Wrapping the year up and Adventures of the Volcheff Sisters

I had the best of intentions on updating the blog. The delay started because I was waiting for pictures. Weeks turned into months. When I did get the pictures the Holidays were upon us and life was crazy, not to mention that Eric and I came down with the flu 2 weeks before Christmas. Now the year is coming to a close and the pressure is on to put the last few months in order.

• August

While we’re on the subject of wine… we’re not?… well, it’s Eric’s favorite subject so here goes. We had quite the year with the juice of the grape. Eric befriended a marketing exec with a boutique winery in Napa just over a year ago (Kathryn Hall Winery), and to cut a long story short, it resulted in them hosting a wine party for us and 50 of our closest wine-loving friends here in Manitowoc. We developed a theme to contrast the wine country with Wisconsin and coined it, Beer Belly vs. Wine Gut. It was unbelievable! Did I mention we went through five cases of wine?

• Jenna's Chile Adventure

The best way to get the full scoop is to click on to : Jenna's blog under Links

We are very proud of her. Lauren and I were especially proud when we saw where she was living. Lauren and I said there is no way we would have stayed. The damp smell would have had me running. She has become quite the traveler. As we speak she is in Egypt. Yes........ and Eric and I did not endorse this trip. But we did raise the girls to be independent. Of course she will return to Madison mid January for real life - if you can call it that - school.

• Lauren

Lauren is still working for the same company. She was promoted and will be moving to Lexington, KY. We will miss having her just a couple of hours away but this is a great opportunity. There is another plus that is drawing her to Kentucky. Now here is the irony part. When Jenna went to Chile I told her she was not to fall in love with a Chilean (or any other South American for that matter). I don't think I need to explain why a mother who loves her children very much would say this. Anyways, I digressed, Jenna was a good girl. No love interest in Chile. Now Lauren goes to Kentucky in September for training. She finds a love interest from Chile who lives in Kentucky. GO Figure!

• Our visit to Chile over Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful experience when we visited Jenna in Santiago over Thanksgiving. Seeing Jenna after five months was fantastic, but we took a side trip to Mendoza, Argentina for two days of wine touring, tastings and gastronomic delight. They do it right down there – big, bold wines, fantastic beef, and all at giveaway prices. Our first night there at a nice restaurtant, we bought the most expensive bottle of wine on the menu for 35 Argentinian pesos – about $11 US$. We love that country!

This picture is 10:15am- ready for wine tasting. The third girl is not a "daughter", that was our guide. Very cute!!!

Pictures below are from the lunches we had during those 2 days. The food was as awsome as the view.

During our visit Jenna was our Guide, our caretaker,and our translator. I am sure we drove her crazy with our dependency on her. Jenna has always liked to stay out of "radar range". During this visit not only did she have answer our guestions but she had to do all the talking. All kidding aside, we REALLY depended on her. This was the first place we have been where the communication was a problem. The visit was enjoyable..........but not the value of Argentina.

Lauren drinking a Pisco Sour (National Chilean drink) I may not have that spelled right.

Eric, Jenna, Lauren, Ruthann & Annie (Jenna's friend )out on the town in Santiago for dinner

• The Wild Adventures of the Volcheff Sisters.

Both Lauren and Jenna left Eric and I in Santiago a day early (Boy, did we miss Jenna as our translator) to go to southern Chile to their Lake District. During this tour they did some white water rafting. A first for both of them. From there they went back to Santiago to catch a plane to Rio in Brazil. Luckily it was not too wild and crazy. I have since learned that it can be a dangerous area. After 2 days in Rio the girls went their seperate ways for a few days. Jenna took a bus to see falls that border Brazil and Argentina while Lauren went to another city in Brazil where she had work with her company. Jenna was able to meet up with her there and spend a few days in "nice" hotel (hostels are her place of choice) with Lauren.

• The continued Adventures of the VS

Jenna flew home from Brazil, while Lauren went to Santiago. Her company found it cheaper to have her fly back through Santiago to return to the states. This so happened to be the same time as the wedding of her boyfriends brother in Santiago. So she went. The only thing was, her boyfriend was delayed in Kentucky due to weather. So she attended the wedding with his best friend. Now Lauren took German in high school so she was clueless all night. Of course that did not keep her from having a good time. Music is the universal language and dancing is the way of expressing it.

• The continued Adventures of the VS

Remember that Jenna is in Cairo. To get a cheap airfare she had to make several connections. One of those is Dublin. Well Lauren has training in Dublin during Jenna's return home. So Miss World Traveler is staying in Dublin courtesy of her sister's hotel room.

So Eric and I have decided when we die we want to come back as our children.

Well, that wraps it up. This was a great year. We can only hope that next year will be as wonderful. And we do hope.