Antarctica: Santiago!

Well, we are finally finishing our posts for our Antarctica trip. Our last stop was Santiago!!! Well we actually disembarked the ship in Valparaiso, but we didn't spend any time there. The disembarkation process was poorly organized (which surprised me a little, as they do it every week...) and we didn't get off until about 1-2 hours after we were scheduled. This wasn't a problem for us, but the Rollins family had a flight to catch. So anyway, we said our good byes quickly while installing car seats in the cars Zac had pre-reserved and we went our separate ways (the same way actually, but we didn't see each other anymore). It was a really great cruise and we really really enjoyed having Zac, Bran, and Nuala with us (Fiona too, I guess...). It made the whole trip a lot more fun, especially for the kids. The car ride from Valparaiso to Santiago was just a little over an hour.

When we arrived at our hotel, we checked in and decided to do nothing for the afternoon. Crazy huh? It didn't last long though. Julie tried to put Jack down for a nap, I took the kids out to the pool, and Bubba went for a short walk around Santiago near our hotel. Jack wouldn't fall asleep (There was no crib or playpen at this hotel and Jack LOVED the freedom of the bed...) so when Bubba returned, Julie and Jack went with her for a second walk. I stayed with Jonah and Paige at the pool. The water was really cold, so I kinda drew the short straw.

After they got back we decided to go for a short walk to find dinner. This was the only time my personal Google maps I created let me down. I wanted to find the Mercado Central, which is a big fish market, and I had it in totally the wrong place. We did find a really cool old church (that I didn't have on my to see list).

So after a long walk to nowhere, we stopped back by our hotel and asked for a recommendation for something close. They sent us to a nice Italian restaurant that was close by. It was great for the kids, and us too. The food was good. Here is Jack in his final South American high chair. These were so varying in quality (if there even was one at all), but this was a cute one. Plus, Jack looks cute with his napkin tucked in!!!

After dinner we went a few blocks further to the Plaza de Armas. The plaza was similar to many other plazas we have seen on this trip. It was really cool, but even I was starting to get burnt out on looking at older buildings, so we focused our attention on the fountain in the center where some other kids were playing and chasing pigeons. We actually completely let go and let the kids play in the water. Jack loved it. Look at the series of pictures below to see what happened.

Yep, I had to carry him back to the hotel on my back. It was nice!!! Here are Paige and Jonah playing by the fountain and with the pigeons.

This pretty much wiped everyone out and we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. I did, as you can imagine, have way too many buildings and parks to see the next day...

Paige slept in Bubba's room, which she did often during the entire trip. It was really nice to have Bubba with us, for many reasons, but this one also! So after breakfast we headed out again. We walked a lot but made it to everywhere on my list. First we went by the Plaza de La Moneda, then we found the Iglesia de San Francisco, which was built in the 1620's. It was the oldest building in Santiago. Here is a picture from the inside.

There were stray dogs all over Santiago, but especially near the Plaza de La Moneda.

Next we found the Teatro Municipal, but didn't stop to check it out; we had a schedule to keep. Actually I thought we were making great time and would have lots of time in the afternoon to just let the kids play. I was wrong...

After this we found our great American Idol (not the TV show):

I had actually not had any coffee the entire trip. I was trying to cut down on how much I was drinking (basically all day at work), and decided before we left that I would not have any while we were on vacation as a way to change the habit. However, when we found Starbucks, I had to have a latte. You see I have this thing with McDonald's and Starbucks. Really, it is two different things. I never eat McDonald's in the states (our kids don't even know about McDonald's...), but I like to have both McDonald's and Starbucks in as many different countries as possible. Weird, huh? We didn't eat at McDonald's the entire trip, even though they had them in Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Santiago. But we did have a coffee at Starbucks.

Don't worry Jack is just having soy foam as he can't have milk and especially not coffee.

