'll walk around the bottom floor of the house yelling 'PAULA!'. She wander through the kitchen, in the storage room, in the laundry room looking for her. She'll peek out the curtains wondering when she is coming. Caroline is such a sweetie.

I know it's been a while since I've posted pictures. We're in the middle of some organizing and cataloging of our extensive digital photo holdings, which has made it less of a priority to regularly download the pictures we've taken. But rest assured, our kids are still super cute and our life is exciting.

What a Wonderful Life/Wife

Life is great. So here we are living in another country enjoying ourselves. A few weeks ago, our refrigerator started leaking. A few days ago, our microwave just stopped working. On Friday, all of the sudden, there was no water. This is not the first time we have had the water problem. The city just turns the water off without advising the residents. This has also happened with our power. It would be nice to know. After several phone calls, we find out that the water should be turned back on later in the day. That was AFTER I rode my bike home from work. That was BEFORE dinner. Ahhhhh... the joys of living overseas.

What we did find this week, however, was an excellent restaurant not 5 minutes from our house. Apparently a city favorite (U2's Bono has been spotted there). So we make reservations for the day after my birthday (on 1 SEPT if you missed it) for 8pm. Like every other 8pm dinner date, we're the first to arrive at the restaurant. With all of the attention on us, we eat and are done at about 9:20. Not wanting to hose our babysitter out of at least 2 hours work, we stay and chat until 10:00pm when we feel like we can go home.

So there we were at the restaurant... 5 minutes from home... and stalling. Unfortunately there are no good movies out right now and we didn't have any other activity on the list. Dinner was not rushed. Dinner was delicious, and then we just hung out. It was really fun. It was a surprise reservation that Candace made, which is big news since she does not particularly like to talking to people in Spanish on the phone. I have a great wife.

On the Road Again

The end of another week... or the start of another week. Whichever way you look at it, it's time to fill this space. I don't think I mentioned it previously, but while we were in the USA on our summer break, our house was broken into. While it certainly could have been a lot worse, we had a few things taken: Some that made sense (a camera, other small electronics) and some that didn't (old BYU hat, old backpack, military coin). Some things of sentimental value and some things that are just a big plain old hassle. The fraud alerts are up.

Right before returning to Buenos Aires, I told Candace that I was committed to get back on my bike as soon as we got back to ride into work and ride home from work as much as possible. It's a little over 8 miles (13+ kilometers for you metric followers) one-way. However, my backpack (that carries important things like clean towels, socks, and unmentionables) was stolen so I had nothing. It wasn't until this week that I finally got the replacement from The North Face and was able to get back on the road again (this is not another shoutout post). The traffic is the same -- horrible. The buses treat me the same -- like a target. I ride the same -- FAST (ha ha).

We are officially back to the grind.

On a negative note, we are entering into what will be a very difficult time of the year for our family. The last couple of weeks we have had highs and lows and Claire has started Kindergarten at her school. While that was so exciting, it brings back so many memories of doing the same things with Lily one year ago. Claire has learned to tie her shoes and started reading some basic words. She is becoming so much more independent, just like Lily was a year ago. It would have been around this time this year that Lily ingested something containing the bacteria that changed the rest of our lives. It is very hard not to hold our breath every time one of the kids show any signs of sickness. Claire is old enough to remember that Lily was "sick", so she is quick to be concerned.

We are so grateful for the continued thoughts and prayers of others, and for the fact that Atonement of Christ has relieved us from feeling the full brunt of this difficult challenge.

Are You Looking At Me?

We had a pretty busy week. I was stuck working late all this week and then came home to a busy weekend. Luckily, they were fun weekend activities. We have started to teach Claire how to ride a bike without training wheels. Balance is certainly an issue. Any suggestions? We went early Saturday morning to the school track and she rode and rode and rode. Sam, of course, still has training wheels (and a pink bike and helmet) and Caroline just loved to run around.

Later on Saturday, we headed deep into the city to visit the family of one of Claire's classmates that had invited us over. After hanging out with them, we went back to suburbs and prepared for a work-sponsored bowling event. Having been beaten by my wife the last time we bowled (at Pinstripes in Barrington, IL on 21 July 2011 - - a day of infamy), I was determined to put on a better showing. Candace brought her 'A' game again... but so did I. PHEW!

