San Jose de Carrasco

On November 1st, we took a day trip to San Jose de Carrasco. It's only about an hour from Piriapolis, where we're staying, on the bus. We walked a ton becuase Spence didn't have any addresses written down and he couldn't remember for sure where things were. We went to see the church there and I was pretty suprised to see how nice it was. The building we attended in Piriapolis was nice, but I didn't think they would all be so nice.

After seeing the church, we had lunch and headed to find the apartment Spence lived in here. We walked on a lot of dirt roads, and it was hotter than I anticipated when we got everyone dressed, but we eventually found the apartment. Spence was thrilled when Graciela Alonzo, the lady that lived in front of them, was home and she was beyond excited to see him and catch up. They talked about how everyone was doing in the ward and had a good chat. Spence will have to fill in more on that later due to the fact that I can't understand very much when he's talking to people here.

It was so much fun to see people Spence knew when he served here and watch them both so happy to see each other.

Walking...

More walking...

Taking a break from walking...

Graciela gave Davis and Blair some toys to play with while she talked to Spence. It was so nice. The kids get pretty tired of sitting and not touching anything while Spence talks in a language they don't understand.

This is the apartment Spence lived in while he was here.

Another break

Happy Halloween & Punta del Este

On Halloween, we had a pretty mellow day planned, but ended up doing and seeing a lot and having a blast. In the morning, we went to the park and spent forever twisting the kids up on the swings and sending them spinning. They thought this was super fun and they each did it a million times. After the park, when we were on our way to lunch, some super nice people that we met at church the day before pulled up and asked if we wanted to go to Punta del Este that afternoon. We didn't have anything planned, so we went.

Punta del Este is a major resort town and many people in South America travel here for vacation. It's only about 30 miles from where we're staying in Piriapolis.

Jugo and Teresa were fabulous tour guides and took us so many places it would have taken us forever to see by bus and foot. Davis and Blair enjoyed riding in the car with no car seats. (I've seen a few car seats here, but for the most part kids aren't even sitting down in cars. They're sticking half of their body out the window or just messing around and climbing on the seats.) We stopped a number of places along the way and saw a couple of neighboring towns too. Davis and Blair happily gobbled the treats Teresa had brought along for the trip. It was a little crazy letting my kids eat so much junk, but Teresa and Jugo were trying to be so nice, so we let them have at it. (In Uruguay, lots of people eat one big meal each day at lunch and then just snack the rest of the day. The snacks they eat aren't healthy either.) The kids had candy, wafers, and tons of other junk on the way to Punta del Este and while we looked around, and on the way home Teresa insisted on stopping by the panaderia for some bakery treats. Daivs and Blair have perfected their "Gracias". They loved it.

Jugo and Teresa were so nice and so much fun and they were so patient with the craziness of Daivs and Blair for almost five hours.

On the way home from Punta del Este, the kids noticed some other kids walking the streets in Halloween costumes going Trick-or-Treating. We've been telling them that people in Uruguay don't celebrate Halloween and we were just going to skip over it this year, and they were a little disappointed when they saw the other kids dressed up and we didn't bring costumes. Things have changed in the ten years since Spence has been here. They do a little for Halloween now, but nothing like home. The kids got over it pretty quickly though.

We, of course, brought Halloween shirts to celebrate a little.
Blair learned how to "pump" herself on the swing in the morning. She is still so proud.

Twisting madness

One place we pulled off on the way to Punta del Este

Our family with Jugo and Teresa and Punta del Este far off in the background

We stopped at the Plaza in Punta del Este and the kids had a blast on this Merry-Go-Round type thing

Over by the port, this giant Sea Lion was hanging out on the sidewalk

Feeding the wafers to the Pigeons

"Los Dedos" One of the landmarks in Punta del Este

The kids playing at the park in Maldonado- Maldonado is a city next to Punta del Este that we drove though on the way home.

Carrasco

On Saturday, the 29th of October we took a day trip to Carrasco. Carrasco lies on the outskirts of Montevideo. It is one of the nicer areas in the country. Spence never served in this area, but he spent time here as it is where the temple, the mission home, and the mission offices are located. We didn't do any temple work because we had the kids and no babysitter, but we enjoyed seeing it and talking about it with the kids. Spencer was on his mission here when the temple was finished and dedicated.

After we saw the temple, we walked to the mission home to take some pictures and ended up talking to the current mission president, President Da Silva, and his wife. The mission home is the only place we've seen carpet since we've been here. President Da Silva and Spencer talked about the mission now and the president took us in his office to show us the board of missionaries and where everyone was currently serving. Davis and Blair thought it was cool to see that and were impressed with the number of missionaries that are serving in Uruguay. Davis is sure when he's a missionary he'll be in Uruguay too. Before we left, Sister Da Silva gave the kids each a bag of treats that made the trip totally worth it to them.

