Celebrating 20 Years

On the 22nd, Jeff and I hit a major milestone in our marriage: our 20th anniversary. This momentous occasion called for a grand celebration, so we took ourselves to an all-inclusive resort in Costa Rica for a week while my amazing mom stayed with the kids and got them to all their various activities. Costa Rica was a new country for us (country 43 to be exact), and we loved it! We spent most of our time relaxing at the resort and indulging in the wonderful food and beverages, walking on the beach, watching the local wildlife, participating in included activities, and visiting the spa. On our actual anniversary, we spent the day away from the resort, hiking in the rainforest at the Rincón de la Vieja National Park, which was amazing. I am including picture collages of the highlights of each day.

Jeff and I are proud of our marriage and the life we've built together. I'm so incredibly thankful that he chose me all those years ago and that we still have forever to look forward to! 

Day One:
A pic from the plane as we approached the coast;
A welcome drink;
All the desserts;
A walk on the beach;
The first of many iguana sightings;
Sunset on Playa Conchal

Day Two:
Iguana entertainment at breakfast;
A special towel animal;
An anniversary cake delivered to our room;
The most amazing sunset of the week;
Thatch-roofed restaurant;
Celebrating a few days early

Day Three:
A sunrise walk on the beach (after ordering off the After-Midnight room service menu at 4:30);
We found a little love on the rocky end of the beach;
Restaurant floral arrangement;
Two-toned squirrel busy in the tree outside our room;
Another awesome sunset;
Our first coati spotting

Day Four:
Our first time to see a calabash tree;
Pedicures at the spa (Jeff's first, and my first at a resort);
A howler monkey making his way across the resort grounds;
Spectacular views of the golf course;
Cocktail making class;
A poisonous yellow-bellied sea snake

Day Five:
One of the huge strangler fig trees in Rincón de la Vieja National Park;
20 years of adventure;
One of many Blue Morpho butterflies;
La Cangreja waterfall was our reward for hiking through the rainforest;
Turtle towel friend;
Sushi dinner at Bamboo

Day Six:
Sushi making class;
The chocolate bomb dessert at Catalinas;
Incredible night sky;
My happy place

Day Seven:
Our last walk on the beach;
A beautiful send-off;
The rainbow was an added bonus;
Wrapping up the trip with a spa package that included a massage, reflexology treatment, and manicure;
Palm tree in paradise;
The big daddy of all iguanas. Man, he was huge!);
Costa Rican coffee class;
Crème brûlée and a "French Kiss" last hoorah

Cultural Center, Ice Cream, and Other Fun in Santiago

Today, we visited the Cultural Center housed in the basement of the President's Palace. It contains a weaving and woodcraft gallery, a couple of photographic art galleries, and an activity room for kids. (There is also some sort of movie theater, but it was closed for a private event.) It was a great way to pass some time on a rainy day.

Centro Cultural La Moneda

When the museum closed for lunch at 2:00,  we walked over to Heladería Emporio La Rosa, seeing lots of interesting things along the way. The shop claims to be one of the 25 best in the world, and there were some unique flavors to choose from. I tried two new-to-me flavors: rose and honey made from the ulmo flowers that grow in Chile.

(Side story: Upon arrival at the ice cream shop, Clay decided he had never needed to go to the bathroom so badly in his life, and of course, the shop didn't have a bathroom. The nearest public bathroom was a block away, inside a museum. I trotted him over there and sent him into the restroom, and he promptly returned to tell me he wasn't tall enough for the urinals and that all the stalls were locked. I then took him into the women's restroom, and completely scandalized the janitor, who quickly kicked us out and told us we had to use the bathroom "para niños." That turned out to be a locked room, and we were supposed to call someone on an intercom to have it opened. My Spanish intentionally became very poor at that point because I wanted the lady to just let us in since Clay was hopping around doing a crazy potty dance. Instead, the janitor went to get the security guard, who went to the desk where there was supposed to be, but wasn't, someone to answer the intercom for the locked bathroom. The security guard gathered up the key, left his post, and finally opened the bathroom door for us. It was really a wild time, but thankfully Clay was able to hold it, and we didn't cause any more of a scene in the museum!)

Sights of Santiago:
The President's Palace,
Bandera del Bicentenario,
lovely street art, pop-up bookstore,
animated soldiers selling Moscow Mules,
the national library's columns covered in lifejackets
to honor refugees, the entrance to the museum where
I took Clay to the bathroom, and a graffitied sculpture

Heladería Emporio La Rosa

After eating our ice cream, Jeff and I wanted to go see the fish market. The kids weren't interested in that, so we brought them back to the apartment before heading out on our own. On our way to the market, we shared a Chilean "completa" (hot dog with "everything"), just to say we had tried one. We saw (and smelled!) the market, and then we wandered through a big park, catching sight of a beautiful rainbow. We stopped briefly at the National Museum of Fine Arts since it was right there in the park. Eventually we ended up in a very fun area, with lots of patio restaurants, and had a wonderful dinner at Quitral.

