Chile

Oh man!  Where do I start with documentation on our amazing adventure!!!  I suppose I'll let the pictures guide us. :)  Here they are in chronological order.

First off, we have had this trip planned since MAY of this year... this was before we even knew we were going to be expecting baby #3, luckily, it hit right in the sweet spot of pregnancy (well, as sweet as you can get when you are pregnant)... not sick... mostly and not TOO big... thought I definitely FELT big when stuffed into a no legroom chair for nine-and-a half-hours!  ANYWAY, the day before our plane was scheduled to depart, miss Lena woke up throwing up and continued to throw up all day... do you think you've seen a stressed out mom?  Well, try seeing me that day... really?  we are supposed to leave out of the country on a 15 hour traveling/airport expedition and she is this sick the day before?  Well, luckily we have amazing neighbors... some who brought by the sweetest get-well cards for Lena and another who came over to help Randy offer a blessing.  She woke up the next morning as happy and healthy as ever. :)  I feel so blessed by the people around us who are always so thoughtful and willing to help.

Okay, now for the pictures. :)

My wonderful mom, aka Nonna, picked us up from our house and transported us with all of our STUFF to the Salt Lake International airport. :)  Here we are, about to start our journey. :)

One of the best things about the airport, watching the planes taxi. :)  

So the plane trips (first a 2.5 hour one to Dallas and another 9 hour one to Chile) went pretty well.  Walter had a nap for about the first half hour of the first trip and we somehow BARELY kept him entertained enough to not scream for freedom for the other 2 hours.  :)

We then had like a 3 hour layover in Dallas where we were told there was a McDonald's play place for the kids... being the germa-phobe that I became with traveling with kids I had plenty of Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer on hand... ready to let them get some energy out... HA!  play place?  Apparently a couple of screens with video games on them count as a "play place" now days... oh my... anyhow, at least there was one meesely giant plastic shoe/car for them to climb in and out of, which they did for about half an hour before we decided to go into a TGIFridays to get some dinner.  After eating a fairly pleasant meal, we rejoined the "play place" where Walter found daddy, decided to climb on his lap and upon sliding off of his lap (brace yourself for grossness) he managed to squeeze a large amount of substance from his diaper onto him... poor Randy!  He says "the kids only like me when they can smear me with poop".  (not true, they also like him when he chases them around the kitchen like a monster or when he swings them around in a blanket. ;) ).  Anyway, what an adventer that was... can I just say, there is no amount of wipes that could take care of that mess... so I became one of those moms... but really I had no other choice... I had to basically give him a sink bath... but don't worry everything was thoroughly washed a sanitized before AND after, but really, I'm sure the people witnessing it never look at an airport bathroom sink the same way... SO MUCH POOP!!!! 

Moving on... fairly shortly after we were ready to board our plane to Chile... can I just say, FANCY!  Personal screens for each passenger with a wide array of movies, shows, music and games available (including kid-friendly stuff).  I think that saved us... When you ask Lena was her favorite part of the plane ride was she says "When we were going down, down down!" and her least favorite part? "When the speaker came on and stopped my movie!".  Anyway, we may or may not have given Walter a does of ahem-benedryl-cough! what?  Which helped him to drift off to sleep in Randy's lap... while Lena eventually fell asleep, very awkwardly-positioned in her seat and they both stayed that way until breakfast was served (about an hour-and-a-half before landing).  Randy and I, in the mean time, explored the movies and shows available, alternating that with drifting in and out of the most uncomfortable sleep you'll ever know!

We made it!!! Here are the cuties in the Chilean Aiport! 

