Our flight to Uruguay was scheduled for 3:45pm, and we wanted to ensure
plenty of time to get across town and everything. So we spent Saturday
morning after breakfast hanging out at the hotel. The sun was out, so
we headed back out to the playground, but it got too hot pretty fast.
We
left plenty early for the airport, so we had lots of time to make the
transit, get gas, and figure out how to return the rental car (not
obvious - just leave it at the curb and take the keys in to the desk).
We checked in, found the Copa Club, hung out, then headed to our gate.
While we were walking from the club to the gate, it started to storm
pretty hard.
We boarded the plane late, as per Copa's standard
procedure (at least it seems that way), and settled into our upgraded
seats. After everyone had boarded, they came on and announced that they
suspected the plane had been struck by lightening, so we had to get off
and get a new plane. Grumpy and grumbling, with kids that were ready
for nap but not going to get one any time soon, we disembarked and
waited for another two hours before we finally got another plane. This
one was an "old" configuration, not the Sky interior, which meant subpar
seats with subpar recline.
C was way overtired, so instead of
going straight down for her nap like she is normally able to do, she
screamed inconsolably for 10 minutes before finally crying herself to
sleep. Lovely. D fell asleep on the plane and managed to stay mostly
asleep in the stroller through disembarking, immigration, car rental,
and driving to the hotel.
We ended up arriving a little over 1,5
hours late into MVD. I forget what time it was - 3:15am? You would
think that the airport would be empty and not much going on, and yet we
still had to wait 20 minutes for the car rental agent to come back
inside from helping someone else. Then it took him a good half hour to
rent us our car. Why does everything need to take three times longer
than necessary?? Unlike in the US, car rental in these countries is not
a scalable process -- AVIS only had one guy working, and he had to rent
the car, go out to the lot and get it, and then drive it up to the
terminal for us to take it.
We easily drove downtown and found
our hotel, the Radisson Victoria Plaza. Due to our Gold status with
Carlson, we were again upgraded - this time to an Ambassador Suite.
This room was ridiculous. It sported a living/dining/common area the
size of two normal hotel rooms, a foyer with a door that closed leading
to a guest lavatory/powder room and a small kitchen with a fridge and
sink, a master bath, and a bedroom. It was truly amazing. D slept
happily on the couch in the living room, and we put C's pack and play up
in the foyer that had a closing door, so miraculously, everyone had
their own room! The hotel has a lot of old school charm - embossed
wallpaper, dark wood, crystal chandeliers. It was really beautiful and
felt luxurious, in a throwback sort of way.
Due to all the delays, we ended up going to bed around 6am, Montevideo time, which is 2am in Denver.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Friday, October 11, 2013
Big Ships: The Canal
After a great night with D on the pull-out couch bed, C in a
pack-n-play, and Mom and Dad in *their own room*(!), we woke up to
discover the incredible view from our suite. We had a large balcony
overlooking the Pacific entrance to the canal. To the right was the
"Bridge of the Americas," and to the left, we could look out to sea to
watch the big ships queuing up for their canal transit. It was a foggy
morning and visibility wasn't too great, but it was definitely enough to
impress us.
After breakfast buffet at the hotel restaurant (included), we suited up to enjoy the hotel's playground and pool, even though it was raining on and off. (It's a rainforest, after all.) Unfortunately, shortly after we started exploring the play structure a storm rolled in. At first, it seemed like the thunder was well off in the distance, but soon we were seeing cloud-to-water strikes pretty nearby, so we ditched the pool, packed the kids up inside, and got ready to head over to the Miraflores Locks.
I think we were expecting a much more "Disney-fied" attraction over at Miraflores. The access road to the locks is the official, hard working access road, that winds through the locks' hydroelectric station. There weren't too many people there when we arrived in the rain, and this was amazing for being able to see the place.
We headed straight outside to the observation deck. There were many Panamax cargo ships transiting from Atlantic to Pacific, hailing from all over the world. There was a guy narrating the goings on in both Spanish and English. We got to see the ships get into place in the lock, the water drain out, the lock doors open up, and then the locomotives on rails pull the ships through. D liked the locomotives very much, as he's really into trains - he called them "chuggers." And what do they do? "They chug." Well, of course. We watched three ships make the transit, and then we got some hot dogs and empanadas at the snack bar and watched some more.
