Friday, June 28, 2013

Hot and Cold

Today in Santiago: Pouring rain and 6 degrees Celsius (42 degrees Fahrenheit)



Today in Phoenix: Sunny and 48.9 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit)



Remind me WHY we decided to MOVE back to Phoenix in summer?

Hopefully Phoenix cools down as forecasted before we get there Tuesday. The shock to our systems might be a little much!

Really? A Dremel?


Went to get a mani/pedi and was reminded about another little peculiar thing here in Chile. They use a Dremel on your feet. Yep. One of these:

No, it's not a Dremel brand speciality tool designed for your feet. It's an actual Dremel. The kind you use for Pinewood Derby cars. As you can see pictured above, there are several "bits" to choose from.

My first experience with this torture machine was in October when I went to a German hair salon to get my hair cut/colored and innocently decided to get my nails done while I waited...


That German lady used the bit labeled as "C" above. It was HORRIFIC! It hurt! It felt like - like - like someone was freakin' using a DREMEL ON MY FOOT! 

Since then, I've gone to this little shop down the street from my house. They don't use a Dremel. I thought maybe it was just a crazy German thing. 

Nope. 

Went to new place last week and they used a Dremel too! This was much less painful however, because she used the "H" bit and kept my foot damp. Whenever it started to feel like my foot was about to catch on fire, she'd spray it down with water and go again. 

From the sounds of things, you'd think I have Flinstone like calluses on my feet. Let me assure you - I do not. Apparently, this is completely common. Everyone gets "Dremeled". 

Really? Yikes!

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Valle Nevado - One Last Time!

After a rainy weekend, Greg took a day off during his crazy wrapping things up before we go back to the states schedule, to take the boys up to Valle Nevado.

Andrew's friend Rick came along. Rickard is from Sweden, so he's right at home in the snow!

They said the day was perfect. Sunny and just below freezing. Untouched powder everywhere and vacant hills. It was a great last hoo-ra!

Alex

Rick & Andrew

Andrew

Rick and Andrew


Alex coming down


Lunch time

Rick, Andrew, & Alex

Andrew

Alex

Andrew, Greg, & Alex

Andrew, Alex and some friends coming down

Andrew

Friends catching some air



Andrew kickin' up some powder


Greg is always saying snowboarders spend most of their day on their bums


There's my main squeeze!






Each person came home with injuries. 

Greg rolled and slid down this really steep hill losing his skis and poles along the way. 
He's bruised and cut. 

Alex fell on his tailbone and Andrew took a couple good tumbles. 

Even with all the injuries, they had an amazing day! 

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Preparing to go...

It's a crazy thing...leaving...

I think I am still in total denial. I am saying goodbye to friends as they head to the US for winter vacations while school breaks for a few weeks without really realizing that it is GOOD-BYE, good-bye. I can't imagine not having these people a part of my life.

I think I really don't believe it's good-bye, good-bye. I know that we'll stay in touch. We all live on the same side of the country. We're too close not to keep tabs on each other.

I'm pushing for a girls cruise in a couple of years when we're all back and settled. What a blast that would be! :-) A gringa cruise to Mexico - because you know, we are all so fluent in spanish...


High School finals finished up today. So that officially marks the end of our school year here. We have to go back on Wednesday to pick up the $50 yearbooks that weren't ready yet (so no friends signatures), but the real business of school has finally wrapped up. That is a huge weight off of our kids - so a huge weight off of me.

There have been a few going away parties to celebrate friends moving on. Some of my hermanas here in Chile:

Raquel 

Laura, Kristy, Elizabeth, Raquel, (friend), Gaby, me, Julie, Melissa

 Teresa

The wives of ME Elecmetal Grinding Media

More pictures to come...

Monday, June 17, 2013

Prom in Chile!

Andrew is a handsome young man and such a sweet kid. He has amazing friends and absolutely enjoyed his Junior Prom Night!
ok. I'm not sure if I'm almost in a wink here - or if my eye was twitching (it has been for weeks). Nothing like a little stress to make mom look goofy in photos. 
Regardless, that's my boy and I love him to pieces!




Andrew and Paula


Besties: 
Andrew, Paula, Isa, Derrik

The whole gang in front of the Hummer Limo

Ready for a night of fun!



Monday, June 3, 2013

Gearing up for Prom

First, I can't believe that I have a child that is old enough for prom. Not exactly sure when that happened. But I can tell you that I am so very super excited for him to have this experience.

Things are a little more low-key here at Nido. The kids dress up, but not quite as fancy. I've asked around. Apparently, dress slacks, white shirt and tie are great for the guys. I asked about flowers, and apparently Chileans haven't even heard of corsages. I could easily make one, but if the girls aren't wearing them, then his date won't want one either. 2 less things I have to worry about.

So to make it fun, Andrew and I researched a few ideas on how to ask her. We ended up coming up with our own little method.

He found out her class schedule for today and will give each of her teachers roses to give to her at the start of each class. Each bouquet will have a note attached that has a little clue.

We bought a dozen roses (6 rose/pink and 6 cream/white) greenery, and baby's breath. I bought the flowers Saturday evening and have stored them in water in our laundry room. It's pretty cool in there - almost as cold as a fridge. I needed them to last until Monday!

Last night I put together 5 flower bouquets. 

I created 4 small bouquets with 2 roses each and one larger with the remaining 4 roses. I couldn't wrap them up yet, because I needed to keep them in water. So this morning, before seminary, I had to put them all together. 

I wrapped the stems with wet paper towels, stuck that into a clear bag, then wrapped each boquet in white paper then an adorable green/white polka dot tissue. Tied them with a green ribbon and attached the little notes Andrew had prepared. 

She'll get one small bouquet from each teacher today and the larger one will be hand delivered by Andrew at the end of the school day. ADORABLE!

The notes read something like this:

1: I think you're beautiful
2: and your personality is really great
3: I can't wait for Prom
4: where you will be my date.

Seriously. I can not believe that I didn't get a photo of the flowers this morning.

So I've asked Andrew to keep me posted. 

1st Report:
I got the update before school that all flowers were delivered to all of her teachers. He left his final bouquet in his last class - math. So he wouldn't have to carry it around all day. 

Apparently, one of her friends saw him delivering it to one of her teachers. So she knows. He told her to keep it quiet. Hopefully nobody ruins the surprise. I told him to deny-deny-deny until the end of the day :)

2nd Report: 
1st bouquet of flowers delivered. He actually has the same class as her first period - choir - so he said he went to the bathroom so that he wouldn't have to be there when they were handed to her. He said he'd have given it away by his reaction. So fun!

3rd Report:
It's lunchtime and she still doesn't know! Only 1 class to go!

Final Report:
He waited outside of her math class as the bell rang. He was hidden from view because of lockers, so when she walked the other direction, he went behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned around he said, "It would be my honor to take you to prom" and gave her the final bouquet.

Paula said YES!


It's no surprise that the whole school is abuzz with the gesture. According to her math teacher, the entire staff at Nido were all waiting to see what the answer was. She said that this is the single nicest thing anyone has ever done for her.

I love how excited everyone is. Prom is exciting! They chatted a bit about plans and it looks as though he'll be helping her before hand with some decorating at the venue. What a fun night it will be.

More to come as plans continue to unfold...