Santiago

And a trip through customs and a taxi ride later, here we were at the condo we stayed in for 2 out of the 3 weeks spent there. :)

As a side note!  Walter did a lot of growing up on this trip... including starting to try and dress himself... with my clothes. :)

So I am lame and somehow do not have pictures... but in between these pictures (after arriving to our condo)... the daughter of a man Randy baptized got married and Randy was able to attend their temple wedding... he later came back and told us that the family insisted on seeing the rest of us and paid for a taxi to take us to the reception.  Lots of food and lots of dancing with crazy lights and everything... the kids loved it!  They didn't get to bed until midnight that night!  (Chile time, which I guess technically would've been 8:00pm Utah time so I didn't feel AS guilty. :) )

Walter and Lena slept together... I found them in this position the morning after. :)

Time to get dressed... again! :)

The kids enjoying their Chilean strawberry milks outside of the grocery store we frequented.  Oh, and it turns out that in Chile, you ONLY buy a double stroller if you have twins... about 30 different people stopped us to ask if they were twins and when we DID (2 times total) find other people with one of these... guess what?  They had twins!  Chile is not built for double stroller... especially ones as unruly as this one... nonetheless, we used it faithfully EVERY day.

Santa Lucia

So this is a hill full of mysteries (how I like to describe it) in the middle of the big city (Santiago).  It is full of wonderful vegetation and amazing old architecture... basically built into the hill/mountain. :)  It was really hard to grasp how amazing it was through pictures... but here is me trying.

There were LOTS of stairs!  The stroller didn't do us much good here. :)

Walter and Lena found a Walter-and-Lena-sized bench. :)

They sold yummy cold slushy-type drinks at the top (well, more like half way up... but the top for us at that point).  I like to call the strawberry drink... strawberry-jam-juice... because it tasted like strawberry jam... in juice form. :)

Later that day (I think we attempted nap with Walter) we decided to WALK to the temple... which really was only 2 miles, but to a pregnant woman who hasn't walked more than half a block in 4 months... that is a marathon!!!  My feet were SO sore when we got there and poor Randy had to listen to my complaining for the last half of the journey. :P  Not to mention Lena had to use the bathroom and apparently there are no public restrooms in Chile... ANYWHERE... luckily she was able to hold it until we got to the visitors center at the temple.

Of course I neglected getting pictures... I'm so mad at myself... believe me!

These are the only two I got... the kids playing in the fountain outside of the temple.  The girl next to Walter is a daughter of a family from Curanilaue, (about 8 hours south of Santiago where Randy served).  She took out her endowments that day and we were able to see her while she was in the city.  Her sister Madeleine was with her... I promise I will get a hold of more pictures of them. :)

One of Lena's favorite things!  Seeing all of the birds!  Don't worry, she was informed very quickly that these are the type of birds we look at and do NOT touch even though they are always close enough to touch because they carry all sorts of diseases and could make you sick (remember?  germ-a-phobe here). :)

One of my favorite parts of the trip. :)  The ice cream!!! Very creamy and very delicious (similar to Italian Gelato). :)  We tried to not deprive ourselves of it for more than 24 hours the whole time we were there. :)

If you can't tell... the kids liked it too. :)

Here is "Monster's University" as Randy would say.  It's really a Chilean art museum but it reminded Randy (and I) of the building in the fun Monster's University Pixar movie. :)

And guess what!  They have parks in Chile too!  I would like to compare this one to Liberty Park times 10!  It was huge, with lots of grassy areas and trails... and play places... real ones. :)

Here is Walter going down his first slide ALL BY HIMSELF! (climbing up and going down... the whole sha-bang!)

Cute Lena playing with her turtle car on the slides. :)

Cool Chilean swing!

Remember how I said that Chile wasn't built for double strollers?  Here we are BARELY fitting in the elevator that took us to our condo... the doorway of the elevator was about 2 milimeters wider than our stroller. :)

Another cool park!  Randy's mission companion (Alex) took us around Santiago and this was one of the places.

Complete with exercise equipment. :)

This is Alex and his cute girl. :)

Walter's first time swinging by himself. :)

A random giant character was handing balloons out on the street... if you know Walter, you know his MO... eat, sleep, balloons. :)  He is obsessed with them!

Enjoying some yummy Chilean sandwiches in our Condo. :)

One of the MANY churches we passed.

Some more Santa Lucia :)

Here is the oriental themed portion of it. :)

Guess what!  Chile has a children's museum too!  Good old Alex took us here too. :)

Lena discovered giant legos... we built her a house. :)

One of Walter's first times drawing. :)

REEEEEEACH!!!