After lunch we went through the museum at the locks. It's a really well-put-together display, going up four floors. Each floor has a different theme: building the canal, canal and rainforest fish and wildlife, the controls for both the locks and the ships, new construction and new equipment. D was really engaged through the whole thing. Then at the end we went up onto the "roofdeck" for another perspective on the working locks and a lot of space to run around.
At this point, we'd been there for a good long while, but we hadn't yet viewed the 3D movie, so we decided to pass the time until the next showing before leaving. We went back down to the lower observation deck where it seemed quieter and there were chairs to sit on. About two minutes after we got there, a very large school group from Colon arrived and took over the seating area. Andrew got caught up in the middle of them, and ended up sitting in the middle of the top rows, surrounded by 7-10 year old kids. The kids thought he was absolutely great. He got tons of hugs and tickles and hair ruffles. The kids talked to him in Spanish, and he was just soaking in all the attention.
C had her own smaller fan club of little Panamanian girls who wanted to hold her, tickle her, etc. They spoke no English, and kept wanting to tell me things, and I felt bad that I had to say, "I don't understand." One girl noticed that C had a mark on her forehead where she had bumped it earlier (the hazards of being a 16-month-old walker), and pulled a pot of Vick's VapoRub out of her little purse. It was such a sweet gesture that I let her put some on. The chaperones who did speak some English told us how enthralled the school kids were with D and C. It was a sweet experience, and I love that our kids are ambassadors.
We went in to go see the movie, which was only 10 minutes long, so I figured our kids could handle it. I hadn't factored that it was pretty late and they'd had no nap. Needless to say, they didn't have much patience for the movie, even though it was a super cool 3D presentation.
All in all it was a fantastic day. We spent far longer there than I had expected too, and the kids, especially D, really seemed to learn some things and enjoy the spectacle.
We grabbed some dinner at the TGI Friday's connected to the hotel. Not sexy, but easy, which is what we needed at the time. After that, we put our suits back on and finally got in a little bit of pool time after dark. The hotel had a shallow wading pool that was really perfect for the kids to splash around in.
After breakfast buffet at the hotel restaurant (included), we suited up to enjoy the hotel's playground and pool, even though it was raining on and off. (It's a rainforest, after all.) Unfortunately, shortly after we started exploring the play structure a storm rolled in. At first, it seemed like the thunder was well off in the distance, but soon we were seeing cloud-to-water strikes pretty nearby, so we ditched the pool, packed the kids up inside, and got ready to head over to the Miraflores Locks.
I think we were expecting a much more "Disney-fied" attraction over at Miraflores. The access road to the locks is the official, hard working access road, that winds through the locks' hydroelectric station. There weren't too many people there when we arrived in the rain, and this was amazing for being able to see the place.
We headed straight outside to the observation deck. There were many Panamax cargo ships transiting from Atlantic to Pacific, hailing from all over the world. There was a guy narrating the goings on in both Spanish and English. We got to see the ships get into place in the lock, the water drain out, the lock doors open up, and then the locomotives on rails pull the ships through. D liked the locomotives very much, as he's really into trains - he called them "chuggers." And what do they do? "They chug." Well, of course. We watched three ships make the transit, and then we got some hot dogs and empanadas at the snack bar and watched some more.
After lunch we went through the museum at the locks. It's a really well-put-together display, going up four floors. Each floor has a different theme: building the canal, canal and rainforest fish and wildlife, the controls for both the locks and the ships, new construction and new equipment. D was really engaged through the whole thing. Then at the end we went up onto the "roofdeck" for another perspective on the working locks and a lot of space to run around.
At this point, we'd been there for a good long while, but we hadn't yet viewed the 3D movie, so we decided to pass the time until the next showing before leaving. We went back down to the lower observation deck where it seemed quieter and there were chairs to sit on. About two minutes after we got there, a very large school group from Colon arrived and took over the seating area. Andrew got caught up in the middle of them, and ended up sitting in the middle of the top rows, surrounded by 7-10 year old kids. The kids thought he was absolutely great. He got tons of hugs and tickles and hair ruffles. The kids talked to him in Spanish, and he was just soaking in all the attention.
