Ari's Updates from Buenos Aires

There is a zoo about an hour outside of Buenos Aires where you can pet FULLY GROWN LIONS and Tigers! You have to be over 16 to enter the cages with the big cats, but young children are allowed to sit on and pet the baby big cats. They raise the lions, tigers and pumas with dogs and lots of people around, so apparently that makes them tame! You can also feed giant bears, elephants, turtles...

Teo was able to grab a turtle and take him all around...warning, he was promised a turtle upon return to LA if he behaves well until then ;)

baby lion with doggie

Petting a cub

Felix feeding very gentle donkey

Teo feeding BEAR!

Felix loves to say "cheers!"

Maxi aging very nicely ;)

BUNNY RABBITS! Felix loved them but didn't yet understand the importance of being gentle. Teo on the other hand was very gentle with the conejos, saying "how cute!"

Ah, here Felix is being very gentle

It's very hard to get all these lovely creatures to look at the camera.

Alas, all of us in 1 shot. Too bad Felix looks so annoyed ;)

Another example of how they let various animals enjoy cohabilitation

Felix's first pony ride!

Teo rides again!

It was a little uncomfortable, but the there is an area where kids get to play with real wartime machinery...helmets, tanks, backpacks and wooden guns. Teo met some boys and all of a sudden i hear him screaming out in his now pretty much perfect Castellano, "Alla estan malos Ingleses!" Translation: "There are some bad English over there!" from the war in the Falkland Islands/Las Malvinas...

A WWII tank being manned by Teo who was talking about his Greatgrandpa Jerry in Germany.

Adorable baby geese wandering around

Gorgeous Felix

We got to touch the elephants amazing trunk as we fed him. Felix wouldn't get anywhere near him.

The llama was the only creature i got scared of...he was a little too assertive in his persuit the bag of feed i was holding....so i gave the bag to Maxi who was forced to throw it all on the ground shortly after this shot ;)

Even pyramids and camel rides and climbing structures!

Hurray!!! Grandma Andie came to visit!!!

It was a wonderful visit for us, although we had terribly cold weather and we all got very sick! :(

No mucho tourismo:The first weekend she was here, we were able to go see a little of the city. And, although she kept saying she was here to visit with us and not the city, we kept asking her if she was sure she didn't want to see Recolleta the famous cemetery where Evita is buried. By the end of her trip she was asking why we kept asking her if she wanted to see a cemetery. :) But, we did see San Telmo (the old neighborhood with colonial influence seen in full force.) We took her to eat dinner by the river in a fancy restaurant but we were the only people there because no one goes to eat before 9pm here!

We went to the Boque's of Palermo and rode paddle boats with Felix. We went on one of the cities few 'nature walks' in the natural preserve recently created by the government in the middle of the city. Birds and bushes mainly.

What we did do was spend a lot of great quality time together!

Grandma Andie taught Teo checkers (which is apparently differently played by Portenos and called Duenas or something...a fact that we learned only after a match-up with Maximo that Teo insisted they play.)

Mucho Familia!

We went to Maximo's family country house an hour outside the city on one of the most lovely days of the winter. We lounged around and ate and tried our hands at dice.

Although i have no pics, I can report that Abu Tin (grandpa Martin) took Grandma Andie out on his sailboat. It was a freezing day, but apparently they had a lot of fun.

Teo won out and got to have Grandma Andie sleep in his room. He would often end up 1/2 way onto her bed.

Below are some pics - but due to my lack of iphone and 'gripe' (flu) i didn't take nearly as many pics as i would have liked. WE MISS YOU ALREADY GRANDMA ANDIE!!! Others please visit soon!