After our coffees we went and explored Cerro Santa Lucia. This was one of the best places in Santiago. Basically, it was a hill where some of the original city was built around and where look outs were built to guard the city. Now it is a park, with lots of fountains, a small church, and great views of the city below. Julie and Bubba were totally freaked out about the lack of railings leading up to some (most) of the look outs, but Paige, Jonah, and I loved it. We took this weird elevator a little way up. It didn't get you very far, but it was the first entrance we saw.

These are some of the views from higher up. Santiago is a really beautiful city.

The last picture is actually looking across to the other hill in Santiago, which is called Cerro San Cristobal. I will talk about that in a little bit. We haven't even had lunch yet. Here are some more photos from up on Cerro Santo Lucia. Notice the lack of handrails in places going up to the top. You can kinda understand why Julie and Bubba were nervous, especially with Jonah (monkey) on the lose.

Finally, we made it back down and out on the other side. No funny elevator needed...

Next we headed for lunch. After asking for directions (not easy for us to do in Spanish), we found the Mercado Central. It was nice, but very similar to the Pike Place Market that we we have in Seattle. I guess we are spoiled to have our market, as this was one place many of my friends from Brazil insisted we not miss. Unfortunately it was cold and drafty in the market so we didn't look around much. We ate and headed out.

After lunch we headed over to the Parque Forestal, which is a nice long narrow park that runs between the city and one of the main roads out of Santiago. We found a nice little playground and just let the kids play for about an hour.

Yep Jonah, climbed right down into that. He actually managed to climb back out, but it made a great photo.


Our final stop before going back to our hotel and heading to the airport was the Cerro San Cristobal. This is part of a huge park. They have public pools, a zoo, play areas, and lots more in the park. We didn't have much time left though, and I basically made everyone go there because I wanted to find at least one geocache in Santiago before heading home. So we took the Funicular up to the top of the hill. Here is a view looking back down as we were heading up.

At the top their was a large Virgin Mary statue. We didn't really check it out, it was getting late and I had to find a cache which was still over a mile walk away.

Once we found it and made it back to the Funicular it was starting to cloud up and lightly rain. Plus it was starting to get dark, so the view was gone. I think it would have been better than the Cerro Santa Lucia, as it was higher up.

I forgot to mention that much like the chairlift in Ushuaia, Julie had a fear of the Funicular. Here is everyone huddle in it sitting down, so they don't have to see down the steep hill we were about to back down.

Once we got down we got a taxi back to the hotel. It was getting really late, and we didn't have time for dinner, so we went to a small convenience store that had hot food and a couple of small tables to sit at and ate. It was actually pretty good. When our car showed up, only one came, but the driver assured us we could all fit. I thought that was great as it saved me some money. Here is a picture of everyone else all in the back seat. This wasn't a big car either. Jack is king!!!


Finally, we made it to the airport, through ticketing and customs and out to our gate. There was a small play area in the terminal so the kids were able to play a little more before sitting for 15 hours on planes. When our plane arrived, Jonah wanted to see it from the window but the bars blocked the view, so we had to look under them.

So that is the end of our trip. It has already been two months since we got home, but it is still really fresh in our minds. It was a truly wonderful trip. I won't say once in a lifetime, because I plan to repeat it or at least something similar. South America is great and there is still sooo much more of it to see. And Antarctica, well pictures and blogs can't do it justice. It was a truly incredible place, we definitely need to go back, and this time really explore!!!

If you thought Seattle rain was bad...

This story goes back about 3 months, well at least the start of it. It just ended last week.

You see, Julie and I had a really great idea. Mostly my idea, because I can be a little crazy, but it was a good idea, none the less. We decided to have our master bathroom remodeled while we were gone to Antarctica. The idea was really three; we would have someone to watch the house while we were away, we could have the majority of the work done while we were away, and we could help Josh (our friend and contractor) out a little in this down market, by creating some work. So this in itself all worked pretty good. But, well keep reading, I will get to the but.

