Back In Town!

We're back! A bit jet-lagged and tired, but we're home. You didn't think we just went on a blog hiatus without actually going somewhere did you? We were in South America for almost three weeks. And if we weren't the types who try to experience "trip of a lifetime" type vacations as much as possible, I might just describe this as a trip of a lifetime. So instead, I'll just say it was really awesome. We got back last night, on Christmas. Santa came early to our house and so the stockings were filled for when we got home. But it didn't even matter - we all just pretty much fell into bed when we got back. And then we tackled the stockings this morning. And I didn't capture one single image of that. I did however get more than 1,300 shots of this vacation...so I can at least say that I have documented what Soren was doing near Christmas, if not on the actual day or not doing the actual Christmas-y things. I've gone through many of my photos so far, but not yet all of them. So I'll tell you about the trip in a few installments. First, it was a cruise. Yeah, we have succumbed to cruising. We did still take our sweet MountainSmith backpacks (as well as many other bags!) so we haven't totally fallen into the Louis Vuitton matched luggage crowd yet. But, we are now cruisers. We had more than one person on the cruise point out that we weren't exactly the demographic for this type of cruise. Too young, and with a small child. But Soren reaped the rewards of having a ship filled with grandparents - pretty much every time he turned around someone was handing him candy. Many people on the cruise told us that this particular itinerary, around Cape Horn, was on their bucket list. And since many of the passengers were older than 70...well, I guess they really needed to start working in earnest on that list! We flew into Santiago, Chile. This year I managed to squeak in just enough miles on United to gain access to the Red Carpet Room lounges when I travel internationally. Um, can I just say, wow. We had a long layover in Toronto (almost 7 hours) on the way down and so hanging out - eating, drinking, getting online and even showering really helped break up the long journey. You'll see that Soren settled in quite comfortably: But then again, he settles in quite comfortably in most places. Have toys, will travel. We only had one day in Santiago before needing to catch our ship. But we did manage to see the sights by taking a double-decker bus tour. I laughed so hard when we boarded and Soren practically ran up the stairs to grab the front seat. He didn't care that there was only one front seat left, and that Peter and I needed to ride 3 rows behind him. He knows which seat he prefers! ...but he did eventually move back by us when it got too sunny in the front. As with most cities around Latin America, there is a main square with a statue of a guy on a horse that you should take a picture of. And some big ornate churches that you should investigate. Peter and I have been to South America a few times and still laugh at the frequency of eating meals accompanied by french fries. Always undercooked and soggy french fries. I have to admit that we kind of sought them out for our first meal there this time. We weren't disappointed. They were exactly as we remembered. Oh, and flying to summer has the advantage of getting back to ice cream season!