Camping in Coñaripe

We drove to Conaripe after picking up our gear from Kiko's dad's house and a huge amount of meat for an asado, some other drinks and food.  Adrian and Anita drove their car with their own supplies for the day and we followed them to her property in Conaripe right across from the beach.

Everyone else had come up the day before and camped that night.  

We set up our tent and unloaded everything.  The kids were so excited to be camping and to be with so much extended family on the trip!

The beach (it's lava rock - ouch.)

Everyone takes a nap after lunch during the hottest part of the day.

Tristan swimming in the lake

These are essential.  We don't have them.  We totally try to sneak into other family member's shaded space.

Antonia and Tristan making torches.  Real fire torches.  Mommy prayed a lot.

Tanner loved the tent.

Do did Tristan!

The air mattress was pretty fun too.

Having fun in the tent.

The Camp

The gate to the property - can you see the lake and beach right across?

Max

We had such an nice time with Maryella (Anita's sister) and her son Nico.  With Bruno and Ignatia.  And with Camilia and Pablo.  And Piru and Fer.  Antonia and Max.  Anita and Adrian!  

We had a nice time on the beach and then lunch at the camp.  Adrian made a huge chunk of meat, and I mean, like half a cow sized chunk, on the grill with the rotisserie.  We had salads and bread.  Delicious!  

They spent all day with us until they had to drive back to the house (smart move) late that night.

My Spanish is slowly getting better but I really want to be fluent!  I am getting to know Anita and Fer now since I can talk more.  Fer speaks English really well and helps translate and correct my Spanish attempts.  This trip has been so good for getting to know the family I married into.  Until now, they were just people in Kiko's past, on the other side of the world, that I didn't know.  Now, I love them to bits and want to know, really know, them.  

I have had such a nice time laying on the beach talking with Anita.  She's become a friend.  

Tristan and Antonia are inseparable.  They play for hours on end and never fight.  Occasionally, they take a breather from each other and go do something on their own.  But they run off as soon as we come back from wherever we've been.  Tristan never wants to go with us now, just to stay with Antonia and play!  

Tanner started liking the water - BUT only if he was in his BOAT.  Not actually IN the water.  He got a blow up boat from Cecy & Enrique for Christmas and we broke it out in Conaripe.  He has us put him in it on the shore and carry it into the water.  He loves the waves and playing with everyone out in the water from inside the security of his boat!  By the end of the two days he was in the water to his ankles.

Max, on the other hand, is totally a water guy!  He doesn't care if he gets drenched, goes under, gets hit full on in water fights - he just loves, loves, loves the water!  At 18 months old, I have never seen any child so young so in love with the water and being in it.   It is so fun to watch him play in the water!

Kiko and I decided we are too old to be sleeping in a tent.  We had an air mattress but only one and so Tanner slept on it with Kiko and Tristan and I slept on pallets I made with blankets and sleeping bags.  It was totally ok, except for the fact that Tanner, totally exhausted from such a long day, went pee on the air mattress.  And he didn't wake up, he just moved.  Soooooo, it was wet.  Almost the whole mattress!  Kiko moved to the pallet so I could get him back to sleep, which is how I discovered the wetness.  It was actually pretty funny as we tried to deal with boys needing to pee in the night and the tent and sleeping stuff.  The morning was the time to deal with wet things and laugh.

We spent the entire next day at the beach and camp back late in the evening (after heading into the center for some empanadas and lunch with Fernanda, Max, Antonia and our kids.  We brought back heaps of empanadas for the rest of the family (who wanted to stay at the beach).  

We were bummed to leave the fun of the beach but ready for a shower!

The kids have great memories with cousins and new family.  

I have more photos but cannot get Google+ to accept the ones from my phone (phoey.)