The Forster's: January 2013

We got to visit Santa at the Silt Historical Park. Santa was fun, but walking around all of the old houses and shops was probably more fun, even for the kids. We even got to go on a hayride.

Playing in the old school room. Boy do I wish these kinds of desks!

Summer Sage & Tatum with Tinker on the hayride with us!

Decorating the Tree

Helping Dad put the Star on top of the Tree

And, of course, Dad had to finish it.

We did Christmas in January since we were en route to Santiago, Chile over Christmas.

Oh, the love! Aside from the frequent tiffs they get into, these two LOVE giving loves to each other. Every night Isabela crawls into bed, and both get really upset if Xander doesn't get to crawl up with her and "aplastar" (squish) her with a huge hug, before crawling back down and getting into his own bed.

It took a lot of preparation for this trip, and years of saving up for it, but it was totally worth it! Isabela seemed most excited about her passport. She would get it out and show it to every single person who came to the house for weeks before we actually left.

We didn't know how the kids would react to meeting so many new people, but nothing ever seemed to phase them. My mom (who only speaks English) told us over and over that Xander didn't respond to her as well as he did to everyone else speaking to him in Spanish. Both kids spoke Spanish really well the whole time.

Before we left, we skyped with Papito and Mamita so the kids could talk to them.

At the airport, after paying our exorbitant entrance fees, and having a not-so-nice adventure through customs, we finally left the international area. As soon as we walked through those doors, Isabela saw Mamita all the way down the hallway. She took off running and gave her the biggest hug! Way to go Skype!

Isabela with Mamita on the dock.

Xander sportin' his cool "do."

My pretty new flower.

No... My pretty new flower.

Getting on the metro

Isabela and Grandma Terry

Terry, Diane, y Mamita on the Metro

Going down into the metro stations got pretty hot! They had fans that sprayed mist down so everyone could cool off.

Subway surfing. Isabela LOVED this!

Her signature face (and has been for weeks). Bell always asks, "Do you want to see my crazy eyes?"

This is "Ojos locos y boca loca."

At the beach house.

Eating fruit leather at the beach house.

Feeding my baby! I love it!

Walking down to the beach.

I believe these were gigantic eucalyptus trees that we passed on our walk to the beach.

We LOVED the water! The waves were a little too big to go out too far, but we had a blast!

Nice covering, Dad! "Desnudo" on the beach... a little too much sand in the diaper.

This is salty kelp. You can find it all over the sand on the beach, but people also sell it on the dock. I don't know why you would buy it when you could just pick it up. Evidently, they use it for a lot of things, such as for teething babies. It's really salty.

It's a little difficult to tell in this picture, but there are lots of sea lions and pelicans all over these rocks.

"Pulpos" (octopi) among other sea creatures for sale.

This pelican came up and stole fish from the market on the dock. He swallowed the fish whole. He then regurgitated it, only to eat it a little more slowly the second time. It was really fun to watch. Evidently this is a common occurrence, and the people selling aren't very fond of it. He was quickly shooed away.

Getting a trenza put in my hair.

Going back to the 70's. We were at a flea market put on solely by college students.

The clock made entirely of flowers (except the big, mechanical arms in the middle) in Vina del Mar.

Isa looking out the window at Mamita & Papito's house.

Eating breakfast!

Mmmm... yogurt.

There were stone mosaics all over the city like this. They are all along the metro, highways, etc. I can't imagine the amount of time that was put into each one. They are beautiful!