Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween

Today is actually the day when Halloween is celebrated.  That is, if you live in a country that celebrates.  We do and we don't.  It is getting more popular here, mostly in the areas that expats live in, but it is still far from the holiday it is back home in the U.S.   Usually, I am a "When in Rome" type of person but when your oldest daughter chooses Halloween as her favorite holiday of all time and has her costumes planned out for the next three years, you have to do something.  And we did.

First we painted our pumpkins...(and even got our hands gooey for the first time)...















 Then we went to MadHatter's school for their Halloween festival:

The only picture I took at the festival...
Then we trick or treated at her Daddy's office:



 




And finally I sent her off to school yesterday in full costume for her schools parade.  (No pictures as I wasn't there)

And we can call it a Halloween.  Even though they won't wear their costumes on the actual day, we have definitely gotten our wear out of them.  Why are we not trick or treating tonight like most of North America and a small (but growing part) of South America?  Because the Chilean government has decreed that the 31st and 1st are national holiday's.  Which means we have a four day weekend.  And what do we do with a four day weekend?  We travel.  Tomorrow we will spend 7 hours in the car, heading north, until we hit the famed Elqui Valley.  We will ride horses, tour the Pisco plant, and gaze at the stars from out of our very own domo!  See you when we get back.

Happy Halloween everyone (and Happy Birthday S!!!)

Monday, October 28, 2013

Play Date at the Park

With the weather turning nice here in Santiago we tend to spend a lot more time outdoors.  With the temps hitting the 80's we thought a park date was in order.  So, this past Sunday we met up with another expat family that also has two little girls and we played.   And yes, I do consider laying in the grass and relaxing, playing with my friends.  The littler girls aren't really content with just sitting so they decided to run, jump, swing, climb trees, run some more and generally be little girls.  Good thing we had A and B on hand to help out with burning their energy.  Because they seemed to have a lot to spare.  Could have been the huge (HUGE) brunch they had just finished.  Or the fact that we finished off their brunch with ice cream and macaroons. 

It was the most pleasant of Sunday's.  I hope we can do it again soon.

This one didn't want to miss a single second of the adventure.  So instead of napping, she looked cute.

Big enough to head off to the playground by themselves...








So.  Much.  Running...
All that running makes everyone very thirsty...

And tired...
Stopping to smell the flowers on our way to see the flamingos and swans.




Smiles all around for a great Sunday afternoon!






  

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Has the date of Christmas changed?


Already?

There are still 12 days until Halloween.

40 days until Thanksgiving.

And then, only then, comes Christmas. 
(66 days from now)

I felt like screaming, "One holiday at a time everyone.  I can only deal with one holiday at a time!"

And then I realize, at least here in Chile, they are only dealing with one holiday at a time.  And Christmas is the next official decorating holiday.  Yes, the gringo's here celebrate Halloween but, even though it is catching on, the Chilean's don't treat it as a big deal.  We get the day off because it is a religious day - Reformation Day - and together with All Saints Day on November 1, it gives us a four day weekend this year.  But there are no special decorations for either of those days.

And, obviously, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving.

So, between Dieciocho in September (the biggest celebration of the year) and Christmas there are 98 days with nothing to market to shoppers.  Nothing to fill the seasonal aisles.  Except Christmas.  It's probably a miracle that they waited this long to put the tinsel out so you could start decking your halls.  




Friday, October 18, 2013

Influenza

For those of you who are lucky enough to never have caught the flu*, the gosh darn actual flu**, I envy you.  And I also know you just can't imagine how awful it really can be.  You think it is just a bad bad cold.  And that people with the flu are just whiny.  Or was that just me?  Because I thought people who complained about the fact that their very bones ached until it felt like they were broken, were exaggerating.  That the dry cough that didn't seem to ever end could be easily taken care of with cough drops.  And that as long as  you stayed hydrated, the headache could be managed down to a dull roar.  And then, I got the flu for the first time almost exactly 10 years ago.

