Ecuador Trip

In mid October we three Pattersons packed our bags and headed South! Really far South…all the way to Ecuador! Ecuador is a home for me. But, Daniel and Emma had never been. My brother, sister-in-law, and 3 of the worlds cutest kids live there! And BONUS my parents were there on a mission trip and stayed for a week after to be with everyone! How wonderful!

Now, this is how we operate… if a little is good, then a lot is great. (We mostly feel this way about Sonic Diet Coke.) We had never traveled with Emma on an airplane…so we figured…let's do an international trip for her first ride! The passport process was kind of lengthy and it turned out we all needed new ones.  (Sidenote: I always think Emma looks so so much like Daniel, but in her passport picture she looks a lot like my Dad. Cool!)

Isn't this the world's best passport photo?

The travels worked out pretty well…Emma was not a screaming baby, Praise the Lord! She was, however, very busy! I had planned for this (thanks to many articles online) and packed a variety of new smallish, quietish toys. and some dum-dum suckers. Please don't judge me! Emma had never had a sucker before (and I'm not sure she's had any since), but I read online that these are great for baby's ears and also to keep quiet! And they worked…only she wasn't sure what to do with it. We met up with my dad at the airport in Quito, and we stayed in an hostel that night close to the new airport. Emma was TERRIFIED of her very special travel crib that we procured for her (from Craigslist…it's a Phil and Ted's). She may also have been terrified because she had been awake for hours and needed rest and our hostel was right next door to a military dog training place. Yikes! The next day, we finally made it safely to Cuenca where my family lives! And it was such a wonderful reunion! 

Chrimos reunited! There were lots of hugs and tears!

We spent most of the first half of the week at the Sills' house. It was so relaxing to be all together. We ate a ton and toured Cuenca a little bit. It was rainy and gloomy a lot of the time we were there, but it made it so cozy to be in their house, all in our cozy clothes and let our kids run wild together! Emma adored her cousins and before our trip was not using walking as her primary mode of transport, but now is a walking machine! (*note that there are not any pictures of the Sills kids on here…their parents prefer a little privacy and I totally respect that! Just know, there was lots of fun with the cousins!) Carol made us the yummiest food in the world! We also went and toured where Reaching and Teaching is building a training facility for pastors. It was so wonderful to see the work that the Lord is doing in that area of Ecaudor!

Carol made us the most amazing cinnamon rolls! (These are not them--these are from their Thanksgiving photos!)

Daddy, Mommy, and Emma walking around the ruins and looking at the exotic birds

After our time in Cuenca we drove up to Quito to show Daniel and Emma where I spent some time growing up. We did all sorts of touristy things and ate at Crepes and Waffles twice! It was so fun to show them around the school I went to and where we used to live and where I was baptized--Daniel has a lot more photos, so maybe I'll do a follow up photo post to show some more of our pictures. We went up on Pichincha and took some pictures. Turns out that kids less than a year old can't go up the Teleferiqo, so Mom and Carol stayed down with Emma and their littlest one. 

We also went to the Panecillo and went up in the statue and looked at all the artifacts. I'm terrified of heights, so I stayed inside but almost everyone else was so brave! 

Mom and Emma inside the Panecillo statue of Mary. Emma is sporting either Uncle Brother or Papi's hat.

We spent some time at Mitad del Mundo also. Emma and her cousins weren't as excited about the shopping and history as they were the playground that we found!

We spent our last day going to Otavalo and at Puerto Lago. The pictures of Puerto Lago are so beautiful, so I'll be sure to add a couple in a photo post. 

We had a wonderful trip and can't wait to be reunited with our family soon! We were so grateful for the Sills' hospitality and graciousness in hosting the whole clan!

{MSP}

D.C.