For Sunday, I was assigned to speak and it brought back lots of memories of speaking on my mission, in Argentina. But this time, as a member of the ward, it was very different.

Our big news this week comes from a recently turned 3 year old. We have had a little baggie of marbles on our refrigerator for several weeks, if not a few months. They were reserved for Sam once he went number 2 in the potty all by himself -- without reminders. He has been doing great at keeping his diaper and/or pullup dry from number 1 for a few weeks, but still seemed to enjoy the warmth that that diaper provided after going number 2. Well, I think it finally clicked that it was gross and he went number 2 in the potty. Besides the marbles, his reward was some SWEET Spiderman underwear. He is now wearing it... a little too proudly.

While downtown at Claire's friend's house, Sam came around the corner, pants around his ankles proudly pointing his back side to all who would look to show the Spiderman jumping across his derriere (I had to look up this spelling). Then in nursery today, the nursery leader commented that his pants were around his ankles again so everyone could see his big boy underwear. I can promise you that he didn't learn that from me. No matter who checks out the tighty whities, it was a big week for us. Now we can rearrange our diaper storage for Caroline.

What is She Talking About?

Have you ever wondered that? What is she talking about? I'm not talking about my spouse....

The highlight of this week was Candace's birthday. After crippling our bank account during her recent multi-week trip to the States, she said that she didn't feel like she needed anything for her birthday. Having been married for over 11 years now, I know that's code for: "I don't want anything big, but I want you to do something." I started small with the newest Twilight movie on DVD and followed with the big guns: tickets to the opera at the world famous Teatro Colon. I know... I'm awesome, right?

The opera we saw was called Pelleas et Melisande. It was all in French. Lucky for us, they had a screen above the stage translating it into Spanish. The funny thing is that we went with a couple that don't speak a lick of Spanish. The Opera was about some chick Melisande who marries some dude, Golaud. His little brother Pelleas hooks up with Melisande, blah blah blah. Golaud kills Pelleas. Melisande delivers a baby and then dies after giving birth. Golaud is left with the baby: Is it his or his brother's? [CLOSE CURTAIN] [APPLAUSE] There. I have saved saved you the agony of going to see it for yourself.

The Teatro is magnificient, ornate, and beautiful. It was actually closed for the better part of the last three years and has re-opened since we have lived here so we were happy to experience it.

Overall experience at the Teatro Colon: 10.

Opera: 2.

Chances of me choosing to see another opera: 0.

I'm just being honest here. Not that they can't sing their pants off, I just couldn't get into it. I have seen a ballet. I have now seen an opera. And now I don't have to any more. The important thing is that Candace was pleased as punch to go on a dress-up date. Earlier in the week, I came home early from work and grilled some hamburgers... a special treat.

Happy Birthday to Candace.

This was also our first full week back in country. After 7 weeks of healthy kids, the runny noses began almost immediately after we hit the ground. We have all been sick this week (with me getting it last). Probably something to do with going from the summer right back to winter. Or just kids being kids and never washing their hands.

Our kids are a hoot. Claire is the sweetest thing. Sam, for the second time, inadvertently (I think) left nursery with a toy or two in his pocket. Claire is moving all over the place now that she is walking. They keep us smiling... and tired.

The Trip to End All Trips - 2011

The longest previous vacation we ever took as a family was about 10 days, and that is a long time. When we got here last year, there were no kids around, very few wives, and the church was empty. We soon learned that once the American School gets out, the families bolt. Sometimes the dads take their time off at the beginning, and sometimes at the end, but it almost always with the family spending a good 6-7 weeks in the States, while the dads take about 3 weeks. We weren't sure if that's what we were going to do, but several months ago we figured that "when in BA...."

So in early June, the family departed. You'll remember the blog about the delayed trip due to the volcano. I joined the family in early July after another four-day delay to the volcano (and I went via Chile). We only returned on 1 August, two days before school started. We had a great time! It worked out perfectly for Candace and the kids to spend the first three weeks at her mom's house so she could see all of her friends and do what she wanted to do. Then when I joined the group, we took off.

