Cartwright Family Holiday #1 2016 is a Success!

I wrote a blog in January about my new idea for a holiday. Well I've worked on it since then and implemented my idea. I am happy to report it was a great success!!

It began with great enthusiasm that quickly turned to frustration. When I announced the idea to everyone it was a hit! Everyone liked it and wanted to get involved. When I said we need to plan something and get together etc that's when no one seemed to care.

Plan A was to go VA Beach. La was on board she was ready to rent a house for us all but unfortunately no body wanted to put up the money for it. That idea quickly fell through. I learned to not count on my sister or father in these situations. They were a great disappointment to me. (perhaps now they will bounce back since they see I'm serious and this is a successful thing)

Ale's parents were also fans of the idea and they actually scheduled their vacation to come up and see Pax around the holiday so they would be here for it. Plan B was to go to Miami since their flight was going through there. I did my research and it was doable but it would cost a lot. We decided we wanted to move out of Chuck's and build our dream house a little more than this vacation so we couldn't spend that kind of money at that time. Plan B was scratched.

Plan C was find somewhere closer that doesn't cost a lot and isn't far. We researched places like Ocean City, etc and ended up settling on Erie, PA. It met the requirements. There was a beach. It was close. There were breweries. There were bike trails. At the beginning of March we booked our room and Ale's parents booked right next to us. We were set!

I grew excited as the time approached.

On June 4th while Ale and I were in the living room all of a sudden someone poked their head in the room. Ale's family was here!

Ale and I continued to work the next week while her parent's watched, played with, spent time with Pax. They loved him. They missed him so much and he loved seeing his Abus in real life!

After we all got to see the Pittsburgh Penguins hold aloft the Lord Stanley's Cup for the 4th time in history after defeating the Sharks in Game 6 on 2016/06/12, it was time to party! First thing is first though, time to shave off this damn itchy playoff beard!

 

I still had to login to work and accomplish some things before we went on Monday but in between I was able to help get everyone packed and the car loaded. (The car's gas mileage really goes down with 2 bikes strapped to the back) Ale's parents left earlier than us because they wanted to stop at the Grove City Outlets but we met up with them around 7 pm for a fancy dinner right by our hotel. We got rooms next to each other which was nice. The whole hotel was pretty cool. I'd come back here again. No real complaints. The boy loved the pool. I know at least one day he hung with some girls staying here for several hours.


I rode my bike at Presque Isle State Park. The boy and I rented a jet ski and rode around on Lake Erie for an hour. I was able to hit 2 breweries and a bunch of other nice restaurants. We spent one day at the local water park which was fun. We got some souvenirs. I saw some turtles. We swam, we relaxed. We enjoyed our holiday vacation to the max I think and everyone was happy.

Although on Friday we headed back home we were not done yet. Saturday was the big cookout. We had to hit some stores to get a few things. I secured a sweet cornhole set for party entertainment. All our family came but I was stupid with the invitations and a lot of other people had other plans so not everyone I wanted to be there made it. I still barbecued for 13 people though so it was still nice.

Again I think the first annual Cartwright Family Holiday went well. We planned sufficiently and everything turned out great. I can't wait for next year in Asheville!

Date Night for a Cause

This weekend went pretty well. It was Valentine's Day and Ale's birthday. I found that the Westmoreland Heritage Trail (WHT) was holding a fundraiser and because it was on Feb 13th I thought that would be an airtight argument on why we should go. Due to my introversion I rarely thrust myself out there for strange events I don't know anything about but I needed a date night plan and I wanted to help the cause so in this case I was able to successfully overcome.

We picked up the tickets at the Lamplighter a few weeks prior and then just waited. Besides my mom playing silly babysitting games there was no drama. The event was held at the Delmont Fire Hall. I've never been there but I guessed it was probably like most other fire halls and I was correct. It was filled with folding tables and chairs. I mean packed in there. It was a pain to have to get up and go somewhere because you really had to squeeze around.