So quite a lot of stress for Julie and I in January. I needed to go to Brazil for work the week and a half before our trip and was only home for 3 days before we left again. So in order to get the bathroom done, we needed to pick out and buy all the materials (sink, tub, faucets, tiles, counter, etc.) before I left. Basically, we had to do it all on a Saturday, because that was the time allowed. I don't know about you, but picking a paint color for a room can sometimes take longer than a week, so having to pick everything (paint too...) was a lot. Julie was great though and made a lot of decisions, good ones too, the bathroom turned out great. She is the stylist, I would do everything in white and as plain and square as possible. So anyway this was finalized and I left for Brazil, came back, unpacked, repacked, and we left. So far, so good.

When we got got home (now beginning of March), the bathroom wasn't finished, but it was close. It already looked great. The old bathroom was weird. It had the sink basically as part of the bedroom, and then a wall with a toilet and shower on the other side. We removed that wall and finished the wall (added a door) between the bedroom and the sink so it was a separate bathroom. We also moved another wall behind the shower and made room for a bathtub in its place. We bought a really deep soaker that Julie and Jack both love. So anyway, all is still good. Josh finished the project about 2 weeks later. I had made a deal with him, that he could work on my project on the side if needed, so if he got other jobs he didn't need to worry about our and could get to it a little here and there. Saved me some money, and was good for him also. When Josh did finish we were really happy. The bathroom, as I said already, was great. So on Saturday night, we went to Josh and Alma's for dinner, and Josh and I squared up on all the money. Project finished, right? Wrong!!!

This is were the insanity begins...

The next morning Julie was in our downstairs bathroom, and she noticed a little water on the floor. About 1 second after see looked up, the whole neighborhood heard her scream "Mike, it's raining in our bathroom!!!!!" Yep, not good, not good at all. It was Sunday, and I really didn't want to bother Josh, so I poked a couple of holes in the ceiling hoping it was just a little water, maybe not a big deal. I was wrong. The more holes I poked the more water kept coming. So I called Josh. His advice, verify from the meter that the water was not running still, and poke more holes and he could look at it on Monday. So I poked more holes, it seamed to slow down a little. Fast forward about 4 hours. I left to go to the hardware store, for something entirely different, when Julie called. I tried to answer, but just then my phone died. I didn't charge it the night before, which is not typical of me. Anyway, I thought nothing of it, continued about my business and returned home about an hour later. Guess what I returned home to? Can't guess? Well I'll tell you then.

Julie tried to call because as she went into the next room over in the downstairs to get a game out of the closest for Paige, water dripped on her head. Even worse, when she opened the closet, a large closet that is full of shelves loaded with our stuff (important stuff too, like baby books), it was raining in there too. Needless to say Julie wasn't happy with me for not answering my phone. She had already called Josh, and he was on his way over. By the way, we're just getting started...

When Josh arrived, we started to actually pull ceiling out. At first a little, but then more and more as it was all totally saturated. We ended up removing all the ceiling from the bathroom and quite a bit from the bedroom down there, plus some at the bottoms of the walls. The next challenge was to understand what happened. Josh had already called the plumber who did 95% of the plumbing work on the bathroom, and he was going to come over first thing Monday morning. Now that the ceiling was opened up, you could tell the water was not coming from the shower/tub, which is what we initially guessed. After a little more looking it appeared the problem was the toilet. So we went upstairs and looked around in the bathroom, totally dry everywhere. The floors, the walls, everything. No evidence of what we were seeing downstairs. From the downstairs it appeared the toilet could be the problem, as the majority of the water was in that area. So we pulled the toilet and immediately knew what happened. Josh, had made a very simple mistake. Because of the raised floor (from the cement board and tile) even the extra thick wax ring didn't make a good connection between toilet and the drain. Two rings were needed. This is the gross part by the way. It was now confirmed that all the water downstairs, on the floors, in the carpet, the stuff that dripped on Julie a couple of times, was sewage. But don't worry it gets worse...

