Aidan's Birthday

Last Saturday, we had a birthday for Aidan who turned 1!

Aidan's 1st Birthday

Happy Birthday to our little boy! I cannot believe that one year has already gone by and that my baby isn't a little baby anymore!! :(

We had a little party yesterday to celebrate the big year milestone. Der cooked one of Aidan's favourite meals - stirfry - and we had Julie, David, Asher and Liesl and Carey over for supper to help us celebrate. It was a whole lot of fun and very relaxed. Kirsi was sooooo excited to have our guests over and to finally be able to dig into the cake.

Aidan's monkey cake (for our little monkey):


Singing "Happy Birthday":


Taste of cake:


Poke, poke. This is what Aidan always does with food he's never had before.


Heh, heh! This icing is pretty good! Though he wasn't too fond of the cake.


Ooh, icing is fun to smear all over too!


As you can see, he ate some icing and smashed and squished his cake.


Chocolate icing everywhere!


Kirsi helped Aidan open a present (his baby):


Oooh, what's in here?


For more pictures, go to our Photobucket site.

Photo Thursday

Just some fun photos since we haven't updated much lately.

Here's a quick video of our trip to the Buin Zoo!

Great weekend

We had a fantastic long weekend. It's always great to have Der home with us for more than the normal 2-day weekends. Thursday was a relaxed day. Kirsi and I went over to Mary Brett and Richard's place to take some pictures of their kiddos, Jayde and Parker. It's so pretty here with the fall colours so I got some good shots of them. Jayde and Kirsi are the same age, just 3 weeks difference, but they haven't had the chance to play together much. They had a great time playing with Play Doh after the photo shoot. Then, that afternoon, I took Kirsi and Aidan over to Agustina's house to play. Agu and Monica were great hostesses, like usual, and they had made a cake for snack time. Kirsi had so much fun playing with Agu - jumping on the trampoline, playing with all her toys and playing with bubbles. We need to get together with them more often!

Friday we went to the zoo, which was a lot of fun. Saturday was more of an organizing day - Der got the upstairs more ready for moving the kids up there when winter comes in full force. He's waiting on me to get the baby stuff sorted before he tackles the storage room. I need to get on that soon! We were having guests over so I made my Spinach-Feta (without the fet because of the listeria scare here) Dip and I tried a new recipe from my favourite site, www.allrecipes.com. I tried a Baked Apple Pudding. It turned out pretty well but not my all-time favourite dessert. Good for a dessert if you don't have much time.

Saturday night we had Julie and David over for games night. We enjoy their company so much; they're so much fun and are great people. (They are the parents of Asher and Liesl, the kids our kids play with all the time.) Julie and I are very good friends so it will be hard to say good-bye to her in less than a month now. They're going back to the U.S. for a year and then who knows. Maybe one day we'll be in the same general area. :) We have talked about coming back to Chile at the same time for Aidan and Liesl to visit the country they were born in. That would be super fun!

Today, we went to church, which was great as we had missed three Sundays in a row. The best news about church was that Aidan made it through the readings and the homily without needing to be taken outside! Lately, he's been so loud in church that Der has to take him outside almost as soon as the Mass starts! But today, he was happy to eat his rice cakes while we got to listen to the readings and homily. This is a good sign! After church, I was really wanting to go out for breakfast/brunch but there's no great place to do that. There's one cafe here that serves breakfast all day but it's overpriced and you don't get much food. We need a good breakfast place here. I'd love to eat at Chez Cora again!!

This afternoon, I went to Starbucks to meet up with my crafts ladies. It was a huge group today - Julie S., Marielle, Julie M., Amie, Mary Brett and two new ladies, Teri and Julie. We had a great time, chatting and doing our thing (I took my scrapbooking again). And I managed to get 4 pages done too!

Buin Zoo

Friday we went to the zoo at Buin. I much prefer this zoo to the one in Santiago - I like the layout better and the enclosure seem better to me. Our family loves spending time at the zoo so it was fun day for everyone. This was the first time that Aidan seemed to take notice of the animals. When we first got there, he was almost shocked at seeing all these creatures. He kept staring at the monkeys climbing around. But then he got used to the action and really seemed to enjoy himself. His favourites were the fish swimming in the tanks.

