San Antonio Trip

 One of the blessings of homeschooling is that we don't have to wait for holidays or school days off to go on vacations, so 3 weeks after our trip to Peru we went to San Antonio-TX. It was a quick trip but we had lots of fun!!

We stayed in a hotel downtown and the Riverwalk was just behind it, so we had great food and nice walks at nights. I loved the carriages that go all day until very late at night. They had nice lights at nights. It looks like those from the princesses movies.  

The weather was perfect. We wanted to visit the Alamo as part of our learning field trip. It was very interesting and gave us a new perspective. We also learn a lot from the people who are wearing the kind of clothes like those days and a lady even taught us how they used to sew those women and I admire them for the patience they had to do it. 

We also enjoyed SeaWorld. It was the first time Alexa was there and she had a blast.  The kids wanted me to try a roller coaster... I hate them so they had in mind to persuade me to do at least the smallest one. I said ok after a long conversation. It was scary for me even the one for kids. I scream and yelled the whole time there and you know what?.... Yes,! they wanted to do it again!!! so I told them to go to other rides before hoping they forget about it but noooo, they didn't... so I had to go to the same kid's roller coaster and scream...I mean "enjoy" the ride. 

I always preferred to do the merry go round or the little car bumps but for me even small roller coasters are scary hahah. I think what the kids enjoyed the most is look at mommy when she is scared, but it's ok, they can know that mommies get  scared sometimes and that sometimes I just do things that scare me because I need to have new experiences as long s they are good and appropriate. 

I really enjoyed the nights... it was all full of lights. the Riverwalk with the stores and the trees decorated with colorful lights, even the carriages taking people all downtown had light shining. It was kind of busy and noisy but lively too so I really enjoyed it.

Some of the boats in the Riverwalk had light and music and some had guided tours... I didn't know that until we got on one boat and they never stopped talking about San Antonio, the Riverwalk, the stores and its history while the others were all playing Christmas carols. I was kind of not happy about it. We just called the wrong company. I thought all of them were the same but I mean to call the caroling one. The price for my group would have been the same as what we paid for the one we bought but I wanted to sing Christmas carols on the boat!!! Anyway. We didn't have any options and we didn't have more days or the desire of spending more money for another trip. I have to say our boat tour was informational. It was a great trip and we had fun!!

Trip to Peru Lima and Islas Ballestas

 It's been more than 5 years since the last time we went to Peru. It was for my parents 50th wedding anniversary in 2018.  All the kids were so excited about it. It was a great trip, They loved it from the beginning to the end. The kids  enjoyed a lot and so did we since we didn't have to walk carrying diapers or bottles like the other times we went before!

First we had a nice flight that got to Peru before night time which I loved since it gave us time to go to

Downtown Lima

 the hotel take some time to rest eat and walk around for a little while before going to bed. Next morning the adventures started. We went early to a city tours in Lima. The driver was very nice and we enjoyed visiting some touristic and history places.

We tried some delicious fresh bakes bread and many of the seasonal fruits from Peru. I got to eat things that I miss and love a lot. It was great to see my adventurous Eliza trying guanabana and lúcuma yogurt, granadillas, manzanitos (small bananas), churros con manjar blanco and so many things we found in the stores.

In the sand buggies

Next day we went to the Parque de las leyendas. It's a combination of a aquarium and a zoo. The kids could run and see some interesting animals. The kids wanted to spend sometime in the pool on the roof of the hotel so went back to have some fun at the pool and we wanted to get ready for a 4 hour drive by bus to another city in order to visit Islas Ballestas. We had to wake up super early to do that and also go to Huacachina in Ica to go to the sand buggies and do some sand boarding. The kids loved it!! They want to repeat it next time we go to Peru. 

The next day we had to travel to Trujillo, my hometown. Seeing my brother and sister there with their families was amazing!! My kids love spending time with their Peruvian cousins and they love mamita's house

Avocados

We had more amazing food, fruits, desserts, places to visit. Also, we went to tia nena's house. The kids had a blast there. They are already asking me to go there next time we go to Peru and if we can stay there. Tia nena has a farm, animals and fruit trees. We had the opportunity to see cacao trees and how the fruit is inside. We saw the biggest avocado we've ever seen, the kids walked through a bridge made out of just a tree trunk. Amazing experiences. I did not like that we had to come only 18 days later... we usually stayed there for 8 or 9 weeks in our previous trips but this time Krystal  had her orchestra rehearsals and also we had to go to our co-op meetings. I hope next time we go during summer and for longer!!! Peru is just Magical!!

Chirimoya

Huacachina- Ica

Islas Ballestas

Ballestas

We had the chance to see it from the front seat

Parque de las leyendas

Palacio de Gobierno

Lima

Lima

a Church

Life skills

 One of the things we love about homeschooling is that the kids learn many other skills. Eliza loves to cook and help me when it's cooking time. Liam decided to learn how to do some things too. He started doing just fried eggs. he was so proud of himself . he wanted to do it all the time. I think he ate eggs every time he wanted a snack. He also wanted to make his sister a fried egg when they felt snacky and didn't know what to eat.

I am not sure if your kids do the same but for me, my kids are always asking me for a snack and when I say ok, what do you want? they say I don't know. We have fresh fruit and veggies, packed snacks like cookies, chips, crackers, etc. we have frozen snacks and they tell me I don't know... usually I respond to them : It's ok let me know when you figure it out. I'm happy to help but I can't if you don't know what to eat. 

Krystal is my dessert helper... not that she likes dessert. her only favorite is CCC... Chocolate Chip Cookies but she is always helping me when I do desserts. Eliza just enjoys both savory and sweets. She says she wants to be a chef when she grows up. She loves preparing and also eating many new food. For her trying something new is very exciting. She is the skinniest one in our family but the only one that is not picky at all.

We also take advantage of learning about gardening. We e joy planting fruits, veggies and flowers in our front and back yard. We learn about where to grow them, how much light it needs, how long they take to have flowers or fruit. Personally I love days when they are sunny. It gives me energy and makes me happy. I enjoy playing with the kids outside they days are warmer. I am usually cold so during fall or winter my body feels even colder. 

Here a few pics about our life skill lessons. hahah