So we fixed the toilet and Josh finally left, we thought all was well again, expect of course for the mess downstairs. But then about an hour later, when Julie was walking into our bedroom, she stepped onto the carpet and it was wet too. Great, the sewage was moving sideways now too!!! What we had determined happened, is that the water (all call it water, but you all know what it was) traveled down into the floor. Because the house was originally built with an unfinished basement, there is insulation between the floors, which is not common. So the insulation acted like a sponge for about 4 days until it couldn't hold anymore. What is amazing, is that 100% of the water went either down into the drain, or into the floor beneath. Their was never a drop around the toilet up stair, no evidence of what was going on beneath.

So on Monday we got heaters and fans on all the wet areas and the drying process began. The carpet upstairs actually became worse before it finally started to dry. I cleaned it and thought we were going to be okay, but then on Thursday when I was at work, Julie called... This time the whole office heard "ahhhh, I vacuumed the carpet and the smell is everywhere, ahhhh, call Josh, this isn't okay, ahhhh, I'm finished with this, ahhhh...." there was more, but it was really hard to understand what she was saying as the tears were now mixed in. I guess the smell was really bad. So, I called Josh, and he and his partner came back over and started removing more ceiling from below to see what was going on. It was dry, but they got the smell too. They bought some product for treating wood that kills odors and bacteria and treated from below. Then, they cut out the bad area of the carpet and treated the floor from the upstairs too. I guess I skipped a part, sorry. We had already talked and agreed that the smell/stain wasn't going to come out of the carpet, at least not easily. Julie and I had wanted hardwoods installed (just not necessarily, right now) so I had Josh cut away the carpet, as Julie wouldn't let anyone walk on it, and one of the spots was right at the entrance to the room.

He is where the story gets one more element. After everything dried, Josh and/or his partner were coming for a couple of hours every night after other jobs to slowly put the downstairs of our house back together. It was about this time that mortgage rates dropped to a number that I had been waiting for (4.5%) and our mortgage broker called and told us now way the time. This in itself wasn't a problem, just another thing to deal with, while we were already tired from our trip and everything that had happened since. The real problem came about 1 week later, when our broker called again and told us the home appraisal was scheduled for 4 days later. The conversation went like this:

Her: You're home appraisal is scheduled for Friday.
Me: Okay, no problem, they will just drive by, right?
Her: Ha, ha, no, that was last year, now they need to really come in and check out the house.
Me: Hmmm, it rained sewage in our house two weeks ago.
Her:
Me: Hmmm, can we push it out at all, so I can get the house back together?
Her: You're kidding right?
Me: Nope!
Her: Okay, call this guy, tell him your out of town or something and push is out as far as you can. It has to be done by next Thursday.
Me: (Gulp) Okay...

So here is what happened in the following week. Josh finished up downstairs, replaced all the sheet rock, taped, muded, and painted. Of course we didn't have the right color paint for the bedroom, so the whole room needed to be repainted also. I ripped out all the carpet in the master, pulled all the staples, and while I was in their and had all the furniture moved out I scrapped the popcorn ceiling, and painted the whole room. Then we bought the new hardwood floors and had them delivered. All the garbage was cleaned up and the house was made to look as good as could be. All our stuff was brought back in and put back away. This resulted in another load of stuff to be donated to Goodwill (one good thing to come out of this). We left the hardwoods in the garage and I told the guy we were mid project, he could see the wood that was going in so it wasn't a big deal to him.

The following weekend was Easter, so we all took a break. Finally, the next weekend, Josh came over, taught me how to install hardwood floors and by 8:30 that night I was done. The following Monday we signed the papers on our loan and everything was back to normal, a new normal.

Now, the results. This is actually the good part of the story. Our bathroom is finished, and we love it. We have hardwoods in our bedroom, which we love. The downstairs bedroom was repainted, which is great, because we didn't like the color before anyway, and of course we donated a lot of stuff to the Goodwill. Now all that is left is to trim the master bedroom, and Julie isn't sure she likes the color, so maybe repaint it again.

And you all thought we were just being lazy and that's why we still haven't finished posting about our Antarctica trip. So next time you are in Seattle, or anywhere else really, and it rains, remember, it could be a lot worse...

First visit from the tooth fairy!