I had every intention of participating in the fundraising part but I didn't really do anything. They had baskets you could buy tickets for and they ran at least 3 50/50's as well. I'm sure they made a bunch of money which is good. We tried to sit as far away from everyone as we could. Our table did seem to end up being the table of the stragglers. We didn't really talk to anyone at all.

The food was fine. We were starving so maybe that had something to do with it. Chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes and a piece of cake. Wow has it really been that long since I had mashed potatoes? It was cash bar so I did grab a couple drinks while we there.

The main thing we were waiting for were the professional comedians. They continued to advertise it like that without saying who they were. That was such a broad definition it was funny. That turned out to be okay too. The first guy I never heard of Ray Zawodni. He was all right. The headlining guy I heard of Mike Wysocki. He is always on the radio on DVE. He was funnier. I am pretty sure I laughed a bunch of times.

I was getting super tired towards the end and I wanted to leave. They were still doing stuff when he finished his set but we were out of there. We had to stop at Walmart and get some stuff before we went home. Not a perfect date but at least a realistic one. Ale seemed to be pleased by everything. I wanted it to be awesome as hell for her and I felt she found it acceptable. Now I have some time to come up with another idea for our next date.

Post-Thanksgiving Update

I haven't written in a while and we got some much needed time off over the holiday so I figured I'd try to put an update out here.

THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

THURSDAY
Thanksgiving was fun. We went to Mimi's as we normally do. She tried to get out of it but apparently my sister threatened her with 'I'm not coming up to visit unless you cook and have Thanksgiving at your house' so she relented. Everyone pitched in and made something and all the normal people were there, Me, Ale, Isaac, Pax, Mimi, Chuck, Autumn, Gaines, Dee, Jed, Jed's 2015 girlfriend Lisa, Zip, Chuckie and Kevin.

From what I've gathered from talking to everyone after this was one of the better Thanksgivings. Everyone had a great time. I know I did. I don't think Mimi had a great time. She takes it upon herself to do too much and I think that causes her stress. Maybe that's where I get it from.

FRIDAY
We didn't really do anything but relax and recover. I played games and hung out her Ale and the babby.

SATURDAY
Tried to set up a lunch with Autumn and Gaines so we could hang out since they made the trip the whole way here. It didn't work out so Ale and I had our own lunch which was awesome. They did come over afterwards to our house and hung out so it worked out anyway.

SUNDAY
Just did more relaxing. Got a lot of database work in.


EMPLOYEE YEAR END BONUS

We received bonuses at work for the holiday. Nothing great but better than nothing is how I'll politely describe that. The problem this year is that Ale and I got different amounts but somehow in their system the gave us the wrong ones. I got hers. She got mine. We weren't supposed to know that but we did. The official story as I understand is that there was just an error. On the paper they give you when you go into the meeting the amount was crossed out and rewritten, the deposits were wrong in our bank accounts, redacted and redeposited and the statements on the ADP website are also incorrect. Instead of fixing mine they gave me a second bonus to make up the difference. Why they didn't do something to resolve this before handing them down is something I do not understand. It really reflected badly on whoever is in charge of that and I heard all the managers were irritated as well.


MORE EX DRAMA

The boy texted me the other day at around 9-10 pm (which is super late for me, luckily I was up) telling me he was scared and that I should come get him. Mom and Anthony were fighting. What I found out was going on was that apparently she found a new boyfriend or crush or something and for some reason told the boy about it. (This must have been part of the plan because it is naive of her to think telling the boy anything will not get back to the relevant person) In hanging out with her current boyfriend (who from what I understand is just a babysitter to her) the boy must have slipped and said something. The guy immediately latched on to this and made the boy spill his guts as to everything he knew. This caused this guy to go into some sort of rage. He broke the plasma TV, her phone and it got physical between her and him. Obviously she has attempted to cloud the true events of that altercation as she is wont to do with severely confusing misinformation after the fact. The worst part, the part I find unconscionable is that she straight up puts the blame on that on Isaac. She texted me that it was his fault. Everyone has known she is incapable of taking responsibility for anything that has happened to her in her entire life but now she is starting to blame her children. I am doing my best to set the boy straight but man is she in his head. I fear for his future with the things she has done to him. I can tell he is getting smarter and can see what's going on but it some cases she still has him wrapped around her finger and it is really saddening. The boy was not the one who got a new boyfriend before breaking up with the old one. She did. I truly do not know where her head is at.

