Saturday, July 24, 2010

Mini Vacation

We live in a big, busy city.  And sometimes, we just need to get away.  Away from the rush and the responsibilities.

Last weekend, we decided to take a little family trip.  Since our area doesn't abound with interesting tourist options, especially in the middle of winter, we returned to our favorite spot in the mountains: a little town called Canela which is right by another fun tourist town, Gramado.

We usually stay at the same place when we go up there.  Mainly because this hotel has chalets, and one of them is big enough for our whole family.  Otherwise, we would be paying for two rooms and wouldn't get to stay together.

So, Friday, we picked up the kids from school and took off.

Here is what we saw on the way......

I think this was some kind of group to preserve pioneer life, or something like that.  Pretty cool.

You may have noticed that the weather was not really cooperating.  It was rainy when we left Porto Alegre, and when we got up to the mountains, it was rainy and C O L D!

This is us when we got to our chalet (which is really the size of a house with tall ceilings and no insulation...).  That black thing on the wall is a heater, which is putting out about as much heat as a lit match at that point.
We were cold, and some of us were "less than excited" to be there at all.
Since the weather was so bad and our house was so cold, we headed over to the big hotel lobby for some car playing and some card playing before we went out to eat for supper.

Apparently lots of other hotel guests had the same idea.  As we were sitting there, a lady came over and started a conversation with me.  After a little small talk, she asked if all these kids were mine. I said yes.  She then said, "I have to confess something.  I have two kids and I just found out that I'm pregnant.  I was upset because I really didn't want anymore.  But, seeing your family with everyone playing together, I am not worried anymore.  Everything is going to be all right."  I congratulated her and told her what a blessing her new baby would be.  We ended up talking a little more and her little girl invited Anderson to  play a card game with her.  They became buddies....Too bad they had to return home early the next morning. 

By the time we were leaving for supper, the weather was AWFUL.  And Kevin had stomach cramps.  We headed off to a pizza place hoping that his stomach would get better.
It didn't, but here are the rest of us trying to stay warm in the pizza place.  It was still yummy!

After supper and a stop at a pharmacy for some medicine for Kevin, we headed back to our slightly warmer, but still cold house.  We piled on the warm pj's and blankets and snuggled close for the night, thinking that we may cut our little trip short and go home the next day.

Oh yeah, did I mention that this was the day of our 22nd wedding anniversary?  Freezing cold, rain, stomach cramps, layers of pajamas and blankets with a baby sleeping in the middle.  Doesn't get any better than that!

Part two of our trip tomorrow.....

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