Lena with Alex's son Bastian. :)  Eating ice cream... again. :)

This is the view from Alex's apartment. :)  Very pretty. :)  I also really like the netting they have on their balcony and windows... the condo we stayed in didn't... can you say "nervous wreck"?  because that is what that made me. :)

Remember that church a couple pictures back... here is the inside. :)  This is one that was a block away from where we stayed. 

I was trying really hard here to grasp how CROWDED it was downtown...seriously, there were people everywhere!  This picture does not do it justice.

Here is the official Chile building... I'm having pregnancy brain so don't remember the name... it would be like the White House in the US. :)

They had a cute little museum close by, with a little kids exhibit!

Here is the view from the very top of our building. :)

Lena wrote her name with crayons... literally. :)

Lena did the most adorable thing and made pictures (in envelopes) to give to people... here is her trying to get people to take them... the nice old ladies who always stopped us and asked if they were twins were very pleased to receive them. :)

Some fun times in the Condo.

But now... a different condo...

Concepcion

Randy's parents arrived in Santiago, sat down for a second and then we were off on our next phase of the trip... the 6 hour bus ride south to Concepcion.   The bus ride was long... but we survived. :)

Here is the condo we stayed in.  It was way nicer and they provided breakfast every morning. :)  Which consisted of toast with jam and manjar (similar to dulce di leche) and Echo (like Perro). :)  Very yummy.

Walter started really liking drawing on this trip. :)  

Lena still enjoys drawing and filled up many of pages on this trip. :)

It was so cute seeing him lay down to get closer to his paper. :)

And now for my favorite part. :)  The beach!

This was Lena's first time at a beach and she LOVED it!!!

26 Weeks!

Here is a picture Randy took as he explored the beach city... which is one of the areas he served in. :)  

Walter really enjoyed the beach as well. :)

The next day we took a 4 hour bus ride to spend a night in Curanilaue at the house of some members. 

Here is the view from their house.  This town was much smaller and the houses were more "shack" like.  The family we stayed with made amazing food and even took us out to dinner to get more amazing food.  The last meal there was a huge bbq which was AMAZING!!!  I'm missing that sausage now. :)

Back to Concepcion to spend the day at a different beach. :)  (A black sand beach, it was really pretty).

Walter passed out after lunch. :)

Here are some cute pictures of our family that Lena drew on my phone. :)

Lena decided she wanted to be just like Walter after finding an extra binky and blanket... don't worry, we didn't have to wean her off of them again. :)

Walter and Lena shared a seat for part of the long bus ride back to Santiago... it was really cute, too bad it didn't last the whole time!

Another visit to Santa Lucia with Randy's parents.

Sharing ice cream with grandma!

Randy described this as the statue of an angel that stepped in dog poop. :)  He wanted to make sure we got a picture.

This time we actually went the the REAL top of Santa Lucia!  And may I just say... with these uneven stairs and unsure railings and with a toddler who had no mind to how dangerous it would be to leap off the side, it was a very stressful time of my life. 

But, we made it. :)

Santiago Zoo

This zoo was pretty cool!  All of the animals seemed fairly happy and active... though it was definitely a hike to get there and to get around.  Randy got a workout pushing the stroller up the steep hills.

The whole time Randy talked about how we would be able to see panguins in Chile... unfortunately we ended up not getting the chance to see them in the wild... but at least they had some at the zoo.

I couldn't believe how close up we could see this tiger!

After the zoo we took a very scary tram up to San Cristobal (a famous hill top with a large statue of the Virgin Mary.  You could see the whole city from there!

Later Randy went out with his parents and saw some cathedrals while I relaxed with the kids at the Condo.

Randy and I got a kick out of the ketchup and mustard packets they gave us when we ordered some completos to go. :)  

They had a Christmas tree completely filled with dolls near the cathedral.

I thought this was so funny!  The Cathedral was under construction so they had a picture of what is was supposed to look like over all of the construction mess.