Bumpity Bump Bump, Bumpity Bump Bump, Look at Ashley Grow!

23 days . . . . we're just waiting . . .

So you think you can dance?

All the pregnant ladies,

all the pregnant ladies,

throw your hands up!

The Church Mice

Hola! I am Speedy Gonzales, the fastest mouse in all of Mexico, and this is my cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez. We had a church party on Friday night and ate lots of Chili frijoles and gave out candy to lots of the little kiddies at our church. Slowpoke played us the mandelin, I played the frijole maraca, and we sang our favorite song "La Cucaracha" over and over. Some people looked confused at us. I thinks it was because mice were singing. But, that was okay. We had fun.

Advice if your wife's in Kansas

Is your wife in Kansas and the "I'm home all alone blues" getting you down? Don't despair. Here's instructions for a great day-light burner, and not to mention you can put stuff on it when your done.

I call it the Hardware - Free bookcase; here's what it looks like when it's done.


It's real easy to make. You just take some wood that you've got lying around the house and cut notches in it. You can use a tape measure to make sure all the notches are the same distance apart. If you don't have a tape measure, that's okay, you can use a stick, an old chair leg, peice of string, an old bowling ball ... anything that's not going to change size during the construction of the bookcase.

Then, you just slide all the peices together. No screws, no nails, no drilling. Why, this bookcase is so resourceful, I think it falls in the category of green furniture.

Then, once your done, I recommend eating a great big peanut butter and banana sandwich. Nothing could be a better tribute to your wife's cooking than two great big slices of homemade bread, spread thick with peanut butter. And as long as you've got big enough bananas lying around break one in half and stick it in between. No need for dainty slicing.

Remember, if the women don't find you insurpressably handsome, they might as well find you remorsefully handy.

Cousins!

One month apart, these two little cousins are both eager to arrive. Look for updates to this picture in 7 weeks and 11 weeks!

First Day of Work

This is how my first day of Pete's work looked . . .

Pete went for more of a sophisticated look . . .

Furniture! Da Bump! and Adventuras de Upstate!

So, we've been lucky enough to have been able to enjoy our summer together and with many friends and family (and dairy animals at the State Fair.) It's been wonderful . . .

But, we were glad to get back to work this week. We moved into our new (larger than studio) apartment on Monday, and this is what Pete looked like for the rest of the week. He worked hard to design and construct a bed and desk for us.

Working on the porch helped us meet the neighbors who were all very intrigued at Pete's projects.
Pete felt very manly this week.
And, I vote that his work is fantastic. His first furniture construction -- and it's perfect! The bed's really tall, but look at that storage space: it's a NYC girls' dream bed!

This looks even better organized and sans cardboard.

We've moved on from futons . . .

and keyboards . . .
and kitchens in the bedroom . . .

And flat stomachs :) This is the obligatory bump picture requested: Ash at 24 weeks.

And this was Pete at the State Fair practicing for our new piano!!! Enjoy!!

Who's Toga?

Next week we move to our new home in Saratoga Springs NY. No more living out of suitcases.

This is our beautiful new apartment

Thanks to everyone who hosted us during our many travels this summer. We hope our second bedroom can help us return the favor.

Do good future parents really toy with the idea of naming their baby girl after a character in Dracula?

"One! One baby Girl!"

Well, now you know half of the Bontorno family news for the week -- we're expecting a baby girl! (we no longer refer to the baby as Johnny -- just in case you were worried)

The other half of the good news is that Peter is now officially cleared and secure according to the US government, and his job at Knoll's Atomic Power Lab begins in Saratoga Springs, NY on the 21st of September.

Upstate NY and Upstate NY maternity ward here we come!!!

Ireland

Carrick-a-read Rope Bridge - yes we crossed it.

The Giant's causway - a natually coblestoned beach


Lock-a-somthing Castle. The story was a rich lady had all her friends over for dinner at her castle, built over a cave on the ocean. Perhaps her friends were overweight, or perhaps there were other factors to consider, but regardless, the floor fell out of the dinning room at the party, and they never had another party there again.

Queens square had waterfountains that randomly varied in pressure. We renamed them, "The Gauntlet" and rode our bikes through them.


Again we went off to church. There were two churches to choose from in the area. We traveled long and hard on our bikes and when we were about to give up, and old man on the street corner, who'd probably been waiting for us all night came forward and said "Aye! Ye's lookin' fer the Mormon Church?" He directed us the rest of the way and we arrived on time, and the church was closed. Looked like it was under construction or something. Guess we picked the wrong one. Then we sailed from Ireland that very day and in two weeks arrived in the merry country of New York. Twas a lovely voyage, as they say.

Iceland - Land of Ice and Fire!

After Gibraltar we sailed on to Iceland. 66 degrees north, where the ice meets the water. We entered the arctic circle, and experienced nightless days. We docked in the city of Reykjavik where we could see snow on the mountains in the distance and we heard rumors of puffins in the region. We also happened to be there during the independence day festival. The city filled with blond men and women of a most stark elegance in a land of darkness and power!

There were Vikings the size of houses!

And slugs the size of Pigs!


And we saw mountains that looked so close, but after miles of biking prooved to be far, far away.

Behold, Icleand!

Algeciras, Spain

While in Gibraltar we wanted to go to church. The closest LDS Church was in Algeciras Spain. So we shined our shoes and set out for the Frontera. We walked to the end of Gibraltar and followed the only road off the peninsula. We discovered that Gibraltar was seperated from Spain by a big airport. The airport ran from coast to coast, so the the highway cut right through the middle of it, with desceding roadblocks at either end to allow aircraft to land. Well we walked across the airport, found the bus station and rode along the coast to Algeciras. We found our way to the door of an inconspicous building on a street lined with inconspicous buildings. The door opened to a small branch of Spanish saints, about to begin their Sacrament meeting. Ashley bore her testimony at the Testimony meeting, in Spanish. Pete followed her brave example, timidly. We were well received and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Gibraltar

After the Azores we went to Gibraltar to see the monkeys. Hercules declared the Rock of Gibraltar the end of the world. Once you sailed outside the Mediteranean all you would run into were volcanic islands, (like the Azores), that reminded them of Hades. So the Rock of Gibraltar, owned by Great Brittain - even though it is a peninsula off of mainland Spain - and the corresponding rock in Morroco became known as the pillars of Hercules, marking the exit of the Mediterranean sea.

Feliz Cumpleanos! That's how they say it in Spain.

Here's looking ahead to one more year!

Happy 25th birthday, Love!

Azores final