Completa, rainbow over a monument,
Mecado Cental--outside and inside

National Museum of Fine Arts

Date night at Quitral

Museums on a rainy day

We started our day with a beautiful rainbow!

Rainy days are perfect for hanging out at museums, and that's just what we did today. First, we visited Artequin, which is an awesome interactive art museum mainly aimed at kids but lots of fun for everyone. They have made touchable reproductions of famous paintings and sculptures and displayed them all at kid level, so they can be fully seen and explored by the smaller patrons. There is also a whole floor of art stations where visitors can create their own masterpieces. We had a blast!

Fun at Artequin

Afterward, we visited the Museum of Science and Technology. Hands-on science museums are always a hit with our crew, and this one was no exception. We loved learning about simple machines, magnets, mirrors, color and sound waves, space, and so much more.

Museum of Sciece and Technology

The last five days

Maybe you think because I haven't been writing blog posts that we haven't had much going on the last few days, but, in fact, we've had a lot going on; I just haven't been getting it recorded.

On Wednesday, I went up to Jeff's school for a little cooking class they were having. We made pizzas and learned lots of vocabulary and had a great time.

Making pizza dough

Homemade pizza, ready to eat

On Thursday, we spent some time at our favorite park, soaking up the gorgeous weather and enjoying various activities, from working out to playing in the forest to writing.

These boys love "their" forest!

Knocking out some pull-ups

A pretty amazing place to get some writing done

Jeff's school hosted an asado (BBQ) on Friday, and we had a great time hanging out with the staff and students, eating perfectly cooked meat and drinking a variety of wines and beers while visiting with friends from England, Australia, Argentina, and the U.S. in Spanish and English. Afterwards, we stopped at a tiny but very interesting playground made entirely of metal, which the younger boys loved. And later that evening, the boys voted to stay home and watch a movie while the rest of us went out to dinner at Cara & Ceca and coffee at Zeze.

Goodies on the grill

Enjoying the asado at Jeff's school

Loving the all-metal playground

Cara & Ceca

A fancy dinner for about $10

After-dinner macchiato 

We spent a large part of the day yesterday at our favorite plaza, Plaza Independencia. And then we decided to have an asado of our own, except our guests ended up not being able to come, so we just carried on and had our own little party.

The boys love this ground-level merry-go-round

On Saturdays, the "Art Lady" sets up a long
line of kid-sized easels and chairs for budding artists.
Clay just can't resist!

Asado time

The bougainvillea in our courtyard is so gorgeous! 

Today we joined a tour group and headed out to Potrerillos Lake, making a couple of stops along the way. The drive was really lovely, and the lake is absolutely beautiful. It reminded us a bit of Lake Louise in Banff with the mountains all around and the vibrant blue water.

The Mendoza River

Crossing the Mendoza River on
a shaky suspension bridge

Wild and free!

We stopped at the Potrerillos Hotel for coffee and great views.

Clay was thrilled that he stepped on a rainbow.

Master of the monkey bars

Beautiful view from the hotel of
Lake Potrerillos and the Staphyle Vineyard 

The other view from the hotel (of the Andes) isn't bad either!

And in addition to all this, we have all spent time this week working on things that are important to us and that make us happy. Some of those included: reading, writing, Scouts, Hidden Pictures, cooking, Spanish, making plans for the upcoming school year, sleeping in, and hanging out with each other. It's a good life!

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

On Friday, we toured the Mud Volcano area of Yellowstone and then took our longest family hike to date, which was 7 miles round trip. It was a beautiful hike that led us along the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and rewarded us when we arrived at Artist Point (our turn around point) with a spectacular view of the Lower Falls. Afterward, we drove over to the brink of Upper Falls and then grabbed some lunch in Canyon Village before heading back to our campground.

Mud Volcano used to shoot many feet in the air
but now just simmers rather quietly.

Our favorite feature in the Mud Volcano area was
 Dragon's Mouth, which roared and belched steam,
just as if a dragon really lurked behind the rocks.

Where the kids and the buffalo roam

Clear Lake

Lily Pond Lake

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Lower Falls

So proud of us for our long hike!

The Brink of Upper Falls

The traffic can get a little hairy in Yellowstone

Silly park rangers