After another rough day yesterday, most of which Carter spent lying in bed and glumly watching videos on the iPad, he nearly bounced out of bed this morning. He was ready to go and was even hungry. We were incredibly relieved, especially since today was his 5th birthday. We'd been keeping our fingers crossed that he wouldn't have to spend his birthday sick and miserable.
After breakfast (his first actual meal in a week!) we asked him what he most wanted to do on his birthday, and he said he wanted to ride the double-decker tour bus. And so we did.
It's something we've never done here before, and it was actually a lot of fun. We only got off once since Carter is still pretty weak; mostly we just enjoyed the ride.
We got off at the Bellavista stop, hoping to ride the funicular up the mountain, but unfortunately it was closed for repairs, So we bought some drinks and waited for the next bus, and found this cute toy spider for Carter.
After the bus ride, we headed back to the hotel to let Carter rest. He was very keen on just hanging out and relaxing for the afternoon, and that was fine with us. Getting out at all had cheered everyone up immensely.
We had a lovely surprise mid-afternoon. The hotel had somehow found out it was Carter's birthday, and they brought up this fantastic table full of goodies for him. We were so surprised, and also relieved because we hadn't had a chance to do anything for his birthday. We had plans, of course, but we've barely been able to leave the hotel room in the last week. It just wasn't at the top of our priority list, and so it was really wonderful that the hotel gave us a little ready-made birthday party.
There was a slice of amazing chocolate cake, and honestly, that was plenty for the three of us.
There was a tray of candy...
A huge jar of cookies and another filled with granola bars...
A little racecar-shaped tin with colored pencils inside...
A coloring book and some colorful modeling clay, and even Ritz Carlton kid-sized slippers.
It really made our afternoon. Carter was very excited!
We didn't do much for the rest of the day. Carter was still tired, and he basically just wanted to hang out and play. In the evening we Skyped with Nana and then went swimming in the rooftop pool. Carter was really happy to get to go swimming after not being able to do anything for a week. We picked out many of the hotels on this trip based on kid-friendly amenities like great pools, and Carter had been really disappointed that he'd not been able to get in one for an entire week.
So hopefully well actually be able to start the trip for real now! We've changed our schedule slightly; we had planned to drive down to Santa Cruz on Friday and spend a week in that region, but since we basically missed a solid week, we decided to stay in Santiago instead. We'll be here through the 17th, after which we'll fly to Easter Island.
If you're not watching it already, I'm posting extra photos on our Tumblr account. Check it out for even more of the sights of Santiago!
After breakfast (his first actual meal in a week!) we asked him what he most wanted to do on his birthday, and he said he wanted to ride the double-decker tour bus. And so we did.
It's something we've never done here before, and it was actually a lot of fun. We only got off once since Carter is still pretty weak; mostly we just enjoyed the ride.
We got off at the Bellavista stop, hoping to ride the funicular up the mountain, but unfortunately it was closed for repairs, So we bought some drinks and waited for the next bus, and found this cute toy spider for Carter.
After the bus ride, we headed back to the hotel to let Carter rest. He was very keen on just hanging out and relaxing for the afternoon, and that was fine with us. Getting out at all had cheered everyone up immensely.
We had a lovely surprise mid-afternoon. The hotel had somehow found out it was Carter's birthday, and they brought up this fantastic table full of goodies for him. We were so surprised, and also relieved because we hadn't had a chance to do anything for his birthday. We had plans, of course, but we've barely been able to leave the hotel room in the last week. It just wasn't at the top of our priority list, and so it was really wonderful that the hotel gave us a little ready-made birthday party.
There was a slice of amazing chocolate cake, and honestly, that was plenty for the three of us.
There was a tray of candy...
A huge jar of cookies and another filled with granola bars...
A little racecar-shaped tin with colored pencils inside...
A coloring book and some colorful modeling clay, and even Ritz Carlton kid-sized slippers.
It really made our afternoon. Carter was very excited!
We didn't do much for the rest of the day. Carter was still tired, and he basically just wanted to hang out and play. In the evening we Skyped with Nana and then went swimming in the rooftop pool. Carter was really happy to get to go swimming after not being able to do anything for a week. We picked out many of the hotels on this trip based on kid-friendly amenities like great pools, and Carter had been really disappointed that he'd not been able to get in one for an entire week.
So hopefully well actually be able to start the trip for real now! We've changed our schedule slightly; we had planned to drive down to Santa Cruz on Friday and spend a week in that region, but since we basically missed a solid week, we decided to stay in Santiago instead. We'll be here through the 17th, after which we'll fly to Easter Island.
If you're not watching it already, I'm posting extra photos on our Tumblr account. Check it out for even more of the sights of Santiago!
Happy Birthday Carter!SO relieved to hear that today was such a great day and that it looks like this nasty bug is on its way out!
ReplyDeleteWe love you all! Gma and Gpa C
Thank you! Carter says hi from Santiago!
Deleteam so glad he's finally feeling better. what a trooper!
ReplyDeleteand a big hurrah for the hotel staff, how sweet are they?
looking forward to the further (hopefully healthier) adventures
So are we! :-)
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