Our first week was spent up in Bear Lake. It was my family reunion. We rented a few townhouses and partied every day. We took out some waverunners one day, with Claire screaming, "Faster, faster," and Sam screaming, "Slower, slower." There was golfing, raspberry shakes, walks, playing on rocks, playing at North Beach in Idaho, visiting Bennington, Idaho cemetery where some ancestors are buried, golf, Boggle, Agricola, chocolate cake, and an all around good time. Since we came from four countries (Argentina, Germany, Mexico and the USA), we spent a lot of time visiting. We are looking forward to the next opportunity.

After Bear Lake, we spent two days in West Valley, Utah visiting my mom. We spent an afternoon at the Days of '47 children's fair which was a week before the 24th of July. We also spent a day doing some cousin olympics at a park with some good food. It's funny how some kids' games get taken over by the adults who are much more competitive.

A fews after relaxing back at the in-laws, we boarded an airplane to the Chicago area to visit Candace's brother. I was able to visit our house (that we still own) and visit with the renters. In Chicago, we hit the Magic Waters Waterpark (97 degrees with 110 heat index), Bob Chinn's Crabhouse (Alaskan King... mmmm -- And we met Bob there.. ha ha), played some Settler's of Catan (we got shut out... too much time away from Catan), ate at Sweet Tomatoes, the kids saw Kung Fu Panda 2, and generally enjoyed the time with Candace's brother.

We had two funny airplane stories from our SLC and Chicago departures. When we left the gate at SLC, a lady on the plane began having a panic attack. They stopped the plane, took us back to the gate, and took her off the plane. The delay was a little bit over an hour. While it doesn't sound like a lot, when you program yourself and kids for a determined amount of time, any delay is big. Then when we were leaving Chicago to San Francisco (en route to North Bend, Oregon), we were trying to beat a thunderstorm. We lost the race and spent 1 hour 45 minutes on the plane but at the gate waiting for the lightning to subside. So the 4 hour 15 minute flight ended up being 6 hours on the plane. NO THANK YOU!

Finally to Oregon, we were jampacked with activities thanks to my brother and his family. We went on an end of Science Camp nature hike, golfed, went to the beach (a few times), visited a train museum, visited Cranberry Sweets for their chocolate, ate lots of Breyer's Ice Cream, went to the Coos County Fair, visited the local Coast Guard Station to play on the helicopters, went to a berry patch to pick strawberries and raspberries, and watched the kids have a blast playing with their girl cousins.

Back in Utah, I made it to the dentist, Candace hit the eye doctor, and we wrapped up our shopping for U.S. goods to fill our eventual 8 suitcases. We made it to the temple (BA temple still closed), Sam's Club, Wal-Mart and Cafe Rio. We visited the Provo Cemetery and finally said goodbye to a great trip.

In total, the family had 9 airplane rides (add four for Dave for dropping off the family), saw all Mouritsen aunts and uncles, saw all Mouritsen cousins, 7 Johnson cousins, 2 Johnson aunts and uncles, most grandparents, 2 rental cars, 6 states (including those with layovers), tons of smiles, and we're still trying to determine the damage to the checking account.

The kids traveled great most of the time. On the last airplane ride, Sam coughed and threw up at the same time. Candace and I had been switching off sitting by Caroline (our not-so-good traveler) and she was 10 rows in front of us with Caroline. So I cleaned up Sam, got his clothes changed (we learned our lesson with unreliable diapers on a different flight so we were prepared this time) and we were moving along. Then 45 minutes later, he threw up several more times... on his change of clothes. Luckily, another family we knew was on the flight and they had an extra T-shirt (girly). So Sam was pantless (for the second time.. different story) upon arrival.

The lowlight of the trip was that the Friday before we were coming back, we got a call from my office saying that our house had been broken into while we were away. So we had two days and an overnight flight to look forward to coming home to a broken into home. Finally home, we spent a few days finding things that were missing. It could have been a lot worse, but some important things were missing. While it didn't ruin our vacation, the return was not what we expected it to be.

While in the States, we were able to pitch the idea of visiting Argentina to all of our friends and family.... so we hope it pays off. And I will admit that each story above could be amplified considerably, I don't have the energy to spend the rest of my day typing. Lazy me.