Kirsi was so much fun, too. She's always loved the zoo but this time she seemed to be super into the animals, what their names were and what they were doing. She loved talking about the jaguars and the guinea fowl. By the way, she still bypasses the baboons (she hasn't forgotten her traumatic baboon screaming experience over a year ago). Her favourite exhibit was the reptile one - she loved looking for the snakes, lizards, iguanas, tortoises, etc. hiding in their enclosures.

Jaguar:


Spider monkey:


In the aquarium, Aidan's favourite part:



Kirsi also had a great time petting the animals in the petting zoo. She was a little nervous but when Daddy got down to pet them with her, she really enjoyed it. Aidan, on the other hand, hated petting the animals or getting too close to them. He totally backed off and refused to touch them.



Aidan just hanging out, looking at everything:


There are more pictures on our Photobucket site if you'd like to see more.

More pictures

Aidan can get off the bed himself now:


And tada!


Look at Aidan's cute little teethies:


Sweet girl:


Daddy and Aidan:


Pirate Kirsi at Jayde's Dora Pirate Birthday Party:


This is one of Aidan's favourite things to do now:


And here's another:


11 months old:



Another fall picture of our sweeties:

La Ligua

Friday we went on a day trip with Julie, Asher and Liesl to La Ligua, a little town known for its knitted clothing. It's a couple hours north of here so we settled in for the drive. There were some beautiful things there, making me wish that I were a talented knitter, and I ended up buying a few things. I was hoping to find a long sweater-style jacket for me, as the winter coats here are expensive and not what I'm looking for, but the one that I really liked didn't fit. :( The shops are located on either side of the main street and I'd say they line the street for about a kilmetre or so, maybe a little less. It was fun going into the shops and seeing what they had to offer. Some of the stores had beautiful stuff, others had some nondescript stuff. The funniest things were the kids' sweaters with the off-make Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and Spiderman designs on them; they just looked strange. I think the funniest, yet very typical, scene was the bags of avocados for sale in the window, along with the knitted sweaters.

New horse

Today was horse riding lessons again but it was the first time we went to the new location. Before, Kirsi's lessons were just up the road from us, 8 minutes door-to-door. Now, we have to drive 20 minutes to get there and at least 25 minutes to get back (depending on the traffic). Kirsi was very excited to see Miss Tole again and Chilindrina, her little pony. But today, Kirsi didn't ride Chilindrina, she rode a bigger pony named Cubito. She looked so small brushing him; Tole had to lift her up so she could reach his back. :)

Tole moved to join the oldest equestrian club in Santiago that has a well-established pony club. It seems that they do things a little differently than Tole did on her own. Kirsi was in a group of 6 kids today, as opposed to 3, but Tole stayed with her the whole time, thank goodness. There was the main teacher who did the class (Maria Ignacia) and she helped out the kids who needed it but she was not one-on-one with them like we have been used to with Tole. We'll see how things go the next few weeks to see if we're still as happy with the new program as we were with the one at the Aventura Pony Club. Kirsi enjoyed her first lesson there, but she kept asking me why she didn't clean her pony's hooves (like she normally does). :)

Our week

We had a busy weekend last weekend. On Friday morning we went for breakfast with some friends and then to the playground. That afternoon, we went to Kirsi's friend, Ana's, birthday party. Saturday morning we went to Asher's birthday party, but before that we stopped off to take some fall pictures of the kids. After the birthday party, we went straight to lunch with some friends. Sunday, we visited a vineyard with the Stephonson's and had a wonderful time. It was a good tour and the restaurant had delicious food. I think it was one of our busiest social weekends since we've been here, but it was good.

We also said good-bye to friends that we met in December. They are from Ottawa but were here for Peter's work. Heather, Marin and Thomas often joined us at the playground or for playdates so it was sad to say good-bye.

Aidan's 10-month picture:


He loves playing in the backyard in this car:


He also loves helping with laundry (mainly throwing the clothes out of the basket and, once in a while, putting it back in):


Playground pictures...





