Happy Early Birthday Son

Dear Jack,
I'm not going to have access to a computer to write you on your birthday, so I'm writing a few days early.
You would have been 14 this coming February 16, truly a young man. I can only imagine the change that would have taken place in the last 18 months had you survived. You were 5'7" and 140 pounds when I last kissed you good-bye, but I guess you would have been close to 5'10" and over 160 by now. I know that you would still be the considerate and kind person that you always were. You would be months away from completing Middle School and starting High School. I know you would have continued to be an honor roll student and play football, basketball and lacrosse. Most importantly, you would still be a wonderful son, brother and friend. I continue to mourn your passing and pray to be reunited with you in heaven. I miss you so terribly that I sometime wonder how I can go on living without you, but I do, because I know you would insist on it.
I love you so much. You made my live so much better just by knowing you. I feel like the only good thing I ever did in my life was to be your father. Please look in on me every now and again if you can.
Love,
Daddy

Facebook Won!

When I moved to Buenos Aires last August I swore to blog at least once a week. That was all fine and well until I discovered Facebook. I've truly enjoyed catching up with people that I knew years ago.
So, in no particular order, this is what we've been up to since late October:
Our daughter Jessica visited for 10 days over the Christmas holidays. We went to Mendoza to tour wineries and go Paragliding on Deidre's Birthday. In BA we ate and drank way too much and did the tourist thing.
Our friend Tammy from Chicago visited in November and we all had a fantastic time.
Friends our our friend Martha visited and we had a great time with them for a few days.
We went to one of the Pole playoff matches, then the Gran Final of Argentine Polo....imagine the Masters, but substitute Golf with Polo. I've got the bug for sure.
It was 104 degrees on Thanksgiving, but we had the best turkey ever....from Brazil. Our friends John and Robin were our guests that hot day.
Deidre was mugged on a busy street in the middle of the afternoon. Her Rolex was stolen and she was thrown into traffic, but was not seriously injured.
Because she was afraid that I would be robbed she made me keep my watch in my pocket whenever we went out. Consequently, my watch slipped out of my pocket in a taxi...oh well, watches can be replaced.
I started taking horseback riding lessons.....I love it.
We still take Spanish lessons a few times a week; we are better, but not conversational.
We still take Tango lessons and still seriously blow.
Brent, Frannie, Sarah and Nate came over for NYE which was one of our best ever!
I don't know how many books we've read, but it's nice to have the time to do so.
The exchange rate continues to increase, so we get a raise every few days.
We go to the gym a few times a week and walk almost always. We both lost weight since we arrived here 4 1/2 months ago, but not by dieting, rather by walking and spending time in the gym.
We still love it here and are making plans to go to Ushuaia, El Calafate, Bariloche, Salta, etc.

Dateline: Iguazu Falls, Argentina Part II

Yesterday was fantastic! The first hour was spent hiking through the jungle (rain forest?) learning about the native flora and fauna as well as viewing traps the indigenous people used, kind of like Willy Coyote and the Road Runner! We did a fairly easy rock climb, 2 zip lines and rappelled down the same rock. You should have seen Deidre! She was pretty nervous about the zip line, but ended up loving it. We finished with a cruise on a small boat up the Iguazu River to the mouth of the Parana River where you are at the intersection of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. We returned home last night a little tired but very happy about the trip. Highly recommended as a place to visit.

Dateline: Iguazu Falls, Argentina

They say that the Grand Canyon is one of the sights that never disappoints, the same can be said about Iguazu Falls. See Wikipedia for details about the history, etc. I'm here to tell you that this is the mother of all waterfalls. The photos attached are from quite a distance away, but trust me when I tell you the falls are amazing. We took a large rubber boat with 2 Johnson 250 motors up to the falls and were totally soaked! Bat shit, crazy awesome. Manana we go rappelling, rock climbing and zip lining over the canopy. Please pray for my sometimes clumsy wife.
QUESTION: WHEN DID THE JUNGLE BECOME THE RAIN FOREST AND WHY?

Name Our Blog!!!!!

I'm in the process of changing from Blogspot to an alternative blogging platform and would like to change the name from rayanddeidre to something more appropriate and interesting.  

So, here's the deal, we welcome suggestions from the readers of this blog for a "catchy" name that might draw a larger readership.  Please submit as a comment and we will decide or enter it as a poll in which you can vote.

Nobody does anything for nothing, so the prize for submitting the winning entry is dinner at our favorite Parilla (Argentine Steakhouse).  There's a catch, the domain name must be available and you must be in BA sometime in the next 11 months or so to collect.  

Multiple votes accepted.

ciao, 

Bulldog and Mrs. Bulldog

Gone in less than 15 minutes

Such a wonderful seafood platter with shrimp, oysters, mussels, octopus, calamari and scallops!  $32.00.

Whales, Penguins and Sea Lions, Oh My!

What a wonderful time we've had today in Puerto Madryn!  Our hostel is fantastic, nice room and the owner, Giselle, has of course adopted Deidre.  We boarded a boat to go out to watch the whales.  It's been my experience that guided tours tend to be not quite as  advertised. I'm happy to report that this was not the case!  The whales seem to be attracted to the boats; the seem to enjoy giving  a show for us smaller mammals.  The penguin colony was equally enjoyable, I love the way they waddle around.  All in all a great trip.