August Mendez News

Whew! July is long gone, August is finally underway! Sorry I'm a bit late with this update, but the movers are finally gone and I can focus on this once again. I can barely remember what I did in July.

Of course both girls had their birthdays and birthday parties in July, which you've already seen pictures of. And a great deal of prep went into all of that. I think I estimated that I made about 200 cupcakes last month along. Yeah, I'm over cupcakes for quite a while.

One really warm sunny day, we headed over to Mampato (preschool amusement park) for one last trip. Lily was finally big enough and old enough to really have a good time this time. The girls love it there, and they are going to miss it.

This is a scene that I've been trying to capture pictures of the entire time we've lived here. These are REAL Chilean cowboys riding down the suburban streets of Santiago not far from where we live. They all herd cattle and horses and whatever else on the mountains that surround our neighborhood. Cool, huh?

We also had 4th of July this month, and took the girls to see the official flag raising ceremony at the Embassy. We made a point of doing it this year, because we discovered that Abby thought she was Chilean, and we needed to indoctrinate her into all things US!  It is time for us to go home!

The girls were much more interested in the snacks I brought, unfortunately.

Another fun but silly thing this month: the girls discovered burritos! Abby decided it was "super cool" (her words not mine) to eat food wrapped up in a tortilla. And well, Lily will eat anything. So I had to snap pictures of them eating their very first burritos!

Now, these pictures all belong up top with the other Mampato pictures, but the blog is not cooperating at the moment. The photos were too cute to delete, though.

Here's Lily saying "Ta Da." Don't ask me why. Joel taught them.

And one Sunday afternoon, the girls were driving Joel crazy, so he taught them some exercises from his workout. Here is Abby doing arm circles.

And here she is doing push ups! She's not bad actually for being 4 years old.

So that was our month. August is going quickly as well. Our stuff is packed up and gone, and we leave Santiago this week for a month in DC. We can't wait!

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby and Lily