Anyway I did find out that instead of getting a PFA against this guy as she told me he promised that he will pay for the TV and phone, get a job and everything is just hunky dory and they're back together. What a wonderful gesture. You certainly wouldn't want to lose your rent-free house, etc, etc. I give this 3 months. He'll be back on the couch and everything will be as it was. Some people just don't learn and can't move on. Again as the boy gets older he will see.

I got another text of some sort recently basically saying if she can't get free healthcare for the boy then she will do nothing else to help provide it and it will fall to me to handle. Wonderful parenting! You don't pay for anything you can't lie to welfare and get for free but I'm somehow always portrayed as the bad guy to her.



BOY DRAMA CLUB

I told the boy at the beginning of the school year that he needs to get more involved with things and to do that I suggested that he join some sort of club. I don't care what. My first choice would have been some sports team but as long as you pick something I don't care. I found out at the beginning of the month that he had chosen the Penn Middle Drama Club. Ok good enough. I'm cool with that. So for the first play being held in December they had chosen to perform A Charlie Brown Christmas. Again that's fine. That's a classic. He did not chose to participate as an actor. He chose to be a part of the Stage Crew. This all makes me happy. I guess his job is to make set pieces and move them in and out during the different scenes. Good job boy. I am proud of you and I can't wait to go see the play (Dec 17th) so I can see you in action. My only concern (as it usually is): is his mother capable of getting the boy there and back to all his practices he needs to be at. My vote is on 'Extremely Unlikely' . He already needs to stay over Friday night since she can't get him there for Saturday's rehearsal. He needs to be there every single day next week and that worries me as well.

I did have a weird experience picking him up the other day from there. Apparently every parent that has a kid there tries to jam into the back parking lot when rehearsal is over and there's not enough room so a traffic jam is created. When I pulled in and saw that I parked in a lot that was away from all that and figured I'd just walk over and get him then come back. Well just as I got out of the car some guy, I don't know who, the principal, a teacher, someone who felt they were in some position of authority, sharply barked at me if they could help me. Of course me being me I instantly had 5 smart ass things I could have said but I bit my tongue and just as politely as I could answered, 'Nope just picking up my kid'. I don't know if he was confused at my refusal to get in the traffic line like every other sheep or what but it was unsettling to me.


GAS LEAK

The other day we came home from work and found several trucks with red flashing lights parked on our road. It wasn't the police so I guessed fire trucks. maybe someone had a kitchen fire or something. it ended up being the gas company. A guy came to our door to tell us that there was a leak in the line somewhere between our house and the meter on the road and that they shut our gas off. We needed to call a plumber and get it fixed before they would turn it back on. I called Chuck right away and he was in denial about it. He talked to the neighbors and got it all straightened out. I guess there really did end up being an issue because he had to pay $1000 he said to get someone to fix it. It was only out 2 full days and wasn't that big of a deal to us.


STAR WARS

Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out on Dec 18th. I definitely want to go see it and take the boy. He wants to go with his friend Dylan so I friended his mom on Facebook so I could communicate with her and figure something out. We're definitely going when I planned so we will definitely see it. Hopefully we can work something out because this is the kind of movie you see more than once so I'm cool with going again.


CONCLUSION

Sorry so long. I should try and keep up with this more but that's okay. I finally got a good thing going in my database to log life as we go and that makes me happy. Ale makes me happy. Isaac is doing okay. Pax is the most cutest bestest babby ever. I think things are going to be okay.

Trilogy - Part X of 3 - Indigenous People Day

So I've just wanted to make a note here as I have been alive for quite some time and I have not heard such a backlash before regarding the celebration of Columbus Day. We used to sing happy, funny, rhyming songs about that in school. What the heck does everyone have beef all of a sudden or did I just miss it? I know they are up in arms about changing the name of the Washington Redskins but what's wrong with Columbus Day.

