I can’t believe August is half over and people are starting to get ready to go back to school!! I am so ready for school to be done! We have about two more months and then the kids and I get to head back to Vegas. It's going to be pretty strange to be back there. I'm sure we'll have some culture shock! We have done a pretty good job of adapting to life here in Guatemala. Our friend, Alvaro, has another friend that just came here from Switzerland to study Spanish. Alvaro told us that his friend reminds him of us when we first got here.
The morning started early for Chris with a concrete pour at 6:00. The kids and I were able to take it a little easy and get some stuff done this morning. We had ourusual cleaning day...laundry, dishes, mopping, etc. Afterwards though, the kids got to have doughnuts for breakfast. What a great start to the day!!
After Chris got home, we packed a picnic lunch and headed for a park. It was the one that Morgan and Cole had a hike to when they first started school. I didn't drive so I was trying to remember how we had gotten then. Amazingly, we got there on our first try! It was gorgeous. There was a wonderful view of the city and we were up in the trees. It was very peaceful even though there were a ton of people.
There are some giant cement slides there that the kids (and parents) had a blast on. You'd have to sit on a cardboard box or plastic bottle to go and also to prevent wearing holes in the seat of your pants!! If you weren't careful, you'd get going too fast and crash at the end of the slide. This video shows Chris trying to take out a little kid at the bottom of the slide and also the after effects of Cole going too fast.
The stairs coming back up were so long but it didn't slow the kids down one bit!!
While we were there, we met a lady from SLC, Utah whose husband had been deported back to Guatemala. She is working on getting her masters in nursing, and raising 3 kids by herself now. Her husband has to wait for over a year before he can qualify to go back to the states. She just came down to visit him while she had a break from school. It was hilarious to hear her talking and remembering what it was like when we first came. It is such a culture shock! It turns out that her husband is a member of the church and is in Michelle's (owner of the school) ward.
After the park, we ran over to the market. Nobody wanted to go with me, but Cole was a good sport and offered to help me carry the stuff. We did some speed shopping (and unfortunately didn't get the best produce that we usually do) and got most of our stuff bought before it started to hail on us. We went running for the carrots and then for cover. Cole said, “Just leave the carrots mom”. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband that was circling the market to pick us up so we didn't get too wet.
We drove down to Central Park and waited for the rain to let up a little. We walked around some of the tourist shops and ended up getting a wool blanket, scripture bag for Cole, notebook for Alysa, and a pencil pouch for Laina. (Morgan got her stuff last time!) The funniest thing that we saw was a figurine of a mayan lady nursing her baby. It probably wouldn't be that funny if you didn't realize how common it is here! After we got done shopping, we headed for McDonalds for a bathroom break and some ice cream. The rain had let up and we got to enjoy a concert in the park on the way.
(The giant can of beans!! Cole has discovered that he likes these!!)
At one point, Laina was drawing more attention with her dancing than the band was!! The band members were even pointing at her!
After a very eventful day, we looked forward to doing home, having dinner and relaxing. Well, once again the gas went out on the stove....then the power went out......then the water went out.....then it got dark outside.....then we couldn't find the flashlights because the kids kept playing with them.....then we barbecued hot dogs and ate outside. I definitely need to invest in some candles and some emergency preparedness stuff. Why I haven't already, I'll never know!! It was pretty fun though since it felt like we were camping! Nothing like a spontaneous camping trip!
Oh, and it was also laundry day and the sheets were in the laundry!! Where are the sleeping bags? We finally got all ready for bed and then the power came back on. At least the kids didn't have to try to go to sleep without their nightlights!
Right before going to bed, Alysa told us that her new notebook is going to be for her blog. I thought that was pretty cute!
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