Days when the kids were away

Almost accidentally, Jeff and I ended up childless for several days last week while the kids played with grandparents in the far reaches of Texas and Oklahoma. We made the most of our time and put together a brilliant staycation. On Tuesday, we headed to downtown Dallas, where we checked into the W hotel and then headed over to Happiest Hour for lunch. It was such a cool place, and we definitely want to go back sometime. From there, we braved the intense Texas heat and walked over to the Nasher Sculpture Center for some culture. After that, we went back to the hotel and spent several lazy hours lounging on the awesome pool deck, which has spectacular views of the city. Tuesday evening, we had dinner at The Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, a place we have always wanted to visit. We tried the tasting menu with wine pairings. The food was wonderful, the atmosphere was elegant, and it was an overall excellent experience!

W Dallas Victory

Happiest Hour

Nasher Sculpture Center 

Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek

On Wednesday, we came back to Flower Mound in time for me to do my deliveries for Meals on Wheels. It was fun to have Jeff ride along, and I think he enjoyed getting to participate in an activity that is important to me. When the deliveries were done, we made a beeline for McKinney, where we had lunch and visited wineries and shopped around the historic square. Later, we had dinner at Sol and then visited Trader Joe's and Half-Price Books.

McKinney

On Thursday morning, we hopped up before the sun so we could meet our hot air balloon flight crew and check an item off our bucket list. Just as the sun was coming up, we became airborne and flew around for about an hour, enjoying the peace and beauty all around us. It was spectacular! And, with the whole day still before us, we then headed to Jeff's parents' house to pick up our younger boys, stopping for lunch at George's in Waco.

Hot air balloon flight

George's

We love hanging out with our kiddos, but we were definitely glad for a chance to spend some quality one-on-one time together enjoying some of the wonderful things DFW has to offer!

Girls' Weekend

Less than 36 hours after we arrived home from South America, I hopped in the car and headed down to Fredericksburg to meet up with my mom and sister for our first-ever Girls' Weekend. We had so much fun shopping, eating, visiting wineries, catching up, and laughing. I'm so thankful to have such wonderful women in my life!

Fiesta Winery

Lunch at Vaudeville's underground bistro

Samples at Quintessential Chocolates

Four Point Cellars

Pontotoc Winery

Dinner at Rathskeller

It was way too hot to hike, but we enjoyed the drive out to Enchanted Rock.

Celebrating National Ice Cream Day at Clear River

Bío-Bío and Our Last Hurrah

This morning we visited the Bío-Bío market, which was an interesting shopping adventure, as foreign markets often tend to be. It was both intensely fascinating and slightly disgusting, and we wandered around through the winding labyrinth gawking for the better part of an hour.

Bío- Bío Market

Afterwards, we headed back to the apartment to work on some laundry and to watch the World Cup game between France and Belgium.

Later, we decided to celebrate our last night in Santiago with a wonderful meal at the rooftop restaurant at the Sommelier Hotel. Every bite of every dish was absolutely wonderful! And, Clay caught the attention of last year's Miss Teen Venezuela while we were there!

Dinner at Antaño

We stopped for ice cream on our way back to our apartment and then rushed home to eat it in front of the heaters because we were so cold. I'm sure we'll find that laughable in a few days when we're roasting in the Texas heat!

Ice Cream from Mò

I can't believe our time in South America has come to an end! It has been a wonderful trip, and we have made so many fantastic memories! Thanks for following along!

Viña del Mar and Valparaíso

We hopped up early this morning so we could join a tour to Viña del Mar and Valparaíso. The drive takes about an hour and a half and takes you through the coastal mountains, which are much lower in elevation than the Andes--an hour and a half in the other direction--and where much of the country's produce is grown. We saw vineyards, olive groves, citrus farms, and several other kinds orchards and farms. And then, at some point, we saw nothing more because the fog is very thick in that valley and doesn't lift until temperatures climb a little higher. We made four stops in Viña del Mar: Quinta Vergara, which is a park honoring the city's founding family; the city's famous flower clock; a tiny beach; and a restaurant by the sea where we had lunch.

A vineyard in the Chilean Coastal Range

A church in Viña del Mar

Stadium in Quinta Vergara

The famous flower clock

Acapulco Beach

Lunch at Nogaro

Climbing + spinning + ocean=
Perfection for two little boys

After lunch, we made the short drive to Valparaíso. The driver took us to the top of one of the city's famous hills, Cerro Allegra, and our tour guide walked us down the steep streets and stairs of the colorful city, which allowed us to take in as many of the colors and as much of the street art as we could. It is a very unique city and a sight to behold. We had actually planned to stay in Valparaíso for a few days, but we changed our plans at the last minute. We loved visiting, but we decided we were happy with our choice to make it a day trip.

Colorful Stairway

Houses in every color

Mural and stairs

Happy house

Street Art

Street of faces

Box Jumpers

Tree Climber

Ascensor El Peral

Beautiful Valparaíso

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

Our last week in Mendoza

It's hard to believe we've already come to the end of our month in Mendoza. It has been amazing, and we are sad to leave. But new adventures awaits, so the sadness certainly won't linger, and we will always carry a fondness for this city in our hearts! Our goals while we were here were to eat beef and drink wine, and we were quite successful at both! But there was so much more to our time here--from the people we met, to the personal growth we each experienced, to the laid-back pace of life here, to being literally surrounded with nature's beauty. This was an important stop on our life's journey, and we are so glad we had the chance to be here! We hope to visit again.

This last week has mostly been about the World Cup. We have become super-fans and have watched as many matches as we've been able to work in. We've also set up a friendly intra-family bet, picking teams to support basically at random. I can tell you my teams are generally not doing very well, but it's been fun to cheer them on at various bars and restaurants around town. We also visited the Mercado Central, participated in a going-away dinner for one of our new friends, enjoyed time at the park, played at the house, experienced another national holiday (Flag Day), and ate some great food.

"Speed" Demon

Cheering for England

Our personal collection of wine bottles from our month here in wine country
--from least favorite to most favorite--

World Cup viewing at a sidewalk cafe
(The sign says, "Eat Healthy, Live Better, and
I can tell you we did one of those while in Mendoza!)

This little inventor made all sorts of gadgets this week

Mercado Central

Lerot was our favorite venue for World Cup watching
because of the big screen, but the decor was also pretty interesting.

Dinner at El Club de Milanesa

Many happy hours at the park

Our last night in Mendoza
--Sunset view from Mirador,
City view from El Faro Bistro,
Dinner at La Florencia--