Pucon

Pucon could very well be the Interlaken of South America. We took Natalie there while she was down for a visit and had a blast! We climbed a volcano which we later found out was still active. It was a little unnerving hearing it gurgle while we were on the summit!Check out the crampons!
Here's Nat sliding down at the end of the day.
The next day we went canyoning (rappelling down waterfalls and sliding down rock slides, etc.).

We loved the cute gear!

One of many rock slides.

Siete Tazas

We took the kiddies camping and hiking in Siete Tazas (meaning 7 cups- the waterfalls there pour from one pool to the next). We have decided the big waterfall is the long lost hermano of the falls we hiked to on our honeymoon in Hawaii. We went swimming and tried to impress the kids by cliff jumping.

Christmas 2007

After all the present opening, we took a break to take the yearly swimsuit-in-front-of-the-tree-rub-it-in-everyone's-face-that-the-
weather-is-nicer-here photo.

This is for all you Palmer cousins. Arrrrrrrgh!
We taught friends the Walker tradition of running around the house at Christmas time. And yes, we've been invited back.

Visions of Sugarplums

Christmas Eve 2007.
When we told Ryan these were Christmas stockings, he knew exactly what to do with them.
Our traditional fondue party was outdoors this year. No dreaming of a white Christmas this far south. We had the Gibsons, Stahleckers, and Aguileras over to help celebrate. Then we met up the next morning and played all day.
We ate for several hours. That is the best thing about fondue.

In keeping with Palmer tradition, the kids all got matching pijamas.
The kids were adorable when they acted out the Nativity. My favorite was Carlitos the little lamb.

What's Cookin'?

After a weekend of camp food I could stand it no longer, so with the help of Gracie we made the worlds fanciest grocery list. Last night's menu was grilled fresh tuna with roasted pepper sauce and papas a la guancaina (a Peruvian potato dish with yellow chiles), served with a side of grilled eggplant. We served it up restaurant style and the kids pretended they were on a date. Ryan kept calling me "Sir."
These live crabs cost a measly buck-fifty each! Wish I would have figured that out sooner... Tonight is teriyaki steak with grilled pineapple. Anybody hungry?

Summer Camp

January and February are summer break here. We planned out the whole summer with fun activities every day. I am so glad we did because Nathan has been traveling so much that it has made the time fly by. We miss you daddy, but we sure are having fun!Playing dress-up.
Workin' out.
An interesting swing at one of the many parks we have visited.
Our favorite pool. The whole pool is this deep. Perfect for kids. Update for Grandmas: Gracie now swims underwater!
We love this pool so much that we go whenever we can.

Beach trip with the Gonzalez family.
Water Olympics in our backyard. (Water Baseball, water balloon toss, etc...)

Trip to the Cemetery. The mausoleums are incredible. Many Chilean presidents are buried in this cemetery.


Fun at the park.
Mampato amusement park outing. Here is Ryan (2) on a roller coaster. They don't worry so much here about being sued...

My kids loved the pony ride. They are horse fanatics just like their dad! Didn't know I married a cowboy!

BUSTED!

Last night was a rite of passage for many. We took our kids and the Johnson's teenagers toilet-papering for the first time. (The Johnson's are our friends who are out of town. They watched our kids for us during our trip to the US so we repaid them cleverly by entertaining theirs. We chose to TP the Gonzalez's- a family who also watched Gracie and Ryan when we were gone- I think we might have a hard time finding baby-sitters from here on out). All was going well until Julie Gonzalez came out to her car to go pick up her daughter. We thought we had taught everyone all the important rules about toilet-papering... wear dark clothes, be very quite, tip-toe, hide if a car goes by... but we forgot to teach them one imperative rule... if someone sees you, RUN!

Ry was a natural.
Getting caught... Notice the kids are still at it. Nelson Gonzalez got back at Nathan by making him talk at church last minute today.
Gracie wants to know who's house we are doing next?!
TP-ing is taken up a notch here because you have two uncommon obstacles that add to the excitement- gates and guards. All homes are gated or in a gated communities and there are several guards on foot or circulating in vehicles 24hrs a day. These two security vehicles and guard house were only one house away. We are so sneaky! Ok- kinda... Ok, so the guards were sleeping.
This post is dedicated to Mom's Taxi- may she rest in peace.