A Great Day at the Fair

The celebration of Chile's independence lasted a week. There were fairs all around the city. We went to a park close to the guest apartment where we had been staying...

We got to see many different and interesting animals. These are either llamas or alpacas.

The boys didn't know what these animals were because we had never seen sheep this fat in Africa!

During this time of year, Chileans like to look back at their history and how the ranchers and farmers lived. They had a neat display at the entrance to the fair.

So much fun. See the post below for our fun playtime.

More of the fair...

There were so many rides and activites for kids. Chase and Caleb had LOTS OF FUN!!!

El tigre:

Spiderman:

Chase is sliding/falling down the hill, and loving every minute of it.

Do you think Caleb enjoyed the ball pit?

Hi, Papa!!

This was the smallest ferris wheel we had ever seen. Caleb waved to everyone every time they came over the top. Too cute!

Chase climbed a very tall wall. Ready, set ,go...

We think he was the fastest climber they had that morning!

Caleb on his trust steed.

They had a circus going on in the middle of the park. We stopped often to watch different acts. What a great day!

Finally... photos of our beautiful home...

This is looking at the front from the driveway. This is mainly about Chase enjoying the sunshine!

From the other side... There is a law that every house must display the Chilean flag this week. If you don't, you are fined.

The other side of the house.

Looking in from the front door.

Living room.

Living room from the other side.

Dining room (this is a chest of drawers that is going somewhere else in the house.)

More of the house...

Master bedroom. Master bath.

Boys' bath.

Boys' bedroom. Look at the closet! In Dakar we didn't have any closets, we had to have armoires.

One side of the kitchen.

It is L-shaped, and this is the other side.

To show you the cute tile and the outlets. Outlets on the left are 110 volt and on the right are 220 volt. Crystal will be really spoiled in this kithchen!

Our Huasitos (Little Cowboys)

Here is Caleb between his two teachers and with some of his classmates. He loves school and loves his teachers!

Chase was in a dance competition for the national dance called the "Cueca" (pronounced KWAY-kah). He did really well for his first time to ever dance! All of us are going to learn it to be ready for next year.

Viva Chile!

Chile is beginning a week of celebrations for their Independence. School is out all next week, and there was a huge fiesta at the school today. Here are the boys in their Chilean cowboy outfits.

Chad is playing a Chilean version of tossing washers. They have to hit on a string before they hit the dirt. Chad did pretty well for his first try at it!

Each class had a booth at the "fair". Chase's class had a hot dog stand. Here they put tomatoes and guacamole on their hot dogs. Yum!!

Fun at a park

We have many wonderful parks here in Santiago. The boys love going to explore different ones. This park is not far from our house. We just have to hope for more sunny days so that we can brave the outdoors.

Practicing Spider-Man drills... not for the faint of heart!

Chase thought this was the most wonderful discovery. Of course, his mother is not too thrilled with this new ability. Fortunately, it is only possible in the hallway of the apartment!

More school pictures

The boys are just inside the entrance gate of the school. This is actually the end of a day and Caleb is holding a little puppet that he made.

This is the way we go to school, go to school, go to school... early in the morning. We walk to and from the school most days, and try to leave by 7:45. It is only a few blocks from our temporary apartment. However, the time to walk it varies by how many dogs we need to stop and look at (or birds or cats), how many flowers we stop to pick, or how many little curbs we need to try to balance and walk on. I think the average time is about 16 minutes. After we move to our house, though, we will have to drive because it will be too far to walk. I think I (Crystal) will really miss these walking/talking times. You can learn a lot from 5 and 3 yr olds!

Here is Chase playing with a friend in his class. They wear labcoat-looking things (called cotonas) over their school clothes.

School days!!

Well, here are our big school boys. Aren't they handsome?? They are really enjoying their new school, and their teachers say they are doing very well.

It wasn't that Caleb wasn't happy about school. He just didn't want me to take his picture.

City with a view

We have been telling you about the mountains, but we are truly amazed by some of the views we have as we go around the city. It almost seems like someone painted a giant canvas and dropped it down behind the city. Well, I guess Someone did paint it...

We are hoping to get to go out to the mountains before all of the snow melts. Skiing anyone??

Mmmmmmm!

We bought a juicer! Here is Chad (with a lot of help) making juice from anything he can find in the fridge. We bought this because we are having a very difficult time finding any juice without added sugar or aspartame or sucralose... We want JUST JUICE!

Boys at Work

First, here is a picture of the front of our apartment building. We are on the second floor.

Here are the boys hard at work. They decided to draw and cut out many pictures. They worked pretty steadily for about an hour. Caleb was drawing our family, and Chase was drawing Star Wars jets and spaceships.

Beautiful City

Here is a view of one of the mountains around us. You can see the top of the mountain in the clouds. The mountains can be seen in just about every direction. We'll post some more pictures soon of some other views.

This is an entrance to a mall we have visited. It has 3 levels. There is also a huge grocery store in it called "Jumbo." We are really overwhelmed in there!

This is a view down a street. You can see that things are very orderly here. No one even parks on the sidewalk. We may have trouble following the rules.

Our house (to be)

Well, finally, here are some pictures of our house. There is still a great deal of work to be done, but we are very excited about it.

Caleb is running in the part of the back yard where Claire stays.

Here is one side of the kitchen. If you go to the left, the rest is around the corner.

Living room. This is not our stuff.

The picture just below is the dining room. Notice all the nice hardwood floors. They are going to refinish them.

The last picture is the master bedroom. They are replacing all of the windows in the house.

Are we brothers?

Over the past few weeks, Caleb has been constantly seeking his big brother's approval. He will say, "Chase, are we brothers?" Hopefully, Chase will say, "Yes." Nevermind that we are constantly reminding them that they will always be brothers! This picture was taken the day we went to a school interview. We are in the entry of our apartment.

Self Portrait

Chase was playing with his camera.

More cousins

And here are our Texas cousins, Hailey, Emily, and Jack. Chase and Caleb had such a great time with ALL their cousins while we were in the States.

Cousins

Here are our Oklahoma cousins, Harleigh, Waylon and Haven. They had fun making a "dogpile," although Waylon was a little worried about it at first!

Slippin' and Sliding

Also, at the Kid's Day event was a Slip-n-Slide. It was a nice, cool way to end our time there.
The boy behind Chase on the slide is our friend, Lucas, and the little girl watching Caleb is Lucas' sister, Alexis.