Traveling. Baby. Family

I use to fly to Chile at least once a year, even after I had my first 2 boys. Nico's first time in Chile was when he was 6 months, Joey 7 months. William had not been there until this past December, we had not been able to fly as a family so we decided (with lots of encouragement from my husband) I should go and take just him to meet the rest of the family, he was 8 months old.
My mom, dad and brother had already met him, but my sister, grandparents and extended family had not. To say I was nervous is an understatement, I had never traveled without my kids, every vacation we've taken had been with them and I knew I would miss them terribly.
It took me a couple of weeks to finally commit and purchase a ticket, my husband had to re-assure me a million times that they were going to be OK without me, he knew I really wanted to go, but it was hard for me to ask him to take care of the kids, house and still go to work while I was gone.
I made a calendar with all their activities with very specific instruction including "they must do their hair and have clothes that match before they leave in the morning". I know, I know I'm a control freak, but it gave me comfort to know that at least I had asked.
Traveling with a 9 month old was not too bad, the flight to Chile is long, I had a 14 hour flight and I had to change planes in Lima. Once I got to Santiago I had to wait another 4 hours for the flight to my home town of Copiapo, 1 1/2 hours later I was there with my family.

Here are a few highlights of the first couple of days, I was there for 12 days.

I had to ask this Pilot if he would take a picture with William, wouldn't you?
He said: You want ME to hold him? I said: yes, I have to take the picture, I can't hold him and take the picture (there was almost nobody left on the plane). He seemed a little nervous holding a baby, but he was really nice and it didn't hurt that he was also tall, cute and wearing a uniform ;)

Here he is with his Tia Gaby, my little sister. I should say, my younger sister because she is actually about 3 inches taller than me. She is also beautiful, sweet, smart, almost a nurse and the best sister ever. She didn't want to give me baby William back, she wanted to feed him, change him, nap with him. They got to be best friends very fast.


Here are my parents and brother, this is the day my little brother graduated High School, that's another big reason why I went. We call him Reny, short for Reynaldo, he is so funny and also helpful and kind. I miss him.
My parents are the best looking grandparents ever, people always think my kids are their kids when they take them places. I will tell you more about them some time, they are interesting people.


Here are my grandparents, grandma is 89 and my grandpa I think he is 82 (he's not sure). He still thinks he is 50 and rides his bike everywhere he goes. They have a little store in their house where they sell everyday necessities and treats, my grandpa still runs it and they are very independent.
My grandma has awesome hair, my dad is jealous (you can see above that he's starting to loose his). Grandpa not so much, he's been wearing a hat since forever, he does not show is bald head very often.

More about my trip soon, have a great Sunday!