All Hail Neil Diamond

In case it's been a while since you've heard the song, here are the words to Neil Diamond's "America":

Far

We've been travelling far

Without a home

But not without a star

Free

Only want to be free

We huddle close

Hang on to a dream

On the boats and on the planes

They're coming to America

Never looking back again

They're coming to America

Home, don't it seem so far away

Oh, we're travelling light today

In the eye of the storm

In the eye of the storm

Home, to a new and a shiny place

Make our bed, and we'll say our grace

Freedom's light burning warm

Freedom's light burning warm

Everywhere around the world

They're coming to America

Every time that flag's unfurled

They're coming to America

Got a dream to take them there

They're coming to America

Got a dream they've come to share

They're coming to America

They're coming to America

They're coming to America

They're coming to America

They're coming to America

Today, today, today, today, today

A few weeks ago, we started singing that song in preparation for our big summer trip back to America. Sam would sing, "Doing to America [PAUSE] Yeah!"

That's right, Sam.... "YEAH".... I'm coming to America to join the family. See you back in Argentina in a few weeks!!!!

Um........

So I've been here all by myself all week. Other than a couple of movies with friends, I have caught up on my TV watching and some home projects. I thought I would relay something that happened last week. I'm cheating by taking it word for word from an email that I sent my family, but you get the point:

So check this out... I happened to be in Sao Paulo yesterday which is where the final of the Copa Libertadores (a major south american soccer tournament) was being played... I caught some of the game in a hotel lobby and saw the Brazilian team Santos put two goals in against Uruguayan Peñarol's one goal. The first Santos goal was scored by this young phenom with a lame mohawk.... The same kid assisted on the

second Santos goal.

So earlier this afternoon while waiting in the security line at the SP airport for my return to Buenos Aires, I see all this commotion and its the mohawk making his way through the airport... with another
Santos player (Elano Blumer who has played for the Brazilian National Team)...

Me, of course, being an NCAA basketball fan more than anything take only a passing interest....

THEN at the gate, I see these two schmoes get escorted onto the plane before anyone else. So I think at least I'll get a close up of them while I walk by. As it turns out, they're sitting in the row right in front of me on the plane (i'm in the 2nd to the last row). So about 20 pairs of people come back to take pictures with the dudes (the top of my head is super famous now).... Neymar dropped his phone... and guess who picked it up? Me... Not that I care cause it wasn't like Wayne Rooney or Landon Donovan or David Villa... but then again, none of those three would be flying unescorted in coach class on a LAN flight. Neymar just might be the next Ronaldo though... Rumored to be on his way to Chelsea or Real Madrid for several million dollars.

So funny... I should have asked him for tickets to the Copa America (another big south american soccer tournament.. this one hosted in Argentina). It was funny that about a dozen Peñarol fans (all decked

out since they probably didn't sleep (or shower) all night) were on the plane... some taunting.. ha ha ha...

Love it.

What Would You Do?

Welcome to the game show that asks 'What Would You Do?'. Here's how you play. Imagine yourself in some parallel universe, or a South American country, whichever you prefer. Then read the question and consider what you would do in the given situation. If your response matches what actually happened, you're a winner. If it doesn't, well, you're a loser.

Let's get started.

Scenario #1: You're driving down the road and you come to a stoplight. You look in the car next to you and see the other driver, a father, holding an infant in his arms with his wife in the passenger seat with nothing in her arms. Light turns green and everybody goes. What Would You Do?

Scenario #2: You travel from one large city to an even larger city. The city you left was known for its petty crime, but the city you're going to is legendary for its petty and violent crimes. You have been warned to not go exploring. What Would You Do?

Scenario #3: You live in a city where one of the most storied and historic sports franchises is about to be demoted from the major leagues to a lesser league. Riots are planned whether they win or lose. You've been invited to go somewhere to watch the game. What Would You Do?

Scenario #4: Your family is gone for three weeks. You plan to meet up with them and then have a blast on vacation together. However, you still have two weeks to go all by yourself. What Would You Do?

Are you done contemplating? Let's see how you did.

