Our kids are kids, and they don’t always feel like going on hikes, or adventuring. They’d much rather be in a house, face-timing with friends, or playing Minecraft. Once we get going, and once they see what we’re doing is worthwhile and fun, they usually get into it. Usually. Sometimes at the end of a […]
Archives for October 2022
Minecraft Midgets on Planet Chewtle
Jane and Wilson are hooked on Minecraft, and we’ve equipped them with a paid version on an iPad and old iPhone we call the game phone. They’ve become quite good at the game, either building creative landscapes, surviving mobs, or embarking on quests. They can play at the same time, interacting with each other in […]
Time Zones East of EST
Chile has its own time zone (CLT) and version of daylight savings time. When we arrived, our time was the same as Eastern Standard Time (EST), where cities like Raleigh, New York City, Atlanta, and Miami are located. This was convenient for our remote work and schooling, both of which aligned to EST time. Now, […]
Brother and Sister Abroad
I was fortunate to have three sisters and a brother, and I’m in the middle of the five siblings. Two younger ones close in age and two older ones a decade more senior. There was often a play companion in the younger siblings or a caretaker in the older ones, and the large number made […]
Wilson and His Violin
When Wilson was 5, he asked Santa for a violin for Christmas. Santa came through and we signed him up for lessons. Neither Mark nor I have played the violin so we couldn’t really help him with it. The violin was 100% his thing. Lucky for us, he had a wonderful violin teacher in Raleigh. […]
Friendly Advice for Adventure Families
Last time we traveled every single person we ran into told us, “Oh you’re so smart to travel now while the kids are young (2 and 4). You won’t be able to do this when they’re school aged.” We would just nod and thank them, knowing full well we planned to travel for a year […]
Topsail Beach Water Sports
Cleaned some of the old footage out of the GoPro from some time we spend at our beach house, After Party. Made a couple of videos to capture the memories at Topsail. When I think about missing home while we’re in Chile, the memories and longing often involve Topsail, boating, and fishing.
Creative play at the Rio Maipo
One of the pleasures of our adventures are the unexpectedly engaging times spent with our kids. Sometimes the days when we have the least activities planned are the days when we find the deepest connection. On the morning we left Rio Maipo, we decided to visit the edge of the river to explore. The water […]
Termas Valle de Colina Hot Springs in Cajon Del Maipo
At the end of the dirt road, which travels around mountains and through a riverbed, is a hot springs destination nestled on a mountainside among snow-capped peaks. We’re not typically ones for visiting such destinations, but we opted to take the plunge into the hot springs at Termas Valle de Colina. It was unique and […]
El Morado Natural Monument, Cajon Del Maipo
We got lost as usual trying to find El Morado. It seems our sense of direction and sign following (if there are signs) in Chile needs some work. It’s not uncommon for our early jumpstart on the morning to be foiled by a wrong turn, bad GPS directions, or a bad decision. We made reservations […]