Viva el Peru!

We finally made it!  After 3 years of "yes, we're coming" and then having the unexpected always happen- another pregnancy, buying a house, etc, we FINALLY made it to Peru to visit our family.  It was a much awaited trip because my relatives have been waiting patiently to meet Sophie and Jens (they are the only grandkids/nieces/nephews on my mom's side right now).  The only sad thing was that we didn't make it soon enough for my mamama (grandma) to meet them too, she passed away in April.  But also i have to thank her  because she was the reason we went when we did, we planned on going this coming winter but if we had waited i'm sure something else would've come up delaying us again.
Because this trip was mainly to be with our family we didn't plan any side trips to Cusco, Mancora, Arequipa, or any of the other beautiful places to see in Peru so we WILL be planning another trip down the road. :)
Airplane rides-this was Jens's first time on an airplane and he did awesome! Our flight to Lima was 12 hours with an hour layover in Atlanta.  During both of the landings Jens would cry and turns out he was coming down with a cold and we just didn't know it yet so the poor guy's ears were prb killing him.  The 2nd day of our trip he woke up with a bunch of eye goobers and after making a visit to the dr we found out he had bronchitis and conjuctivitis.   Both Sophie and I then contracted the same thing 3 days before we came home and Cory came down with the cough and a fever our first night back in Centerville.   As you can see in the pictures below we flew down with my family which was great for the extra hands and entertainment for the kids but coming home we were on our own we left early for Cory to get back to work and the kids were terrific on both flights, we even had people stop by our seats just to tell us how well behaved our kids were....if only they were like that all the time lol.
Jens and Daddy

 Nicole, Sophie, and Chris

 Sophie and Ina

 Mamama making a call to Tia Annie to update her on our flight status.

 1st night in Lima we went to Regatas for anticuchos (marinated skewered then grilled cow heart) and picarones (peruvian version of donuts).  Regatas is a private beach club that my family belongs to.  It has its own private beach, swimming pools, playgrounds, restaurants, gym and lots of sports teams from rowing to soccer.  Me, Luciana, and Chris

 Romina and I

 My Daddy and Tia Viru  watching the kids play.

 One of our many car rides around the city.  We only had 10 days so we were going non-stop to try and see everything we wanted to see, visit as much family as possible, AND eat as much food as we could! Please ignore that Jens isn't in his car seat- we brought both of their carseats with us but most of the time just sophie would use her booster and we'd have Jens in our lap because we had to fit lots of people in 3 cars and in Peru there ARE no rules when it comes to the road!  They are getting better at enforcing no drinking and driving due to lots of accidents occurring and kids can not ride in the front seat.  Those are prb the only 2 that i at least noticed enforced other than that when you're in the streets of Lima its one big race track.  I was a bit nervous because of how liberal everyone is with their driving that we'd get side-swipe and Jens would fly out of the car but thankfully we made it accident free.

 Jens taking a much needed nap

 La Punta, Callao.   Callao is about 30mins on the outskirts of Lima and houses the naval base for Peru.  My mom and tia annie were born and raised here til our family moved into the city in the 1970's.
My mami, tia annie, Claudia, and Denise.

 Peru has AWESOME playgrounds!

 Sophie playing in the waves with Nicole and Chris.   This beach we were at has a pebble rock beach and the waves are clam which is perfect for little ones.

 We paid a guy to take us on a little boat ride and the kids (especially Jens) loved it, they even got to help row, nevermind the guy had a motor. :)

 The rest of the fam waiting for us on the beach and in the gazebo.

 Afterwards we went to Pardo's for pollo a la braza- rotisserie chicken YUM!

 Miraflores- went to Romi's house and walked along the coastal cliffs to Parque del Amor (park of love), another playground for the kids to play on and then went to Lacromar.

 statue at parque del amor

 Eatin' me some BEMBOS! Best burgers ever!  Forget In 'n' Out, Bembo's is where its at.

 Outside the church for my Grandma's service, they did the funeral service the day after she passed away but in Peru they hold another service a month after their passing which is the one we were able to make it to.  This church is located in Miraflores by Parque Kennedy (Kennedy Park).

 The day following the service we went to my cousin's Luciana and her husband Giorgi's house for a bbq and swimming, unfortunately i didn't get any pictures because we were in the pool the entire time even though that day was FREEZING but our kids don't care rain or shine they LOVE the water.
The following night we went back to Miraflores to get on the Mirabus for a tour of historic Lima at night on a double-decker bus.

 The Cathedral of Lima

 Ruins in Lima- i don't know the exact name of these particular ruins or info blame that on the kids not letting us listen to our guide.

 We also stopped on our tour to watch the "Magic Circuit of Water" which was a water show with lights and music- kinda like the Bellagio only cooler. :)

 One of the fountains

 Sophie watching Daddy and Tio Chris make their way through a water maze and yelling at them to get out because it was too cold, good to know she listens to me.

 walking through a water tunnel

 Went to Regatas for a day of swimming at the beach and in the pools.

 We ended up not getting to go in the ocean that day because there were jellyfish, you can see one on the beach on the left side of this picture.  there was a guy cleaning them up with a shovel and then placing them in a big hole that they dug in the sand.

 Saturday Cory and I went to the Temple which was very beautiful, we brought our camera but forgot we had taken out the battery to charge the night before so we didn't get any pictures.  That night we went clubbing with the cousins and ended up going to a pub that had a Beatle's tribute band playing so Cory didn't get to experience the true latin night scene so we'll have to try another time.
Mother's day was spent at the house with the ENTIRE family, Sophie confiscated my camera half way through the day so i didn't get pictures with all my family, will have to wait til they post them on facebook and tag me.  The following day was our last day of our trip so we were glad to get to spend time with everyone.

 Gonzalo, Jens, and Tio Jorge coloring and doing stickers

 Opening up gifts that Tia Viru gave.

It was a great trip and we wish we could be back there right now to be with our family again!  We love you and miss you all and can't wait til we can see you again!