#1: Yes, this really happened... earlier today. In the United States, I would immediately reach for my phone and call 911 and give the license plate number of the irresponsible parents. However, after the initial shock and disappointment, I remember there is no enforcement of seatbelt or carseat laws for children or adults, if such laws exist. Furthermore, Argentine Federal Police are more often than not the ones telling you not to worry about crimes being committed because "these things happen." So... I shook my head and drove away, hoping the infant made it home safely.

#2: Earlier this week, I traveled from Buenos Aires to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Two very large cities and one with a horrible reputation for crime: Sao Paulo. I was told to avoid going out and walking around, even around the ritzy hotel I was staying at due to the prevalence of crime in all parts of Sao Paulo. What did I do? I took taxis everywhere and am now 1 for 1 on mugging-free trips to Brazil. Yay me!

#3: I went to watch the game. Kind of a trick question because I live four miles from the River Plate Stadium where the game was being played with 2,000 extra police (see #1 comment about Argentine Federal Police) and the place I was invited to was another 2 miles away in the opposite direction. The game ended in a tie, cementing River Plate's demotion to the Liga B (B league) for the first time in its 110 year history. The fans were none too happy and caused much damage to the stadium and surrounding area. I hope they all go home tonight since the stadium (and neighborhood) stand between me and my place of employment. Sorry, River.

#4: I'm sad they're gone. I'm bored they're gone. Other families are gone too. Guess I'll find something else to clean.

Thank you for playing 'What Would You Do?'.

The Week that Wasn't

As you saw in last week's post, the Puyehue volcano in Chile erupted and made for some awesome photos. With the wind patterns and the jet stream, the ashes from the eruption affected air travel in and out of Buenos Aires for nearly a week. Flights were cancelled from both the international and domestic airports. While that normally wouldn't matter, school had just gotten out and many families were planning their summer vacations... including us. Our Monday night departing flight was cancelled... then our Tuesday night departing flight was cancelled... and we finally made it out of Buenos Aires on Thursday.

In the end, the airports were closed for two days, open for a day and half, then closed for two and a half days, and then the rain came and dispersed the ashes. From the reports, however, the volcano is still spewing ash and could bothersome for the coming weeks. What's worse is what it has done to Argentina's beautiful lake district, including large tourist communities of Bariloche and Villa La Angostura. Sad.

Bariloche before and after:

Villa La Angostura before and after

So the good news is that we made it out of the country. We had originally planned to spend 5 days together as a family in Park City before I returned for a few weeks while Candace stayed with the kids for the summer. As the week drew on (with us having expected to be gone), Candace was more and more distraught at the possibility of losing her guaranteed one full day of kid-free shopping at the Park City outlet mall. Luckily, with us getting out on Thursday (arriving in Utah on Friday), Candace got to shop all day Saturday before I departed Utah for Buenos Aires on Sunday (arriving Monday).

One of the best things of the week was that Claire was so pleased that every spoke English. When we told her that at the airport in Dallas, she said 'hi' to everyone. She's always been a very social and loving girl, but sometimes gets shy with the language barrier. But there's nothing like speaking your own language.

As I was going to have the kids for a whole day, I was trying to make some good plans. I was lucky. [This next part is dedicated to having good friends] As you grow up and get married and have families, it's hard to stay in touch, especially as everyone moves all around, but there are those few friends that it doesn't matter how much time passes, you can pick up like no time has passed. My friend Andy is one of those. While never companions, we met in the Buenos Aires West Mission. We had a great time during the mission, and continued afterwards. Heck, our mom's even have the same name. He's a firefighter in Park City and offered to give a tour to the kids. So we went and spent two hours at the fire department getting the VIP tour of the station and the vehicles. Claire and Sam (and I'm sure Caroline too) were so pleased to meet a real firefighter. They called him Fireman Andy and talked about him the rest of the day and the whole next day. It was one of those activities that the kids will remember for a long long time. They got great fireman hats, stickers, and bracelets, and I got a pencil (thanks, Andy). They got to climb in and on an ambulance and a fire truck and spent a while talking to Fireman Andy about why it's important for firefighters to be healthy (while playing on exercise equipment). It was such a great visit.

In the past year, such relationships have become so much more important to me. You're the best, Andy.