Look! Last Saturday Paige lost her first tooth! I know the picture below is a bit bloody, but it's all we have. Kids don't look immediately cute when they lose their teeth, ya know. It takes a while for that bloody look to disappear... Anyways, Paige had been ready for at least a week for her visit from the Tooth Fairy. Her tooth, "Lucy" (a nickname Nana gave to it- Who else gives nicknames to inanimate objects?!) was really wiggly for a week or two. Paige made a little envelope with a picture of a tooth on it to tuck her tooth into just so she would be ready when the time came. She got really excited when her tooth came out and immediately wanted the tooth in the envelope and under her pillow.

As the day progressed however, Paige grew more and more attached to her tooth and decided that she wanted to KEEP it. She did NOT want the tooth fairy to take her tooth! I suggested that she write the tooth fairy a note. Here it is. I love how she writes all by herself without us prompting her at all. She placed the note into the envelope with the tooth.

Then after going to bed, and after I thought she was asleep, Paige started to cry. She's a little emotional at times. I don't know where she gets it. She was so worried that the tooth fairy would take her tooth because the note might be too hard to read for a tiny little fairy. I got her to go to sleep by telling her that I was sure that the tooth fairy could read it and that I was sure that her tooth would be there in the morning. She needed to just trust me here. Thankfully she did. But she did wake up awfully early Sunday morning! Mike and I heard her quickly check for her envelope and tooth (which WAS there! Woohoo!) and her money. Apparently her tooth fairy was out of change and only had $5 bills. Lucky girl!

I have been wondering a lot about this tooth fairy thing. Paige obviously believes in the tooth fairy. Without a doubt. But she doesn't fully believe in Santa. She is always asking, "How could Santa do this? How could Santa do that? Mama, is Santa real"? And then there is the Easter Bunny which she has absolutely NO faith in. After Easter last year, she asked me if SHE could be the Easter Bunny for this year. I told her she could, but she eventually decided that no, she could not be the Easter Bunny because then she would know where all of the eggs were hidden. So, why does she believe in the Tooth Fairy?

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

This year (like many Easter weekends) we had a very wet and rainy weekend. That didn't stop our fun though. Lets start with yesterday.

We went to the annual Easter egg hunt held in a park in Bubba's neighborhood. It really is set up well. They separate out the kids by age groups 0-3, 4-6, 7-8, 8-10, and 10+. The little ones have their eggs "hidden" on the tennis court, which is perfect as it is easy and not as dirty (we get to the dirty on Sunday). Here is Jack with his Nana (Bubba) finding eggs. He had a really good time.

Paige and Jonah were in the same field and did really good at finding the eggs too. Paige was super fast and then starting helping Jonah, which actually, he liked. With Paige while you still get a cheesy smile when you say smile, at least looks at the camera for an action shot.

Jonah, at first, was afraid he was going to melt (he really has polar opposites, afraid of the water, or he just sits in it clothes and all...) and was happy to have his Auntie with her umbrella to keep him dry. But then he started to get excited and was off.

After the Easter egg hunt, we had a quiet afternoon at home. Then we went out for dinner and to church. We normally go on Sunday morning, but they encouraged people to come to one of the Saturday night services, because the Easter Sunday service is really packed. This worked for us also so we had Sunday morning for just our family.

When the kids went to sleep, Julie and I hid a bunch of colored Cheerios's filled eggs around the house for the kids to find the next morning. Julie also hid some for me!!!

When everyone woke up we had our second Easter egg hunt. This one was dry...

After we finished our indoor hunt and had breakfast, plus a little chocolate, we suited up to go back outside. I had decided that we needed to go for a real hunt on Easter, GPS style. Bubba came along with us, and we went for a nice little hike in a trail system near our houses. The trail follows a creek (looked like a river today) from above. We found two Geocaches, and walked a little over two miles. It was a great afternoon. Once you decide to go out in the rain, it actually becomes fun. Everyone was a little wet, Jonah of course was a little cold, but altogether it was fun.