C had her own smaller fan club of little Panamanian girls who wanted to hold her, tickle her, etc. They spoke no English, and kept wanting to tell me things, and I felt bad that I had to say, "I don't understand." One girl noticed that C had a mark on her forehead where she had bumped it earlier (the hazards of being a 16-month-old walker), and pulled a pot of Vick's VapoRub out of her little purse. It was such a sweet gesture that I let her put some on. The chaperones who did speak some English told us how enthralled the school kids were with D and C. It was a sweet experience, and I love that our kids are ambassadors.
We went in to go see the movie, which was only 10 minutes long, so I figured our kids could handle it. I hadn't factored that it was pretty late and they'd had no nap. Needless to say, they didn't have much patience for the movie, even though it was a super cool 3D presentation.
All in all it was a fantastic day. We spent far longer there than I had expected too, and the kids, especially D, really seemed to learn some things and enjoy the spectacle.
We grabbed some dinner at the TGI Friday's connected to the hotel. Not sexy, but easy, which is what we needed at the time. After that, we put our suits back on and finally got in a little bit of pool time after dark. The hotel had a shallow wading pool that was really perfect for the kids to splash around in.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Big Ships: At the Copa, Copa Cabana
Sorry I got that song stuck in your head. Now you can share my misery.
Our flight didn't leave until the afternoon, so we had plenty of time to sleep in, have a leisurely morning, and then make our way across Long Island to JFK. We had forgotten to bring nighttime PullUps for Big D (he's daytime potty trained, but not nighttime). Even though he successfully stayed dry overnight at the HI Express, he requested that we pick some up for the rest of the trip, so Daddy had time to walk out to the store and do that. Crisis averted!
We flew Copa airlines from JFK-PTY. Copa is a Panamanian airline, but they were formerly almost completely integrated with Continental. So now, they are almost completely integrated with United. And by integrated, I mean they share a frequent flyer program, which makes our status good. The result is that we got complimentary upgrades on this flight and the flight to Montevideo.
The plane was a brand-shiny-new 737-800 in the "sky" configuration (all together now - oooooooooooo). The business class seats were great with tons of legroom, footrests, and decent in-seat IFE. The set up greatly surpassed our expectations based on reviews of the old configuration, as did the food quality. C really enjoyed her rice, and D was all about the vanilla ice cream for dessert.
We were delayed out of JFK for goodness knows why. While we were waiting, D was playing with a new Panamanian friend at the gate, named Valentina. A big Delta jet was taking off and the girl's mom told the kids to look up. Daddy asked D 'what kind of plane is that?'. D took one glance and said '40-47' (his name for a 747). He was right, of course, and the girl's mom was amazed! She said, "I just thought he would say 'airplane'... Wow! That's amazing!" Daddy didn't bother to tell her that D would have said 40-47 for anything from a Cessna to an A380....
All in all the flight went really well, especially thanks to the upgrades.
Once in Panama City, we picked up our rental car, and due to the late hour and lack of traffic, sped across the city. Our hotel was the Country Inn and Suites Amador, situated just at the Pacific entrance to the canal. Due to our Carlson Gold status, we got upgraded to a canal view master suite. This was absolutely phenomenal, as we not only got to watch the ships coming in to transit the canal from our own private balcony, but we got to put the kids to sleep in their own room (yay pull out couch for D), and have some adult relaxation time on our own.
This is, incredibly enough, starting to feel a lot more like vacation and a little less like work with these little peanuts.
Our flight didn't leave until the afternoon, so we had plenty of time to sleep in, have a leisurely morning, and then make our way across Long Island to JFK. We had forgotten to bring nighttime PullUps for Big D (he's daytime potty trained, but not nighttime). Even though he successfully stayed dry overnight at the HI Express, he requested that we pick some up for the rest of the trip, so Daddy had time to walk out to the store and do that. Crisis averted!