There's a First Time for Everything

This was a big week in Buenos Aires. A week of firsts. Let's start with Caroline. She is 13 1/2 months old and is only recently interested in learning how to walk. She knows that crawling is faster and climbs and stands, but this week she finally took a step... then she took another. While she is far from walking, she has stepped. She is a stepper. She has climbed Mount Stepperest and returned. Now she's interested. Time to re-organize and move things a little bit higher.


Now to Sam. Sam had so much potential for a first this week. Unfortunately, he still goes number 2 in a diaper, and therefore doesn't get to wear his Spiderman underwear or get the marbles on top of the refrigerator. He is always first to finish his meal though.


Claire finished Kinder 4.


As for Candace and Dave, it was a joint issue: A regular spousal dispute. It was not the first spousal dispute and probably won't be the last, but Dave admitted he was wrong. How big of me! There is a first time for everything.


Lastly, let's talk about volcanoes (and I'm not returning to Sam's diaper issues). The Puyehue Volcano near Osorno, Chile erupted last week. While I wish I could claim credit for the below pictures, they came from a newspaper showing the eruption:

That's pretty awesome, right? Well, here we are over 1000 miles away suffering the effects. Both airports in Buenos Aires were closed for a few days as the ash cloud descended on Buenos Aires. While it normally wouldn't matter, school got out and a ton of families had plans to travel. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled. We're still fine as far as we know. But the city got a light dusting... and there were plenty of sore throats to go around. The below is a picture of our car this morning. And it's not just neglect of washing it... cause every car looks the same.

Thanks a lot, Chile.


Candace's contribution:


Sam

I love the way Sam talks. We spend all day everyday together, and he is a constant stream of chatter. He’s at the stage where he can articulate well what he wants to say, but there are many letter sounds he can’t make. I have tried to take a lot of videos of him talking. I know I’m used to his manner of speaking now, but it will melt my heart in the future when I watch it on video. The kids grow up so quickly. Sometimes they pass through the most adorable stages without me hardly noticing. I’m trying harder to enjoy each stage and to get it on video!

Claire’s Boutique

Claire loves to do art. She is into making art project out of random household items. She loves to display her art. I know if I let her she would cover every wall in the house with her art. I have limited her art displays to her bedroom and one wall in the playroom. Her closet doors and bedroom door are completely covered with art. She calls the playroom wall her mural and loves to add to it all the time. She is very creative. She often tells me that she wants to be an artist when she grows up. I love her enthusiasm.

Sing Along

So a few months ago, Candace told Claire that she could earn a date night with mommy and daddy if she learned the primary songs for an upcoming program in Spanish and in English. Well, she did it. She sings them with might, and they're not the short one-versed versions. One of the songs was two verses of Praise to the Man. She belts them out in English or Spanish whenever she wants.

So last night was the date reward. She chose one of the few restaurants near our house that is open before 8pm and went. She was so pleased... talking incessantly about how much fun she was having. It was a night all about her. After her Cheeseburger and chocolate milk and hot fudge sundae, we came home to watch a movie of her choice: The Air Buddies. Do you remember Air Bud the basketball dog.. then there was one about baseball, volleyball, and football (no, I have not seen them all). Well, the Air Buddies are about Air Bud's puppies. Let's just say it was Claire's choice.

Two weeks ago, we were able to take Sam with us as we cruised around downtown BA seeing some of the more common tourist sites... so both have had special time. It's a reminder that it's really easy to do and both activities were a blast.

This coming week is the last week of Kinder 4 for Claire at her school. They did a year-book that they give to everyone and we got a call from the Elementary School Principal advising us that they had elected to dedicate a page to Lily and he wanted to be the one to tell us before we saw the book. As it turns out, when you open the book, the first page is the welcome letter from the principal. Once you turn the page, there are a few pictures of Lily with a short tribute. It was very thoughtful and we have received some personal messages from other parents at the school talking about Lily.