Kirsi wanted hair like her friend, Chloe. This was as close as I could get it:


At Asher's pirate party:



Fall pictures:

Quasimodo

The first Sunday following Easter Sunday is the celebration of Quasimodo, here in Lo Barnechea. This is a celebration of communion. Someone takes communion to the sick, to those who cannot go to Mass and many other people accompany him as protectors. The huasos (cowboys) of Lo Barnechea gather together on Quasimodo Sunday and dress up themselves and their horses and make a parade through the streets of Lo Barnechea. People decorate their gates along the parade route and you hear shouts of "Viva Cristo Rey" (Long live Christ the King!) Then, at noon, there is a huge mass held in the "medialuna" (the rodeo arena) of LB for everyone to attend. We live in a "rural" suburb of Santiago in the sense that we are close to the mountains and there are many people who have farms and horses in this area. Quasimodo does not happen in many suburbs of Santiago, just those that have a big "huaso" community. It is the most cultural event that I've seen here in Santiago and it's so neat to see the huasos and their horses dressed up.

Here is the start of the parade at Plaza San Enrique:


It's not only men who participate - look at this little guy:


There's a whole family in this cart. Look at that little baby:


This man and boy are wearing traditional huaso gear, not the robes and scarves that most people wear on Quasimodo Sunday.


Look at the colourful costumes for the horses. And some horses and riders match!



And it's not just horses that participate. Cars, trucks, go-carts...


Bicycles...


One of my favourite shots:


Isn't he sweet?

Riding Lessons

Today was Kirsi's first horseback riding lesson and it was fabulous! We went to find out more about it on Monday and there was a spot open for her age on Wednesdays from 2:30 to 3:30 so we took it. It was awesome! Kirsi was so excited to go to her lesson - she even agreed to go down early for a nap. :)

The "Poney Club" is about 5 minutes from our house, just up the road towards the hills. Ms. Tole is Kirsi's teacher and she's amazing. She's so patient and she knows how much to do with the little ones without overwhelming them. First off, Kirsi took care of her pony, Chilindrina. She brushed her all over, even her tail and mane, and then she cleaned out her hooves. Then she helped get all the tack out - the saddle, blankets and reins.




Once she got the horse taken care of, she was ready to ride. Ms. Tole and Kirsi led Chilindrina down to the riding ring.



Then Kirsi got to ride...all by herself! They worked on balance - leaning forward to touch the pony's neck, leaning back to touch her rump and leaning sideways to touch her tummy. Then she got Kirsi to hold on to the reins with only one hand by pointing to something. They also played a little game - "Start and Stop". Kirsi had to stop the pony when she heard one beep and to get the pony going when she heard two beeps. Then they went for a walk around the area, just to see what there was to see. Kirsi was on the pony by herself but Tole was beside her the whole time. Kirsi kept looking around everywhere, fascinated by all the new things.




While they were still in the riding ring, Kirsi saw the jumping things and told Tole that she wanted to jump with her pony! Tole laughed and said that Kirsi needed to get used to the horses first. :) Kirsi is just a little ambitious, eh?


Once the ride was done, Kirsi helped put the gear away and then gave Chilindrina a little prize - a couple sugar cubes.


It was a fantastic experience for our little girl. She loved it so much and looked like such a big girl riding all by herself and cleaning the horse. Our little girl is growing up!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone! I hope you've all had a great weekend as we did. Der had Thursday and Friday off so we had a long weekend together. Thursday we took care of some business (got our permanent residency cards and renewed our drivers' licenses) before going to a pool birthday party. The kids had a blast in the pool. Aidan loved the water - he even liked going underneath the water and splashing. What a kid! Kirsi loves swimming but isn't so keen on getting her face wet.

Friday we went to La Campana, a park about 2 hours northwest of Santiago. Our plan was to go for a hike but both kids were pretty tired by the time we got there so we only got a kilometre in. We still had a good hike, though it was short. And we got to have a picnic at the park too which was fun. Here are some pictures from our trip there.






