the mega center

Abuela suggested we go to the Mega Center....it would be lots of fun...the kids could play in these bubbles on water. I had no idea what she was talking about, but we always say OK.
It turns out the Mega Center is a HUGE new mall that opened a year ago with the typical expensive stores, a food court, a huge cineplex (with 3D movies) and play areas for the kids.

They go big here. This is just one slide in a complex maze of tunnels and chutes. It's probably as large as the whole Chik-fil-A restaurant.


Typical Joaquin.


What ARE they doing to Isabela? And is it safe?


It turns out, these are the bubbles she was talking about.


And this is the water.


She's smiling now....


...but what seems like fun can quickly turn into torture. Can you imagine having to pee while being trapped in a bubble on water? Poor Isabela. Here's the video (Isabela's on the left, Joaquin's that wild one in the middle):



The good news is she made it.

let them eat cake

My niece and I shared the same birthday lunch....and the same fate.






It's irresistable...even if it's not your birthday!

in the jungle...

The hotel we stayed at in los Yungas is called Jungle River Resort. I could have stayed here the whole three weeks. It has hot water, wonderful paths to wander, of course pools and waterslides and all you can eat buffets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Now, how much would a place like this cost per night? Take a guess. Lower. Lower. It was $35 a night/ per person...and Diego was free!

(Joaquin is posing here with his Flat Stanley before we walked up a skinny path to some beautiful views.)


This very threatening river rushes right by the whole place.


But half the fun is just driving there. Joaquin was thrilled to be sitting in the front with his cousins...and no car seat.


You have to go up, before you go down. We stop at a statue of Jesus to challar...that's a tradition where you pour alcohol on the tires of your bus and on the ground for a safe journey. This is a picture of all of us right on the edge of the cliff.


I can never quite capture how amazing the views are from up here.


We passed lots of waterfalls right on the edge of the road.


Everyone went straight to the pool when we got there. Diego didn't care much for the water...


but he did enjoy walking around in his cousin's shoes.


That frog is spitting right on Joaquin's head.

At first, we thought there were just the two pools at the resort, but we were very excited to discover this playground right near the rushing river.


Joaquin is peeking at the bananas growing on the tree right by the slide!



It was hard to get a good shot of the WATER SLIDE, but here it is winding through the palm trees. It was SUPER long and had some parts of it open, and other parts like a tunnel. The kids said there were glowing eyes in the tunnel, but I had my eyes shut and was screaming, so I never saw them.

There must have been at least 10 slides...some big, some small and all different colors.


Juan Pablo is getting ready to go down the BIG ONE for the first time. He's not too sure about it, but Joaquin had already gone down and not come back, so he had to go.


Here's some of the family after they shot out of the slide. There's that river again!



One morning, Juan Pablo, Joaquin and I decided to hike the trail up the mountain to the miradores, or look-out points. Isabela had wanted to stay with her cousins, and Diego most certainly would have fallen off. It was such an adventure. We had been warned no to go to the top because it had rained the night before...and there's always the danger of landslides. We even had to give our names to the guard, in case we didn't come back. But once we got started, it really wasn't that scary...although Joaquin made up some story about a bad guy that had left his broken glasses up there, which we had found. The circling vultures added a little to it, too.


This is one of the look-out points.


And here's a view below to a wooden bridge across the river.



I thought it was funny to see the bed sheets hung out to dry here.


The morning we left, it was foggy and rainy. This is typical of los Yungas, but it doesn't last long. The trip back up the mountain was another adventure. I think I screamed once at how close we were to the edge. It was even snowing a bit when we got to the top! You really can see all four seasons in one day here.

up, up and away

We only packed four large suitcases and three small carry-ons for our three week trip. Of course, it has been warmer than we thought it would be here, so we haven't used most of the clothes that we packed.


We waited in the airport for several hours for our flight.


I had brought lots of things for the kids to do, but most of it I didn't need. I had forgotten about the novelty of seeing the planes take off and land...


Diego spent most of his time glued to this window.


In flight, it was a little harder to entertain him, although since it was overnight, he did sleep. Luckily, there was a little girl in the seat in front of him who didn't mind his antics. And the nice woman behind me commented on how well the children did during the flight. That always makes it better.

anyone miss us?

Just wanted to let everyone know we arrived in Bolivia safe and sound (several days ago). We went on a little trip to the jungle...los Yungas...can't wait to post pictures!! All I'll say about it is GIGANTIC WATER SLIDE.

Love, us

a handmade Christmas

Here are some projects that kept me pretty busy over the last few weeks. I always imagine having a purely handmade Christmas for my kids, but usually cave at some point and start buying things. I hope to start earlier this year, so I don't have to stay up so late in December.

The big gift was this playhouse. I pretty much copied HomemadebyJill's with a few changes. Her table is bigger than mine, and more importantly, her sewing is much better. But this is the biggest project I've ever taken on, and I'm quite proud of it.

The mailbox opens on the front, and there's a jingle bell doorbell. The door, of course, lifts up to go inside.


This side has a flower garden that you can plant, and apples on the tree that can be taken off and on. I put cloves in the flowers so they smell good.


There's also a peek-a-boo owl on the tree.


And this is the vegetable garden. The corn ears come out, the carrots can be planted in the dirt pockets, and the lettuce velcros on.


The last side is the dog house. The bone has a magnet in it that will stick to the dog's mouth, or the bowl. The flap opens to pass through animals, or crawl in as well. And clothes can be hung out to dry on the line above the house. (Those are build a bear clothes.)


I started to make a bunch of felt food (found at Skip to My Lou)...I got as far as some chips, a lunch bag, and some eggs...

...but then I found all this great cheap food at IKEA, so I saved myself some time.


I saw a taggie football on some toy site and thought I could make that...knowing how much Diego already loves his taggie blanket. There's always someone who's already done it...so I found this example at Grace Violet and tried to copy it...somewhat. I put a jingle bell in it, too.


For Isabela, I made a camera case for her digital camera Santa brought her. I saw these on etsy. Now, the one on etsy is MUCH BETTER, but Isabela loved hers and that made me happy. Next time, I'd use good felt for the whole thing to make it a little sturdier...the black was fleece and that's too flimsy.




And Joaquin's homemade project was a pile of sticks **. Actually the idea is using fallen branches, and cutting them into different size pieces to make building blocks...like these here.


I pulled an awesome old cedar branch out of the woods and Juan Pablo began cutting it. There was this perfectly shaped circle hole bored into it. Hhhmmm?? What could have made it?

A bunch of carpenter bees, of course. I think we poured about 12 out of the branch. I'm glad it was a frigidly cold morning.


**a note on these...Joaquin's afraid to play with them. I never got around to sanding them, so he thinks bugs might be in them, although there's none. Plus, Diego picked one up and bopped Joaquin on his head with it. And that hurts! So I'm not sure these were the best idea.

So that was it. Lots of late nights. I learned two new hand stitches...the chain stitch and the blanket stitch...and best of all, Juan Pablo got me a new sewing machine for Christmas.

(That's a funny little story, too....he made the mistake of taking Joaquin with him to get it. As soon as they got home, Joaquin told me, "Daddy bought you a sewing machine for Christmas!" Juan Pablo said he took it back since Joaquin had told me. But then one day, the kids wanted to watch a movie. Joaquin went to get the movie from the cabinet and said, "Mom! I can't get the movie because your sewing machine is hiding in here!"---So later, I had bought Juan Pablo a present and refused to tell Joaquin what it was. A few minutes later, he was talking to Daddy on the phone and I hear: "I don't know what it is. Mom won't tell me." I'm a quick learner.)