WE'VE BEEN MARRIED 10 YEARS!!! (1st Stop)

January 24, 2013... Ten incredible years together.  Funny how we can't believe it's been a decade, yet life before our commitment to each other seems like a long, long time ago.  

We had to do something to celebrate!  A little tricky when our family isn't around the corner to spend some QT with the kiddos.  Although a little nerve-wracking, we made it work by splitting the 3 days between 2 babysitters.  Antonia, a cute, completely bilingual 16 year old who lives right down the street, and our sweet Nana, Sandra, who comes 2x a week to help around the house (like ironing Joe's shirts--it's fabulous!!) She only speaks Spanish.  I made sure to have friends check up on them, and with a little faith, we were off to explore the coast.  

1st stop:  Valparaiso

A port city built among hundreds of hills, right on the water.  

Fantastic to see all of the color and the ingenuity of the builders to make it work!!!While we were having dinner overlooking the city, Joe surprised me with the BEST possible gift ever.        He told me that when we got back to the hotel, there was something waiting for me on his computer.  Normally he has a hard time keeping a secret...but this time I really had NO CLUE what he was up to.  "When we are finished with dinner, we can go back to the hotel and watch the video of our wedding."

"WHAT?!!!!!!!!!"  You don't understand how exciting this was for me.  We have never seen it.  The videographer told us that he lost all of our footage when his computer crashed.  I had given up hope about 8 years ago.  Joe got an email from him about a month ago, saying that he had all of the raw footage-- did we want it.  OF COURSE!!!  So, without me knowing, he contacted our amazing friend, Jonathan White, and had him edit and put together my 10th anniversary BEST. PRESENT. EVER. 

Thank you with all of my heart.

 

 And with that, we continued our exploration of Valparaiso.

 A quirky city full of character

 Funiculars:  Really old escalators that take you from the tops of the hills to the bottom

You can take one of these or....

 colorful stairs :)

 An artist's haven where graffiti has become part of the art...

 View from our hotel

 Apparently our hotel was one of the few that had "secure" parking.  When the lady gave us the key for the parking lot and told us it was only 5 blocks away, we hopped in the car and came upon this gate:

 Looked sketchy to me--secured by a simple chain and key lock--but when we went to pick it up the next day, it was still there!!

 If you don't have a car, a horse is always a good runner up.

 Walking among the hills, we came upon another chapel wedged between the colorful homes and restaurants.  Even though I know our church is world wide, it is still exciting to fall upon them!