Well apparently instead of being a nice guy and discovering the Americas, etc he was actually a real jagoff. He killed people etc. and the Native Americans really hate him for coming here and starting the whole 'stealing their land' thing. They have been protesting this for a while and apparently some states have already switched over to this new holiday. Well that's something new I learned today. I have no stake in it either way so it doesn't matter to me.

Read more
Even more

What A Great Holiday

This was an absolutely fantastic holiday season. Perhaps one of the best ever!! Everything went great and with the exception of my car not a thing went wrong at all. I saw tons of my family and friends and did all sorts of fun things with them. I am so very lucky and happy and I wish I could feel this good all the time.

Wednesday 12/22
It all started when I went to the Pens game with Drew. (read more) We had a blast and got to see each other and hang out and catch up on stuff not to mention that the Pens whooped some ass that night. Perfect way to start the holiday.

Thurs 12/23
No more work for the weekend!! I was supposed to call Drew to invite him over to Matt's for his holiday/the dog's birthday party but he ended up being busy with his family but it didn't matter. I had another absolutely fabulous time. I got to meet Matt's new girlfriend Brandi and she seemed really nice. Plus tons of other friends came over and we watched the Pens and then the Steelers and did shots and got drunk and it was just insane. I remember wanting to cut out early when I started getting tired but because I was the first one there my car was jammed up in the back and there was no way I was getting out. I ended up sticking it out and being the last person to leave. The only bad thing that happened is that Brandon broke the ESPN food dispensing football thing that Matt had. Now it doesn't play the sound when you hit the button to open it so we had to do it manually all night. People wondered why we were doing that but it was funny to us.

Friday 12/24
I got up late today and decided to just laze around until 6pm when Isaac was supposed to be here. I had a package in the mail though when I went out to check and it was my copy of 3D Dot Game Heroes for PS3 that Ale had bought me for Xmas! Yay!! There was something for me to play.
Got Isaac, left out bells for Santa

Sat 12/25
Xmas!!
We played all day!! The big toy of the year, Snap Circuits, was a huge hit!

Sun 12/26
Globetrotters, went to see Pappy, Rick's for dinner

Mon 12/27
Played, went to see Pappy, saw the cigar box guitar museum at Speal's Tavern

Tues 12/28
Played, practiced karate, built Lowes trains

Wed 12/29
Thurs worked

Fri 12/30
Went to Nate's, played w iPad

Sat 12/31
Winter Classic, tailgating

Sun 01/01
Recover time, went over goals with Ale

Alevacation part 3

2010/07/04

We woke up today and I got to show Ale some of my domestic skills. I used some of the food I bought to make a kick ass breakfast for us. Eggs and bacon and toast and all the good stuff. I think she liked it. When we finished up and got ready it was time to head out to do our activities for the day.

The first stop was Laurel Caverns. It was a bit of a drive to get there but it was awesome because we just got to sit besides each other for real and enjoy us just being there for once instead of just over the video screen. It's cool that we can talk over the computer and chat and all that but to finally be in each others presence was a totally different kind of awesome.

I may have been here before but I don't remember it and it was around this time that Isaac was going to go here on a field trip with Penn Pals so that's how I got the idea. With both of us going we could talk about what we've seen separately and that would be cool. Plus it's a cool activity to do anyway. The view from the top of that mountain is insane. You can see forever and it's just very peaceful and awesome up there.

When we walked inside the building they have at the opening of the cave we saw all kinds of cool brochures of the other stuff that was around here so we grabbed a few as souvenirs. There were also all kinds of cool pictures of bats and maps of the caves from different viewpoints all over the wall and we stopped to check that stuff out too. We had a few minutes to kill before the next tour so we played with some of the crap in the gift shop and soon they paged us to begin our descent.

You'd have to experience this yourself to see what it's like. I wish they'd give you a map and a flashlight and let you go at it yourself but I can see they don't want morons getting themselves lost and killed and stuff. I guess if we'd really want to do it we could join their group and get in that way somehow but not right now.