In September the ERLC hosted the Presidential Inauguration for Dr. Moore. As his Chief of Staff, Daniel was very involved in the process. The Inauguration was in Washington D.C. and since Daniel coordinated the event, I wanted to go along and see the fruits of his labor! (I'm one proud wife--because the event was beautiful and flawless and Daniel did such a wonderful job!) Daniel had to go a few days before the event to get things ready and also for trustee meetings. I went early with him and did a little sightseeing! I walked ever so much, and my little glass feet were aching--but it was neat to see so much national history! I hadn't been to D.C. since I was a little girl and didn't remember a lot of it.

The Wizard of Oz is my favorite!!!

That's right--Washington D.C. has a bikeshare program…and by the end of my jam-packed sightseeing day I took advantage of it! I rode a bike back to my metro stop and dropped it off at a station there. It was a life (and foot) saver! I had basically walked the entire National Mall and over to Union Station and the surrounding area. I realize for some city dwellers this would be a piece of cake…but I'm a sissy and I love driving my car places and not having blisters on my poor feet! But seriously-- it was so much fun to see D.C.!

I owe a HUGE thanks to my Mom! This was the first time I left Emma alone--(yes she was 15 months)--and it was exactly how you'd imagine a first time mom leaving her baby for the first time. I called/texted/Skyped/Facetimed my mom constantly! But Emma was in wonderful hands with Nana and Papi and Aunt Jennifer looking after her! She had a great time!

Sporting Nana's glasses

Lunch with Nana, Papi, and Aunt Jennifer

Playing in the water in Nana and Papi's Backyward!

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of the amazing Inauguration--there was a professional photographer there, so they certainly didn't need my awesome iPhone camera skills! Ha! My first trip away from Emma was so wonderful, but I was ever so glad to be reunited with my girl!

{MSP}

Blog Vacation

Obviously I've taken a pretty long and leisurely vacation from the blog. I could make a thousand excuses but I'll just chalk it up to being a toddler mom. Oh, and settling into Nashville.

Between July and now I've painted the kitchen a lovely red! It's called "Red Delicious" by Glidden! It turned out pretty well. (I'm definitely not a professional painter!) I also put up some pictures above the cabinets to draw the eye upwards and use some of that blank space. I got the idea off of a blog I found via Pinterest. Here's their link. I found some frames at various thrift stores and spray painted them black and then filled the frames with black and white pictures of places around the world that our family has been!

This is what the color of the kitchen was before.

This is when I painted the kitchen red.

These are the pictures I put above the cabinets. The pictures include Notre Dame, Cotopaxi, Macchu Picchu, Daniel's family's house, My family's house, the Great Wall of China, Wrigley Field (of course!), the Basilica in Quito, and the post office in Madrid.

I was having some issues with the light fixtures in our kitchen and dining room--issues as in I didn't care for their configurations. So…one time when Daniel's Grandaddy was in town (yes, I asked Daniel's 85 year old grandfather--who happens to be one of the best handymen around to do hardware tasks around my house) I asked him to switch up the light fixtures for me. I spray painted the chandelier in the kitchen black and added the cutest little chandelier shades (you can see the update in the photos above)! Then we moved the ceiling fan from the dining room into the kitchen…I'm a firm believer that kitchens in the South need a ceiling fan! And then we left the dining room bare until I found an old chandelier at a local thrift store and upcycled it! I spray painted it a brushed nickel and found lots of glass shades that were all the same! Daddy put it up for me when he was in town.

This is what the chandelier looked like when I found it.

This is what the chandelier looks like now! (Except that it's in the dining room and not on my kitchen counter!)

So, I've taken a break from the blog, but not from doing some projects around the house! I think we're going to paint the dining room navy above the chair rail and a creamy white below the chair rail. Daniel read that it's better for resale value if it's a neutral color, but we do plan to live here for awhile--I could always repaint when the time comes to move--or maybe in the next decade another color lover like me will come along to buy our house!

Coming up soon I'll do some more blogs about what we've done since July! Look for some blogs about our trip to Washington D.C., NYC, the Pumpkin Patch, Ecuador, and Emma's Outdoor Tea Party that was a photo shoot for our Christmas cards! Thanks for reading!

{MSP}