I was at work and felt just fine.  Until I didn't.  It was that sudden.  I went from fine to bedridden in about 20 minutes.  And stayed there for 5 days without getting up for anything more than bathroom breaks.  By day 5 or6  I was finally able to get out for a couple of hours a day but the effort was so taxing I was in bed again shortly.  It took about 10 days to get back to normal and by then I lost 10 pounds, many brain cells to the awful TV shows I watched because I didn't have the energy to even pick up the remote and almost a week of my life to solid sleep.

I respected the flu.  And felt shameful for ever calling those who had it wimps.

And then I forgot about it.  Kinda like you forget about most painful episodes in your life  - gall stones, ruptured appendix, breaking a bone, the flu... Until they happen again (except for that ruptured appendix thing.  That really only happens once).

I was knocked down by the flu on Monday.  I went to pick MadHatter up from a playdate and left her friends house feeling just fine, thinking about what I was making for dinner later.  By the time we got home 15 minutes later I had a fever of 102, chills so bad that I could not stop shaking and a sharp ache in my right forearm so badly it did feel like I broke the bone (though that wasn't my only ache, it was the worst.  For now).  Dinner turned into chicken nuggets and chips for the girls, with juice boxes for good measure.  They ate it in front of the TV upstairs while I laid down on the couch thinking that I would be fine tomorrow.  This was just a 24 hour bug....I love being naive sometimes.

They got their own jammies on, brushed their own teeth and MadHatter read Stinkerbell her bedtime story.  I got up to tuck them in and then went to be myself.  It was 7 pm.  And I didn't sleep at all that night.  Not even a minute.  I lay there all night, getting up to pee every hour (a strange side effect of the flu), but never slept.   I ached so badly I couldn't move (again, except to pee.  every hour).   I wasn't even really tired; I was past that point.  I was "there is a newborn in the house that is up every 1-2 hours for the past 10 weeks" tired.  And this was only night one.

But that isn't worst part of it.  The worst part is B had left on a business trip, a week long business trip, that morning.  I was going to have to be a single Mom all week.  A single Mom with the flu.  Oh flying turtles, what new levels of hell I have discovered this week...

I learned:

  • Kids can live on granola bars, chicken nuggets, chips, and frozen pizza  for every single meal for 3 1/2 days straight.  They will not die of malnutrition, they will not waste away.  It's not ideal but darn it, they demanded to be fed and it was all I had in me.  
  • The dishes that are generated by said meals will end up where ever the kids decided to eat the meal.  And they might get picked up and moved to the kitchen sink if I happened to be walking by them at some point.  Which was not often.
  • The kids will get to school.  But they will be dressed however they decided to dress that day.  They hand me the clothes in the morning, I help them put them on and I send them out the door.  Teeth got brushed (again, by them, not me) and hair was brushed (by me) but there were no do's being done.
  • Laundry that stays in the washing machine after being washed and then forgotten about for 4 days does need to be rewashed.
  • Bathing is optional for everyone for the first couple of days but then, no matter how much energy it takes, everyone needs a good scrubbing before the authorities come and ask why the children are covered in chicken nugget crumbs and caked on layers of dirt.
  • I did not know that it could literally hurt to move your eyeballs.
  • You can watch your house turn into a pigsty right before your eyes and just not give a damn. You can see the dust layers forming, fur balls start to fill every nook and cranny, and muddy paw prints track from your back door to, well, everywhere and somehow you just can't get up the energy to even care.
  • The kids that haven't woken in the night in ages will all of a sudden be up 2-3 times each night, crying and screaming.  Once you get upstairs and down the hall, they will just tell you that they forgot why they were up.  And screaming.
  • You will get sick exactly 2 days after taking your first family picture in 6 years (so, ever because the kids weren't even born that long ago) and you will lose a ton of weight.  Of course you will.
  • The kids will be extra tiring and annoying and they will fight like crazy.  It's like they know you can't do anything about it.
  • And you won't do anything about it.  Your kids will love when you are sick.  Because you just don't have the energy to deal.  They will have full reign of the house inside and out.  What they were up to, I have no idea but they are still alive and have all of their limbs so that worked out for me.
  • The dog will drive you nuts wanting to go for a walk.  You will seriously contemplate opening the front door and letting her go by herself and hoping she makes it home.  Or sending your 5 year old around the block with her (don't call the authorities, I did neither).  All in all, she will get no walk.
  • Walking up the stairs is enough to cause you to be winded and need to lay down upon arrival at the sofa.  You will then fall asleep for the next hour from the effort.  Same will be said for taking a shower, feeding the dog or brushing your teeth.
  • Your husband will go on a week long trip two seconds before you get sick and will return just as you are feeling better.  I know I mentioned that above; I felt it needed repeating.
  • Driving while sick with the flu could be just as bad as driving drunk.
  • But you will have to drive because of course it is better to have the kids in school than home with you, even if it is just for a few hours. 
  • And of course, you get sick on Monday because Tuesday is your day to go grocery shopping and there is nothing left in the house.  Thank goodness you stocked up on chicken nuggets, frozen pizza and chips last time.
  • The kids will have a shortened school week because of parent teacher conferences.  Yep, you only get Tuesday and Wednesday without them because Thursday is a half-day and Friday they are off. Yay me!
There is probably more that I have forgotten because I don't think I was in my right mind until about Thursday afternoon.  And today, I only feel marginally better.  But I think I have hit the turning point now at day 5.  I am still exhausted by everything but the fever is gone, the cough is subsiding and I can roll my eyes without wincing.  The bones feel like they have all healed and I finally ate solid food.