The tour lasted about an hour and we got to see some cool stuff. There was one point where they locked us in a room and shut out the lights. You totally could not even see your hand in front of your face! They played a song with some colored laser lights that lit up to the beat and that was neat too.

There wasn't much left to do when we walked out of the cave so we just hopped in the car and headed out to our next destination.

Westmoreland Arts & Heritage Festival @ Twin Lakes
This was pretty fun. Although I hear horror stories about how packed this place is being as it was the last day, it wasn't that bad at all for us. I was cautious though and parked maybe a little too far away. We had to walk a distance to get there but that was okay. We played on the fun activity thingies they have on the path as we went and just talked and enjoyed each others company. We took the wrong path and had to walk the whole way around both lakes to get there but again, what was the hurry?

When we got there Ale got to have funnel cake for the first time ever and she loved that. I also bought her a tie-dye shirt so she can be a hippie with me now. We looked at some of the crafts and other stuff that was there and that was about it. We hit the end and walked back through a second time and then decided we were tired and it was time to head back to the car. We went back to Jim's and that was about it for that day. We ate some of the food I bought and went to sleep.

2010 Labor Day Weekend

We've been having a lot of fun lately so I wanted to give a quick update on some of the stuff that has been going on.

Friday was the start of Labor Day weekend so I had the car packed and ready to go so when I left work I went straight to get Isaac and hit the road. My dad was moving this weekend so we had to check out and enjoy his resort one last time before we weren't allowed in here anymore. It's also hopefully the last time we have to take those twisty wine country roads that slow you down. I found a new route that is all highway that I can't wait to try out. On the way down we stopped at our usual Burger King that we always go to. It's our tradition. We got there late but still a good drive time and hung out for a little bit. The house was a wreck. Everyone was packing and moving stuff. This is where it was first hinted to me that I have been shanghaied. I thought we were coming for some pool and playgrounds but apparently I was one of the main work horses they were waiting for. That was okay I guess. I come down here and have fun all the time so the least I could do to help my family was help them move. Olivia's boyfriend Kyle was also here to help.

We woke up early on Saturday and went at it. We were hauling stuff out for the Uhaul at 8 in the morning. We completed our first load by 11:30 and thought we were having a good time. Until it was 8pm and we could barely life our arms anymore. We did 3 loads and although we did get most of the big things that needed moved, there was still stuff at the old house. We were all exhausted and La ordered way too much pizza. It was cool that we got to spent one night at the old house and one night at the new house, the first night anyone stayed there.

Speaking of the new house, it was great! It had very similar qualities to the old place but it was way bigger. It had a real finished basement instead of just dirt. The only drawback really was that it was not on the resort. I wonder what sorts of things will we do now when we come here to vacation?

At least on Sunday morning since most of the moving was done we got to take a break. After an awesome breakfast at my favorite place in the world IHOP (only 5 minutes from his house!!), we went up the road to a playground. It was pretty nice and there were some other kids there. Dad and I played some frisbee and he later told me how much he enjoyed that. I guess that's one activity we can do. I wanted to try and hit another park but dad had to go to work later so we decided it was time for pool. The resort put in a new pool area and we hadn't hit it yet so that was our destination. It was very nice two new huge pools and two hot tubs too. Dad didn't stick around but Isaac and I had a blast. We were very sad to drive out of there knowing that we were probably never going to be back.

We went home and packed up all our stuff (in the craziness of moving we did forgot some shoes) and gave everyone a hug good-bye. They were very grateful for our help and we happy to be there for them. We drove home and brought our stuff in. We still had a whole day of vacation to go!

I woke up early on Monday and changed my oil. I was hoping to do that down in VA but that didn't work out. Mimi took us to get Isaac some school clothes at Kohl's and we both got new shoes so we were very happy about that. After that we hit the last 2 close playgrounds I had on our list and then I took Isaac to see the Scott Pilgrim movie (best movie ever) and he really enjoyed that. We went home and got some much needed down time after getting our clothes and lunches and backpacks ready for the next day. An awesome ending to a great weekend.