On our walk back we took Jack out of the jog stroller and let him walk for a ways. Basically, if you keep telling him there was another puddle up ahead, he would keep running along until the next puddle. Then we would stop and jump around a bit, and run off for the next puddle. He only fell into the mud a couple of times...

When we got back to the car, Jack was still finding puddles. Look at his pants, what a mess!!!

This evening we went to my Aunt Barbs for Easter dinner. It was a really nice end to the weekend. This time the kids didn't have to search at all, and managed to get the most chocolate of all. We have pictures, but we left the camera at her house. I still need to go back tonight and get it because Julie is concerned about not having a camera for a day or two, you never know when one of the kids will have a magical moment to photograph. In our digital world that translates to often.

In summary, lots chocolate, lots of hunting, lots of food, and lots of family. I only have one question; What is the connection between the resurrection, and a bunny that hides eggs?

Antarctica: Punta Arenas

Okay, so I am a slacker... Mike pointed out that we have been home for a month now and that I still haven't finished all of my posts for our Antarctica trip. He even offered to take over the Santiago post... We'll see. I have just not wanted to do this post. Maybe it's because we didn't take many pictures. We hardly have any with people in them. It helps to tell the story when people are in the illustrations. Sometimes I need to remind Mike to not just take pictures of buildings. He just loves buildings. And buildings and buildings. Oh, and more buildings. And sometimes mountains and animals and scenery and things like statues. And more buildings. So here, I think, is going to be the MOST EXCITING post you will ever read!

We got off the cruise ship in Punta Arenas, which, if you don't know already, is in the Patagonia region of Chile. Oh, you knew that? Well then, at least I know now too! The five of us, along with my mom and the Rollins clan, got in a van for a tour of the city and then out to another penguin colony.
Here are some things we saw on the way:

We liked this sign. You cannot (or at least I cannot) read it well in the picture, but the sign directs you to many big cities of the world.

Here is a statue. The driver of the van offered to stop and let the kids sit on the horses for a picture. It was sooooo nice that I didn't feel like a party pooper or like a lazy mama for not doing this. Zachariah and Fiona didn't want to stop either. It was just going to be a lot of work getting the kids out of the van and then convincing them that they would have to get back in for another hour or so.The last hour or so of the drive was on a VERY bumpy dirt/rock road. That was fun. But we got to see animals, like emu and cows.
Here are some cattle and do you see those white dots in the water? Those are actually pink flamingos. Who knew? I thought flamingos only lived in hot climates. It was sunny here, but definitely cool and very windy near the ocean.
So, this is what it looked like when we were arriving the Magellanic penguin colony here.

Here is a penguin looking out of it's burrow.
Hola penguino! Oh, a side note, Jack now calls penguins "nonos." That's how you say "penguino" in toddler. Yep, he is bilingual. Sort of.

More penguins...

And a caterpillar! Whoo-hoo! We kept finding dead caterpillars on this boardwalk, probably because people kept stepping on them. Bubba thought they were all dead, but we proved her wrong when this one wiggled!

And BUILDINGS!

Notice all of the wires! Yikes!




And statues!
And here are Mike and Paige- with a statue of course. They were rubbing the shoe of the statue man. I can't remember his name! I could look this up, but remember. I am a slacker. At least today. It is believed that if you rub the shoe, you will come back to South America again someday. Hmmm....What if we didn't?

We all came back to the ship to have lunch after visiting the penguin colony. It was definitely time for Jacks nap... And the Rollins clan was just not feeling spunky. Neither was I. Many of us were fighting off a cold that had spread on the ship.

But Mike, Bubba and Paigey walked off the ship again after lunch and went geocaching. Mike had been itching to go for a while. It was Bubba's first geocache experience and she found the geocache! Yay! I still am a little ticked at Mike for not getting a picture of it! I mean, it was her first time. Come on! They had a nice time geocaching and walking around downtown. They even had ice cream. They were out a LOT longer than I though they would be though and I was getting worried that they wouldn't get back on the ship before it left the port. But around 7pm, they came walking into the dining room like they weren't in trouble or anything...