Which means, of course, B comes home tomorrow.

Get your flu shot people, get your flu shot!!!

* influenza - n.  An acute contagious viral infection characterized by inflammation of the respitory tract and by fever, chills, muscular pain and prostration (official definition)
**there is only one.  It changes it's formation and attack slightly each year but there is still only one influenza.  There IS. NO. SUCH. THING. as the STOMACH flu.  You can have a virus that affects your stomach but there is not FLU associated with it.  


Saturday, October 12, 2013

Beach Day in Viña del Mar

Sunday.  What a better way to spend our last day of our Trading Spaces weekend than on the beach.  The one we could see from our 17th floor patio.  But before hitting the main beach in Viña del Mar we decided we would turn north and head up the coast highway to do a bit of sightseeing.  There are rumors of Sea Lion sightings all along the huge rocks that hug the oceanfront.  We traveled about 6 miles up the road and hit a town called Concón.  There really isn't much to see in town, unless you are looking for some good nightlife or some of the freshest seafood around.  We were looking for neither at 10 am - we were looking for the Sea Lions.  Which, sadly, we did not find.  What we did find was a lot of pelicans.  And the girls were delighted.  Actually, they were charmed by the town and the little wall that they could walk along without our help...








MadHatter brought her camera and found this the perfect place to take pictures.  She is getting pretty good and her little girl view on the world is pretty enchanting...


And I stopped to take some big girl snaps...







And one we finished our bird watching we were off to the ocean.  Well, more like the playground that is on the ocean.  MadHatter saw that there were monkey bars and we couldn't get her off of them.  Especially since they were so different from those that she is used to.  This set went up higher and higher with each bar and was made out of rope.  Which meant it was much more flexible and steep than she was used to.  Which meant we spent over an hour trying to conquer it (and we did at the end).  Nothing like a playground in the sand to make the littles happy.






A swing made out of rope, held by rope and attached to rope.  Makes for a lot of interesting moves...



And then it was time to hit the beach.  My girls didn't care that this part of the Pacific Ocean hadn't seen a sunny day over 70 in 6 months.  They just saw water and waves and wanted to get their feet wet.  And so we did...Well, they did.  I am not that crazy.


Rolling the jeans...
And the littlest changes her mind about that cold, blue ocean...



And then she changes her mind again...she gets in...

Good thing we had an extra pair of pants.  Because she was cold!

And that ended our Trading Spaces adventure.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.