After the mission home, we walked past the temple again and ended up talking to the temple president and his wife for quite a while. They are from Pleasant Grove, UT and they've been on missions for a while now. They were mission presidents, MTC presidents in Argentina, and now temple presidents in Uruguay. As we spoke to these people, we found out that the temple president and Spencer's mission president were companions when they served their missions in Uruguay as young men.

After lunch at McDonalds, yes, McDonalds- it's nice to have something familiar once in a while and it's a rarity here- we went to find the new location of the mission offices. Davis was thrilled when Spence said we were going to take a taxi there. Earlier in the day we were talking about how much missionaries walk and he replied, "Well, I'm not a missionary right now, I'm just a little boy and I'm TIRED." The kids have been troopers because we've walked a ton since we've been here and I think Davis is counting down the days until we have a car again.

We just took a few pictures at the mission office and then we hung out until our bus ride back to Piriapolis. We're all pretty tired after some of the day trips, but it's so much fun seeing and learning more from Spence's mission and it's really fun to see how excited he gets about it.

Spence served his mission from October 2000 until December 2002

Outside the mission home- Spence wasn't thrilled to take a picture by himself, but Davis and Blair were too interested in the birds they were chasing to pose with him.

Our two little walkers- Every time we see a car Davis mentions that we should have gotten one and Blair reminds him that it's good exercise to walk.

Just a cool tree we saw

Our family in the mission home with the Da Silvas

Taking a break and enjoying the treats from Sister Da Silva

Outside the mission offices

Blair was pretty tired out on the bus ride back home.

This is how Davis felt about her sleeping on him while he was trying to play his Leap Pad.

Heaven

Right now, Uruguay feels like Heaven. I'm sitting in a little ice cream shop right on the beach with my family having a treat and watching the most beautiful suset across the ocean. I could stay here forever. I love the slower pace here and I can't imagine anything better than being with the three people I love most all day every day. This is the life.

Baby #3

Spence felt our little baby boy move for the first time today. It was so fun. We get more excited every day. We don't, however, have any idea what we'll name the little guy.

Home Sweet Home

We found a place to stay for the next few weeks. It's really nice compared to other places we checked out and just two blocks from the beach. It has three bedrooms, two nice bathrooms, a kitchen and a family room area. We are super happy to be unpacked and not digging everything out of suitcases and then re-packing to move to the next place. The house we're staying in has a nice backyard too- it's Davis' favorite part. One of my favorite parts- the washer. I am thrilled that I don't have to go to the laundry mat all the time. I did, however, need Spence's assistance when I hung up the clothes the first time. They kept falling down, but Spence taught me to fold them over the line before clipping them- much better.

Spence and Blair putting on the "4 thread count" sheets. We had to get our own sheets and towels for this house and I about died when we were buying them. The sheets are like paper and they cost $20-$30. When the lady was showing us the towels, she showed us some pretty good ones like we have at home and said they were $30 each. No thanks, I can use the crappy ones for a month. We bought some pretty awesome ones for $7 even though they repel water instead of absorb it. At least they dry out fast after.

One of the bathrooms. Spence thinks the bidet is one of the coolest things ever- I'm not sure if he's tried it out.

A pretty nice little kitchen compared to others I've checked out.

According to Davis, this is his house he built out of bricks so no one could blow it down. He's out there all the time.

Clothes line in our backyard

This is the main living area- just another table, no couches

Our bedroom- Don't worry, Spence got rid of the creepy bedspread.

The office. This is the only room in the house where the internet works. There is actually no internet in this house, but Spence paid the guy at the hostels across the street to use it. We use it in this room or on the porch of the hostels. It's not the best, but it works okay.

More living room

Blair's side of the kid's room

Davis' side of the room- They've actually done pretty well sharing a room again. Luckily Blair can sleep through anything.

Eating bizcochos this morning. Spence went to the bakery while Blair and I showered. Spence has been talking about eating these pasteries for breakfast every day in Uruguay since the first time we talked about coming. Everyone loved them. Davis and Blair were thrilled to eat pasteries when it wasn't even "Saturday donut day".

Celebrities for a Day

This morning we went to the park for a while and Davis and Blair were the center of attention. There were a bunch of 11 and 12 year olds there who thought our kids were the bees knees. They loved watching our kids play and listening to them speak English. They talked to Spence a ton and asked all about our family and practiced their English on him. It turns out their English is just as bad as my Spanish. I told them I was from the USA, my name, and that I didn't understand anything else they were saying to me. They thought it was absolute craziness that the kids and I only spoke English.
The kids here followed Davis and Blair wherever they went and tried to help them on the playground equipment despite Davis telling them he could do it himself. The kids loved having their picture taken too and liked to see it on my camera afterward. Davis was thrilled when he had a whole herd of kids who were happy to race him around the park. Our kids had a great time and the kids here did too.

10 Years Ago Today...

Spence was celebrating "Hump Day" here in Uruguay. We're so excited to be back and see where he served.