2010 Father's Day

First off I want to thank everyone that wished me a Happy Father's Day and right back at ya! Being a father is awesome and it makes me extremely happy. I am so lucky to have Isaac. He is a fantastic child and I think I am doing all right by him. Second off I am doubly thankful that this year turned out to be the complete opposite of last year. That was when you'll remember (or maybe not) that Lisa took Isaac from me and did not let me see him on Father's Day when it in fact was my time with him. That actually started the whole legal battle, custody bullcrap I think. Thank you, Lisa, good job! Anyway this year was a lot better. This time it was her time with Isaac but she decided this year that it would be a good thing for him and I to do something. (Probably something else behind that but you got to take what you can get eh) Not that it bothered me but she also generated some confusion about how Isaac was getting to and from me but that all seemed to work out just fine too. On to the good stuff!

It being a beautiful sunny day before the first day of summer I decided instead of continuing the 2010 Playgroundfest deal, we would take a break from that today and go swimming. (I did also have the idea to visit the Toonseum down Pittsburgh but swimming seemed like a much better idea. I can save that for another day.) Somehow I remembered a place that my dad took me when I was little, Ligonier Beach. I haven't been here in ages but I found out that it's still there and still open to the public. I also discovered it's the biggest pool in Pennsylvania and we had an absolute blast!!

It takes a while to get there and Isaac was getting impatient but that's okay. It was out there for sure. It's been a long time since I was that far down route 30. We made it though with no issues. We paid, got changed and went on to find a place to put our towels down. [Note to self: Bring more water/pool toys next time we go] You have to watch going in because the whole way around is just sloped and it's slippery. There are a couple of metal bars around the pool you can hold on to to assist you. They are better for getting out. There was lots of grass and bugs floating around but not so much that I was grossed out or anything. Isaac didn't give a crap about that. The water was cold but he loved it!!

We waded over to the fountain in the middle first to walk under it and get splashed. Isaac was worried about being tall enough to stay above the water but it turns out that he was. I remember there being diving boards here and they were actually still there. I thought there was big insurance issues with diving boards and you couldn't even buy them for your own pool anymore. I took a couple big dives off them and it was sweet. Isaac even jumped off too. He was not scared at all. I did have to be there for him to help him swim to the side. I was very proud of him. I thought later to get Isaac to film a clip of me jumping off it but we never got to that.

We splashed around for a good 3-4 hours. We were totally pruny and sunburnt by the time we left. He was having some stomach issues and we had to get out of the pool twice for him to go to the bathroom. What sucked was there was no door on the stall and there was a huge line so everyone kept poking their heads in to see him sitting there pooping. After the first time I couldn't believe he had to go again. You'd think your embarrassment would allow you to hold on a bit until you could get somewhere else but I guess it didn't really bother him. He also does this thing where if he sucks down some water he gags so loud you think he's throwing up everywhere. I am trying to tell him to keep his mouth closed at all times but he must have done that 3 times while we were there. I don't know what is up with that. I told him if he pukes we are so out of there because that is really embarrassing. Luckily nothing happened though.

About the last hour or so I swam off by myself and let him play with a couple little friends he made. They had found someone's abandon raft and were trying to stay on top of it and keep it from flipping and that looked like a lot of fun.

I took a bunch of pics and I think we both had a great time. I love being a father.

Revacation part 4

2010/03/29

We woke up Monday morning and it was time to check out the hostel. I ran around and took some more pictures so I would remember this place. You could get up onto various places on the roof from where we were so I went exploring. There really wasn't too much going on up there but boys always like climbing on stuff. We so got ready, packed our stuff up and checked out. It was about 15 blocks or so to Ale's house and she suggested we take a taxi but I thought we could handle it plus it would be good exercise to walk. My arms were aching a bit carrying all my luggage with me but it wasn't that bad when we arrived.

Her mother made us lunch of the meat that was leftover from the night before and then we geared up and grabbed a bus to downtown. Today was the day we were going to take the city bus tour. We got close and got off the bus (the transportation one). We were in a huge pedestrian area and it was packed. It must be lunchtime around here. I think this area around Florida St was called El Centro. I wanted to get my souvenir buying out of the way so I steered us over to some shops. I found some good stuff here. I got my mom a nice shirt and some other crap that said Buenos Aires on it that I thought she would like. My sister wanted a postcards so I got her one and also a shot glass. I didn't find the perfect thing for Isaac yet but at least with them out of the way I only have to worry about him now.