We flew Copa airlines from JFK-PTY. Copa is a Panamanian airline, but they were formerly almost completely integrated with Continental. So now, they are almost completely integrated with United. And by integrated, I mean they share a frequent flyer program, which makes our status good. The result is that we got complimentary upgrades on this flight and the flight to Montevideo.
The plane was a brand-shiny-new 737-800 in the "sky" configuration (all together now - oooooooooooo). The business class seats were great with tons of legroom, footrests, and decent in-seat IFE. The set up greatly surpassed our expectations based on reviews of the old configuration, as did the food quality. C really enjoyed her rice, and D was all about the vanilla ice cream for dessert.
We were delayed out of JFK for goodness knows why. While we were waiting, D was playing with a new Panamanian friend at the gate, named Valentina. A big Delta jet was taking off and the girl's mom told the kids to look up. Daddy asked D 'what kind of plane is that?'. D took one glance and said '40-47' (his name for a 747). He was right, of course, and the girl's mom was amazed! She said, "I just thought he would say 'airplane'... Wow! That's amazing!" Daddy didn't bother to tell her that D would have said 40-47 for anything from a Cessna to an A380....
All in all the flight went really well, especially thanks to the upgrades.
Once in Panama City, we picked up our rental car, and due to the late hour and lack of traffic, sped across the city. Our hotel was the Country Inn and Suites Amador, situated just at the Pacific entrance to the canal. Due to our Carlson Gold status, we got upgraded to a canal view master suite. This was absolutely phenomenal, as we not only got to watch the ships coming in to transit the canal from our own private balcony, but we got to put the kids to sleep in their own room (yay pull out couch for D), and have some adult relaxation time on our own.
This is, incredibly enough, starting to feel a lot more like vacation and a little less like work with these little peanuts.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Big Ships: A Whole New Game
The last time we traveled internationally with kids was in April. We
had a 10 month old and a newly minted 2 year old. Baby C wasn't yet
sleeping through the night and was still nursing - both pretty huge
draws on this mama's energy. And we weren't sure how to get the 2 year
old to go to sleep. This usually resulted in the answer that he didn't.
Fast forward through a self-imposed summer high season furlough, and we've got a nearly-2-and-a-half year old and a 15-month-old. This, my friends is an entirely new ballgame.
We were supposed to be on the late flight to NYC out of Denver, but we got real smart-like (and put in some extra hours at work) and confirmed onto the 3:45pm flight. This should get us to the hotel right at kiddo bedtime - perfect.
Well, the best laid plans, as they say... Our flight went mechanical after an ATC hold. They ended up bringing a new aircraft in, and we arrived at the hotel late with cranky kids (although still an hour earlier than we had originally planned).
Thanks to a mattress run/staycation from a few weeks ago, we knew how to get the kids down for the night. In an elaborate dance, little C was put to bed in her pack and play while daddy and big D went for a walk. Ten minutes later, C was asleep and D could "sneak" into his big boy bed - the second double in a two double room. He is finally old enough to stay put in his own bed - hallelujah! T and I hid out in the bathroom internetting and such for a few minutes while he settled down, then we got to bed. Phew!
Believe it or not this is a drastic improvement in the hotel bedtime routine since Norway.
Fast forward through a self-imposed summer high season furlough, and we've got a nearly-2-and-a-half year old and a 15-month-old. This, my friends is an entirely new ballgame.
We were supposed to be on the late flight to NYC out of Denver, but we got real smart-like (and put in some extra hours at work) and confirmed onto the 3:45pm flight. This should get us to the hotel right at kiddo bedtime - perfect.
Well, the best laid plans, as they say... Our flight went mechanical after an ATC hold. They ended up bringing a new aircraft in, and we arrived at the hotel late with cranky kids (although still an hour earlier than we had originally planned).
Thanks to a mattress run/staycation from a few weeks ago, we knew how to get the kids down for the night. In an elaborate dance, little C was put to bed in her pack and play while daddy and big D went for a walk. Ten minutes later, C was asleep and D could "sneak" into his big boy bed - the second double in a two double room. He is finally old enough to stay put in his own bed - hallelujah! T and I hid out in the bathroom internetting and such for a few minutes while he settled down, then we got to bed. Phew!
