It's Cool

The weather is turning cooler now as we head toward winter. This is mild compared to what we're used to, but everybody groans anyway. Most days are still quite warm and I still marvel at the blue of the sky here. Seriously, it's beyond blue.
Everyone is doing alright. Vincent has a slight cold. The hardest part is to keep him inactive long enough to get completely well. Luca is having a 'pijamada' or slumber party this weekend. Six kids plus our two, and a long night for the parents.
Still plugging away on our house project (click this link http://sansalvadorhouse.blogspot.com/ for details) while starting some of the planning for our next project; Coffee Bar.
I have recently been relieved of my camera ( I thought I was being careful), so there will be few, if any pictures for a while.
Stay tuned please, get your "what's going on in Uruguay news" right here. For actual information beyond what the DeLalla's are doing, see http://smallstate.blogspot.com/.
For now, it's cool. The weather, the life and what's up the road.
thanks for reading,
Ciao

Janine and the Boys visit U.S.

The family took advantage of their flier miles and had booked a trip to NY a while back. They had about 12 days visiting friends and from all I've heard it went well.
A few snapshots of some museum trips and general hanging around.

Our House

Here are some pictures of our house "Villa Punk". That's our sporty little car parked out front. It's a bit of an industrial facade, but in a way it's perfect for here. Not inviting to robbers in appearance or access. On the inside it's comfortable and homey. Perhaps in the near future we can remodel a bit. I have some ideas.

Starting below left, then clockwise;
1.Top of the stairs landing. 2.The playroom. 3.Patio parilla. 4. Up the street. 5. Our Bedroom. 6. The kitchen. 7. The kid's room. 8. The guest room. 9. Frontage. 10. Down the street. 11. The galpon. 12. Kid's playing. 13. The bathroom. 14.Entrance 15. Garage door 16.Kid's beds. 17. Kid's closet. 18. Kitchen. 19. Patio again, kitchen and side entrance. 20.The dining area, stairs and the living room. 21. Patio toward front. 22. Upstairs landing.

The galpon, the huge space behind the house, is a part of the parking garage next door. The original lot included both the house and the garage. When it was divided, the city required the split off lot to be a minimum size, so the house got the 'galpon'. The kids are happy with a field to play a variety of sports.
They will have to give it up for a short time though. I am taking a little less than half for my new workshop and right now its' full of my stuff. When I slow down on San Salvador, I will build a wall separating the two areas and give the kids back some space. Yeah, yeah, I'll get to it.

So, that's it. Our house.

Vincent turns 10

Vincent had his 10th birthday this past weekend and the party was a success. One of our usual places was chosen; Wimbledon. They have a large covered field for futbol and another paved court for everything else.
Vincent invited both 4th grade classes and almost everybody came. Add a few friends of Luca and we had quite a crowd.









The teenage 'helpers' were great as usual keeping everybody active and we could hardly clear the place out after three hours of craziness. It was a blast. OK, for me it was a bit less than blasty, but we did watch an important futbol match btw. Uruguay and Paraguay. Uruguay won two, almost three nil and it was a really good game.

La Paloma

I have a few more pictures from our vacation to La Paloma in January.
It's still a favorite beach destination of mine, all things considered.
I wouldn't rule out trying our hand at a summer business there someday.

Here's both Luca and Vincent catching a wave!

Janine looks

the part in that wetsuit.

The boys have a refreshing smoothie by the beach.

Our friend Claudia has vertigo,
but went to the top of the lighthouse anyway.

"El Grillo" gives the kids their first instruction on surfing.









La Paloma Futbol Club (LPFC) portrait.