Drew's Birthday, Evan's Visit, and Costanera Center

 Drew wanted the same thing for his birthday that Avery wanted: to go skiing. Surprise, surprise. So, I stayed home with the kids while Drew took a mini vacay to nearby Valle Nevado for a couple of powder days. Happy 42nd Birthday, babe. You don't look a day over 25. 

The following week, our good friend Evan Carey flew in from Longmont to go skiing with Drew. Back in Colorado, the two had been backcountry ski buddies. And, skiing in South America was a bucket list item for Evan, a former Jackson Hole ski bum turned white collar math wiz and family man to the lovely Dani and their two adorable daughters Olli and Ella Ray. So he took advantage of our presence here to check that off his list. He and Drew went 6 hours south to the resort called Nevados de Chillán. They spent one day in bounds with a guide, as Chillán has alot of hidden terrain that only a local would know about. They followed this with a day out of bounds with the same guide to a place called Garganta del Diablo or Throat of the Devil. Few more days in bounds and a trip to the hot springs rounded out their trip. Sounds like they had a great time!

Chillan actually has two volcanoes right above the resort. The "new" volcano (the bump in the center in the photo below while the bump on the right is the "old" one) was actually fuming the entire time Drew and Evan were there, but that's apparently very normal for this volcano. Yikes.

Since Drew had been skiing/living the bachelor life for roughly the last week, you're welcome sweetie, we went out on a date night to reconnect. Date night included a trip to the top of the Costanera Center, the highest building in South America at 62 floors or 984 ft. It's comparable in height to the Chrysler Building, but since Santiago's skyline doesn't have a ton of height, it sticks out dramatically. We went for sunset, which was slightly more expensive, but worth the view. Was it worth doing once? Yes. Would I do it again? Probably not. The Costanera Center was followed by a lovely dinner at Cora's Bistro. This I would absolutely do again. Super yummy.

Avery's 7th Birthday

Avery's birthday fell on a Sunday this year. We did our main celebrating at home on the Friday before. Kick off with chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, of course of course. Avery got to wear "street clothes" to school instead of his uniform, so we let him open up one of his presents early, a Ronaldo jersey from Nana and Papa. The smiles abounded. I didn't even notice that the jersey number coincidentally matched his new age, but he picked up on that right away. He also took donut holes to school to share with the class. Don't mind the long hair. Avery is choosing not to cut it right now. We'll see how long it lasts.

Dinner was a menu of his choice, which is our tradition now, which included mac and cheese, but not the "healthy kind" that I normally make which is doctored up with peas and chicken. "Just the noodles and sauce, Mom." Lol, making my life easy kid, I appreciate that. Peppers and blue berries completed the menu. Avery was not as easy going with his cake request. I want a cake that is half chocolate and half vanilla. With blue frosting, the sugary kind that Dad likes. Topped with blueberries and chocolate chips. I did my best.

The rest of the presents included a World Cup album where the boys can officially stick in all of the stickers they have been collecting and a few packs of the stickers themselves. Avery was thrilled when one of the packs had Ronaldo in it, matching his jersey. I originally said I wouldn't be buying the album or packs and stickers, and yet here we are, but about 2 months too late. Boys were still over the moon about it though. 

The main birthday wish was that he wanted to ski on his literal birthday, as that is something impossible to do in the states. We could see a big snowstorm was due to hit on Saturday night. So, we drove up the 40 curves to La Parva, which is one of the 3 ski resorts up a valley just outside of the city. We got there around 11:30am, and by 1pm it was snowing HARD, so timed that perfectly. We camped in our van overnight, which luckily has a diesel heater, keeping us warm and more importantly, capable of drying all of our wet snow gear. We skied La Parva on Sunday, which was fun as another family was able to join as well, so all the kids could ski together. It was a powder day for sure, as they received around 8 inches overnight. Drew took off before sun-up to hike up and get in a few runs before the lifts officially opened. I brought the kids over around 10am, and we skied til around 3pm. Boys and I are still getting used to skiing on powder, but we had alot of fun trying.

On Monday, we kept the boys out of school and skied Valle Nevado, which is in the same valley but on the other side of the hill. By the time we packed up, drove the 45min over there, and got everyone geared up, we didn't hit the slopes until 11am. But it was a gorgeous blue bird day, so we skied literally all day til the lifts closed at 5pm. The ski resorts here are interesting because they are all above tree line. So there is so much skiable terrain, especially on a powder day, that we could still find fresh lines all day. Fun times.

On Sunday night we had a gorgeous sunset seen from the van!

One other fun item I'd like to mention is that after watching Drew and I play lots of euchre at Drummond, the boys are officially learning how to play. So we have two burgeoning euchre players here now, and we can actually play together as a family! Cue heart warming vibes.

Trip to USA: Michigan

On Sunday July 18th, we flew from Denver through Chicago to Sault Saint Marie, which is a tiny little spot in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, almost to Canada. Drew's dad picked us up and drove us the last 45 min to Drummond Island, where we'd be staying with Drew's extended family at a cabin on the water for the next week. The spot was lovely as we had our own protected little bay with calmer, warmer waters. The boys played on the paddle boards every day, regardless of the weather, which was arguably ok at best. We had two days of nice sunshine, but the rest of the week was overcast, sometimes windy, sometimes downright stormy. But we made the best of it. 

Soccer in the front yard!

The best part of this trip was definitely the concentrated family time, especially with GG who is an astonishing 96-year old firecracker. I hope I have half of the mental sharpness she does if/when I'm that age. 

On Thursday, we took a day trip over to DeTour Village to visit my uncle Ken, my cousin Rachael and her husband Jeff, and their four adorable girls, ages 3-9. I unfortunately don't have a photo of the kiddos, but Drew and Emerson did go out with Uncle Ken on his boat, and you can see the gorgeous day we had.

On the following day, Drew, Grandpa, and the boys took a boat ride on our rented pontoon boat to a little beach in a different island, and they had a fun time building sandcastles. Hopefully they never grow tired of doing that. 

A tradition on Drummond is to have dinner one night at the Northwood Grill, which is one of the only restaurants on the island, for broasted chicken. It was delicious!

We followed our dinner out with a pontoon ride at sunset, low and slow. We convinced GG to come along, which apparently she does not do very often. The water was so calm it looked like glass in spots. Definitely a highlight of the trip for me. 

One of the things I love about Drew's family is their affinity for games. This must be a mid-west thing, for when the weather is crappy and you're stuck inside, games are how you pass the time. Every evening we would play one round of bingo as that was apparently Great Grandpa Erwin's favorite. In addition to that, we played a euchre tournament, dominoes, and every other card game imaginable, and completed 4 puzzles. GG is the fearless leader of the games, as her competitive spirit has only sharpened with age. 

After a week in Drummond, we drove back down to Brian and Karen's house in Waterford, which is about a 6 hour trip. We made a quick pit stop at Drew's cousin Kasey's house to visit her, Mike Mike Mike, and their adorable new baby Luelle, who was 6 weeks old. You forget how little they come! 

The following day we got to visit Uncle Adam and his newly converted ambulance turned toy hauler, which includes an astro-turfed rooftop for race viewing. I've never seen a bigger smile on Avery's face.