Believe it or not this is a drastic improvement in the hotel bedtime routine since Norway.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Seat belts
This story from our awesome nanny is too priceless not to share:
"I have been having an issue with Andrew staying in his chest strap. He has been continually unbuckling it, or screaming because his buckles "are too tight" (i.e. he cant wiggle out of them). I have been pretty frustrated with pulling the car over lalalalala, as much as we talk about how they are for safety and we must put them on, nothing was working.
"Today driving to Costco we passed a Morrison police officer and I had a bright idea. We circle back to where he was hanging out and pull behind the cruiser. I jump out as he is getting out of the car and ask for a favor. I tell him that I have an extremely bright toddler in the back seat resisting seatbelt safety. He was super nice and happy to help. As he approaches, Andrew instantly starts fiddling to re-snap his chest strap. Officer Mac told Andrew how important every part of his carseat was and that he needed to stay buckled and remind everyone in the car to buckle up for safety, He then check his seat and the "tightness" and told Andrew that it was the perfect tightness for safety. So now, Andrew is saying, "We have to stay buckled while the car is moving for safety just like Officer Mac said." He is also checking clara's seat and buckle the way Officer Mac did to make sure it is safe. And he is not getting out of his chest strap clip, sooo success!!!!"
"I have been having an issue with Andrew staying in his chest strap. He has been continually unbuckling it, or screaming because his buckles "are too tight" (i.e. he cant wiggle out of them). I have been pretty frustrated with pulling the car over lalalalala, as much as we talk about how they are for safety and we must put them on, nothing was working.
"Today driving to Costco we passed a Morrison police officer and I had a bright idea. We circle back to where he was hanging out and pull behind the cruiser. I jump out as he is getting out of the car and ask for a favor. I tell him that I have an extremely bright toddler in the back seat resisting seatbelt safety. He was super nice and happy to help. As he approaches, Andrew instantly starts fiddling to re-snap his chest strap. Officer Mac told Andrew how important every part of his carseat was and that he needed to stay buckled and remind everyone in the car to buckle up for safety, He then check his seat and the "tightness" and told Andrew that it was the perfect tightness for safety. So now, Andrew is saying, "We have to stay buckled while the car is moving for safety just like Officer Mac said." He is also checking clara's seat and buckle the way Officer Mac did to make sure it is safe. And he is not getting out of his chest strap clip, sooo success!!!!"
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Camping Success!
After 5 or 6 mostly unsuccessful attempts, I am proud to declare that we just had our FIRST SUCCESSFUL CAMPING NIGHT WITH KIDS EVER. Only took us 2.5 years.
We went up to one of our favorite spots on Guanella Pass Road, right next to the river. We were late enough that it was super quiet. Clara went straight to sleep in the tent with no coercion. Andrew had to take about 45 minutes to root around in the tent and explore every corner.
We went up to one of our favorite spots on Guanella Pass Road, right next to the river. We were late enough that it was super quiet. Clara went straight to sleep in the tent with no coercion. Andrew had to take about 45 minutes to root around in the tent and explore every corner.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Big Girl
We've been wondering: how can Clara continue to eat like a horse (she probably out eats her brother) and not gain percentiles? Well, today we found out... she has gained percentiles. She has grown 2.25 inches taller in the last 3 months, leaping from the 13th %ile, to the 38th. Her weight is in the same percentile range as it was. She's long and lean, just like daddy.
At 15 months:
your child is 21.6875 pounds, and that is
at the 28th percentile for weight.
your child is 30.25 inches, and that is
at the 38th percentile for height.
your child has a head circumference of 18.7 inches, and that is
at the 87th percentile for head circumference.
At 15 months:
your child is 21.6875 pounds, and that is
at the 28th percentile for weight.
your child is 30.25 inches, and that is
at the 38th percentile for height.
your child has a head circumference of 18.7 inches, and that is
at the 87th percentile for head circumference.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Crazy Sleeper
 |
| With ear protection. Who wouldn't sleep great? |
 |
| In the (200yr old family heirloom) baby cradle |
Monday, September 2, 2013
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