At the end of one of the streets we came out in this triangle area and it was there that the tour bus and its ticket booth was. Ale went in to get the tickets but came out to sadly tell me that they were sold out for the day. That was not good that would mess up our whole day. I wonder what we should do now? 'Good day' I heard. Who? It was some little British woman and her husband. She must have heard us talking and wanted to help. They had already gone on the tour so they wouldn't need their tickets anymore so she straight up gave them to us. The tickets were not like get a ticket, take one ride on the bus and you're done. No these tickets were good for 24 or 48 hours from when you bought them so you could use them over and over until they expired. This made sense to me later since there were lots of stops on this tour, you could get off anywhere and go exploring. When you were done you found the stop and could get back on without having to buy another ticket. Well all right then we were good to go. We got in the queue and waited for them to let us on.

The tour bus was pretty kick ass. There was an upstairs that was open but Ale thought it was too sunny and she didn't want my hairless scalp being torched. I wasn't worried about it but I just trusted her judgment. I like that I can do that with her. So we just sat in the main part which was right in front of a monitor. There were headphones available too. You put them on and the narrator would describe what you were viewing as you passed it. What I thought was crazy was how many languages they had available. When you put your headphones on you had to jack in to the audio. On the ceiling were the ports and you just found what language you know and plug in there but I swear the ports section was 2 ft long. There must have been 15 different languages there. Normal ones like English, Spanish, French but there was also Portuguese and Hebrew and ones I was like whoa, that's crazy.

The tour itself was epic. It lasted hours and we went all over the city, back and forth. I took about a million pictures of statues. Why? I don't know. I think that's the kind of thing you're supposed to take pictures of when you go on vacation. There was one part of the tour we had to variate from the path due to those protesters. The police had some roads blocked off so we had to skip one part and go a different way but that really didn't affect my enjoyment of any of it. It was very fun and I saw a lot of great stuff that made me extremely happy we did this. Plus we were together. That was the best.

Hours later when the tour was done and we got off the bus we jumped right on Subway A to go see the Congress. (That was the part of the tour that was cut out). Plus it's right next to where Ale works. 5 blocks or something. That became a running joke with us. Everywhere we were she tried to describe something that was near us and it was always like 5 blocks that way is this and 5 blocks that way is that. No matter where we were. It started to become really funny and I started doing it too. :D

We stopped at a cool Burger King to grab a quick bite because I was getting hungry. It was the only time I think I ate 'normal' food while I was there. It was cool because it was like a 3 story Burger King. Quite impressive.

We kept on walking until we hit the center of the town where the obelisk was. This was one of Ale's favorite places to be. A huge Washington monument thing rose from this Central park area and it was awesome. There was a sitting area below it for people to stop and relax and take in all the sights. I really liked it there too and that would be one of the main places I would have to go see again if/when I go back.

Later that night we went back to Ale's to have Passover dinner. (That is some kind of Jewish thing, I think it is when Jesus saved the Easter Bunny) I was nervous of being in the middle of this huge party meeting all of her family that want to know who this strange Americano is and why can't he talk to us and a million questions but it wasn't like that. Her cousin Diego spoke a little English so we had a few words and I did meet everyone but luckily for me his kids were the center of attention. Once everyone saw me that only wanted to play with the babbies. That was cool. I didn't mind at all. I was happy to meet everyone and let them know that I was hoping to be part of their family someday. It did make me sad that I didn't learn more Spanish so I could speak with them better but I'm still trying (slowly). I have no doubt I'll get there eventually. So we ate and partied and had a great time well into the night. We had to be at the bus station though by midnight so we could get to Mar del Plata so we called a taxi, grabbed our things and left before it was totally over. As fun as everything was up until now I had even more crazy stuff to look forward to.

TO BE CONTINUED