Candace's addition:

Dinnertime

I don’t know how dinnertime is at your house, but I imagine it’s a challenge in most families with young children. I decided long ago that only one thing would be served for dinner. I love to cook and rarely take into account what my children will think when I plan my menus. I figure if they are exposed to a large variety of foods they will learn to like them. That has mostly proven to be true. It’s funny to watch the different kids at dinner. Claire is a good eater. She tries so hard to like what I make and is always willing to try new things. She will almost always say that she likes what I made even if it isn’t her favorite thing. She does her best to eat it. Sam asks what we are having and then declares he doesn’t like it before he even sees it or tries it. He has come a long way in his willingness to try new foods and eat vegetables, but we have a long way to go. He always makes me laugh when he puts a bite of dinner in his mouth and then quickly tries to wash it down with tons of milk. Caroline is my star dinner eater. She loves whatever I cook. She always makes me feel so good as she shovels the food into her mouth as quickly as she can and often eats more than the other kids. I get so much pleasure out of serving a healthy, homemade meal to my family. I have a wonderful husband who loves anything I cook and is always grateful. He’s probably the reason I love to cook.

The Countdown

We are only a few weeks away from our long-awaited summer vacation to the United States. We will all be flying to America together, and then I am going to come back to Buenos Aires for a couple of weeks, before returning to the States to enjoy some well-deserved state hopping. In looking forward to this trip, we have been able to reflect on our life here in Argentina... and we like it. It is easy to criticize, complain, and critique a different culture and we have tried our best to take it for what its worth, not compare it to life in the U.S. and enjoy what we have. Some days that is easier than others, but we're doing our best.

We have made lots of friends, found lots of activities, and have sufficient trips on our Mouritsen Family Fun List to keep us busy for the next two years. It has been fun to compare notes with the outgoing families to make sure we do the things they thought were highlights, and it's like Christmas waiting to see who our new next-door neighbors are going to be and if they'll have kids the same ages as ours.

Even after a year, one of the things that trips me up when talking to people about our summer plans is whether we say we'll be back in the winter, or right before fall... or spring... With us being in the southern hemisphere, we're in late fall right now heading into the coldest months of June and July. But we're leaving for the summer months up north and will then be back by the time school starts in early fall... or is it spring? Oh well. Most Argentines know what I mean, or think that I don't know the names of the seasons in Spanish.

Last night, Candace and I went to see the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie at the "premium" theater near our house: leather recliners, dinner menu, wetbar... the whole 9 meters (we are on the metric system down here). I'm sure this happens a lot, but it was more my choice to see the movie than Candace, but she was a good sport. And I must include the fact that I really liked the first 3 Pirates movies. I liked the same crew with an ongoing quest and the resolution with Davey Jones at the end of movie 3. I know they left it open for more movies with the map to the Fountain of Youth and I know they're going to make a few more Pirates movies, but I was very much disappointed in this latest installment. It would have been one thing to keep to the same shenanigans with Jack Sparrow with the same characters (Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley), but they got new people, new pirates, new ships... but what seemed were the same lines... same jokes... same sword fights... blah blah blah. Let's just say that I'm not sure I'll be rushing to see the next one the first two weeks it comes out. Oh well. Harry Potter 7 Part 2, Cars 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, and a few others will have us back at the premium theater shortly.

Following the trend from last week, here are two excerpts courtesy of Candace:

Lily’s Memory

We have tried really hard to keep Lily’s memory alive with our kids. We know that they are young and may have a hard time remembering her in the future. We talk about Lily all the time. We tell stories about her over and over with the hope that hearing those stories repeated will help them remember her. Claire came into Sam’s room the other night wearing a pair of Lily’s old pajamas. Sam looked at her and said “Hey, those are Lily’s pajamas.” I felt so sad to see Lily’s favorite pajamas without Lily, but I also felt so happy that Sam remembered they were her pajamas. It has only been 7 ½ months since Lily passed away. It feels much longer to me. I have prayed that our children would be given the gift to remember her.

Oil and Water

Sam and Caroline don’t exactly get along. It is very hard for them to be in the room together without constant supervision. When Caroline is around Sam spends all of his time making sure she doesn’t touch anything that belongs to him. Caroline mostly goes about her business. In the past she didn’t get upset when Sam would take things from her, but all that has changed now. She has developed quite an attitude and opinion. She lets us know when she has been wronged. She has recently become quite aggressive with Sam. She will lunge at him and scratch his face and recently she bit him hard on the cheek. I have to remind myself that this will all pass. Luckily, Claire has all the patience in the world with Caroline and Sam. She is our peacemaker. I just wish so much peace didn’t need to be made!