Saturday was a very chilled out day. Der was in the mood to get some spring cleaning done and I felt guilty so I helped him out. I will admit that he's the one who gets that kind of cleaning done - I will never start it on my own but will get going once he does. I wonder why that is. Anyways, that's beside the point. We hung out together all day long and then we dyed Easter eggs for the Easter bunny to hide. Kirsi loved dyeing the eggs and Aidan enjoyed watching her and munching on Cheerios at the same time. :)


And today was the big day! The Easter Bunny visited our house last night so Kirsi and Aidan had to go on an egg hunt this morning. Aidan found one egg and he was happy to play with that. It was up to Kirsi to find the rest, but she was totally up for it! She couldn't believe how many eggs the Easter Bunny left and that there were chocolate eggs too. Once she figured out that the Easter Bunny had hid the eggs in sneaky places, she got pretty good at finding them all. The Easter Bunny brought Kirsi some chocolates in her basket too and brought Aidan a little Easter Bunny since Aidan can't have chocolate yet.




Happy Easter everyone!

Easter Egg Hunt

Last Thursday, Kirsi and I went out to a friend's place for an Easter egg dyeing party. There were 4 other little ones there to dye eggs. Kirsi liked choosing what colour to make the egg and seeing how it would come out of the dye. Then she had a blast playing with the kids after the dyeing was finished.



On Sunday, we had the annual Nido Easter egg hunt. Darlene hid all the eggs around International Park and others brought a few chocolates to hide. The kids had so much fun looking for the eggs all around the park. Kirsi filled up her basket pretty quickly so we just looked for eggs to help the other kids. Aidan wasn't very interested in the eggs at all; he took one and just waved it in the air before sticking it in his mouth. We had a great potluck meal after the hunt and then the kids had fun running around the park with Der and another daddy. It was a great afternoon!

Our little girl turns 3!

Today was a big day for our family - it was Kirsi's 3rd birthday! It was a very busy week getting ready for our two birthday parties - yes, two! - but it was totally worth it.

Kirsi wanted a Charlotte's Web theme this year so that's what we went with. I made a Wilbur cake for her, one carrot cake and one chocolate cake. Der made chili, our version of "slop". We made animal decorations for the dining room so we could be with Wilbur and his friends during the party. It's a really fun theme to plan a birthday party with.


Kirsi with Wilbur:


On Wednesday, we had a birthday party for Kirsi's playgroup friends - Caroline, Zane, Ethan, Caitlin, Nico and Noah and the babies, Lucas, Maya, Ana Sofia, Billy, Bella and of course, Aidan. Everyone brought something to share at the party so we had lots of food and there were lots of people there to celebrate with us.


This morning, Kirsi woke up and was so excited! She knew today was her birthday and that she'd be having lots of fun. Before her party, Kirsi got to open her presents from us and from Auntie Rhonda, Uncle Ian, Brody and Hannah. She had lots of fun playing with her new things. Today we had a smaller birthday party for Kirsi's older friends or friends not from our Nido group. Asher and Liesl, Agustina, Marin and Thomas and Antonia came to celebrate with us today. We had a morning birthday party and it was perfect - the kids were all in great moods and had lots of time to play together before we had lunch and then cake. After a short nap, we went out to Starbucks and Kirsi got to have her very own "coffee". We got her a chocolate frappuccino and she loved it. I know she felt super special. The guys at Starbucks were great - they brought it up to her and had a candle in the cream. They sang "Happy Birthday" to her in Spanish and she was so surprised. She didn't know what to do so she snuggled in close to me while they sang to her.



It's so hard to believe that our baby girl is 3 years old. The time has gone so fast, just like everyone says it does. Once you're a parent, I think time goes even more quickly. Kirsi is no longer a toddler, she hasn't been for a while. She's definitely a little girl now. She talks all the time and tells all kinds of stories. Often what she says seems too old for a 3-year-old to say. For example, after watching "Charlotte's Web", she now says, "It's so unjust!" if we do something that she doesn't think is fair. Or when we're doing something that we don't normally do, she pipes up with, "I can't believe it!" We have had such a great time with our little girl these last three years and I know we're going to have so many more great times with her in the years to come. Happy Birthday, Kirsi Bear!! We love you!

Here's Kirsi with her blue ribbon, just like Wilbur: